Hi everyone!

I’m Tina, one of the two interns at e>v and this is my first blog post. This week, I am going on a much deserved, week long vacation in California. I will be blogging an e>v-in-action report about my trip! But I won’t be blogging live. I will be writing in my paper blog (aka my journal) and my e>v booklet about my trip and will transfer my paper entries to this blog when I get back. Why? Let me explain. I have dared myself to not use a computer for an entire week! No e-mail, facebook, twitter, or anything for me. I’m actually looking forward to it (being on a computer 40+ hours a week for the past six weeks may be the reason). Look out for the e>v-in-action report when I get back!

See you guys next week!

Tina

Hey all! 

Gretchen here, writing to you live from the hotel bathroom floor where I'm holed up while my travel partners sleep.

So this weekend has found Elissa and I in Chicago where we met up with another great friend and have lived some evolution through vacation of our own (the original version, if you will, on a trip to take in Great Big Sea).

It's been perfect--magical and mystifying, expansive and contracted, bold and withdrawn. A gathering of contrasts. Contrasts explored with two of the best friends a girl could ask for.

The Great Big Sea shows themselves = fantastic. Truly, if you have not seen this band, go! Talented musicians all, they are commanding on stage. Fun and engaging, these are not shows to be seen so much as experienced. These two shows at the House of Blues brought out the die-hards from around the country and Canada and made for a very crowded floor where there turned out to be just enough room for vertical movement (which was brilliant for my sprained ankle, earned after a tumble down my icy Minneapolis front steps). 

There were times, though, when space opened up and the crowd faded away and I got my groove on. What I love so much about dancing is that it gets me out of my head (where I spend an inordinate amount of time) and into the rest of my body to experience the music. I used to play instruments, all of which I have left behind. What I remember so distinctly about playing is a zone I would enter when I stepped inside a song. It's a space of flow where doing (causing the instruments to make noise) emanated from being (the connection to the song). Dancing brings me to this space, too. And as someone who lives a lot in their head, it's a welcome shift.

It's been a grand adventure so far. And, as I hear stirring in the other room, I'm reminded we have another day yet to explore before our planes take off this evening. So, off the bathroom floor and out into the city...

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

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

Have you seen this?

Scientists are claiming by not eating for 14-16 hours, you can squash jet leg like a mofo. Cool!

Gotta try it, dontcha think?

Check it out! e>v is on the home page of Ode Magazine! You can read our full post on their cool Exchange site here.  (You may have to register, but it's completely worth it. Ode has oodles of goodness for you to read and learn ... "For Intelligent Optimists" -- that's Ode and they're super cool.) Rock on!