LEAVING THE COMFORT ZONE
At a young age, in my wild teenage years, I truly was a seeker, open to newness, to learning and adventure. Growing up in a small village where nothing really much happened and most of the people had a mediocre life, already at that age, I felt the longing to break free, to find my ‘real destiny and truth’ as I often had the feeling of ‘not belonging to that place’.
I was lucky that at the age of 12 my parents decided to send me to the best school known in the nearby town. Being a good student, they wanted to give me that chance. As the school was at a distance from our house, I left early morning by bus to come back only in the evening. It was my first sense of travelling and feeling independent.
CHALLENGING
The first year my experience was quite shocking, the school being very big to what I was used to, also elitist and very high level studies. At moments I was feeling lost and challenged by the rhythm and level of studies. Luckily the school was also progressive with a few inspiring yet demanding teachers. But gradually I adapted myself and began to enjoy this new chapter of my life.
Of course I also started exploring the city where the school was and in my free time, with my friends, we discovered the cafes and pubs where young people, artists, musicians, free thinkers, hippies gathered. A new world opened for me, even more than school.
Would a life of freedom, meaning and inspiration be possible, out of the mediocrity?
MEETING THE MENTOR
It was the awesome seventies, a wind of change was blowing, influences from the United Kingdom and the States were felt, there was an atmosphere that anything was possible! At least that was attracting me and my friends, while others remained safely within the boundaries of a small bourgeois town.
Feeling quickly at home in some pubs, I started to make new amazing friends. I was tall, long red henna painted hair by then and mostly one of the youngest. So I must have drawn the attention of some without being even aware of this.
So it happened that I became friends with the owner of one of these pubs. I remember his name-everyone called him Papa Guido-he was a gentle and wise person, older than myself. He must have felt that there was a profound seeker in me. Whenever I came to his pub, we had inspiring conversations. I asked him many questions about many things in life, about the new hippie wind that was blowing… One day he brought me two books ‘On The Road’ and ‘The Dharma Bums’ written by Jack Kerouac.
CALL OF DHARMA
This was the first time in my life that I heard the word ‘Dharma’. Although I did not understand this concept fully, subconsciously it triggered me so much that I will always remember this first encounter with the word dharma! It resonated with something deep inside, like a word of magic knowledge that somehow would show me a path. At that time Jack Kerouac became one of my favorite writers.
This person-Papa Guido-made me reflect on dharma or life purpose or personal truth at a very young age. Papa Guido, having the look and the vibes of a local Alan Ginsberg, the beatnik poet and friend of Jack Kerouac, was a real Dharma Bum Seeker himself.
For me it was the first awakening of a long soul journey in finding out ‘who I truly am and what is the meaning of my existence’.
THE ROAD TO BEING FULLY ALIVE HAD STARTED.
By being open to newness and learning-or was it destiny-I had attracted my first coach or mentor, although at that time I did not know that word neither.
This encounter opened doors for me, and made me move forward on a road full of adventure and literally, like Andy Warhol said: if you are born in a small town, you have to get out.
Still grateful to Papa Guido, as this was a beginning of freedom and awakening to the magic of life! What a beautiful memory with so much impact, a powerful seed was planted in the garden of my mind.
