Not all who wander are lost...

There are more than one way to walk through space and time. Lately I have enjoyed the opportunity to walk with the unknown, diving into the mystery and learning how to navigate my life in a new way. It’s simple after the fear is overcome and it feels very liberating to go beyond the rigid walk of the “known” and join in the fluid dance of the dreamtime.

Many people travel using solely their primary process:

“Remember that primary processes are experiences that are closer to your awareness, events and images with which you identify or which you intend to create. Secondary processes are further from awareness and more surprising.” –Arnold Mindell , The Shaman’s Body

Primary processes are limited mostly to the realm of rational thought, identity, security, planning for the future on deductions made about the past. This keeps us labeling ourselves and blocks present moment awareness. If our plans are so tight and we know who we are then we are less likely to listen to the world around us and to see opportunities right where we stand. We run the track cleverly mapped out by our mind, often even in our spiritual endeavors.

I find myself getting pulled into it all the time!

I like doing yoga, asanas in particular, so I often think to myself: Hey better become a certified yoga teacher, lets sign up for training next month at this or that ashram. Then for the whole month leading up to the training I am thinking about it, I’m less likely to respond to the opportunities of the here and now unless I am certain I can get to my destination on time.
There is nothing wrong with this way of thinking, it can often lead to crucial things getting done, and great learning. However, it has its pitfalls when it is the ONLY way we go about things. Just look at tourism, all that going from one predetermined sight to the next, these people are less likely to find their way to the authentic experiences of getting to know the native peoples and small towns. It’s like the shallow route down the river, flanked by the amenities, the food and the same stores as home. It’s foreign but not too foreign, just enough to make for good pictures.

I just dipped my toe into another way of doing things and some people think I’m crazy for it, but the more I walk this way the more I am being convinced of just how rational it is to be a little irrational.

When I travel, I may have a loose plan or vague idea, usually I like to have a contact, a person or place I know I can turn to, but I actually have no idea where I will end up or what will be learned on my journey.

I do keep strong intentions, written and spoken out loud, so that I am consciously interacting with the unknown. Reality often delivers. From what I can tell intentions have a gravity that draws certain experiences in to our awareness.

Most recently I tapped my secondary process while wandering around Kona Hawaii. My friends left and I had absolutely no clue where I was going, so I scribbled my intentions to find a place of learning and walked around with no spatial aim. The result of this is that I was open to talk to people I don’t know, take my time soaking in atmosphere, completely present with my surroundings. I didn’t know what each moment would yield, and it was important to pay attention, truly my survival depended on it. It was tug of war, my rational mind kept trying to get me to make a plan. It wanted me to hop online call someone and get to the bus stop. But I resisted and stayed open to my feelings and the energy of where I was.

What happened is that by walking aimlessly down a road I met with a landscaper and the owner of a beautiful retreat center and soon found myself riding with them to it. Here I learned about Process Work, a shamanic therapy that highlights using the second attention and signals from the body to overcome hurtles placed by unnecessary beliefs. I am so thankful, because this is just the kind of tool I was looking for, I only didn’t know about it. If I had been rational, whatever I was planning would not have left the room for this experience.

And it’s not just this one time, it seems that every time I break with the plan, and what I know, completely give in to knowing absolutely nothing, magic occurs. It’s as if there is a whole well of magical occurrence waiting patiently for a tiny opening in our rigid lives. All it needs is a little space, and this space is the unknown and uncertain gaps in the rational thought process that are so often regarded with fear.

“If security is crucial to you, the unknown feels threatening.” –Arnold Mindell , The Shaman’s Body

It’s true, when you don’t know, it certainly feels less secure. A billion what-ifs will ransack your mind if you don’t use discipline. But the unknown is more like your fairy friend than the monster chasing you through nightmares, especially when you are open to it. I would like to invite you to try it out, take a weekend and wander instead of planning out all the details ahead of time. Leave the people you know, be alone and talk to strangers, they’re often strange in a wonderful and new way.