“Are you feeling happy?” I asked Christian.
I was working at my laptop and he had just brought me a cup of tea. My natural reaction, when I saw his smile and the tea, was to open my arms and hug him. He hugged me, and then I asked the question.
Jaime, a soul sister with whom I share a house, and I met Christian at a music festival in Spain four weeks ago. He is a traveller, originally from Chile, and we bonded instantly.
Within days, he made up his mind to change his next destination from the Philippines to Malta. Without any need for discussing the matter, ten days ago he came to live with us. How long for? We didn’t discuss that either.
In that precise moment, I felt very grateful for the additional positive energy he had brought to our home. I felt a genuine curiosity to know whether he was feeling perfectly comfortable, wanting to offer the space for speaking if anything needed to be spoken.
“Yes, I feel very happy! Everything is amazing. I didn’t book my flight ticket to the Philippines and I ended up at the festival and I met you and now I am here and everything is just how I wanted it.”
“It feels good to have you here,” I smiled, meeting his eye to show I mean it.
He beamed.
“You didn’t know me, but you opened your house just because we shared a good feeling for a few days – that is trusting intuition, without fear.”
He continued, “I was wishing to be around people with whom I am able to share my thoughts and feelings deeply, and with whom I could share a trusting, free-flowing approach to life; we communicate on this level and live this way.”
I nodded, smiling widely. Just the night before we had had a spontaneous 1 am heart-sharing session.
Yes, Christian, Jaime and I get on famously; we share the same attitude towards life. Some may call us dreamers, idealists, hippies, whatever … ; it doesn’t matter, because it is simply a way of life that we have each discovered brings greater happiness.
Although travelling is by no means the only way, there is something about going about the world alone and being outside your comfort zone that pushes you to reassess your perception of how life works and what values you want to live by.
And many travellers tend to share a few common ideals that form the basis of what could be considered a subculture.
We spoke of life’s synchronicity and ultimate perfection; of being guided by energy and intuition; of the interconnectedness of all things and beings; of honouring ourself and others; of approaching relationships with authenticity and transparency; of accepting responsibility for our personal emotional experience of life. And we spoke of how life seems to directly respond to how we feel.
“More and more people are understanding that unity, connection and gratitude bring greater happiness than separation, disconnection and control, and the family is always growing,” said Christian, enthusiastic. “I feel that I want to help this continue to grow; maybe I can do something to spread this feeling.”
I smiled. And I had the idea to help Christian spread the message by writing this article to tell the story of the alternate reality of a traveller’s life – the messages coming from souls whose minds and hearts are free should, after all, be heard.
Indeed, life is a journey, we are all travellers, and our life is however we choose to live it.
