Dear Reader,
I am traveling tomorrow, for the first time in seven months. Travel is an amazing opportunity to let the mind wander, unplugged from daily habits and familiar scenery. One of the moments I love most is at the airport, when my bag is checked, and I move forward into the flow of transportation unencumbered. At that point I am simply me, with no labels or location to define me. My mind is free to wander, associate, receive unexpected impressions and intuitive wisdom.
The trip will be long, involving a small plane, a larger plane and a jumbo jet, in that order, followed by an overnight hotel stay, a bus, a taxi and finally a rental car.
But I really don’t mind.
Yes, I will be prepared with iPod, laptop, one good book to inspire me and a notebook and pen, but I will be ready to receive impressions from any source, because I will be entering sacred space – that of the traveler. Yes, I already miss my wife, before I have even left. But I know she will be a part of my journey, present in my thoughts and a source of great love, even as I eat, sleep, read, write, and settle into seat after seat after seat.
Have you traveled yet this year dear reader? If not, maybe it’s time. And if you have travelled already, what was your state of mind? Did you allow yourself the freedom to drift, to allow your creativity and your inner guidance to come forward? Many books have been written on airplanes, and brilliant ideas have been scribbled on napkins in airport cafes – why not allow that for yourself?
It was in an airport waiting area that I wrote the short story I read to my wife-to-be the day I proposed. That story was and is one of my favorite creations, written in one draft, with no changes. You never know.
Another time, in another airport, I suddenly felt a wave of sadness for my dad, who had passed away years earlier. Yet I also knew it wasn’t my sadness I was felling – it was my mom’s. When I arrived at my destination the next day and saw my mom, I asked her if she had been missing my dad the previous afternoon, she was shocked and said “Why yes, how did you know?!”
Like I said, you never know what will come to you when you enter the sacred space of the traveller – if you allow it.
I honor your loving heart,
John
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