Evolving Plans - NAPF Conference in July 2012?

From the beginning of my quest to ride my bicycle across the country, I have had people ask me "Why do you want to do this?". As I discussed somewhat in my previous blog, there were a lot of reasons, but probably the deepest motivation is that as much as humanly possible, I would rather live freely and peacefully from my bicycle then be a slave to an economic system, society, and government that is founded in violence.

So that's the "Big Picture" goal of my quest to ride my bicycle across and/or around the country. Unfortunately, it is not something that is easy for other people to really understand and I respect that without that understanding it makes it harder for them to feel comfortable "supporting" my efforts.

As a consequence, I have been kind of "spinning my wheels" figuratively rather than actually over the last several months. However, I think I may have found something that will help bring more focus to my efforts...

In July 2012, the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (NAPF) is holding a Peace Leadership conference in Santa Barbara, CA. (Follow this link for details: http://www.wagingpeace.org/menu/programs/peace-leaders/) At first I was thinking..."There's no way I could do this." However, if I am able to accomplish some of my other goals while I am living here in Florida - mainly, moving my stuff that I left in storage in Maryland, and finishing the process of sorting through and selling off all of that, then I just might have enough time left to ride my bike across the country and make it to the conference. Furthermore, once I have received the training, I will be in a better position to teach others about "Waging Peace", which is really want I am intent on doing anyway, I just didn't have a name for it when I first started this journey! : ))

In addition, this will help to answer one of the other questions that has come up frequently: "What are you going to do 'for a living' once you are finished with your bike trip?" Well, maybe the NAPF will consider hiring me as a full-time employee? : ) Or maybe I can just become a freelance public speaker and trainer? Who knows? Either way, I appreciate what the organization is offering, and I especially appreciate the Wisdom and Self-Discipline embodied in the Leadership Director, Paul Chappell.

From the onset of this adventure I have known that it would be a mixture of very focused planning as well as an openness to respond to whatever the "Universe" had to offer in terms of "direction". I feel I am staying true to the core of my Heart Intention which is most important, otherwise, leaving room for the "details" to, in effect, work themselves out. Coming across the NAPF via Facebook and having the conference date set and posted recently seems to be the right kind of "Universal Direction" I'm referring to.

So...we'll see how this goes... : ))

In the mean time - May All of You Have a Very Peace-Full Holiday Season! : ))