What matters most is real!

I was going to post the poem “The Invitation” here when I found this video. Why post it? What does it mean to me? The thing I most love about travel is people, real people and real conversation. Something inspiring and nourishing happens when people meet, connect, share their Soul, listen with their eyes and heart, ask rather than tell, and smile in recognition for how their own journey parallels pieces of your own. Parting, you might never see each other again but you will never be the same as they were before the connected.

People here in the US discount those conversations. “It is easy when you are traveling and you will never see that person again” is the most frequent response I hear. When I traveled in Vietnam for a month, I never once heard the word “busy”, it was one of the first ones I heard here. Busy, so much to do, so important, busy….busy…busy, can’t talk now I have to run….that is a life lived by many here. Guarded, cautious, engaged in “really important matters’, insecure or unsure, for whatever reason, people here in the US are much less likely to engage in real conversation. Whatever the reason, it’s sad. Whatever the reason, I deeply appreciate my friends who hang out in real connection with me!

What I love about travel is people stop, they become present, conversation is real and it’s first person. A first person conversation has to do with I. I’ve discovered….I’m looking for…I’m excited about….I’m hoping for….I had the most amazing experience….I’m lonely…I’m curious about….how do you feel….how did you like……what’s inspired you so far……what are you clearer about now than when you started….I’m frustrated….I’m ____________. (fill in the blank)

Here, so much conversation is third person. It’s about them, they, it, she, him, work, those people, that event, the government, that team, that experience, someone, he…..all of that is third person. It’s an “about” conversation, about that over there. To some degree, third person conversation is dead and irrelevant. It’s like reporting on life rather than expressing it. There’s no life or vitality there. It’s similar to watching a program on TV as a spectator with no way to relate your life to what is happening so you make it up. A made up life is never as vibrant as a real life experienced.

Traveling, I’ll have five or six real connections a day. Some weeks here, I struggle to have half that number of connections in a week. Tell me about work, traffic, bosses, cut backs, health care, your sports team, investments, taxes, whatever, and I’ll respectfully listen. But only to a point because I don’t engage in that level of energy in my life. I’d much prefer something present and real, something first person, something nourishing and vibrant.

Thus, I was thinking about that poem. Here’s the video of the poem. Enjoy!