Exploring the World, Exploring Your Soul

I strongly maintain that there is a vast difference between "vacation" and "travel." In my mind a vacation is a break, a pause in the insanity of life for you to be still and rest, the less you do the better you are. Travel, however, is the complete opposite. Travel entails opening yourself up to that vast mystery that is this magnificent world. There is a strong emphasis on the "opening yourself up" part, many people travel all over the world but they do not expand, instead they stay within the bubble of their own world, own minds. They see much and learn nothing. 

Travel requires you to put aside all our preconceptions of what you believe life to be and simply live it. Whether it's being in an exotic place, or the journey that it takes to get there, travel forces you to let go and submit to the natural rhythm of the world around. You are often quite used to being in control of your day to day life, what you eat, where you sleep, who you are with, what you do, etc. When you travel you lose that control and have the opportunity to either grow or break from the pulsing of life and chaos around you. 

I thrive on travel. I am very orderly and on top of my life, I like things to be done when I believe them to be done and I typically work very hard to get my way. But when I am on the road it feels like all the burdens of the world are lifted from my shoulders and there is absolutely nothing to do but move and shake with the rhythm of the world around me. As a matter of fact, the last two trips I have taken have been seriously derailed by some very random "acts of God," and instead of giving up, turning around, or losing my cool I took the opportunity to submit, say a prayer and allow everything to just happen. Amazingly enough, everything worked out perfectly, or dare I say, everything worked out just as it should. I'm sure I could have experienced the same situations and had a very different outcome, had I had a differently mentality; but instead everything was beyond amazing, it was life-changing. 

You can go away and enjoy the world, come back with pretty pictures and pretty objects to remind you of the place. Or you can go away and experience the world, coming back with a whole new attitude and outlook on life. I choose the latter. I trade the less-than-five-star accommodations  for the moments that transform me from the person I once was into the person I will someday become. I don't travel to have a king sized bed and air conditioning, I travel to feel the energy of the world and everyone in it. 

There is a time and a place for everything, sometimes you need a resort to unwind and check out, and sometimes you need a cabin to unwind and check in. One might be easier, but the other rewards you with more than unlimited food and beverages. The other opens you up and strips you down to nothing, forcing you to assess who you are, what counts, what doesn't, and without all the paint and glam you can see what makes you so amazing and special.

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If you get what it means to explore the world and your space within it, you should check out my Traveling Soul Retreats to Costa Rica and Nepal so that you too can experience the incredible nature of this world, and the incredible you who is navigating it.