Baje’s story made me acutely aware of the difference between how we think in the West and in a place like Bhutan. It is a reminder of what is important here: life is about improving yourself and your lot. It sounds simple, but it’s really not. There is a great deal of physical and mental energy expended. But the people I know and love here don’t judge themselves to be optimistic or pessimistic, or tenacious, or creative, or ruthless, or any of these labels. Life is not about thinking and reasoning and rationalizing—it’s about intent and the subsequent action.

Ancient traditions still dictate; life here is, more than anything, about what you aim for. The wind as I sit beside the river has whipped up and is wild, making itself known. It blusters through the trees and throws up dust. The wind is a force that some in Bhutan claim carries spirits. At the very least, it signals the change of season. The cows munching on dead grass on the hillside don’t seem to notice that the wind is so fierce it might blow them away. On a knoll where there is no grass, it stirs up dust devils, sucking up stray leaves in the mini tornadoes. I cover my eyes with my hand until it subsides. Living here, I understand the notion of time as a quality or shade of being. We are ruled by weather, so time is inseparable from the seasons, what food we eat, where we go, what we do. We are able to forget about the schedules of the world for now and make a little world of our own.

Sit back and take care of our own. The river changes color from hour to hour, depending on the light and the weather. In the short time I’ve been sitting here, mare’s-tail clouds have formed, blowing high above the mountaintops. There is a faint smell of pine. I’ve been sitting with my eyes closed. Sometimes I fear that if I blink or tilt my head a certain way, all the beauty of Bhutan, these gorgeous evergreen mountains dotted with fall foliage, the white snowcaps in the distance, will disappear. Mindful of being mindful. Change is the constant. Suffering inevitable. Sow your own garden. If enlightenment is possible anywhere, I think it is particularly possible here.