The gem I found in my inbox today from a favorite source: "Your emotion does not create. Emotion is your indicator of what you are already creating." I've posted this on Twitter, I've scribbled it on my notebook, I've sent it to my fella, I'm tattooing it on my hand so I remember, remember, remember: Emotion is our gauge of how we are BEING. Emotion lets us know if we're on course or off. Emotion informs us of what is or what is about to happen in our lives. Emotion is our crystal ball, our tuning fork, our own personal soothsayer. Emotion is our BFF who tells us we have broccoli in our teeth, who nudges us to act, who offers up her frank opinion on everything in our lives -- good and bad. Emotion rocks.

(How are you feeling -- or should I say BEING -- today as you travel through life?)

"(Your life) is about realization, not about changing anything. The world is as you perceive it to be. For me, clarity is a word for beauty. It's what I am. And when I'm clear, I see only beauty. Nothing else is possible. I am mind perceiving my thoughts, and everything unfolds from that, as if it were a new solar system pouring itself out in its delight. If I'm not clear, then I'm going to project all my craziness out onto the world, as the world, and I'll perceive a crazy world and think that it is the problem. We've been working on the projected image for thousands of years and not on the projector. That's why life seems to be chaotic ... But when you meet your thoughts with understanding, the world changes. It has to change, because the projector of the entire world is you. You're it!" -Byron Katie, Loving What Is

"Take the time to line up the Energy first, and action becomes inconsequential. If you don't take the time to line up the Energy, if you don't find the feeling place of what you're looking for, not enough action in the world will make any difference." -Abraham

Elissa here. Going to meditate on this quote all day in light of new intentions for this new year ... Just like we say at e>v: "Be" first, then "Do" ... What a wonderful reminder.

Thanks to e>volutionista Molly G. for sharing her notes from the road:

I was surprised on my trip to Europe this summer when some of my "baggage" starting popping up. I honestly wasn't expecting it to--even though the e>v guide had warned me that it might. What was great was that I felt prepared to handle it. I paid attention to what was going on around me and internally and had a greater understanding as to what was causing it to show up. I challenged myself by asking if I needed it.  When I decided that I didn't, I sent that extra baggage packing!  It was a daily exercise, but at least I had an action plan in place to handle it.
 
The prep section of the e>v guide was also helpful in that it helped me set the tone I wanted for my vacation. It got me thinking in advance about things I wanted to notice, energy I wanted to tap into, how I wanted to "be", and what I wanted to gain. I still think about a moment I had on the trip when I told myself, "You have to remember this when you are back home and settled into your routine!"  And it worked. I think about that moment every day and invite it to influence my thoughts and behaviors now that I am home. I am consciously choosing to allow that moment to affect my future and that's a powerful feeling.


How has e>v shown up in your travels?  What have you done differently as a result?  Step on in to the conversation and share your adventures in a comment or, if you'd like to be a guest poster as Molly was, shoot us your story: info@evolutionthroughvacation.com and see your evolution in print!

Hey all!

Reading You Shall Know Our Velocity! by Dave Eggers right now--after it sat on my nightstand for 3 years.  Of course, it invited me in at just the right time. 

Here's a passage with Hand, one of the main dudes, philosophizing that struck me on the bus this morning and I just had to share:

"I want others to go out in the world with an idea, with intentions and means, and come back with a story about how their actions affected the world and how they themselves were shaped by the results.  I have a belief that such endeavors can improve the world, however recklessly, especially when these people go forward and interact, give, solve, change the situations they encounter..."

Sounds like a kindred spirit. 

How are you going out into the world? On vacation--and today?

"We want you to enjoy the contrasting experience, just like you enjoy the contrasting buffet. And we want you to reach the place ... that whenever you're in front of a buffet that has so much that you do like to eat, as well as some that you don't like to eat, you don't feel frustrated that there are things there you don't want to eat. You don't feel compelled to put them on your plate and eat them; you just pick the things that you like. And the Universe of thought is the same way. You can choose from it the things that you like."  - Abraham/Hicks

A lovely thought, found and brought to you by the one and only Rachel Swan:

Every time you leave home,
Another road takes you
Into a world you were never in.

New strangers on other paths await.
New places that have never seen you
Will startle a little at your entry.
Old places that know you well
Will pretend nothing
Changed since your last visit.

When you travel, you find yourself
Alone in a different way,
More attentive now
To the self you bring along,
Your more subtle eye watching
You abroad; and how what meets you
Touches that part of the heart
That lies low at home:

How you unexpectedly attune
To the timbre in some voice,
Opening in conversation
You want to take in
To where your longing
Has pressed hard enough
Inward, on some unsaid dark,
To create a crystal of insight
You could not have known
You needed
To illuminate
Your way.

When you travel,
A new silence
Goes with you,
And if you listen,
You will hear
What your heart would
Love to say.

A journey can become a sacred thing:
Make sure, before you go,
To take the time
To bless your going forth,
To free your heart of ballast
So that the compass of your soul
Might direct you toward
The territories of spirit
Where you will discover
More of your hidden life,
And the urgencies
That deserve to claim you.

May you travel in an awakened way,
Gathered wisely into your inner ground;
That you may not waste the invitations
Which wait along the way to transform you.

May you travel safely, arrive refreshed,
And live your time away to its fullest;
Return home more enriched, and free
To balance the gift of days which call you.

- John O’Donohue, from To Bless the Space Between Us: A Book of Blessings, discovered by Rachel via this site

Lost luggage? Crappy traffic?

These simple experiences can bring out a myriad of responses in many different peeps. These instances bring out  "The Reaction."

Many people say, it's "human nature" or it's my "natural" response.

And I say: Ptttthhhhhhttt.

Outside of running from lions or fighting off an attacking grizzly, we've learned the majority of our "natural" responses at a young age. Parents, society, TV -- all sorts of sources have influenced our behavior and communication style. This, of course, is not ground-breaking news. How to dismantle these patterns, however, is a bit more chat-worthy.

A big challenge I'm often confronted with is my love affair with reactionary living and my addiction to auto-responses.

Sheesh, when someone else is crabby how I love to take it personally and pout.When I'm running late how I love to blame the idiot driver in front of me... And now? When I stop to look around? I realize: I'm tired of living this way. I'm bored with my huffy reactions and want to slip into something a bit more comfortable. But how? We all make choices on how we communicate and engage with the world ... and it's hard to see a higher road when we're deep in the rut we've been walking through our whole lives ... so, one idea I'm going to try?

Stop and look at that very rut  -- the one I might be knee-deep in at the very moment I react. Is my reaction a way of protecting myself? Something based in fear? In insecurity? How has it served me in the past and what newer, lighter, more beneficial option could serve me from now on?

These questions are easy to ask ... not always easy to answer. But I'm going to try.

An easy idea to talk about. But, to put it in action?

We talk to lots of people how Evolution Through Vacation opens up ideas and attitudes in a new way. Options that may have been stuck behind stories, outdated habits or an iron door of judgment. These folks tell us that e>v offers new perspectives to outdated habits -- new ways of being that replace rigid patterns that no longer serve. I love to hear these stories and am inspired to look at my own life through the same lens.

We're all learning as we move through this life and it's exciting when we embark on new journeys. Perhaps today's journey is about going through the day in an open and fluid manner ... allowing faith to enter in and magic to occur. ... releasing the need to be "right" and welcoming an easier, lighter answer to appear ... ditching the need for control and inviting in possibility ... truly evolving in each and every moment.

Of course, you can download the e-Guide for more experiments to help you do this :) ... or, you could just take today a little slower, a little more relaxed, a little more deliberate in the motive of openness and possibility. Today, you could just go with the flow if only to see where it leads you.

Do you ever read the "DailyOm"? It's cool, meditative and often gets us thinking in new, unfettered ways as we begin our days .... Today's idea was a concept of "Tearing Down to Build Up" -- or how complaining is a way of removing what's bad from our lives and allowing space for the good to  enter. Many of us, however, get stuck in the 'tearing down' part a bit too long -- which never allows for the solution to enter. Or, as DailyOm says:

"Complaining is a person’s way of acknowledging that they are not happy with the way things are. In a metaphorical way, when we complain or criticize, we are tearing down an undesirable structure in order to make room for something new. But if all we do is tear down, never bothering to summon the creative energy required to create something new, we are not fulfilling the process. In fact, we are at risk for becoming a stagnant and destructive force in our own lives and in the lives of the people we love. ... Another issue with complaining is that we sometimes tend to focus on other people, whom we can’t change, as a way of deflecting attention from the one person we can change—ourselves. So transforming complaining into something useful is a twofold process that begins with turning our critical eye to look at things we can actually do something about, and then taking positive action."

This reminds me of everything from harping at the airline workers when our luggage is lost to blaming our mothers for not living up to our expectations (quite a range, but I think you get where I'm coming from) ... Whether on actual vacation or living the vacation called our lives, we have the chance right now to, yes, tear down ... and then, we have the beautiful choice to build something new. Every. Single. Moment.

I'm going to get out the Legos right now ..... and build something purty ......

-elissa