Honoring the Space, within the Place

Reviewing our first six months as digital nomads,  we've been reflecting on what we have learned, what we have regretted, and what we look forward to as we begin the next six-month series of housesits toward The Northwest Coast. 

For both of us, it has not only been a time for exploring new lifestyles and settings, but more importantly, a time to reflect and rethink past paradigms of literally how one lives their life in such a chaotic world.  Jer decided to reread a book that influenced both him and Phyl many decades ago; “Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance” by Robert Pirsig. In the book, Pirsig uses the analogy of traveling on a motorcycle across the country as a backdrop to discuss some heavy philosophical concepts (meaning of life, paradigms of thought, how to change a spark plug, etc.!). 

He compares his journey and experiences to those of a long gone institution; the traveling show known as Chautauqua (there is a movie titled The Trouble With Girls, staring Elvis Presley which highlights the Chautauqua vibe).  Pirsig commented that the traditional Chautauqua included a series of “popular talks intended to edify and entertain, improve the minds and bring culture and enlightenment.” (sorta like Ringling Bros. circus but with an educational vibe). 

A quote early on in the book ignited a long fireside chat for us... "If a revolution destroys a systematic government, but the systematic patterns of thought that produced that government are left intact, then those patterns will repeat themselves in the succeeding government." As we sat in reflection, we both smiled at each other with chagrin at the realization that although we had started a personal revolution in our lives by selling our home and most of our possessions, the patterns of that "government" (systematic patterns of living our lives) were still with us. That is, we still emotionally clung to vestiges of the western cultural paradigm that our lives had been defined by - physical possessions. 

That realization prompted us to revisit items stored with family (which wasn't a lot to begin with) - and once again, we peeled another layer of the onion, releasing old blenders, practical but not loved kitchenware, and books that represented prior systems that truly are not relevant to the nomadic lifestyle we have committed ourselves to.  

The "ah-ha" was that to actually embrace the potential personal and professional growth ahead of us, we needed to be more grounded and honoring of the present Space we are in, the Here & Now (and not so caught up with the physical Place).  And while our surroundings do, and will continue to, provide fertile ground for growth,  we now realize that it is our state of mind that provides the mental and emotional fertilizer for germinating new perspectives and insights. Bottom line - we had done everything to change into digital nomads except REALLY Change - so begins the "hearts and minds" phase of our campaign in our nomadic revolution! :)