Happy 33rd birthday

I woke up today feeling great. Yes, it's 33 but I don't feel a year over 28.... I haven't felt a year over that age probably since I quit work at P&G and took off travelling. Definitely a turning point in my life. So working up to my birthday I retreated to revisit my yoga teachers in northern Thiland and re-acquaint myself with the practice that gives me so much peace. Now, back in Chiang Mai and waking

on a day like today, I realised I wanted to do it in the morning. for the first time in a while I actually  wanted to do it 1st thing in the morning, because it somehow sets the tone for the day.

Today is a day for celebrating not just where I have come to but, the successes of my friends and family, in helping me become who I am today. So with that in mind, I went to a local Wat (Buddhist temple) and took time out to say a deep-felt thank you. In giving thanks and offering a donation to the monks I was blessed by one of them, and now wear the white braided bracelet on my left wrist (quite a common thing here).

Following from a yearly birthday tradition my friend Aun introduced me to, I visited the local orphanage and made a donation to those who have unfortunately not been as lucky. They are well cared for, yet unavoidably lack all the love, care and affection that a tightly knit family like mine has given. Sometimes it takes looking at other people's lives to remind myself of how lucky I am and how much I can share.  And so, in asking what they needed, we were given a small list of suggestions and I opted for the dental care - something so close to my heart - not just because it helps me enjoy food so much but alsobecause a big smile is so irressitibly attractive. In fact, seeing those children smile with a full set of white teeth is contagious. So I donated 144 toothbrushes and toothpaste (plus a box of biscuits to make the day sweeter... and brushing all the more worthwhile). It may sound like such a cliché but it made me feel good inside, particularly comparing it to the amount of money I spend on traveling, eating and clothing myself on these trips. I know I don't need to come all the way out here to do this sort of thing, but it just so happens I was here on my birthday and it's nice to have the autonomy to choose when and how to do it. After all, I spend so much money on myself and on gifts for my friends and famil, this small gesture is hardly a dent in the bank and I know brings much needed support.

As for me, I've treated myself to this trip (and a few additions to my wardrobe may I add!) and will be off to celebrate with some good friends I made a few years back whose friendship grows stronger with
time. Who would have said it only 4 years ago!

Blessed day and so lucky to have the health, drive, motivation and will to enjoy it fully.

statues in Nong Khai

I figured I'd go see the park hidden amongst a forest of trees in Nong
Khai, the main attraction here (although I still think the draw here
is the Mekong). Cycling down a dirt road all of a sudden I could see
concrete face smiling at me, towering over the coconut palms and
various foliage along the path I was on, and seemingly coming up from
within the low hanging clouds. It was one of the 100's of massive
stone carved statues in Sala Keoku. This place reminded me of a coral
sculpture park I saw with my family in Forida. So this quaint little
park,has both the small scale flower pots along the edges of the
footpath as well as these massive hinduist and buddhist-inspired
statues dotted in between the pots.... making you feel like you're
somhow in ¨middle earth¨. It's not an old relic although the mold has
grown on the concrete giving it an air of wisdom and age that is most
becoming. After all, it was built in the 1970's by a fleeing Laotian
royalist. As I walked along on a very hot and humid afternoon I
noticed that all the statues, without exception, had very long ears
and huge eyes. Very large but oddly not disproportionate to the rest
of their features. How cunning, I thought. This must be indeed a way
of protraying the importance of listening and observing over the habit
of mindless speech. At least that as what I took out of my stroll
around the park. The wheel of life was also quite interesting in how
it depicted the different stages and influences on our lives, no
matter what hemisphere you may find yourself in.

Flower shops and other musings

Chiang Mai- where else can you get fresh jasmine necklaces and lotus
flowers folded and prepared for you, for the temple or for the Buddha,
on a sleepy Sunday afternoon? When I am an old woman with a cane, I
will own a flower shop...it's one of the many businesses I hope to own
in my lifetime. I made a list the other day, which included:

Flower Shop (this one is reserved to old age somehow)
Wholesome Café with a stone or wood oven to bake fresh bread in, with
a yoga deck, herbal steam, jacuzzi and possibly a jungle pool in
Siargao
Wholesome Café with many veggie options in Miami and/or Madrid a la
Chiang Mai's Blue DIamond
Bonz' map of Madrid, Barcelona, Manila, ... and perhaps London
Sustainable Travel website for world destinations
Online Volunteering Directory
Thai insipred place in Madrid and /or Miami with Thai massage, Thai
cooking courses, Thai food and Thai goods
Gastronomic & historic tours of Madrid
Boutique Guesthouse in Thailand

... so many dreams.... better get working on one of them soon! Life is
short. This is why I love to travel. So many ideas start flowing and
my mind gets busy dreaming, planning, visualising and getting into
action on what will soon be my own business. In the meantime, if I
don't end up living in Chiang Mai, I sure hpe it's a permaent stopover
for the rest of my life.

Yoga retreat

The gift is today... it really is. As I write this I am conscious of being and moving in better balance, physically, intellectually and emotionally. It is a feeling and a motivaiton I trust will indeed accompany me forever. The last time I came to this retreat was three and a half years ago, knowing nothing of yoga, what it's based on, the 8-fold enlightenment path, the lifestyle. And I left exhilirated and motivated. For weeks I continued my practice virtually daily, and then it slowly weaned.... getting to a point of no practice for months. However, so many of the principles have accompanied me for the past three and half years that whilst I may have climbed 10 steps from where I was and walked back 8, I ended up 2 steps ahead of where I was when I started. And isn't that what life is about? Advancing slowly but surely?

So this time I came back knowing not only what I was getting myself into but with a deeper motivation to understand it even better, revisit it like we used to do when studying in school... because sometimes once is just not enough. And so I find myself today, having finished the 7 day intensive retreat (8 hours daily of asanas, pranayamas and theoretical lectures) not 10 but probably 100 steps ahead of where I was a week ago, a year a ago, a lifetime ago. During my sunset asana today my eyes welled up and the tears tumbled slowly down my cheeks, one after the other, uninterrupted. And then, in my wonder of where they were coming from I realised it was from a place of happiness, of seeing - and perhaps more strongly - feeling content. Like re-opening a dear box of treasures and cherishing them even more with the wisdom and experience of time gone by.

My word today was "beauty". It came to me by surprise. At the end of our practice on the 7th day we dip our hand into the ceramic pot with the cards. Before picking our word we ask and think about what it is our persona needs to focus on over the next few days, weeks or months...however you may wish it to be. And whilst many may think it is mere chance, if there is anything I believe in, it is that we pick everything... we attract everything that comes to us for our own learning, evolution and happiness. And so, my word was beauty. How lucky. How beautiful indeed to know that my focus is to actively seek
beauty out, display beauty, incorporate beauty, appreciate beauty, flaunt beauty and wish for beauty in everything and everyone in and around me. In me first - around me next.

Beauty.

Day 2 of the yoga retreat

I had a hard time waking up this moring, even though I had 9 hours of
sleep. Aside from the cramps all over my body, I stuggle with early
mornings, no matter what. Also, meditation at 6AM was nver my idea of
fun. That would mean I should go to sleep at 8PM to be somewhat
ready. SO I showed up at 7AM for the start fo the retreat. My head
was all over the place this morning, ans sure enough, at 10 AM after
we were done and I had breakfast I fell asleep almost until 13hr. But
theis afternoon was a whole other story.... the practice was fabulous.
Yes, still sore but after doing the pranayamas and feeling sundown
makes all the difference for me.

The great thing about this retreat is revisiting it, being in a very
small group and being OK with just dedicating my time to doing yoga,
meditating, sleeping, eating and reading. That pretty much makes up my
day. I am not here to travel or visit this time. There's no pressure
(outer or self imposed) in that respect. It's simply wondeful to be
able to look out onto the Mekong and watch the water run by, hear the
dry tamarinds drop off the trees all around conking onto the roof,
look forward to rainfall. I never thought I'd say that... I look
forward to rainfall.

Mostly, I look forward to just dealing with my inner struggles,
working through the tightness and the closed up chakras, and not
having to worry about anyone else, not worry about what I can and
cannot wear today, who Iw ill see and how my hair or makeup looks. I
feel liberated and happy.

Life's Lessons

People are often unreasonable and self centered. Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies. Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you. Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight. Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous. Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow. Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never seem enough. Give the world the best you've got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God... it was
never between you and them anyway.
(Mother Theresa)