how has rainbow changed your life

over & over we've all heard people say how rainbow has changed theyre lives forever

people comming to the gatherings generaly realize its far more then a simple fest but something much greater but few understand how much it can change theyre lives.

please share your stories of how your lifes been changed by your first gathering or how years of living the rainbow way has affected your life.

namaste

 

would you mind sharing some of yours

 

well id have to say when i first found rainbow i was 19, fuckin up left & right, depressed angry, & definately not goin in the right direction, i couldnt say that for sure it was my 1st experience with rainbow that really turned me around, cause my 1st experience i really only experienced the mind boggling fun & adventure without really knowing what it was i accidently stumbled into, but already i felt the rainbow magic working opening my eyes to new possibilities & realizations, but it wasnt till the following year, attending a regional for the full ride from helping cary in the very 1st kitchen to arrive to leaving with the last vehicles to leave that i really started to understand how amazing the rainbow truly was, & how interconnected we all were.. it changed who i was, or no, more precisely it freed me to be me, you see before that time, i wasnt really being true to myself, i thought who i was was the person i acted like, even though the feelings i felt didnt match the image i portrayed, i learned so much in that short time abut what it meant to be peaceful & loving & especialy about the unconditional kind, it really did change the course of my life, broke down all the negative barriers that prevented me from being my true self, gave me the knowledge & hope i needed to break free of depression & realixze the world wasnt as bleak as it seemed, gave me a new faith in humanity & gave me the only taste of true freedom, & unity id ever experienced..

that was just from the 1st 2 gatherings & since then its only continued to enrich my life & fill me with the knowledge that true goodness does exist & that a handful of people dedicated to an idea can create a miracle..& miracles do happen in ways wed never expect.
for instance, new mexico, id given up my apartment & went on a whim, not really sure where id end up, but knowing i had nowhere to go back to..2nd day there a sister sits down next to me, out of the blue she says, ya know, i got a buncha land nearby im not using, if ya want 10 or 20 acres to build a house on come find me (at her work) after the gathering, ok, i was alittle blown away by this, i mean, who gives away land right? so i sit down to smoke a bowl with a brother & i tell him what happened, 1st he gives me the pipe as a gift, was 1 of the best pipes i ever had, then fills my hat with kind bud so i can properly break it in.. he smiles & says well if your gonna be livin on undeveloped land your gonna need a place to stay, i got a motorhome im not using your welcome to have it.. ok so at this point im thinking how could things possibly get any more incredible then this
till i ran into another local brother down by the swimming hole & i mention im concidering staying awhile after the gathering, & hes like oh yea? i build adobe houses, & i'd love to help ya build 1..ok so..thats land.. a motorhome.. and now a house? all for free all without asking, all just random acts of kindness..witnessing such amazing generousity, selfless acts of kindness to a total stranger, it affects your entire outlook on life

basicaly i guess you can say, it turns a cold n cruel world of sorrow into a psychodelic colorful magical playground of infinate possibilities

 

god thats amazing

 

The rainbow not only changed my life but saved it. I had known about the rainbow for years, though I'd never went to any gatherings. My 1st year in college I went, just for the party. While ther I made some great friends.


When I went home those friends kept in contact with me. Later, the next year my life changed. I found my dad murdered. I got to where I didn't care about life. I started using drugs bad. My arms looked like a pin cushion.

Those same people that I'd met years before came to visit me. They cried. I was so messed up I didn't realize that I had left to go on the road with them. When I came to I was angry. I was away from my drugs and I didn't think that I could make it. With alot of love, and about 9 months on the road, I quit using. Its been 7 years since I've used. I think the goddess everyday for bringing my wonderful family to me.

The rainbows are truely my salvation. I'd hate to see where my life would have ended up had I not found the light.

Lovin you family

 

sweat pea you have no idea how often i hear stories like that about rainbow saving some1's life & in a way probly mine as well, i definatey had a couple close calls before i woke up to the light
i think it was in west virginia, this older guy just grabs me & hugs me full of tears thanking me for being there & starts telling this heartbreaking story, i dont remember the details, but it ended with him with a shotgun in his mouth, & luckily a rainbow brother found him just at the exact momment he pulled the trigger, tackled him, saving his life, but ofcourse that was only a mommentary save, he had every intention of repeating the scene at the very next momment he was left alone, but that brother sat with him talking for 3 days, then dragged him almost unwillingl to the gathering, where he learned true beauty & love does exist, & he made the decision then & there, to go on living just to cary that love with him after he left...i ran into the same brother again in colorado, again in tears, but this time tears of joy for the second chance hed been given

young deadhead, you should take a look at some of the vids on my myspace www.myspace.com/iriesoaringeagle especialy the top 2 on the right

 

Wow i never knew they went down to help out with the victims of hurricane Katrina. It was just amazing. The second video isnt playing so well so ill try watching it in the morning and see if its working any better. The videos just make me wanna go to the gatherings so much more.

 

theyve actualy been there since katrina & are hoping that in august after the gathering they can get enough volunteers to come down & rebuild the entire town in a couple months
many of my freinds have been there since days after the disaster

 

Rainbow has changed my life by taking me out of the mindset that I need to be a part of the machine. I found that we can all live simply without capitalism. It really confirmed why I want to be a teacher. Rainbow gave me the light to pass onto future generations. I learned that Rainbows accept you regardless of your background or beliefs. I believe that I'm fortunate to be able to experience phamily like this and I would love to spread the Rainbow love the rest of my life. I think this year is going to be beautiful!

Sweet Pea, your story made me all teary-eyed. Isn't amazing that people can care about you so much that they actually saved your life? Stories like this make me love Phamily more and more. Hope to see you home sister!

 

Sweet Pea, it's so wonderful to hear your story of healing, & of yours Soaring Eagle & of your awakening Bumble! For me, the short story is that the Spirit nabbed me up just before I would have been busted in a big cocaine sting & the next thing I knew I met JuJu & was on the Rainbow road. The ride since has been long, strange & WONDERFUL!!!!

Lovin' Y'all!!

 

It's balanced all the yang in my Babylonian life with some ying that carries me through until the next gathering. There is or used to be a camp in Rainbow called Judgment Free Emotional Support and Uplifting Space (J.E.S.U.S.). That sums it up for me.

 

So do you know Mother Nature & Iris, Stranger?

 

In the end it cost me $15,000 in legal and misc. fees.
It was nice, but I think camping in the backyard with a couple of friends would have been cheaper. For effect I could have invited a few drunk neighbors to hang out in the driveway and misappropriate my friends beer as they arrived.
;-)

 

Yeah, that was Iris and Mother Nature's outfit...Weren't we just talking about them, hippiestead? If Stranger remembers them, and he's 18 now, he must have been a young runaway...

 

all the talk about recovering from drug addiction got me thinkin...

this year will me my first gathering, and i'm hoping that it will help me do some serious deprograming from years living in the city. my head has been so spun over my life and all my "responsibilities" which have piled up over the years, and all the people who i love but are so tangled in their lives and relations that it makes it hard for us to show that love.

the last year has been hard, and a number of friends who i grew up with are going down a seriously bad path. when we were young and dumb, no one watched out for eachother or worried about addiciton, and now the casualties are starting to grow. and i feel so bad, so responsible because i could have seen this coming years ago, but was so caught up in my own bullshit, that i didn't pay attention. and once i realized it, i had to work on turning myself around before i could change anyone else's life. so i've gotten off the dope, coke and pills but some of my good friends who didn't catch on to the psychedelic hippie trip, are really fucked. i mean really fucked, like shootin dope and smokin crack, shootin coke. the worst of the worst. waking up and spending their entire day on the chase. robbing every one of their friends for 20 dollars until their out of people. dragging around gas cans to bum change. and the thing is they don't even care, when you got nothing to lose your happy being a loser. and with my over-spun head from a bit too much acid in the city, its all too intense for me. i feel paralyzed. the kids i used to run with are now the scum of our city.

so one of my best friends, JA has fallen into this hole with his brother and running with some shady people. but JAs different, he cares, he wants to be free from this. he's not a shooter, but he smokes crack and sniffs dope and its killin him. he's getting skinny, and his internal demons are starting to take over. i want to bring him to the gathering, but he'd be rock bottom. dead broke, and not much to offer. i just want him to get better and i think maybe rainbow would be the place to take him. this kids not a hippy, he's a rough and tough city kid with a mean streak but a good heart, and he's turned his anger inwards. he needs somewhere to go that doesn't cost money and is completely and totally removed from that scene. he needs real family love, something he's never had except from his best friends (and now not at all). any words of wisdom i could pass on in trying to convince him? there's only a few days left before we leave and i want him to come. for real, this kid wants to change he just doesn't know where to start.

 

The utopians are going to beat the tar out of me for this one, but it comes frome experience, so here goes...
TumbledownDNA

I do not know if your friend will find the hard drug free deep-feeling community that you seek in the rainbow. He may not be escaping the scene you wish for him to be released from. Rainbow, like every community, has its addicts. A gathering for many of them is a wonderous place to rip off unsuspecting gatherers and score whatever their habit desires. It sucks, but that doesn't make it any less true.

There are many paths that lead from rainbow, some are beautiful and some are worse than the hell your friend currently finds himself in. Sometimes a person will fall upon a path at random and it will be exactly what they need (or don't need) but often a path is found when one sets out onto it. The path found and created by one actively seeking hard drugs is a dangerous one, even in rainbow, as it leads to some seriously screwed up situations and places beyond the gathering.

Just be aware, have fun. I wish you and your friend the best. I've lost a part of my soul, not to crack or H, but to the friends both in and out of rainbow I have lost to that crap, I wish you better luck than I.

 

thanks for your very honest answer. i know i gave kind of a sob story and that there's no one thing thats gonna turn it around, he's just gotta do it himself. but still, being in a natural environment, living lightly with loving people and being removed from the normal scene might be helpful. and he needs to get out soon. what it comes down to is i'm worried i'll come back from the gathering all bright eyed and inspired and he'll be too far gone. its hard to lose friends

 

If you feel its what needs to be done then...
Go with your heart, protect your wallet, and stay the hell away from A camp.

Good luck and don't let anyone bring you down a path from rainbow on which you can not walk lightly (if you go the wrong way you'll see what I mean,lol).

 

The Rainbow Gathering and all of my brothers and sisters have taught me many things...and although the stories aren't as striking as some of the other stories here and the other stories out there floating around, I still thought I would share mine...

I've learned and been taught that the things that matter most in this world are the simple things. A hello or smile from a stranger, a helping hand, the rain )), among other things. It has taught me patience. The Gathering has shown me that we are all connected - that we are all brothers and sisters. It has taught me to accept everyone for who they are and see the real beauty that each and every one of us holds within ourselves. That love comes in many forms.

Most importantly, I have a greater understanding of who I am and what I want out of life.

Rainbow has been my greatest mentor.