The most important journey

"You can travel great distances, but still stay where you are.

Sometimes we spend our lives running from one place to the next, but remain the same person. This is why the same types of situations, people, and chaos seem to follow us wherever we go until we discover the lessons we are meant to learn and make an inner change.

Personal growth has little to do with where we are, and everything to do with how we are."

~Yehuda Berg

Yes, the most important journey we can make is the inner journey between our mind and our heart, as a saying goes. While the environment may play a part in facilitating or influencing our personal growth and transformation to some extent, much of our inner growth and change lies within us, regardless of our physical location.

I think this is why many of us who make long pilgrimages to our holy land or temple or church building still remain largely untransformed long after we return from our holy pilgrimages because we have not yet learnt to walk our inner journeys of the heart on a regular basis. I think that is also why Thich Nhat Hanh advocates spiritual practice wherever we are, whether home or workplace or marketplace or anywhere else in the society instead of retreating to a remote monastery because we can experience inner growth right where we are and still impact the society with our inner peace. He calls this "engaged buddhism" and I think this practice is applicable for any other belief system or religion as well. I also like what he says here in his book "Being Peace":

"We don't need to go to China to enjoy the blue sky. We don't have to travel into the future to enjoy our breathing. We can be in touch with these things right now."

~ Thich Nhat Hanh