Jillian’s January 1 Post: Unexpected Connections

In the midst of the holiday season, a reader said to me, “What if this time of the year we reflected on what we share, what we all have in common? Imagine what greater tolerance and kindness we’d have.” He continued, now excited. “What if we did this quarterly? How much more advanced would we be?”

What if we made this our regular practice?

As I stood back, creating a long-time dream, I was mesmerized to see myself in it. I know that some of my most rewarding experiences have been unexpected connections with people on the road who, at one time, seemed different than me: Learning to tango dance from a blind painter. Falling in love with a poet-farmer. Learning one of my most valuable life lessons from a Masai elder who, years before, I would have believed so “foreign” to me.

A man I interviewed for Change Your Life Through Travel told me how he had discovered greater understanding, and connection, through his travels. His words have provided continued inspiration for me. Remembering his first trip outside America, Bobby said, “I had no idea what it was going to be like, being a nice Jewish boy living with Catholic people in a nunnery. Foreign land, no language capabilities, jungle. All of these things were kind of anxiety producing,” he recalled. Just out of medical school, Bobby had traveled to Central America to practice ophthalmology on blind Guatemalans. It turned out to be “an incredible experience, living with these people and seeing their rituals,” he said. Now, he said, “Every time I go somewhere totally different…I want to go to a religious service. At least once on each trip, I will walk into a church, temple, shrine or mosque, and ask if there are any rituals I could watch, or be part of, without upsetting them. Because I know that so many problems in the world today, unfortunately, have to do with religious biases that if you can understand different religions a little better, you can understand why some of these things happen.”

We don’t have to travel across the world to experience these connections. What Travel Dates can you take in your home region this year to boost your understanding and experience new connections? Go to a nearby temple, mosque, Buddhist monastery, Catholic mass. Participate in a Native American sweat lodge. Look for people who might seem different to you. How can you come to know them better? Volunteer at a soup kitchen or a facility for mentally-challenged patients. Or is there a person out there that you just know that you are supposed to help? And have you passed that soul by and found yourself hurting because you didn’t stop?

What richness can you find through discovering how ultimately alike we all are? What practice can you create that will foster greater tolerance and kindness in our world, one person at a time?