Mike believes that people like to travel because they love who they are when they travel. And that is why we take tour groups from time-to-time to exotic places or ancient sites to have a PROFOUND travel experience, as apposed to just going on a trip.
We call it a 'soul journey'.
Later this year we will be taking another great group of people on a soul journey to Turkey, thus the amazing picture below. And of course this got me chewing a bit more on the question - why do we become cooler people when we travel?
The answer to this question may lie in three commonly accepted realities. I call them 'compulsive self-lies', 'busy-ness syndrome' and 'enclosure'. More on each modern day illness below:
Compulsive self-lies speak for itselves, i.e. the crap we make ourselves believe. Oh I am happy with my circumstances, yes I want to be a mommy, yay I love my job, whatever. And then we go and a trip, and come back, and everything (and everyone) have changed, seem different somehow... the reason for this commonly known phenomina is simply because we lie to ourselves, until we change our environment and can no longer face our own deceipt. Oi.
The second answer lies in what I call the 'busy-ness' syndrome, i.e. making sure that your entire day is fully packed with all sorts of stuff on your to-do list. It's like a hamster in a wheel - it get's onto the tredmill and go faster - and faster - and faster, until it one day just spins out of control and hit some wall. We all do the same, but when we leave for a trip, we are suddenly without a to-do list. Intimidating for most people at first, but a wonderful opportunity to explore your human-being-ness, as opposed to your human-doings.
Enclosure leads to limited exposure. It's as simple as that. Many of our specie feels the need to stay home as much as possible - just so that we can feed our denial about what is really happening in the world. On a recent soul journey to Cambodia I've discovered for the first time that Hitler was not the only freak show of an evil human, but that his good buddy and genocide asshole Pol Pot has been responsible for the death of 25 percent of the country's population from starvation, overwork and executions! We visited one of the killing fields to help our fellow travellers reflect on forgiveness, and experience that doesn't normally take place at 18:00 in front of your TV.
And right there .. in the killing fields, surrounded by mass graves, skulls, butterflies and dragonflies, I realised how much I feel again. My eyes were welling up, the rawness of injustice cletched my throat, a deep-seated empathy for my fellow travellers made me suddenly want to hug random people and rather than asking more questions, I decided to focus on lush green trees, a butterfly that is clearly flirting with me and the laughter from some kids down the road.
In that intimate moment with myself I recognised the version of me that exists without ego, pride and wunderlust. I just liked myself, and what that moment reflected back to me about myself and who I am. And that is exaclty what we intend to do for ourselves and others with our upcoming soul journey to Turkey - experience the battle of Gallipoli and remember our own bravery, breath in the beauty of the Whirling Dervishes and recognize the parts of ourselves that truly commits to something and explore the hidden archaeological sites under the Ataturk Dam in memoir of the treasures that lie within each of us.
Why not like yourself again for a change? Perhaps it's time to travel ....
Read all about our upcoming soul journey to Turkey here:
http://www.eventbrite.co.nz/e/soul-journey-turkey-tickets-14397554473