Environmental Education Project: ¨Having experiences is called living. Sharing experiences is called loving.¨

This passage was shared with me by my cousin Alison who got it in an email from a friend and thought it appropriate to share with me- and I couldn´t agree more. Thanks Ali! <3

Gather experiences. Treat them as precious jewels.

The purpose of the journey is not to guard and restrain yourself. The purpose is to learn. You do not teach and lead your soul. Your soul leads and teaches you. It takes you wading across streams, strolling through meadows, deep into valleys, and high onto mountaintops. It takes you down winding, narrow roads and along fast-moving four-lane highways. It takes you into tiny cafes, bustling cities, and out-of-the-way hostels where people break bread and tell what they have learned.
Let yourself have all your experiences. Don't limit or judge yourself or the adventures you have had. All were necessary, all were important, all have helped shape and form you. Your heart will lead you, guide you where you are to go. Don't worry about getting lost or off track. Don't worry about being wrong, or in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Gather experiences. Go through them. Select the gems from each. Listen while others tell their stories, their adventures, and show you their jewels, the truths that they have learned. Then, when you break bread and sip soup with others, open your heart and joyfully share what has happened to you along the way.

Having experiences is called living.
Sharing experiences is called loving.
Let yourself enjoy both.

So now let me share with you my journey and experiences in Peru. I spent just over two weeks at an Hare Krishna eco-village called ¨Eco Truly Park¨ where I; worked as a volunteer in the garden harvesting beets, in the kitchen preparing the beets and peeling more potatoes than I´d like to recall, and as an artist doing part my service by painting a mandala.

This was the first time I´d ever heard of or been introduced to the Hare Krishna philosophy and needless to say I was exposed to a whole new way of life. I believe essence of all religions are one in the same sharing the same core principles. Do everything with an open and loving heart. Humble yourself. Do onto other as you would do onto yourself. Do things for other people without expectations and that in turn is showing love to yourself. Don´t kill. Don´t steal and the list goes on and on. The only thing I believe most religions today lack is the deep and profound connection with Mother Earth, for where would we be without her? Non-existant.

I don´t identify myself with any one religion in particular but several. I have picked out the good things, the common threads in all of them, and tied them together to a religion that is my own, although I would say I´m more spiritual than religious....and to each their own.

Without further ado let these pictures, my experiences, take you through a part of my journey in Peru. Enjoy and namaste!