Vacation Insights

​Vacation, time away from home and our routines makes space for discovering new things. Considering that the amount of books I would like to bring along would require another suitcase, I bring my laptop and yes, I go online. The feeling of freedom of being able to read, listen to and share anything and everything I come across is exhilarating.

This way, when I go out, swim and absorb the sunlight I can let all my new thoughts find a place until I feel I want to share them. Usually, first with my family over a delicious lunch or dinner with fresh fish and lush salad. I did notice a bit more eye rolling from them than usual on this holiday. It may have to do with the philosophical reading I was doing (The Path, Michael Puett)

Admittedly I think it increased my usual analytical look on life, seeing symbolism in practically everything. For teenagers, parents tend to be ridiculous most of the time anyway so this only proved their point. "Yep, she's gone bonkers, it's official" was the look they were giving each other. Needless to say,  I was dealing with it in a very philosophical manner :) 
I have always been a lover of words. It literally feels like warm honey for my soul. So you can imagine how excited I was when I discovered Krista Tippett and her podcast "On Being". 

"On Being opens up the animating questions at the center of human life: What does it mean to be human, and how do we want to live? We explore these questions in their richness and complexity in 21st-century lives and endeavors. We pursue wisdom and moral imagination as much as knowledge; we esteem nuance and poetry as much as fact."

On her podcast she has interviewed all the inspiring minds you can imagine in a way that is second to none with so much respect, grace and intelligence that you come away after 50 minutes feeling infused with hope and desire to pay forward the energy. So far I have listened to The Conversational Nature of Reality with David Whyte, Listening to the World with Mary Oliver  and Your Life is a Poem with Naomi Shiha Nye. I am not sure if it was by chance or intentional that they are all poets but it made me realise something about myself, I love poetry.
The last time I read poetry before this must have been in 6th form, preparing for my A'levels. I remember loving the symbolism but never felt inspired to pick up a poetry book until I discovered David Whyte a few months ago. (See my last post on that here.)
I find that it is true what he says, poetry finds a way of saying things prose cannot achieve. Besides, it is so magically universal. 
So I leave you with my discoveries and hope they do the same for you; sweeten your soul and invite to share because the world needs more poetry.
Do the test and read the poem below by Naomi Shihab... :)

Love & Joy,
Marina