Intention

The Nature of Travel

Last winter, I found myself looking ahead beyond the completion of my MA in Oriental Medicine, August 2007. At that juncture, I would, due to the gracious support of my family, have no debt, no established clinical practice or employment, no home, (at that time) no partner, no pet etc. Additionally, I had received counsel from many established OM practitioners to, if at all possible, take time off after school. With those elements in mind, I felt drawn to seize the opportunity, plunder my savings, and strap on my traveling sandals again.

Over the course of our lives, humans seem to be drawn more and more deeply by those things which offer security. In relationship, in housing, in employment, we hunger for the reliable, the predictable. Our minds, and I would argue our bodies, benefit from consistency. And yet, in the midst of satisfying our need for regularity, with habituation a concurrent dulling of the senses can arise.

I have had the good fortune to travel quite a bit in my reasonably short life: in Europe, Australia, some focused stretches in Asia. During periods of immersion in the language, custom, food, clothing, the culture of a place other than my own, I have been invited, at times even forced, to engage the question of what is really left? How does travel of this kind impact my sense of who I am and all that figures into that identity?

I resettled in Seattle 8 years ago. Over this time, I have developed a reasonably established life and community. In preparation for my departure, in the process of removing my name from every mailing list, disconnecting my phone, cutting my car insurance, converting all banking to e-statements, there has been a pivoting toward the journey, toward the letting go, and an initiation of the paring away that I have explored in the past.

I am not foolish enough to believe that this will be the same experience I had in my younger travels. I have left a community and a companion in Seattle. These will both anchor me during this journey, and draw me back when the time is right. And still, this process of stepping away is compelling; stepping away from those aspects of life most intimate and sacred as well as the utterly mundane.

This will not be strictly a tourist log. My itinerary is designed around people rather than places, homes more than hotels. My travels will be distinguised by time spent with those dear to me; time sharing dialogue, food, the details and activities of their lives. My intention, with these writings, is to share glimpses of the journey.

And so, as if standing on the bow of a ship, I bear my face toward the wind, horizon and sky and I venture forward.