Letting go…….
"You should not be too eager to help right away. There are two things: to be and to do. Don’t think too much about to do—to be is first. To be peace. To be joy. To be happiness. And then to
do joy, to do happiness—on the basis of being. So first you have to focus on the practice of being. Being fresh. Being peaceful. Being attentive. Being generous. Being compassionate. This is the basic practice. It’s like if the other person is
sitting at the foot of a tree. The tree does not do anything, but the tree is fresh and alive. When you are like that tree, sending out waves of freshness, you help to calm down the suffering in the other person. Thich Nhat Hanh
From time
to time, to remind ourselves to relax and be peaceful, we may wish to set aside some time for a retreat, a day of mindfulness, when we can walk slowly, smile, drink tea with a friend, enjoy being together as if we are the happiest people on Earth. ~Thích
Nhất Hạnh
As a mother/grandmother, a therapist, a special teacher, special educator and social therapist, social worker…I always tend to feel the need to do…for others…
My time here
in Bhutan, for the first time since a long time I felt no special need …to do…..I was really surprised by myself...
I feel my time here is a lot about being…being here…being with whoever I meet…BEING!
Doing one step at a time…learning not to project too much in the future but just to be and be HAPPY!
Autumn is my best teacher…nature is my best teacher…the mountain is my best teacher…my husband is my best
teacher…my children and grandchildren are my best teacher…my friends are my best teacher….just BEING is my best teacher…Bhutan is my best teacher….Bhutan’s great teachers are my best teacher…
Today I met Josh in Ambient café…one of the really “in” cafés of Thimphu. It has charming owners…good coffee…good music and most young western volunteers meet there to “hang out” and have a good
time.
I had met Josh in the plane on my first trip to Bhutan in July. He is a young special educator/teacher, trained in the US (California) and he came here 4 months to help build up classes for children with disabilities.
I realized when seeing him that I had not made the effort to visit his school or to get “involved” in a way or another in special education here in Bhutan. How surprising…I guess I start to learn…
I really
feel that it is not what I have to do at this point in my life…get involved "as usual"…be active "as usual"…but rather to learn to let go…to be present to what lives inside/outside…to be….
Of course
I did my work for Eurasia (www.eurasia.org.vn) but I did it calmly, peacefully…not over active…trusting the new generation…feeling FREE
Bhutan comes at a very special moment
in my life…I feel it is important to “get this message” that Life is offering me and to live it fully and to ….let go….
Yes it is a sort of a retreat here for me...will it be 3 years 3 months and 3 days?????
Ps....something totally different: Tho and me went out to eat tonight...for our goodbye dinner. The lady at the restaurant spent the whole evening sitting and talking with us, It was a deep sharing about contentment, our mothers, friendship,
ecology...when we wanted to pay...she invited us..next chapter will be about friendship...I guess!