365 Inspirations—168: A Calling

“Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.”—Rumi

Tomorrow, or maybe the next day, I head out on a very undefined pilgrimage, spiritual journey, writing, meditation, yoga retreat. It will involve a bit of travel, but I'm not sure how much this time around.

I'm feeling called to work on a few projects that seem to be taking shape every moment. I am getting pieces of information on these projects every day.

I know it sounds strange. In my past, I often operated in a very linear way. I measured things that I could see, taste, touch, feel—tangible things.

More recently, I've been letting go of a linear way of thinking and have adopted a more holistic view of things.

I believe some things can be explained, but some simply cannot.

I'm not afraid of the unknown anymore.

In fact, I'm ready to dive deeper into the unknown. I'm ready to loosen the tight strings that have bound me to a rational view of things.

Life is much more than we are able to see. Life, in its entirety, is incomprehensible.

I'm excited to venture out soon. I let you know more about my journey as it unfolds.

Have you ever felt called to do something different than you normally do?

365 Inspirations—19: Planning a Trip

“Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful, we must carry it with us or we find it not.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson

I always get inspired when I plan a trip! Maybe I should have been a travel agent. I love traveling, but I also love planning trips. I'm usually the one who organizes the travel arrangements in the family. My husband and I have spent a great deal of our 17 or so years together traveling. We've been to India, Korea, Japan, Thailand, Tibet, Hong Kong, Nepal and Canada together and to many other countries on our own. In the USA, we've traveled to Hawaii, Arizona, New York, Maryland, Nevada,  Utah, Washington D.C., Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Maine, Florida, Oregon, California and to many other states that I can't think of right now. He's seen much of the USA, but his first trip to America was in 2000.

We got married in Korea and had a traditional Korean wedding and went to a Japanese hot spring resort for our honeymoon and then we had another wedding ceremony in Washington State at a friends house on the water. We took a boat across Lake Washington to a friend's condo and left the next morning for a second honeymoon in Kauai, Hawaii. My aunt and uncle offered their place to us as a wedding gift. I felt lucky to have both eastern and western weddings and honeymoons. I loved planning those trips.

For my husband's 40th birthday in December, we went to Las Vegas and met two friends from California there. We also took a side trip to Zion National Park. Our friends planned most of the trip. It was actually nice to have someone else do the planning for once, even though I love it. I finally got to just go along for the ride!

In March, my husband is leading a yoga retreat in Hilo, Hawaii. We have done many yoga retreats together and even combined our talents at yoga and writing retreats at various locations in both the USA and abroad. We hope to do more of those! I'm probably going to add an extra page to this blog with information about our retreats. They are usually very well attended.

We just booked our flight for Kona today. The yoga retreat is for seven days in Hilo and I will also do a book reading/signing at a bookstore in Kona for my book Lessons from the Monk I Married that came out in April last year. From April to June, 2012 my husband and I went on both an east and west coast tour for my book and had a great time!

Do you like planning trips? Do you have plans to go anywhere soon?