Why travel?
AND
Have I myself arrived?
*******
Two years ago, on March 16, 2016, I wrote a blog post entitled 13 thoughts on traveling. I decided to share those words again today, especially for the women who are still thinking of traveling to Italy next month for THE ARRIVAL.
Foreign travel is a reality for most who come to my retreat-no-more experience. Foreign travel is also an amazing metaphor that describes the life-changing inner journey a retreat participant embarks on, sparked in part by being out of one’s familiar element.
*******
Why travel?
- Because spending 15 minutes trying to communicate your order at that cute little French café is humbling, yet oh-so-oddly-satisfying.
- Because it’s a strange and curious feeling to witness spring flowers in bloom in Argentina when you know the leaves are falling back home.
- Because even though things are unfamiliar, even alien, you realize that human hearts still beat the same everywhere and that smiles are smiles in every language.
- Because jet lag is tiring, but also a tangible symbol of having stretched beyond your self-imposed limits.
- Because it is heartwarming when your Brazilian taxi driver answers your question about seeing monkeys in the wild by simply taking you to them.
- Because a shield of invincibility is created when you realize that you can survive being misunderstood, being robbed, foreign medical care, and foreign legal proceedings.
- Because opening up your mind to new possibilities forces you to grow by leaps and bounds.
- Because being whisked through busy city streets in China, in a large black car with darkened windows, makes you feel like an international diplomat in a tale of espionage. (Well, if you have a wild imagination like mine, it does!)
- Because only occupying one tiny little space creates a narrow worldview.
- Because washing fingerprint ink off your hands in an Interpol station bathroom in Paraguay is the most surreal experience ever.
- Because having devoted friends around the globe feels incredible.
- Because boredom, monotony, mediocrity, stodginess, stagnation, and inflexibility are eradicated from your vocabulary (and your life).
- Because you might otherwise never know where you truly belong. (Like in an Italian villa perhaps.)
Travel inspires me to do more, to be more.
Travel ignites my existence.
*******
And to answer the question that you might have had regarding the name of my retreat . . .
Have I myself arrived?
I don’t think a person is ever fully complete, ever fully arrives. But I am proof that dreams, desires, wishes, and goals can absolutely be realized. And throughout this process, I’ve become somewhat of an expert on my own life.
But wait . . .did you notice that I said “my OWN life?”
Yes, YOU are the expert, the dream-diver, the decision-maker when it comes to YOUR own life.
Perhaps your vision – seeking, searching, exploring, and experimenting – has been stalled. But the questioning and the stretching and the wondering continue to make you feel alive, to assure you that life has meaning.
Rediscovering or reinventing yourself may seem a daunting task, fraught with discomfort and fear. Maybe you’ve kept the woman-you-truly-are hidden away for a very long while. Maybe you’re not even sure you will recognize her when she does eventually emerge. And to be able to trust her on this excursion into the unknown probably seems very foreign indeed.
Oh, it will assuredly be difficult at times. But I can help you begin this all-important odyssey, during our 5 days together in Italy. I am committed to the powerful message of THE ARRIVAL revolution. Think of this essence7 journey as a holistic invitation. A discovery, a celebration, a stepping stone along the way to becoming a fully integrated person.
As I invite you to apply my 7 essential elements to your life as a whole, you will learn ways to:
- revel in the warmth and wonder of the everyday
- embrace the idea that “if there is breath, there is hope”
- recognize and reunite with your emotions
- live with meaning, despite past events and inevitable fears
- accept, trust, and love yourself
- seek exciting new horizons
- discover and delight in your true essence
You will open. You will bloom.
You will find your wholeness.
*******
My retreat is filling up, but I still have a couple of spots available!
Will you be joining us?
Six-and-a-half weeks left to book your flight!
THE ARRIVAL
TUSCANY, ITALY | MAY 20-25, 2018
[Click on the image below for more information!]
[Click on the image above for more information!]
*******
click to receive my studio notes in your inbox each week.
(and receive my first travel size course, AWARENESS #1, as my complimentary gift to you!)
tweet
