Our trip to the Mainland is winding down and we will be returning to Kaua`i tomorrow, August 24. Because of the pandemic, it has been almost two years since we have traveled off our Island. I remember making the reservation a few months ago, and how excited I was to be traveling again. It is not that I had “island fever;” I just wanted to experience more of the world, and finally reconnect with family and friends. 

I have to say that before we left there was a little hesitation. Would the rules for traveling change impeding our trip back home? Was it safe “out there?” I had just come out of quarantine after experiencing COVID19 myself. Would people reject me? Not want to hug me? Would I have the loving visit with my family and friends that I desired?

The answer to my questions was positive. It is safe out here. Everyone accepted me with open arms, without fear. The visit with my family was all and more than I expected. I am grateful. What I have found is that wherever I travel, there I am. I get what I expect and I am guided directed and protected wherever I walk. As I walk as love, love is what I meet.

The world is opening again and I am grateful. I know, some of you will say that it isn’t, that it is closing down again. I refuse to think this way. We are just maneuvering ourselves through something that most of us have never experienced. Yes, I will walk safely. Yes, I will follow the guidelines of health. However, I do not live in fear. I live in faith. That is the way I have maneuvered through this trip and will continue to do so as I travel home and beyond. 

My question to all of us is this: What do you want? The world is changing and will continue to change. There will be setbacks and there will be advances. However, where are we as individuals in this ever-changing world? If we know what we want and how we want to live than we will progress forward without hindrance, because what seem like obstacles will become opportunities for shift and advancement. Thinking out of the box will become our go to. We can advance and help the world at the same time.

I wrote this on Facebook a few days ago and I really believe it. “We can do so much good in the world if we stop trying to change it and change ourselves first.”  There are a lot of messages coming at us presently. There is a lot of chaos in the world. We get the opportunity to shift our perception of these messages. We get to shift our perception of this whole experience and turn it to our betterment, or we get to perceive it all as a threat and disaster. What do you choose? You do get to choose. It is not about what is happening; it is about how we are responding to it.

We need love right now. We need acceptance in regard to others who think differently from us. We need to look for the good in all of the chaos, to find the gem that is peeking out. We need a lot of trust and faith in our fellow human beings to make the right decisions in regards to the whole. However, more importantly than all of this, we need to make the right and loving decisions for our own lives. We need to make decisions and trust that we have made the best decision not just for ourselves but for the good of the whole. 

The good for the whole starts within each of us as we discover our oneness instead of our separation. We are one. We are experiencing this whole new world as one. We are all in this together. We are the most powerful as one loving consciousness looking at each other as a reflection of ourselves. The Golden Rule: “Do unto others, as you would have them do unto you” is more important now than ever. 

I had the amazing opportunity to experience the Immersive Van Gogh Exhibit in Los Angeles. The picture for this blog exemplifies what I am writing about. The image of being immersed in Vincent’s work is me in the world absorbing the beauty and reflecting it back out. We all have this same opportunity.

Love and Aloha,

Rev. Rita Andriello-Feren