Mind travel

A story about getting into the holiday vibe whenever and wherever.

With breezy October kicking in like a rockstar, it’s a great moment to go outdoors for a camping adventure. Right? Eh.. yeah, I had my doubts too. Not in the first place, but when last week’s rain conquered the sky above, my wholehearted enthusiasm started to turn into a ‘what the hell was I thinking?’. Luckily I have an adventurous survival part in me: I grabbed my bright yellow rain boots, packed my warmest jumpers and laid my hand on the game ‘Shit Happens’. Just in case we would need it.

And then it happened. The day I would embark on my camping trip, a flu struck me. Big time. Fever, Barry White voice, headache – the whole package deal. It couldn’t have been clearer: the universe had a different plan for me.

Of course, at first, my mind started rambling like an idiot. Pure disappointment and frustration, cause ‘this wasn’t supposed to happen’. Camping was paid, my friend was waiting, and most of all: I was so excited to go that I had packed my bag a week ago. In hindsight, however, maybe this was exactly what needed to happen. Maybe there was a hidden treasure here. One that I couldn’t see just yet, but invited me to explore and dig deeper. And so I slowed down, accepted the fact that this was my new reality for the weekend (with an occasional glimpse of resistance still saying hello) and put my travel pants on. This time not to go camping, but to journey into the lustrous landscapes of my inner world.

It’s here where I realised that my emotions came from thinking I needed to go elsewhere to feel explorative, adventurous and free. We are taught to see ‘vacation’ as an external, physical destination. Something we get to experience once in a while, if we are lucky. But… what if that isn’t true? What if vacation – and the sense of ease and freedom that come with that – can be found right here, right now, independent of our physical surroundings? What if we have an idyllic camping space – or a tropical paradise – available within, if we choose to connect with it? We often travel to new destinations to open our minds & hearts, relax and have fun. Or to connect and gain a new perspective on our surroundings, daily life, habits and thinking patterns that we got so used to. My ‘forced’ home stay made me realise that we can experience all these elements right here, in our inner world, too. 

So I sat with myself – and my body that was working so hard for me – in stillness, gently giving it a nourishing stretch whenever I could move, and listened to inspiring podcasts. Not from my tent in nature, but from my cozy hammock at home with sunshine pouring through my window. I travelled through all corners of my being, and pulled a classic ‘Joey’,  by asking my body, mind and soul: ‘Hey, how you doing?’. I got to look at myself and my daily choices with fresh eyes. For example, I remembered how much I loved using my voice to support others, but how I lost a little bit of my connection to that lately (hence, this letter!). As I journeyed through my inner landscapes, I felt that sense of ease and liberation slowly kicking in. Leading me to conclude, awefully cliché but true: Holiday doesn’t seem to be a place, but a state of mind. We find the most and truest freedom, when we feel free within ourselves. Explore it yourself:
 

• Unclench your jaw, soften the shoulders and take a few deep breaths in and out. Notice how it feels if you make your exhales longer than your inhales. Can you feel a sense of ease expanding throughout your face and the rest of your body?
   
• Turn your awareness to your mind and observe. Can you become aware of the free space in between your thoughts? Are you the thoughts or the space that hosts them?
   
• We often think we need to be ‘freed from something’ in order to feel free. Instead, explore: How can you find freedom and space within who, where and how you are right now?
   
• Can you let go of time and expectations and allow yourself to intuitively free flow & play for a little while? 

Turns out? An inner travel instead of a camping trip is not what I necessarily wanted. But maybe it was exactly the thing I needed. It helped me remember the inner resources we all have to find that chilled holiday vibe whenever and wherever. As for my yellow rain boots, that can’t wait to dance in puddles and stroll through the mud? I think they will have their luck pretty soon again. 😉