Well, this has certainly been a great year of travel for me. I have set out to meet the world, it seems. I started the year off going to Australia with a one-way ticket, so I could stay to explore as long as I felt I should—and ended up staying only eight days. That was an expensive ticket back to Hawaii. Almost as soon as I got to Sydney, I felt my exploration getting blocked. As my way of doing things now is to stay in the moment and trust my guidance, I followed my intuition and had fun exploring Sydney and the surrounding areas, and then headed out. The flooding had just occurred in Australia, and it seemed to not be the right time to explore that part of the country. Other areas I desired to explore were starting to become too difficult to reach, and they began losing their appeal to me.
My writing notes were quite short for that trip. When I finally opened up the document the other day, the only thing I had written was, “It is about trust.” And I guess that was the whole point of the trip. Well, not the whole point, as there are always many levels to anything we do, but trust was the main lesson anyway. And I did trust. I trusted how I felt, and oddly enough, as soon as I got to Sydney I felt it was going to be a short trip, and suddenly I had the urge to go back to Phoenix to take care of some business there. I did not get upset or frustrated, or try to battle how I felt, or even try to explain it to anyone else. I just stayed in the moment and made each decision freshly from there. So, yes, sometimes you have to go halfway around the world to find the next part of your journey, but that is part of the journey, and I do have a tendency to do things in a more expanded way than most; it’s my usual pattern.
But enough about Australia, as this writing is about my travels to Japan.
I have just recently returned from a very active ten days in Japan and enjoyed every minute of it. I can now say that I can navigate the trains and subways in Tokyo, and by the third day of my visit I was even assisting others. I had a strong sense in the beginning of the year that this was going to be a big year of travel for my work, and I knew that Japan was one of the places I would be visiting. Then, when the earthquake hit in March, I was confused, because I felt that spirit was guiding me to go there, but it still felt like a big block, as far as me traveling there any time soon. So I waited patiently until the plan the universe had for me was revealed, and sure enough it revealed itself rather suddenly, just weeks before I ended up going.
I had just returned to Hawaii after being off the island for two months, when I learned my dance teacher in Hawaii was going to be making a trip to Japan to help with their first-ever Argentine Tango Festival. He mentioned in a letter to his students that the Japanese dancers were looking forward to the festival, because they find so much joy and healing in their dance sessions; they had not been able to have much time to dance this year with all the turmoil in the wake of the natural disasters and subsequent intense issues. He also asked whether any of his students in Hawaii would like to send along a letter of good wishes, or actually go with him, which would be wonderful. When I read this letter, I knew right then I was going. It was the prompt that I was waiting for, and it had clearly come through.
I informed the universe that I was willing to be in service for the healing of the people and the land of Japan, in whatever form it may take. So I quickly started paying attention to how spirit was trying to lead me on this trip. I have learned to have faith and start going forward, then to watch the way that is either presented before me, or blocked out. This is the concept, and putting it into practice is what takes practice. But sure enough, within days the information started flowing to me; it was amazing. All of a sudden, people would start giving me leads about something or another. I have learned to sit with all of this information and see what I end up resonating with the most. If something I am excited about suddenly disappears before my eyes, I am fine with it, as I trust I am being led to a higher path than what I had been considering before. As the days unfolded, I knew I was being led to Japan—not so much for the dancing, but to spend some time in Tokyo and in Kyoto, to visit with the people that I would come to meet along the way. I received guidance from spirit to not organize any sessions or classes ahead of time, rather to just be me exploring the country, staying in the moment, being open to what was presented. In this way, I would be where I was supposed to be at any given moment, and connected with those with whom I was intended to spend time. Oh, I loved this! It became a game with me, one in which I was an interactive player and fully aware of myself as such. Every day became an adventure as I saw what I was co-creating.
So I went through the days, finding my hotels, eating, exploring, taking pictures, walking, riding the train, riding the subway, riding the bus, and always talking to the people along the way. I had to ask many questions, as I was in a country I had never been before—where they spoke and wrote in a language I cannot even begin to understand. I was met with so much grace and kindness and, yes, probably quite a bit of curiosity. I would ask questions when I needed to, but for the most part I would let people approach me. I was asked many curious questions, such as, “What are you doing here?” and “Are you by yourself?” Whenever I answered, I was told I was so brave.
I received beautiful Japanese stickers from an older man on the train to whom I asked directions. I was treated to afternoon tea and dessert once when I was wandering around, and looking for a place to sit down for a refreshing snack. Another time, I was picked up and treated to dinner by a distant friend of a friend. An older woman asked me if she could join me at my table for lunch, and I came to thoroughly enjoy talking with her; she ended up paying for my lunch and giving me her phone number, in case I was ever in the city of Japan where she lived and needed help, or wanted to be shown around. I was joined at another lunch by a bicyclist from Hong Kong, who showed me Japan through his eyes, as well as told me about life in Hong Kong and China. Then, I was given a private tour of Nara by a wonderful older man I had met on the train; he was quite sure I was not going to be able to make it before dark to all of the places in Nara I had circled on my map. The spiritual knowledge he shared with me was priceless.
I spent time with an acupuncturist at my hotel with whom I had several sessions—for healing the tendons in my ankle I strained before leaving. I have explored so many natural types of healing as part of my learning and teaching, and had wanted to experience acupuncture. I found it very interesting that the need to have an acupuncture treatment occurred in a place where I was so suited to receive it. I also found it interesting that the personnel at the hotel where I stayed told me how rare it was to have an in-house acupuncturist at a hotel.
Each of these people I met touched my life and added to my world. I was told by many that they cherished the time spent with me, and that I had given them hope. I share this story only as an example of the difference that one person can quietly make. I gave all that I did on this trip so freely, and the universe gave right back to me. We are all the better for it, as I know in my heart that we are all one.
Love and Light,
Angela Bushman
Intuitive Empowerment Coach, Lover of Life, Channel, Visionary
www.AngelaBushman.com