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I brought in the New Year a little differently this year. I was sitting down at my hostel rooftop awaiting a home cooked family dinner. As the conversation turned to clubs and drinking, I abruptly left before dinner started. The day before I went to Wat Arun Ratchavararam(Buddhist temple) for a meditation course. The teacher mentioned that we should come for New Years. Instead of partying, we would be chanting and meditating. As I walked to the temple by myself, I was self-conscious of spending New Years alone. I thought maybe leaving dinner was a mistake. Then I bumped into my teacher from yesterday who was overjoyed I came. He told me the string around people's heads is to raise the collective energy of the chanting. I asked him about his life story. In his previous life, he was a CEO, but 21 years ago, feeling guilty of his past behavior towards his mother, he promised her he would become a monk for 2 years. They met a monk on a jungle island. The monk and his mother returned to the mainland. The monk promised to return soon. He didn't return for two years. This man lived on this uninhabited island and meditated among snakes, spiders, and mosquitos. A fisherman picked him up every morning to bring him to a pier on the mainland. He then walked 6km to the nearest village for alms food. After his jungle experience he''s been at this temple ever since. He's no longer a monk, but now, every year, he goes into rural villages and slums, and rescues young girls that are bound for sex trafficking. He teaches them meditation, but also promises them a home, schooling, and a job upon graduation. I don't know why I left the hostel, but sometimes you need to listen to your gut, and let something else fall into place even though you may not know what that is yet. Happy New Years everyone!

A post shared by Kamil (@kamil.skwarek) on Jan 1, 2020 at 5:04am PST