It’s true: the deepest and most PROFOUND journey is into your own self.
Sure, a change of scenery and new experiences in exotic places are exciting, lucrative, and can lead to monumental realizations and shifts.
However, if we don’t take time to integrate the lessons of our adventures into the day-to-day…the novelty eventually wears off and we go back to our old habits.
Every new travel experience, romantic partnership, friendship or other relationship – has the potential to take us outside the “mundane” and into the “extraordinary” life of our dreams.
But some less healthy “escapism” tactics can trick us and trap us in an addictive cycle.
When we look for things outside of ourselves to make us happy – from food, to drugs & other substances, to traveling, to being a workaholic – we still come up empty.
I have been sitting with this realization for some time now.
With the only novel thing being COVID, and trapping us in one way or another…suddenly there was more space than ever to just sit and think.
I once read that when you fall in love, the elated feelings you experience have little to do with the other person, and everything to do with how YOU start to show up.
You start to fall in love with your own new persona, as everything around you seems new, amazing, and more exciting than GF artisan sourdough sliced bread.
Your senses are heightened, you feel more ALIVE and more present at any given moment.
But, the cool thing is…we can really tap into this without any outside influences.
It starts first with awareness of what IS, and noticing our surroundings, with all its beautiful potential, and more than likely, disappointing pitfalls.
Then, we accept what we cannot change.
Finally, we are grateful for it all. The good and the bad are a duality that must coexist, for you cannot experience one without the other.
Then we can really take charge of each moment. We can slow down so that each moment seems to last a lifetime.
When we are in the present, and we embody the physicality of our own body, tune into the beat of our own heart, feel expansion with each breath…we can feel whole.
And realize that we have been whole the entire time…it just takes some shifts in perspective to realize that.
So travel the world, fall in love, and experience it all….just don’t forget to truly live in each moment in between.
You can keep going after your dreams, while staying in gratitude for the current state of affairs.
Focus on the silver linings, and you will start to see more of them!
What was a profound realization you had during this time?
