10 Beautiful Things Traveling Can Teach You About Your Heart And Your Soul
By Ally Canales
1. You learn to have gratitude.
The key to being in love with your life starts with the seed of gratitude — real, deep gratitude — which means being thankful for all that life offers. Friction, grief, sadness, joy, happiness, laughter. The diversity that life throws at us is a blessing. It helps you change your perspective about challenging situations.
2. You learn to hold space.
Teaching yoga while traveling, on top of going through heartbreak, taught me the art of holding space — even in the midst of chaos. Remember: It’s not about you. Find a beautiful space within yourself where you can put aside your ego. Hold space for others to process and let out what they’ve been holding onto.
3. You learn to surrender.
There are so many situations that are completely out of your control while traveling. The bus is late, the bus fails to pick you up, the plane gets delayed ten hours, luggage is lost. Shit happens and you have to surrender, because there is no point getting caught up with your own anger and sadness. You can’t control everything. Shit hits the fan — and when it does, smile and laugh at the amazing mess that life is.
4. You learn to embrace the unknown.
I have serious control issues. Admitting this to myself was challenging to say the least, but much needed. It helped me learn that I should embrace the unknown and trust myself. Sometimes we need to just go with the flow and throw away our plans, because plans have a way of changing constantly anyway.
5. You learn how amazing humans are.
You can find connections with people you never thought you’d have anything in common with. Meeting other travelers breaks up the isolation that we can so commonly live in. Everyone is going through life’s challenges and when you take the time to listen to people’s stories, real wisdom can be obtained.
6. You learn that Mother Earth is your queen.
Seeing the diversity of this world gave me such profound peace. The beauty of this world never fails to touch my heart. I feel such a large amount of gratitude for being able to experience it. Boating through the Mekong river in Laos sunrise on the shores of Ko Rong Samloem and flying home seeing the snowy mountain tops of Canada. Our earth is amazing on so many different levels and being exposed to such diversity gives me motivation to step up my game and take care of her.
7. You learn to let go of attachments.
You are constantly saying goodbye to people that you closely became connected with. You quickly adjust to having these extraordinary people come into your life for a short period of time only to leave and go off in a different direction.
8. You learn to enjoy the moment.
Every moment is precious and dissipates at such a rapid pace. The only way to truly enjoy these beautiful moments is to sink into the now and not get caught up with the past or the future. Do this by aligning yourself with the present moment. It allows you to feel the experience through your whole body.
9. You learn to deal with the uncomfortable.
From brick-hard, bug infested beds to crazy bus drivers, the uncomfortable becomes the new normal. Our physical surroundings can trigger an uncomfortable feeling and so can our mental state. But traveling can help you learn to lean into the discomfort and just laugh and be present with whatever is occurring.
10. You learn about yourself.
Traveling pulls out the deepest parts of you that you may resist seeing and accepting. Doing your trip solo adds to that self-growth. When you are on your own in another country, that’s when you really learn what you are made of.