Learning to flow...

Sometimes life can be like standing on the edge. Growing up as a "third culture kid", standing on the edge was a familiar feeling. Not belonging to either my parent's culture (Spanish and Ecuadorian), nor the one I was currently immersed in, was a confusing experience. Like many third culture kids, I grew up thinking of myself as the "stranger, the "outsider." I had to adapt to multiple languages, traditions, foods, landscapes, values, music, new friends, new schools! While that may seem exciting and exotic, I never felt like I fit in. I was always the observer. Even when I periodically returned to our "home country" of Spain, supposedly where I belonged, it was difficult for me to jump in and get into the flow of life. Was I Spanish? Was I Ecuadorian? Was I Ugandan (or from Honduras, or Chile, or, or, or.....)?

I realize how much my "third culture kid" life affected my adult identity of "not belonging." Making the conscious effort to belong is not easy. Walking and Walk2Connect created an important pathway for my connection to "belonging."

There is something missing in our lives when we perpetuate our identity as "outsider." And though feeling separate may seem to be a comfortable and protected place, we are not created to stay on the outside. We are wired to connect, to be a part of, to be in community, to belong. Moving from the edge and taking the plunge to become part of the flow takes courage. It takes vulnerability. It takes paying attention to the internal nudges of the heart.

I know that's why Walk2Connect appeared in my landscape. I am glad I was ready to pay attention to the invitation to belong--and that it's my choice. Actually, it's a daily choice. Walking to connect--to every being, to every sensation, to our lived body experience--has been life-changing for me. Walking connected me to "flow."

Now that learned how to be "in the flow", I can experience the beauty of every moment--the beauty of being connected to all beings, human and non-human; the beauty of being connected to my internal wilderness and the external wilderness that surrounds me; the beauty of relationship; the beauty of curiosity as I let disturbances move the waters of my being. I can allow. I can absorb. I can give. I can receive. I can flow around challenges. I can let myself adapt to changing circumstances. I can keep my integrity and constancy. I can see all things as belonging--including me.