Reclaiming the Senses

Crescent City, CA. 2021.

Wonder can be the first thing to go when we are entrenched in monotony . Many times in my life when I've felt disconnected, distant, and/or dull, I have come to realize that during those times I lost my sense of wonder.

I don't know how to get it back, but many times when I did get it back, it was sparked by travel. Sometimes it comes easy and you see something incredible, either something you've always imagined seeing or something you could never dream of. It hits you in that moment and you feel small in the most comforting way. Maybe the moment is sudden and emotional, maybe not, but you feel lucky.

 Make no mistake, after I discovered the ability of travel to awaken, I have taken trips with the express purpose of creating the conditions for an encounter with wonder and I came away with no noticeable transformation. No message from on high. No angel trumpets. But those trips weren't for nothing. The seeds were there.

Routines are necessary to free the mind to think bigger, to go beyond one's self, but routines can also make us feel like the world is smaller than it is. There is no better way to break routine, to get out of a rut, than to go somewhere else if you have the means. It doesn't even necessarily have to be somewhere new, it just shouldn't feel like home. And I mean home in the ordinary sense of the word. Your house, your stuff, your car, your job, your grocery store, your town. Get away from it. Be out of your element. It doesn't have to be far. Embrace the freedom in simply going from one place to another, and back again.*

*Or maybe you are good at meditating and you don't need any of this.