Happy holidays to all peoples around the world.
I'm home!
I've had the most wonderful Christmas with my family and friends, full of all the good things in life. I'm so blessed to be back, mostly in one piece, I'm taking penicillin for a systemic strep infection but I'm feeling better than I've felt in a long time. Clean air, good food, music, friends and family all around me, surrounding me with light. Life is a blessing and I intend to life it with this thought foremost in my mind. This journey has changed me so much, I'm me, still bouncy, exuberant and full of joy. Yet I've added so much more to myself on this journey. As this chapter of my life, over thirteen months, closes and another begins I'm determined to walk this path I've set before myself to make the biggest change I can for humanity and our home, the earth. The journey that I walked, bussed, trained and flew is mirrored entirely by what happened within. Looking back, two weeks ago, I was living an entirely different life, and now I've slipped, seamlessly back into my life. Back to old patterns, back to old ways, but something has changed within me. A door has been unlocked and I know how to stand up and turn the knob. To stand in awe and rapture at what's on the other side. A life of beauty, awe and bliss, I can create my life however I wish and I'm determined to make the biggest change I can. I'm so blessed to be home with my amazing family to have so many loving friends and to be alive in a time when I can be the change I wish to see.

I will continue to blog when I feel the urge, I will be gardening while living in Ashland, 5% of my profits will be going to different NGO's that I worked with on my travels. 5% is a drop in the bucket really but it's my way to begin the loop, to start to give back and consecrate all of my actions to God, Humanity and the Earth.

One of the reasons that felt the need to return to our beautiful home nestled in the northwest was for hope. I have been carrying a weight on my leg, that only seemed to be growing, link by link as I saw the poor, sick, and helpless during my sojourn. The disparity in the world is only growing and it has become personal, not something seen on TV, read about or heard secondhand, but my experience. I went to look and came back with so much more than photos. I pray that I touched people as much as they touched me.

I wrote this poem the morning of the 22nd after watching the sunrise above Lithia Park at the Ashland Castles.

Hope

Eyes on the sky,
Waiting.
Wind,
Scented with frozen forests
Tickles past my face
tearing my eyes with it's wild hair
Pushing at my minds clouds
heavy with doubt.
Ears, filled with the arrow sharp song
of the towees and robins
Dispelling the fear of a world unwhole.
Every breath, crisp, clear, cold
Intoxicating my nostrils with its fragrance,
feeding not only my lungs but my entire being.
Tea, brewed to perfection
tantalizes my tongue with its exotic taste
drawing me back
to days spent on street corners
watching life meander by.

I'm the audience, prepared by my senses
to take a leap into the divine dance.
Poised on my rock, ready for the drama to unfold.

The moon set the stage, a white crescent
alone in a deep blue sky.
Then.
Light, Brilliant white light
ascends over the snowy landscape
to lay a kiss upon the valley
Freeing her from the winds cold embrace.
Birds take their cue
singing to the glory of the moment
Light overcoming darkness once again
in the endless dance.

Warmth floods my body
filling me with light
overcoming the doubt
fear
and sadness
from months seeing with eyes unmasked.
This elixir penetrates my being,
through a crack into my soul
it expands
Nectar of life
baptizing my soul
removing the "was" and "will be."
I am here, I am alive.

Darbar Sahib, Heaven on Earth

A full year since I first stepped foot in the Golden temple of Amritsar, so many things have changed, I've grown in ways indescribable. I wanted to have my mind blown and that's most assuredly what's happened. These last months have been especially intense, thus my lack of writing, how to write when I can't even come to conclusions within my own mind. Three more days, then I'll be on a plane leaving the reality that I've drenched myself in for the last 13 months. To be plopped back home during the holiday season, how wonderful. I can't think of anything better :D
I've just had a most fabulous of birthdays, Ben Small ( his blog: http://liminaldivagation.blogspot.com/ )
and I spent a most fabulous day blissed out in the Golden Temple. We napped in grass, soaking up the winter sun, podded(?) peas, rolled flatbreads and listened to the chanting of the Sikh holy book. I'm blessed, if there is one thing to take back from India, it's the sense that our lives are so precious, that we have all the capabilities to do whatever we'd like with our lives. Through these months I've had the whole gamut of experiences, but there is a common thread that stitches the fabric of life together. Whatever one would like to call it there is something there, something un-quantifiable, ever present. It is what augments our humanity, allows us to raise above the world that is so screwed up and recognize that this world is beautiful and our lives are so precious. I've had my real world experience, and in realizing deep within me how blessed I am, I now am going to do as much as I can to make this world a palace for all.
Being in the presence of this magical place is filling me with the highest aspirations for myself and the world. The Golden temple is a model, all are included, everyone's invited to serve, eat, sleep and pray. I'm going to enjoy these moments so that when I can pass along a little bit of this feeling, to bridge the gap between India and the USA, of us and them, you and me, god and humanity.
I'm not such a good writer and I'm especially out of practice, but nonetheless I will try to say this as best I can.
THANK YOU! I'm a product of the world, culture, community, friends, family, and everything in between. I'm 20 years old! Twenty blessed years I've been in this body and I'm so happy for everyone along the way. Have a wonderful time and I'll see everyone soon :D
Blessings from The Golden Temple