Kimberli finds herself in Brussels at this particular time by her own magical interventions on the camino de Santiago pilgrimage she partook of last year. A friendship has turned into an international relationship, and thus I make the acquaintance of my new friend and gracious host, Ben. Kimberli happens to be one of those special people who are just a part of your life without any effort, who you can talk with for days and never run out of things to say and likewise spend years apart and make it feel like only yesterday . On this overcast trip to Brussels with its shining display cases of chocolate and waffles, she is the bright sun who reminds me that other people go around having amazing experiences, manifested with the help of the universe.

 

We catch up on the major points over tea and a few snacks before meeting with Ben to try the best Belgian fries in the city. If you are unaware of the history of “French fries”, they actually come from Belgium and during the war, some Americans didn’t know where they were and since Belgians speak French the misunderstanding was easily made. We are meeting with other friends from their pilgrimage last year. I get to relive the amazing coincidences and experiences of a group of young people walking across Spain for two months and the exciting situations they found themselves in. This is what journeying is about. Not reaching some end, for there is none, but deciding to go and the experiences along the way. That’s life in a nutshell, just enjoy the journey and make some friends along the way.

 

New friends I continue to make here in Belgium, not least being Ben’s parents. They take Kimberli and I out for a day of sightseeing, including the atomium (the Iron atom for the 1958 world expo, and like Paris’s Eiffel tower never took it down), and then a Chinese buffet with the whole family. I’m still working on letting others take care of me, but this one is a bit harder. I can understand them taking Kimberli around, but also the new guy? Well obviously I can be taken care of, but I spend my time making sure to be an interactive guest and in some way earn the kindness I am being given. It takes me a while to see this as silly and just relax into having two doting parents take care of me and my pseudo sister. I have a great time and get to practice my French along the way. It reminds me of being with my Japanese host family, always taking care of me and myself trying to learn the language as quickly as I can so that I can converse and express my gratitude at just having this opportunity. Ben’s whole family is exceptionally nice and I always feel at home with them. I am thankful and look forward to a time that I may greet them again.

 

I also get to meet Ben’s best friend, wife and new baby. Murron is just the cutest little squishy I’ve seen and we all get to take turns holding and doting on her. Her parents are really cool and artists to boot. I’m sure this one will grow into an interesting and talented person. Since we stayed up really late, we took the rainy day slowly and I decided to stay another day before heading to Bruge. I am glad I did because it was much more relaxing this way and the highlight of Brussels came that night.

 

It started off with Kimberli showing me a pendant she got from her father. A mixture of metals and minerals that are quite pretty. However when I held it in my hand to feel its energy it was radiant and beyond happy and I burst into giggles. This started the sharing and feeling of all the stones and crystals we carried with us and transitioned into card readings and a practical demonstration of muscle testing for Ben. I got into that immeasurably happy space of teaching what I love and watching others open to a truth they had not remembered yet in this lifetime.

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Some notable experiences from this night including Ben going from untestable for muscle testing to testable. I had never met someone I couldn’t test who had given me permission to do so. I had no idea what to do other than say sorry. He looked up an answer and found out that being dehydrated can cause problems and had not drank any water all day. That solved the problem and allowed us all to learn something. The next experience was when I opened up Kimberli and Ben’s energy fields to test. Kimberli’s I was more familiar with which is always quite happy, but Ben’s was an explosion I had not experienced in a long time. It took me a minute to recognize what it was. Love! Their relationship had just begun and I have totally forgotten what it feels like to be in a new relationship where everything is alive with purpose and attraction. What a pleasant and unexpected gift for all.

 

I headed for Bruge the next day. A quaint medieval town in the north of Belgium known for its picturesque buildings and canals. More recently known for the film “In Bruge” starring Colin Farrell as a gangster who hides out in this tucked away village to lay low. I think most travelers come here now for having seen this movie, myself included. It was indeed beautiful and with only 20,000 inhabitants, quite small (3 million people visit this town a year). I covered the main points and most of the city twice over in my two days there. More important to me was the remembering and putting into practice of choosing my experiences with the law of attraction. I had just listened again to “Ask and it is Given” by Esther and Jerry Hicks.  Reminding me in its wonderful brilliance to ask clearly and often for what I want in life and then accept the appearance of it. The trick is to raise the request to the level of positive emotion, be clear, acknowledge the appearance, and don’t let unconscious habit patterns keep bringing you what you’ve already been experiencing if you want something different. So about every hour or when I could remember I restated what I wanted and every time something shows up, I thank it for showing up and restate again if I realize I would like the experience to be better or different in some way I hadent noticed before. This helps expand and create the experiential wisdom that whatever desired experience one wishes for in life continues to show up. It’s been showing up constantly, but now you recognize the process and work with it for change.

 

I have recently been asking for something like this in general. “May I continually bring experiences to me of meeting people in which to expand my consciousness, share in deep spiritual conversations, and provide new opportunities to enjoy life. May free resources flow into my life including money, delicious food, music, performances, entertainments and great deals. I stay perfectly happy, healthy, and growing in awareness and equanimity. May my experiences and gifts also flow into the lives of all those I encounter and share in joy.” I would add anything specific I felt I needed at the time such as all transportation will be perfectly on time.

 

As I practiced this walking around Bruge it started showing up so quickly. I wandered into a violinist and said wow free music. Thanks for coming into my experience. I enjoyed it and then restated that I would also like all my favorite instruments to show up. Not 3 hours later at the end of my free walking tour of the city (thanks again) the same guy was in a different place and had picked up a cello and an accordion player. Wow that was super fast! Thanks for honoring my new desire Universe. It also happened that across the street was a free musical performance of a local harpist and I took my two new friends from the tour with me. Not only did this wonderful man play two types of harp he played the Japanese koto and the Hang. I love the Hang and it’s still relatively rare to see one as it’s the worlds newest instrument. It was amazing to see what I asked for show up in such abundance and so fast. I had no plans and could allow it to easily flow into my experience. Travel helps one to expand quickly because the normal daily routines are destroyed and new encounters can occur. The law of attraction is always working, but depending on what you ask for, you have to allow it into your life. If you are stuck in a pattern that makes it hard for you to acknowledge receipt of your request then it could take some time to recieve what you ask for. Of course the more I see this happen the less my doubt exists that all my thoughts are extremely powerful. Once you start living the experiential wisdom you cannot deny its power. If you leave the law of attraction as intellectual wisdom, never putting it into practice, it will never work properly for you.

There continued to be many more small and large examples of this power increasing in my daily experience and awareness and it fills me with joy that I am growing on the path of enjoying happiness and harmony with the flow of energy in the world. Likewise I have received a message from a couchsurfing friend I overlooked in Switzerland to come visit. Now at the speed of light I have a flight and am on my way to Switzerland. Obviously my quieter desires and thoughts have been answered as I now get to include in my experience the Unesco scenic train ride through the Swiss alps and due to the way transportation works I get to visit venice for a few days. Both these thoughts had been lingering around and now I can seize this opportunity offered. Also I get to check off Italy on the Eat, Pray, Love tour. It’s shaping up to be a great way to travel with no plans. I may end up paying a bit more in Europe, but I get to say yes to everything!

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Here’s to enjoying all the opportunities that knock on the door.

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The wandering monk is off to Switzerland

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*Brussels also happens to be the home of The Smurfs and the Famous Manneken Pis statue.