The decision to go to Nepal seemed to come out of some idea deep in my soul and since I believe in following intuition I started researching Trip Advisor for some advise on trekking in Nepal.

After numerous hours poured into Trip Advisor and various other sites one of the expedition groups out of Nepal kept jumping out to me. Earthbound Expeditions kept feeling stronger than the rest. The reviews all raved about Earthbound Expeditions and especially the integrity of the owner, Rajan. So after contacting Earthbound and getting an immediate reply via email, we felt compelled to press forward, to see what was available and what would it cost.

The exciting thing about working with Rajan is that there are so many different excursions to choose from between Nepal, Tibet, parts of India and Bhutan. Hours were spent reading and learning about South Asia. It felt familiar and exciting; as we learned more Roger and I began to get clearer with our opportunities. I felt like a kid in a candy store that was asked to choose only one piece of candy. The whole of the area was speaking to my soul.

And then there is Tibet, how I have loved the culture of Tibet. When I was 21 years old going to travel agent school we were asked to write about one country, I chose Tibet. The decision on whether to go to Tibet or not was not an easy one. The pain and suffering that the Tibetans have experience over the last 50 years has been immense. The thought of it brings sorrow to my heart. How would I feel seeing and feeling the pain in their eyes? Could I do anything to help at all? Could I go and enjoy their beautiful country when so much suffering is around? The decision felt too complicated for our minds to decide. So we turned it over to prayer and asked the Divine what to do.

Within a day or so of asking, we picked up a Lonely Planet travel book on Tibet and read a statement by the Dalai Lama asking that tourists please not boycott Tibet. That the more tourists that go there puts more pressure on the Chinese to preserve the Tibetan culture. That seemed like a clear message to us. So we asked Rajan to add on Tibet.

My heart was still not settled with that decision. I kept feeling that it just wasn’t for us to go, but our plans were set. When I brought my anxiety up with Roger he suggested that I ask Rajan about this. At one point the panic in my heart was so strong that I was thinking about ways to change the trip. I finally contacted Rajan about the safety of going to Tibet and he informed me that at this time the Chinese had closed the border and it was not possible to get into Tibet through Nepal. He then suggested that perhaps in April they will open the border up again, but for me that was a very clear affirmation that we were not to go. We changed our plans and are now going to Bhutan instead. My heart is soaring with joy.

I want to share a couple points regarding intuition and following what your heart says over what you think the messages are. Upon reading the Dalai Lama’s statement I believed that was a message from the Divine saying, “go to Tibet,” yet my heart kept feeling unsettled, yelling louder and louder until I could not hold back any longer. If I had waited and not contacted Rajan right away, they may have reopened the border and we would have gone. Who knows how that would have been? I do know that reading about Bhutan is singing to my soul and it feels good.

Often times in our lives the plans are set, but our heart is saying “no;” we still go ahead because we don’t want to cause problems or inconvenience anyone, so in the end we often compromise what our hearts and intuitive self is telling us. We all have stories to share where we did not listen to our intuition and in not following the “small still voice” that situation may have become more challenging than if we had listened to it. We also all have at least a story to share when we followed our intuition and ease, love, healing or grace came into our life through that situation. So as we cultivate a greater sense of our intuition we find that we can follow it and trust it, even when it is not so convenient to do so.

I will be writing about our travels, so we can see how it all turns out.

Many blessings to you.