I live immersed in the reality of how I think (without an effort, naturally), that things will be, based on the everyday patterns I'm accustomed to. Most days pass by normally, and we tend to notice (or take for granted) things we already know. There's so much information bombarding us every second that trying to process it all would drive us crazy (?). Information enters our subconscious and surfaces to our conscious mind when it fits the context or when we need it to understand something. This that I am describing is somewhat similar to the phenomenon of echo chambers, an environment in which a person only encounters information or opinions that reflect and reinforce their own. In my reality, I find information that further reinforces the reality I'm accustomed to.
It's challenging to become aware of new things, especially when deeply entrenched in your own normality. However, there are things that deviate from the "normal," happening perhaps every instant (and for each person, "normal" can be very different). There are extra-ordinary things: events that deviate from the natural order or rule. An example of the extra-ordinary, for me, is giving attention to the details of the ordinary, in the fast-paced world we live in, it’s uncommon to do so. Noticing the details within the ordinary is an extraordinary act. The sun sets every day, but which day is physically identical to another? Noticing the differences is extraordinary.
It's a gift to be able to see these phenomena. To do so, we need to slow down and pay attention to the signals the universe gives us. Perhaps that's one of the keys to thinking outside the box: learning to see beyond what we're used to, learning to listen and grasp the tiniest signals we receive.
Traveling allows us to step out of the ordinary, opening us up to vastly different worlds than the ones we're accustomed to. These worlds might be completely normal for the people who inhabit them. Traveling places us directly in a context where we can escape normality, yet we might still try to find our own normalcy there, as our normal is comfortable.
I want to share two very distinct examples of what I'm talking about:
I was on Koh Lanta, and it was Loy Kathrong festival week. Throughout that week, I had fleeting moments of consciousness about the nearly full moon. On the day of the festival, we were all sitting in the village watching the stage.
As it began to get darker, I saw the moon and noticed it was just a nail. It caught my attention because I was certain it should be full.
I didn't dwell on it much, but my reasoning followed any explanation that allowed me to understand based on what I'm accustomed to: a cyclic moon. Maybe the full moon becomes a nail from one day to the next, and I had forgotten, or perhaps more time had passed since I last saw it full than I thought... arguments like that. I felt that something was odd, but I accepted that there probably was a flaw in my perception.
Every time I saw the moon, I remembered that something was odd. Until after a while, it hit me:
‘Could it be an eclipse?’
I Googled it and boom! It was! A total lunar eclipse!
Everyone was looking at the stage; no one noticed the moon. That gave me even more reason to think that nothing unusual was happening and that it was merely a flaw in my perception. Later, when I arrived at my homestay, I met an incredible woman who had just arrived in Koh Lanta and at the homestay. Her journey was quite similar to mine. I told her about the eclipse and how strange it had been. We sat on my deck-terrace, illuminated by the light of the full moon. She said, "Now that you mention it, I had also noticed something different, like it was very dark, but I didn't think much of it."
How many times do we notice something odd but don't think much of it? How many things go unnoticed by our consciousness and remain submerged in our subconscious?
I arrived at "Alleyway Hostel" in Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) at night and was delighted that it was located in an alley. I thought, "I wish this alley were longer." I wanted there to be more alleys; I was excited about the potential I imagined for a place with many alleys.
It didn't immediately occur to me that this city had thousands of alleys, and perhaps an activity I could enjoy was getting lost in various alleys. Accustomed to cities with only a couple of alleys or almost none at all, it didn't immediately dawn on me that this place would have them!
I started my small investigation into what to do in Saigon and came across a café called "Alley Cafe." In that moment, the idea that there was something special about alleys in Saigon stuck in my mind. It was a thought suspended between my subconscious and conscious mind, waiting to be caught if I gave it enough attention. And as I went back and forth from the hostel via the alley, the realization hit me.
I searched "Alleyways in Saigon" and found an incredible blog “Walking Saigon’s Alleyways” (which, by the way, I also didn't immediately realize would become one of my guides in Vietnam, until I stumbled upon it again during another search for a different place), which specifically discussed the experience of the alleyways in Ho Chi Minh!
I spent my last entire day walking, getting lost in Saigon's beautiful and unique alleyways. It was a unique experience that allowed me to get up close to the lives of the locals, feel tranquility in a chaotic city like Saigon, and experience the village life within the big city. My soul was recharged with the peaceful energy of those little street corners it had been yearning for.
The signals of what my soul longs for are there, but I have to give time its time; by going slow, they become clearer. By paying attention to things that catch my eye or leave me curious, even at the slightest level, they become more distinct. As everything I most want to incorporate in my life, it is a practice, the more often I do it, the more clear it becomes. Our being is constantly picking up signals; we are hyper-receptive beings. However, we choose which signal to give attention to.
We are the writings of the universe. I am on a mission to learn to read it’s language that takes so many forms.
I would love to hear about your experiences interpreting signs or capturing the extraordinary! Please share with me in the comments!!!
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