There seems to be the conception that
spiritual gay travel (whatever that means to you) is "work". Nobody wants to work on a vacation. That's why we take a vacation in the first place, to get "away from it all" for awhile, to escape. We seem to frame the concepts of spiritual and personal growth with thoughts like: "I need to do this" or "I should do that" because "it would be good for me". With those ideas as a background, it's no wonder that so many of us think of spiritual and personal growth as "work". When we're on a vacation, we want to leave all the "need to's" and "should's" of daily life behind us, for at least a short time.
Spiritual gay travel is actually a great joy. You meet like minded people and share your experences with them and you get a chance to really get to know them. Connecting with others this deeply adds a great deal to our vacation enjoyment. It is this connection to other people that is so lacking in our lifes.
Also, somewhere along the way, we seem to have been taught that in order to be spiritually connected to the world, the people around us and to ourselves, we must act in a "serious manner", almost to the point of being somber, or at the very least solemn. Somehow we've come to believe that laughter and play are "irreverent".
When we are spiritually connected to the world around us, when we are conscious of our surroundings, our entire vacation experience is heightened. This heightened sense of awareness allows us to relax more, play more and get the most out of our vacation. Getting more out of our time away is very important.
Little children are a wonderful example of this. They are enthralled with the world around them; everything is new, everything is a wonder. Discovering and learning new things is not "work" to a child. They find joy in all that they encounter; everything is a new toy to play with.
And last, but certainly not least, sometimes people confuse the experience of being awestruck as being serious or solemn. When you travel with conscious awareness there can be times when you will be "deeply moved" (awestruck) by something you encounter. It could be the hospitality of a family you meet; a genuine smile; the grandeur of a sunrise or simply the revelation that you are blessed to be alive. Pesonally, even after countless visits to Monument Valley, I am still moved tears while I am there. But these are tears of joy, humility and gratitude.
