Life in a Suitcase

Troy, Jacob and I typically live with suitcases packed and by the door, ready to head out on another journey. We get home from one trip, and the bags stay packed, in the middle of the bedroom floor for at least a week, calling us to consider what the next adventure will be. Even if it’s just a day trip, there isn’t much that can keep us tied down for too long. Even Jacob often asks “where are we going now, mamma?” No matter how long it is between trips, we are usually ready to go as if one part of our essence is connected to the world. I truly feel at home in other places, and become uncomfortable and restless if it has been too long in one place. I hear my friend and partner Sheri saying to me as she reads this “yes, Chanda that is attributed to your Gemini nature.” Part of me wonders if I find it hard to be at home in myself and that’s why I constantly seek and search for something new, unique and unusual to explore? Possibly. Or it’s remnants of a past life spent as a gypsy, wandering from port to port, town to town, begging for food and lodging and feeling free and connected to the possibility of what a new day would bring, not knowing what I would eat, who I would meet, but loving every moment of the joy of wandering. Vagabonds don’t call one place home, they continue searching, roaming about as citizens of the world. As I write that a twinge of anxiety creeps in. O.K. maybe the life of the vagabond isn’t for me in this lifetime. Perhaps in the past one I neglected community in hopes of avoiding responsibility and commitment.

Troy and I went for a long walk this morning. There was a tinge of missing home that completely caught me off guard. I thought to myself “oh, boy. This is going to be a long trip if you’re already missing home.” I can hear Sheri my Astrologer and best friend saying “it’s your Taurus Moon sign that needs stability and security.” O.K. fine. Regardless, it made me ponder why we were drawn to make such a drastic change to our current existence, why we put everything on hold in our current community to stretch out, reach out to other communities.

We really don’t know anyone who’s done this before, so the best I can figure is it was guided by Spirit. As we open ourselves up to the beauty of divine guidance, using the cues and signs all around, we know we have done the right thing. In the true spirit of contribution, service has no boundaries…doesn’t discriminate. Now I find myself in moments with my family members where I sense Spirit present and guiding my words, giving me pictures and insight into what to say. We are paying extra special attention to the lessons we are to learn being so far from home.

My brother Chad quit his job. We had been in contact several times over the past few months and using my intuitive abilities, I helped Chad see where it may serve him to get started in another direction. The current situation was stifling his Spirit, and he was allowing it to drag him down to a place none of us want to be. So with the support of his loving wife, he quit. Now he’s combining his skills and talents in a new business that he will record and edit wedding videos. That is just a stepping stone. He has goals and dreams of being a professional card player. I believe he will do it. His attitude is fantastic, there is this new zest for living that I haven’t seen in him for a really long time. We have spent time talking heart to heart about what the implications of his choice will be. There is nothing that we can think of that would stop him from being successful. After we did some work with the tarot cards and pendulum, it reinforced even more for him that he did the right thing at this moment. The choice is his now, to take action and prioritize. However, I can see a drive and a fire that I haven’t experienced in him before.

Being here in this moment, I am connecting to possibility in my family, helping them see and move past their fears. With our own act of declaration of what we are creating, we have inspired others to believe in themselves, to take action in a new way, to be bold and breathe life into the way they see serving the world with their gifts. Giving others the gift of seeing all of life’s possibilities is priceless. That’s what I know for sure. It comes back tenfold. Everytime.

I’m beginning to see that it doesn’t matter how exotic the location, how beautiful the sunset, how wonderful the food, how magnificent the view…where I am is where I serve. Everyday and at every moment. However, waking up to the magnificence of nature, taking a risk like never before has left me inspired by my own courage and is making me stronger. I’m sending out the message to the universe to BRING IT ON. I’m ready for it.

Peace.
Chanda