Listen now | Inwards and outwards journeys of our soul, and what we bring back with us-- with a poem ready by Sir Sean Connery by C.P. Cavafy
Hello friends, It's Friday! It is now officially the end of the week with a great weekend ahead of us now! Welcome to the Exploration Hour I am Coach Kate your host. I host this space weekday mornings where we dive into quotes, ideas, moments together to connect and explore things that matter. This space is a collaborative one, which means, if you have thoughts, ideas, or things to add or share with all of us here, you are welcome to. This is called the exploration Hour because I give this space an hour to explore. Sometimes we go under time, sometimes we go over time, but this hour is ours to connect. If that sounds like a space you want to be a part of, give me a follow and we will explore this hour together.
This week we've been diving into the power of travel. We talked on Monday how travel enriches us, and Tuesday we talked about how travel can transform us, Wednesday was all about the power of finding ourselves through travel, and just yesterday we dove into our whys around why we travel-- what inspires us, why we lean into travel and what ways we can cultivate this to help inspire future travels and journeys ahead. I have learned so much from you all through these discussions, often writing out or planning out a thought or idea around travel, and am always so pleasantly surprised by all the dimensions you all bring to these discussions. Your thoughts, perspectives and ideas enrich this special place we've cultivated here, so I thank each and every one of you for being brave, sharing ,collaborating ,or listening in here on our little show. If you didn't get the chance to tune in this past week, we had so many wonderful, beautiful discussions with people all over the world sharing such amazing stories and experiences, vulnerabilities and perspectives-- and I am so excited to continue this into today as well! If you missed those talks, they are underneath the talk tab in my profile so feel free to dive in there and listen to those or any of my past talks there too!
Today, is our special Friday Episode, and I wanted to continue on this trend of Travel, as I am learning so much from you all by sharing this space and talking about your adventures you've had, or have yet to have. We are all here going on an audio odyssey together, and I enjoy sharing this journey with you all. This is a reminder that this space is a collaborative one, if you would like to come up here, share your stories, your perspectives, thoughts, and ideas, this space is yours too. Feel free to come up, and when there are pauses in the conversation, or moments where I can bring you into share, I would love to have you on.
So typically on this show, we have an intro, we talk about some of the subjects from the week, we share a quote or a piece of literature or even just an idea out there in the world, bring in some big and small questions, and then we discuss, dive in and bring our own thoughts and perspectives and explore. This space is about exploring, so there are not wrongs or rights, just questions, thoughts and feelings that these subjects, quotes or ideas bring about.
I have a beautiful, beautiful poem to share with you all today that is one of my favorite poems in the world. In fact, my favorite version of this poem is on youtube read by none other than Sir Sean Connery and paired with music and it is EPIC. Here it is:
This poem is called Ithaka and it is written by one of the most prolific poets to come out of Greece in the 20th century: C. P. Cavafy. It's beautiful, illustrious, and paints a picture of not only mythical greek life, but also what we bring to that life as modern humans as well. I thought it fit perfectly as an end to this weeks Travel discussion, and that it could open the door to more thoughts, and ideas as we look ahead to adventures and travels of our own. Here it is:
Ithaka
BY C. P. CAVAFY
TRANSLATED BY EDMUND KEELEY
As you set out for Ithaka
hope your road is a long one,
full of adventure, full of discovery.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
angry Poseidon—don’t be afraid of them:
you’ll never find things like that on your way
as long as you keep your thoughts raised high,
as long as a rare excitement
stirs your spirit and your body.
Laistrygonians, Cyclops,
wild Poseidon—you won’t encounter them
unless you bring them along inside your soul,
unless your soul sets them up in front of you.
Hope your road is a long one.
May there be many summer mornings when,
with what pleasure, what joy,
you enter harbors you’re seeing for the first time;
may you stop at Phoenician trading stations
to buy fine things,
mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony,
sensual perfume of every kind—
as many sensual perfumes as you can;
and may you visit many Egyptian cities
to learn and go on learning from their scholars.
Keep Ithaka always in your mind.
Arriving there is what you’re destined for.
But don’t hurry the journey at all.
Better if it lasts for years,
so you’re old by the time you reach the island,
wealthy with all you’ve gained on the way,
not expecting Ithaka to make you rich.
Ithaka gave you the marvelous journey.
Without her you wouldn't have set out.
She has nothing left to give you now.
And if you find her poor, Ithaka won’t have fooled you.
Wise as you will have become, so full of experience,
you’ll have understood by then what these Ithakas mean.
What I love most about this poem is what we've touched on so much here this week: the ideas that travel isn't just an external experience, but an internal one as well. And we can travel all over the world, or just down the street, and we still meet and see ourselves in the world around and within us. What's also special about this poem to me, is that it walks along the past, and into the future, connecting us to myths that built us, and built empires, and brings us into building the future as well. Time is a journey we are all on and a part of, and we can resist travel, internal or external, but we cannot resist the constant urging and persistence of time. With that, we are all on journeys here and now just by existing in this moment.
With that, I would like to open this up to some questions, some discussion, some mindfulness or explorations of all kinds. If you are new to the show here, I usually ask a few questions at this point of the show. These questions are both here to inspire conversation, but also to be reflective if your style is not to share with our group, but to go inwards and explore as well. If you like to journal, or like to meditate on questions as part of your own inner exploration, I encourage to get out a pen and notebook, or even find a cozy place for you to think out these questions, write them out, or reflect on them for your own personal growth. Additionally, if you have your own personal prompts that have helped you, you are encouraged to come up and share as well. This space is a collaborative one, but it can also being mindful and meditative if that's what you need. So here are todays questions:
What ways are you traveling right now?
What ways do you want to travel?
What do you feel your soul is setting up for you? What is in front of you that is allowing your growth?
What is in front of you, that needs to be conquered in order for you to grow?
What do you hope to bring back from your inner and outer travels of your life?
I ask these questions today because we are closing the door on this discussion about travel this week, but many of us are still traveling, still in the middle of it, or have both adventures and travels planned or unplanned ahead. Life is a daring adventure, and a trip around the sun through time, or a trip down the road, or to an obscure cafe at the end of the world all bring us treasures to reflect on. This past week we've talked about memories, about healing ,about trauma, about belonging, about food (so much food!), and each of these stories connects us as if we're all sitting at this table of life together, sharing, and belonging as humans on Earth. Thank you all for giving us so much to connect over. I'm looking forward to more travels with you all, more discussions, and more connection as we all hold space in this little pocket of the virtual audio world together.
I'm Coach Kate, and this has been a Friday episode of the Exploration Hour. If you liked what you heard today, give me a follow. Follow our other contributors here as well. Don’t forget to subscribe to my newsletter for a transcript of this show and some extras thrown in as well. I am looking forward to more explorations with you all next week. See you Monday.
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