[warning: this is a longer blog post than the ones in the past - if you feel like you only have time to read one paragraph, please skip to the end and read the highlighted paragraph]
Reflections and gratitude are what’s on the mind as we write
this blogpost. We are now back in
California and we get that strange feeling that one gets after being away for a
while. It’s that feeling that nothing
has changed and yet everything has changed.
It has only been a week since we’ve returned and I’m not sure we've processed all that we’ve learned yet.
In any case, we wanted to capture key learnings for our benefit (and
hopefully yours) and also express deep gratitude to the many people that
enabled this wonderful journey to happen for us. Let’s start with the learning:
- Connecting with people – Starting with Justin McGurrin (see earlier blog entry), experiencing how to connect with people is one of the most valuable lessons we’ve learned in the past two months. Human connection is the very fuel of life. Oftentimes in our day-to-day lives or even in our social interactions with others, we tend to feel that making a connection with each and every person we meet is not so easy. We tend to look for commonalities…like common backgrounds, geographic proximity in living, having similar families, etc. as the food that feeds connections with individuals. Our experience in Jamaica has told us that none of that really matters. Being able to look into the eyes of some of the arguably most ‘dangerous criminals’ and see the humanness, and the child crying out for help was incredible. The only commonality that really matters is that we all belong to the same race – the human race. To embrace someone who has murdered, someone who’s background couldn’t be more different and to see that really, we are all the same; this been one of the most profound lessons of our lives. We all have the capacity within us to care for others and give love and respect beyond our judgmental minds. This capacity is limited only by our own intentions. If we have a pure intention to make a positive difference in the lives of others, there are no barriers or differences that can hold back from connecting. The power of this kind of intention can change lives, move mountains, and shift continents.
- Intention, Attention, Manifestation – The aforementioned is the title of a talk given by Sri Sri Ravi Shanker on the power of our intention and attentions in life. In Jamaica, we saw this full force. Dushyant Savadia, the International Director of the Carribean for Art of Living is a great example of this principle in action. Dushyant has only been in the Caribbean for a year, but what he has been able to accomplish with a help of a few key people has been amazing. Through events like the historical Shaggy concert at the maximum-security prison and another smaller scale event at Haile Selassie, he has been able to generate a tremendous amount of press for Art of Living. Due to Dushyant and his team’s work, Jamaica’s Minister of Defense honored Art of Living in front of the entire parliament. When we asked Dushyant how he is able to do all he does and manifest big things he says he first puts a strong intention towards what he wants to do, prays, and then puts his attention on it. And sure enough…poof…it happens! It has been a great experience watching him and realizing that it is only our own thinking that limits what we can accomplish in life. The next time we have an outlandish idea or are faced with a task that seems unachievable, we need only to reflect on Dushyant’s example to draw the inspiration to put our intentions and attentions toward manifesting the ‘impossible’.
- Faith – We spoke about faith in the very first blog, so we will make this point brief. Faith gives us courage to do things we would not normally do if we left it to our intellectual minds to decide. And very often it is these things that faith has supported us to do that make our lives so rich. Faith is also self-perpetuating. The more faith-based decisions/actions you take, the more your faith tends to grow. The more our faith has grown, so have our feelings of gratitude and fearlessness. It has been a great gift.
- Purpose – There has been no other time in our lives when we have woken up every day and never doubted our sense of purpose. During our time in Jamaica, almost every day we woke up with the knowledge that we have the opportunity to really change a life that day…what could be a better use of our day???!!! We feel so fortunate. Many people go their whole lives without feeling that sense of purpose. In fact, we have gone many years of our lives not feeling it either. Now that we have a taste of what if feels like…we are hooked! What we have experienced is that finding something you enjoy doing and then doing in the service of others is what gives a sense of purpose. The joy in what you do and the component of service go hand and hand and one cannot really find purpose if either are missing. We as human beings need to be of value to others and we need to express ourselves/our creativity to feel fulfilled. Finding out what ‘that’, the thing that makes your heart sing (as one woman put it), is for each of us is certainly worth the pursuit.
Lastly, this journey has taught us that we all can take this
step to help others. Even those of us
with intense career paths and/or family responsibilities can spend cycles doing
this. What’s amazing is that the rewards
are generous - we just need a little courage to take that first step.
Now to the gratitude:
First and foremost our deepest thanks goes to ‘the man’ –
Sri Sri Ravi Shankar. This experience
teaching the knowledge he so brilliantly put together over 30 years ago helped
us get a deeper understanding of his true genius. The knowledge itself has so much power to
help people of any race, age, gender, background, etc. have a better life on
the one hand. On the other hand, he has
so graciously allowed simple people like us to become teachers and spread this
knowledge, providing such an amazing growth opportunity. Teaching challenges you and makes you face
your own flaws while it also feeds your soul with the gratification of putting
smiles on people’s faces and even healing their broken hearts.
Second, we owe much gratitude to Dushyant Savadia who
decided to take a chance by letting us come over to Jamaica. He was brave enough to entrust the reputation
of Art of Living to us while we were teaching.
We hope we have benefitted him and AOL Caribbean even half as much as we
have gained.
Third, we have to thank mom/mom-in-law Santha and our girls
Zara and Sana. Without their sacrifice
of being cooped up at home, losing a measurable amount of freedom and comfort,
we would never have been able to impact all the people we did in Jamaica. Their service was behind the scenes while we
received the personal gratitude of the people we were teaching, they had to
make sacrifices without much direct reward.
They have been, without a doubt, the wind beneath our wings.
All the people in Jamaica that helped us along the way with
offers for housing, transportation, and logistics assistance have been angels
to us. Most of all, their warmth and
hospitality made us feel at home and welcome.
Specifically from we’d like to thank:
From Kingston
-
Manisha and Sundeep Shah who were our go to
people for all questions, they helped us find an apartment and car we rented
for many weeks
-
Sundeep’s parents Sudha and Deepak who were
across the street from our apartment and always so helpful and great with the
kids
-
Liz and Richard Oliver from whom we rented an
apartment, who were so helpful in different ways everyday and who’s 2 year-old
son Logan became Zara and Sana’s adopted Jamaican brother (he even called Devan
‘daddy’)
From Montego Bay
-
Tammy and Blaise Hart who were so generous is
housing us and lending us their car; Tammy Hart has one of the biggest hearts
of anyone we have ever met and she just exudes love, Jamaica and Art of Living
are lucky to have her
-
Katherine Maye and her husband Frank who also
housed and fed us for days in Montego Bay; their house became a real second
home to us and their generosity of spirit and openness made us feel so close to
them is such a short period of time
We also want to thank all our friends, family, and
colleagues who have supported us throughout this process whether it be by
sacrificing seeing our girls for two months (which was pure torture for some!)
or by simply reading our blog and encouraging us along the way.
Only a chapter of this journey has ended. We will continue to be involved in helping
improve conditions at Haile Selassie High School and provide financial
assistance to educate some very high potential children in impoverished local
communities. In fact, we have decided to
personally sponsor a few children for their education and are working on a
proposal to help raise funds for the many projects needed at Haile Selassie. The children of Jamaica are in great
need. Please find it in your heart to
make a contribution and change a life for the better. You can contact us by email to make any
donations. We have seen first hand how
very far our dollars can go.
With Much Thanks and Love
