Danny:I’m a high school student from New York State. I’ve just begun reading your book “Awakening the Buddha Within” and am so far very pleased with what I am finding within its pages. However, that is not the reason I am writing you. To keep it simple, I have a question: my whole life I’ve wanted to travel, to be set free and roam the earth with nothing more than my iPod and backpack. I am 16 and have a family that cares for me deeply. My mistakes have brought them much trouble and misery, I am torn. I do not know whether I should stay and try to make up for my ignorance and ill decisions or if I should follow my sub-conscious; my desire to leave now. Please get back to me with any advice you may have.
Lama Surya Das: Try to focus more closely on redirecting your negative energies/actions, or they will simply follow you wherever you might try to go. We must forgive and remember by learning the lessons from our misdeeds and gaining through loss and tribulation. I feel that you should do all that you can to address your problems there in your current situation, and ask for help in doing so, from whomever you find suitable and appropriate. You have the good fortune of being amidst a loving family; don’t overlook that, while you still have them. Give yourself time to grow; intellectually, spiritually, and communally.Your desire to travel, if it is indeed deeply embedded in your spirit, will not falter.Stay true to your convictions and finish this part of your journey. I myself started traveling the world alone, but waited until I graduated from college at age 20. Try to engage on the inner journey. We must learn not just to see different things but to see things differently. Good luck!
Submitted by Danny via Facebook on November 3, 2010
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