The journey to love.
The word love has many meanings and to each person that reads this, they will have their own definition of what love means to them. For years I struggled to find what love really means to me. Is it found in another person? Does someone else bring out the love in us? Is it a defined action? Are the words, "I love you" meant to land up on the hearts of those only near and dear to us? I've questioned it a lot and have just lately realized what love is.
I've traveled a lot these past years and have felt inspired and alive on most if not all of my travels. I attached the words of passionate, excited, happy, inspired to those experiences but the reality of it all is that in the moment, I was feeling love. I was BEING love. I never realized in all of my years that I was actually love. I never realized that when I was in a moment of not being stuck in my thoughts trying to figure out the situation but instead was acting out of the innocence of being in a new environment and interacting with new souls that I was love and I was in love.
We search so hard to find love in others, in our jobs, in our pets, etc. but what we fail to remember that we ourselves ARE love. Our essence of being in the moment, engaged, alive and compassionate is love.
While I was in Peru, I couldn't put a finger on what I was feeling throughout the trip. I was enveloped in joy, introspection, observation, elation, sadness ( yes, sadness crept in there too), inspired and connected. Everything was new and I had very little time in my head to think about anything else. All I could be was in the moment, feeling what was happening and embracing it. This is the essence of love ~ it is who you are without your thoughts to dictate your emotion. It is you ~ unapologetically you ~ beautiful, soulful, inspired and caring you.
When I held 10 a month old baby whose face was burnt from the sun and caked with snot from her long standing cold and I felt her little hands upon my shoulders as I held her, I felt love, I was love.
When I gave my leftover dinner to a couple on the street who were struggling in the cold of the night and upon receipt of my meal, their faces lit up with gratitude, I felt love, I was love.
When I climbed to the top of Machu Picchu and sat upon the earth and gave thanks to Pacha Mama and asked for her guidances, I felt love. I was love.
When I offered up my translating services to a sick woman at the pharmacy in order to help her get the care she needed, I felt love, I was love.
When I danced with Quechua farmers to the sounds of handmade drums and flutes and looked into their eyes and moved my body to the rhythm of their music, I felt love. I was love.
There are so many moments in traveling that bring us to this ultimate state of being, of love, yet we are often so unaware of what it really is. We proclaim that it's the destination that is so amazing, which I will not discredit, environment plays a big role in it all, but it's not the only thing we're in awe of. What we are so enamored by is our state of being. Our state of being love and in love with it all.
It's easy to get caught up in the day to day rat race and lose sight that we are the same people at this exact same moment as we were when we were atop of Machu Picchu or when we were rafting down river rapids. We are the very same person. We are the same vessel of love that brought enthusiasm to the moment, we are the same person today who offered a hand to a fellow travelers in need, we are the same vessel who felt alive and curious and gracious. We are that same being and that being is love.
I always say that travel has the power to transform lives and I'd have to say that it has transformed mine. It has allowed me to see myself as love and that when that love is being shown not only on my travels but in my daily life, I get the same feeling I had I felt atop of Machu Picchu ~ peace.
My wish for you is to realize your "being" of love when you travel. Embrace it. Embrace that which is entirely you all the time. When you travel the love pours out because it's not drowned out by day to day stressors, but my friends and fellow travelers, that's you, all you. You are the love that shines out of you in your travel experiences. When you are having a hard time drumming up the feeling or when you are having a tough day, look through your travel photos and let them transport you back to the time when your love was radiating from you. Grab on to that and be that again all throughout your days.
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