Israel

Ilana Meallem: Warrior.

February 19, 2012 By Atalwin Pilon 3 Comments

Ilana is a warrior who uses her heart as her weapon. Her heart works together with her voice. Her words seem to flow softly and gently from a deep, limitless source, every word reaching it’s destination in the hearts of others. After walking me to the bus stop she gave me a long warm hug and whispered her blessings in my ear. The only thing I remember is that I had tears in my eyes after 4 sentences and that I felt a river of goodness coming over me, so overwhelming that my concern became not to drown her and soak her shoulder.

Listen to her message:

A Blessed Man in No Man’s Land

February 13, 2012 By Atalwin Pilon 1 Comment

I’m in between the border of Jordan and Israel. It is kind of eerie: I am literally the only ‘client’ that is on the premises right now. I have the whole customs building to myself, no waiting in lines, nothing. I was the only one at the exit tax window, alone at the passport check, the only one walking through the tax free shop and now I’m the only one waiting for the empty bus to drive me to the border (the bus driver went for coffee and wants to wait till more people come so I am assuming that this could take while). I guess not many Israeli’s are going to Jordan these days. Must be strange to work here. Must cost a lot of many too because apart from me there is plenty of bored, not too friendly personnel.

Just do it

January 18, 2012 By Atalwin Pilon 3 Comments

Today is my first day as an uchideshi, a formal aikido student. The place where I am at is run like a traditional Japanese aikido school. That means I am not a client that has rights but a student that has duties. There is a strict schedule and the uchideshi’s are supposed to obey the schedule. On Wednesday we do a lot of cleaning. And I volunteered to be the cook!

A week ago it would have been quite remarkable that I volunteered for the preparation of the meal because I am not that confident about my cooking. But what I used to consider big obstacles are shrinking rapidly in the light of the magnitude of my quest. And even the magnitude of my quest is shrinking.

Are you ready to become a Warrior?