Leslie, blogger, A Friend of the King in Italy

TRAVELING ALONE and MY CHOICE-OF-VIEW

3 years after my return...

When traveling the world with another person present, I tend to filter all that I see and feel through the other persons eyes.

When traveling alone, it is a much more personal, introspective and broad experience.

It is then not how my traveling partner is processing and interpreting the world but rather how I chose my own point-of-view; choice-of-view as I call it.  

Choice-of-view is what I believe creates the 'colors' of my world.  Traveling alone, I do not have to choose the neutral colors of common tastes, but rather my own person palette.  The palette of colors that speak to my heart and mind.   Thus I have created my world as I choose to see and experience it. 

I love beauty and positive connection and so that is what I choose to build into my world.  For me a generous, loving heart that supports and encourages each person to be themselves, is a place full of flavor and contrast; salty and sweet. Each person, in their contrasts to each other, add their particular, unique color to a fascinating kaleidoscope of tumbling beauty.

I cannot control what colors other people choose, but I can control my choice-of-view and to whom I will give keys to enter my emotional world.

In my marriage I felt I was in a rickety row boat that had been sinking for years.  Despite my efforts to patch the holes in our boat, I could not do it alone, and the rate of DEstruction overcame the rate of CONstruction and so the little boat sank.

Post divorce, I had the opportunity to explore my alone-self; the me that was free to see the world as I chose to see it.  Free to choose the colors of my palette. I freed myself from the past by choosing to forgive any and all persons (including myself).  I could then look forward to building a custom home for my heart and life.

Life began anew and the caterpillar-me decided to grow into the butterfly-me with a 90-day sojourn to Italy.  Why 90 days in Italy?  Ninety days because that is the limit of a visitors visa. Italy, because my well-traveled military father spoke of it with such love.  Additionally,  it may sound silly to you, but I was conceived there and feel that that is part of my connection to Italy as well.

The people I would meet, the feelings I would explore, the choice-of-view I would decide upon would create new colors in my life-palette.  My life would take a more solid form.  I would go from a pale watercolor to a bright oil painting of determined significance.

Door to the Teatro Olimpico

Vicenza, Italy

... And new doors continue to open as I look expectantly for new opportunities to learn and grow.....