Speaking honestly and truthfully, this short story is a story of my life. Just because again and again I'm catching myself doing the same things, having the same problems, following the same stupid patterns and every time, when the thing is over, wondering: "How could I get into this?"

Last summer I had a wonderful chance to visit the United States of America. I wanted to go really badly because there was to be a very important meeting of some Reiki Masters and I wanted to be there. And, I didn't have any money to go; it's quite a far away and expensive trip. I decided, as we, people of Reiki, often do, that if I really were supposed to be there, something would happen. And it did! A couple of years ago my cousin died and I gave some money to his mother for the funeral. I never expected it back, but she suddenly decided, that she wanted to give it back to me. Well, that was a good sign. Still, this money wasn't enough for the trip, but that was a good half of the amount needed. The second half didn't make me wait too long. A friend of mine, who lives now in California, invited me to come and visit, and when I told him, that I didn't have money for the trip, he said he was happy to pay the tickets, and I could give him the money back some time later, or help him work in their new house, or find some other way. I agreed, I was happy, and I went to America,

The meeting with the Masters was very wonderful and exciting, I met many people who are dear to me, we had a very beautiful boat trip on one of the most beautiful lakes of North America. We also discussed important matters, gave Reiki and prayed�

I went to California after that and was happy to meet an old friend and to make new ones. We meditated together, they showed me some beautiful places, I learnt a lot of new and wonderful things�

Perhaps it's the right time now to ask: "And what about breaking the precepts? What about problems? Everything seems to be so nice in this story, so lucky and wonderful!" Yes, it was lucky and very nice, but here the problems come, don't worry. I'm going to give you now the "inner" part of the process.

I was lucky to get a visa to the States, it wasn't easy, the US government is, probably, the most arrogant in the world, they think everybody who is entering the States does it in order to stay there for good. I had to convince them that I was going to come back home, and I didn't have any proofs like big property, wife and children, a good job� I told the person there, that I'm living with my mother, and he said, that if he had a choice, he would live as far as possible from his mother and that wasn't a proof good enough. Then he asked, what is Reiki, I told him and he started to laugh and said that some people believe in all kind of things. But eventually he gave me the visa saying that usually he wouldn't have done it and he didn't know why he was doing it that time but� I got it. Lucky enough, hah? I wonder if you can imagine how much energy I spent worrying during the whole thing.

I spent even more energy worrying about the tickets, which were sent to me by post, and the Russian post is extremely unreliable. I thought I would never get them, but they arrived. Meanwhile I got some extra gray hair on my head.

I arrived to the States being temporarily poor, as you probably know if you read my previous article. I also had a good load of worries on me, but unfortunately this kind of currency can't be changed in the exchange office, so I had to keep it on. I had enough money for everything planned, but I kept thinking: "What if I miss the plane? What if I get lost somewhere?" I was surrounded by friends, and my continuous worry was: "How can I pay them back for my staying in their place?"

It became even worth, when I came down to California. These people paid my tickets, remember? They just bought a new house, it needed to be worked on and the garden too. I didn't want to feel that I owe them anything and at some point I worked so hard moving the stones in the garden, that I got my back aching really strongly and had difficulties to move in the next few days�They drove me around, we had some sight seeing, I saw sequoias and the ocean, the Steinbeck museum and the Golden Gates' bridge. And I kept thinking, that if I had had more money and the car, I would have been independent and could have traveled and seen much more�

When I came back home, safe and sound, in spite of my worries and the prejudices of the American Government, my English teacher asked me to tell the story in the class. And so I did. I told them about my adventures and showed them the pictures. It helped me to view the whole story as if from the outside. And then I thought: "My God, what a fool I am! What a foolish, very foolish fool! I had such a wonderful trip, there are people, who can't even dream about such things. And I couldn't think of anything better then to worry all the time!"