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A Guide to Journaling and Transformative Travel by JIM CURRIE Open Court $16.95 (softcover)
Mindful travel, according to Currie, is attention to state of mind, or what Buddha called "mindfulness." When travelers practice mindfulness, they are tuning in to possibilities that might never have occurred unless they were paying attention. It is a type of travel that is not unlike contemplation or pilgrimage, a kind of travel that helps transcend the ordinary and lift it to the height of mystical experience. I agree wholeheartedly with Currie’s assessment that the best trips are often those that deepen our connections with who we are and give us an opportunity to learn, grow, and become more self-aware. My own trips have evolved over the years from simple escapes that take me away from my life to journeys that are expressions of what my life is becoming. Currie introduces us to our "capacity to realize divine self," or our Buddha nature, as an important tool in mindful travel and gives us eight examples he has personally found useful. From his assessment, I can see that I often travel with an "explorer" or "enlightened warrior" mindset. Other attitudes that Currie mentions include the thinker, communicator, healer, mystic, artist, and harlequin. By assessing our Buddha natures, or strengths, before we travel, we are given a method to establish our mindset for the journey and a way to overcome blind spots when difficulties arise. This mindset helps us deepen and enrich the experience of travel and find the opportunities that are presented to us. The author speaks of the synchronicities that occur in travel once we are connected to our spiritual touchstones, our guiding truths that surface when all else fails us. His book is full of stories of wonderfully amusing "coincidences" that he has experienced along the way, from delightful connections in Irish pubs to mystical encounters in the Louvre. These synchronicities and connections are necessary to traveling mindfully; when they occur, we are tuned in on a deeper, sensory level to all that is happening around us. I especially like the quote attributed to Buddha that Currie includes: "As you walk and eat and travel, be where you are. Otherwise you will miss most of your life." When we travel mindfully, we are in the present moment and connected to people and circumstances in ways that our conscious mind cannot grasp. In letting go, we become more likely to discover the magic of the experience. Although it is fun to approach travel as mystical experience in the way Currie describes, he is also careful to tell us how to prepare for such a trip. He provides travelers with ten useful steps to developing mindful travel that take us through such topics as locating the right materials for journaling, finding spiritual touchstones, identifying Buddha nature, strategy and preparation, sensory delights, solving problems, and finally, bringing it all home. I had the feeling throughout the book that the author was not only talking about travel, but a way of life, and this is exactly how he sums it up in the final chapter. "We have not been anywhere at all," he says playfully, "except at home from the very beginning. The trials and challenges have been those of our daily life all along, which in travel become lighter and somehow more bearable. The goal for each of us, then, is to make our daily lives reflect the spiritual insights and joys we have experienced on our journeys and translate them into the type of life we wish to lead all of the time." Jim Currie brings the reader full circle in this delightful book, full of inspiration and ideas for mindful travel. I can’t wait for the opportunity to put them into practice on my next adventure. |
Travel is one of my all-consuming passions. When one adventure ends, I am often restless until the next one presents itself and I can immerse myself in its new challenge. Reading about travel is perhaps my next favorite thing to do, so finding a book that is as useful and fun to read as The Mindful Traveler is a great blessing.