The start of a Buddhafull trip 

Fifteen of us sat in the van quietly on the way up to Nagarkot. Kate stared out the window at the depths below and thought to herself, "I can not believe this is happening." Sophie gazed at the trees that swept by thinking, "I wonder what we're having for dinner later?" And in the very back sat Jake who was on the edge of his seat, panting like a golden retriever thinking, "What's gonna happen next? I wonder why the sky is blue? Ooh! That's my favorite cliff! No that's my favorite cliff! Definitely top 8 on my list of cliffs."

This went on for some time, each person observing the same scenery but thinking completely different things. Multiple stories intertwined. See, a single story would only show us a van filled with kids traveling up a mountain, but when we peer behind the curtain of what we want to see, we learn so much more. 

The Buddha advises us to see everything as if it is a dream rather than reality. So in other words, the past is no more real than the future and even the present is in the eye of the beholder. Take a rose for example. What is a rose? Is it the petals or the thorns? Is it the stem? According to Buddhist teachings, what we perceive as a rose is actually the interdependence of these separate parts. 

Similarly, as our group arrived in Kathmandu, it was almost too natural for us to form our first impressions. But as the week went on, the stories became more complex. Sophia was no longer the swimmer from Switzerland. She was also a cat lover, competitive spirit, and an inexhaustible source of energy. Thus, proving how critical it is to push past our initial judgements and to constantly seek the pieces of a bigger picture. 

Namaste, Kate & Sophie