Paths to Bliss Blog

If you are looking for a life coach look no further than the computer game hero Super Mario.  I am serious and I will tell you why.

I am in Venezuela with my wife and twin 8 month olds staying at my wife’s parents farm.  There internet connection is so slow it is almost unusable. So, for now I have put on the backburner all of the marketing of my album and the running of my webportal.  This has been a blessing in disguise because it means I have just been able to spend lots of time with the babies, write songs and walk in the beautiful natural surroundings here in the Andes.

A few weeks ago, my sister-in-law’s boyfriend installed a Nintendo 64 emulator on the laptop here that allows you to play all the old Nintendo 64 games on PC.  He started playing “Super Mario 64″, initially I took the piss out of him but inevitably I got drawn in and then well and truly hooked.  Initially I felt like I was wasting time, that I should be doing something more constructive, but I was enjoying myself.  My wife even said to me “I am glad you are allowing yourself to play video games”.

For those not familiar with Super Mario 64 it basically goes like this.  Mario enters a big castle and in the castle are lots of doors.  The doors lead to rooms or hallways that lead to other rooms etc.  In the rooms there are paintings of various things and if Mario jumps into a painting he enters a “World”.  There are snow worlds, lava worlds, mountain worlds, cloud worlds and much more.

In each world you have to find the big yellow stars.  Some stars are really easy to get and they literally fall into Super Mario’s lap.  Some stars are really difficult to get, sometimes near impossible until with alot of attempts and trying you get the star.  There are normally about 5 or 6 stars in each “World”.  When Super Mario has collected 30 stars he gets to open a big door with a big yellow star on it that leads to other rooms and “worlds” and another big door that requires 50 stars to open.  It goes on and on until he gets all the stars and gets through all the doors to his GOAL which is to rescue his princess.

After playing Super Mario for a few days, the amazing teachings of this game dawned on me.

I thought about my goal which is for my music to reach millions all over the world and to be a globally successful recording artist.

And then I thought If I just do one or two important things toward my goal each day e.g. Send an album out for review, write a song, play a gig and collect names for my mailing list etc…Each thing I do is like Mario when he gets one his big yellow stars.  So if I just get 1 or 2 or even 3 stars a day, pretty soon a door will open.  Then if I press on and get even more stars, pretty soon another door will open.  For some stars I will have to work hard, but the some will be brought to me magically by synchronicity or “coincidence” or whatever you want to call it according to your beliefs.  If I keep doing this and don’t give up then success is assured.  I am sure to reach my goal just as Super Mario is sure to rescue the princess if he keeps going.

The answers to life and powerful revelations can sometimes be found in the most unlikely things! Seems not all computer games are bad for our kids.

“The Universe is broadcasting all frequencies, you are the radio”.  This phrase has been in my mind alot lately.

My father in law said the other night “Esta es un mundo de locos” (This world is full of crazy people).  I thought, really, I reckon it is full of amazing, lovely people.  I only tend to meet amazing, lovely people.  Funny that.

I am in the city of San Cristobal in Venezuela staying with my wife’s parents in the Andes.  It is an amazing place of stunning natural beauty and the most perfect climate I have ever been in.  The Australia Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) on their “Smart Traveller” website gives this region their highest danger rating “DO NOT TRAVEL”.  When I walk around the streets of this place, during the day and night I think “What a load of absolute shit!!”.  People here are friendly, courteous, beautiful, helpful and just trying to live a happy life and like the rest of us.  I am sure though that the people who listen to the scary news and tune into the violence frequency or worry about it would probably be able to attract it here, but then again I don’t think the location has much to do with that!

The Universe contains absolutely every possible experience, from the most joyful and beautiful to the most traumatic and unimaginable.  There is a huge range of experiences in between.

I don’t feel like anything bad has ever happened to me.  I have never been a victim of violence.  Lately I seem to be able to focus even more on the positive and my life gets even better.

Yesterday in central San Cristobal we were at a fun fair.  Amongst the chaos, filth and noise all I could see was beauty. Beauty in everyone that walked past me.  A few weeks ago, I was so frustrated about being here in Venezuela that I got really down.  I really wanted to just be in Australia now and not have to wait for my wife’s spousal visa.  I hated the place, I hated my in-law’s farm, I hated the city, I hated the people.  It was the worst place in the world.  But here I was, with 2 more months in front of me, so I had a choice keep hating it or change my attitude.  So I changed my attitutude, I still hate it every now and then by most of the time now I just see beauty in this place and its people.  DIFFICULT EXPERIENCES ARE SO AWESOME!! the growth that come out of them is priceless, if you are a willing participant.

I am also so grateful here for my 8 year old Nephew here Francisco Armando.  He is so much like me when I was a kid, expressive, constantly enthusiastic, loud, always singing, always shouting, always wanting to play and has a massive heart.  For the first few months I hated him.  I was even mean to him at times.  Then I realised that he is me when I was 8 and through bullying at school I shut that boy down.  I realised I had an opportunity for huge healing through my nephew.  If I could play with him, shout with him, sing with him, run with him, be enthusiastic with him, be kind to him, and LOVE him I would effectively be healing myself and reconnecting with my true self.  So thats what I did, and it worked.

I am so convinced that we don’t need workshops, books, mind expanding drugs and other spiritual technologies to grow. All we really need to do is to open our eyes to the teachings in front of us.  Our masters that are our parents, children, partners, nephews and every one else we spent time with.  Especially the people who drive us nuts, they are our true masters.  There is always potential for huge healing through the people who drive us nuts.

I am grateful for the people who drive me nuts, like my Nephew.  He no longer drives me nuts, he healed a huge part of me.

Today a very simple, elegant, all encompassing explanation of how the Law of Attraction works came to me.

The whole purpose of our existance in the “outer world” (Physical Reality) is to ENJOY physically all the things that we can conceive in the “inner world”.

The inner world is everything and anything that has or ever will be imagined.

The inner world is the realm of our thoughts, visions, dreams and feelings.  Our thoughts, visions, dreams and feelings are the ways in which we CONNECT with the inner world.  It is our subset of the inner world.  It is where INDIVIDUAL consciousness seperates from the ONE consciousness.

The outer world is everything that we have CONNECTED with long enough, long enough and with enough focus to bring it into the outer world.

All we have to do to bring something into this ALREADY PERFECT outer world is to focus on it in the inner world long enough and with enough passion to bring it into the outer world.

Here is the good part…

The more you ENJOY the outer world the closer the inner and outer worlds become.

Thats why if you are happy it is so easy to manifest what you want.  The inner world is closer.

I remember coming home from a gig once where I was so high from doing what I love (Performing as a singer/songwriter) that visualizations of much bigger shows came on their own.

I thanked the Universe for such a great gig and the response came “No, no, thank you!”

I realise now that in that state of BLISS I had brought my outer world and my inner world very close together.  The universe thanked me because I ENJOYED myself.  Thats what the universe wants, for me to enjoy myself, nothing else.

Divine masters such as Jesus, Buddha, Babaji etc are known to be BLISSED OUT or to experience eternal ecstacy.  That is why they can MANIFEST AT WILL because they are BLISSED OUT.  At this point of ABSOLUTE BLISS, the inner world and the outer world are ONE.  Hence all manifestation is instant.

That is why in “the Secret” it says to FOLLOW YOUR BLISS.  Because the more you FOLLOW YOUR BLISS the close the inner world and the outer world become.  The closer the inner and outer world are the less time it takes for things to appear in the outer world once conceived in the inner world.

This also explains why positive thoughts are hundred of times more powerful than negative thoughts because positive thoughts cause JOY and bring the inner and outer worlds closer.

This also explains why gratitude is so important.  True gratitude feelings are measures of how much you are enjoying your current reality.  The more authentic GRATITUDE you feel the more BLISS you are experiencing and the inner and outer world get closer.

Wow.

I was walking in the hills surrounding my wife’s parent’s farm today thinking about life.  I was thinking about the Law of Attraction and how to manifest everything that I want in life.  It became clear to me recently that in order to manifest something I want, I can’t just want it, I have to KNOW it is done.  So I started thinking about examples of things in the past that I knew were done, to see what that felt like, so I could get into that feeling.  In that moment I could not for the life of me think of any examples.

Walking back to the farm an answer came racing into my head.  When I am in a restaurant, I KNOW that what I want is already done.  I read the menu, I choose what I want to eat, I place my order with the waiter/ress and I know that in 15 minutes or so what I have ordered will be in front of me and I will be enjoying a good meal.

I then took that thought and applied it to my recent life and I realized that to manifest what I want to have in my life is really as simple as ordering a meal in a restaurant.

It is that simple…

But then I…

-          Change my order several times and the Chef (The Universe/God) has to start all over again every time I change my mind.  Not only that, I get charged for the previous orders too (Lost Energy)

-          Place my order and then keep telling the waiter (The Universe/God)  my order over and over again.  The first time I repeat my order the waiter says “Yes I know sir you just ordered that”. The fifth time I ask he just walks away.

-          Am so focused on what I want to eat that I forget to ask for the “Chef’s Suggestions”.

-          If they don’t have what I ordered I get angry and forget that the Chef (The Universe/God) has something even better to serve me.

-          When my food arrives, I find something wrong with it rather than appreciating the miracle that is in front of me.

-          And so on…

So today I decided that from now on, I am just going to place my orders once and then have total faith that what I want will turn up with no thoughts to the contrary.  I.e. I can place the order “I am now a multimillionaire” and that dish will be delivered.   But then in my day to day life if I then worry about money I am in effect cancelling that order.

KNOWING something is done means placing the order and no further ordering needs to be done.  The work is to keep your thoughts away from the things that are not aligned with what you have ordered.

For example, back at the restaurant, I place my order for a “Veggie Burger” and the waiter (The Universe/God) says “Veggie Burger coming right up”.  I don´t then sit at my table thinking “Oh what if the burger doesn’t come” or “They are going to run out of buns”.  I just know my veggie burger is coming.  The same applies to the Law of Attraction.  Place the order and sit there happily anticipating its arrival.  Nothing else.

Visualization could be likened to a menu with pictures. We see a picture of a dish we want and we order it.  We then KNOW the dish is coming.  We don’t then keep staring at the picture or record it in our minds eye in order to try and get the dish to arrive because we already KNOW it is coming.  Visualization is just a means of perfecting the vision of what we already KNOW is coming and as the vision becomes more perfect we know what we want is drawing nearer.

I have read so many things about the Law of Attraction and manifesting what I want.  But now I really think I get it! Wooohooo! It is so simple, it is only me who can complicate it.

My thoughts then turned to my 7 month old baby twins and I thought “Wow, If the Universe can create these two in 9 months with so little work from me ;o) then bringing me anything I want is easy”

In that moment my wife said to me “If you go for another walk today Franscisco (my nephew) wants to go with you”

So I said “Ok, let’s go Now”

So I set off for another walk in the hills with my nephew Franscisco.  We came over the hill and lo and behold we arrived just minutes after a cow had given birth.

What a magic moment.  It was like the final word from the Universe telling me “Yeah, it is that simple”.

Oh and don’t forget the most important thing: When you leave the restaurant thank the waiter leave them a tip and send compliments to the Chef!

Ok so I have arrived at a huge bridge on my Path to Bliss.  It is one of those rope bridges that you see in the movies, a big wobbly one.  On the other side of the bridge there is a sign that says “Where all your dreams come true”. The sign on this side of the bridge says “Fine then, stay in mediocracy and want”.

I have been at the entrance to this bridge for a while, wondering how to cross it without falling off into the depths below.  It wasn’t until yesterday that I really “got it”.  I really realized how to cross the bridge.

I am a huge fan of the movie “the Secret”, for me “the Secret” contains alot of truth, it also profoundly moves me everytime I watch it.  “the Secret” though focusses on how if we change our thoughts we change our reality.  I have been trying to change my thoughts ever since I saw “the Secret” back in 2006 and with some success but not to the magnitude that I know is possible.

Yesterday I was reading a book called “Spiritual Marketing” by Joe Vitale (one of the Secret teachers) and something clicked.

There is no use trying to change our thoughts, we have to change what is beneath our thoughts, which is our beliefs.  Our beliefs are the source of our thoughts.  Change our beliefs, which are the source of our thoughts and our thoughts change automatically.

So I have a whole lot of beliefs about myself and the world including “You have to work hard for money”, “Noone buys my album” and “When I get back to Sydney I am going to have to take an I.T. job because I could never make a living from music” etc etc.

But there is a belief that underlies all of them: “I’m not good enough”.

So today in the forested Andes of Venezuela I shouted “I’m not good enough” several times really loud.  It just made me laugh.  Now that I am at ease with not being good enough, I can replace it with “I am so good enough”.  I can cross the bridge.  And who cares if I fall off into the depths anyway, as Randolph Stone said “We are as afraid of the depths as the ancient mariner was of falling off the Earth at the end of the sea”.  Maybe the sign at the bottom says “Where all your dreams come true and more cause you just let go”.  Letting go, what a concept.  I am letting go now, really I am.  Sometimes I see images of a big hammer (gods hammer) smacking at my fingers.  God’s love in a hammer – let go my child I am trying to give you more than you could ever imagine.

I will.

Tomorrow.

I just want to suffer in my drama and mediocracy for one more day.

Why?

*sigh*

I can choose lasting bliss in an instant by changing my beliefs and letting go.

It is there for the taking on a silver platter.

The other night, I was in front of the computer organizing the next day.

My wife and I are putting together her application to immigrate to Australia and I had to find out where the Australian Consulate and Argentine Embassy were in Caracas.

Finding the Australian Consulate was easy and took me 2 minutes.

I “google mapped” the Argentine Embassy and it found a street way outside Caracas.

So I tried again and I found the same street, but on the other side of Caracas.

A little voice said “You don’t have to go to the Argentine Embassy”

I ignored it.

I kept looking.

I searched on other map sites with no luck.  I went back to google maps and tried to find the street manually (on a map of Caracas with thousands of streets!)

Google maps then did a big scroll off the page and I ended up in the ocean.

So I went back to google maps.

And it did the big sroll off the map again and I ended up in another ocean.

The I started yelling “F^&%$$£ Google Maps”

My wife said “You know, maybe you should leave it”

I said “I know but it is so frustrating”

So frustrating, that the universe is trying to save me work. hahahahaha

So I went to Caracas.

And everything went so smoothly…

I even found the Argentine Embassy.

They informed me that they could not help me with the matter I was there for.

And without going into it, that made life alot easier for us!

When will I learn?

That the Universe is always working in my favour?

I even write songs about it.

Those songs are still my teachers, everyday.

Something very funny happened though…

When I was in the office of the Argentine Embassy oficial, at one point she asked if she could see my wife’s passort in order to determine whether she could help with our request.

I was carrying my wife’s passport in my money belt.

So I stood up, and loosened my pants to get the money belt out.

To get it out I also had to put my hand slightly into my pants to grab the money belt.

Well, the poor Embassy official, absolutely freaked out.  Her whole body went stiff, she had a look of horror on her face and let out a stifled shreek.

I don’t know what she thought I was going to do!

I think she thought I was going to pull out my wife’s best friend (thankyou Monty Python) rather than my wife’s passport!!

When she saw the money belt emerge from my pants other than something else, she took a big sigh of relief.

Perhaps I should have been a little more discreet.  But it made for a funny story!

It certainly brought bliss into my day, I am not so sure about the Embassy Official!

Have a blissful day all.

My wife and I am our 5 month old twin babies are in Venezuela visiting my wife’s family and putting togther the papers required for my wife’s spousal visa.  It could take a month to put the papers together and another 6 months to get the Visa.  We are staying at my wife’s sisters house on a mattress on our floor with our babies.  My wife’s sister and husband are incredibly busy and stressed out, we are in the middle of their life, we have no other option.  I can’t work here, Venezuela is crumbling under Chavez.  I have a job lined up in Australia, we just need to get there.  Blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blaaaaaaaaaah.

Stop.

This afternoon I felt about as negative as I ever could.  My wife too.  We love each other so much but have been feeling under so much stress about our situation and the question “What are we going to do” that we have been a bit disconnected.

So at some stage today, we were driving along at I saw a beautiful plaza.  I said to my wife “Gee love, isn’t that a beautiful plaza”.

I then realized that I saw something I liked.  I thought “What if I just focus on the things I like about Venezuela and our situation? Wouldn’t that be more constructive?

Then I thought, ok whenever a negative thought comes up, I am just going to chant one of my favourite mantras.  So I started chanting the Gayatri Mantra, then later Om Namaha Shivaya then Sede Campalete etc.  My wife started too.

A few hours later I turned to my wife and said “I feel great now”.  She replied “So do I!!”.  Funny that.

I had been feeling so negative and more stressed than any time I can remember.  Now I was feeling great.

I remembered a concept that Randolph Stone the founder of Polarity Therapy covered in one of his books.  The concept of the “Diamond Soul”.  The pressures of life are what create the diamond soul.  For the creation of diamonds, the pressure is immense.

I related that to the stress we were under, our living situation, not wanting to be in Venezuela, trying to get to Australia.

I thought, I can let myself be crushed by this stress or I can allow the pressure to catapult me into positivity.  I can become a diamond.

Today I chose the latter! Tomorrow is Round 2!

I believe mantra chanting is a great tool.  When the negatives come, just start chanting.  When I was a little boy, I used to ridicule the Hare Krishnas like nearly everyone else in Australia.  Now I know, those Hares, they are onto something HUGE: Natural Highs from chanting.

Chant and be happy.

Don’t worry be happy.

Happy happy happy happy happy.

Say that 100 times and see what happens.

)

Here are some great free Audio lectures from Abraham-Hicks that I have been listening to lately that have been really helping me on my Path to Bliss.  Really wise, lucid stuff in my opinion.

Here is one of them that I posted on www.pathstobliss.com

http://www.pathstobliss.com/newearth/index.php?id=750

Many more can be found here:

http://www.youtube.com/user/goodnewsteam

In my free Ebook I talk about how the path to bliss is to do more of the things that bring you health and bliss and eliminate the things that drain your life energy and health.  In an earlier blog I evolved that thought a little and said that instead of eliminating “drains” it is better to create the opposite habit that represents a gain.

I for example I am in the process of stopping overeating because I know how much better I feel when I eat light.  So for a few days I tried to stop overeating and it didn’t work.  Then I decided that I would create a new habit of “Conscious eating” eating slow, taking breaks, chewing my food etc.  It is working, I am doing it.  By creating this new habit, the old habit just falls away.  “Conscious eating” and “Overeating” just can’t exist in the same space.

In building new habits that build your life energy and health there are two companions that are like gold.  Number 1 is a partner or friend to remind you of your new habit when you forget.  Number 2 is the Humility to accept the reminder.

My wife Rosarmy and I have been together for over 3 years now.  Rosarmy is a very disciplined person with very good eating habits and habits in general.  She is absolutely delightful to be married to.  For a while now she has been trying to help me eat consciously, reminding me to chew well and enjoy my food.  For a long time I resisted the advice.  I would say things like “Just coz I’m eating fast doesn’t mean I am not enjoying it” or “I have an excellent digestive system, it can take it!”.  At times I was even openly hostile and possibly even told her to “shut up and mind your own business”.

Then I started this blog to track my own path to bliss and indentified “Conscious Eating” as one of the habits I wanted to form.  I was humbled to realise that what I now REALLY wanted my wife was trying to help me with a looong time ago.

So now my wife says “Hey love, enjoy your food, chew well” and I say “Thanks for reminding me”.  There is no resistance any more so now I can build a habit of conscious eating.

I think sometimes we just have to listen to others more.  Especially those close to us.  Especially our wives, boys!! Women are powerful, sensible and intuitive and know whats good for us most of the time.  Especially if the relatioship is loving.

Humility is the key, If we can just see that most of the time (constructive) criticism is really a signpost leading us back to our path to bliss we can be grateful and say “Thankyou” rather than getting into resistance with the other person that just keeps us stuck.

As my family and I get ready to leave Brazil, it is time to reflect on the last 12 months.  We had an amazing time, and the year was about as eventful as they come.

Sometime in September 2008 my wife Rosarmy told me that she thought she was pregnant.  I thought “How?” but then remembered that one day when we thought the “timing” was safe we were a bit shall we say “relaxed” about things.  Lo and behold, the first time we ever did that, we got pregnant!  Anyway, at the time, we decided there was no way my wife was pregnant and she went off to a 10 day vipassana retreat in Buenos Aires.  A Vipassana retreat is basically where you don’t talk to anyone or have eye contact with them for ten days.  You are just fully and completely with yourself and mediate about 10 hours a day.  When the retreat had finished my wife did a pregnancy test and then called me crying.  She was indeed pregnant and had just given our baby a very peaceful start indeed!

So Rosarmy returned to our home in Capilla del Monte looking very radiant after 10 days meditating 10 hours a day and with new life inside of her.  She announced that if she was going to be pregnant, we would have to be by the ocean.

Well I freaked out a bit.  I was still finishing my album and said to her “There is no way I can leave here until I have finished my album”.  She agreed, and I got my arse into gear and stopped procrastinating and finished it around Christmas day 2007.  A few days later our second Ultrasound showed a Two-headed monster.  “Why are there two heads?” we exclaimed to the doctor.  “Because there are two babies” he replied.  I put both hands on my head and yelled “Holy Guacamole!”.  I will never forget that Ultrasound!  So we had one shot-in-the-dark so to speak and we now had two babies.  We were afraid to have another ultrasound because at the first ultrasound only one baby showed.  At the second there were two! So far we had added one baby per ultrasound!

So we were faced with two choices, go to Australia and be by the ocean and my family there or go to Venezuela and go and be by the ocean there.  Then I had a bit of an Aries moment.  I said “Lets go to Brazil!!”.  I had been to Brazil in 2005/2006 and loved it.  I had friends there, places to stay, it would be great.  Romantically, I declared “If I open this Atlas to the Brazil page, we’re goin’”.  I opened the atlas to a Brazil page.  I started jumping around the room like a kid yelling “We’re going to Brazil, We’re going to Brazil!!”.  I was so happy to be going back to Brazil.  I closed the Atlas and opened it again just to check and again I got Brazil.  Then I did it again and again I got Brazil.  3 times I got Brazil by opening the Atlas to random pages.  So it was decided, we were going to Brazil.

So we sold a few of my guitars (sniff sniff) and a few other things to get the money to get there.  We went to Brazil, pregnant with twins with just enough money to get there and live for a month or two.  “It will all work out” we said.

I had to go to Buenos Aires to get a tourist visa and then headed up by bus to Florianopolis with my friend Chello.  Rosarmy went by car directly from Capilla del Monte, driven by our friends Ana and Andre.

We settled in “Barra da Lagoa” a beachside, tourist haven that attracts travellers from all over the world.  Chello and I hit the streets and the bars as a duo playing our music.  The first night out we made 150 Reals (US$100)  in 20 minutes and thought “Wow this is amazing”.  We came back the next night with expectations and made about 20 Reals in 1 hour! The first night we were just having lots of fun and not expecting anything.

Lesson #1 from Brazil: The universe loves it when you just have fun, and rewards you for it (what a nice universe).

Chello and I dabbled in the bar scene a bit, busked, played table to table, whatever we could really.  We sold our CDs, t-shirts and passed the hat around.  Rosarmy came along too for support by night and got to swim in the ocean and look after her growing belly by day.

Carnaval was coming to Florianopolis at the end of February and we were told by the owner of our accomodation that we had to be out.  We had two days to find a place to live.  Rosarmy was 5 months pregant with twins.  In the afternoon of the day before we had to move out, I went everywhere to try and find us accomodation.  Everything was either full or way too expensive.  I had just been to about the 10th place and a voice came into my head and said “Go home and rest, it’s done”.  So I did.  I went home and had a sleep.

By the evening we still didn’t have a place but we were going to meet a friend of a friend of ours in the center of the city.  Claudia was a friend of our friend Rebecca who we met in Argentina.  So we went to meet Claudia and she came to pick us up with her mother whose name was Elishi Tami.  Well Elishi Tami was one of the most radiant and smiley women I have ever met and her daughter Claudia also had a well and truly nice vibe about her.  So we got in the car and they decided to take us to their house for dinner.

They asked “Where are you staying”.  My wife replied “As of tomorrow, we don’t know”.  So then and there, Elishi Tami and Claudia who had just met us, told us that we were staying with them, indefinitely.  We arrived at their place and it was beautiful.  I took a big sigh of relief and we were very refreshed by a big jug of fresh passionfruit juice.  We had an unbelievable time with Claudia, Elishi Tami, Julia and the rest of their family and friends.  They even took us to their place in the mountains called “Sitio dos Sonhos” (the site of the dreams) which was breathtakingly beautiful with waterfalls and ample places to swim and relax.  We had a great time in the evenings singing songs, chanting mantras, dancing and generally having a great time – something that Brazilians are very good at.

Through Elishi Tami and Claudia we met dozens of wonderful people many of which are now very dear friends of ours and have been a very important part of our 12 months here in Brazil.

Lesson #2: If a voice comes to say “Go home and relax, It’s done” listen to it! Imagine if I had found a place for us to stay?  The Universe gets high on giving us more than we ask for.

The end of summer came and we bid Chello farewell as he headed back to Argentina to be with his daughters.  We were on the move again as Elishi Tami and Claudia were moving to Brasilia.  With Rosarmy 6 months pregnant we really didn’t want to be hunting for accomodation again, but there we were.  It was low season now so there were plenty of places.  We found a lovely little apartment about 100 metres from the beach at Barra da Lagoa.  Ah Bliss …

To be continued…