“We are all here together on God’s jeweled dance floor.”—Hafiz
Please keep this to yourself. (Or at least don’t tell my editor who is expecting the manuscript to my new book on September 1). The only words I’ve written in the last 8 days have been in the sand on Pacific Beach in San Diego.
I gave a workshop (only I call it a playshop) last Saturday and Taz and I took a drive up the California coast to visit friends. And, yes, we danced outside on the full moon (it’s a thing one of my power posses does to stay connected). My friend Anita Moorjani, who made Taz and I the most amazing Indian food, even joined in the fun. Life, to paraphrase the t-shirts, is amazing.
So since I’m playing catch up today (including buying a new phone since I accidentally dropped mine in the toilet), thought I’d run this article that first appeared on Huffington Post.
Enjoy!!!
I was raised in a small town in Kansas where I learned to read, write and politely answer stranger’s number one question, “Where’s Toto?” But my real education didn’t begin until I left the borders of my own country.
Here are five really life-changing lessons I learned from traveling:
1. It’s the people, stupid. Bucket lists are fun to check off. And there’s no question that seeing the Eiffel Tower, climbing Pike’s Peak and visiting the Great Pyramid of Giza are worthwhile endeavors. But the travel experiences that stand out, the ones that mean the most are encounters with locals. Meeting Hank and his cat, Poop Deck, who live on Hank’s sailboat in St. Croix’s Christianstead Harbor was far more enlightening than visiting the island’s bioluminescent bay.
Hanging out with Ping, a proud Maasai warrior at Mara Plains Camp in Kenya’s Olare Motorogi Conservancy, led to far more lions than any guidebooks. Ping, who has lived alongside wildlife his entire life and reads nature’s subtle signs as a way of survival, led me to day-old baby elephants, a trio of male lions who had just taken down a hippo and rhinos who, without Ping, would have been as elusive as Waldo.
2. Money does not equal happiness. I always smile when a Westerner announces their noble, selfless plans to help poor unfortunates in what we call “a third world country.” Invariably, they return home from their volunteer vacation suitably chastened, not sure who helped whom. They become aware, often for the first time, of vast pools of human resilience and joy found in cultures not bogged down with material possessions. Creativity and sheer genius emerges when there’s no television, no Words With Friends, no material excess requiring a storage unit.
Soweto, for example, taught me more about possibility than anything Tony Robbins might write. With unemployment soaring around 50 percent, crafty entrepreneurs sell picture frames made from discarded Coke cans, zebras carved from table legs and statues made from bottle caps. Street musicians sing, old friends tap-dance in unison, jugglers toss knives, balls and witty repartee, all hoping their near-professional efforts will coax a five-rand note from passers-by.
3. The news media often has it wrong. If you believe the news, it’s dangerous to leave your house, let alone the country. But in the last year alone, I’ve been to four countries with State Department warnings and not once have I ever felt threatened in any way. I even heard Pico Iyer talk about a recent assignment in Iraq. He said that the same people carrying the signs (“Death to Americans” and the like) would invite him home for dinner after the protests. I’m not being flip. I just happen to know that the scariest part of most overseas trips is the media reports which, when you really get down to it, are nothing but anomalies.
4. It always pays to look deeper. What news-savvy American hasn’t picked up the notion that he’s not likely to win any popularity contests with Muslims? As I discovered in Turkey, that stereotype is misguided and downright insulting.
Hospitality is an art in the Muslim world, a cherished virtue that encourages practitioners to view every person who comes across their path as sent to them by Allah himself. It’s next-to-impossible to be in the general vicinity of another human being in Turkey without being handed a fig or a hazelnut or a bowl of fresh yogurt made that morning from the milk of their own cow.
Hospitality is so over-the-top (commerce, it seems, is beside the point) that any crusty idea that foreigners are different or that life sucks or that the world is going to hell in a handbasket are properly dashed against the inhospitable shores of the Black Sea, a region in Turkey that looks more like the Colorado Rockies than Lawrence of Arabia.
5. People are the same wherever you go. It’s a universal belief — that “those people” over there are completely different than us, that we have nothing in common with those who practice different religions, follow different customs or dress differently. Traveling disavows that falsehood with a vengeance. Even though my Ecuadorian hosts worshiped Inti, the Incan God of the Sun, and regularly dined on beetle larvae and guinea pig grilled spread eagle on a spit, I discovered that, just like me, they get crushes, like to dance and tell jokes. When it comes right down to it, all of us, from Singapore schoolgirls to Namibian pygmies, want the exact same thing: happiness, well-being for our families and the right to pursue our dreams.
Pam Grout is the author of 17 books including E-Squared: 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality and the recently-released sequel, E-Cubed, 9 More Experiments that Prove Mirth, Magic and Merriment is your Full-time Gig
25 Responses
hey Pam i’ve been saying (a lot) the mantra i saw here and that is :” Something amazingly awesome is goinf to happen to me today & unexpected money comes to me everyday”. one day after work i went to buy myself 2 “crossword scratch ticket” and one ” set for life scratch ticket” and i thought i had won 10 dollars from the crossword ticket and 4 dollars from the other one. well the machine ended up saying that i had won 19 dollars in all. oh and usually on particular day where i work i get drowsy because sometimes it gets very hot at work, but on that day i wasn’t drowsy at all.
Congratulations!!!
As an international flight attendant I can verify every single thing you said! It’s about the people, not the $, it’s the person sitting next to you, “Why is he there and not someone else?” and when you let go of your expectations about places, the real elements of travel, interactions with people, come to the forefront. Lauren
Oh wow! Yes! What a wonderful reminder about all the amazing people I’ve sat next to on planes! WOW WOW WOW! Yes!
Yay! Such good stories and energy. I do love people! But as much as I enjoy travel, have done very little of it for the past few years. I am in a rut of “thinking too small” when it comes to travel and adventure (using all the best – i.e. worst – excuses about time money), these days. My husband even reminded me of that, this morning.
On to bigger, better thinking…
Happy Monday, All!
Pam, Ever think of doing a travel trip? Now that would prove to be a great intro for a new book Cathie Lowenbraun
Pam what an uplifting read! Confirms everything I know to be true!
Rose from New Zealand
I’m a single 61 yo woman, I live and travel full time in a tiny camper. I am warned all the time by well meaning people who sit in front of their tv sets behind locked doors how dangerous it is to be traveling alone. I don’t listen to them and kindly smile and say thank you, I will be careful.
Beautiful post! What a tribute to your travels and the people you have met on the way.
Can I get a witness? (I’m one!) Amen!
Here HEAR!! You stated this most wonderful truth so beautifully. I, too, have traveled far away, where no English was spoken. I learned that smiling, pointing, and good will more than make up for any language barriers. I choose to believe that people are basically good, and look for that when I interact with others anywhere.
thank you so much for that post. and you are right. I’m an unburdened person–I left friends and family to return to my home town. I’m living the life of Whitman and Thoreau. So many people I meet out and about are absolutely charming, amazing, and gracious. My life truly is gifted.
I travel the world and totally agree with you. Love it. Love it. Glad that you were with Anita. You two are two of my favorite people along with Wayne. My triumverate. Yesterday I was yoga’ing the sun up at the marina here in Hilton Head – just the birds, the fish and me. The skys were so cloud filled and moving that I thought of angels. I ask my angels to help me communicate with them better and if they heard me to send me a sign. In a bit over a minute 2 big birds flew directly over my head and sqawked letting me know they were there. Wow!!
Loved this post Pam thank you!
Dear Pam, it is so important nowdays to underline how people are just the same everywhere. We are all ONE! And in spite of what the news says we all need and are worth to be loved.
Excellent reminders of the Truth that is true always, Pam. We are ONE, the Universe has our backs, and we are rich and loved beyond measure. Thanks, once again, for your lovely, lively reminders of what is important. Big hugs!
It’s governments that usually don’t like each other – for whatever reason – but the people, themselves, are generally okay.
My wife won a trip to Acapulco, Mexico, some years ago, and we were surprised at the friendliness of the people we met there because we were not in “tourist” mode. Instead, we took a genuine interest; inquiring about their personal lives and families.
A taxi driver, (Hector) from a sight-seeing ride we had taken a few days prior, even showed-up to say goodbye as we were boarding our group’s bus to the airport.
I’m not equating poverty with happiness – it doesn’t have to be that way – but it seems that the poorest people I’ve encountered, especially abroad, have been friendly and happy in a simpler, more genuine way.
BTW, that wasn’t the only contest Cindy (my wife) had won. There were a few going on among the popular radio stations, but when she decided she could win these and focused on it, they proliferated in number remarkably. Anyway, she was winning, on average, 3-4 times a week, but then decided flipping stations back and forth – and the constant listening – was just too demanding of her time. So she abruptly stopped playing altogether.
And when she refocused her attention on other priorities the number of available contests soon reverted to just the few, as before.
Great post and very true – we’re all the same below the skin and yearn for many of the same things in life. Travel has a way of exposing those insecurities and helps us see the bigger picture.
I never get tired of reading this.. Thank you Pam
Thank you for making my day…hey..week even! ~Sheila
Great post, couldn’t agree more. I can’t live without travel!
Your description of Turkey made me want to get on a plane right now. It seems in line with so much of what I’ve read and heard.
Thank you,
Julie
Hi Pam, loved number 5 on your list, all we need are the simple things in life. Love and best,
Neal
Your posts always make me so happy! Thank you for being you!
Reblogged this on alexankarrbooks and commented:
‘view every person who comes across their path as sent to them by Allah himself.’
Isn’t that gorgeous? That’s how it ought to be.