Thursday, 2/5/09 - 7:20pm
So here I sit on the plane beginning my "physical" journey to Cambodia. Not sure if it has really sunk in yet. So many flights and hours of travel ahead of me, my thought right now is may I make my connectinf flight in San Francisco to Taipei. Delayed 1 hour in Newark I must surrender to being where I am suppose to be. (smiling) As I sit, going to the unknown, I reflect on how I arrived "here". I remember when I first heard of the Cambodia Challenge from Seane Corn in November, 2007 at a Yoga Conferecne in Florida. My heart filled with excitement knowing I will take action to help save the lives of these children. As I learned more about the project my excitement turned to sadness, fear and hope. Sadness for the children; fear for myself wondering if I could reach "the goal"; hope that I may make a significant difference.
[The pilot just came on and said we will be delayed another hour - just smile.]I realized quickly why it was called a challenge - not only how to raise the $20,000 but the challenges that came up for me personally. So many times throughout the year my emotions went from excitement, joy, hope and courage to fear, sadness, doubt. I constantly reminded myself it wasn't about the end result, - no mattter how much money was raised it will help those children. Very challenging for me who is so goal oriented - to truly practice non-attachment to the the end result was a constant reminder to enjoy the journey. Many ideas swarmed in my head on how to raise the money. So much in my head - it inhibited me from taking action. As I spread the word the support and encouragement as well as money began to flow in. Excitement and hope filled my soul knowing this money will help the Cambodian children. Between generous donations, a yard sale, yoga classes generously given by yoga teachers, furniture sold, sales of t-shirts and
home-made cards, donation boxes in local cleaners, salons and bakery - money and awareness continued to grow. And the more I grew the more the awareness grew. My "voice" began to get "louder" and "louder", the more I shared my compassion for these children, the more people heard. As I listened to my radio interview without any judgement or fear knowing I spoke from my heart believing it's truly not about me, it's to bring awareness of these poor, undernourished children in Cambodia - I smiled. The smile came because along this journey I thought I was helping these children but surprisingly enough or not they brought the "voice" out of me and helped me. By "them" (the children) teaching me to speak, the money and awareness was once again flourishing. My fear, my doubt melted away and more and more people wanted to help. Many events in the Fall once again opened people's hearts. From John's Golf Outing, Rox & Tony's Fun Nite, Cathy's Yoga Meet Dance class, Mary's Mary Kay Party, Anni's SOUPerBOWLfest, and to Lu's dancers beautiful performance of the South County Nutcracker, taught me another lesson. As I heard myself asking people for help, people listened. The friendships created and deepened touched my soul and will continue to share my journey. I was amazed when people come together what could be done - or was it when I asked for help? My picture and story covered local newspapers - very unlike me but it wasn't about me - my intention was to bring awareness of the situation in Cambodia to as many peoples as possible - why not the local paper? As I responded to the reporter's question of "How did you get involved with yoga?" and heard myself say after I lost my partner, John of 15 years on 9/11 I felt more of the armour around my heart chip away. For these children to be able to open up my heart filled with love, compassion and kindness I knew I was listening to my soul. My tears filled my eyes as I spoke to people about this project sharing my "heart" with them. This is a "huge" step for me as I share much love with Ed, my family and friends - the thin layer of protection still there slowly melting away. The awareness and the money began to come in from so many directions - Our Lady of Snow dress down day, sales of rice tote bags and donations in lieu of Christmas gifts. I shared my heart, I spoke my truth, asked for help from "old" friends and new friends and together we raised $21,400. [smile] - filled with an abudance of gratitude and love.
[Also smiling because I'm finally departing Newark at 9:20pm - approximately 3 hours later - hmmm - where will I be sleeping tonight? - smiling, laughing - practicing yoga.]
Thursday, January 22, 2009
WAS IT ALL ABOUT REACHING THE $20,000 GOAL?
This quote was read during a yoga class a couple of weeks ago and touched my heart & soul.
"Achieving goals by themselves will never make us happy in the long term. it's who we become, as we overcome the obstacles necessary to achieve our goals that can give us the deepest and most long lasting sense of fulfillment." Anthony Robbins
"Achieving goals by themselves will never make us happy in the long term. it's who we become, as we overcome the obstacles necessary to achieve our goals that can give us the deepest and most long lasting sense of fulfillment." Anthony Robbins
"BARE WITNESS-CAMBODIA CHALLENGE 2008" - INTENTION
The first step of the challenge was to submit my intention to Off the Mat, Into the World (OTM). Intention is very powerful when it comes from your heart-below was my intention.
I "Jude Monteserrato" commit to taking the 2008 Off the Mat, Into the World Seva Challenge because I want to be a leader for change in my community and in the world.
I intend to raise $20,000 or more for the Cambodian Children's Fund and to journey with OTM to Cambodia in February 2009 to make a difference in the lives of children and to change my life.
The reason this journey is important for me is:
I know this is the path I should follow, I have traveled to many places - Thailand, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica to name a few. It brought much heartfelt sadness and tears when I saw how people lived and what they had. Upon returning home it was very challenging to witness the excess and waste in this country. My thoughts and daily prayers continued to be with these people in other parts of the world. Many times throughout the day I found myself thinking about helping them. Like many people my life continued.
I am blessed with 2 beautiful young nieces (ages 5 1/2 and 7) who my sister and brother-in-law adopted from China. As I was reviewing the information and watching the video online about the orphanages, garbage dumps, the children, CCF and the 2008 Cambodia Challenge with tears running down my face, all I could think about were my 2 nieces and where they would be if never adopted. I knew at the moment that besides my daily prayers I must take ACTION and make a significant difference.
My personal hope for the year is:
through my daily yoga and meditation procatice I continue to grow as a person. With perseverance I will become a strong leader. One who will educate and bring AWARENESS about the children in Cambodia to those that cross my path. The courage I build will knock down any obstacles to impede my ability to raise this money. The dream for the year is to make a positive impact for the children in Cambodia.
I will step forth into this challenge in act of SEVA, with the highest intention of making a permanent difference.
I will rise up as a leader, with the support of my community, educating those around me and emerging from this experience as a more loving individual committed to taking action and creating positive change.
I "Jude Monteserrato" commit to taking the 2008 Off the Mat, Into the World Seva Challenge because I want to be a leader for change in my community and in the world.
I intend to raise $20,000 or more for the Cambodian Children's Fund and to journey with OTM to Cambodia in February 2009 to make a difference in the lives of children and to change my life.
The reason this journey is important for me is:
I know this is the path I should follow, I have traveled to many places - Thailand, Dominican Republic, Costa Rica to name a few. It brought much heartfelt sadness and tears when I saw how people lived and what they had. Upon returning home it was very challenging to witness the excess and waste in this country. My thoughts and daily prayers continued to be with these people in other parts of the world. Many times throughout the day I found myself thinking about helping them. Like many people my life continued.
I am blessed with 2 beautiful young nieces (ages 5 1/2 and 7) who my sister and brother-in-law adopted from China. As I was reviewing the information and watching the video online about the orphanages, garbage dumps, the children, CCF and the 2008 Cambodia Challenge with tears running down my face, all I could think about were my 2 nieces and where they would be if never adopted. I knew at the moment that besides my daily prayers I must take ACTION and make a significant difference.
My personal hope for the year is:
through my daily yoga and meditation procatice I continue to grow as a person. With perseverance I will become a strong leader. One who will educate and bring AWARENESS about the children in Cambodia to those that cross my path. The courage I build will knock down any obstacles to impede my ability to raise this money. The dream for the year is to make a positive impact for the children in Cambodia.
I will step forth into this challenge in act of SEVA, with the highest intention of making a permanent difference.
I will rise up as a leader, with the support of my community, educating those around me and emerging from this experience as a more loving individual committed to taking action and creating positive change.
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