Stop. Breath. Try Again

It's reorientation weeks for us volunteers of Bina Antarbudaya/AFS Indonesia.
Last week, Eric who spent 11 months in Norway came home and spent two days in reorientation camp. It was very nice seeing him again and also other returnees. It felt wonderful to witness how they have grown and seized their year.

Reorientation has always been a sanctuary for us "the older returneess". Because after some time of readjustment, we do have some conclusions of things and values, but the process of readjustment itself lasts forever.. hehhe.. and Reorientation has been a refreshing tools and reclarifying media for us the committee who prepare it.

So..
During the closing ceremony, each of the newest returnees had to deliver small speech about what they had learned during the year..
Eric was the first to share his year..

Eric met a mother who lives by herself in north part of Norway. She was a member of the Sami tribe and still made her living by taking care of deers. In addition, her nearest neighbor lived 50 km away.
Eric told us what this mom had told him. She said, "Eric, you must only remember three things in your life."
"Just remember to stop, breath, and try again. Just repeat it. Stop. Breath. Try again."

I felt like i got a slap right away, and i hardly shed my tears, but managed not to since i was the moderator. Other volunteers at the back side of the room all give him a standing ovation, and i know we just all indirectly have been slapped by the reenrichment.

The gracious mother who knows the meaning of perseverance and the gracious blessings of life got it right. Her message is universal and we just need to remind ourselves to seize these three things which we do regularly everyday. But do we really mean it ? sometimes no.
After that session. I found myself stop. Embrace the stop and the quit.
And then i breathed. i gave the whole time and energy to breath, just breath, even that it made me sob.
and i try again :)

the Language of Enthusiasm

it's holiday, and just as usual, it's the peak season of volunteering in AFS and Bina Antarbudaya,
and this is how i feel, and i think, the same feeling nurtures all other volunteers in AFS and Bina Antarbudaya, the feeling that makes us strong to hold on to our dreams, vision and determination despite all threats and temptation of materialism, individualism and apathism..

From the book "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho:
"But the sheep had taught him something even more important: that there was a language in the world that everyone understood, a language the boy had used throughout the time that he was trying to improve things at the shop. It was the language of enthusiasm, of things accomplished with love and purpose, and as part of a search for something believed in and desired."
[p.62]