When I first started contemplating calling off my wedding, I searched the internet looking for someone who’d been through it. I didn’t find much. I would have given anything to hear from someone five years out, to know they made it to the other side. Which is exactly why I feel compelled to be the odd one who brings my story back up, five years later…
Vipassana means “insight” in the ancient Indian language Pali.
Vipassana is a meditation technique that teaches awareness of reality. Through Vipassana meditation one learns to remain equanimous in both pleasure and pain.
Yes, you read that right, I took a ten day silent meditation course in rural Illinois this summer. No talking, no phones, no reading, no writing…. It was an experience and a half! But before I go into that, let me first tell you how I ended up there…
Here are thirty life lessons from my first 30 years on earth.
I am in a unique position for a thirty year old woman. I have the freedom of being twenty, with the confidence and security of being thirty. Let me explain…
I have begun researching white privilege, systemic racism, cultural appropriation, white supremacy, the history of race in America and abroad… and pretty much anything and everything that will help me understand why the world functions like this, what my role is in it, and how I can mitigate my impact.
Why did 11 years pass before I hiked The Narrows myself? Dressed in the lime green and gray water proof suit and hiking boots I had rented from the Zion outfitters shop, I looked more like I was going to outer space than hiking. The shuttle bus on the way to the trail head was crowded. It was Spring Break after all. I stood in the center aisle clinging to overhead hand grip with one hand and my walking stick with the other. Gazing out the window I pondered my question. The answer came quickly…
When the birthday girl read about Angel’s Landing- a 5790 ft peak that can only be reached by hiking a narrow ridge with 1000 feet drop offs on either side, she was committed to doing it, with or with out the rest of us. When I’d heard about this hike in travelers’ tales, it sounded cool. But on the verge of actually hiking it, I was a little nervous.
These epiphanies aren’t a typical list of “lessons learned while traveling.” From acknowledging my privilege, to changing my diet, to letting go of who I thought I was and who I thought I wanted to be, this list digs deeper in the journey I took inward, while traveling through Southeast Asia.
