Locked out.

I woke up this morning with this "feeling" of needing to write something and for whatever reason, the thought of locking oneself out of ones home or car popped into my head.

I sat on this thought for a minute and thought about what happens in those moments where  we lock ourselves out of our home or car. For most of us, I think it'd be safe to say that there's a sense of panic that sets in when we find ourselves locked out. Our ability to think straight or see beyond the present moment of distress flies out the window and all we can think about is "I'm locked out. I can't get in. I want in. I NEED to get in."  We look in the windows of our home or our car and all of a sudden see it from a different angle. We see it now as something that we ought to take closer care of and have a deeper appreciation for because looking at it from the outside doesn't feel nearly as good as nestling ourselves inside our secure walls, painted with our personal tastes and having the aroma of our own original smells. Yes, being locked out gets one thinking about how good it is to have what we have and that nurturing "it" and be responsible for being able to access "it" is a necessary action to maintain our sanity.

What does this have to do with travel? 

Hmmmm, let me get to that in a round about way, starting with the question, "What does this all mean and is locking oneself out of a car symbolic of something bigger?" Well, in my mind, our homes represent where our heart is. After all, we've always heard, "Home is where the heart is." If we are lucky, it's our safe spot. It's where we feel comfortable. I compare our bodies, minds and souls to our homes. We often don't look at ourselves as a place of "home" but truth be told, the phrase, "our bodies are our temples." is spot on. Our bodies and our minds are where we reside all of the time, 24/7, 365 days a year, night and day.

We often don't think about ourselves this way but if we reject ourselves ~ our physical, mental, and spiritual needs, over time, we get "locked out"  or at least we come to a point of  feeling locked out of ourselves. We lose track of what it feels like to be comfortable in our own skin again. We may feel a sense of panic because we haven't taken the time to nurture ourselves. We may struggle with depression and anxiety or we may just feel numb. Either way, this happens to people. Many people.

The daily grind of work/ life balance has left most of us walking around like disconnected, locked out zombies who are rarely in tune with their true selves. We may dismiss the necessity of connecting to our "temples" as unnecessary because "everything is fine" and we continue on, locked out of our beings, which is a dangerous place to be.

We can only do this for so long before certain aspects in our life start feeling the aftershocks of self-neglect. Illness, both mental and physical, kick in, relationships start slipping away and we become a shell. We have literally become locked out of our beings, no longer holding the key to our happiness but letting others ( careers, family, social expectations, etc.) take the key and hide it.

So what next? How do I get back into my temple? 

There are many ways to get back into yourself, many you can do right now, in your actual home, in your town and in your neighborhood. Find things that you love to do and commit to do one thing at least once a week, whether it be by yourself ( I highly recommend this) or with a friend. Start there. Write about your thoughts and dreams. Go back to childhood and start thinking about what made that little heart burst out of it's chest and what made your eyes pop with excitement. Start there.

Now to the travel part of this blog. . . 

You could also travel. You could pull the emergency brake of life and plan a trip that puts the key to your temple back in your own hands. The mere idea of travel evokes a sense of excitement and to some, a bit of fear, but fear is only an emotion, not a reality. ( Deep thoughts, I know) Travel puts you in a place of being your pure self. It challenges you. It inspires you. It brings you back to you if you really pay attention. Many of us don't always pay attention to the signs that a good trip is giving us but if we set the intention of being aware of ourselves and our responses, emotions,  and thoughts while traveling, we will realize just how far removed we've been from ourselves. This my friends, brings you back to being the key holder to your temple. It brings you back into control of your life and carries you back into yourself in a way that helps you feel connected to not only self but the world around you.

I started writing about that feeling of getting locked out of your car or home and how we tend to get in a panic of "What will I do? How will I get in?" It's an immediate wake up call to our negligent ways. I'll finish this blog by saying that when we get locked out of ourselves, so to speak, it's not such an immediate rush of awareness, on the contrary, it's often times a slippery, slow slope where we arrive at a locked door ( ourselves) and have no idea how we got there.

I want you to pay attention to yourself. Listen to what moves you. Get connected. Feel that sense of belonging within yourself and the world around you.  Do what's good for you and what feeds your soul. Don't let the erosion of self-neglect strip you of yourself. If you feel as though you are locked out and want to try travel as a means of unlocking yourself, let's talk.

You carry the key. Hold it close at all times and remember that without it ~ without your awareness, you will lose that key and will find yourself looking in the windows of your soul wondering how on earth to get back inside.

Trust me on this.