LESSONS IN THE
a continuous journey and constantly evolving into our truest expressions, and one of my adventures in Costa Rica proved that I still had so much more to learn. I was leading retreats in Costa Rica when I met a great healer whose teachings were renowned and transformative. I was curious, albeit skeptical, but I decided to immerse myself in his teachings for the next seven days. We drove hours into the Costa Rican wilderness and found ourselves completely shut off from the world on an island just offshore from the mainland, our sleeping area in huts on raised stilts in the middle of the ocean. As the healer was teaching me about the various areas where our bodies store emotions, clenching into tightness and hurting our bodies, he stopped in the middle of a thought and told me I had to work on my self-love. I was thrown off. I didn’t want to hear about myself. I was there to learn. I wanted to help others heal, just as I had before thanks to a Colombian healer, an ancient vine, and a Costa Rican beach. This gentle, soft healer explained to me that if I could not fully learn to love myself, my ability to lead others to do the same would be impossible. I had to be accepting. I had to be open to the possibilities. This wasn’t the last revelation I had that week. Throughout his teachings, perspectives, and mindful mannerisms, I discovered four lessons on self-love.
Connecting With My Soul and Growing Through Travel
F or me, the best part about traveling is that it expands us and forces us to realize that there is so much more within ourselves, that we are so much more than the limits we set before ourselves. Every place I visit creates more growth within me, fostering a new perspective on the world around me and my path within it. Travel reminds me the Earth is my home as the world gets smaller and my connections within it grow. Sometimes, travel pushes us in profound ways we never thought possible — at least that’s what happened when I first went to Bali. I chose Bali as a place for healing and acceptance. I was plummeting into a downward spiral after my son’s passing, and I felt a calling to honor him and his life, and ultimately my daughters’ lives, by doing something with my ever-present grief. I felt compelled to help at orphanages across the island, and I found so much deep healing. I was safe to grieve. I was safe to seek comfort in holding children, offering them the warmth of a mom, if only for a short period of time. The healing I felt was powerful enough that I was compelled to bring my daughters back with me years later. We lived in Bali for two months with the idea that every week, we would go to a new orphanage and give back in the same beautiful way I had done years prior. It was profound to watch my girls offer love, care, and compassion to children halfway across the globe, children whose only connection to us was coincidence and timing.
Of course, Bali itself opened up many opportunities for us to serve beyond the orphanages, too, and today, we look back on that time as a beautiful experience we had together. It’s an experience we would never hold dear today if it hadn’t been for our willingness to step outside the comforts of our home and explore.
I owe so much of my life and my journey to travel. It has given me a path to healing and a path to my calling. Without it, I would not be the woman I am today. Much of this is in no small part thanks to the many adventures and opportunities for true reflection I’ve had in Costa Rica, a place close to my heart and the origin of my cellular calling. Discovering Radical Self-Love and Cacao Bliss I had experienced profound healing and connection on previous trips to Costa Rica, but my path to total acceptance and radical self-love was far from complete. We are on “I owe so much of my life and my journey to travel. It has given me a path to healing and a path to my calling, and without it, I would not be the woman I am today.”
And they changed my life forever.
Accepting Your Imperfections Three days into the trip, my face broke out with terrible acne. White and red throbbing zits
6 Danette May’s Lotus Journal
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