What Travel Brings

In the 13th century, the Persian poet Rumi said, "Travel brings power and love back into your life." Most of Rumi’s journeys would have been on foot.  They would have taken time. I like to think of him, smiling to himself, wandering fields and dusty roads and deep forests, poems moving through his mind like sunlight dappling the trees.

When he writes of power, I think he means “power to” as opposed to “power over.” Travel, with all its unexpected experiences, sights, tastes, new relationships, and opportunities to know ourselves in different ways, can renew us at our core. It can power us up so that what is most important to us shines through us more brightly than it did before.

And when we are powered up, we love more easily. We love better.

For Rumi, this kind of travel was a practice. It took time, and it took being fully present to what he was experiencing. Today, given the great ease and speed with which we move from place to place, it takes a deliberate decision to travel like Rumi. It’s easier today to float on the surface of experience, puddle-jumping from one thing to another, without truly letting experience impact us.
​
In this new year, what kind of traveler will you be?