I was about 15 years old when an evangelical pastor said to me “son do you know that god has a divine path for you”. My reaction was cool I’m glad someone knows where the heck I’m going because I have no clue. However when I asked for the map of this path he gave me a bible and said your destiny lies here!

Well this little interaction set me on a quest for the next 35 years to find this elusive path that I kept hearing about. My quest has led me to masters in personal growth and self help, workshops, seminars and programs, the major religions and some not so major, countries and cultures across the world, spiritual organizations and some not so spiritual.  It has taken me through marriage, kids, divorce and other relationships (its complicated), happiness, depression and attempted suicide (obviously failed).

Yes it has been, and remains quite an adventure.

The only thing that has remained constant in this whole quest is my intense desire is to find and live this True Path I was obviously put on this earth to live. You know the one, the path to joy, live the life you love, happiness and beyond etc. There are so many ways of expressing it, and if you search as I have, the same amount of people and organisations proclaiming to have the secret map.

So it’s fair to ask after spending an incalculable amount of money and time on this quest, did I find the treasure map that leads to nirvana and never ending joy?

Well I will get to that answer soon, in the mean time I would like to express some of the insights I experienced along the way. The only rule here is that they all start with: In my experience -

• The truth you know and defend today will inevitability change tomorrow,
• Always question the real motives of people and organization's of all types, who have so much invested in their version of the truth that other possibilities are impossible,
• Remain open to the impossible, as it just may be possible tomorrow,
• Change is inevitable – acceptance and appreciation are optional,
• Knowledge combined with direct experience equals wisdom,
• The Being driving the bus of life may not be me,
• Always ask the questions you really don’t want to know the answers, to such as:

          o    Is there really a purpose to life?
          o    Who am I?
          o    Who is the I?
          o    What is reality and what is illusion?
          o    What is the truth?

• The ego lives in a world of duality, the heart and soul live in oneness,
• And so much more, so for now I will just leave it as etc.

Ok so much for insights, here is what I have found so far about being on my path and living my truth, (insert drum role here), I was, I am, I have been. Yep during all that time, spending all that money and doing all that research I found I was on my path, was living my truth, was doing what I loved.

There was only one issue, and that was I had not become aware of it!

That is the difference now, I am aware of it and in doing so am having a very different direct experience of my life.

As I have expressed previously “life and change happens” no matter what, and my path is to just turn up and enjoy it. That is why I could never find the damn map, I didn’t need it, as it is not my job to find my way, it is given to me one step at a time and my only task is to take the step.

This is what I mean by living and traveling intuitively. We don’t have, or need a map, (except the van GPS, that helps sometimes). We accept and appreciate life as it comes and take the obvious action when the universal signs indicate, the only trick is to be quiet enough to see and hear them.

Now if you have bothered to read this far, you may not feel that this is for you and my only suggestion is try it for yourself. Give it a go, what have you got to lose.

You see when we come across an idea that challenges us, or we do not agree with, we tend to dismiss it out of hand because we have so much invested in what we believe already. However I have found that the only way I know what works for me is to try it on and have a direct experience of it.

I will leave you with one question “Do you feel it is possible, that everybody is actually on their path, living the life that they were meant to have, with the only choice being in how they choose to experience it?”

Travel well

Gavin

PS: If you feel inclined, drop us a comment below.

The one thing about living a lifestyle intuitively on the road is that it brings home the fact that “Change Is Inevitable”. Now it doesn’t matter if I want it or not or if I believe in it or not, the fact is “Change Happens”.

If you disagree try a little experiment, do nothing for a week. Lock yourself in a space and just do absolutely nothing for a week and observe what happens! My feeling is change will happen, the world will go on and change, even if you feel you are the centre of the universe. However forget about the world, even when you do nothing you change, you will get hungry, if you don’t move you will get sore and if you do nothing but sit quietly with yourself for a week, then my guess is your mental state will change, however I don’t recommend doing this without consulting an expert in the field and top up your medical insurance for mental health cover.

OK, if you still don’t feel “Change Happens”, then for the sake of this blog just take my word for it and dare I say for the moment just accept it. Which brings me to the question –

If change is going to happen no matter what we do, then, what do we do?

Well in my experience you have two choices:

1. You can either accept and appreciate it, or
2.  NOT accept and NOT appreciate it.

That’s it, yes you have free choice and these are your choices, and again in my experience both choices will give you a very different “direct experience” of life.
Which brings me back to our current lifestyle, where this constant change is amplified. When travelling we stay at a place usually less than 4 days and house sitting less than 4 weeks. We are always in new places, with new people and animals, new experiences and generally with no plan of what is going to happen next. We very rarely operate on automatic as our environments change so rapidly there is no chance to get used to it.

Typical examples are one minute we may have cats sleeping on the bed and then at the next house sit dogs snoring. We move from sleeping in Paris “Our Camper Van” with a king single bed to a house with Queen sized bed and inside toilets and showers.

Yep that’s our life on the road, and we make the choice constantly to accept and appreciate the change. That is what I mean about it’s our choice. We can choose NOT to accept it, try and resist it, and in doing so have a direct experience of the suffering, pain and frustration that generates, or as we have done, accept and appreciate it and have a direct experience of the adventures, synchronicity and joy that generates.

It really is that simple!

However that’s not to say it easy, because in my experience its not, but, also in my experience it is a worthwhile pursuit because when you boil it all down it’s the only game in town and you all ready know the formula.

• Change Happens
• Accept it
• Appreciate the difference
• And last but not least, let go of the stories we make around it.

So here is my challenge to you, rather than locking yourself away and doing nothing for a week, try consciously accepting and appreciating change for a week and see for yourself the difference (if any) it makes in your life.

By the way if you feel moved to, feel free to leave a comment about your direct experience of change.