We are back home! crafting prayerwheels again

Micha Strauss
Jul 15
7 min read

Updated: Oct 7

It is extremely hard to put into words what has happened over the course of our 2025 USA road trip.

I thought that I would have time to share what is going on with us and where we are but that turned out to be false. There was no way for me to be able to sit and write each day or even once every few days because the roller coaster that we were on was too much and no time or energy was left to take care of sharing on social media. I did my very best to share somethings on my Facebook account, but that was it.

I even brought my laptop with me for this mission but it was all alone for the entire trip.

Too much happening

There was one moment where I thought I have time to sit and type all this down and I did try, but it was too much happening every day and at one point I realized I need to let this "sharing" go.

Now, back home at the studio, on my computer and keyboard, I have a moment to try and articulate my thoughts as to what has happened over the course of the 43 days as we were traveling…

Making the most of life

We all live our lives. They make some sense to us in a way. As we get older, we can get wiser too if we pay attention to what is happening (outside and in) and make the most of it in the form of practice.

Practice to become better? No.

Practice to help us reduce the constant judgmental thought that has taken root in our perception and made our life the way it is… we practice to notice how "we" as a separate "real" object are feeling, what we are thinking, what we say, what we do… how we are…

We are our thoughts and thought patterns.

I have so much to say about what I went through on our therapy / trip = theratrip (will be used from now) but I do not think that you folks out there are so interested in me and my shenanigans, but I promised that I will try and write and so to those who wanted to keep us in their minds I will write a little bit. If this is not interesting to you, no worries! Your life is right there, just go and enjoy them!

Classes of humans?

So, for me, this trip was a plan I had in the back of my mind since 1994 when I was working as a mover in NY. I was broke, had nothing and was basically a slave for a while… this gave me much understanding to "classes" of humans. Some rich, some poor… but, I also had help in understanding life from a bigger perspective from an older friend who showed me, a small village boy the world of business and millions of dollars…

I never know that this world even exists. He put me in a suite and tie and took me to meetings in wall street and big companies. I was just sitting there listening in on the business meetings he had with whoever it was. This was fascinating to me and a new world of finances opened up to me. Remember, I was brought up in a social commune where there was no money in our lives, on our day to day… so for me, this was amazing and incredible.

Over the years I learned as I went through life, which for me, as apposed to the rest of the people around me had many strange accounts with super synchronicity in them which always made me see things differently.

From a very young age I know what was going on. I must have been a monk in my previous life. But in this life, must be because of unthinkable amount of merit accumulated and so many aspirations in previous lives to allow me to be born here, a human, male, white, simple but privileged, taught to see others and not just yourself, share everything, have nothing, go through all possible life adventures as a young boy and teenager, have very good upbringing, all that and so much more…

For me, this was all a lesson to be learned, and to do it all very fast. This life for me, is like a bullet train… so much is happening and so fast… I need to learn quickly or face the consequences.

Buddhism made so much sense to me

When I found Buddhism, I was already 27 years old and it made SO much sense to me… all of it… it helped me see things so much more clearly. When Ayelet and I found each other, life became magical.

When we met H.E. Garchen Rinpoche for one hour back in 2008 it went ballistic.

Now, 17 years later and 3061 prayerwheel made, we find our selves in a new place… a new situation…

Before we left for this theratrip we had a goal in mind, we had a hope… to go far away from here for more than a short vacation and see with much more clarity what it is we want to do now as we need to move from where we are. As we were here for so long, it was impossible to see clearly what we want to do but we knew one thing for sure, we want to be of more service to the cause of the prayerwheel. Where in this world can we be more effective to the cause? How can we make more prayerwheels for the world? We now live in the second most expansive country in the world and that reflects our craft's price… we need to be able to make them more affordable.

One way to do that is move to a different country.

Other way to do that is to make the process automated.

It seems that both options together would make this happen faster.

USA trip

When we traveled the USA, we also felt each place, each state we were in… would this be a good place to stay and live? We found so many!!

From the very first moment we arrived, all things were golden. It is hard to explain how everything just went smoothly… perfectly… I am not used to this… for me it is always some fight.

Every day was filled with so many moments of WOW, or "how did that just happen?!" or "I can't handle this, I need to sit down"…

Every day. Our "vessel" needed an update and the vastness and spaciousness of America did just that! First, when your vessel expands you feel like there is nothing to hold onto and that is scary, but scary good.

After a while, you breath into your new found space and you grow to new sizes previously could not fathom. Cup was too small, very little water came in. now cup is huge and so much more water can be held…

There were a few moments of expansion that allowed new thought to arrive or regular thoughts to expand to bigger sizes that gave clarity to our question of where would we be most effective to the cause and now back home we have many things to do to start making our way into the new future…

We basically went through the door in the closet into Narnia and we came back, very different. Behind that door was a cosmic washing machine and it just tumbled us silly.

It was so overwhelming, ALL of it that only now, one week later I can sit down for the first time and try and articulate my words.

After all this I learned something.

We are all confused. All of us everywhere.

We all are slaves to thoughts.

We become the thoughts we entertain.

We have power over thoughts.

Mind over matter.

We have power to change.

The most amazing revelation

I was this, no one in the history that is known to us has ever learned how to share. No country, no people, no nation, no anyone.

This is the only thing that keeps us in suffering, we are only interested in ourselves. Period.

This is why my precious master says to me all the time: "all the good in this world comes from thinking of others, all the suffering in this world comes from thinking of myself". How easy. How simple. How ignorant we all are out there…

How ignorant am I.

Seeing all the confusion out there

showed me something amazing… that time, allowed to pass, erases all deeds be them good or bad from the minds of men. I just visited a country that was concurred in the most brutal of ways by the newcomers, slaughtered everyone, who ever was left standing got put in "reservations" and forgotten… now, these newcomers celebrate their independence on the 4^th of July… side by side with the natives who were left.

These people are telling the county I live in to do a two-state solution…

Why don't you do it first? Lead by example!

No… Much easier to judge from a conquered land with time on your side…

This is what I learned…

We just don't get it. Well, have not yet at least…

But there is hope!

We need to do better!

We have a plan now (me and Ayelet).

We will start crafting all the orders that are waiting for us, we have some new orders that came in when we were traveling, and start out plans to be more efficient to the cause. Let's see what happens and where it leads us to!

We wish to thank you ALL for all you have ever done for us, we are just two little people who for some reason happen to be born now in this world and chose to craft the prayerwheel for the benefit of all beings!