🪴Weekly Introspection #7 - What Are You Integrating?
Issue #7 - A weekly invitation to think about how you feel and the things you are integrating
Hey everyone! If you are here for the first time, welcome to our weekly introspection! If you are a regular one, thank you for reading, and welcome once again :)
This is Issue #7 of the Weekly Introspection series. I hope you are having a great Friday 🌻 Let’s dive into our weekly introspection :)
How Are You Feeling?
Note: Feeling descriptions extracted from the How We Feel app.
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Alive. “Filled with energy and vitality.”
Blissful. “Feeling full of joy.”
Proud. “Please with your own achievements or those of someone close to you.”
One of the main highlights of this week is that I am learning to enjoy the small things in life. I have enjoyed having a small cup of coffee, stretching, morning walks, lunch, or just taking a nap… This makes me feel alive and present.
If you have been following me over the last month, you probably know I’m traveling. I decided to spend 2 months in Buenos Aires. This is my third time in this city. I came here intending to experience the city from the perspective of someone living here. Not just experiencing from a tourist point of view. Approaching traveling this way allows me to experience new realities and routines that otherwise I would not be able to experience.
During the first few weeks, I was taking it all in. I was enjoying the yellow colors brought by autumn. I enjoyed walking in the streets and watching the people—thinking about what’s their story. Why are they here? Where are they going? and so on. I dropped almost all my daily routines and let myself be immersed in the experience. Nonetheless, as the weeks passed, I felt the need to come back to some of the routines I had lost with the trip—reading, meditating, cooking my food, sitting down on the sofa and doing nothing, and so on. I wanted a balance between exploring the new city and slowing down.
Two weeks ago I moved to a new apartment. I took this as an opportunity to bring the balance and re-establish some old habits and routines I was missing. I wanted to cook some of my food, meditate, read, and so on…. In coming back to my old habits, I learned something new… Perhaps the most important insight of this trip so far…
Traveling pushes me to be present. It pushes me to engage with a new way of doing things. Traveling, by definition, breaks the routine. Now I have come back to some of my old routines and habits, I have started to wonder… Why am I doing this? doing this does even make sense? After experiencing a new way of doing things, I have been questioning old habits. It’s like my view has been refreshed and now I can see things with a new pair of eyes. This has helped a lot in the process of enjoying small things.
For example, when I am in Medellín—where I have been living for the last 14 years—, getting a cup of coffee becomes just a means to an end. I will buy my coffee so I can drink it. That’s it. Now that I have been here in Buenos Aires, getting a coffee is different. I am pushed to do things differently. I need to walk to a different coffee shop, I meet a new barista, I walk through new streets, and I am curious to know how the coffee tastes—most of the time I don’t know what to expect. It’s almost unpredictable! Here, getting a cup of coffee is not just a means to an end, but a complex and enriching experience of my daily life. This got me thinking…How can I experience life this way when I am back in Medellín?
I know when I am for too long in the same place things lose some of the awe and wonder I am experiencing right now. Even here in Buenos Aires, I have realized how my mind has started to switch off and do things mechanically again! I managed to deal with this by trying to be intentionally curious. This allows me to see things from a different perspective and create small moments of awe and wonder for myself. Even when getting just a cup of coffee!
I’ll keep using this trip as an opportunity to keep trying to be intentionally curious :)
Here are two photos I took today. Enjoy! :)
What Are You Integrating?
I am learning not to postpone happiness and joy for the future, but to know that this very moment is all that we have in life. We can create happiness and joy for ourselves here and now. It doesn’t depend on anything else, but our intention.
What’s Your Intention for the Next Week?
To savor the beauty of small things.
Random Thoughts
This week's random thoughts are a mix of videos. I want to share with you three interesting videos I watched over the week!
The first video is one from the Yes Theory channel. In this video, they show how they explore the country of Luxembourg. Seeing how they approach people and try to connect with them makes me think that we are always one step away from having a meaningful experience in our lives. We just need to courage to show up and create it.
The second video is from The School of Life and it’s about how we build defense mechanisms over our lives. Sounds like an interesting topic I would like to explore more in the future!
Finally, the third video is an interview of Phil Cousineau, author of the book The Art of Pilgrimage. In this video, he explores some of the ideas about how to travel in a meaningful manner. Given that I’m traveling right now, I find this video quite interesting and decided to buy book! I’ll read it and report back what I learn! :)
Final Thoughts
Once again, thanks for reading and sticking to the end. May you enjoy the weekend ahead!
If you missed the previous week's publications, you can read them here!
As always, I would love to hear from you in the comments section if you feel in the mood for sharing. Feel free to drop your comments there and let’s nurture each other 🪴
With love, Antony 🌻
It's very interesting to read your approach because I tend to underestimate the value of traveling, but your perspective makes me realize there are less superficial ways to travel.