Satisfying Sojourn Sensibilities

*Note To Reader – I am making slight changes to my blog format. All pictures corresponding with key thoughts made in my writings will now be placed together at the bottom of each entry.

One’s best thoughts in life often come at the most unexpected places and times. Amidst the complex challenge of survival in today’s urban world, many Americans choose to feverishly program their days with tight deadlines to accomplish familiar routines. In my past experience as a world traveler, however, I treasured each moment’s potential for a more spontaneous use of my time. Thinking creatively “outside the box” under those conditions, I noticed greater willingness to release my mental comfort zone to consider taking creatively alternative actions. What were these right brain dominant “juices”, then that released my fixated mind from retaining its routinized dull doldrums?

Give “Self Ego” A Rest

As a somewhat egocentric individual who strives to work independently, sharing of effort to achieve “interdependent solutions” to problems does not come easily. Thus my unselfish decision to participate in an Earth Day cooperative effort to clean up debris at Volunteer Park in Seattle last spring seemed refreshingly new to me. Working with this hardworking team on my hands and knees to complete hoeing, pruning and raking tasks for public landscape preservation no doubt provided humbling satisfaction for putting aside my own well being then for the sake of the “greater good. ”

Find A Home Anywhere

A home embodies how we best live and see ourselves. When we create a home that meets our fullest needs and expresses our true character, we enrich our lives. Adopting the principle that my South Florida residence induces such inner sanctity, new places experienced in travel often trigger similar home memories of personal privacy and neighborhood engagement that I prominently value. Two examples make this concept clearer. By gazing at the green grass along the outfield of famed Wrigley Field in Chicago, fond memories surfaced of a child who rejoiced in those times of playing catch with his best friend in the back yard of his childhood house. Furthermore, in finding a sheltered spot on top deck of our cruise ship on a recent transatlantic adventure, a safe sanctuary for reading silently in private was assured.

Imagine History As It Really Was

Being a passionate history buff, I deeply desire to obtain firsthand knowledge about important events in travel. Seeing for myself the hallowed grounds of Gettysburg battlefield as well as taking a scenic drive along the historic paths of the Oregon Trail – Route 66 highway would provide vivid reminders of the true, American timeline “story”. Accordingly, by engaging in a heated conversation about slavery at the Springhouse Tavern along the town’s historic Tarrytown Road as well as “firing up” up the jukebox and enjoying an ice cream soda at Kingman Arizona’s retro, 1950s Drive In, I could also sense realistic vestiges of these two, significant time periods.

Free Play Cures A Cluttered Mind

Real life crisis often spoils a restful vacation as obsessions about health, money, or career often weigh heavily in my “Monkey Mind.” Amidst the stark silence of wild nature, however, such negative introspection often becomes suddenly silent. At Redwoods National Park last spring, I exhilarated in the refreshing absence of mental clutter. “Lightening up” in my demeanor then, I proceeded to hug a tree, sing lullabies with birds, and imagine face-like cloud shapes with my eyes “painting” the sky.

Cultural “Wakeup” With An Open Mind

With each new journey, I encounter new sounds, smells, languages, tastes, sensations and sights of various cultures. Accepting the idea that all human beings can live together in peace in spite of such differences, I strive for empathy toward  others who clash with my own cultural perspective. In my 2017 visit to India last, no doubt I felt great concern for the unyielding poverty inflicted on the lower caste “untouchables“ in New Delhi in spite of my somewhat “sheltered from reality” lifestyle in middle class, suburban America.

Savor “Uphill” Enjoyment

I have often embraced hiking designated trails in U.S National Parks in spite of its physical/emotional challenges. Steep ascents over treacherous cliff-sides in past treks along the California Sierra Mountains have commonly provoked “uphill” fear of failure thoughts. Yet my self induced stress along these arduous ascensions has consistently been balanced with positive auras as I gazed awestruck at the amazing vistas sighted beyond my view.

References:

https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/03/for-a-more-creative-brain-travel/388135/

How Travelling Makes Us More Creative