Are You Happy Here?

This picture says happiness:  Little Jimmy, A Pink Bear and Snow Fall

“Are you happy here?”  Is the number one question that I am asked on a daily basis in Bumthang, Bhutan along with “How do you find it here?  Do you like it here?  Are you adjusting here?”  From the store clerk to ALL my students and coworkers, I am not exaggerating when I say that almost every single Bhutanese person I have met has asked me one of these questions.  And if the stray dogs, rats and cows could talk, I would bet a million dollars that they would be asking me, “Are you happy here, moooo.” 

I was feeling extra happy this day!

At first I thought, Thank goodness I am really overjoyed to be here so I wouldn’t have to lie to everyone and pretend to be all jolly.  This is so strange, why does everyone keep asking me this over and over again?  Then I realized that the main reason why Bhutanese people are asking me these questions is because they are extremely thoughtful and concerned for the well fare of others.  It goes hand in hand with their Buddhist nature as well as the country's Gross National Happiness (GNH) philosophy.  In fact, it’s perfectly normal for the same person to continuously ask me if I am happy here about three times a week just to make sure that nothing has come up and destroyed my bliss.  I have grown to look forward to these daily questions and every time they ask me if I am happy here, my face turns into a chipmunk as an enormous smile inflates my cheeks. 

Coming home

These questions never get old for me because I see it as an opportunity to remind myself over and over again that “Yes, I am very content here!”  I also like when they ask me such questions because sometimes I will share my personal story about how I came to be so cherry in Bhutan.  I tell them about my two wise spiritual teachers in California who taught me about energy medicine, meditation, intuition and a lot about living a fulfilled life.  I share that before I came to Bhutan, I was really nervous and scared to leave the only life I had known.  So I asked my spiritual teachers who could talk to their spirit guides to give me some advice about moving to Bhutan.  They each separately reported to me that I have been in this area of the world before and had passed through it in my past lives (I also had a past life in India).  One of my teachers told me that when I arrived in Bhutan, I would feel like I was coming home and that I would be very joyful.  She also knew that I would feel so safe and that eventually I would look back at my fears about coming and laugh.  Although I have so much respect for her, at that time I was feeling so anxious and I wasn’t too sure about her prediction.  Could I really feel like I was coming home to a country that is so vastly different from the only one I ever knew? 

Peering out the window

On clouds in heaven

Scattered Villages

Now I feel bad for doubting her because her prediction turned out to be incredible.  The moment I peered out of the airplane window looking at these gigantic, snow capped mountains encapsulating tiny villages scattered throughout endless forestry, I knew that everything was going to be ok for me and that she was correct.  Gliding into Bhutan on that plane felt like I was on the clouds of heaven looking down on loved ones, remembering a place I treasured.  It turned out that Bhutan is home for me!

Goosebumps!!!

In Bumthang I’m often in a state of awe at how I feel like I have always lived here.  I also get goosebumps every time I travel along the mountains because I feel like I have done it a million times.  Since I left America, there has been a major change in how I live, and everyone including myself is surprised at how quickly and easily I have adjusted.  I think that I have adjusted so gracefully because everything seems familiar to me including the language, food, festivals, faces, school life, etc.  It seems like ever since my feet touched the ground in Bhutan, my soul has been singing a “welcome home” song.  Therefore, I now believe my spiritual teachers foretelling, which all of them have came true including the one about getting a new family of friends (Madam Sonam, little Jimmy, Dawa, Norbu the monk...).  

I want to be a Bhutanese Monk like my friend Norbu

As a result of being so darn happy in Bhutan, I believe that I have definitely been here before.  I don’t know if this specifically means that I was a Bhutanese in one of my past lives, but I do know for sure that I want to come back as a Bhutanese monk in my next life!  Then as a “real” Bhutanese person, I will get the chance to ask some chilip (means foreigner in Dzongkha), “Are you happy here?”

(If anyone is skeptical about past lives like I once was, I recommend reading, Many Lives, Many Masters by Dr. Brian Weiss [Oprah dedicated a show about it], which may broaden your perspective on the topic)

These places all seem so familiar to me