The Growing Room

Glad to have everyone back again to check out my next 5 reasons for traveling the world.
You can find my first 5 reasons in THIS POST, and a little bit of background as to WHY I feel it is necessary to write this post.

I will skip the cute stuff and get right into it.
If you are new to the travel thing, I suggest you read these 5 motivating reasons to travel the world.

5 Reasons Why You Should Travel The World - Part 2
From the perspective of a 20 year old

1) Learn To Live In The MOMENT

I have come to realize that not many people know what “Living in the moment’” really is. They think they know, they say they know it, but in the same sentence they will include something about the past and future. EX) I am having so much fun right now, live the moment baby!, but what are we doing after this? I understand what it means to live in the moment and I have been instructed from my study of zen Buddhism and from the empowering books like The Power Of Now & A New Earth by Eckhart Tolle, and also several Alan Watts books. Now I can talk about THE MOMENT for 200 posts (and I will in the future), Yet it was not until I traveled the world that it REALLY hit me what living in the moment is ALLLLLL about!
The thing about traveling is that it is one of those LIVE THE MOMENT things. You go from city to city, country to country, but when you arrive at your next destination on your trip, you can only vaguely recall the fun and good times you had in the last city, as the chemicals that produced those intense emotions have now faded. You think back saying, “damn that hike through the mountains of Barcelona was so amazing, but it feels like it didn’t really happen..” as you scramble to try to regain the feeling of how cool it was, by looking at pictures, reading your journal and talking about it, yet you realize that it is gone and you cannot live that moment again. You face the facts, forget about it and smile in awe that you are now on the coast of Italy, smiling and soaking up the beautiful sun. You once again feel these amazing emotions and chemicals surging through your body as you realize that nothing can beat this moment. The days go by and before you know it you are back home, your journey has ended and its back to work and school. Once again you try to scramble for the feelings you felt in all the fantastic places and interactions you encountered, yet it is not the same…. BUT THEN! A REALIZATION HITS YOU SMACK IN THE F*CKING FACE LIKE A BRICK! You realize that the point of traveling is NOT to re-live it through pictures and stories. The point of traveling can be compared to the waves in the ocean. Let the experiences during travel flow in like the waves, when the wave and water engulf you, soak up the moment and the experience, as the wave recedes back, allow and fully accept that it is is fading back out into the ocean. With this you realize that you should strive to be a constant and consistence traveler, always seeing and living new things yet allowing them to fade back away and knowing that if you allow it, another AMAZING experience will come. – The memories and pictures will not suffice once a single day has past. Travel to live the moment, not to say, “Oh, I just came back from Europe, look at me, look at me!” That is like wearing a shell around you instead of incorporating it into your being and allowing you journey to become ONE with who you are and SHINE through in your every area of your life. I sit here now in my living room and I look inside my passport that took me through 6 months in Europe. I see my picture which I showed to dozens of international security officers in which I had to explain my travels, I see the stamps from Amsterdam, Spain, Italy etc. and I smell the waterproof pages- immediately I feel a surge of energy sent through my body as I feel all the experiences that I lived in the moment. They have become one with me and they have gave me motivation to work hard so I can travel the world again.

2) The World Is A Book, And Those Who DON’T Travel Read Only 1 Page
The world is absolutly massive, filled with adventures and beauty, interesting people and an abundance of that which you desire. The point being, you can consider your life on this earth as a story. Each and every moment you are reading that next sentence in your novel of life while at the same time learning about all the bad and good, beautiful and ugly, and all the tremendous and small that the world has to offer. The human organism has an amazing capability to read subtle social ques and unconsciously pick up on the behavior patterns of other individuals. This all gets calibrated and learned, allowing the traveler to see things in a new light. Their fundamental belief systems, and their underlying thoughts of “the way the world works” is suddenly shattered and replaced with a new, accepting and exciting model. Also the human has the capability to logically learn new things about his or her surroundings through direct contact with the environment. Rather than unconscious calibration, the individual will consciously come to a conclusion about all that lies outside of his NORMAL reality. What does this cause? - More learning experiences, a better understanding of life, an appreciation for the earth, and a comprehensive story or “book of the world” that a traveler has now internalized to his or her core being. Some individuals know more about “The Book of the World” and others not so much. By traveling the world you bombard yourself with a massive amount of culture influences and knowledge about things outside of your reality. For what you do in the confines of your house or the local pub may limit you to a few simple words in your “book of life.” Stepping outside of these boundaries and spending time in other countries may seem like traveling to another planet but you will undoubtedly be put face to face with exponential amounts of “a new way of living.” Not only do you hear the stories of other interesting people but you create lasting memories that will take up PAGES in your book of the world.

3) An Appreciation Of Life And An Increase In Gratitude
During your travels you will encounter people who live in luxury and poverty, you will see natures beauty and the smog of the big cities, and you will experience the full spectrum of what is really out there. At some point or another you will realize how lucky you are to be touring the world and this realization will come only by seeing the standards of life that exist outside your own. Traveling the world forces you to appreciate life in all of its glory. Often times I would imagine the map of the world and then I would envision myself on the map in some totally foreign country. The realization that I am not of that little slice of land that I studied during Geography class in 6th grade brings an energy rush through my body. These types of realizations force you to love you life and be happy about where you’ve come and where you are going. Having gratitude and appreciation in your heart is an extremely empowering feeling in that it allows you to REALLY put your life in perspective. By traveling you will become grateful for that which you never realized you had in your life. You need to see and compare your life, your home, and your beliefs to that of other people around the world in order to see where you stand on the social, emotional, logical, and gratitude hierarchy. Traveling Europe made me realize how special my life has been. It wasn’t so much the  comparison of the quality of life in that part of the world, but it made me realize that I got to experience that which less that 1% of the population gets to experience; the beautiful world we live in. Traveling brings gratitude to your heart and this brings many positives into your life. Gratitude brings- motivation to help others, a reason to work at your goals, a reason to pursue happiness, positive emotion chain reactions, knowledge that you can achieve that which you desire, smiles to your face.

4) Push Yourself Mentally And Physically Beyond Old Limits
Traveling is not as easy and it may not be as relaxing, and chilled out as you may think. There are 2 sides of this I would like to shine light upon.
1) You have traveling itself- (time, trains, planes, hotels, people etc)
2) Specific experiences that you could only experience in a different part of the world- (snorkeling in south France, sky diving in the Swiss alps, pushing yourself to meet a beautiful girl in Italy who you cannot communicate verbally with because of the language barrier.)
-It is these aspects that will push you mentally allowing you to increase your STRENGTH, WISDOM, and CORE SELF. You will not come out of these interactions the same old JOE that you went in as. NOPE!!! You will apreciate so much more, you will understand that your body is capable of withstanding intense physical and mental stress, your composure will increase 10 fold and your knowledge of the world will skyrocket.

• For the aspect of TRAVELING ITSELF- If you travel a variety of places over a long period of time you will be forced to push your limits beyond what you think you are capable of in terms of time, energy, and fun. It is not until your body and mind realize that it has no choice but to press on, suck it up or instead be left behind- that it kicks into SUPER ADRENALIN mode and you are able to continue traveling. My one month across 6 countries and 13 cities in Europe was NOT easy. Finding time to sleep is nearly impossible when you are boarding flights, searching for the right trains to take, looking aimlessly for the correct hostel you booked, trying to see every sight that a country is famous for, and all in all, trying to live it up. On top of all this, you do not speak a word of Italian, French, Spanish, or Czech. You must be meticulous about every little detail, travel arrangement, payments, times, dates, and destinations. If you are not on top of your game you will drown in your own confusion. The mates you travel with drive you absolutely nuts with their little annoying mannerisms or the way their feet smell. By the end of 1 month you have completely lost your mind, yet in this process you spontaneously formed a new, intelligent, and well cultured “self”. When your body and mind kick into overdrive and force you to push on after 24 hours of no sleep - THAT is when you begin to see things MATRIX style- the world breaks down and you realize just exactly what you are experiencing - Life in all its glory…
• For the aspect of SPECIFIC TRAVELING EXPERIENCES- The abundant world is plentiful with activities and experiences that you could only take part in by being a traveler from a foreign land. For example, my father who is now roughly 54 years old has recently taken a trip to the Hawaiian Islands and went scuba diving with crazy sea creatures. My dad pushed his physical and mental capabilities beyond what we both thought possible. He did this trip although he is flat broke and had just had a knee replacement. Yet his experience allowed him to realize a different side of life and gave him a new appreciation for himself. Another example is a friend of mine named Tyler, representing the most intelligent and belief shattering “self actualization” company to ever exist - Real Social Dynamics.  he speaks of his experience hiking a trail in Hawaii in a very interesting article on his BLOG… I really recommend you check out his stuff, he is brilliant.

I quote Tyler in his reference to hiking a famous trail in Hawaii…..

I’d always thought that I’d pushed myself before, but during this trail we all found reserve strength that none of us knew we had. It was like we tapped reserve after reserve, right down to the skeletal muscle or something….Taking your life into your own hands is the most thrilling thing in the world….It is ALIVENESS at it’s most intense. There’s no doubt about it. YOU ARE ALIVE. Walking those open faced cliffs with the prospect of moving your foot six inches to the left ending your life, you feel more happy and more in love with the whole universe than you can possibly imagine….It’s not that you turn all spacey like the hippies from the colony, BUT RATHER, it’s that it “dilates perception” and allows you to experience your existence as a part of a greater whole.

That guy really explains it best and I aspire to be able to convey feelings like he does. http://realsocialdynamics.blogspot.com is his blog. Tyler’s description of hiking that trail in Hawaii applies to all aspects of life yet in particular during travel. Traveling the world FORCES you into these situations, no matter how you put it, no matter how much you are trying to relax on the beach, you WILL experience the above quote.
So the point is, traveling is worth is simply because it will push you up and over the top, beyond what you thought you were capable of, hence leaving you with a new sense of life potential energy that exists within you.

5) Enhance Your Relationship With Another Human
Whether you travel with someone (wife, gf/bf, friends, relatives) or you meet people during your travels, your social bonding with that person will be about x1,000,000 times more powerful then hanging with an individual at home. The fact that you are on a journey away from home is the magnifying glass here. You build up trust, love, and knowledge about an individual you never had before. The situation goes from… “We went to the beach”… to… “I spent the afternoon on golden sand near blue waters and experienced another person in full awareness and attention because I had nothing stifling me and nothing to worry about. Being away from home caused my worries to be left at home therefore I am truly able to give my 100% to this individual.”
Traveling the world will leave you with a new found love, respect, understanding and appreciation for your friends, you realize the beauty of natural earth that you live on in all of its fantastic abundance. You are hit with the fact that you are having the best time of your life; incomparable to any experience you have ever had. Although times get rough you do not classify them in a negative fashion, but instead set aside a special place in your heart and mind for a feeling that only traveling can bring. Upon arrival home your relationship with that individual has now changed. You know that you shared something special, a holy bliss, that no one besides yourselves could EVER understand. There is nothing better in this world (to me) than hanging out and enjoying life with an AMAZING person that almost feels at one with you. Better than money, food, cars, meditation, blogging, and learning. For these things are multiplied in fun when you have a cool person with you, the person being the limiting step. So if you could have the opportunity to enhance further, an amazing relationship, then why are you still reading this?

I really hope you all enjoyed that. Consider subscribing to the blog, because I have big plans!!

Remember if you want to read PART 1 of this entry which includes 5 other reasons, just click THIS POST.

-Matty Balls