Magical Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, by photographer Andrew Adams

Connecting to the essential you

Joseph Campbell said, if you want to find your passion, remember back to when you were a child. Try to recall what activity gave you the feeling that time had stopped; you were so wrapped up in what you were doing, you didn’t know who you were. That’s the clue, the “X” that marks the spot. Dig here.

• When I was a child, I painted enormous genies billowing from tiny lamps and turreted Arabianesque cityscapes across my bedroom walls. The words “Baghdad” and “Basra” were magical spells. I longed to wear gauzy harem pants and jeweled scarves. And the prince of my dreams had almond-shaped brown eyes and wore a silk turban.
• When I was a child, my Mother said I looked like Alice in Wonderland. Blonde hair pulled back by a hairband, pensive expression and solitary habits, usually accompanied by a book and a cat named Marmalade.
• When I was a child, I often canoed into the shallow swampy waters around the edges of the bay. Letting the canoe drift, I stared into the water. Mesmerized by the undulating strands of seaweed, and the sight of fiery-orange crayfish darting backwards along the lake bottom, I wondered about seen and unseen worlds; worlds within worlds. The secret underwater life beneath the surface seemed to hint at possibilities I was too young to comprehend.

I have come to realize that connecting with who I was as a child, and resurrecting my childhood ability to dream and fantasize, are integral to my health and well-being. I didn’t always know this. I learned this when I went to India, when I finally had the courage to begin to live my dreams.

India did two things for me. It restored my faith in the loving nature of the universe and my ability to dream. For me, India truly is a land of dreams and fantasies. I wrote an entire entry on “Why I love India” on my original travel blog on Travelblog.org.

Plus, India is a really fascinating place. You can fly there in hours and step back centuries in time.

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