Hamburg Travel Diary

Dear Soul Adventurers,

The truth is that this blog post has had many incarnations both as typed drafts and floating ideas plucked from the universe then released once again. I am finding it hard to stick to my schedule but I know it is important to be disciplined because many of you actually look forward to my content-and I appreciate the good thing we have going on. 

For those who follow along on the gram, you know that I recently travelled to Hamburg and London with N. She is such a great travel companion- of course...she is my daughter after all. This trip meant lots of days on the move, I hate to stagnate when I am in a different city or country- the wanderlust adrenaline relentlessly urges me to explore. One of the hallmarks of this trip was a strong feeling of connection to a loving and guiding unseen force- call it what you may. I think all the time I spent moving around in primarily nature filled spaces had a lot to do with that. I usually feel most connected and present in nature. 

I read The Celestine Prophesy last year and it articulated something that many of us feel but may not absolutely trust 100% of the time - nothing is by chance, each encounter, each conversation , each time you make prolonged eye contact, even reading this blog post at this exact moment- it is all significant and it is all happening in perfect timing. 

James Redfield who wrote The Celestine Prophesy articulates it like this:

“...whenever people cross our paths, there is always a message for us. Chance encounters do not exist. But how we respond to these encounters determines whether we’re able to receive the message. If we have a conversation with someone who crosses our path and we do not see a message pertaining to our current questions, it does not mean there was no message. It only means we missed it for some reason.” 

When Redfield refers to "our particular question" he means that thing that occupies our mind- that should I or should't I? The whys and hows. 

Many moments of the trip felt like "a sudden immersion of the soul into the universal current of life" as author Paulo Coelho calls it- a reconnection to my intuition and the sensing of a presence that is beyond the seen. To be less cryptic about the whole situation I will share a personal story. 

For those of you who don't know- I was born Hamburg Germany and lived there until I was 7. Many of my childhood memories included spending time with my Omi- my maternal Grandmother. Omi and I would take a lot of walks in parks and forests. The walks that stand out most in my memory are those during the Autumn- the scents of the damp earth mixed with fallen leaves, the yellow, orange, red and brown color pallet and the feeling of the crisp air against my  face and fingers. As a child I looked forward to this time of year because it was when the chestnuts fell to the ground. I was obsessed with collecting them- I still feel pure joy when I see them to this day and it really hard for me to pass them without picking one up.  We collected bags upon bags of these chestnuts and invented a game only the two of us knew the rules to.   

Each time I see a chestnut I think of my Omi. She passed away the year I started University and I was not able to attend her funeral. I think in some ways I never felt that I ever fully experienced the closure I needed- until this trip. 

This year when  I saw the chessnuts I felt as though Omi was with us. N and I took many walks in gardens, parks, tropical green houses and forests. On our last day I felt guided to visit a butterfly garden on the outskirts of the city. I made the decision to  heed my whim after paying my grandmother's old neighborhood a visit. 

The last leg of our journey to the gardens included a 20 minute walk through a lonely forest (somehow that detail escaped me when I was reading the directions on google maps). The walk intimidated me but it was as though I was compelled to go, after all we had already come so far- I felt pulled by the universal current of life and I surrendered.

Being at Butterfly Gardens and observing these gently fluttering creatures playfully exploring their environment allowed my mind to rise above the debris of daily distractions of life. That was the very first day of our trip where no one was expecting us to meet with them- no one to apologize to for wandering off or reco-ordinating time and place of meeting...we simply floated freely.  

This year especially I have felt as though my journey into spirituality has taken leaps. I have returned to this feeling that each encounter and experience revealed something to me- as though I am in constant communication with a loving a supportive force of nature- call it what you may. It is like an exciting treasure hunt.

This story, about my journey to Butterfly Gardens, it is less about what happened and more about the feeling of being guided and having trust in that feeling. It was a space that made me feel at peace and gave both N and I plentiful opportunities to marvel- we were absolutely fascinated. At the end of the day I think those moments are the ones that truly energize us, reset and balance us.  

At this stage I am not sure how this whole blog post will come accross to you all, or if it make any sense but I felt inspired to share it- if for no other reason than to possibly spark some magical tingles and whimsical curiosities about the infinite possibilities of life inside of you.

How does travel energize you? Do you feel like it gives you the space to see things with greater clarity? Do you become more open minded? I would love to hear from you in the comments.

For more of my regular musings on life and some good vibes content check me out on the gram @grenadasouladventurer