The Power of Conscious Choice - Mother India's Magic 10

Day 8 -  14th May 2017

An ode to Love

“India is the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother

of history, the grandmother of legend and the great grand mother of tradition. Our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in India only.”

― Mark Twain.

When I told Sameer Somal, from Blue Ocean Global Technology, about my "The Power of Conscious Choice - Mother India's Magic" series, which I have been posting here since May, he shared this quote by Mark Twain about India wtih me and because it is so profoundly true, I share it here, on this day when I am blessed to be visiting one of the Wonders of the World. 

You know, I was actually challenged more than once to not be here today.

First I was repeatedly told it was too hot and it would not be a nice experience.

Second Iman Kamel wanted to travel with me but was afraid she could not sustain the heat so decided to go to the mountains instead and would like me to come there too.

Third I tried to book a bus ride online and my payment didn't go through. Then train - the timetables available weren't suitable.

Fourth two friends and I tried to hire a car and driver to take us but they were asking for an absurd amount.

Fifth some people came along and said it had been a disappointment, not worth visiting... hummmm.

Long story short: I stuck to my own heartfelt choice to come and visit the Taj Mahal and these two friends (Lynn Hope Thomas and Milchelle Araújo)  also did, so somehow they came across a friend who had gone with a driver who was charging less than half the price the first one we had been connected to was. We booked and that was that.

Then yet another friend pitched in too (Ula Collins), who was also being invited to go elsewhere but whose choice had always been to visit the Taj and experience the Golden Triangle of India - New Delhi, Agra and Jaipur.

We set off bright and early -3 am - so that we could enjoy the Taj under the pinkish hues of sunrise. 

The driver was very calm and experienced - if you've ever been to India you know what the traffic here is like, if not I will tell you it is simply chaotic. No road signs or hardly any, no one stops at traffic lights at this time of the night, or mostly not, people even drive in the wrong direction sometimes and there are no markings on the road, the hooting is constant and it is virtually every man for himself. Amazing and fascinating too :) Haven't seen one accident yet! Truly amazing. The traffic in India has been described to me as "a river flowing" and I now see what this means.

We chirped merrily all the way, as ladies do and it created the loving environment one would expect from sisters at heart:) We even discovered Barbara Streisand was in our circle;) She didn't sing for us though! (Ula really looks like a young Barbara!).

Some 30 or 40 km from Agra the car suddenly came to a standstill. The driver was perplexed and we were in trust. Not even one of us could bring themselves to worry about it. In fact we were happily playing with the situation and Michelle started playing a song which had been sung yesterday at the closing session of the WEF by Lee Alison Sibley - We Shall Overcome (minute 25). We chanted along, laughed and enjoyed the moment...and soon the car was working again. 

A sidenote here to reinforce that the car was not an old jaloppy, it was a fairly recent car with aircon and in perfect working order, as far as it seemed. The driver figured it must have been something electrical... or whatever.

We got to Agra at about 6.20 am. The temperature was mild, with a sweet soft breeze kissing our faces and the shady incadescence of a newly dawning day. The place was not busy yet and all was smooth and simple.

After going through the ticket dance and what not we finally caught our first glimpse of the Taj!!! Oh me, oh my, what a breathtaking sight of dazzling beauty... and the feeling of Peace... Undescribable.

We did the photo and one more here and there thing, which in fact I tend to run away from most of the time because it feels kind of like watching an awesome movie and keeping on pausing it to go and get something to drink, eat, to pee and what not. But I do love keeping a few photos though. Much as I love photography I prefer to just feel the blessing of being at each special place, absorbing it to the core of my bones.

The green grass, the magestic trees, the delicious scent of flowers, the beautifully sunlit marble in hues of pink and gold, the reflection on the water, the mystic aura of peace, the adjacent red bricked buidings, equally hand carved with precious skill and stone... it just all seeped into each breath in cascading abundance. 

So much so that on the other side of the Taj, under an inviting patch of shade I simply had to lie on the marble floor and breathe, soaking in it.

What pure bliss! In no time we were all lying on the white and warm marble floor surrendering to the moment. After a while people started crowding around us and the guard 

came to see what was going on. 

We sat and relaxed for a while longer.

The experience itself, the loving company we were in, the gratitude we all felt... it all added up into such a perfect bundle of passion that I felt that my day was done, complete unto itself. I could wish for no more than this.

And so it is that as the heat level rose we were brought to our hotel where I have a single room by choice, so that I can enjoy the Peace of my Presence and just Be. Ula is also staying and Lynn and Michelle are going back to New Delhi so we embrace, bubbling with joyful fulfilment. Farewell my dear companions, we shall meet again soon, surely. 

Spice Girls :) At the entrance of The Retreat

Wow! What a lovely place - The Retreat, it is called and as soon as we came in a lady came to us and rubbed our forehead with that red mixture people here use to bless and activate what is called the third eye.

Relaxed all afternoon and even had a go at the pool! 

And you know what? I've been in India for 9 days and haven't seen one sigle cockroach!!! :D But have seen many cows on the streets. Cute, peaceful cows strutting about with nonchallance in their queenly status. Love it!

The shabby buidings and completely outdated hair salons, shops and so on... piles of rubbish and tuc tucs all over. Locals going about their lives, these people seem to never rest! 

There is always something or other going on. The scent of incense mingled with curries and other spices, the noise of horns hooting for no reason at all most of the time, Muslim chants, Hindu chants, Indian music, orange, pink and red flowers, women wearing beautifully coloured Saris,  men hassling us foreigners to buy, to hire, to take a ride, to eat... you name it. 

And you know what? One falls in love with it all.

***

I must go back a little bit here to tell you just how amazingly simple and queenly my five days turned out to be when I allowed myself to receive what I had chosen. What I had chosen was: to receive all that India had to offer me, in absolute flow and simplicity, connected to the perennial consciousness of Oneness that this land has honed throughout mankind's existence. 

And I did, indeed, receive it all, way beyond what I could have expected, considering I was on a rather short budget but ended up enjoying VIP treatment :)

Travel Pals India sent me the most surreal quote for the night in Agra and 3 nights in Jaipur, with train fares and driver and guide in Jaipur: around 300€ for the whole package, including breakfasts and a meal on the train from Agra do Jaipur, travelling in 1st class! And I got lucky twice, because not only was this a great deal but when Ula booked, they did not charge her for the driver and guide in Jaipur so she gave me half of the amount I had paid for that, which means I paid around 270€ in  total. 

No cockroaches, bubbling joy and the deep peace of my Essence all over my body, plus Ula's company which turned out to be an unexpected added blessing for her and for me.

The Power of Conscious Choice - Mother India's Magic 9 Part II

Day 7 - 13th May (Day 6 of WEF) - Part II

The last day of WEF 2017

I had booked a meeting with Surbhi Agarwal founder of The Art Exotica, who works with hundreds of women in the rural communities empowering them to produce local artifacts, hand loomed silk and other fabrics, all coloured with natural dyes and hand painted. She has artisans producing everything from stone, to leather, to wood, to jewellery, embroidery, marble, camel bone... so much. She is from Jodhpur in the Rhajasthan district and is looking for people in Europe to import these goods and distribute them across Europe. I am not in this line of business but accepted to listen and invited Pedro to listen, lest we know of someone who could be interested and connect her to them. She is a lovely lady and we connect easily. At the end of our meeting she offers me a beautiful hand-painted silk scarf. I am ever so thankful. I had actually already promised to send her my "Are you a Professional Worrier?" book, which I will.

Forgot to mention that after my plenary session I go to breakfast with Phionah Musumba, my roommate and a few other Soul Sister including Ruth and Masingita Musunga - the graceful young lady who is a living example that cerebral palsey cannot stop a person from being a joyful inspiration to all. She is staying at the South African embassy in New Delhi so we get to meet the Nkosi Mahlangu, Corporate Services Director and who is with her here today. Lovely young man who shares with us the wisdom that one must learn to accept the ways of each country, not fighting against it but respecting it.

After breakfast Phionah and I go up to our room to get ready to leave. Phionah has booked a room in another cheaper hotel for the night because her flight is only tomorrow. Before she leaves I ask her whether we can record her story on video because she is such an inspiring example of resilience, persistence and love. She has singlehandedly founded the Malkia Foundation and though she has gone through povery, hunger, homelessness and lost a child for lack of means to seek appropriate healing, she is here in India to share how she has managed to be a breadwinner for the entire family and also create an organization that helps young girls get an education, not get tied into child marriage and develop their sustenance, empowering them to be independent and educated so that they can make choices from a place of self-respect rather than survival. I will not share her story here because I will leave you with the link to the video I have posted up on YouTube. 

After this she kindly offers me a wooden necklace and earrings, made by the ladies at her foundation, which I will wear with great honour. Thank you Phionah.

So many admirable women one can only be thankful and know that anything is possible when we truly believe in our dreams and let no one ever tell us that we are not capable or that it cannot be achieved. Had anyone present at this Conference had the most fleeting doubt about this truth, they surely have gone back home with the certainty that no challenge is too great to be overcome.

Beautiful Sindu from Singapore spontaneously offers to record a recommendation of my work that I can post on LinkedIn or wherever else I choose to. What a great idea! I do the same for her and now we both have a truthful, heartfelt testimonial of each other's work. Thank you so much Sindu.

I have to mention Monique Blokzyl's powerful work inspiring entrepreneurs to thrive in business through her Business Launch Portal. I had intended to interview her but that will have to be done online because both her and me were busy connecting with people throughout WEF and decided to talk via skype on another occasion. Thank you Monique. 

And with this I come to the closing session where Lee Alison Sibley sang this tune "We shall overcome" (she comes in at around 19 minutes, but it is worth listening to the whole closing session) and had us all singing it too. It was fun and at the same time profound. 

As this Conference comes to an end there is a mix of feelings in the air: longing to go back home and somehow fix everything living the truths shared throughout the week and at the same time wishing that this experience never ends, intense as it is. I am in none of these categories. All I feel is overflowing Gratitude to have been a part of this feast of Love, sharing all that I Am and openly receiving the inspired Isness of the Event and especially of the many whom I had the privilege to interact with personally. I have so many business cards to sort out when I get back home!!!!! Pure abundance.

More than the sessions themselves, which were of course a very rich experience, it is the networking that was the most magical, the people I take with me in my heart, the feelings and wisdom shared that has made us more than we were when we came here.

Thank you ALL for the most blessed Conference I have ever been to. I am humbled by the dimension of this and bow to Dr. Harbeen Arora for creating something of such loving magnitude and to all of those who contribute daily to the ongoing growth of the Women Economic Forum and the All Ladies League. Such a concept could only have been born in Mother India.

Dr Harbeen Arora generously offered us a copy of her beautiful book: Creative Living, which you can find on Amazon and is also presented on her: www.harbeenarora.in.  Just as well Carla gave me that pink bag I told you about, on our way back from the Portuguese Ambassador's Residence! So many precious gifts to bing back home which would never fit in my small backpack :)

Though this year there happen to be a few hundred less people than there were last year, the staff and volunteers do not panic, trying to find solutions to make this a memorable experience. Yes, of course there are things that did not go according to planned, that seemed somewhat disorganized but all in all it is the intensity of the love shared here, the sense of togetherness, of openness, of sharing openheartedly that I take with me. 

It is the absolute richness present here, the delicious dishes, the kind and competent hotel staff, the harmonious decoration, the fact that I even had a gym and pool to enjoy throughout these days, the free wifi connection which allowed us to keep in touch not only with folks back home but also amongst each other at the Conference, my roommate who was chosen for me and who is such a special woman... So much to mention. The overall experience was definitely a highly productive one and I feel an all pervading sense of inner accomplishment and gratitude.

What did I learn and what did I confirm?

I learnt that all cultures have common points in education, economy, religion and human aspects.

I confirmed that no one has all of the answers but each one has the answers that have served them best in life. It is then up to each person to choose which examples to follow, whilst also creating a unique example.

I learnt that there are many people wanting to learn from each one of us and that no example is more relevant than another. Thus by valuing our own example and making it visible we will undoubtedly expand our entrepreneurial ventures.

I confirmed that when we speak from the heart the heart in others listens and an invisible connection is established. There were so many hugs where my heart tingled with joy for finding yet another and another Soul Sister from so many different parts of the world but connected as One by heart.

I confirmed that age has no say in people's health and willingness to shine, that no matter what social and cultural background one has, success is a given fact and is granted to those who move out of their perceived realities to create new potentials and opportunities. And by success I do not mean money or being the best at something or having the most clients. This can all be perceived as success, no matter where one comes from. But it is more than that: it is fulfilment, the overall realization that fills our heart when we overcome challenges and pull through to the other side in joyful gratitude.

I confirmed that love and sharing are contageous and that this is the most precious outcome of an event like this one.

I confirmed that many people will love to hear us when we are communicating from the heart and a few will envy us just because they have their own fears inside which are stopping them from being this that they are envying. Fair enough, we cannot ever expect to be loved by everyone and if somehow what we have shared has struck a chord deep down, then we have fulfilled our purpose in their lives as well.

I have confirmed that when we see someone thriving and succeeding and celebrate with her rather than fear her success, we all grow and that it is of no avail to keep our ideas secret because most of them are so unique they are hard to replicate and if they are replicated we have many more ideas where the first came from anyway.

I have confirmed that anything is possible and that by making clear and conscious choices, which is what I came here to talk about in the first place, we can steer clear of drama and mishaps of all sorts. 

I have also learnt that believe it or not, and even in the midst of such wise and empowered women, most of them do not harness this intrinsic skill and use it actively. So apparently I do have a lot to share and contribute to an even more fulfilling and successful life no matter where people come from and what background they have.

I have learnt that traditional businesses with an employer and employees, in fact big corporations and small businesses that operate in this way are doomed to disappear within the next 5 to 10  years. The new business world that is emerging is one of entrepreneurs who connect with each other sharing services as freelancers, taking full responsibility for the work they produce rather than  having to be managed by a boss. The world is changing in so many ways.

I now look forward to reconnecting with many of the magnificent women I was bound to Soul to Soul during these six days and I will definitely be recommending many of them for the great examples they are and the opportunities they are bringing out to this world, making it a more equitable, loving place.

THANK YOU!

The Power of Conscious Choice - Mother India's Magic 9 Part I

Day 7 - 13th May (Day 6 of WEF)

The last day of WEF 2017

Today is the day of my plenary session (click to view) on a stage which I will share with deeply inspiring women, where we will all get a few minutes to speak our heart on our common theme of: Driving the Future through Personal Example and Self Belief and where we will all be receiving an award for being an Iconic Woman Creating a Better World for All. 

I am honoured, blessed and grateful for this gifted opportunity. In my 3 minutes I share that the world will know peace only when the war inside us ends, when the wounded Feminine and Masculine become the God and Goddess inside, removing the illusion of separation that shades our discernment. In this resides the key to health, wealth, peace, love, harmony and balance in everything and everywhere and we all have this recipe. May the two become one, gracefully dancing existence into shape, cooperating with the Isness that we Are. This is the secret to manifesting the 17 UN Sustainable Goals.

Each and every one of us is a living, breathing, shining speck of existence experiencing the nuances of light and dark. Let's all create a wave of conscious awareness, bringing forth our true selves in inner unity, reflecting this around us as the standard example of how cooperation, Peace, Unconditional Love, Joy, Grace and Gratitude does indeed shape our reality through the Power of Conscious Choices. 

Let us release the need for power and harness the Power within, spreading the opportunity for complete fulfilment with each breath we take.

This is my message and this is what I do through my InPassion Coaching project - helping people put a conscious end to drama, stopping the war inside so that they can reflect their inner balance back into their reality and thus into the world, creating harmony for ALL by embracing their True Self.

This is how powerful Conscious Choice is and it all starts with the choice to be accountable for our own reality, to take full responsibility for the way it is, accepting every single part of it, healing the past in our eternal Now moment, so that the Future can be free in its endless potential. Now is the only moment we ARE. We can then take action towards creating the reality we have always dreamt of, step by step, one breath at a time with Patience, Compassion and steadfast Determination. 

I started my day with a morning swim followed by the plenary session and from then on it just unfolded naturally. I met up with people I had felt a special connection to throughout these 6 days. I enjoyed the last day of this very intense and enlightening week with ease and flow.

Ula has decided to contact the agency I had contacted and come along with me to Agra and Jaipur and it was pretty simple. All set.

I now repeat my Conscious Choice for the remaining 5 days of my dive into the feel of India: I choose to connect with the enlightened consciousness that oozes from the ground as much as it is in the air that we breathe here; I choose to receive all the gifts life so generously bestows upon me each moment, also sharing my abundance through my Presence; I choose to enjoy my time with me, in silent love and gratitude, respecting how I feel about being alone or together each day; I choose to openly share All that I Am and to celebrate this opportunity to be here; I choose simplicity, grace, ease and flow. And so it is.

I am supposed to meet up with Lynn and Michelle and now Ula at 3am tomorrow and have decided to wait down in the lobby because it doesn't make sense to rent a room for such a short sleep. I was sharing this information with lovely Ruth Simuyemba from Zambia when she very naturally offered me the opportunity to go up to her room in Pullman Hotel to refresh myself and relax or take a nap until the hour for departure comes. I gratefully accepted her kindness and it feels so good to be loved like this. She felt so comfortable with me that she left me in her room for a few hours while she went for dinner and didn't give it a second thought. The way Soul Sisters connect is just so perfect.

Ruth is head of Human Resources for Standard Chartered Bank in Zambia and has an impressive CV, but most of all, she is exudes kindness, joy and a very strong feminine presence.

Thank you Ruth

During the day I said farewell to many Soul Sisters, one of them being Carla Horta. A blessing to meet you Carla, thank you.

Somewhere along the way I met Priya Chakraborty, who happens to write for an APP called Trip My Way. This is an APP with audio guided tours through Delhi and Rajasthan, thus avoiding the need for a guide and allowing the traveller to create his/her own experience. It is packed with cultural knowledge that is accurate and interesting. She tells me about is as I share that I will be travelling to Jaipur. Thank you Priya :) This gave an idea to use in my English class: to create a guided tour experience for my students where they listen to the audio from Trip My Way and I show them photos as it goes along. A good way of practicing listening skills and travelling at the same time, without leaving our classroom!

Priya is on the right hand corner. At the top, Carol Honlon

Carol Hanlon is from Australia and she has a huge curriculum in business. Her main area of expertise is textile and footwear and she is committed helping women entrepreneurs jumpstart their businesses worldwide. Loved meeting her and learning from her vast knowledge and experience, even me not being in textile because business expertise is transversal to all areas and what she shared is extremely rich for any entrepreneur. She created Belmont Business Enterprise Centre, a non profit community based organisation to assist people in the growth and development of small business. You can visit the website and find anything you need in order to thrive right there. Thank you Carol.


To be continued... 

About Fear and Love /O Strahu in Ljubezni

Also in Sloveninan, courtesy of my dear friend Mateja Brumen - see down below

Tudo v Sloveninanu, iz ljubezni moje drage prijateljice Mateja Brumen - gled spodaj

One only fully realises how much energy all survival mechanisms take up each time one overcomes a fear.

All fears serve one purpose: to keep us "safe". When we find our Safe Space inside, fears feel this as a life threat - it is indeed, a threat to survival mechanisms.

So fears will try as hard as possible to distract us from being Present, from feeling at Peace, from experiencing Joy, Freedom, Passion, Balance, Harmony, True Love, Ease, Simplicity, Trust...

Fears will lead a person to attachment, to compulsion, to obsession, to addiction, to depression, to frustration, to anger... just to keep him/her away from the eternal Essence that patiently resides in our core.

When we allow ourselves - even in the midst of all of this deliberate confusion fears cause - to surrender to Presence, to stay Home in the loving arms of Who we Truly Are, then Fear disappears and we become aware of a huuuuuge amount of Open Space where Time has no boundaries and potentials are infinite, where bliss is a fact and drama has no roots.

Though this is what most of us want, when we get it, it is so peaceful, so seamless, so perfect, so balanced, so harmonious, so loving, so smooth, so energy efficient... that our Mind starts questioning whether we deserve such a perfect life, such luck, such magic? And if we fall prey to this questioning and go along with it, we become tangled in entertaining confusion all over again.

The trick? The trick is to choose what we really want and remain in that Silent Presence of Isness that we Truly Are, no matter what doubts come up in our mind. The trick is for us to allow ourselves the solace of staying Home, no matter what noise tries to remove us. When we do this we show we no longer need the Fear to protect us, we have chosen a new level of Safety and the Mind cannot comprehend it because it cannot feel.

When we make a choice from our Core/our Heart, the trick is to stick to it until it is fulfilled, no matter how much our Mind tries to convince us that this is not what we want.

Interestingly enough, if we give up on our choice, we experience a moment of release that seems like Mastery, that is extremely relieving... just like when we take a drug. The hitch is that this is momentary and it is due to the fact that we have surrendered to the Mind so it finally shut up, pleased to have won, again! Shortly after the discomfort caused by all of our fears comes back, even stronger than before - knowing it is in charge and here to stay.

Stay true to your Heart, no matter what and sooner or later you'll get used to an amazingly abundant life, it will become the norm rather than the exception.

O Strahu in Ljubezni Človek se lahko popolnoma zave koliko energije vsi preživetveni mehanizmi prevzamejo vsakič, ko zmaga strah. Vsi strahovi služijo enemu namenu: da nas “varujejo”. Ko najdemo naš Varen Prostor znotraj sebe, strahovi to čutijo kot življenjsko nevarnost - kar v resnici je, grožnja preživetvenim mehanizmom. Torej strahovi nas bodo preizkušali tako močno kot je le možno, da bi nas odvrnili od tega, da smo Prisotni, od občutka Miru, od izkušanja Veselja, Svobode, Strasti, Ravnotežja, Harmonije, Resnične Ljubezni, Lahkotnosti, Preprostosti, Zaupanja, ... Strahovi bodo vodili osebo v navezanost, kompulzivnost, obsesijo, zasvojenost, depresijo, frustracijo, jezo, ... samo, da bi ga/jo odvrnili od večne Esence, ki potrpežljivo biva v našem bistvu. Ko dovolimo sebi - tudi sredi vse te namerne zmede, ki jo povzročajo strahovi - da se predamo Prisotnosti, da ostanemo Doma, v ljubečih rokah tega, Kdo v resnici smo, potem Strah izgine in mi se zavemo veeeeelike količine Odprtega Prostora, kjer Čas ni omejen in kjer so potenciali neskončni, kjer je blaženost dejstvo in drama nima korenin. Čeprav je to nekaj, kar si večina od nas želi, ko to dobimo je tako mirno, tako popolno, tako uravnoteženo, tako harmonično, tako ljubeče, tako tekoče, tako energetsko učinkovito, ... da se naš Um začne spraševati, če si zaslužimo tako popolno življenje, tako srečo, tako čarobnost? In če postanemo žrtev tega spraševanja in gremo skupaj z njim se znova zapletemo v zabavno zmedo. Trik? Trik je, da izberemo to, kar si v resnici želimo in ostanemo v tej Tihi Prisotnosti Biti, kar Resnično Smo, ne glede na to kateri dvomi pridejo v naš um. Trik je, da si dovolimo tolažbo tega, da ostanemo Doma, ne glede na to kakšen hrup nas poskuša odvrniti. Ko to naredimo pokažemo, da nič več ne rabimo Strahu, da bi nas ščitil, izbrali smo novo raven Varnosti in Um je ne more dojeti, ker ne more čutiti. Ko naredimo izbiro iz našega Bistva/Srca, je trik v tem, da ostanemo tam, dokler se ne napolni, ne glede na to kako nas Um poskuša prepričati, da to ni tisto, kar želimo. Dovolj zanimivo je to, da če odnehamo pri naši izbiri, izkusimo trenutek olajšanja, ki se zdi kot Mojsterstvo, ki je izjemno odrešujoče ... prav tako kot takrat, ko vzamemo drogo. Hakeljc je v tem, da je to trenutno in obstaja glede na dejstvo, da smo se predali Umu, tako da končno utihne, zadovoljen, da je spet zmagal! Kmalu po neugodju, ki so ga povzročili vsi naši strahovi, pride nazaj, celo močnejši kot kadarkoli - vedoč, da ima kontrolo in da tu ostane. Ostanite zvesti vašemu Srcu, ne glede na karkoli in slej ko prej se boste navadili na neverjetno obilja polno življenje, postalo bo norma raje kot izjema.

The Power of Conscious Choice - Mother India's Magic 8

Day 6 - 12th May 2017 (Day 5 of WEF)

Networking Day

Today I have no sessions of my own so I have decided to just let myself feel which rooms to be in each time without even consulting the titles. This decision leads me to enter rooms I would not have chosen if I had read the theme, but which then turn out to fill my heart with the loving joy of witnessing inspiration in action, no matter what the subject is.

My choice for the day is to establish meaningful connections and to live my day, as usual, in ease, trust and simplicity so I know that this is all I will encounter.

There is this room: the Speakers' and AEC member's meeting room, which is the quietest place in the whole conference, mainly because most people have not to this day found out it existed, even though the Conference is almost over.

So I have booked my meetings for this room but the first lady I am supposed to meet here, Surbhi Agarwal, creator of The Art Exotica (this a Startup project that reunites hundreds of  artisan girls and women from the Rajasthan area and intends to create a steady income for all of these artisans by exporting their handcraft - her presentation starts at 1h04), is waiting for me somewhere upstairs at a place she thought was the meeting room whilst I am down here. I eventually send her a WhatsApp message after half an hour enjoying this quiet place. She turns up and we have a brief conversation, connecting and booking for tomorrow.

Meanwhile I have made the most of my time in this quiet space, made some calls back home and just enjoyed the stillness for a while. Masingita is here too, but she is busy on her computer so we are basically alone taking care of our own affairs.

I have a meeting with Sameer Somal, Chief Financial Officer at Blue Ocean Globaltech and Blue Ocean Global Wealth, and Rachita Sharma, Assistant Vice President of Executive Offices,  to discuss a possible business partnership. I met Sameer and Rachita yesterday while I was chatting with Sindu and he came over to congratulate her (here is an article Sindu wrote and posted on LinkedIn about her WEF experience - 14 simple concepts to transform your life). Cheryl Collins also shows up all of a sudden and Meena Baluja is there too so we take one more pic to perpetuate this good memory. 

I take this opportunity to leave the information here that Sindu is organising an International Youth Leadership and Innovation Forum which will be held in Singapore on the 2nd of September 2017. Anyone interested can contact her by clicking on the link.

Back to Sameer and Rachita. It was a very easy going and joyful connection and I instantly felt there could be a good basis for cooperation. The truth is we then kept on bumping into each other so I eventually asked whether they would be available for a networking meeting. That’s how we came to be here now. My proposal is bold: for Blue Ocean Globaltech to launch my platform, doing the marketing bit and receive a percentage of sales. They promise to consider my proposal. Let’s see where it goes. Sometimes business ventures turn out to be productive in different ways so my initial proposal can unfold in its own unique way, which in any case will jumpstart the success of my platform. I also will do my best to refer Blue Ocean Globaltech whenever I see it is worth creating synergies and connections because I believe that all opportunities of cooperation are intended to be win win situations, creative exchanges where both sides grow and expand in a richer way.

I finally get Candice Camille on video. Such an amazing woman. She is the Wellologist I have already mentioned previously and is a true to life example of what she teaches. Thank you Candice.

Just reminding you that the the theme for my interiew is “living an insanely abundant life” and the question is – “What makes people thrive?” and “How can we live an insanely abundant life?” I’m sure it will be a precious series, full of inspired wisdom that drives passion around the world.

***

Later on for some reason or other I am at the Novotel lobby and Elizabeth Marazita, Business Development Manager of Mundo Pato, a Multidisciplinary Cloud to publish Online Courses related to Wellness,  shows up. She needs to go to the shopping centre nearby and asks whether I want to come along. On the spur of the moment I accept. What a lovely experience. We eventually go into a clothes shop called Fabulous Silk and the shop owner, who happens to be a Prince named Prince Solanki, tells us that the business is owned and managed by his wife and that over  90% of their employees are women receiving about double the minimum average salary. I promise to give Dr Harbeen this information because they somehow fit the concept of the WEF. The gentleman even invites us to come and stay at his house up in the mountains, us and our families for a week, ten days, whatever.

Dr Elizabeth Marazita's session which I attended on Wednesday the 10th - The Alchemy of Integrative Medicine on the Cloud

I now have numerous places to stay at in India and will surely be getting a lot of visitors over at my place too. People in India have this innocence about them and an openness to share. They repeatedly invite me to their homes with such simple care that I am drawn to accept. Let’s see how many I actually come back to visit. I’m sure I will follow up on some of these kind offers.

Back to our short excursion to the shopping centre. Thank you Elizabeth, this short experience and our Tuc ride back to the hotel will stay with me.

***

I meet Carla for dinner and she and a friend tell me all about their makeover experience and how many obstacles they encounter. Through persistence and with much effort they eventually manage to do the makeover session. I keep on asking why they didn't listen to their hearts and follow the path of least resistance instead of choosing to go along with a situation that didn't feel quite right. I am sure that if they had let a new potential open up instead of taking the first opportunity even though it felt strange, it could all have been simpler. I will spare you the details. What counts is that they do it and Carla gets to show her expertise and the lovely woman who has received this gift is very happy with her new look! Great job Carla, you rock! :D

Anyway, dinner unfolds and more people join us. Karan Bhatia, Director of Strategic Relationships for Businessworld, a media company and one of the main sponsors of the event, Suman Shrivastava, who is a Life Coach and Marma Vaccume Therapist (here is one of her interventions at WEF) and Praveen S. Chauhan (here is an article written by him for Business World). He is a prominent self taught Astrologer and Palmist.

Out of the blue Anu finds me and is terribly worried that she has to pay me the "Are you aProfessional Worrier" book that she got from me two days earlier. But in fact she has already paid me - she paid me straight away when she bought the book - so the reason why she has been thinking about me all day is another.

She starts spilling out that she has 30 minutes to decide whether to go with her English friends to Goa because they have found an irrefusable package and it expires in 30 minutes. However, she had been meaning to do the Golden Triangle circuit - Delhi, Agra, Jaipur and it doesn't feel right to her to go off to a far away place in the south of India and lie her time away on the beach.

On the other hand she doesn't want to let her friends down, plus she is afraid of going her own way on her own. All of this adds up to the whirlwind of emotions she has whipped up throughout the Conference. She is sitting between Suman and I and we are both holding her hands. I ask her what she wants for herself, what her choice is for her and Suman reinforces this with very wise and balanced guidance.

Ula breaks down into tears, shifting between despair and relief and we just sit and hold her hand, asking her what she chooses for her. I tell her that I can give her the contact of the agency who took care of things for me, that she can come along but she is travelling with herself and for herself, we are not sharing a room because I need my space and she needs hers and besides, her challenge is to develop self-confidence. Of course we will be going to places together but we will also have a lot of time alone.

She worries that her friends will be angry at her and is afraid to face them. Meanwhile the half hour has passed and one of her friends finds her with us, saying that the time has passed.  Ula stays a while longer and I eventually stand up and ask her to stand up and take a deep breath, lift her head up and trust she can go up to her friends and be honest. She does not need to decide right now Suman tells her She can allow herself to sleep over it and decide tomorrow. We tell her that the world is rife with opportunities and that there is no knowing if an even better deal will be there tomorrow for her friends and even for her. She does not need to decide under pressure and all will be well.

She finally goes up to her friends and they are worried with her, wondering if they have done something or said something wrong. They feel relieved when she tells them she will possibly go to Agra and Jaipur but will sleep over it. They thank her instead of being angry at her.

There is no point predefining how someone will react to a situation or behave towards us because each one has a mind and heart of their own. In fact we can choose how to approach others and we can choose how we want to live a situation. For example in this case Ula could choose to respect herself and her friends and she could choose the situation to be smooth and simple. That in itself would have taken care of the whole issue in a very balanced way. Which is in fact what happened.

After all of this we all stay for a while longer at the Food Exchange - that's the name of the excellent restaurant at the Novotel where we have been served the most royal meals ever since we arrived.

Eventually it is time to leave and Carla wants to catch a taxi to Ibis where she is staying but we offer to walk her there. Thank you all for a lovely evening, I deeply appreciated your good natures company <3

Got this pic from Praveen's facebook wall ;) Thank you Praveen

The Power of Conscious Choice - Mother India's Magic 7

Day 5 - 11th May 2017 (Day 4 of WEF)

Presence

I find it hard to fall asleep because I have a bit of a belly ache. I try to stave it off but I eventually have to initiate my long night of Delhi Belly.

Phionah, my roommate, begins to worry but I good humouredly calm her down. She says she has never seen anyone sick and happy. To me, a physical ailment is no cause for despair and feeling miserable will certainly not help me get better faster, so all I do is accept the circumstances, listen to my body and stay patiently Present – this too shall pass.

Inasmuch as we are living in a human body, both pain and pleasure shall always be part of the kaleidoscope of possibilities produced by physical reality. The tipping point depends on whether we stay attached to either one or the other – or on the other hand realise that life is made of moments, and all moments pass. 

Hence we experience either freedom or bondage. I choose freedom.

I have a session today - Valuing Human Development andEmpowerment in Teaching and Training (starts at 1hour 7 minutes). Phionah starts wondering if I will be able to pull it through. I, on the contrary, have no doubt.

The only time I ever take medication is as a last resource and Immodium is the only thing I decide to bring along with me, giving in to Pedro’s insistence that no one goes to India without it. Thank goodness, because now it saves my day!

I take two pills only after many trips to the bathroom, for I believe that diarrhoea and throwing up are the body’s way of purging anything it does not need and if it has created this reaction to either something I ate or drank, or the overall energy of many people together going through transformational processes, then it is both necessary and appropriate and I am not going to take pills to stop the discomfort before I really have to.

Sure enough I get better in a jiffy and though I feel weak and dehydrated I am ready for a new day.

I am on the panel with Dr. Nazneen Akhter, Paulina LawsinNayra and  Diana Skelton and once again learn a lot from my co-speakers and enjoy sharing experiences about education. Someone even unexpectedly comes up to me at the end of the session asking whether I would be willing to come back to India and share what I have just spoken about with their students, how much I would charge considering they would be paying for my plane and accomodation. I am so surprised I just have no idea at that moment. Let's see how this turns out :) I will keep you updated. 

A group of young girls are attending the session and right after I ask them whether I can record them saying how they feel about this experience (please click to view). They are 10th graders from a school in Delhi and a group of bold Maths and English teachers who dared to ask the school director to bring them to the WEF instead of going to classes.

 It is such a rich choice! These girls are having a truly life-changing opportunity that will surely influence their paths in many ways. They are so candid, innocent and happy. Thank you girls, and thank you teachers J

***

Today the Portuguese Secretary of State for European Affairs Margarida Marques arrives, so I attend her session together with the Embassy’s Committee and though I am not into politics, it turns out to be an interesting presentation of Portugal’s position regarding womens’ rights, equality and equity: European Politics towards Gender Balance.

***

I attend Regina Robinson and Mahiema Anand's session - Getting Naked to get Free which I enjoy. 

Regina asks questions throughout the session and I repeatedly share that one needs to lose everything in order to find Who one truly is. There is a lady from Kenya, a medical doctor I cannot recall the name of, sitting right next to me and Phionah and she really wants to understand what I mean and how this can be done. We engage in a very interesting and profound conversation out in the garden and it's a pity I can't find her card. I really loved meeting her.

***

Luiza has to leave unexpectedly. She had mixed up her flight date and should have left last night so she ends up not coming to the dinner at the Portuguese Ambassador’s Residence, which leaves just me and Carla. Sofia Batalha, Consul of the Portuguese Embassy picks us up at the hotel. 

The Embassy’s delegates present at the dinner are easy to engage in conversation with and the Ambassador and his wife receive us with moderate formality, which makes me feel comfortable, for I am not used to protocol.

Carla feels a bit uneasy, since the fact that she has not been invited but sort of made herself invited starts taking its toll on her set of moral values. However, there is no reason for unease because everyone is very welcoming.

Not having eaten all day, I manage to enjoy dinner and by then feel great as usual.

I suppose it’s normal for the Embassy people to be waited on by gloved servants but it is quite new to me and I wonder what it feels like to pretend to be invisible and yet be a human being with thoughts and feelings, just like everyone else. Interesting life experience, definitely.

It is a pleasant occasion and in the end Carla starts distributing souvenirs from the Netherlands as tokens of her appreciation, just like she offered me when we first met. She is a very sweet woman and I am grateful to have met her.

While we are in the car on our way back to the hotel, she gives me a pink cloth bag together with many thanks for the opportunity I opened up for her. And do you know what? I really need a bag J I have got quite a few gifts sonce I’ve got here and my backpack can’t take anything else in it, so she has just given me exactly what I needed next.