THOUGHTS IN THE JUNGLE
In November of 2019, my love and I ventured off into the jungles of Northern Thailand.
We had been travelling to this region for many years, but we were completely different people at the time. Somehow, we had felt safer in the city. Somehow, we didn’t have the curiosity to explore the landscape that surrounded it, neither any expanse of land beyond that. We felt like we didn’t know better. And I still believe we didn’t. Such things, such as the calling to go in that direction - are just a question of being “called”. We just have to trust that it all happens in divine timing - in other words, things (interests, opportunities, or… ourselves) open up when they are meant to open up!
THIS TIME WE KNEW THINGS WOULD BE DIFFERENT. WE FELT THERE WAS A WHOLE NEW PURPOSE, A WHOLE NEW INTENTION IN THE ACT OF TRAVELLING. WE STARTED TO ASK OURSELVES SOME QUESTIONS. WHAT LED US HERE? WHAT ARE WE HERE TO DO? THE ANSWERS BECAME DEEPER AND OUR HORIZONS WAY MORE OPEN. SO WE FELT IT WAS THE RIGHT TIME TO GO ON AN ADVENTURE.
We decided to ride a large motorcycle for a few days and to bring only a few essentials. Some clothes, some toiletries, a camera and a journal. We set a simple intention at the start of this journey: to simply absorb everything. To be fully present and to observe the environment. Notice life in all its forms. Take it all in. And record thoughts as they come, in the form of journaling.
THOSE DAYS WERE BEAUTIFUL. I CHERISH THEM. WE FELT FREE, AS CHILDREN - LEFT BY OURSELVES WITH NO SCHEDULE. FREE TO ROAM. WE SAW SO MANY MESMERIZING LANDSCAPES, FROM VAST RICE FIELDS TO VALLEYS OF BANANA TREES AND JUNGLE COVERED MOUNTAINS. WE SAW PEOPLE LIVING FROM THE LAND, BEING PART OF THE CYCLE OF NATURE. WE THOUGHT OF WHAT COMMUNITY, WHAT RESPONSIBILITY, WHAT RESOURCEFULNESS MEANS. WE GOT A CHANCE TO REDEFINE OUR VALUES. TO GET EVEN CLOSER TO OUR OWN TRUTH. FEELING GRATEFUL TO BE OFFERED THIS WONDERFUL GIFT.
Here, I am sharing some of the thoughts that came to me while in nature and while on the road. All of these were just words written straight to my journal. A few reflections from my time in the jungle.
PURE HEART
How sweet and light one can feel when approaching life with a pure heart.
I feel cleansed as I step into the wilderness. Here, life is not about attachment or outcomes. It’s about living in cycles. Being as receptive as a valley. Harvesting this abundance to share with others and teaching this precious knowledge to future generations.
I feel that much of my life is fuelled by my work. But I am not my work. I am not attached to its outcome. I am not looking to be rewarded from it. I am just here to give from my abundance and to leave a positive footprint for others to enjoy.
BLISSFUL IGNORANCE
There are many smells here. Burning smoke. Wild herbs. Wet earth.
The sound of birds is soothing, because it is a language I do not understand. I cannot judge it - I just admire it in its abstraction. Nature is wiser than our thirst for the rational. Wiser than our own understanding. She makes us realize that we don’t know it all, and we never will. Out here, we are simultaneously foreigners and natives, left to bask in blissful ignorance.
COLLECTIVENESS
We all contribute to a collective ecosystem. Not everyone will get to be a big majestic tree, and that’s fine. The majestic tree needs the network of the smaller trees, bushes, and grasses around it. Every living being matters in this network. Without each other, we are nothing.
We cannot heal the world if we all strive to become the same thing, or look for the same outcomes. How can we be useful to each other then? We should embrace what is uniquely ours and what guides our heart. It’s what creates the nutrients that our collective needs and those that we can spread to others.
Be grateful about who you are. Celebrate your unique purpose.
THE SHARING GENE
Being able to absorb experiences fully and to be present is one part of the story. But then, because we are humans, because our nature thrives as a collective, we feel called to share.
Those experiences we live, do not feel valid, deep inside - if they are not shared. It’s natural to want to share our happiness, our discoveries with the people that we love. When that option is not immediately available or possible, this is why we might resort to creating our own sharing network and find our own tribe in another way - like we might do online. When the superficiality of that begins to feel like it’s not enough to really describe the depth of what we are experiencing, we’ll seek more real ways to share. Where are our true friends? Where is our family?
I feel called to share my experiences with them. And through this reasoning I feel called to expand beyond myself and to create a physical family of my own. We are born alone and die alone.
But what fills our lives with colour is to share it with others, to understand we are part of a collective ecosystem where enlightenment is transmitted from generation to generation.
What will be carrying our Light and our Love after we’ve left this world?