New Places
Among the Dalai Lama's instructions for life is "Once a year, go some place you've never been before." Even before I began to think about the Dalai Lama and his rules, I understood this idea. I came to this understanding late in life, but I've fully embraced it. I constantly seek new places. New places are not hard to find. It could be across the world or across the street that we find a place we've never been before. It could even be a new place in the mind or a new person in our heart. Even if we can't physically travel to new places, we can still find new places.
New places refresh us, energize us, excite us. I don't know exactly why but they do. As much as I try to enjoy where I am, to find excitement by looking at the old places with fresh eyes, I find I still need the occasional new place to feel at my best. Until recently, my new places were in the mind or the heart. I took great comfort from new books, new articles, new writing of all kinds. I was refreshed by new people who found a place in my heart. I still am, but I find now that I also seek new physical places and I enjoy them immensely.
A week in a new place is worth months of pleasure to me. As I begin to plan a trip, I have the excitement of learning about the destination, about its culture, its people, its geography. I've been fortunate in finding companions for my trips so I enjoy seeing their preparations, their excitement. And for months after a trip, I have the excitement of remembering the trip, of reliving the fun, the education, even the difficulties, of traveling. So far, every trip to a new place has left me with a new interest, an interest I pursue in books, magazines, newspapers. I set my internet alerts to add the places I visit and I feel a special kinship to those places. I even add countries to my stamp collection after I've visited.
I don't seek any particular climate or accommodations on my trips although I do find myself seeking golf courses wherever I go. Scotland, Portugal and the Dominican Republic were easy targets for golf and they also had the advantage of a focus on tourism. This year my target is Iceland. Later this year I'll have the chance to tee off at 4:00 am, to play golf in unfamiliar settings. But I'll also have the chance to meet new people, to see terrain unlike any I've ever seen before, to learn something about an unfamiliar culture. Without becoming over-enthusiastic, I must say I'm looking forward to Iceland with great anticipation.
Seek new places, if only in your mind. You'll feel better and, as I continually mention, when you feel better you'll make others around you feel better too.
RIP Ronald Reagan
6-7-04
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