{#InVietnam} You're so close. Just look up.
There's a scooter whizzing past our window here at the 5-star M Sofitel hotel in the ancient city of Hoi An in Vietnam.
My daughter and I are currently on a travel writing article, as I'm starting to get back into this phase of my life that I loved — and now I get to do it as a solo mama with my favorite #rideordie companion.
She's only 3.5 and not only has the entire hotel marketing staff fallen in love with her, to the point that they were giving her a mani/pedi as they offered me a Vietnamese massage, but she's also been such a beautiful Spirit to be around as my heart is healing from my upcoming divorce.
Yesterday, we borrowed one of the bikes from the hotel and ventured throughout the bridges, canals, and bustling streets filled with cars, scooters, and bikes making their own directions — all within the same lane.
When we first arrived in Vietnam via the country's equivalent of Uber, I couldn't believe there were so many foreigners navigating the traffic right alongside the locals. Yet, the next day, there I was, doing the very same thing and immediately, I felt completely comfortable.
It was as though I could see invisible energy parting ways to create a safe path for me and my daughter.
This is being in flow.
Beneath the early morning sun, we parked our bike by a 200-year old house filled with folkloric trinkets and met a woman who invited us to sit down for tea.
My daughter quickly snuggled beside me, and patiently waited for the tea to cool as this sweet woman told us about the two brews she made, showing us the dried seeds of lotus flowers, encouraging us to take in the aroma of the hot liquid in the tiny ceramic cups.
When we finished our samples, we bought one of the tea bags — for US$1.
I trusted my intuition everywhere we went. That's how we found the woman with the tea. If I felt a nudge, I would check-in with my daughter and we would stop.
Rather than relying on Google maps to get back to the hotel in time for an interview with the Concierge team, I headed towards the direction that simply "felt" right. (For some reason, my ability to get around in foreign countries far surpasses my ability to figure out which direction I'm going in the States.)
I felt like we were close. I even saw a small sign that said, "Hotel Royal Hoi An" on the bridge over the river, so I knew we were in the vicinity, but for some reason, it didn't look like the original spot from where we had left.
Then, we hit a dead-end.
I finally pulled out my phone to see where we were. It told me to turn around and that we were only two minutes away.
The second I did that, I looked up.
There was the hotel. Smack dab in front of our faces.
"Oh!" I exclaimed to my daughter. "We just had to look up!"
"Yeah, Mama," she said. "Just look up!"
Sometimes, we are SO CLOSE to everything that we want. It is literally within our grasp. Yet, because we're so keenly focused on the direction we're headed, we forget to change our perspective.
To literally look up. To see the other side of the story. To see that everything is working out for us.
And to see that where we want to be is right where we already are.
{#MondayMasterclass}
Make happiness a habit.
For today's #MondayMasterclass, I'll be broadcasting to you from the countryside in Vietnam...
We'll be covering how you have to make happiness a habit — how every spiritual teacher and successful business person has said that you need to BE the person you want to BE, before you experience the results you want to see in your life, otherwise you'll never be satisfied.
In fact, if you go into my Wild Hearted Words Facebook group, you'll see the EPIC post I recently shared from Richard Branson.
What I especially want to talk about is what I noticed at the end of his post — that he wrote it in support of mental health and how to rewrite the stories you feel you're living through.
There are countless ways I could be experiencing my divorce. And, in each moment, I choose the one that serves my greatest self, because in doing so, it heals us all.
Thanks to this experience, there's something on my heart that I want to talk about in regards to how my husband recently shared about me very publicly in ways that I could take to heart as very hurtful, but that it actually become the greatest gift.
Because I'm now more passionate than ever about speaking up in total authenticity and honesty for mental health – which I actually like to call, "being a real badass in every way" – more than ever.
Tune in for inspiring takeaways to apply to your own life and heroine's journey — while you check out how beautiful Vietnam is!
P.S. If you're curious about my travel writing adventures – or have any questions about how you can amplify your own writing and making it into a real career – you can get more inspiring content on my Instagram @wildheartedwords or simply contact me with your q's!
