Travel With a Difference

SAN FRANCISCO, CA–(Marketwired – Nov 5, 2013) – Joseph Campbell said it first: “follow your bliss.” Cruise lines are taking these words to heart and heeding recent studies that show giving to others can be as powerful a pleasure as loving relationships or an amazing meal. Itineraries are incorporating depth experiences that allow passengers to take shore days and teach at an orphanage in Cambodia, help save native plants in Hawaii or tend school playgrounds in Ghana.

New “voluntour” excursions offered by Crystal Cruises’ You Care, We Care program, for instance, allow for a variety of altruistic activities that passengers can choose during an 89-day, Los Angeles to London global journey departing January 18, 2014.

Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/pr/1567199#ixzz2kPW6FQHx

Follow Your Bliss

It seems that creativity sustains us, and that following your bliss may actually help you to live longer.

“It was once thought that as we got older, our brains simply grew dimmer like a light bulb on its last bit of wattage. But lo and behold, it’s not so simplistic. Research now indicates that as the brain ages, it begins making connections and cross indexing in ways it never has before.”

Read more: Get a Life: Follow Your Bliss

Accountant to Baker

A master in the art of living draws no sharp distinction between work and play

L.P. Jacks

I really loved reading this story in the Zen Pencils newsletter I received today. I think it’s the greatest thing when people get clear on what they’re passionate about and take action to follow their dream.

An Australian following her dream

A morning in Ubud

It’s cool today, overcast with snippets of blue still in view. It’s one of those days where you can easily lose track of time.  Even now, in the early morning, it could be late afternoon.

From my balcony I can hear the cooing of pigeons, the distant crowing of roosters, and an assortment of other birds.  It feels safe and cosy here, surrounded by a mix of foliage, mainly tall palm trees, with their skinny naked trunks reaching high into the sky.  The palm fronds and coconuts are high above me, reaching toward the sky.

That reminds me, on our tour last week, our guide told us that death by falling coconut is the second biggest killer in Bali.  Number one is road accident, two is falling coconut, and three is drowning.  It’s strange what unusual information stays in my head.

Have You Found Your Calling Yet?

Love this article!  Perfect for those of us who have started to journey down the road less traveled.

Have You Found Your Calling Yet?

Professor Robert Thurman, The Vimalakirti Mahayana Sutra

Getting settled in before a two hour teaching session.

Strangely, the first thing I thought of today while waiting for Professor Thurman’s talk to start was the importance of following your bliss.  This is a statement, made by Joseph Campbell, that I frequently recall and hope I have the good luck and courage to achieve myself.  Maybe it is because Professor Thurman is one of those rare few who has stepped outside of societal norms and followed his bliss and has been hugely successful by doing so.

A very brief summary of Professor Thurman:  He was born on August 3, 1941 and is an influential and prolific American Buddhist writer and academic who has written, edited or translated several books on Tibetan Buddhism.  He had an accident in 1961, and he decided to refocus his life.  He divorced his wife, and travelled in Turkey, Iran and India.  He became a Buddhist and was ordained in 1964, the first American Buddhist monk of the Tibetan tradition.  He studied with Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, who became a close friend.  (More detail can be found on Wikipedia).