16 hour flights :(

Asians! Just boarded the flight to Hong Kong and I love it already!! It's such a different world and I'm so excited to get there. Although the seats are much smaller than anticipated and no
personal tvs...I think I'll survive the 16 hour flight, eek!

UNKNOWN

"Remember what Bilbo used to say: It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door.  You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to." - JRR Tolkien

(this pic is from Mordor, figured it was fitting)

Here I go again, right?  Traveling... it's just in my blood.  No matter how hard I try I just keep managing to find amazing opportunities to experience the world and to taste the different cultures.  Tomorrow I embark on a new adventure.  I am participating in a Graduate Educational Asian study abroad.  Basically those in the Masters in Educational Psychology were offered a chance to go and learn from different Asian Universities.  


The itinerary will be: Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul, Osaka and finally Tokyo.  After our studies I am spending a week in Japan and catching up with my Japanese friend and her family from my ward in Chandler, who is visiting her family in Tokyo. 


When first learning about the program, I figured that because I had traveled quite frequently that this trip would be just like any other.  But seriously I am about to enter the unknown.  I will be in a world where the only form of communication that is similar to mine is breathing, and I think they are better at that than me too! HA  I can't even grasp the languages or find any of the Latin roots ;) LOL ugh.  But with every hardship greatness emerges.  I have been offered so much help from fellow travelers or people whom have visited in each area.  Today I entered the excitement phase and can't wait for the uncovering of a whole new world. 


Wish me luck and look forward to my awkward stories from abroad !  ..... more to come from Asia! 

How to stay YOUNG...

1. Throw out non-essential number – This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctors worry about them. That is why you pay ‘them’.

2. Keep only cheerful friends – The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning – learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever… Never let the brain idle. ‘An idle mind is the devil’s workshop.’ And the devil’s name is Alzheimer’s.

4. Enjoy the simple things

5. Laugh often, long and loud – Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen – Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Cherish yourself with what you love, whether it’s family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health – If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don’t take guilt trips – Take a trip to the mall, even to the next county; to a foreign country but NOT where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people that you love them, at the every opportunity.

This is from a forward that my dad sent out... very profound! I love it.

Healing

Life continues to happen around us. As we each make choices daily, this affects our path and can have impact on the people around us. With that also means that others' choices can also affect us, whether it is for the positive or the negative. I have come to recognize that as we aren't in control of most things in life, we have to find a way that we are able to deal with these affects.

I am continuing with my Masters in School Counseling and I absolutely love it and can't wait to be able to make a difference in the lives of children. But with this I have really seen how much people are affected by their pasts. I have started doing research into energy healing. I love it!

"Working with chakras quickly leads to positive change. Anyone can feel its beneficial effects on mind and body. At the same time, the growing interest in holistic healing methods has highlighted the importance of the chakras in furthering physical healing. We have to come to recognize that healing should provide more than symptomatic relief; the more subtle and encompassing the method, the more effective it will be"

Not only are there energy's within each of our own personal 'chakra', but energy that surrounds our beings. It is within our environment. So with that, we can help to create an environment that will be most beneficial to our life. "The light side of [energy] was the facet aligned with compassion, selflessness, self-knowledge and enlightenment, healing, mercy and benevolence, while the dark side of [energy] was the element aligned with hatred, fear, covetousness, anger, aggression, jealousy and malevolence. The Unifying [energy] essentially embraced space and time in its entirety while the Living [energy] dealt with the energy of living things. Though this energy was categorized in this way, there were no specific abilities or powers that were only usable by a follower of a different path of energy; the [energy] partially existed inside the life forms that used it, and drew energy from their emotions."

To make a long story short basically I truly believe that our physical bodies are inhibited by the energy around us. Some of it is our own fault from the choices we make and yet it is also affected because of our surroundings. We need to connect our body, mind, and spirit together to help create an atmosphere that we can dwell in.

We are in fact in control of our happiness and well-being.

WHIRLPOOLS

I feel like everyone I speak to is grasping for breath... Let me preface this, everyone in this life must face trials and each of them are completely different. For the most part we are trying to do our best to be a good citizen, friend, husband, wife, daughter, mother, lover, neighbor, etc. For me at this moment, I feel like life has become a whole lot of distractions, not necessarily bad distractions but pulling at me in every direction. Some days it feels like it takes everything I have to just lift my head up for a breath. The world is spinning all around us and all we can do now is to remember the few things that we can hold onto that will give us the strength to pull us completely into the eye of the pool. For some of us it is our family, friends, spirituality, God, love, etc. Some days we are gasping more than others... I just hope we can each find that strength to make it out.

Currently living

After 5 years of being out of school…it seems impossible to start again. My mind ponders, how was I ever able to do this before? But the refining process has begun. I am now finishing my first class in my graduate program and I am getting better and better at using my time wisely. I am learning and growing daily. I am currently living in Arizona and attending the NAU Masters in School Counseling at their extension campuses.

On top school I am continuing to work full time, as a travel agent. I don’t stay still well, so my occasional weekend trips continually happen. Plus I recently got called as the Mia Maid advisor and I am going to Girls camp as the ward cabin mom! Then on top of all of this, yes it must be said; I am still single and trying to meet a boy. I have realized that I need to just prioritize my time effectively to make my life bearable for now.

I have also began to listen to Dave Ramsey and his budgeting ways… I am trying to pay off my student debt (as I accumulate more, bahahaha). I am just trying to be more intelligent in all aspects of my life.

"Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved." -- Helen Keller.

Spirit of the Andes

Sitting at the top of 4600 meters (=15000 ft or half of Everest) I had a moment to reflect on all that I have seen along this trek...Let me tell you a story about their lives. These Quechua people basically have what they provide for themselves. At the home we visited, was a family of 5. A woman who owned the home and then her sister with her 3 children. The oldest child was not home as he is 7 and walks 2 hours to school every day. The children (Christian was the boy's name, but I don't remember the little girls name?) were so happy and excited to see us. I gave little Christian a mandarin orange and he was so happy. He wouldn't put it down.

The family let us into their single roomed home, picture this: one end is the kitchen, pots and pans stored on the ground and the fireplace where they will cook all of their food. The roof of the house is black from the smoke of the fires. All along the edges is their storage and anything to be kept dry surround the main part of the home. On the opposite end of the home is a leveled room. No doors, we could just see the bedding. There are guinea pigs, cats and dogs that all share this with the family. The Coy/ guinea pigs are one of the healthiest meats and although they are pets now, will one day be consumed by the family. Hanging from the ceiling of the home was meat from animals, the neck and ribs of an alpaca, etc. You can't even begin to describe how humbling this family's home was.

As our group sat around the edges of the inside of the home, Johan told us about their lives. What makes these people happy and how the continue to live their life in such a simple way. I remained speechless and was touched and changed in ways I don't think I have been in a long, long time. The Quechua people are some of the least selfish people around. In their communities everything is shared. Everyone contributes to the work. If they are going to build a home for a new couple, everyone comes and helps. If they need help with their farms, everyone contribues. Johan said that the government has tried to help them and make their communities 'more modern', but that it never took for them. Because they don't view life as we do. They don't understand all that we know and for that matter, don't need all that we have.

When did we become such a selfish people? I am definitely not saying that I would prefer to live like they do, but it humbles me and helps put into perspective the things that I need to better myself; more giving and willing to help others. I don't need as much as I think to survive. I do not pity these people in the slightest. I respect them for who they are and how they continue to raise their families and live their lives. These people truly are what makes the Spirit of the Andes.