Fun Fact Friday

FUN FACT FRIDAY

Yay!! Today is fun fact friday and that also means it's friday which is exciting! What can we learn today about Rwanda??? I am using TripAdvisor today to see what exactly i can do. Obviously, I'll be volunteering most of the time, so I doubt I'll get to do a lot, but just in case, I'd like to see what's out there. 

THINGS TO DO!!!!

Kigali Memorial Centre

This is a center to help remember the Genocide in the 90's. On the website, it's described as - 

"The Centre includes three permanent exhibitions, the largest of which documents the genocide in 1994. There is also a children's memorial, and an exhibition on the history of genocidal violence around the world. The Education Centre, Memorial Gardens and National Documentation Centre of the Genocide all contribute to a meaningful tribute to those who perished, and form a powerful educational tool for the next generation."

Wildlife Tours

It looks like there are lots of National Parks -

Bird Watching - 

Community Tours

and many other things - 

Gorilla Trekking

That one seems the most interesting, but I'm not sure how long you are gone. I can only be there the assigned 2 weeks because of work - so there's not way I could take an extra week to do that :(. I'm also eager to learn about every day life in Rwanda. I have been reading a couple of blogs about Rwanda and it's really neat to hear their perspectives. 

I still have lots of stuff to do, the first thing being booking the flights - the $2,000 flights :(

Morning Meditation

Every morning, I try my best to take between 5-15 minutes to have a quiet, morning meditation. There are so many books that I use and I also use this time to try my different breathing techniques and things like that. This morning's meditation was

THERE IS ANOTHER WAY OF LOOKING AT THE WORLD

Right now, I'm doing a series of meditations that build on each other and help me to learn how to have serenity in a crazy world. There have been so many things going on around me that this meditation struck me in a powerful way. There IS another way of looking at the world and that means that every notion and conception I've formed up to this point can be different. 

If you read my short, but true post yesterday, you know that, at times, I struggle with body image and food and blah blah. I've gotten so much better in the past 2-3 years than I was the previous 10, but it can hit me hard when lots of things happen in my life. Stress is a big trigger, so is my monthly visit, which is kind of my issue now. 

I texted a friend of mine from yoga, Peggy, and she responded back with this - 

"Snappy band is the start... the connection to setting our own intention and believe it verses what's coming in from extrinsic cues around us"

Snappy band is a reference to yoga teacher training. When we first started with the training, Karen (my teacher) passed out hairbands to put on our wrists. Every time we thought something negative about ourselves, every time we disrespected ourselves or had that quiet chatter that we have where we tell ourselves bad things about ourselves, we are supposed to snap the band. 

It's amazing to me when I really TRY to be nice to myself, how hard it really is. I catch myself saying, I'm crazy, or Why did I do that, or whatever ALL. THE. TIME. So how can I expect things to change around me, when I can't even change the way I see myself? I have to trust myself and KNOW that I can do anything. I am in control. If I want something to change, I have to start inside. 

I LOVE what Peggy said and I love that it totally connected to my meditation for today. So what is my intention - to stop the chatter in my head telling me I'm not worthy, to be clear about what I want from the world, and to put in the effort to get there.