FUNDRAISING UPDATE
CURRENT: $4180, GOAL: $6350

Thank you Bob, Tammy, Mike, Niels and Barbara. Only $2170 left to go. I purchased my ticket and it just arrived-it's excitingto look at it and let my mind dwell on the fact that I'm actually moving to AFRICA!!!! Today after school I'm headed off to the clinic to see about getting my laundry list of vaccinations taken care of. I'm going to be a pincushion for a couple of weeks. I've been in contact with the organization I'm working with and apparently I'm now going to Naggalame-a different village in the same district. It sounds as if my assignment is basically the same except that Naggalame has an orphanage and I get to work with the kids there. How awesome is that. I spent some time with my friend Steve, his wife Sonia and their four kids this weekend (Cole, Boone, Rio and Holla). It reminded me how much I like being around little kids, how easy it is to forget my little plots, plans and manipulations when you have little people vying for your attention. I seem to forget about hurrying when I'm around them...I spend less time focused on getting somewhere and begin to practice just being there-present in the moment. For a moment this weekend, the most important thing in my life was helping Rio and Holla learn a dance routine. Today it still seems like possibly the most important thing I've done in awhile.
For some reason, when I am around elderly people or young people, it is easier to be my best self. A speaker I listened to recently spoke about being asked to be our best selves again and again. She said that left to her own devices, she would live well below her own capabilities. She believes that if we pay attention, life keeps asking us to be our best self.

Being our best self....I can understand what that means in big, theoretical terms...living a good life, working at a job that challenges and hopefully positively impacts the world, donating to good causes, etc... but what does 'being my best self' mean on a daily basis. What does it mean today?

I'm familiar with this prayer that was written by St.Francis and it says (i'm paraphrasing) that we can seek to comfort, love and understand as opposed to seeking comfort, loving and understanding-that it is by giving that we ultimately receive. Today has been one of those days when I really believed the world needed to be comforting, loving and understanding to me and guess what I got instead...people in my life seeking out my love, comfort and understanding. So I went with it and it turns out that I was being called to be my best self today.

It's ironic, this journey to get to Africa is highlighting for me how important it is to be of service right now, right here, everyday. I've been dreaming of Africa for so long-thinking that finally I would be somewhere where people needed me. It turns out that I can be anywhere in the world and affect change through my daily behavior and example. Understanding this is adding a richness to my life here in Sacramento. Funny how life works.