Traveling can be a great teacher about our own stickiness in life. As "civilized", modern human beings we tend to make plans for everything, especially for contingencies that might never happen. We try to factor in anything we can think of but in the end of course we fail to grasp all factors relevant for a choice that is insufficient to deal with the complexity of life. When push comes to shove we feel overwhelmed with all the contingencies we hadn't factored in because the plan was solely mind-based from the very beginning and therefore inadequate.
All it takes is a major shift in weather and all your plans for the long awaited BBQ are off the table.
Traveling has shifted the focus again from this obsession with making longterm plans to more of an idea-based preference stance of what one could adapt to in the moment. Sort of like a buffet of preferred scenarios that could come into play, but with a conscious agreeing that none of them have to play out.
This is immensely freeing.
Life transforms from this constant battle of mind against actuality, into something more organic and natural. The ability to make dramatic choices on the spot when the situation calls for it - but not before that.
It's a constant (re-)evaluation of the inner compass, of intuition and spiritual resonance inside of us, balanced with the mind agenda of making plans, bringing structure and organizing life on a more mental, logical side.
In this sense I feel navigating life through the immediate, through the non-pre-conceived might just be the most effortless and smooth ride through difficult times and uncertain terrain. We can learn to use our mind as a tool, rather than a leader.
This more balanced approach becomes even more powerful when several like-minded people band together to achieve similar goals, even if only for a short time. Temporary purpose-communities if you will, all pulling in the same direction until a desired target point is achieved.
What does this all mean concretely? I am becoming more and more easy with the idea of not knowing where I will be next week.
I am catching a lot more detail of my day, observing and acknowledging more of my surroundings and how life flows and expresses itself through society, nature, life and myself. And the interplay of all those aspects.
How the cosmos dances.
It's becoming decipherable, even useable and navigateable in this sense which is immensely gratifying.
The end result is a life with a lot less headache and a lot more freedom to be undecided in the face of ever evolving change around me. And maybe it's this back and forth between balance and imbalance... how balance is ultimately becoming the norm not the exception.
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