Happily Sleepless in Galicia, Spain

At the moment, I am still pinching myself just to check if I am indeed here in Spain. I am deeply thankful to the universe for this gift. The power of dreams is great and so is the power of words. I remember that I had already told myself years ago that if I'd be going to Europe for the first time, then it would be in Spain. Years came by and I had forgotten about it. And then this Seminar on Sustainable Cultural Tourism here in Santiago de Compostela came, and then I am here, and I am awed. As soon as I held the invitation letter in my hands, my heart beat faster, and I knew then that I had to apply. I had to go through some seeming obstacles, but then a moment came when I knew that the universe is dead serious in proceeding with its gift for me, asserting itself at each opportunity, and is merely checking if it was indeed me at the other end receiving, wide-eyed and ready. And I realize that I am ready for it. And I am thankful that I've attracted back this dream at this point of my life when I am ready for it. And more than ever, I am deeply thankful.

So, I am here in beautiful Santiago de Compostela and I had the chance to connect with 20 plus other people from this side of the planet and from Asia (with my co-participants in the seminar from Vietnam, Cambodia, East Timor and Sri Lanka). Again, I am deeply thankful.

Interestingly, on Oct 25, on my 9th day here, I received this amazing email from my good friend Annie Luis (who also wished for me to get this Spanish opportunity), sharing a blog entry by Jason Mraz which resonated deeply within me:
_____________

Rei,

Just wanted to share this blog entry from our gorgeous Jason Mraz! Hoping Spain's great! Enjoy!!!!
-annie


4 Leaves Left

“I thought about one of my favorite Sufi poems, which says that God long ago drew a circle in the sand exactly around the spot where you are standing right now. I was never not coming here. This was never not going to happen."
— Elizabeth Gilbert

I’ve never been lucky enough to find a four-leaf clover. I’ve been gifted plenty, but I never found one on my own accord down on my hands and knees. Then again, I’ve never committed to a long look. But I will admit that in all my years in this child body, whenever I found myself stooped in the grass, fingering between blades of green and those greener, I always hoped that that day’s first charmed discovery would be made by me.

In all of life, failure in the finding never got me down. The upset shows itself as a sign that that my luck would show up as something different, and perhaps a much larger version of itself. So, there was rarely a need to squander a precious moment and/or add a rare and mutant flower to the vision board.

I apply the same theory to never winning the lottery. I know I’m not supposed to get my millions for free. For this I am always eager to earn it.

There were plenty of jobs where I wasn’t hired, many of them in music and theatre. Rejection left me bouncing off of so many NO’s that I learned to be encouraged by the defeats. I found I had more talents to cultivate, more songs to write, more moxie to move. I was always complete in knowing I was moving in the right direction.

Yesterday I sprawled across an infinite patch of tropical clover on a near deserted stretch of one of Maui’s sacred shores, basking in a pink grapefruit sunrise. I warmed and awakened every sense and chakra taking sips of the new day, gulps of air and gasps of soul soothing ginger as tea. In my mind I harmonized with the crow of the cock and purred along with the hush and shush of the swaying palms in a Pakalani filled paradise. I pulled wild hairs from my eyes and allowed my body to dry itself of the sweat fostered a few minutes before in the steamy pre-dawn sauna.

Naked, I acknowledged the elements for granting me such a blessed life. With nothing to offer the world in that moment, my naked newborn self offered up love, laughter, and gratitude. From far out to sea, God, on a cruise ship perhaps, sighed as if to say “well done” and returned the love and gratitude in a breeze, and, on my behalf, cleverly kept the world as it is.

My gaze turned to the clover and I quietly remarked at how it wasn’t the traditional Irish Shamrock I usually familiar my eyes with. This tropical ground cover was so expansive you might miss it over its normalcy. Yet, what I noticed was how each and every little stem had only two pairs of pedals popping out of the sprout. The deeper I looked through the filter of appreciation, the more I realized I wasn’t just sitting on a grassy knoll, but resting rather, almost retired in the enlightenment, enveloped on a prairie in perfect company among thousands of 4-leaf clovers.

Luck is all around me.
Love is all there is.

May every situation be summed up in a smile.
-Jason
----

Cheers to you Annie! Cheers to you Jason! And cheers to all those who find the love around them!