India Journal 2006 #20 March 8-10 THE FIRST LESSON / POEM AND SHOPPING!!

Well, for those of you who have been following my travels over the past 6 years, you know that every trip holds certain lessons for me, and each trip is different in character and unique in the ways these lessons are shown to me. (Later in this post I will give a quick rundown of what I've been doing the past few days so skip over the next part if you choose to and move down to read the full "travel" part of the story.

This trip is no different of course, and, in spite of all the busyness of the past week (or perhaps because of it), I remained awake almost the whole night last night (and that is part of another story which will eventually follow), and while awake, some wonderful things and insights presented themselves to me. I will share them with you, but since they are more concerned with things other than travels, I will post them on the Mindfulness Journal and you can access the lesson, the Poem, the quotes, the understandings etc.,
HERE and
HERE

On second thought, am posting here as well...simply easier for my readers:

The Sudden Need to Know-

But knowing is not what it seems to be
Is knowing knowledge?
or is it understanding of TRUTH!
To know what your personal truth IS, is the most profound
form of understanding.
And when what you know to be TRUE is what guides you
along your path,
Then you may stumble at times, you may even feel a momentary fear
when faced with some new obstacle,
But you will never stray

Because you KNOW!!

LESSON ONE:
TRUST IN THE DIVINE AND PUT YOUR FAITH IN TRUTH

My TRUTH is service to others! I have know this for a very long time, but it was shot with an arrow which hit the target bull's eye this time!!

And, just as all this came together, I read the following in Paulo Coelho's book which I am now reading:
...Death is possibly THE most important thing. We are all walking towards death, but we never know when death will touch us and it is our duty, therefore, to look around us, to be grateful for each minute. But we should also be grateful to death, because it makes us think about the importance of each decision we take, or fail to take: it makes us stop doing anything that keeps us stuck in the category of the "living dead" and, instead, urges us to risk everything, to bet everything on those things we always dreamed of doing, because, whether we like it or not, the angel of death is waiting for us.

So, this is the poem, and the lesson, and I will now work and making things move along, always following the guidance I am so lovingly given each and every moment of each and every day (and night)!


in the Mindfulness Journal. You will also find there a post about an amazing healing I was asked to perform and guided with specific instructions to, as well. (To be posted shortly...look for it).

Within several days I received the message through the tree, the poem and specific lesson, and then an amazing Tarot reading in my room at night...all things giving further validation to the messages sent to me this past week. So check them out on the other blog if you are so inclined, and if not, just continue reading here with some regular, ordinary news of my days in Rishikesh.

Friday, March 9th
Just a pleasant day, where I had the last of my 5 back massages, spent some time in internet still trying to catch up, then walked down to Laxman Jula, got my CD's, sat at a lovely coffee shop overlooking the Ganga, had my first cappucino in India and met a lovely German lady named Sabina. Returned home afterwards and that's when I did a Tarot reading for myself as mentioned above, and it will appear on the other blog.

Had dinner in my room, received a call from one of my daughters, went up to visit a sick friend, gave her Ginger and reiki and she woke up fine the next morning, call from my Mother and then back up to the room for needlepoint, some lovely classical music, and off to sleep.

Saturday, March 10th
SHOPPING DAY!!
I had actually decided to do some shopping yesterday, but when I got to the first shop, I realized that I had forgotten my money in my room!! I guess I was meant to do something requiring less energy yesterday, like eat cake and drink cappucion and talk to a nice lady at a coffee shop overlooking the Ganga.....

Anyway, I've already found the perfect gifts for my granddaughters, but had a list of shawels to buy for many people, and with the variety of shawels available here, I kept putting it off. I hate shopping in general, and having to pick things for other people is always very difficult, particularly with the descriptions THEY give, how I understand them, and the enormous choice of items available in the shops.
So, I got myself together, and first had a good lunch, where I met a lovely lady from South Africa, and finally went on my way to check out the shawel shops. And, even though it was difficult, there was pleasure in the shopping as the store keepers were really nice, pleasant, patient and didn't try to push anything. In addition, they had each shawel marked with a price and immediately told me there would be a 25% discount at the end of the purchase. So that also saved me the torture of bargaining which I hate doing and am hopeless at anyway. I had already checked prices so new approximately what I should be paying...and also found out that the shawels here are either the same price or even cheaper than the ones in Dharamsala, so decided to shop here and get my package off, and get the shopping off my mind. There are many Indians shopping here and the prices are the same for everyone which is a good feeling.

So, whether everyone will be satisfied or not, I do not know, but I am done with shopping for now and think I have put some lovely things into the parcel which I will send shortly. When I get home, I will show everyone what I chose for them...also several for myself there. I know my friends will have what they want as well as my Mother, as they described something very specific which I found to my great delight. My daughters on the other hand, gave me very abstract vague descriptions of what they wanted, so much was left to my interpretation.

Came back home quite pleased, rested and here I am. I will now go over to the other blog and see if I can get some of the other really fascinating events into writing for whoever is interested in reading them.

Namaste
Jane