A Journey of Self-Discovery

The exhilaration I felt in the moment I signed up for this trip was immediately followed by a deep panic of "What in the world have I done."  I woke up the other night drenched in cold sweat and fixed in fear of the potential impact this trip could have on my life.  There will be mosquitoes that carry malaria and yellow fever.  I could easily get disease from the food.  What if my sinuses cause misery the whole time, as they have on most trips this year to humid places?  What if the plane goes down in the ocean or the Andes mountains?  These questions were still in my mind as I started reading John Perkins "The World is as You Dream It" that would slowly unravel all of my fear and replace it with great awe for the journey I am about to embark on.  The book describes an understanding about the power of our dreams that I have not quite learned to articulate as well as his journey to the same places and shamans I will be visiting.  What I'm learning is this trip will be a journey of self-discovery and one I've been dreaming about since I was child.  While I am coming to understand why I am going on this journey, I also recognize it is not necessary to travel to Ecuador to gain the same insights and knowledge about how the world really is how we dream it.  As Perkins states: "It is important to keep in mind, however, that you do not have to visit these shamans personally in order to empower yourself and make your own dreams come true.  The knowledge is within you; it was there at birth and stayed with you through much of your childhood.  If you fear you have lost it, turn that fear around.  This wisdom is in everyone, but many in our culture have forgotten it.  The world is indeed as we dream it."  In this way, anyone can go on this journey to discover how we are all connected with the world and how it is our dreams the energy we put behind those dreams that have created the present and how by simply changing the dream can change the future.