It’s the place you’ve always seen that no one ever told you about…

It’s the second half of my second week and so much happened I decided to break it up into two posts. As I mentioned in the Lake Powell post, I had planned to only stay in Page, AZ (where Lake Powell is) for two days, then trek up to Zion, Utah. But it just wasn’t in the cards. At every turn I was blocked. Sure I could have pushed through and gone anyway and I’m sure everything would have been fine.

But I’ve learned in life and especially in travel that when I’m aligned and in flow magic happens. Movement is effortless and I meet with no resistance.

So when I do meet with resistance, such as all four hostel and motel numbers I call for Zion being disconnected… that tells me that I’m not in flow – whatever path I’m about to embark on might not be the best one I could take. To me this is feedback from the Universe to check in, get a second opinion, open up and be aware.

That night, when I thought I’d be busily packing and preparing for the next leg of my trip, I instead spent the rest of the evening meditating and working with Doreen Virtue’s Archangel Oracle Cards that I had picked up in Flagstaff.

That decision sent me on a fabulous scavenger hunt. I’d receive one clue… go to where it led… meet someone who gave me another clue as to where to go… then there I’d meet someone else…

It was difficult at first… I like to have things planned out, to know what’s coming next and not get blindsided or stuck in a $200 lodge because I’m stuck in a massive national park with no motels (my fear about Zion, which was true until I found, at the end of my scavenger hunt, someone who gave me the answer I was searching for)…

But I forged ahead in trust, figuring this would be excellent practice for my intuition and proof of it if it worked. And that leads me to…

This Week’s Tapestry

This week’s tapestry has been one of trust and letting go. This is infinitely hard for me. Or let me re-phrase that: this has been difficult for me in the past.

Only in the recent year or so have I learned to work with and trust my intuition. I still tend to lose touch with it when I encounter strong opposing forces (read that as any strong personality with ulterior motives that differ from mine). It sounds easy to say, “sure I won’t book anything for tonight. I’ll just go here to this one place, see what happens, and eventually figure out where I’m staying later tonight…”

But when faced with so many unknowns when traveling, at first I found this hard. I wanted at least that one comfort – to know I had a place to stay that wouldn’t be over my budget so early on in my trip. I wanted validation that I could do this thing… this business of transforming myself through sacred travel… this process of cultivating meaning in a life that stopped making sense for me and for this person I no longer know or understand that I’m still calling “Me.”

Those last two days in Page, discovering the long-sought after and mysteriously unknown Antelope Canyon, and gleefully picking my way through a scavenger hunt that showed me the unending kindness of strangers and new friends and guides that still exists in the world… I am honored to have weaved this week’s experience with such vibrant and resilient threads.

The Writing on the Wall

My lesson this week was:

Act quickly. Trust myself more and my thinking less. It is a careful distinction but I’m learning to tell the difference. Fear will always creep in when logic is running its course. This week I cut it off and leapt both feet first into the fray of uncertainty.

I invite you to explore how you come to your decisions this week. Can you tell the difference between your logic and your intuition? Can you move through fear and toward joy – rather than away from fear or because of it?

I find that the world isn’t quite so scary and stressful as our fear would have us believe it to be. I know there are terrors and horrors out there. But they are not mine. And I choose to NOT own or experience them. That is my right and yours as well. Hard to believe, but rewarding to explore.

Do something that scares you this week. Let it be something little or maybe something large. Take a different way home or let yourself get lost just outside of town. See what you discover. In fact, treat wherever you are as though you’re somewhere new. Be a tourist in your own town or city. I’ve done this with friends and had a blast of a good time. It’s like taking a child to Disneyland for the first time, or a foreign friend to your favorite local haunts. It doesn’t have to be your environment that’s new. You just have to engage it with new senses. A fresh look.

Be alien in your own comfort zone and perhaps it will open itself to you and reveal something new. You are a pilgrim now.

May You Never Return,

Jaime Mintun