NuNomad Location Independent Living, Lifestyle Design, Independent Travel

Being outside of our home country (the U.S.) this year I’ve had a great opportunity to re-think my relationship to U.S. holidays from afar.  It’s a strange feeling to know that all your friends and family are celebrating a well known holiday at home while you’re in a place that’s just going through the motions of a regular work day.  I’ve enjoyed meditating somewhat on the meaning of holidays and whether our celebrations really reflect their original impulse.

And so I was lying here on the couch in Brazil last night thinking about Thanksgiving back home and bringing up memories of this holiday in the past.  What came to me was a song – an old Shaker dance song (I thought it was a hymn but got corrected by Wikipedia) that has come to be widely used as a traditional Thanksgiving song.  Suddenly, as the words and tune passed through my mind I heard it in a completely different way.  I heard a meaning for all of us nomads and wanted to share it here.

Simple Gifts

‘Tis a gift to be simple.”Tis a gift to be free.

“Tis a gift to come down where we ought to be.

And when we find ourselves in the place just right

‘Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

It is a gift – isn’t it.  I mean, the ability to be freed from a cubicle or any other job that requires we stay in one place.  The ability to travel the world and maintain our incomes.  The ability to see wonders around the globe that few have the opportunity to see.  And the ability to maintain contact with our loved ones, and even make new connections electronically while we live this dream.  We are incredibly blessed.

So many of us are pursuing simplicity and riddance from the materialism of our home countries and yet that is a gift in itself. That we have the luxury to pursue simplicity when so many don’t have basic needs.  Again, we have been blessed.

The last two lines here also stood out to me. “And when we find ourselves in the place just right ’twill be in the valley of love and delight”.  We spend a lot of time talking about what city is most beautiful, where the best wifi is, what country has the best economic value for our currency, where can you find cultural opportunities and beautiful beaches at the same time.  We each have that “just right” place in our minds.  Many of us travel non-stop in search of it.  But in the end, the “right place” is where we feel loved, isn’t it?

And so, on this Thanksgiving holiday I want to thank the universe for all these blessings and to humbly acknowledge that I have done nothing to be deserving of such fortune.  Whether you celebrate Thanksgiving or not, take a moment to think about all the people and all the circumstances that make your lifestyle possible and give thanks!