So why Travelling Boy?

So why Travelling Boy?
Surely the obvious answer would be because i like to travel, i like to explore and i like to see new places? Well that is the easy answer. The real reason i called my blog traveling boy is because i am constantly travelling. To me, the understanding of the word "travelling" is to go somewhere that has not been explored or to go to a place that needs to be re-visited, because not everything that has been dreamed of has been accomplished. The search for freedom is normally incorporated within that dream and to experience life beyond my wildest dreams, or as the famous starship enterprise from star trek could do....transport me to another dimension.
When i was walking to work this morning, surrounded by the overpowering heights of the majestic northern hills of Israel, a tune suddenly played on my ipod and my journey began. Out of my headphones came the sound of those haunting bagpipes that rolled across the hills of Scotland in the Mel Gibson movie Braveheart. I caught myself thinking about William Wallace himself and if i would have been as brave as him, if i would have had the strength and endurance that he had running through his scottish veins, to fight until the end for the things that i believe in. But what do i belive in? Do i believe that i can be true to myself whatever the circumstances? Then it dawned on me like a new sunrise....i am not as brave as that highland warrior. Why? because i have usually run from situations that would enable my character to grow. To go to a place in my mind where it just me and my heart, well.... that takes a brave man. To be in that place reminds me of an amazing piece of poetry called The Invitation by Oriah Mountain Dreamer.

It doesn't interest me what you do for a living,I want to know what you ache for
and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.

It doesn't interest me how old you are,I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love,for your dreams,for the adventure of being alive.

It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon...
I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shrivelled and closed from fear of further pain.

I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own,without moving to hide it or fade it or fix it.

I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful be realistic to remember the limitations of being human.

It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true.
I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself.
If you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty even when it is not pretty every day.
And if you can source your own life from its presence.

I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes."

It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up after a night of grief and despair weary and bruised to the bone and do what needs to be done to feed the children.

It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.

It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied.
I want to know what sustains you from the inside when all else falls away.

I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.

I heard on Ally Mcbeal the other day, ( which happens to be my favourite tv show).....

"If you can look back over the past year and not see times where there have been tears of joy of sadness then consider it a wasted year"

......but to get to that point there has to be a change within ourselves. To reach that point of our eyes to leak we have to undergo a change, in our thinking, in our heart and the majority of times in our actions.

Recently i have seen the movie "UP".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GroDErHIM_0

Its a story about people who travel to fullfill a dream they once shared in their dreams. out of their comfort zone they conquered, but it was not an easy journey for them. I really enjoyed the film and was encouraged with so much from it, so much hope, so much guidance and comfort, and a realisation that i am not the only person in this world who has allowed fear to stop me from moving forward.


So why Travelling Boy?...... because life is a journey, welcome to my world.


© Travelling Boy content belongs to Philip D Norris