Hawai'i

When I first arrived in Hilo, Hawai'i in 2006, I didn't know what to expect. I knew I wasn't doing anything over my summer break from college that year and I had about $600 in my bank account. Not much, but enough to get me a room and a flight to Hawai'i. The trip was a disaster. I fell in love with the island, and it's natural beauty, and I needed to come for a reason (which I've discovered now was for me to return in the long run), but I didn't end up getting along with the people I stayed with very well. However, the day I left Hilo to California on July 4th, 2006, I was given a gift that I blessed in the Pacific waters: a shell necklace that I haven't taken off since. I knew that I would one day return to complete something in Hawai'i. I knew something was calling me to these islands. I knew there was something bigger, something stronger, something with more force that was calling me.

I just arrived in Kailua-Kona, on the other side of the big island of Hawai'i, on June 15th, 2010. This time, with a little more money and a little bit more knowledge about what I want to do here. This island is incredible: waterfalls, jungle, desert, black sand, white sand, and lava rock beaches, tidepools, canyons, valleys, rain, snow, heat, volcanos, lava, steam vents, hot springs, waves, and much, much more. In fact, this island alone houses 11 of the 13 main climates of the world. The energy is divine. Mother Earth is very busy here, always active underground with flowing lava and there is an energy here that never ends. I feel more alive on this island than anywhere else in the world I have ever been. You never know what you will find, and what the divine Mother Earth will bring you from day to day.

I've found a home here. I will be here for a while. I have a lot of work to complete on this island. So far, the islands have accepted me well. I've attended a yoga class up in the mountains of Holualoa, overlooking the Pacific, found a job within the first two days, found a hostel to live in, met wonderful people, helped out a local who locked his keys in his car, developed new ideas about how to make and save money, swam amongst turtles and beautiful fish, discovered white sand beaches on the Kohala Coast, and learned that I absolutely cannot live without crusted coconut Mahi Mahi. I have much to learn, and this time around, I am courageous, bold, and confident in my actions, thoughts and behaviors. I can't wait to report what's next here. I can feel a transformation coming. Something that will really help me grow, help me to become a stronger woman. I learn from this island, from this great teacher.

Sometimes, you land somewhere in life, and you just never know what's next, but you discover that what God had planned for you was greater and bigger than you could ever imagine. If you fill yourself up with ideas and images of paradise, you may never find it because your expectations won't be met, but if you discover paradise in each thing, in each place, in each person, in each part of life, you will be more fulfilled than ever before. An overwhelming exctasy will follow you around.

Discover the beauty. Discover the divinity in all beings, in all of aspects of life; even if you think something is bad, it's probably a blessing in disguise.

Love you all from the big island of Hawai'i,

Aloha! -Jen

We are love

I experienced something today so unbelievably amazing, yet so simple!

On the way home from my cousins Graduation party, I had a vent session. I have been in the states for less than one week having traveled in Mexico for about 3 months prior, and I have had yet another difficult adjustment phase into American culture. It's difficult to spend 3 months among a different culture, learn a new language, see the world in a different perspective, watch children in the streets with little money begging for a few pesos to help them with their next meal, and then come back into American culture where the majority of people are blinded by materialism and ego-centric attitudes, always searching for the next best thing to fulfill their emptiness inside. (Yes, this may be a bit of a harsh comment, but this is what I see, and this is how I am feeling, and it's all the truth from my perspective. I am a victim of materialism as well, we all are!) After venting for 10-15 minutes on my mother, sister, and Brian, my sister's boyfriend, I freed myself from what was inside of me. I allowed all these negative feelings pour out of me and I complained and explained and proclaimed about America, money, greed, capitalism, the global marketplace, third world labor, cultural and social inequalities, and I just simply LET IT ALL OUT! After a year of traveling, I have quite a bit going on in this little head of mine.

Then, we sat in silence for a few minutes, and I shut my eyes, and breathed. I listened to myself. I inhaled positivity. I inhaled light. I exhaled negativity. I exhaled darkness. I opened my eyes to the golden hills of California, and I emptied every fear, worry, and complaint from my system. I completely lost myself in a trance. And I realized this one thing that I always knew in my head but never really experienced:

Love is the only thing in the world that truly exists! Love is all that is left when we, as human beings, let all worries, attachments, troubles, petty problems, complaints, issues, drama, and all the noises inside of our brain GO!!! Love! SImply love! Love in the form of wind. Love in the form of air, of space, of energy. It's everywhere. In nature, inside us, in every manmade piece of work ever created. Love. Our pure, natural state of being is love.

So let's celebrate this! Let's celebrate our pure, natural state of being. We are only human after all, right? Let's enjoy this human life and embrace all the love in this world. Love is more abundant and powerful than greed. Love is a stronger force than hatred. Love conquers all.

I see the light in you. I see the love in you. Let us all shine with love and be the angels that God has created us to be.

From Concord, CA, I love all of you!!!!

Jenny