While currently reading
Paulo Coelho’s “The Fifth Mountain” got me thinking again about life, omens and personal legends. So while bored at work, I googled “
personal legends” and came across this beautifully written, inspirational site
www.solbeam.com And spent a good chunk of the afternoon absorbing the words of this girl, ´Sol´, who a few years ago, quit her prestigious job in California to travel and has been on the road of spiritual enlightenment, adventure, love and the University of Life, ever since. Along with
Rolf Pott’s “
Vagablogging”, I find it one of the best blogs I have ever come across. She also has millions of beautiful pictures of all the countries she has travelled.
Most of you probably won’t have the time to swift through her posts so I collected some of my favorite pieces.
About SolWho she is, how it started, how she found the time and money, in Q&A format.
What to packAdvice on how to pack and bring everything you need.
Follow your InspirationAdvice on how to follow your personal legend and recognize omens.
“I’m having trouble finding my path. I’m not sure if I should be where I am. But I’m also not sure where I should go and I don’t want to have regrets. How can you be so certain of your choices?”
Seeking-Sharing-Stepping“Judging by the number of, "how do you afford to travel the way you do" questions in my inbox, I probably have not made it very clear what I actually "do" for a living.
I, with enormous enthusiasm and passion, seasonally lead what are called "service-learning" and "experiential education" semester abroad programs…..”
Undressing loveYou state, "It means I cannot attach myself to any one love as greater, more passionate or more true than another." This statement seems to allow for different kinds of love. Do you feel different kinds of love for different things while still recognizing that different love doesn't mean unequal love? Or do you believe in one kind of love and share and experience that love with all things? Is there another explanation?
New Chapter Sol falls in love…
"One upon a time, I met a boy in an oasis in the desert in the red center of Australia. He had the knot of eternity that I wore around my neck tattooed on his back, his favorite book was the Alchemist, his travel path around the world matched my own, and we spent six animated hours finishing the quotes and sentences of each other before I had to say goodbye and get on a plane. The rarity of the experience was lost in its own familiarity. For although I had never met him in this life, I remembered him; I remembered the corner of his smile, and the vein that ran down his arm, and the feel of his shoulder as it wrapped around me. From where I remembered these things I did not know – still don’t - although I have a few guesses of which I’ll share in later chapters. What is important though, is that on the day that I left him, I made a deal with the divine; “I’m not experienced in love. But if it’s a lesson you deem me ready and worthy of learning, then I trust that these paths will come together again. And until then, I surrender my desire and future to your will.”
Fire in my spirit(.. love con´t)
"Dear Ev,
The day you left, I had to walk in large circles around the city for hours. Cause every time I stopped physically moving, the grief of your being gone would catch up and so overwhelm me that I’d topple over in the hunger of heartache..."
On the mental move"I’ve seen it in my semester abroad students. When I meet them at the airport, they are loaded with prescriptions drugs, histories of depression and self-abuse, and the terminology from a lifetime of psychiatric counseling. But after three months of physical travel (which in all and every case reflects and inspires a similar path of inner exploration) they are so light they actually appear to hover just about an inch off the ground. No, they have not suddenly “discovered” who they are (but neither will any of us ever, for we can never be confined to the physical reflection of ego in the mirror) BUT they have stopped repressing their deep spiritual inclinations, intuitions and inspirations and learned to question their existence with Wonder."
New MythAbout living life, not succumbing to the system of consumption-production, and finding peace and truth in silence.
"And a few people (including my parents) have suggested that I just “do the time” or make a few sacrifices “to pay” for the past, even if that means, temporarily "selling out." But what I seem to have a difficult time explaining to people, is that I simply do not have this power within me. I am unable, as suggested, to "sacrifice" a single moment of living (out of integrity) for either yesterday or tomorrow. It's not within my power. If I try, my soul actually aches. I feel physically sick with a sneaky and slow, but terminal disease. Not walking in alignment with the Truth in my heart splits me in half. And this straddled path is one I can not walk.
I broke a contract with Society. But Society also broke its contract with me. It told me that it would take care of me, that it would suffice all my needs and give me happiness, if I would only OBEY. It said, “consume, produce” and you will be happy. All the institutions told me that I could “get” happiness in the forms of money, heaven, marriage, material objects, beauty, prestige and/or security; That happiness was something “externally attainable” and earned by long-term investment. And THAT was the biggest lie I’ve ever been told."
-----------
Graduated with a business degree from a private university, left with $100 000 of student debts, Sol embarked on a new curriculum at the University of Life and has not looked back since. Being hounded by the Loan Repayment Center, she wrote a letter to explain why she has not and will not be able to repay her loan.
Letter to the Department of EducationLoan Payment Center
June 13th, 2004
U.S. Department of Education
Direct Loan Payment Center
To Anyone Inquiring or Curious as to the Status of Account 543-##-####,
Nine years ago, in 1995, I was offered a loan to assist me with paying for my college education. At the time, with the reassuring pat of all the social institutions, I was brimming with hope and faith in the benefits and pleasures that a University degree in Business would secure for my life. At the very naïve age of “barely 18,” I eagerly put my name on the dotted line and signed my life to a promise.
Unfortunately, what I did not know then, is that every promise to tomorrow is a lie."
