citizen of the planet.

It was exactly one year ago this week that I went to South East Asia to study the history, culture and religions of various countries, obviously I was enthralled by the entire experience. I am so restless here at home, I need to travel somewhere soon. What I would give to be riding in the side kick cars in the Philippines, or at a Mosque in the jungles of Malaysia or hanging out with monks in Thailand. That trip was my very own eat,pray,love a la Gilbert style, I learned, listened, prayed, read, wrote, cried, ate and lived lived lived it all up. I cannot put into words how vital this trip was to my soul, without sounding too earthy or spiritual or ridiculous it healed me of a lot of pains, helped me put things into a better perspective, discover what I believed and let go of memories and relationships that were damaging to my psyche.

There was one very memorable time when we were studying at the University of Chiang Mai in Thailand and a hunched over 90 something year old monk was lecturing us. I was captivated by every word he said, despite being so old and having to walk with a cane this man was more alive then any one I had ever met, and he had a killer sense of humour (no pun). I felt like he must understand humanity since he has lived so long, and met so many different people and felt so many different kinds of pain and joys. I was sitting at my desk and become SO overwhelmed by thinking of how blessed I was to be learning from this wise old man and being able to come back to Thailand for the second time in my short life that I started crying in class. Not loud embarrassing crying, but happy tears that you can hide. All that crying was coming after a 5 year hiatus of not being able to cry, now emotions strike me whenever I least expect it. One piece of advice the wise man gave us that has stuck with me till this day is....

"When you are alone watch your thoughts, when you are with friends watch your mouth, a friendship of 20 years can be ruined by one word".

I should be able to recognise every day that I am so blessed but sometimes it only comes when you are experiencing something great and unusual, I should be more perceptive.