The Launch :- Spiritual Radiance Tours

Today, the day after a new moon, a full solar eclipse and Spring equinox, please allow me to present my new business venture – Spiritual Radiance Tours.

It has been my intention for the past few years to share my joy of travel. Within this time, I wasn’t sure what was the best method, in addition to this blog. The experiences I have gained by combining spirituality and travel has been life changing to say the least for me.

My journeys have taken me to various corners of the world, however, it has also taken me to the deep and sometimes dark corners of my inner world. Aspects of myself that I have neglected or forgotten. Aspects of myself that needed resolution. Aspects that I needed to accept as a part of me.

I am nothing without my past. I live in the present and embrace the future.

Spiritual Saturday :- Start Where You Are

At the end of each year, countless people around the world look back at the events and experiences they gained in the past 365 days. From there, they make an assessment or a comparison to what they had promised themselves the year prior. More often than not, a comparison to the accomplishments of those in their social circle are made.

The endless lists. New Year Resolutions. Life goals. Promises.

It begs the question – How constructive is this exercise???

Spiritual Saturday :- Signs

What’s a sign? What’s in a sign?

To me many things are signs from the Universe. Road signs and proper signage are too literal. Though when I think I’m lost – wandering, seeking and at the exact moment when I look up and see a sign, an indication I am on track – that provides not only reassurance, it also provides a boost to my confidence, adding fuel to a waning storage of energy and perhaps confidence. A reminder that I’m on track, on the path.

The path in life may not necessarily be the shortest path between 2 points. It maybe extremely long – feel like I’m completely lost and off track at times. However, I have been told and sometimes reminded that there is no wrong path. I may perhaps learn more lessons on a longer and a more meandering path but I will gain what I need to gain.

Spiritual Saturday :- Past Lives in Paris Unravels

Where do I begin… In March of 2013, I checked into a hostel at the border town of Foz do Iguacu, Brazil. There in the 4-bed dorm room, I found a book on the shelf of the closet. I picked it up, the title of the book “Sarah’s Key” written by Tatiana de Rosnay. I thought to myself, “Why not give this a read – It’s been ages since you last read a book that’s not a travel guidebook.”

I admit I’m typically a slow reader unless the book intrigues me. This was one of those – I finished the book in 2 days despite the fact that I still found time to visit the Iguazzu falls on the Brazilian side and a local Buddhist Temple. The book tells a story of a Jewish girl who lived in Paris, France. On the 16th of July in 1942, the French police rounded up all the Jews in Paris and sent them to Vélodrome d’Hiver (Vel’ d’Hiv). She had locked her brother inside the secret cupboard in their Parisian apartment to keep him safe, with a promise to return. She became a child of the Vel’ d’Hiv roundup.

No other Holocaust story has struck me like this. I cried painfully as though I was the girl in the story when I finished the book. Even when I visited Auschwitz-Birkenau in 2009, I did not react like this. My heart ached. I felt physical pain. I could not understand why the connection.

Spiritual Saturday :- Totem Animals

Ever cross path with an animal or an insect – unexpectedly?! So much so, they startle you and stops you in your tracks??

Be it a spider, ant, frog, dragonfly, chicken, bat, goats.

I don’t mean the animals you see when you go to a zoo or pet store. I mean the animals that you encounter while minding your own business. Like a butterfly that suddenly catches your attention while you are on your daily run. That neighbor’s pet turtle which never leaves their house but suddenly is walking across your path outside.

Well recently, it keeps occurring to me. Animals capture my attention in unexpected locations at unexpected time of day. I jot down the encounters and when I get on the interweb I google them and see what they symbolize as an animal totem. Often times, the meaning as provided are immediate reminders of emotions or thoughts I have been avoiding or unaware of or have not considered. Synchronicity is at play and the Universe makes it hard to ignore.

Spiritual Saturday :- Tibetan Buddhism in Hamburg

It’s 3 am and I’m having a rare late night outing. I’ve traveled to Hamburg, Germany to visit a friend I met while traveling through Penang, Malaysia. The one-way flight from Antalya, Turkey cost me only 50€.

Walking through the neighborhood of St. Pauli – throngs of people with drinks and cigarettes enjoy the Friday night with their friends and new acquaintances. I am no different. As we walked from one bar to another I look up and see prayer flags fluttering in the late night breeze.

Om Mani Padme Hung

Spiritual Saturday :- Overcoming the Fear of Water Pt. 2

Over the past 10 years I’ve come to believe and realize that life moves in the form of a spiral. Sometime moving upward / forward. Sometimes moving downward / backward. Sometimes moving just sideways. It never stands still, even though it might seem that way.

The spiral may be tight and intense. The spiral may be easy and fluid. Life lessons pop up along the way and until I have comprehended the various aspects of that life lesson, it will keep surfacing in my life, through different interactions, through different experiences and different circumstances.

With my fear of water, it’s been a lifelong thing as mentioned in this post and this other post.