For some of us travelling is the way of living and for others it seems like a stressful or unnecessary activity. Some like their resorts and packaged holidays and the others stay at hostels and explore nature without much planning ahead.
We are all different and have our ways of spending free time. I feel like sometimes we might get stuck in what’s familiar though. It becomes comfortable and a new norm. I know people who go on their holiday, sip a cocktail and watch favourite tv series. It might be temporary pleasure, but… does it make you grow in a long run? If we don’t grow, we slide down, that’s human’s nature.
I think that happy life is about Balance. Daily or holiday pleasures are also needed, don’t get me wrong, but also we need to face some challenges. Simply walking on a local path without much purpose, just exploring the area, watching how communities live, observing nature and tuning into the environment might feel foreign. Asking a person for the road to a grocery store rather than checking it in Google maps…. New stimulus, new risks, new conversations, new discomforts. We observe ourselves in situations we haven’t experienced before. And it takes awareness to notice. Paying attention is yoga.
Travelling can be stressful, but I call it a healthy stress, because it pushes our boundaries, exposes us to new situations, which make us grow. We become wiser and understand ourselves better. We polish our values and take time to hear the voice within, not only out.
Stress creates pressure. We need a little exposure to it, because otherwise a small stressor would cause great damage. It could be a relationships that causes stress, behavior, work or travel. Also, poses in yoga (asanas) cause pressure on the body. We hold a pose for some time and breathe. We learn to sit with discomfort and tension eventually eases up. The questions is how we respond to these situations. Yoga teaches us on the mat and we might take this wisdom into every day life, remembering that regardless of the circumstances we always have a choice. Mind is not dependant on the body, but we can certainly learn to read body signals. Happiness is emotional independence and there lies our inner power. 🙏
