“Trust me, it’s paradise. This is where the hungry come to feed. For mine is a generation that circles the globe and searches for something we haven’t tried before. So never refuse an invitation, never resist the unfamiliar, never fail to be polite and never outstay the welcome. Just keep your mind open and suck in the experience.”

One of my favorite movie lines of all time, in The Beach, Richard (Leonardo DiCaprio) pretty much sums up what it is to be a global citizen. I feel that I have been getting intimate with my global citizen this month, and even as I return home to Maui, Hawai’i, I continue in the journey. This month, I traveled through the Philippines, Singapore, Maldives, Northern and Southern Thailand, and Malaysia. Granted, some of these stops were ”travel-through,” but never underestimate the power of a walk-around the local airport. You can learn a lot. I experienced at least five paths of spirituality: Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Taoism and swimming with the turtles (this is a Maui thing, you all know if you’ve done it).

To be a global citizen really means your home is where you lay your head. Every time I visit a new spot, departure is traumatic and normally involves tears, unless I know I am coming back soon. How is it that I feel so connected, everywhere?

Well, this month brings one explanation- when I travel, it is my intention and my goal to balance the senses; the movement inspires balance for me, in some bizarre and perhaps seemingly backwards sort of way. Traveling into the unknown- isn’t that chaos? Or maybe it is exactly that which gets us going in the right direction.

To me, balance involves receiving as much information as I can, and then creating a beautiful collage for my magic carpet ride. There are no answers, only the experience. So, how do you redefine your experience? This advertisement that I came across in one of the airline mags sums it up pretty well…

“No one is in control of your happiness. The question in life is not how much time do we have but what do we do with it. Life is short, don’t hesitate. Life starts at the end of your comfort zone; live outside the box. Stop over analyzing, life is simple. This is your life do what you love and do it often. Life is about the people you meet and the things you create with them so go out and start creating. Life is like a story, don’t live in others. Real happiness is not complicated at all.”

It was appropriate that one of my final legs of my journey took me to Six Senses Yao Noi. The pyramid of six spheres used to identify the Six Senses “re-experience” represents the philosophy that is fundamental to the human experience, and to the experience that I always aspire to have as a human being.

The foundation spheres represent the three primary senses of sight, sound and touch. The second level balances upon this foundation by satisfying the more acute senses of taste and smell. The apex sphere symbolizes a sense of elation discovered only by balancing the first five – the unique experience of all senses elevated beyond expectations. This Sixth Sense, this is what leads you forward.

So in the name of all journeys had and to have, I pay honor to the inspiration of Six Senses and lands far away to bring balance to my senses. Thank you for a set of once in a lifetime experiences. I feel like a new woman.

See pictures of Six Senses Yao Noi here.

Tags: Grace Delivers, Six Senses Yao Noi, The Beach

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