3 Travel Truths I Have Learned So Far…
Pictured : Exploring the edge of ‘devil’s pool’ on the Zambia side of the Zambezi River, 2014.
The act of travelling overseas to foreign lands has played a consistent and powerful role in the ways in which I learn about this mysterious, magical and mundane experience of LIFE - this world, and existence itself.
As someone who was born into a family that embraced diversity of living, cultural immersion and learning abroad, I am grateful for beginning a lifelong early studentship of curiosity that stems from understanding how much I have not seen, heard and experienced in lands afar let alone nearby. So, in the spirit of sharing love for an art form and heart-healing remedy that is authentic for me - here are what I feel to be timeless truths ( that I encourage you to trial and test the validity of !) through this transformative, challenging, humbling yet fulfilling awareness-enhancing, self-empowering tool that intentional Travelling provides.
TRAVEL IS AN INVITATION…
" In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's mind there are few " - Zen master Shunryu Suzuki. Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
Travel reminds us that there are many many angles, layers and levels of how we can perceive the world and our experiences. Entering and immersing ourselves into an environment that is unfamiliar and that holds differences of living conditions is something that takes courage, and an act that invites time and space for self-reflection. Travel offers situations and circumstances that can humble us and may cause us to healthily question our beliefs and values - it holds a mirror for us to observe our inner workings and patterns of habits (of thought, speech and actions) within unfamiliar territory. Depending on the person, the unfamiliar territory can be a nurturing education facility that supports and encourages this process, and other times it can be while walking and interacting with people within the happenings of a local market, being met with distraction whilst sitting idle in the waiting zone at the airport or when facing the beauty of life underwater while acclimatising to the weight of equipment worn while scuba diving for the first time.
Through the sheer scale of diversity within individual, social and cultural behaviours, laws, lores and traditions - depth of knowledge and understanding of any subject is directly and indirectly influenced by factors such as climate, food, perspectives, patterns of behaviour and personalities within the surrounds of our environment. Travel can be an invitation to open our head, hearts and senses to learn or deepen our knowledge of ourselves in an unfamiliar, lesson-enriched landscape…if we let it. A UK expat living in Sydney had once shared with me that taking the leap to travel and move abroad helped them to discover what they are “made of.” This was a beautiful sentiment that has stayed with me through times of adversity, during opportunities to practice resilience, patience and compassion throughout my experiences overseas. Moments where I’ve had to dig deep within myself to trust my instincts, discern and take action when there was no body familiar or who spoke the same language around asked me to respond by stepping up and showing loyalty to the person I am in present time, instead of reacting as the previous version of my self now outgrown.
Like each endeavour proposed whether we discern to undertake or not, the power of intentionality, the conscious/subconscious driving force behind the decision to actively embark on a journey of movement and adaptability depends on the circumstances in which travel is required. From reasons that may include ; duty of employment, industry requirements, familial duties, self-care, nomadic living, quest of personal development, spiritual pilgrimage and so on infinitum - it is important to acknowledge that although travel can be an exciting adventure for some, it can also be a stress-inducing experience for others. May the soulful essence of this article serve all travellers partaking the voyage of life wherever you may be.
THE BODY IS SACRED, THE HOME YOU DWELL IN …
New patterns of movement, changes in daily routine tasks, dietary nutritional intake, rest and timezone differences impact our body and our life force. Travel brings our attention to what nourishes our energy and what factors deplete it - many times we learn what these influential factors are through the hard way… by experiencing burn-out, illness, injury, or heart break, and through moments of deep pleasure, joy, universal sense of connection, whole-body presence and lightness.
The foundations of health - adequate sleep & rest, dynamic & soothing movement, nourishing dietary intake and respectful & supportive social connections provide a stable and solid platform from which we can explore and expand from. When these simple life-enhancing factors are affected, our energy and capacity levels to engage with things outside our zones of comfort are also impacted. The act of self-care is a forever evolving practice, and carries an intention of respect, reverence and gratitude for the gift of partaking in this precious journey of living, learning and evolving on Earth.
Through the lens of cultivating long-term self-care, Travel can be an insight tool that can support the journey of sustainable living, specifically within the realms of having a strong inner awareness so that we can navigate our daily lives, manage our inner resources of life force efficiently and strengthen our ability to self-regulate. When there is union or coherence in mind-body-soul, then our ability to make clear decisions, move from a place of love over fear, in order to follow through with empowered actions can become the baseline for how we navigate each moment as we develop further. I am a big advocate in learning what self-care on a daily or moment by moment basis means for each one of us.
G R A T I T U D E : PLACES AND PEOPLE WE CROSS PATHS WITH CAN HELP ACTIVATE AND INTEGRATE PARTS OF OURSELVES THAT FEEL ‘FOREIGN’…
Gratitude for the very fact we can access and explore parts of the world that others may not have the chances or opportunities to is a timeless practice. This can be a daily mindful practice in itself, especially in the morning while waking up, conscious of the gift of experiencing a new day. Whenever we cross paths with people or places that express and act differently to our known customs, communities and selves, then we are given a chance to strengthen our ‘muscle’ of awareness that can respond through adapting or navigating with grace instead of reacting with tension - through curiosity, compassion, establishing loving boundaries and share gratitude for the chance to do so. Whether it’s discovering the ; romantic, sensual, non-chalant creative air of Parisian life…the bold, beautiful and sweet life that the streets of Roma invites… the warm, sociable and deeply nature connected paths of an Irish seaside mountain village centre extends… or the caring, chaotic, bhakti-driven, reality hitting ancient city of India provides - each discovery and journey of resistance/avoidance to awareness and acceptance is a chance to integrate parts of ourselves that have not had the chance to be acknowledged, expressed or safely embodied in our familiar routine world.
By softening our habit of imposing our preferences or expectations of how unmet people and places should be, we give ourselves permission to observe and respond lovingly to the unmet facets of ourselves through a lens of curiosity, forgiveness, and what Zen master Shunryu Suzuki calls ‘beginners mind,’ as we navigate both internal and external landscapes.
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These are the 3 Timeless Travel Truths I have consistently experienced throughout my life and that continuously evolve as I further deepen my practices . I like to think that the essence of these sentiments apply not just for ‘Travel,’ but can also shape and infuse our daily lives wherever we are in this world. If to Travel means to move, then each of us has the opportunity to navigate each and every moment as if we were an impassioned explorer who deeply knows that movement can be on a physical, mental mindset and emotional processing level whereby enriching our journey from point A to point B - gently reminding us that"One's destination is never a place but rather a new way of looking at things" - Henry Miller.
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To Read more about the importance of self-care, sovereignty, transitioning and travelling through the lens of Astrology amidst these dynamic times, discover the insights of Septembers’ Monthly Muse - Astrologist, Sandeep Virdi here
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