2015.

As we’re nearing the end to another year. A year that to me, personally, was exceptionally beautiful and life-changing, events, people, and places focus a little more clearly and perspective seems much more attainable.

I feel as if 2015 was the first year my shell didn’t simply crack, but shattered into a million beautiful pieces.

Looking into retrospect, this time last year, I was at a place that was the most unknown I had experienced. Preparing blindly, yet quietly, for a journey that would change my life completely and throw my heart out of my chest and into a world that I had known comfortably, into a world that wasn’t only real, but a world where I finally felt home and tangible.

The lessons that I had experienced and grown from, and are still growing from are universal.

1. The world is kinder than we make it out to be.

Traveling is simply but the way we live our lives on a day to day basis but on a much different scale. We see sings we may struggle to see, we meet people from all walks of life with beautiful and heart wrenching stories, and through all of this, we discover more about ourselves and learn the true, genuine power of kindness and trust within ourselves and our world. Trust and love. Not just yourself, but the decisions you make, the places you go, and the people you meet. You can work your way backwards normally from experiences that don’t work out, but you can’t go backwards from experiences and people that you commit to fully with your heart.

2. Relationships are sacred

Living in a time of things, relationships can often be shooed aside and kind of be our shoulder. But i’ve learned that relationships of all types, rather it be a best friend, a mother, a lover, or the man you regularly see at your local coffee shop that seems to have a story you want to peel open, are the core of our hearts. Everything that we desire leads back to the desire for human connection. This is why we’re here. We yearn to know someone is experiencing the same thing. We crave words when we’re lost, and we crave touch when we’re feeling sad or melancholic. This all leads to human connection. Without this, we’re simply but stars shining on our own. Together, we’re a constellation that shines for the universe to love and understand. Cultivate these relationships, listen, and never judge. You are no better than any other human or life, and they are no better than you.

3. Say yes.

This is a big one for me in the past year I have certainly worked on and seen the power first hand, as traveling can really accentuate and heighten the power of this. Sometimes we can be tired, scared, unsure of what’s to come in our decisions. But the future we are creating lies in these decisions and the fearlessness to make them. As my favourite poet Rainer Maria Rilke once said;

  “Let everything happen to you
Beauty and terror
Just keep going
No feeling is final”

By making these decisions, we are opening ourselves up to a beautiful adventure. Whether it be pure joy, or heartbreak and continuous lessons.

Say yes, the power and beauty of it is much greater than not.

4. Open your heart. (One eye open, one eye closed.)

I thought about this one for quite some time. Life can be excruciatingly difficult, or an eye opening beautiful. But with an open heart and mind, these experiences shift from experience to a lesson with understanding. If someone normally had treated me poorly, I would react. I would get angry and my temper would unleash and I would pretty much set on fire. Now, (although I am still not perfect ;)) I try to understand. That person may be hurting. I look at them as a scared child with bruises that have led to their adulthood that we all suffer no matter who we are or where and what we come from.

One eye open, one eye closed. A lot of people may disagree with this, but for me, it is a way that I live my life that has helped drastically. I am very sensitive by nature and am easily affected by emotion or tragedy plaguing our world.

With one eye open, we see. We observe. We understand. Being blind to what is happening in our world and our personal lives on a day to basis is foolish. We are here, and we are capable of change, and the power we hold is strong beyond belief. Difficult at times, we need to understand and observe what is unfolding around us. We need to nourish our selves, our bodies, and understand what must be done to do this. To understand, we need to see. And to see, we have the power to act.

With one eye closed, we still hold the magic we held as children. A beautiful blindness that protected us and kept us comforted. The magic that made us believe in tomorrow, the neighbor, and ourselves.

2015 was a year that brought change, heartbreak, many firsts, many lonely nights, and many magical nights.Some of the most important people had come into my life that are truly a gift and have led me through some very dark days and very beautiful, hopeful days. The value of experience was stronger than the value of money, and the experience was transformational.

May you all and all you love have a healthy, happy, and magical 2016. I am very excited, and hope that you are as well.

And aud lang syne.