Coming home

I came back from traveling for 2 months in Thailand. On the plane i read "The Source" written by Dr Tara Swart. It was somewhat fitting that i read most of the book which is about Neuroscience and life coaching, while reflecting on my life and what issues i need to address. When i travel, it is a good time to reassess my life and by getting out of my life at home i get a chance to take in different cultures and learn from them. Reading this book, It touched on a number of life issues that i have been focusing on during my travels. "Mastering my emotions", is the biggest one, When i would go on my daily walks in Thailand, my mind would gravitate towards all sorts topics, but the "chattering mind" loves a good juicy negative issue to sink it's teeth into, i would be walking down the street wasting my time, going on about things i have no ability to change, i would have to stop like a parent who has enough of a winey child and tells them to shut up!, Travel gives you a time out to look at your life and look at it from a different point of view. Mindfulness came to my rescue, i would stop my chattering mind and say, "Be Where You Are!", look around, open your eyes and see the beauty or the ugliness of where you are."Be present", i would say to myself. I write in a journal everyday and during those walks, i would do my writing, I have been doing this for a number of years. I read Julia Cameron's book "the Artists way" and in it, she teaches about doing "Morning writes", where you write 3 pages non stop without editing, which gives your brain an outlet to vent, much like the mental chatter. Once we get the thoughts from our heads down to the page we can let go of them. Mindfulness and Meditation are ways to take time to think about what is going on in your life, by getting in tune with your body you ground your self out. "The Source", Touches on a number of the different aspects of our thinking brains. "Brain agility", how we can think in different perspectives and look at things in different ways. "Our emotions", how we make almost all our desions based on emotions. "Our physicality", How tuned in are we with our bodies?, "Our intuition", do we follow our gut reactions or trust them?, "Motivation", what are our motivating factors?, are they based on reality or illusion?, "Logic", do we make logical assumptions or are they governed by emotion?, Finally our "Creativity" and how we view our unique selves, so many people don't look at themselves as creative, thinking that only gifted people are creative. I haven't finished the book yet and there are exercises to go over to get a deeper understanding of it. I felt that it really helped me wrap up my thoughts of my travels and prepare myself for facing the world at home. When i got tired of reading i would visualize the guitar fret board, when we hit turbulence it was an extra challenge focusing on notes, fear gets your attention fast when you start to get knocked around a bit. The excitement of going home is always bittersweet, i get excited about things i want to do and I feel like I have a fresh start, but there is also that "facing of the realties" we are challenged with. Like "Dorothy" in the "Wizard of Oz" said, "There is no place like home".