My Trip to India November 2012

India is an amazing and challenging place all at the same time. I loved Diwali as there were amazing fireworks in a 360 degree view from the rooftops. It is an amazing thing to see if any of you ever get the chance. The people were so friendly and in a great mood of celebration and sharing.

I am always surprised by the tremendous difference between the have and the have nots in India. It makes me appreciate America all the more. I know that we are not perfect and we have biases and cultural differences but the extreme positions of money do not seem as obvious in America as they do in India. 

Let me say the caste system is alive and well. I am sure there have been tremendous shifts and progress there but I am constantly bumping up against my American woman that wants to treat everyone more equally in India. 

What I decided to do was that anyone who served me in any way I was going to tip. Now, in India a dollar to the poor is a lot but to to give four dollars to the cleaning men for working 4 hours in the house was a shock to them. You would have thought I just gave them the Taj Mahal. 

It made me feel good to help in a small way. I visualized these men being able to come home to their wives and giving her extra money or something that she was not expecting. 

As Americans I think we forget how hard people used to work just to survive. Being in India is a throw back to 150 years ago and a great reminder of how hard life used to be.

What was interesting to me was that I was reading the book, "The 19th Wife". In it one of the characters was describing being in England in the 1860's and how the hotels threw their garbage over the fence and how the poor people were going through the garbage to eat. Well that was happening everyday on my street. The smell was unbelievable. It made me realize that culturally we have not evolved as much as we think and how good Americans have it. 

I am not saying that we do a perfect job, far from it. But I would rather be a poor person in America than anywhere else. At least here there are soup kitchens for the poor. There are shelters for the poor. Now some do not want to do that and some of our street people are actually mentally ill so that is a different category that we still need much work on but at least there are some options. 

In India you can feel the chronic suffering of humanity. You see it everyday, all day on the streets. As a psychic I can feel it and the telepathic agreement of the dispair is devastating to me energetically.

Now, I have traveled all over the world and I would rather be sleeping on a mud floor in Peru in a mud house than most of the places in India. That mud floor in Peru would be really clean and the people are happy, bubbly, full of life, and do not have the mentally of suffering. It is so interesting how cultures, beliefs, and perspectives influence attitude and energy. 

In Peru it is as if the poor do not really know they are poor. They are culturally happy. They experience magic everyday and their life is filled with joy and wonder.

In India the Hindus believe in Maya. They believe that all this is an illusion. So that person suffering on the street is an illusion. That may be true but to me I experience something different. It is difficult for me to detach from the feelings that pervade me from all angles. That was my challenge and that was what I decided to do. I would practice loving kindness in the face of all the suffering. To be very honest, it was heart breaking and difficult for me. 

Situations like that I take on as a personal challenge. I try to not shut down and I attempt to find ways to stay open when everything inside wants to run. I try to reach beyond the suffering into the pure heart and soul of the person in front of me. 

I also am so sensitive to illness and this round in India I seemed to get everything; travelers diarrhea, sinus infection, sore throat, etc. I am sure if I lived there full time I would be constantly sick.

I am so grateful to American water filtration systems, garbage collection, traffic rules, fences to keep out cows and to keep them off the road, etc. I even get excited about American fast food and I am not the person who really does that. But after questionable meals and terribly upset stomaches a McDonalds suddenly looked like heaven when I got off the plane.

So as we come into the Dec 21, Mayan calendar shift appreciate that you are one of the most blessed people on earth to live in America. Appreciate all the people in your life that got you to this place. Acknowledge yourself and the evolution of your soul that has brought you to this amazing place in life. See joy everywhere. Practice giving love to those less fortunate and be graceful and kind with your words to others this holiday season.