True Nature Travels Blog

"BE THE LIGHT" WEATHERING THE STORM AND SPREADING LIGHTNESS THROUGH SERVICE

 Student Service Trip in Costa Rica and Overcoming Obstacles

True Nature Education had the privilege of partnering with The National Society of Leadership and Success this past month. 25 lovely students with hearts full of compassion and eagerness adventured to Costa Rica to provide service to the local communities, and in the process had a blast!  A student service trip is a fantastic opportunity to broaden horizons and participate in global community service. 
 
True Nature Education works with some amazing individuals in the local villages. One of these leaders is Lindsay Padilla. A Costa Rican native, her mindfulness and guidance always touches our hearts.
Check out some of her insight on shining bright through the storms and spreading this light through service!
student service travel
student service travel
 
 
 
“It was a rainy night and I was at home with my two little boys.
No more people there and lots of thunders dancing and singing in my backyard… I love to listen to Mother’s Nature sounds, however sometimes it seems like a different rhythm… Mother’s Nature wasn’t as peaceful as I wanted her to be specifically that night.
 
So I decided to sit on my favorite rocking chair, with my kids. We played a game, it consisted of imagine us to be sailing, enjoying of the blue ocean and the bright sun… Everything was fantastic until the moment when Andres, my 8 years old asked me if I was scary…
 
Game over! They discovered my feelings and guess what? I was really scary…
We were expecting to welcome a TNE group next day and the volunteer action already planned was to work on a sustainable farm, a new project that is going to benefit a group of people from my community.
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I am not always so dramatic, but Imagine your plans, imagine your dreams surrounded by lots of rain and maybe lightening… I was scary for the moment, for my present and I was not sure about next day, about my future, about our tomorrow…
 
I was expecting to share my “tomorrow” with people from different places, coming from far away to make a difference and the weather was not the perfect from my perspective.
 
As soon as I listened my husband opening the door, I felt better, I felt my family completed. My kids went to sleep and we sat on the floor, with a candle.
 
All the house was dark, but  there was a little light… Poor darkness, I bet darkness was not feeling completed because of our little light…
 
And I suddenly thought of our actions… Sometimes we feel it is not too much what we can do, sometimes we think of the storms, we think of the scary moments, we think of the darkness around the world, but we were born to be a light, to bring light, to make the darkness a little clear. Do we have to limit our good intention because of our doubts about the future? About tomorrow? No!!!
 
We were talking until our candle decided not to light… And it was a good night, the light is still inside us and you know what? Next day we enjoyed of the sun. No more rain until the moment when we finished our volunteer service… Mothers are known because of their DEEP love and Mother Nature showed us what love means, even during the rain…
 
It feels incredible to be part of the ones that are doing something, anything.
 
We have been welcoming too many “lights” from TNE. People that decided to be the difference, to be grateful even for the stormy days.
 
The stormy days are not totally bad, during the stormy days, maybe you can find out inspiration to be the light that others are needing.
Let’s your light be!”
 
 
Shine on True Nature family!
 
Interested in joining a service student trip? Check out our calendar here! http://truenatureeducation.com/events/
student service trip
 

True Nature Travels Blog

How I Found My Value By Shaping My Life Around Service

By: Jessica Durivage-Kerridge, Director of Global Relations for True Nature Education

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Artwork: Kimberly Dawn Clayton

I’ve been accused (more than once) of giving away the farm.  Whether it was business advice, personal time, working for free or less than what I should have been paid – you name it.  It was never my intention to work for free.  It was just, well… time and time again I would find myself in a place where what I was giving was not lining up with what I was receiving.  While I knew that there was some sort of imbalance there, I could not quite put my finger on it, and so the cycle and pattern continued on for many years.  My own personal projects and family priorities were what kept ending up on the back burner – and while I loved helping people out, giving the “friend” discount for my services and offering my gifts and talents for free – it was eating up my self worth and creating a distorted view of how I was valued by myself and others.

I wanted to shift this pattern.  I NEEDED to shift this pattern. For not only the sake of my mortgage but also my marriage and the future of my own dreams and desires.  

I began in internal process of investigating WHY I felt the need to give my services away without expecting anything in return.  Well, right there (without expecting anything in return) was a big “aha!” moment for me.  I was taking a spiritual principle about non-attachment and manipulating it so I could use it against myself.  Beneath this idea of “working for free” was a deeply embedded belief that I was “not worthy.” Hmmm.  That was pretty darn interesting. I began to quietly invite this feeling of “not being worthy” into my meditation practice, into conversations with my husband about bills.  I began to notice how much resistance I had around “feeling valued.”  This practice of “just noticing” turned up opportunities to dig a little deeper and ask more questions.

What was my intention around giving myself away like this?

The answer that kept showing up over and over again was “a desire to serve.”  I wanted to make myself available to be of service to my community and show up to help in whatever ways I could offer. That beneath all of it, I felt that my life was a gift and that by God’s Grace, I have been blessed.  Now, I felt as if it was my turn to give back.

OK!  Another “aha” moment!  The desire I felt was “to serve.”  And serving my friends and the community was great and wonderful – but when my own family and my personal relationships suffered because it it, I realized that maybe all I needed to do was some soul searching around re-prioritizing what was truly important to me and where I wanted to be of service. So, I made a list of the top three important things in my life:

1. Family

2. Spiritual Practice

3. Writing

Interesting.

I then made another list of where I felt I need to create value and understand my worth so that I could “serve” what was important to me (are you still with me?):

1. My Social Media Business

2. Teaching/Speaking Career

3. Collaborative & creative endeavors

Another aha moment!  It seemed as if my two lists were a bit backwards.  I was placing more importance on my external world rather than my internal world.  Seem familiar?

Being able to name what was most important to me and go back to it everyday has slowly started to reshape my self worth and how I view myself. When I am able to properly apply the principle of “giving without expecting anything in return” in the areas of my life that are most important to me, I find that I do get back way more in return than I ever anticipated.  When I move back into the world, where it is important to me to feel valued, I am more aligned with negotiating my needs.  If what the world is offering does not serve what is most important to me, then it is not the right fit.

I am (this is) a daily work in progress.  I have lots of moments where I feel I could so easily slip back into my old habits and patterns.  I want to be able to lend a helping hand.  I want to give back.  I want to support my community and those around me.  I am redefining my definition of service.  Perhaps today it is sending a good thought, or sharing a compliment.  Or simply choosing, in my own self, to do what is most important to be so I can show up as a brighter light for those around me.

True Nature Travels Blog

Peace Is Always There – Letters From Lindsay

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yiguirro-ave-nacional-costa-ricaI just went to share a cup of tea with my mother and we found something interesting in her porch. There was a nest and three little birds on it. The baby birds are called yiguirros. They are not as beautiful as the colorful toucans or the scarlet macaws we usually see flying in our rural town, but yiguirro is our national bird and these birds decided to make their nest in my mother’s home!
How amazing and what a real honor to host the birds at home! We talked about this blessing from Heaven and took some pictures and the birds continued there, in peace.
That makes me think of life. We can feel peace if we create peace inside us; when we start to see the positive things, when we take a minute to see the colors of nature and when we listen to the wind, to the silence, peace is all around, peace is always there.
P1060703Sometimes I get presents and I love to open presents, that is why I want to share this with you guys, because the way I am opening this present is sharing this amazing moment with you.
The baby yiguirros are going to leave their nest soon and they will be always free… But they will always have a place to visit and to stay if they want to come again.

May you have an amazing week…

CK_Costa_Rica_True_Nature_2014-189 Lindsay Padilla is a nature lover and mom of two boys. She has been teaching Spanish since 2006 and working for the development of rural communities in Costa Rica. She enjoys writing, reading and swimming.

Are you interested in learning more about the Costa Rican way of life, called Pura Vida? Our service programs which can be added on during any of our retreats include opportunities to stay with Lindsay and her family and support our efforts in their village.  Learn more here.

True Nature Travels Blog

The Meaning of Pura Vida: Setting Intentions for the Universe through Service

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Village Rep Lindsay Padilla
One of our TNE Village Representatives, Lindsay Padilla

About 4 years… About 1460 days… About 35,040 hours… About an amazing person…

I still can remember the exact moment (which was four years ago) when we had the pleasure to welcome a group from the True Nature Education Costa Rica Center in our village. They painted two houses for many happy faces in our community.

People always say that time flies so fast. Maybe this is true, however, in this moment, time just decided to stop in front my eyes.

We were ready to toast with a cup of sugar cane juice in my garden, and my friend, Raylene Gerber, was there, with a beautiful student group as well as two more great women (the teacher and a mother).

But before I can continue with this testimony, I have to tell you something…

Anita, a smart 11-year-old girl, had just appeared there (two days prior), and we invited her to join us. Raylene turned to me and said with a smile, “She was the girl who has a brother (Ariel) and lives just there (pointing to Anita’s house). I remember her; we painted her house.”

Wow! Raylene has been volunteering here in my village for many times for many people, and in this moment, she remembered Anita’s face, recognizing her four years later.  I can’t imagine how many people she has seen in the last four  years, but she recognized her!!! That makes me think that when you make something with love, when your heart is open to new experiences and when your intention is to write a beautiful story in the pages of the universe, things like this happen.

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TNE Village Representative Raylene Gerber on the left

Raylene Gerber, you are a blessing for the Earth! You did more than just paint her home… You put color to my week! You made me feel so happy to know how much you love everything you do. That is exactly what Pura Vida means!!!

I can spend all night writing about the beautiful experiences we have seen through the support and endless effort that Joshua Canter and his family have done in our community. I can say that True Nature Education really offers an opportunity to anyone interested in taking part on the positive change we all wish to see in the world.

After sharing this, at the end of an amazing week, I can say Buenas Noches, amigos. 

True Nature Travels Blog

Real-Time Costa Rica Updates for our First Retreat of the Season

It’s hard to believe that the holiday season has surrounded us already and 2012 is coming to a close, which means that our 2012-2013 Retreat Season is just about to begin!

To kick things off we will be Costa Rica Service (“Tikkun Olam”) Adventure Program beginning this Sunday, December 23, and continuing through New Years Eve on December 31. The retreat is in partnership with the Jewish community at large in Asheville, NC, where True Nature Education is based out of.

Co-hosted by TNE Founder Joshua Canter and Rabbi Batsheva Meiri of Beth Ha Tephila, the retreat will also include participants from Warren Wilson College and The Asheville Chabad House. The focus of the retreat will be to deepen the commitment of service through  outreach projects in the local villages, working with the local population, and the native environment of Costa Rica. Participants will also take part in exciting excursions and adventures throughout Costa Rica.

Stay tuned to the blog for real-time updates from the retreat with photos, thoughts, and event happenings from the trip. You can also follow along with periodic updates from our Facebook page, as well as join the conversation on Twitter via #costaricaservice from our handle @truenatureed.

 

True Nature Travels Blog

On Thanksgiving and the True Nature Education Mission

A note from Joshua–

In a time where our world is becoming more and more of a global community, what better way to become part of the bridge of support we are creating than by finding a way to give back to those in need.

As Thanksgiving approaches our united focus comes to that of sharing appreciation for all that we have as well as sharing with those that might not have as much.

The essence of Thanksgiving lies at the heart of True Nature Education. We planted the seeds of this grassroots company fresh off of moving into a small rural village in Costa Rica. So moved by the authentic openness, generosity, and hospitality of the local, simple-living Costa Ricans, we then vowed to implement a service component into all of our programs, from yoga retreats to corporate retreats to travel abroad programs.

The CREER Service Organization, TNE’s sister organization, continually strives to do in-depth research to understand the true needs of the people in the villages of Costa Rica which we visit. Here are the three areas of service which our volunteers take part in when joining us in Costa Rica.

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True Nature Travels Blog

True Nature Interview with Rabbi Batsheva Meiri of Synagogue Beth Ha Tephila

It is already October, meaning that our 2012-13 retreat season is almost upon us.

We look forward first to the upcoming Costa Rica Tikkun Olam Adventure retreat, December 23-31, kicking off the True Nature Education retreat season. The excitement is building as the trip nears, one that will be an exciting opportunity and stands out in particular for the Jewish community of Asheville, NC.

While TNE has been running Tikkun Olam retreats for the past five years as one of our primary programs, this will be the first in direct partnership with members of the Jewish community in Asheville. Rabbi Batsheva Meiri of Beth Ha Tephila and TNE Director Joshua Canter will co-lead this exciting and unique travel experience that will bring the Asheville Jewish community together.

In addition participants from Warren Wilson College and The Asheville Chabad House will also be on the trip.

The trip will dive into the authentic, rich local culture of Costa Rica while also merging service work through Tikkun Olam projects with both indigenous populations as well as the land upon which they live.

We were lucky to catch up with Rabbi Batsheva Meiri of Synagogue Beth Ha Tehpila to hear her thoughts and insight about the retreat.

True Nature Education–Greetings, Rabbi Meiri, and thanks again for taking the time to speak with us about the trip. Could you begin by sharing how you feel about the importance of Tikkun Olam and Service on the planet at this time and in our daily lives?

Rabbi Batsheva Meiri–Tikkun Olam is the heart of Jewish life. It’s the way that we actualize our religious and spiritual values and commitments. I feel this way especially today, even more importantly, as we face the pressing issues of global warming, over-population, and massive hunger.

TNE–And what of the importance of serving together as a community?

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