I have just returned from a trip to Cambodia and Laos. I went there along with a colleague, Kyoko, to offer training to some local people. The recipients of the training were people that work with youth. It is our hope that the training supports the development of the next generation of leaders in the region.
I had fun meeting everybody and also experiencing a variety of great food. One particular dish was ants, which I would describe as crunchy and spicy.
I was last in Cambodia almost 14 years ago and it was remarkable to see the explosion of growth and development that has taken place there.
In Laos the last day of the training coincided with the beginning of their New Years festival also known as the Water Festival. During this time it seems that the only rule that applies is that everyone must get soaked and stay soaked for at least three days. The energy of the past is washed away to allow a fresh and “clean” start to the coming year.
It became a game of stealth to attempt to move around Vientiane knowing that I would be getting drenched by buckets of water thrown on by well meaning partiers while trying to save my camera from the same fate.
Even my final ride to the airport in an open tuk tuk was riding through a gauntlet of well wishers throwing water using every conceivable container they could find. There is nothing like arriving at the check in counter at the airport soaking wet from head to toe.
Many thanks to the engaged Buddhist movement and SEM (Spirit in Education Movement) and Jar, our friend and South East Asia contact who organized the trip, SRPD in Cambodia and PADETC in Laos for sponsoring us.
Sawaidee Bee Mai (Happy New Year) Everybody
Patrick Ryan
www.AwakenedWisdom.com
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
A Life Well Lived
Imagine a life in which you managed to rise above the fears and concerns that tend to linger faithfully in the background, haunting us with their song of intended safety and urgings to keep the status quo. What if you could shut out the voices that tell you all about what you CAN'T do, the ones that work to diminish the fullness of who you are?
You know the voices I mean. Imagine for a moment, that you integrated those voices in a good way, so that they no longer gripped you but rather just informed you about interesting and relevant conditions to which you should pay attention. And now, as you are no longer held in false constraints you are free - free to listen and respond to the wisdom of the moment, free to wonder what is possible in creating more beauty and dreams, and free to respond to the yearning of your heart that knows more is always possible.
Your wisdom informs you through every beat of your heart and through every thought of inspiration. Your wisdom informs you through your body which responds to the world around you as a drum responds to the vibration of the room at rest; it is waiting for the drummer to pick it up and bring its beat to life. You must of course be willing to respond to this wisdom. You must be willing to risk shaking up your world and the world of those around you and ask, What is needed? You must also be willing to risk losing that which seems precious to you. Holding on to anything is futile. If something is still right for you it will stay, and if it is no longer serving you, your holding onto it will only delay the inevitable. Worry not, because you were never in control of those things anyway.
Allowing good things to pass along through your life keeps the spaces open for other good things to come in, and come in they will if there is space - an opening. You must be willing to engage in the dance of life with flexibility and compassion and as you move you may dance in-joy. Stay in the game and turn it over at the same time. Turn it over to this great universe in which we live. Invite the universe in and listen to the call. Like the call and response of a great drum circle. It’s the call that informs you that NOW is the time to move. Now, is the time for you to commit to take one more step towards that dream that is relentlessly calling you into it.
And why not? Did you think it could wait for another day?
You know the voices I mean. Imagine for a moment, that you integrated those voices in a good way, so that they no longer gripped you but rather just informed you about interesting and relevant conditions to which you should pay attention. And now, as you are no longer held in false constraints you are free - free to listen and respond to the wisdom of the moment, free to wonder what is possible in creating more beauty and dreams, and free to respond to the yearning of your heart that knows more is always possible.
Your wisdom informs you through every beat of your heart and through every thought of inspiration. Your wisdom informs you through your body which responds to the world around you as a drum responds to the vibration of the room at rest; it is waiting for the drummer to pick it up and bring its beat to life. You must of course be willing to respond to this wisdom. You must be willing to risk shaking up your world and the world of those around you and ask, What is needed? You must also be willing to risk losing that which seems precious to you. Holding on to anything is futile. If something is still right for you it will stay, and if it is no longer serving you, your holding onto it will only delay the inevitable. Worry not, because you were never in control of those things anyway.
Allowing good things to pass along through your life keeps the spaces open for other good things to come in, and come in they will if there is space - an opening. You must be willing to engage in the dance of life with flexibility and compassion and as you move you may dance in-joy. Stay in the game and turn it over at the same time. Turn it over to this great universe in which we live. Invite the universe in and listen to the call. Like the call and response of a great drum circle. It’s the call that informs you that NOW is the time to move. Now, is the time for you to commit to take one more step towards that dream that is relentlessly calling you into it.
And why not? Did you think it could wait for another day?
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