Running...

This Sunday will be the introduction meeting for the trip to Africa in November. It seems so surreal to me that I am going to go. Unlike Italy, which was so very real to me and perhaps that is because I’m not really organizing the African trip like I did with Italy. (A big part of the fun regarding Italy was the planning and organizing of that whole trip.) And also the purpose of my trip to Italy was about grounding myself. I did a lot of running after Gary’s death, in Italy I somehow just stopped running, found a peace I had been seeking and came back feeling more whole than I had in a very long time.

Many people in our culture are running, it keeps one from having to face one’s past pains and present fears. Running comes in different forms. You can do like I did and get on a plane and just go, that gets pretty costly though, or my friend MP who consumes his life with working out, 3-4 hours a day, yes he is an athlete, but he is also a very fearful man and uses physical activity to smother hurt and pain. Some busy themselves with their children, others with sports, many with work and many more with worry of their future.

Living in Italy, on my own, I had time to be quiet and review the past few years of my life. I cried a lot, I challenged myself; I just got to know and like myself and embraced with deep gratitude my life. It was so enlightening. Inner peace can only be found if one turns down the volume of every day life. That’s easy for me to say I’m sure, for I only have to think about my dog and myself (and Nick from time to time). But I think one has to take a few moments in the day to go to that place that connects us with our spirit, even if that’s sitting in front of your living room window with a cup of tea and just breathing in and out.

Africa, for me, will be about discovery. It will be a learning experience about cultural differences, economic boundaries and restrictions, about lifestyles and the diversity in those lifestyles. All traveling is an experience but some areas of the world are so vastly different than the luxurious everyday life that we live here in North America. I know Africa will make me sit up and think I am sure.

Whether it is Dublin, Ireland or Westlock, Alberta, Truro, Nova Scotia or the outback of Australia, (all of which I have yet to visit I might add), until we are able to acknowledge the similarity of our nature as humans, I think that we will always misunderstand our differences.
I have also learned through my travels, that life is best viewed with a loving heart and open mind.

I’m off to walk the dog, it’s a beautiful sunny evening out there!