I’m sitting on a rock in a place called Sermathang. I’m surrounded by pristine clean and pure air. The mountains are around me and keeping me feeling safe protected from anything that could affect my thoughts. My heart feels full here. My mind feels clear. My soul feels energised and I feel peaceful; a feeling I haven’t had for so long.
Why do I go so fast all the time? Why do I hustle? What is it that makes me run? Is it my own quest for success? What is that anyway? Is it money? Is it status?
My new friend Yang Chen told us about climbing a mountain, the biggest one in the world in fact – Everest. She described being a female mountaineer in a world of male explorers. She spoke of not having females to lean on or encourage her to follow her dreams and having to navigate all on her own. I reflect on my own story sometimes. What is it that makes my story inspiring? If at all, unique. What is it that makes me a leader? What is it that makes people follow me? What is it that makes me have influence? Is it my ego?
My life is so privileged. I started with a silver spoon and have never lost it. My dreams have all come true.
My friend Tshering got to the summit of Everest alone but continued to climb anyway because she didn’t realise she’d made it to the top – she did that with her oxygen not working again not realising the feat she had accomplished until she made it back down. Step after step she felt the pain, step after step she endured the hardship that not many others have ever experienced before. It took grit and determination but she proved to herself that she had achieved her dreams, that she’d won. What are we winning? Are we all doing that? Chasing a win?
This place is as far away from my life as you can get. It’s simple it’s organic. They grow their own food. They live simply, they live well. It’s a new definition of luxury as my other friend. Dr Tshering would say- What is luxury anyway? Is luxury what people in my community struggle to find and chase their whole lives? People in my world chase the latest cars, the biggest houses, the next overseas European or skiing holidays. They keep chasing and chasing wealth like it’s an addiction- an addiction to abundance.
Why does this addiction to abundance show up for me? And why do I feel like it doesn’t matter when I come here? What is it about nature, about spirituality, about simplicity that calms my soul that quietens my mind and that lifts my sense of being?
I care about material things just like the next person, I drive the right car, send my kids to the right schools and do all the things you would expect me to do to fit in. Yet what I see and notice from my deep training in self-development and awareness is what is inside my heart.
My ego, my success, my thirst for pace – is an addiction. This addiction is seeking abundance. That addiction has to stop when you’re ready to notice. The feeling makes you feel richer than anyone else in the room no matter what your balance sheet says.
I think that’s why and how I know I’m ready to be here to feel everything I’m feeling.
Yesterday I climbed a mountain and saw a view you can only dream of. There was intense opening of my heart. In that moment I did a video for my family and the song playing drowned out my words without my intention- the song was Norah Jones and it was called “I don’t want to hear another sound.” Was that a way of saying that I don’t want to hear the sound of anything else other than my open heart? Opening to new possibilities to new perspectives, to a new pace?
My life is changing and I’m at an inflection point. My business is growing. My children are growing successes have come, so what is left now? Well I think it’s a time for growth, growth in a way that heals me, growth in a way that allows my heart to be rich, to feel success in abundance through the power of my open heart.
I’m not sure what that is yet or how it will show up for me but it’s my open heart that I’m sharing with the world right now sitting on this rock in this tiny village in Nepal the homeplace of my new “brothers” the Lama boys.
I’m generally full of anticipation for what my open heart will do, where it will take me, who I can help and how it can show up for me and for others. The mountain air is filling my lungs. The sounds of birds, dogs barking, the view of the mountains and the prayer flags. I am calm.
Written by Rose, Founder.