“Traveling either makes you appreciate what you already have or makes you realize that you want more.”

And, sometimes, both.

end of trip stats

I love my pretty stamps❤️

My life for seven months felt like I was in the painting from What Dreams May Come.

Exploring scenes in the world that I’ve only dreamed about.

summerland

Now, as quickly as it started, the whole trip feels like a dream.

Light vs Dark, Dream vs Reality, Wants vs Needs, Life vs Living.

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within. -Elizabeth Kubler-Ross

Joy is not a constant. If comes to us in moments – often ordinary moments. Sometimes we miss out on the bursts of joy because we’re too busy chasing down extraordinary moments. Other times we’re so afraid of the dark that we don’t dare let ourselves enjoy the light. A joyful life is not a floodlight of joy. That would eventually become unbearable. I believe a joyful life is made up of joyful moments gracefully strung together by trust, gratitude, inspiration, and faith. -Brene Brown

In identifying one’s mental state as the prime factor in achieving happiness, of course that doesn’t deny that our basic physical needs for food, clothing, and shelter must be met. But once these basic needs are met, the message is clear: we don’t need more money, we don’t need greater success or fame, we don’t need the perfect body or even the perfect mate—right now, at this very moment, we have a mind, which is all the basic equipment we need to achieve complete happiness. -HHDL, The Art of Happiness

Our revels now are ended. These our actors,
As I foretold you, were all spirits and
Are melted into air, into thin air;
And, like the baseless fabric of this vision,
The cloud-capp’d towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve
And, like this insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind. We are such stuff
As dreams are made on, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep.

-from The Tempest, Shakespeare

On to living a little life with big gratitude, daily.