"To become men, boys must wander, always wander all their life."
~ Ray Bradbury
Over the past few years I have spent a lot of time traveling. I lived for a year in India, exploring different parts of the Indian subcontinent, facing both joy and bliss, and pain and suffering, sinking into the maelstrom of contrasts and contradictions of this amazing country.
And recently I returned from a trip to Europe, from sunny Greece, under whose friendly sky, I was hiding as if under a warm blanket from the dank Moscow summer. My work allows me to travel and work, being anywhere in the world where there is Internet. And I am very grateful for the opportunity given to me.
After all, thanks to travel, the personality is strengthened, matures, gets rid of prejudices, develops horizons, revises its values.
Traveling is not only relaxation and new experiences. They also help our personality grow and develop.
Looking back, I am pleased to note how much I matured when traveling around the world. Under the gloomy mountain peaks and in the shaking trains and on the seashore, I was visited by valuable ideas and insights that made me reconsider my whole life and my outlook on things.
As Neil Donald Walsh said:
"Life begins outside your comfort zone."
And Anatole France echoed him:
"Travel teaches more than anything. Sometimes one day spent in other places gives more than ten years of living at home."
During my travels, I developed five iron rules that will help you get from traveling not only the maximum of impressions and rest, but also the maximum resource for self-development.
Rule 1 - Being Conscious
"People do not create travel, but travel creates people."
~ John Steinbeck
In my family, there has always been a tradition to "sit down on the path." I remember from my childhood how my parents, whom no one had ever taught meditation before, sat down before each trip and spent in silence for about half a minute.
I think that this is not just a beautiful family ritual, but also a kind of practice that helps you to collect your thoughts before the trip, to remember what we could forget.
And it also seems to me that this tradition is one of the examples of the intuitive embodiment of the principles of meditation in social customs. It seems like reading birthday toasts can be called the primitive social form of metta meditation.
But who would know that when I grow up, I will sit in silence every day from half an hour to an hour, without fail, without exceptions, following the strict, formal rules of "sitting." And, including, during travel.
No matter how many times I get up, no matter how interesting things or heavy flights, they wait for me to come, I always begin my day with meditation. I can sometimes skip exercise or yoga. But without meditation, as well as without brushing my teeth, I do not start my day.
In the most extreme and exceptional cases, if I was not able to meditate at home, I meditate on the road in transport or already on the beach.
Awareness on vacation is especially needed.
It is necessary in order to be attentive and collected. After all, travel is also a kind of stress. We have to plan, negotiate, keep in mind many things, without losing anything, orient ourselves in an unfamiliar and unfamiliar environment.
But traveling is not only long flights and communication with strangers. It is also a vacation. And during the rest awareness is also needed.
To be in the flow of what is happening, enjoy the moment here and now, without flying thoughts into work and in daily duties. Stay with the sensations of a caressing wind, soft sand, warm sea, fresh air. Be calm and relaxed.
Awareness must organically integrate into the way of life, just as the river flows into the blue ocean. The potential of meditation increases many times, when awareness begins to incarnate not only in the form of sitting in formal meditation 2 times a day, but accompanies many daily activities.
Therefore, I try to use travel time as a potential for exactly informal meditation. It does not take much time. And does not "interrupt" the rest. On the contrary, it helps to enjoy the journey much deeper.
When I lie on the beach, I try to feel the sun caressing my skin, the pleasant heat on my body. And if thoughts take me away somewhere, I, noticing this, transfer my attention back to the pleasant sensations in the body.
Sometimes I slowly walk back and forth along the shore, looking down at my feet or straight ahead in front of me with a sensitive attention to the sensations in my feet. Aware of the moment of touching the foot with sand. Aware of the moment of touching the coastal wave with the feet.
And when I notice that my attention has gone to the side, I return it to my feet. And again I observe all the sensations: sand, water, feeling of heaviness, feeling of lightness.
And then a delicious dinner. Exotic food, riot of tastes. And all these tastes are in my language. I try to chew slowly. Trying not to miss this taste, do not miss this moment.
I am here and now. I live.
Informal practice is very appropriate for long flights.
For example, in recent travels I encountered flight delays and I had to spend a lot of time at airports.
Instead of sitting and nervous, in such cases I slowly walk back and forth along the airport with the utmost attention to the sensations in the feet.
I go to the toilet with full attention to everything. To the sound of a babbling jet, which breaks into white enamel. To the contact of liquid soap with the skin of hands. With warm water from the tap.
Of course, I do not do this all the time. I can read. I can listen to the player. Or just let the thoughts "walk". But nevertheless, episodes of mindfulness throughout the day help me to make my journey more intense and interesting in terms of impressions. I become more attentive. And attention helps not to miss the details.
And when my mind is focused and calm, a fruitful space is born inside for new insights, insights. I am returning from a journey with a bunch of new plans and ideas.
Rule 2 - Curb Inner Toad
“Only about two things we will regret on our deathbed — that we loved little and traveled little.”
~ Mark Twain
I myself am very thrifty. And often I notice the same frugality in my compatriots on vacation and traveling.
And it can be understood. Traveling is expensive. And if you do not keep abreast of expenses, the trip can very painfully hit the wallet.
But just sometimes this reasonable frugality turns into frank greed.
When you try to save on everything, you make every effort not to inadvertently pay an extra penny, find any "loopholes": traveling as a hare, bargaining for delirium tremens, not giving tips, etc.
I think this is wrong and I try to fight it in myself.
After all, I am a guest in a country that welcomes me. And as a guest, I try to treat the owner is not consumer, but with respect and respect.
And you need to give the opportunity to the country that sheltered you, which gave you a beautiful sea, a cloudless sky or majestic mountains, to earn on your stay.
There is nothing wrong.
Therefore, I advise you to somehow support the local population, do not skimp on tips, do not look for any loopholes to save money. This is especially true of many Asian countries, whose population is much poorer than the tourist contingent.
No, I do not call for thoughtless waste and, moreover, to encourage all sorts of scammers who are trying to make money on you.
Act intelligently, listen to your intuition. Respect the work of other people. Appreciate the hospitality and hospitality of the country in which you are a guest.
In one of my articles I wrote about how I was in the Indian city of Varanasi and there I met a local boy who was very friendly and spoke good English. He offered the services of a guide, but I refused and did not give him the opportunity to earn his work out of the notorious stinginess, which I later regretted.
I think it could be a very interesting excursion.
But intuition and common sense should be connected here. Many who have been to India know how many scams there are and deception.
I repeat, I do not call to pay for the "labor" of everyone. Act sensibly.
And recently I visited the most expensive place in my entire life, on the fashionable, luxurious Greek island of Mykonos. I went to this place because my family members have a rest there every year, but I have never been.
And I know from my own experience what kind of anguish a journey can become if you count every penny.
And it helped me a lot that I had prepared in advance for how much such a trip could eat. No, I was not going to squander the money there, but still, I deliberately didn't appreciate the amount very optimistically.
I figured this figure in my mind, tuned in to the fact that I would have to part with it, I felt the beat of the inner toad inside and just swallowed it.
And then, on a journey, it was much easier for me to reasonably, not at all wasteful, but not to be too overly careful with spending, not worrying and not worrying about them, since I had prepared in advance. Yes, the toad certainly disturbed me a little, but not so much and painfully as it could be =)
Rule 3 - Leave time to rest while relaxing
I do not like the "rest" of the category "gallop across Europe": visit 10 places in 5 days. Yes, I know, so many of my fellow countrymen love to travel. You can hear: "well, I just want to have time to see everything!"
Why should I just "look"? Well, I saw with my own eyes the Himalayas or Lake Kucherlinskoye, so what's next? These places I can "see" in the photos.
My task as a traveler is to feel some place, to soak up his spirit.
Therefore, even if I have only a week of time, I try to spend it in one place, if I like this place.
I love to lie on the beach.
I have heard from different people: "I do not like beach holidays" or "I can not lie on the beach for a long time." But very often, the point is not that, due to his taste, a person prefers one kind of rest to another, but that he simply does not know how to relax. For many people, it is a torture to lie idle.
Therefore, when after work they come on vacation, they continue to live in the rhythm of everyday life, unable to stop, constantly do something, go on a tour on the first day until the evening, and on the same night to a party.
Their activity with the arrival of vacation does not stop, it only changes its content. And this is no rest!
Before I began to meditate, I myself was like that.
I remember how my wife and I were lying on a Spanish beach. It was about 7 years ago. And I was spinning around in anxiety, telling her: "Well, let's go somewhere already," was capricious about how I don’t like to lie idle.
But at that time I was already engaged in meditation and therefore, after a while, I took this situation not as an objective limitation, which I cannot overcome, but as a challenge and an excuse to know myself.
I, in addition, wondered why many people like to lie on the beach so much, what is it about this that I never understood?
What have I missed here?
And I tried to just lie down and do nothing. Yes, anxiety began to overwhelm me. But instead of resisting him or giving in, I simply accepted him as a sensation. And gradually the sun filled my body with a pleasant languor, mild relaxation appeared in my head, my thoughts began to flow smoothly and pleasantly.
Psychologists say that there are three types of leisure activities: rest, recreation and pastime with family and friends (the last two can be combined).
Moreover, rest is just a “passive” time of transmission, during which we do not engage in violent activity. For example, it is listening to music in a relaxed atmosphere, meditation, unhurried walk, the beach.
And according to experts, it is important to maintain a balance between the three types of leisure. Each person must necessarily allocate a time when he does not do anything, if he is interested in his psychological well-being.
I subscribe to this. I began to feel much more myself, after I began to force myself to make such pauses of “nothing doing” (I was always a hyperactive person and, believe me, it was not easy for me).
Therefore, always during the holidays, if possible, I try to spend time on the beach. Over the past few years, I really loved this kind of holiday.
Bathing and sun are so easy, but at the same time, so much fun! Sometimes I take a book with me and read a lot. Sometimes in five hours under an umbrella, I slowly read a couple of pages, and then, with bewilderment, I think what happened the rest of the time. Since it flies by unnoticed.
And after the beach, you can already have an active rest: go to a party with friends, play games and whatnot!
And if there is no beach, then walks in the forest, rest on the balcony with a beautiful view and an interesting book will replace it.
Rule 4 - go in the flow
“If you want to climb high, use your own legs! Do not allow yourself to carry yourself, do not sit on other people's shoulders and heads! ”
~ Friedrich Nietzsche.
I prefer to always travel "savage", book hotels, buy tickets for airplanes and trains, independently decide where I go. I do not like to walk like a ruler in a crowd of tourists with cameras. I like freedom, independence and choice.
There are many advantages in this. But, on the other hand, in this case, you have to make permanent decisions: which route to choose, which restaurant to go to, with whom you can agree, with whom it is impossible?
And “to go in the flow” means at least sometimes to let go of control, to cease to decide anything, to give room for spontaneity and not to resist the circumstances in which you find yourself.
This means, being a guest of a friend in Mumbai, to refuse to choose a route, but let him choose what to show me and where to take me. Let it be not even top sights with TripAdvisor.
It means that when you go to one of the parties of the insane and drunken island of Mykonos, you don’t get bored: “I’d rather be in retreat and meditate,” and have fun dancing on the bar in the stream of general joy, with attention to my inner feelings and euphoria filling the air.
This means, arriving in the car of the stuffy Indian train to Hampi, choose a hotel right on the spot, settling there, simply because you liked its name.
This means trusting circumstances, rushing in their flow.
And it very well contributes to a fruitful rest and an interesting journey.
No, I do not caress, I often plan a lot in advance and soberly choose. But sometimes, in certain cases, I allow myself to let go of any control and expectations. When I do this, my intuition tells me.
Rule 5 - Explore Traditions and Find Hidden Pearls
"Look for the elusive, not the exclusive"
~ Master Card Advertising
I was always amazed by tourists who, coming to India, did not leave the coast anywhere, diligently avoiding a collision with local cuisine (trying to order something quasi-European at restaurants) and generally themselves in every way isolated from local culture.
Why then go to India?
There are plenty of tourist incubators, hotels, fenced with a fence from the local fauna and flora, which can be reached much cheaper.
Personally, I have always preferred immersion in the local culture.
Walk through the narrow non-tourist streets.
Try local food.
Go to the city market.
And such things are much more remembered.
I hardly remember visiting all sorts of tourist places, as I walked through the ruins with crowds of tourists from China to the sounds of camera flashes.
I have been to India many times, but I have never seen the Taj Mahal and I don’t know if I want to see.
But I remembered for a long time how I sat with my father in the hubbub of voices, in a daze of mutton-roasted lamb flesh, at a worn, wobbling plastic table and extinguished the heat with an icy beer in the middle of a bustling Muslim market in a mountain village in Bulgaria.
Or, as I rushed with a friend through the night streets of Mumbai on a motorcycle, flying at breakneck speed into such narrow gaps between buses and cars, in which, it seems, the fist will not pass.
As I was at the sound of an Indian TV series, I dined with my wife in a traditional Indian family, grabbing food straight with my hands from banana leaves, which are used in the south of the subcontinent instead of plates.
Как мы с супругой не пошли днем смотреть Акрополь в Афинах, а вместо этого вечером с местными ребятами отправились в неизвестный туристам бар на крыше и оттуда наблюдали колыбель западной цивилизации в светящемся великолепии под звуки прекрасного техно.
Как я шлялся по заплеванным, грязным, пропитанным трупным запахом улочкам Варанаси.
Как я жевал паан (традиционный индийский легкий тонизирующий наркотик) и сплевывал на землю красную слюну, словно я настоящий индиец.
Как я просыпался в 4 утра под пение мантр в храмах.
Как я купался в верховьях Ганги.
Это были самые яркие впечатления и самый интенсивный опыт, который я никогда не забуду.
***
«Мир - это книга. И кто не путешествовал по нему - прочитал в ней только одну страницу»
~ Святой Августин
Эти пять правил очень помогают мне как в изнурительных горных походах, так и в спокойных пляжных турах.
Они способствуют полноценному отдыху и глубокому погружению в новый опыт.
Ничто так, как путешествия, не сталкивают нас с относительностью и произвольностью собственных воззрений.
Поездки в другие уголки мира помогают нам увидеть то, что многие наши представления - просто порождения той культуры, в которой мы воспитывались, а не безусловные истины. Мы видим, что все может быть совершенно по-другому. Может быть как хуже, так и лучше.
Мне кажется, что люди, которые путешествуют, обладают более широким взглядом на вещи, меньше подвержены внушению средствами массовой информации.
Они все сами наблюдают чужие страны своими глазами, ощущают их всеми органами чувств. Они видят, что в мире люди живут не так, как это показывают по телевизору. Этот непосредственный опыт рассеивает завесу лжи и дезинформации.
У человека появляется космополитичный взгляд на вещи, исчезают ксенофобия и национальная ненависть.
Поэтому путешествуйте, посещайте другие уголки мира, впитывайте новый опыт, знакомьтесь с непривычной культурой, узнавайте людей.
Ведь благодаря путешествиям люди взрослеют.
И смотрите мое новое короткое видео о европейской толерантности, русском фанатизме и медитации. Это видео мы снимали на прекрасном Миконосе на закате.
Подписывайтесь на мой канал и ставьте лайки=)
