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The Medicine for the Soul

The World Is A Book

Traveling and working abroad has been surprisingly transformative for me. I have to admit, I did not expect the change that took place simply from moving to another location, but this experience has been medicine for my soul.

If I had to have a conversation with my previous self from about a year ago, I might not recognize the person I was. My inner landscape has changed so dramatically that I can feel the difference every day. I dove into the cleansing waters of change and this country washed away the parts of my being that were doing me no good.

It’s weird to think that something so powerful can come from just living abroad, but it is that very act of diving into the unfamiliar and unknown that is so cleansing to the psyche. You can no longer hang on to habits or preconceived notions when you are presented with such a novel experience. You can no longer be in a comfortably sedated haze when everything is so bright, new, and present. Yes, that’s the word I’m looking for. Everything therapeutic about traveling condensed into one word: Presence.

Travel forces you to come to the surface of life and intimately connects you to the present moment. You forget about any heavy mental baggage and become as light as the air kissing your skin. You become the jagged mountain steps you’re climbing or the salty sea water you’re swimming through or the lights of Bangkok dazzling your eyes. You become the moment. And with that constant exposure to presence, your soul settles and becomes more grounded. It is like developing a habit of presence and seeing the sparkling beauty of every moment in life. There is no more room for heavy rumination. My spirit feels lighter as a result. Through exposing myself to the people and nature of Thailand I feel like I’ve cleared myself of those mental habits that pull me away from the moment. My sight has become clearer and now the present moment is always in view.

In Buddhism they make the claim that the doorway to enlightenment is in the moment. According to the Buddha, the roots of pristine happiness grow from presence. After being exposed to living abroad I can say this is true for me. In my home in the United States I was stuck in, what seemed to be, a fog of habitual thinking and ruminating. Similar to the feeling you get when you’re trying to sleep and you can’t stop thinking. Being lost in constant brain-chatter. Television static played over the symphony of your life. And you know what? I was not happy. I felt a dissonance, a weird sense of misalignment in life, like the tuning of my soul was slightly off and every time I tried to play it the music came out sour and left me wondering “What’s wrong?”. I was lost in time. Thinking about the past, worrying about the future, and never seeing the present. It’s a sort of illness, really. An illness who’s primary symptom is a deep sense of dissatisfaction.

The medicine for that which ailed me has been travel. Living abroad has washed away that diluted sense of presence with the dazzling brightness of the unknown and new experiences. I feel awakened to the beauty of life and I look back on my days of familiar and automatic routines as a time when I was kind of asleep and in a haze. But how can I convey this to you, dear reader, when it is something that can only be experienced firsthand. I implore you to dive into the unfamiliar. Travel, meet new people, and encounter new cultures and ways of thinking. See the world in all its stunning beauty. Walk the path less traveled and then forge a new one. I can guarantee this with all my heart, travel can be the medicine to heal the discontent in your soul.