DATELINE: BACK IN THE USA VIA FIJI ... Feb. 26, 2007:

A gift for you: "Say Yes to the Rest of Your Destiny" written with and produced by Fred Bogert (who also played every instrument on the recording).

Say Yes to the Rest of Your Destiny

About 40 hours after returning from being A Broad Abroad, I was speaking at Mt. Notre Dame High School in Cincinnati, for a group of amazing girls, about "Navigating Your Journey of a Lifetime. Using the "On Course, Off Course" exercise (where one person walks blindfolded toward you while you call out "On course…off course,"), I asked the girls in the audience to call out, "On course, off course," to show how we sometimes we hear, "On course, off course" at equal volumes simultaneously.

I've been putting off writing my last travelogue entry because I want to give you a brilliant summary that's really enlightening, extremely helpful and superbly written. Fortunately, there is a new book out that accomplishes this beautifully. It's called, "Eat, Pray, Love" about one woman's search for meaning across Italy, India and Indonesia. It's really funny (she refers to her Italy trip as the No Carb Left Behind Tour) and when you read it you'll understand why I want to move to India early next year.

Yes, that's what I said.

If I were brave, I would move to India. I don't see India as the destination, but as the first step toward the rest of my destiny.

With no idea what that destiny will look like, it scares the hell out of me to even share this with you, which is why I've been procrastinating. What if I don't do it? What will you think of me then? Will you laugh and say, "I knew she wouldn't actually do it"?

The voice of fear (I call him "Screech") is shouting "Off course!!! Off course!!!), but the voice of faith ("Rosey") sounds a lot like the voice of my mom.

I love my mom so much for what she said when I told her I want to do go live overseas, starting in India.

My mom is having trouble with her eyes these days. "When you get older," she said, as I was crying to her about my confusion at wanting to do such a big, bold, scary thing, "your body changes and you're not able to do all the things you want to, but you can enjoy thinking back on all the fun things you DID when you could. When I think of the things I might not be able to see again, I just look back and feel grateful for all the beautiful things I've seen in my life. Even though I'll miss you like crazy, I'd rather see you, when you're my age, looking back and loving all the things you did, not regretting the things you didn't do."

The photos on this page show the travel euphoria of experiencing new lands, new sights, new food, and new cultures.

I told the girls, "A dream is a direction, not a destination."

If India is not my next destination, I choose to trust that it's because, as we move in the direction of our dreams, God will have something waiting that's even better.

Is the rest of your destiny calling you? Simply say yes in your heart and we'll watch what happens for all of us. If you'd care to share your best guess about what it is that is calling you, I'd love to know.

Saying yes,
Jana

P.S. Hey, have you ever wanted to go to India? I’m thinking of leading a trip in early 2008 that takes us sightseeing and then ends at the OSHO ashram (meditation resort, they call it), where you can stay as long as you like. If this sounds appealing, e-mail me at: caterpillarsociety@janastanfield.com

DATELINE NEW ZEALAND...FEB. 5, 2007:

Hello from A Broad Abroad in New Zealand, one of the most beautiful and unspoiled places in the world. The people here are beautiful and unspoiled, too. When you come here, you’ll agree that the scenery is even more gorgeous than you can see in photos. New Zealand is much more than sheep on hills, but let’s face it, there are a lot of sheep and they’re very photogenic on these lush, green rolling hills.

It's summer's end here, and I’m here with the "Teachers Matter" conferences, where over 600 of the country’s finest teachers come together in two different cities to improve their teaching skills before heading back to school. Karen Boyes, CEO, author, international speaker, master educator and NZ Businesswoman of the Year was the inspirational visionary who brought everyone together.

When Karen first contacted my manager, she described her vision so beautifully, saying,"My dream has always been and still is to inspire our teachers so they can inspire our kids to greatness, whether that be going on to make a difference in the world or just having a happy, fulfilled life. I want the light and sparkle that a five year old child has in their eyes - the joy and love of learning - to remain with them at all times, not to start to die and diminish at the age of six or seven. My mission is to leave a legacy in education. Do you think Jana would want to be part of it?" Wow! Without hesitation, I said, "count me IN!!" NZ students are lucky to have such fun, energetic, and caring teachers.

In New Zealand, I’ve been doing some songwriting. Stuart Fleming (one of my new favorite speaker buddies) and I wrote a song called, "Teachers Matter" (okay, he wrote most of it), and Duncan Jessep (a gifted guitar player who just finished high school) and I wrote, "So They Say," which we performed later that night for friends from the National Speakers Association of New Zealand.

The last stop will be Fiji, then home, sweet, home. The hardest thing about going home is that our beloved older standard poodle, Deuce, went to Heaven while I was gone.

I hope you are all well and that I will see you soon in my U.S. travels. In my next letter, I’m planning to send a new song that fits this trip called, "Say Yes to the Rest of Your Destiny."

Continued blessings,
Jana

DATELINE PUNE, INDIA...JAN. 24, 2007:

If you can go to India, go. After 7 weeks here, I highly recommend it. It's very affordable to stay here, with affordable hotels, great meals for $3 and amazing experiences to enjoy that don't cost a thing.

The people you meet here will be the best part, and that's saying a lot, considering how much I love the sari stores.

You don't have to buy anything to have an eye-gasmic experience just looking at all the beauty in a sari store. First there's the beauty of the heavily jeweled fabrics, all embroidered and beaded by hand. Young women come with their extended families to try on all the sari's they'll need for the days of festivities leading up to her wedding. Clerks pull out each piece of fabric art and drape the bride-to-be while the family looks on to help her choose the best ones. Wedding sari's are the most fabulous of all fabulous sari's. As each one is tried, the carpet below her becomes a sea of color, with each beautiful piece being stacked below for easy comparison. The whole thing is so gorgeous that you can get lost in a sari store for hours.

When you come to India, spend more time in less towns. At first, we were changing towns every few days. If this were a U.S. trip, it would be, "Here's the Statue of Liberty, back in the car, back on the plane, here's Niagra Falls, back in the car, back on the plane, here's The Smithsonian and you'll have one hour to enjoy it before we get back in the car, back on the plane to see the Golden Gate Bridge."

Living in Pune for the last 7 weeks, taking classes at the Multiversity at OSHO, has been great. You can make friends more easily by staying in one place, and then the experiences become deeper.

This place is like an international summer camp all year long, with experiential-learning opportunities, workshop-style classes, meditation events throughout the day, laughter yoga, an outdoor dance with great music every day from 10:45-11:45 a.m., outdoor "paint your art out" classes on the same giant slab of marble as the dance floor, massages and body therapies that you can enjoy, and outdoor movies/events/parties at night. When the time came that I had planned to move on and travel further, it was a big stretch for me to say, "No, I'm not leaving camp. I'm loving this experience too much. I'm staying here as long as I can."

It's great to be just a student who's practicing Beginner's Mind every day. Beginner's Mind is that wonderful stage where everything is new and interesting and you're not expecting yourself to already know everything.

A few more details about being here: You take auto-rickshaws everywhere you want to go, which means you have to haggle with the driver over the price before getting in, and you walk away if their price is too high. My favorite way to get around is on the back of my friend Nitish's motorbike.

There's a place called German Bakery, right by OSHO, where everyone hangs out and meets between sessions. I have friends who live in little flats all around there. I have rented 3 places so far, and now will stay at this one. I'm renting a room in an apartment about 15 minutes' walk from my classes.

I get hardly any sleep, but it's my own choice. When you take classes, they ask that you go to Dynamic Meditation from 6-7 a.m. which means getting up at 5:15. Can you imagine me getting up at 5:15 to walk to a place 15 minutes away to meditate? Not my favorite, but, yes, I'm doing it. In the afternoon, right after class, there's Kundalini Meditation from 4:15 to 5:15. Both these meditations involve a lot of dancing, so you get a good work-out for your heart and your mind. "Evening Meeting" goes from 6:30 to 8:30, and then after that there's dinner, then either an outdoor movie, an organized activity you can join, or a plaza dance until 11:30. They do great music here and it's really fun.

Okay, that's my life here. I've been here so long that I no longer take pictures of cows on the street. I wish I had pictures of the camels and elephants that were waiting outside the gate to give people rides. They were decorated with flowers and bells and they were so beautiful, but they only showed up on the days I didn't bring my camera!

Love to you all!
Jana

P.S. Favorite food: a breakfast called Dosa, which looks like a giant pancake with the consistency of a potato chip. You break a piece off, dip it in spicy sauce, then coconut sauce, then crunch it. Best consumed with chai, strawberry juice, or a mango lassi.

DATELINE PUNE, INDIA...DEC. 23, 2006:

Thank you to all of you who wrote to me after my first overwhelming days here.

Those of you who've been here before had to be smiling and saying to yourselves, "It's India."

Those two words, spoken by locals every day, say so much. After two weeks now, I'm loving those words. It's India!

You can't go to India without experiencing transformational travel. Being a stranger in a strange land, you have to let go of the way you thought before, just to relieve the discomfort.

Once you do, you can move from assumptions to discovery.

Holly and I took a train one night from one town to another and the train was late. It's India.

We stood on the dark, dirty, crowded platform for a long time, so long that our guide wandered away.

There was a scuffle in the crowd about 15 feet away. Holly started taking pictures.

The young men in the center of the cluster, about 20 of them, rushed toward us, toward the flash of the camera.

Holly and I, obviously out of place and not knowing our place, froze as the young men swarmed around us.

Instantly surrounded on all sides, 2 or 3 rows deep, we were like two scared rabbits whose little noses stopped moving up and down as we held our breath.

They were saying things to us, but we shared no common language.

Still talking to us, they leaned in closer, so close that I put my hands up, making a motion as I said, "BACK!"

Only then did they realize we were uncomfortable. One of them motioned to the others "move back." They pooled their knowledge of English until one could say, "Here to be friend."

We smiled. They laughed and moved back further.

Sharing only a few words of common language, we learned they were young guys on their way to the police academy. They still surrounded us and we had to move them back several times, but that just created more laughter.

It was a good lesson about India and about life.

My response to feeling overwhelmed was to charge the situation with my own fear. And yet, the situation was neutral. The reality wasn't positive or negative. It was neutral. We were safe. The experience had great charm.

Like India. It's like no place you've ever been, and there's great charm in that. As strangers in a strange land, it's easy to make assumptions that create discomfort in us, but things aren't always what they seem.

It's India.

It's life.

Happy Holidays from the Ashram,

Jana

DATELINE VARANASI, INDIA...DEC. 16, 2006:

Being in India is reminding me of asking my beloved friend Richard Berman about his favorite part of being a troubadour touring Ireland.

His answer: "The year I spent planning it."

"Experiencing culture shock" is not accurate anymore. 'Amazed' and 'awestruck' has been replaced by 'bewildered' and 'confused.'

It's embarrassing to admit that I feel painfully overwhelmed and even intimidated.

Holly says, "There's a difference between vacationers and travelers."

We are definitely traveling. It's rugged and difficult.

Varanasi is known as the city of "learning and burning." It's the home of the Hindu University and the place where the many Hindus hope to be cremated so their ashes can be returned to the Ganges, the "Mother River."

It's a city of 2 million people packed into 32 square miles. The streets are so crowded that as we walked last night, we were nearly knocked off our feet by a passing brown bull who "grazed" us with his bony ribs.

Here, the bigger object gets the right-of-way.

Every day, 20,000 pilgrims arrive here to pray and bathe on the banks of the Ganges. Those not lucky enough to die here have their bodies brought to Varanasi to be cremated.

On the way to the river yesterday, we saw a small, brightly-wrapped body on top of a car.

Watching today's sunrise from a small boat on the Ganges, we saw lots of people bathing, lots of people scattering ashes on the river, and 3 cremations. I'm not used to the sight or smell of burning body parts, up close.

This 4th day feels like "sink or swim." I'm struggling to keep my head above the water of the Ganges.

Jana

DATELINE DELHI, INDIA...DEC. 11, 2006:

"Jana, honey, at the Delhi Downtown Sheraton, I don't think we'll need to provide our own toilet paper."

Those are the words of my pal Holly Stiel, of the 2003 Jana-Holly-Bali-Looyah, who I'll be traveling with in India for the 2006 Jana-Taj-Ma-Holly.

[At the time she said this, I was driving through Texas, somewhere between Muleshoe and Bovina. Don't you love how they name towns in Texas? Brownfield, Earth, Post. Nobody in Texas thinks of naming anything "Ngorongoro" (pronounced in-go-ro-in-go-ro), like the name of the 15-square-mile crater I've just come from.]

In Africa, we've been carrying T.P. rolls for the past 2 weeks.

You need it for your shoes.

When you are in rural East Africa with a bus full of women, and someone starts singing, "All we are saying, is Give Pee a Chance" or "Let there be pee on Earth, and let it begin with me," know that, if there is a facility, you will most likely be squatting on cement (you hope) over a small hole in the ground.

A saying that has no meaning here is, "If you sprinkle when you tinkle, be a sweetie and wipe the seatie."

If you sprinkle when you tinkle, what if there is no seatie? That's when you need a sign that says, "When you drop your drawers, aim away from the floor."

It is very difficult to simultaneously drop your drawers from the top to keep them from getting wet, while also holding them from the bottom to keep them from getting wet.

Despite the lack of this luxury, this entire experience is awe-inspiring.

Even if you do experience a night-time tissue tug-of-war and you sometimes need to "B.Y.O.T.P."

Continued blessings,

Jana

DATELINE DELHI, INDIA...DEC. 10, 2006:

Hi to all,

This comes to you from India, where I've just flown from 2 weeks in Africa of "no shower, no electricity, no phone...no problem" (my favorite!!!). . .to a Delhi Sheraton where I am housed on a "Women Only" floor with a bathtub!!! (no more excuse for smelliness - dang) hot water!!! (no more excuse for greasy hair - dang) the internet!!! (no more excuse for not writing - dang) and a special elevator key to get to this "Women Only" floor.

The two nights before this, my room-mate, Janet Aguilar, and I were near Tanzania's Ngorongoro Crater, fighting off a family of rats who kept sneaking into our tent during the night to get the box of Kleenex that was between our beds. The tent was on a raised platform, and the rats had eaten a hole in the mesh window that our beds were up against. When they woke us up, we'd pound the heads of our beds and say, "Get OUT!" which worked until their little brains forgot that there were two angry women in the room above. Just as we'd settle in, they'd be back. Finally, after a long time of battling with them and with insomnia, I wrestled the tissue box out of the woven holder, stormed out the front of the tent, and threw it over to the area where they were climbing in, saying, "Here's your damn Kleenex!"

What a difference an overnight flight makes. I'm assuming this high level of floor security (similar to my Christian junior college dorm) makes it possible for some of the Middle Eastern women to take off the all-black robes that cover their beautiful clothes here, since no men (even maintenance men) are allowed entry on this floor.

Very similar to my junior college, although in our dorm we referred to ourselves not as guests, but "inmates".

Continued Blessings,

Jana

DATELINE TANZANIA, AFRICA...DEC.5, 2006:

I'm in Tanzania now and everything has been amazing.

It's incredible here, experiencing things that it would take too much time to tell, but that I can't wait to tell you about because it's just been truly extraordinary to experience an abundance of sensory, heart and mind overload everyday.

The women of the Grassroots African Women's Conference are so amazing. The only thing there is very little of is sleep and sometimes food.

At the conference, they had 400 women to feed, so sometimes the line was so long that I just skipped it or chose to go to sleep instead of waiting for dinner late at night.

In addition to the women's conference, we are visiting projects daily that are supported by Global Partners for Development. These are projects that are helping children get an education, helping women start businesses, and helping communities get healthcare and clean water.

When we pull into a village, they are dressed in their best and they start dancing and singing before we even get off the bus. Then, they pull us into their dancing and singing. They are expressing their gratefulness for the help that Global Partners has given. GPFD organizes these trips so that they can monitor the progress of each project. They bring people along who are interested in seeing the partnerships that are helping these villages. They don't hand out money. They partner on sustainable projects in ways that let the African people progress in their own ways.

Every day is exhausting and exhilarating. It is both heartbreaking and hopeful to visit each project. There are orphans and widows in every community we visit because of the HIV/AIDs epidemic here. They are trying so hard to keep infected parents alive to take care of their children. They have the medicine, but they often don't have food and it can't be taken on an empty stomach, so they go without food and medication and the infection moves faster.

Hope you are all well and happy and grateful for the good we are born into.

The electricity where I am is only on for limited hours per day. I wish I could send photos or videos, but we've had a lot of problems with my computer, electricity, and internet service. It seems that I can never get all three working in combination when I have a few minutes to write.

All that time spent with my buddy Tim Bays teaching me how to edit video on my computer before I left was not enough. It's so much harder to edit the video than I thought! So, I might not be able to send video back after all. We'll see.

Love to all,

Jana

To see info about the conference, go to: http://www.gpfd.org/global_pages/global_conference.html