Change is difficult, for all of us, but change is life...living, being alive, learning, daring and growing. Without change we stagnate, grow old, rigid, tense, and controlling, as we fight the flow.
I am presently on a journey both inner and outer. The outer is taking me around my 'home' country, the USA, but the inner journey is where things are really happening. I must admit feeling disappointed in the changes and ways of living I'm observing and experiencing during my time in America. As a nation it feels to me like we are spoiled teenagers, with so much abundance and possibility, but constantly jumping from one thing to another, with the attention span of a 2 year old. We crave and require permanent entertainment through images, noise, movement, food and drink. Trendy and sought out restaurants and bars in the NYC area are so noisy you can hardly hear the person sitting with you, and staff and employees are developing hearing disturbances from working there!
In my mind, we have become a society of softies, loaded down with stuff and weight. Are we any happier for it? It does not appear to be the case. We move unconsciously and like robots from one thing to the next, gorging ourselves on food, errands, work, activity of all kinds and "smart" phone texting or chatting. There seems little interest in true connection with another human being, or even one's dog- I have seen innumerable people dragging their dogs around on leashes while they talk on the phone, oblivious to the companionship and fun they could derive from their four-footed friend, with just a little attention. I find it rather sad.
What are we hoping to find on Facebook, iphones and constant movement that is not present where we are? That is the lesson I am asking myself as I travel. For me this trip was an exploration of 'home', what I ached for deeply inside like a place I felt I had lost. Yet, the more I travel, the more I realize, I am searching for illusions and dreams. Home is a place deep within us, if we can sit still long enough to re-connect with it; in the same way, love is not dependent on an outside experience or person, or place. Love is the very source of our being, but to be experienced, requires that we stop blindly searching for it in desperation outside ourselves.
Outer journeys reflect inner ones, and as I release expectations and judgment of the people and places I go, I feel easier, lighter, able to go with the flow. My trip is not what I hoped or dreamed for, but I am pleased I mustered the courage to take the first step and come. I am seeing a lot and realizing how very blessed and fortunate I am in my life, and the fortune I have to have grown up in the States. I hope we can all take the time to realize what abundant and fortunate lives we have at this moment, and to reach out in one way or another and try a new step. Adventure will be yours if you look deeply at what comes your way and seek to understand what lies beneath the surface and outer appearance.
"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Lao Tsu
www.inner-discovery.com
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