Memories of Me…

Today has been a great day filled with nostalgia and insight. I’m visiting Los Angeles, CA — a city that I once inhabited in my late 20’s. Driving around in this sprawling metropolis brings past events, thoughts and dreams swirling to the surface of my conscious mind. Everywhere I look there is a story. I see echoes of the person who I used to be, fragments of the person I still am, and promises of the person who I will one day be. The whole city is a puzzle that contains many “me”s of my life. Its refreshing to see old friends and familiar haunts with new eyes…Images and landscapes stir up ancient thoughts that breathe and awaken with new life. 

Its good to get out and travel. Its so interesting to see all the little things I used to take for granted — objects, buildings and nature that used to fuse together to create the backdrop of my day. And as I see old sights anew I am inspired to question the parts of myself that I have forgotten were there — “Who am I now, how have I grown and where am I going?”

In astrology the sign of Sagittarius rules long-distance travel and is categorized by the phrase “I See!”. And now that I’m 2,000 miles away from the town that I call home, I understand why travel is connected to “seeing”. Traveling shakes up habits and thoughts and helps us examine things from fresh perspectives. Its a cleansing shower that loosens up the grudges and pains that take hold on our psyches. And it gives us an opportunity to take our emotional Etch-a-Sketch and shake it until we’re back to a blank canvas.

Sometimes its hard to see where you are in life and where you are going. As your surroundings become familiar and blend in to the background you forget the magnitude and beauty of everything around you. Your day-to-day life feels small because little seems to change. And even if a spring tree blossoms, a derelict building gets torn down or the work on your desk gets completed and filed, the next day presents a new kind of “normal” — the spring tree continues to blossom, the derelict building stays torn down, and more work arrives on your desk. And as the days continue it becomes easier to lose sight of your dreams, aspirations and desires. Basically, you forget that your progress happens in shifts that are at times undetectable and rarely large. 

Traveling affords you the ability to see your progress. It allows you vision to see who you are and question where you want to be. And this is true of all travel, whether it be a day trip to a nature reserve or a month-long get-away to the Bahamas. When you change your location, you change your perspective. When you change your perspective, you change your thoughts. And when you change your thoughts, you change your life. Remember this the next time you’re on a trip or someone presents an opportunity to travel. Sometimes its hard to embark on a journey because you fear change — the unknown. But it is in the unknown that you find yourself and understand the power within you. It is in the new, unfamiliar terrain that you are compelled towards that ‘Aha’ moment when your inner intelligence cries out, “I See!”