Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Blessing Party

Over the past few days I have been working on my blessing party. A Blessing Party is a way to prepare for your adventures abroad. You invite family, friends, and other loved ones to celebrate your up coming experience. We are going to have the party down at Grandmommie's cabin and it should be a grand old time. As the hosts we re going to supply the meat, bread, drinks, and dessert...which we have decided to tackle the wonderful task of making home-made ice cream. Don't know what flavors yet but I don't believe it will matter to much because home-made (anything really) is excellent.

I also have been reading a persons blog from the Spring '07 group that went to India. Within the first few weeks they started talking about reducing their carbon footprint. Thy did some calculations and discovered that in order to off set the gas that was used for them to fly to India to have a life altering experience they would need to plant five trees, which is only one way. So for the round trip they, each, would need to plant 10 trees. That's a lot of trees, but then again our planet is in need of them. My dad came up with the idea of adding in my invitations a request for ever family of guests that comes to bring a tree to off set my admissions. Only problem is that August is prime tree planting time. So I trying to be creative an come up with other ideas of what people might could bring/do to help off set my travel pollution.

On a slightly more exciting note, I finished Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. I hope along some lines that I have an experience like hers. She had quite the divine revelation while participating in her daily meditations. I think it would be wonderful to feel the things that she described. Part of her journey was to before more connected to God (she explains why she uses this word in her book, in short she is looking for the spiritual being within which she ends up calling God). I still really do not have any spiritual outlooks yet -- and I don't know if I am ready to experience some of the things she was describing. I ave a feeling that because I'm still young that I'm not really ready to have the real desire that some individuals have to link up with some spiritual being within themselves or elsewhere. I can't decide if I like that or not. I feel sort of out of place because my dad has been working on different spiritual journeys over the past few years and I feel like I should be with him -- but because of my age I just can't get there yet. It's rather frustrating actually. But one of the biggest things that Gilbert learned for her book was to put aside all thoughts and become, basically, happy. She was able to turn off her brain and let all the worry that creeps in lose....I want that! My brain must run ten miles a minute and sometimes it does affect my sleep and other parts of my life. I hoping while in India I can learn to control my thoughts and not be so hard on myself and not to worry. I have a feeling if I can achieve this I will feel upwards of a forty pound weight loss because these thoughts and feelings are so heavy. I considering trying to start now, before I go, and evolve even more while I'm there. I cannot wait for this experience because I can feel that it will be truly life changing.

Friday, June 13, 2008

Looking foward

So yesterday I decided to look into some information about where I will be traveling while in India. About half way through the semester we will be traveling to Ecodaya Island sanctuary. I was blow away by the images that are posted. I love the feel of all different kinds of rocks -- smooth, hard, and cool they have a calming effect on me. This sanctuary is a massive boulder field. As far as the eye can see rocks, all in a vibrant reddish hue during sunset. I cannot wait to experience this for myself because it seems as though it would be a life altering experience (not to mention as once-in-a-life-time one as well).

Here is the site to see this wonderful place: www.ecodaya.net/home/html