A mugging last night and letting go of fear.

Around 2:30 a.m. last night, I was somewhat falling back to sleep after Pax had woken and crawled into my bed. Suddenly I heard the quick opening of a door outside and running footsteps hitting the pavement. I wasn't sure if it was the door to our house or something else but people had been coming and going from here all night. It definitely got my attention when a man started to yell loudly. A few seconds later is was as if a few men were now yelling and fighting angrily right out side. As they screamed their voices trailed as if they were in motion moving further away as the scrapple ensued. I hit Sean to wake up, which he was already doing, as I jumped out of bed. Pax had sat straight up and Sean's first words were "shell be the calm one". I knew he was speaking in regards to Pax. Sean didn’t want me suddenly freaking out, getting scared and causing some unnecessary scene of in front of Pax. Even though I wouldn’t have done that, it did remind me to take my energy down a level and cautiously wait. Seconds latter Teresa was flying down the hall near our room slamming doors shut on her way  out the front door and tall walled gate, yelling viciously in Spanish. We knew that people here had been drinking because we could here them. I wasn’t sure if what I just heard had to do with people in our house or outside. My heart was racing. Teresa ran back in the house with a man I've never seen, and then back out again with the man, husband and daughter. They were all out front rambling on loudly. I’ve never wished I could understand Spanish more. A few minutes latter they came back in the house and were looking in one of the rooms of another younger guy that lives here. I stepped out and asked, "what’s going on?"  "It's ok Rachelle" they quickly snapped a few times. I was not relived in any sense. I looked at Paloma who can speak pretty good English and she repeated "I'st ok". Teresa motioned to go back to my room. I did so telling Sean they sad it was fine. But I was not fine and I felt I deserved to know what’s going on if we are staying here with our children.  In Sean’s words, I power walked it right back out there to find out. Paloma explained to me that her uncle had just been robbed by a group of men. "He was hit over the head with "gun" and they took everything from him" she said. I said, "HERE?"  She promptly replied, "No in the street". A few minutes latter the street was swamped with cops and an ambulance. Palomas father tried explaining to me that so many cops were unnecessary, they all just wanted see the action and take pictures. Apparently from the looks of it, the mugging started relatively close to our walled gate, and ended across the street in front of another Hostil. Today Paloma told us that her uncle is the owner of the Hostil across the street and that he will be fine. Sean and I suspect they were all up late drinking and he obviously got mugged leaving, if he was even here in the first place, we aren’t sure. I'm also not sure what they were doing looking in our neighbor’s room across the hall. 
So here we are in one of the safest places by day but apparently all bets are off at night. In any case we think there was late night drinking that was involved, which we obviously won’t be doing as well as going out late.

My mother asked me if I had pepper spray a few days ago. I assured myself that by the end of today I would. However here lies my greatest hurdle to over come; striking the balance that lies between calling in what you want out of life by not indulging your fears, yet staying cautiously aware and prepared, still without projecting your fears. Throughout my life I’ve heavily leaned more toward the fearful side as far as believing that danger lay’s around every corner and that someone is just waiting to attack you. I've been working on that with Sean’s positive encouragement for years and made huge progress in letting go. However through the gateway of fear, I still indulge some imaginary sense of control, to ridiculous levels that don’t seem to ever truly serve me in the end. Not only do I want to lead a less fearful life that inhibits me of my true potential for myself but I desperately dream of it for my children. Here is an excerpt from another family travel blog that helps explains this in simple terms.

"Flash forward to the present and almost every news story is encouraging fear. All the recent shootings and violence throughout the US keep us scared, worried, and in a constant state of reacting to things through emotion alone. The thing that most people do not realize, what I didn’t realize for a long time, is that through fear we are easier to control. We also lose who we were meant to be, and we do not follow the life path we were on as children.

When we hold onto fear or instil it in our children it fundamentally changes who we are, who they are.

Most parents I know, me included sometimes, use fear to control our children. Usually it is in the name of safety but a lot of times it stretches far beyond safety and more towards just getting our children to do what we want. It works..sometimes…in the short term! But is it worth it? Is it worth scaring our children, making them fearful, and capable of being controlled through their emotions?
I don’t think that it is. My youngest 2 sons have always been daredevils, scaring people where ever we go. And I am sure some people look at my reaction to the things they do and wonder where I am, why I am not yelling at them, demanding they stop doing x, y and z, and to be more careful. I understand this mentality and sometimes I am gritting my teeth and holding my proverbial tongue because as a mom I am petrified and do not want anything bad to happen to them….EVER! 

But just when I am about to yell,” be careful”, I think, what is worse, a broken arm or a crushed spirit? Is it worse overall for their lives to have a cut that needs stitches or to be crippled by fear? A concussion or the feeling that your parents do not believe in you and so the belief in yourself wanes?

I my opinion, the latter of each is far worse, especially in the long run. I do not want my children’s actions to be controlled by fear..EVER! For when they allow themselves to be controlled by fear anyone can control them, push them towards unhappy choices, and throw them off the path they were destined to be on. A cut heals, a broken arm sets and bruises fade, but it is nearly impossible to reverse those fearful thoughts and images that we are conditioned to accept as reality as children." -BOHEMIAN TRAVELERS

So here we are trying to free ourselves and our children from the social conditioning of always assuming the worst. Though I dont think its nearly impossible to change such thinking, it does take a lot of determination and work. Believing that someone else’s experiences, in no way have to be yours, can be hard but it's necessary to separate other peoples paths from your own. Why not try assuming the best outcome with no thought or energy put into the "what if?" Feel it as if the best outcome is already in motion and whiteness it being created as you continue align yourself with your highest energetical self and consciousness. The works of Dr. Wayne Dyer have hugely influenced Sean and I in trying to assume this new way of thinking. To read more about this type of thing just look up: Dr. Wayne Dyer, Wishes Fulfilled.

LIFE BEGINS AT THE END OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE.

Part of this whole journey other then the shamanic spirituality and plant healing, is in leaving our comfort zone and putting this new mind set in continuous, argues practice. "If you put yourself in a position where you have to stretch outside your comfort zone, then you are forced to expand your consciousness". We're both feet, all in, plunging into the unknown with wide open hearts and minds to receive what ever it will teach us. In what better way could we fully let go of our fears, social norms, and habits of complacency, than to thrust ourselves into a new world? By doing so we hope to free space in our consciousness for greater expansion and growth. Exist in a place where we force ourselves to be a stranger and adapt, to trust in the universe and most of all to heal and hopefully reach depths within far deeper then we knew excised, allowing us to be the greatest examples possible of peace and love to our beloved children.

We pray everyday for the guidance we need and angels to surround us in this endeavor.  Until next time I will end with this inspiring quote, "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry and narrow mindedness." -Mark Twin. If for no other reason to our families adventures here in Peru, let travel be a path to healing these things within us.