Connection through Detachment- the path of the Intentional Nomad

January 2023

written from Auckland, New Zealand

To be a Nomad is to travel inward by going outward; removing the "known" and breaking the patterns of life, to experience the edge of the mystery - and the ALIVENESS of being.

My journey as a Nomad began over five years ago. My understanding of what it means to be a Nomad, however, has emerged and deepened over time, and I expect it will continue to evolve. In this stage of my journey I have come to recognize that "Nomad" is much more than a description of a lifestyle. Rather, it is a description of a mindset, values, and a spiritual path of detachment from that which matters least, towards a deeper connection to that which matters most.

Detachment. That was never an intended goal, but it has surely been an outcome. I have learned detachment from my own prior limited labels; including the definition of home and work and play. I have found detachment from my old perspective on things I owned, which is an entirely different way of orienting to possessions, and even to the concept of "possessing"a home. And I am slowly losing attachment to the labels that I used to give myself, and once believed defined me.

I know my story is uniquely my own, as is yours, yet in many ways the story of the Nomad spirit is an iconic long-told story spanning across the ages; the story of the man or woman who takes to the road, with or without an oath of poverty, but always without the means or desire to carry with themselves the weight of things from their left-behind world. I know there are many others out there on this journey now.

And I know that those of you who are on this journey, know that becoming Nomad involves far more than leaving behind ones home. To be a Nomad is to travel inward by going outward; removing the "known" and breaking the patterns of life, and to experience instead the edge of the mystery - and the ALIVENESS of being - the aliveness of standing naked in the world, vulnerable, and yelling loudly, "Here I am. I am nothing. And I am all that is." I am no longer my name, my country, my social status, or the things I own. I am now, oh so much less of ALL of that, and oh so much more ALIVE, present, conscious,and free from the trance I was born into. The trance we are all born into.

I never intended to go here. I didn't even know "here" existed. And now I cannot unsee the separation between self and the old constructs that once defined me. And I would not want to return back on the path from which I came. This journey, this "becoming," is my hero's journey, and the road that brought me here no longer exists.

I know there are others like me (perhaps you?), who are experiencing the Nomad becoming, and those who have not yet begun the journey but can hear and feel the whispers of their own Nomad being - awakening, reminding, playfully inviting a greater more ALIVE presence in their everyday, every moment, every "now." For those souls, this path feels like a return to the garden; it feels like this is how life was supposed to FEEL all along. We were not born merely to survive from birth to death. We are here to "become" fully our own authentic version of ourselves. And to not answer this call is no longer an option.

Thank you for sharing this journey with me, and for having the courage to say YES to life.

Namaste.

Laura Dawn