Sitting on a train going across the country is a perfect way to settle back into being in the states. It feels good to be back home. I love America and I always have. The trip to Ethiopia and Kenya gives me a profound sense of gratitude for every aspect of my life here, particularly my relationships and the acknowledgment of the abundances within and outside. I know love and I am loved by some remarkable and beautiful people. I love my city of Seattle, and I love the world around me. Rooting in this, like rooting in the Self, brings a beauty to all experiences.

This has hit me in a warm and effortlessly exciting way. What is always amazing to me is the constancy of having to go far away to realize the importance of home. And yes, while home is in one way ultimately wherever you are, I don’t think the truth of that resonates until one celebrates profoundly who they are and where they have come from in all its aspects.

Oftentimes, those with artistic, social or political concerns encounter suffering and devalue the possessions or joy they have in order to identify with the experience of those who are—or who are perceived as—suffering. I feel the most immediate lesson I learned from my travels in Africa, and now home to America thus far, is gratitude for what I have. My life is beautiful and abundant in every way it needs to be right now. I can’t hold the abundance of life against myself.

Furthermore, I feel that in America, even amidst the poverty and imbalance, we need to celebrate the abundance all around with an earnestness to share. Commiseration no matter how well intended doesn’t heal the imbalance of care and the imbalanced distribution of the world’s resources. Compassion, rather, and the constant valuing of all we have are paramount. Yes, it is a matter of perspective, but to devalue what we have because others have less is pointless.

Indeed, what I have learned in my traveling is this: Value what you have and share it in recognition of your shared humanity. A thought, some cash, a meal, a hug, some music, words. Share and value what you have.

In Love and In Joy,

Evan