Ellen Besso Coaching

Well, I’m back here in Gibsons now, on the beautiful Sunshine Coast of BC, after a challenging time trying to get out of India.

Delhi has been plagued by heavy winter fog for a couple of weeks (just checked, it’s now Friday night there and it’s 11 degrees celcius and foggy at the airport as usual!). We were unable to land in Delhi from Goa on Wednesday the 14th; had to take a very slow, horribly bouncy overnight busride from Jaipur, Rajasthan, where our plane was diverted to, arriving in Delhi at 7:30 am Thursday instead of 11 pm Wednesday night.

Delhi Fog - from Straits Times

We had already lost half a night’s sleep on Monday night due to a widespread power outage in South Goa, and our inability to sleep without our fan. So we caught up on our sleep Thursday night at our favorite hotel, The Prince Polonia, in Paharganj, Delhi, where they treat you like family, and where we know the owner, a wealthy philanthropist, quite well.

Then off we went hopefully to the airport on Friday night at midnight for our 4 am flight to Hong Kong via Bangkok, then onto a connecting flight to Vancouver. But it was not to be! We sat on the tarmac from 4 to 8 am waiting for the sudden influx of heavy fog to lift, eating our breakfast. When we finally arrived in Hong Kong, our flight to Canada had already left. The good news was that we were put up at The Regal Hotel, right beside the Hong Kong Airport, given a large room, and three sumptuous buffet meals: dinner, breakfast and lunch. So we were able to catch a good nights’ sleep, and were awake only for one night instead of two in a row! The plane the next evening had many empty seats: the same thing had happened with the passengers on their connecting flight from Delhi to Hong Kong!

From our dazed, jet lagged position, we view our tiny town of Gibsons as incredibly quiet after the hussle and bussle of highly populated India. Even Goa in south India, although more laid back than the north,  is a busy place, with  much of daily life taking place outside in the community, on the street and in the backyards, where people and their pigs, chickens, dogs and goats intermingle.

As the days go by we slowly become accustomed to our town and to our home again. The reverse culture shock on re-entry is less each time we travel. We’re beginning to venture out in the world, driving up to Sechelt for chiropractic treatments and a visit to my Mom on her 88th birthday yesterday. I was very glad to be with her on her birthday, and co-incidentally it fell right on the day of the monthly birthday party!

The challenge now that I’m back is to maintain the optimism and the benefits of the healing I experienced during my time in Dharamsala, home of HH the Dalai Lama. In that spiritual place surrounded by the monks on all sides, everything and anything seemed possible. I could feel my limiting thoughts simply dropping away, and I became clearer about many aspects of my life. I was able to step back and see my self doubts for what they were, simply illusions.