Going Nowhere

Traveling is such a privilege.

We are beyond grateful for every opportunity to travel – be it a mini road trip to Seattle, or a flight (plus free peanuts!) across the Atlantic.

Last month, we adventured overseas through Iceland, Ireland, France, and England.

Halló. Top o' the mornin' to ya. Bonjour! Cheers, mate.

The landscapes. The languages. The people.

Minds blown.

While our itinerary was ambitious at times, we celebrated many intentional pauses to soak in the novelty and beauty of each new place.

We also marveled at the ease and lightness that came without having a fixed agenda. We often had no clue what time of day it was. We were free to choose our direction spontaneously.

We slowed down.

We ambled.

We soaked in our surroundings.

While we yearned to travel for months on end, our work and life responsibilities called us home.

As we reflected on the trip, we celebrated the beauty of new experiences and adventures. We also celebrated the difficulties, self-learning, self-growth and fresh perspectives that so often accompany travel.

We were reminded of a brilliant TED talk given by one of our favorite mentors Pico Iyer – The Art of Stillness: Adventures in Going Nowhere.

While he honors the joys and significance of travel, he reminds us that going nowhere may be the most important destination of all.

Pico speaks to the power of meditation and mindfulness practices in our world of constant movement and distraction, and the incredible insight that comes with taking time for stillness.

We recommend it. Seriously, it's amazing, and only 15 minutes. Enjoy!

A few of our favorite takeaways...

"In an age of speed, I began to think, nothing could be more invigorating than going slow.

In an age of distraction, nothing can feel more luxurious than paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still."

"Nowhere is magical, unless you can bring the right eyes to it."

"And by going nowhere, I mean nothing more intimidating than taking a few minutes out of every day, or a few days out of every season, or even as some people do, a few years out of a life…. In order to sit still long enough to find out what moves you most, to recall where your truest happiness lies, and to remember that sometimes making a living and making a life point in opposite directions."

"So much of our life takes place inside our heads – in memory, or imagination, interpretation, or speculation – that if I really want to change my life, I might best begin by changing my mind."

"There is nothing either good or bad, as Shakespeare told us in Hamlet, but thinking makes it so."

"Science has empirically shown that sitting still (or meditation) can lead not just to better health or clearer thinking, but even to emotional intelligence."

"We all know that it’s really one of our greatest luxuries - the empty space. I mean, a piece of music…it’s the pause or the rest that gives the piece its beauty and its shape."

"I think many of us have the sensation…that we’re standing about two inches away from a huge screen. And it’s noisy and it’s crowded and it’s changing with every second and that screen is our lives. And it’s only by stepping back, and then further back, and holding still that we can begin to see what the canvas means. And to catch the larger picture."