Lost is found.
I had a day,
The first of the year,
I left the hotel.
In a foreign land,
None of the street signs intelligible,
Scrawled Hindi,
Everything around,
Unrecognizable,
Blisteringly alive.
I walked along the fragrant streets,
Turned my head behind me several times,
Cataloging details,
So as to remember how to find my way back to the hotel.
The further I traversed,
With each new block and each new turn,
Another step added to the instructions to get back.
In my memory,
Straight,
Left at the arch,
Left,
Right,
And straight again.
I continued on,
With all the natives around,
Who would bat their eyes if I spoke anything other than their local tongue.
Let me recall these directions again,
Straight,
Left,
Left,
Right,
Straight.
Another street looked promising,
As I wound my way around a nondescript corner,
Another step to remember.
Right,
Straight,
Left at the arch,
Left,
Right,
Straight.
I was invigorated,
My stride was swift.
How long had I been walking for?
I can't turn back now,
I'd barely begun.
Let me reconfirm that.
Right,
Left at the arch,
Left,
Straight.
Or was it right,
Straight,
Left at the arch?
Wait a second.
Before I ventured to work my way back to the original destination,
In my mind,
I decided.
I decided to get lost.
It would be much simpler than the worry,
The effort to memorize.
What am I worried about?
So what if I stand out in the crowd?
I choose to get lost.
I take my power back.
I own it.
Yeah,
That's what I'll do.
I will deliberately get lost.
Not just a little lost,
Very lost.
Actively,
Autonomously lost,
And liberate myself from the panic,
The frustration,
And the paranoia of not knowing how to get back.
Then I can move on,
Be present.
I did just that.
Let's you and I do that,
And make the choice.
In an instant,
I weaved through a mob of people,
And a man wearing a t-shirt walked in front of me.
On the back of it,
It spelled the words,
You are right where you need to be.
I proceeded through a park with animated monkeys,
Goading me on,
Then dipped down a street,
Passing a barber shop,
And doubled back,
And got a haircut,
Paid the gent,
Left,
Walked more,
And looked up.
Saw a giant Ganesh temple at the top of the hill.
It was calling my name.
I found a way to cross the massive road that separated the pathway upward.
I made the ascent with effort to my terminus at the top of this magnificent shrine,
And looked down,
Took in all of the industrious landscape of the sprawling pink city of Jaipur on New Year's Day,
A blessing.
How did I get here?
I got lost.
From there on,
Down alleyways,
Fresh bananas on merchant rickshaws,
And over to a splendid sanctuary where I had a sweet dessert and chai tea.
Not too long after,
As the sun disappeared,
I found the hotel,
And there was nothing to it.
It is us who decide we are lost.
The semantics,
An awe of the mental,
Release from the tight clench the need to huddle inside of the starting point,
The fear of which you will not return back to in good form,
Yet you will be upgraded.
On your rewarding trek,
It is imperative for you to wander,
To discover,
And disentangle from the shackles of excess security,
Inhibiting,
And fearful safety.
Dive,
Leap,
Soar,
And begin to know how to thrust your faith into the journey,
Not just you,
But the actual odyssey.
This is the story you will tell others when you get worn and ragged and recall your intrepid fortitude,
Experiences of life alive,
Lost,
Bold.
Believe,
And let that cozy surrounding and the womb of comfort disunite for an opportunity where you will run across a new self,
An improved and more resourceful version,
Knighted and regaled with the passageways to unlock worlds,
Ones where you must intersect to see the distance,
The traveler's wisdom,
The soul's courage.
Wherever you go,
There you are,
A mystic with the ability to transport anywhere and back.
Found is being lost.
Lost is found,
Always.
When you close your eyes,
Know this as you knew it before,
Deep in the heart of every place you've ever been and ever will be.
Just be.
