Dear friends,
Happy New Year! Wishing you all wonderful things for 2015 – peace, happiness, abundance, health, love, joy, and more!
I just returned from a enjoyable trip to Colombia – a beautiful country with lovely people, great sights, and delicious food. I am so happy that tourism is increasing there, as the country has gotten safer. I enjoyed our sight-seeing there – from the small Caribbean city Cartagena, the coffee and wax palm tree region of Pereira, to the mountainous capitol of Bogota. When travelling, whether nationally or abroad, I am fascinated by observing and experiencing both the commonalities and the differences between people from place to place. The more I travel, the more I realize that basically most humans want the same things – connection, security, good food, love, safety, peace, fun and laughter (in no specific order). And within these common desires, is often the uniqueness of how one’s culture expresses them. So travelling for me is a study of the beautiful blending of commonality and diversity on this glorious planet. It makes me a better person as I open myself to ways that are different from my cultural and societal upbringings, and yet I can still find the universal commonality of humankind. It may sound corny, but I do truly believe that the more we are exposed to others by direct personal experience (rather than through the lens of the mass media or propaganda), the more we can find connection and engage in less discrimination. After all, at the end of the day, we are all just finite skeletal structures encapsulating infinite souls.
