The Power of Conscious Choice
Mother India's Magic - Part 2
Day 0 - back on the 29th September 2016, my 44th birthday anniversary
For my personal new year I chose to share my passion for
life in complete fulfilment to a wider extent, inviting more speaking, writing
and coaching opportunities to come my way. I also chose to create more
opportunities for students I work with and people in general to be the change
they wish to see in the world, inspiring them to believe in their dreams and to
make them happen, meanwhile benefitting a greater whole than they and I ever
expected we could possibly achieve. I have been doing this all along but now my
choice was to go global.
I contacted Getrude Matshe after having seen her TED talk
and deciding that the funds we were to raise from a series of paintings done by
our English students would go to her Africa Alive Education Foundation. She not
only gleefully accepted but offered to come over to our school and meet us,
paint with us and talk to our students about her compelling life story.
As soon as she came out of the airport we instantly
connected at such a deep level it was as if we had known each other forever,
long lost sisters reunited. We have since established a very special friendship
that I am ever so thankful for.
In Cascais, right after picking Getrude up at the airport
As a school we are now supporting Getrude's endeavour to get
a container with 65000 books and 200 computers to the Maziviza district in
Zimbabwe and have done so by raising funds in several ways, as well as by
sharing her story and project, thus getting more people and schools involved in
this campaign.
And she brought me this wonderful opportunity of being not
only here in New Delhi but at any other of the WEF Conferences I choose to
participate in around the world.
I decided to start with this one because it is the Annual
event and brings together about 2000 people from over 140 countries.
It has been a
succession of gifts all along.
First I chose to have as little costs as possible with this
since I did not seem to have the cash to be able to come to India. Nevertheless
I knew that by simply accepting the way to come would carve itself accordingly.
And alas, I was not only invited to be a Speaker but also
part of the Advisory Executive Committee, recommending themes and speakers and
thus having my Conference and meals fee waived off.
My sweetheart Pedro had already been to India a few years ago so with his help I started looking into the whole India experience. I found a super cheap flight and as I was going on a business endeavour, the school paid for it. The great thing was that he asked me "why don't you stay a few more days?" And it was pretty obvious that since I would be at the Conference for 6 days I would not be seeing much of real India, so coming back the day after the Conference was a waste of an excellent opportunity.
Since I was travelling so far in the first place it made sense to stay a few more days to at least be able to visit what is called the Golden Triangle (New Delhi, Agra and Jaipur). So I made a balanced choice - 6 days of work and 6 days of leisure. I chose to not book anything for the 5 extra days after the Conference, leaving an open space to accomodate suggestions and travel companions that I was sure to encounter during the Conference. Having made my initial choices, I just knew that everything would simply flow accordingly so I trusted and let go. Thank you Pedro for encouraging me to be bold enough to take not one but two weeks off - even though the first one was work related :) Had it been a few years ago I would never have been able to conceive leaving my workplace for 2 weeks right in the middle of third term! And the fact that I decided to take this step provided perfect solutions so that all of my classes were taken care of before I left and after I came back, with no hassle.
Furthermore, I chose my accomodation to be clean and comfortable, easily accessible and low-cost. Having booked at a hotel about 2 km away from the Conference venue, I was then offered a special fee which allowed me to change to the 5 star Conference Hotel - just because the organization wants me and all of us present here to have the best possible experience in India and it is scorching hot at this time of the year.
My sweetheart Pedro had already been to India a few years ago so with his help I started looking into the whole India experience. I found a super cheap flight and as I was going on a business endeavour, the school paid for it. The great thing was that he asked me "why don't you stay a few more days?" And it was pretty obvious that since I would be at the Conference for 6 days I would not be seeing much of real India, so coming back the day after the Conference was a waste of an excellent opportunity.
Since I was travelling so far in the first place it made sense to stay a few more days to at least be able to visit what is called the Golden Triangle (New Delhi, Agra and Jaipur). So I made a balanced choice - 6 days of work and 6 days of leisure. I chose to not book anything for the 5 extra days after the Conference, leaving an open space to accomodate suggestions and travel companions that I was sure to encounter during the Conference. Having made my initial choices, I just knew that everything would simply flow accordingly so I trusted and let go. Thank you Pedro for encouraging me to be bold enough to take not one but two weeks off - even though the first one was work related :) Had it been a few years ago I would never have been able to conceive leaving my workplace for 2 weeks right in the middle of third term! And the fact that I decided to take this step provided perfect solutions so that all of my classes were taken care of before I left and after I came back, with no hassle.
Furthermore, I chose my accomodation to be clean and comfortable, easily accessible and low-cost. Having booked at a hotel about 2 km away from the Conference venue, I was then offered a special fee which allowed me to change to the 5 star Conference Hotel - just because the organization wants me and all of us present here to have the best possible experience in India and it is scorching hot at this time of the year.
I asked if there were any meals included today (7th May),
since the Conference only starts tomorrow and was kindly invited by Dr Harbeen
Arora, Global Chairperson of the Women Economic Forum and one of the most
beautiful women (within and without) I have ever met, to attend the Reception
Dinner later on tonight.
I was contacted via LinkedIn by Sofia Batalha, Consul for
the Portuguese Embassy in New Delhi who kindly offered to have her chauffeur
pick me up at the airport since I was arriving at 1am. She actually picked me
up herself and then went on to give me a great contact to help me plan my visit
to Agra and eventually other locations after the Conference and also kindly
invited me to dinner with the Portuguese Ambassador at his official Residence
the following Thursday.
Let me just mention that my clear and conscious choice for
this entire experience is ease, trust, flow and simplicity, connecting with the
enlightened energy of India and establishing as many win/win partnerships for
life as possible, creating longlasting, meaningful bonds.
So far so good. I was lovingly taken to the airport by my
Prince. That's how I like to call Pedro, the man who corresponds perfectly to
what I have chosen to experience in my intimate relationship.
The flights were right on time, super comfortable and
everyone has been very helpful. I actually don't know where the 8 hour flight
went! It seemed to breeze away, not to mention the 2h30 flight to Frankfurt
which only left me 1h15 between flights, for me to catch the connection on the
opposite side of the airport. Was all perfect. As soon as I arrived at the
platform where one catches the fast shuttle connection to Terminal 1, the
shuttle was rolling in. Got to my gate when boarding started. All just on time,
no waste. Upon arriving in New Delhi I went past the Visa control in about 5
minutes - forgot to mention that I applied for the e-tourist Visa which was
supposed to take 72 hours to arrive in my inbox but was there in less than 24
hours...
To be continued…
