“The world is a
book. People who don't travel read only one page.”–St. Augustine Dear ones, That's me in a Bedouin tent where we stopped for tea after driving through desert canyons in Wadi Rum, Jordan. One day out of 138 days we spent traveling by ship around the world this year. This is
not our first extended rodeo, mind you. It's our third. And as much as I'd like to think I've got this travel thing down, reentry has not gotten easier. Not after five months of being stretched and expanded, turned upside down and sideways. I've been
doing a lot of unpacking since we returned a month ago (and I don't mean clothes). My latest blog post photo-essay is my best attempt to make sense of it all. It's called "Why I Travel." You can read it here. For lighter fare, here's the condensed version: I could describe the magic of sailing the fjords of New Zealand, and paddling through the winding tributaries of the Mekong Delta in Vietnam. I could talk about the (white-knuckle)
thrill of riding on horseback through the high mountains of Java. I could describe the profound (cleansing) impact of placing my written prayers into the Wailing Wall in the Jewish quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem. In the end it boils down to the question of travel itself, and why I travel. You could say that most people travel to leave home. I choose travel as a way to come home. Let me explain: Travel is disruptive (in a good way). It disrupts the normal
patterning of things. It can turn everything on its head, change how you see things, surprise you in ways you never imagined... (yes, that is really us hanging by the rafters at the Upside Down house in Malaysia 😉) Travel awakens. While adapting
to changes that mess with our need for routine and comfort is not always easy, it is the very messiness –– and surrendering to it –– that turns up a light. It engages the senses. It enlivens. You realize that it doesn't take much to awaken to life's simple pleasures: a rainstorm, a stray mango that drops in your path, a kind stranger stopping to offer directions. These things have magic powers, if we allow them, to lift us beyond ourselves. Travel clarifies. There's no better way to know what we value
than to be away from it for a while. Coming home will do that. It isn't until you walk in the door that you see (or feel), with sometimes painful clarity, what fits and what no longer fits into your home and life (read: clutter). You may also realize, as I often do, that clearing is a breeze when you find yourself saying: "I can live without this (thing, issue, relationship) because, wait, I already have!" I would wager that something similar happens any time we enter another world with an open mind and a spacious heart. When we can do that, when we can experience the world as it is,
not as we think it should be, we have changed. We will never be the same again. And I daresay the world will be a bit lighter, and freer, and more spacious, too, as a result. To inspire you to go off-road somewhere and explore some little corner of our amazing world, I'll leave you with this short video ode to the journey and to the best traveling partner one could ask for (my husband, Jay). Getting to do this with
my beloved was the biggest blessing of all! (Be sure you turn up the sound.) Want more? I chronicled our trip @spaciousway on Instagram. With photos, reels, and stories (marked "World 1, 2, etc." in the highlights), there is plenty there to transport you around the world as we experienced it in real time. There is also the photo-essay I mentioned earlier that does some more unpacking with more photos here: "Why I Travel." Until next time, enjoy, and HAPPY TRAVELS! Stephanie PS, There are many ways to travel where you don't have to leave home at all (and can do a lot of unpacking!) Keep scrolling for another way to play and experience a whole other remarkable world: YOU!
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Your Spacious Self NEW! 10th Anniversary Edition comes out Sept 12, 2023
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In the end you do not have to leave home to turn your mind on its head and come back lighter than when you left. Mindful clutter clearing will do that! With updated content and even more inspiring stories, practices, and wisdom, this 10th Anniversary edition of Your Spacious Self has been distilled to its sparkly essence
– making it a richer, more accessible read. Preorder
your copy and play a much bigger game with clearing –– be it physical, mental, emotional, or energetic.
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Stephanie Bennett Vogt is a leading space clearing expert, teacher, and author of five books and four online courses which have attracted over 275,000 participants. She brings forty years of experience to SpaceClear, a practice she founded in 1996 helping
homes and people come into balance.
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