lessons from abroad
'Lessons from abroad' is a piece inspired by my move to Bali, Indonesia and my travels within Southeast Asia.
Each lesson is subjective.
What we bring with us on our journey after the final moments in one destination can be transmuted as a feeling, or rather a lesson which we grow immensely from.
We have the option of building our internal bank of knowledge no matter where our residency may be. Our experiences are dependent on how we engage with our environment and relatively, how we feel when we are there.
Continue to see, feel - continue to dream
The lessons
Embrace your surroundings
Open yourself to the world around you. Breathe in the sunlight, and a gentle exhale of all burdens will follow.
Treasure each moment
Serenity is felt by just a moment’s grace, hold close to yourself with great trust that each passing moment is guiding you. Remain in these moments, never abandoning them until you have felt them, with gratitude. All moments are irreplaceable, never to be replicated.
Nothing will ever be the same twice, not even you.
Indulge the senses
What is seemingly insignificant may not be. This realization takes an intuitive eye, to see with feeling and less thought. My most profound epiphanies were inspired by the indulgence of the senses.
The innocent: the laughter of children, who lesson forgiveness without bitterness. the purity of joy from sheer being. their smiles. the angels of earth sent to illuminate love, compassion, and honesty.
The impatient: the honking of a car whose driver grows restless amidst traffic. unable to find peace within the space that confines him. his restlessness heightens. patience waiting to be a virtue, living within a moment far from now.
The artist: the forbearance of creators, a woman quietly strings flowers together in a small booth within a market, threading meticulously day in and day out. Patient, without regard to external approval. Attuned to solely create for inner contentment.
Love, without attachment
There will be people you meet who move you, who inspire something within you to bloom.
Yet, these people often live in a perpetual state of coming and going. You will learn from this transient state of life to embrace without imprisonment. To welcome with no expectation of one’s stay. To grow within this transient state of life through the acceptance of impermanence.
Then, their departure will arrive.
And you will learn to let go…
....every time.
Free the heart
Those that we love will be scattered throughout our world. They will come from different places and move forward in opposite directions. Their presence finding absence within the course of time, but your memories shared with them are yours for keepsake.
Place them in a sacred spot within your heart. Then, set your heart free from the ache of missing.
Unfold the universal connectivity
Treat those who enter your experience as a reflection of you. Every person who enters your experience has something you can learn from, something you can carry with you to your next destination.
The soul who enters with anger will ask you to question within yourself if you too carry anger. The soul who enters with great sadness will ask you to question within yourself if you too carry sadness.
Separate yourself from these occurrences for an objective perspective. Then come back to yourself to find the connection with those you have just met.
(The best part may be the acute realization that the strangers with which we find connections are never strangers. Rather, they are the intricate pieces a part of our life’s puzzle.)
Be entirely fluid with what happens from moment to moment.
The day will come when you feel like doing nothing at all, despite a persistent feeling that by doing nothing you will have wasted your day. Make peace with this kind of anxiety. There is no need for the pressure that encourages you to be anywhere else than where you are, right now.
Kindly remember:
A life well-fulfilled is never measured by the number of places traveled or productivity. Rather, the beauty of it lies in your ability to do whatever you feel like doing at that moment that presents itself.
Rest easy in this understanding. Stay true to not only who you are, but your experience, too.
Surrender
This one is in honor of my dear friend Tribid, the third-eye bull. A spiritual guru, mystical energy, and confidant of mine who was most special upon my journey. With a loving heart, he confessed a truth that led to being as comforting as a warm hug after a hard day:
“You must surrender, my love.”
because there is a force that is not meant for our control. It is unforeseen, only to be felt. It hears and listens to us at all moments. It plans upon our plans, reroutes our routes, and rearranges our arrangements.
Resistance towards this inexplicable force will fuel greater resistance, and so we must be fluid, once again. Allowing and surrendering ourselves to the unknown for ultimate liberation.
Take a moment to review the above, and ask yourself if all can be experienced relative or irrelative to where you are, presently.
With love,
Amanda