Heraklion Crete Greece
I admit it.
I dropped the ball on this one for the past 12 years of running this blog.
Despite being a digital nomad since 2011 I never really covered this topic from an intensely personal perspective.
I have glossed over it from time to time but not based exclusively on my experience.
That changes now.
Do you know those posts that you see on page one of Google? You know exactly what I’m talking about; the pillar style posts popular in the world.
I’m not mad at these prominent travel bloggers.
Nor do I blame the content mills masquerading as high level sites spitting out this type of stuff.
As I’ve been saying a lot recently, everybody has to make a living.
I do things differently here.
That’s why you follow me.
This is why you follow Blogging From Paradise Dot Com.
The Reason
Ok guys.
After thinking about all the reasons why I have traveled the world non-stop since 2011 my mind rests on the most important one.
Circling the globe for many years reveals a striking similarity between all life forms.Â
Rather than being a quote that somebody posts on Facebook you actually experience this truth again and again. You cannot beat this feeling. It’s as good as you’re going to feel.
The ego loves to celebrate differences and that’s all well and good.
But as long as there is difference there is danger.
As long as there is danger there is fear.
As long as there is fear there is separation.
As long as there is separation you will never be at peace no matter what you do in the world.
Traveling reveals that the differences that appear on a surface level actually don’t make a difference because everybody is basically the same.
We’re all sharing one mind.
We appear to be different bodies but that’s just an illusion.
Traveling reveals, strike that, traveling with an open mind reveals that the science of quantum physics explains exactly what’s going on here.
There is just one mind and you’re it.
That goes for everybody reading this post.
All the other people out there with different looking bodies who speak different languages who adopt different cultures and customs are actually just like you beneath the surface of these differences.
I’ve been in places where I could not speak a word of the native tongue. But because of our inherent sameness, we found a way to communicate so I can get where I needed to be or what I needed to use practically at the time.
Circling the globe brings up all types of fears in your mind based on these differences that completely need to go for you to see our sameness.
Those awkward moments or embarrassing situations that we all face on the road purge the poison from your mind.
I felt like an idiot so many times during my 15 years of traveling the world. But the feelings were in my mind. The feelings were not in the other people who appeared to trigger the situations nor within a GPS pin that seemed to take me outside of my comfort zone.
Traveling does this.
Before we proceed I want to make one clear and quick point: being practical in an imperfect world of duality is necessary. Exhibiting common sense in specific neighborhoods is par for the course. In your mind, you know you’re the same as the crazy homeless guy in Central America but I am still walking 30 ft from him for a very obvious reason; he can harm my body and he’ll also get in trouble for it so we both lose. See what travelers do? I made it about me and him not just me, or not just him. Bingo! Sameness…..but without the idiocy that comes from those who are highly impractical.
Be practical and safe without being all terrified about it. Be peaceful as you do sensible things in places of the world that do appear to be perhaps a bit more dangerous than others.
The more fears that you conquer your mind will reach its organic benchmark of being peaceful and you’ll do all these sensible things organically without even thinking about them.
Yes; you can also do sensible things because you harbor deep fears and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. My mind is split so I’m definitely in that lot at times too. But after circling the globe since 2011 with an open mind I don’t do that much from fear because I try to walk my talk.
Hitting the Road Reveals Your Mind
Hitting the road just shows your mind to you.
You also learn very quickly how scared you are to see what’s in your mind.
Living in one spot feels comfortable to most of us because it appears to be a safe choice. I come across lots of people who scramble home after being on the road for a little bit. I don’t blame them at all. Most of the world hasn’t figured out that it’s their mind and not a collection of timber that makes them feel safe or appears to be familiar.
I figured out long ago that peace comes from your mind and not from the world simply because I gave up almost everything in the world minus my money, a backpack, a carry on, a Chromebook and a phone.
Until I hit the road, I found safety in a few family members and friends. Everyone else outside of them was a “stranger danger” scenario for me. I feared the world by and large because my network was really small.
Something cool happened during my beginner travel days. Human beings other than my parents, sisters or friends showed me kindness even if we didn’t speak a word of the same language.
Some spoke to me in their native tongue as I nodded in faux understanding even though I had no clue in hell what they were saying. But I felt love. I could understand their help. I could see their kindness. Even though my mind was really asleep back then, I started to get the sneaking suspicion that we were really the same mind beneath all the differences.
That’s peace.
You’re really not going to be too afraid when everyone out there is just one mind with you.
It’s the scary differences that makes this place hell.
But please don’t take this post as a plea to stay home.
As long as you’re here, you will have preferences. Nobody is here just to meditate under a tree for 60 years minus very rare cases.
Even though we are all the same and differences are technically illusions, in the world that we live in, there do appear to be differences and it is quite fun to experience contrast.
I know that it’s an illusion but it’s still fun to travel to different countries, to be introduced to new cultures and to meet new friends.
Think of it this way guys.
Level one is the truth that we are all the same mind beneath the appearance of differences. This is how you find consistent peace and happiness.
Level two is the illusory world that we live in where there are certainly differences in terms of our bodies and places that we travel to.
So as you internally master level 1 and hold peace in your mind by seeing our sameness you also get to enjoy the fun of circling the globe. Basically it’s just a preference for contrast in the world versus doing the same thing day after day for 80 years before dropping dead.
Feel free to do the same thing for your entire life before transitioning. No judgments here. I took that path to my mid thirties. But you may want to rethink that strategy because typically people live that way due to fear.
What is that fear?
The fear of differences arising the moment you begin traveling.
You may be afraid of getting lost.
You may be afraid of not speaking the language.
You may be afraid of looking stupid.
You may be afraid that people will make fun of you for not speaking the language, knowing their customs are getting lost even though this is highly rare.
I can list about 101 other fears related to circling the globe that motivate people to stay fixed in their hometown for an entire lifetime. Or maybe most stick to their home country or home state for pretty much their entire lives.
Even though you can train your mind as a homebody to see our sameness, traveling is perhaps the most practical way to get past the fear of differences in order to experience our sameness.
Cret-en
I remember during my time in Crete a woman speaking to me in the native tongue. I understood her gesticulations. Even though she appeared to be highly frustrated with me because I didn’t speak her language I felt not a shred of embarrassment because I knew she was afraid that she couldn’t connect to me. I’ve certainly experienced that fear while communicating with humans even in the English language.
Feeling compassion for her I felt that sameness which kept peace in my mind in what could have been an embarrassing situation for me. She eventually smiled and became calm because of the peace I extended from my mind.
This is the beauty of circling the globe.
This is why you want to travel.
Hitting the road brings up so many fears at times it’ll make your head spin.
But after you conquer so many fears you will bring a peace with you that others will just need to know how you did it.
Some home bodies may look at you like you’re some type of god.
But you just hit the road consistently to get rid of all the fears that they still push down into their unconscious minds.
Family, friends and acquaintances have consistently told me how my digital nomad ways inspired them to book a trip they had been putting off for years.
Traveling the world creates that type of spark in others.
You win.
They win.
We all win because we are all really the same.