When I packed up my house, sold my business and most of my possessions to buy a yurt and other camping supplies, and left my fairly ‘normal’ life in Montana to embark on an off grid adventure of a lifetime by living the traveling camping lifestyle for a while, I had no long-term plan to speak of and no idea where my travels would take me or how long they would last. All I knew was that, despite so many unknowns, it felt very strongly like the ‘right’ thing to do at the time, and I was ready for a change from a life that was increasingly contributing to a deep sense of unhappiness and lack of fulfillment in life. Once I decided to Following my heart and seeking freedom and deeper meaning in life, I hit the road, inspired by a number of people whose stories of manifesting amazing realities with little physical effort, and carrying within me a strong belief that we are all creators of our own reality, which had at that point maybe already developed into a deeper inner knowing that this was absolutely the truth. Although I was not without my doubts, having come out of a number of years living from a state of victim mentality, I took a leap of faith into the unknown, and the rest is history.
Now over one and a half years into my journey without being conventionally employed, and the journey continues to unfold before me, having gone from living full time in my tent to now spending time at farms, homesteads and communities doing work in exchange for room and board, one of the ways I have managed to continue living without a conventional job, house or most of the other societal trappings that are so often and in so many cases not truly beneficial to our highest good. I must continue to remember to focus on what it is that I seek and my own inner peace and happiness in the present moment, and leave the specifics of the how that reality will be manifested up to the Universe and divine higher power that I know from experience now does respond to our prayers and focused intentions in the way we expect or tend to think it should.
I have always wanted to start an off grid homestead of some type, lacking only the physical resources (land) to do so, and this desire has only strengthened as I walk my current path, only now I am more focused specifically on building sustainable community, as I see that as the only real solution to the many societal problems humanity is currently facing, and the only viable alternative to actively supporting the very system that most of us know is a major cause of so many problems and so much human suffering. In my travels so far I have seen with my own eyes that homesteading is indeed a practical solution and very doable, and that there are many people out there working behind the scenes to create more sustainable ways of living and growing crops. Although it may initially appear quite difficult, with enough determination and focus I have also seen that it is indeed possible to be nearly completely self sufficient.
I learned so much in my month living at a small commune in California, and that experience helped show me how practical community living can be, and I found it to be quite the educational, fulfilling and enjoyable time as well. It is good to know that there are so many people out there seeking to build and actively creating sustainable community in their own ways. As I write this, I am on my way to a newly launched off-grid community in northern Arizona where I plan to stay for at least two weeks, which I suspect will be another wonderful learning experience on my journey to hopefully someday finding (or building) the right community for me. And although I am not yet on the way to building my own community, it would seem miraculous, if I didn’t understand the science underlying the metaphysical workings of manifestation, that not long after deciding within myself that a small sustainable community was key to the future I sought to create, opportunities to visit and live in small communities began to present themselves.
Having so much free time in my months of camping, I was able to do much soul searching and contemplation, allowing me to see much more clearly what exactly it is that I’m looking for in life, in order than I can more easily create it and bring these dreams into reality. And far more important than the physical manifestations we create, I am learning time and time again, is our inner state of being. Most of us seek things or relationships or situations that we think will make us happy or bring peace to our life, when in reality it is the state of being happy and at peace within ourself that will bring those types of things into our physical reality.
It has certainly been a crazy time to be doing what I’m doing, with all of the lockdowns and all sorts of other measures and pandemic craziness, but I’m also seeing that all of these rapid large-scale changes at a societal level, although they may not look to be for the better on the surface, are serving as a catalyst to push people to make big changes to their lives for the better, that most people would not do without being forced into situations forcing them to. So although there is much darkness, fear and insanity on the earth in these times, I also see many signs of hope and many people making very big and often radical positive changes in their lives and the world around them.
As the world continues to rapidly change all around us this year (whether seemingly for the better or worse), and we are now halfway through the year, it is the perfect time to be reflecting on what it is that we truly seek to create for our future, because although we may lose our focus and become distracted with the stress of daily life, time continues to march on. Our time on this earth is limited for each one of us, and our attention is our most valuable resource, as whatever we spend the most time placing our attention on, we will inevitably make it our reality whether we really want it or not.
So for the remainder of this year, I need to focus more on focusing on the bright future I seek to make a reality than the dark future others have planned, spending more time doing what I can to create the light- and love-filled dream that I (and so many of us) have for our future, and a little less time fighting against those who wish to perpetuate a world filled with fear, division and slavery.
Just continue living more and more free each day, doing everything in my power to rely less and less upon the system that wishes to keep humanity in chains, disempowered and full of fear. To love more and more, and fear less and less each day. And to focus more and more on taking the necessary steps to create and maintain a state of inner peace and stillness, as it is only from this state that all positive manifestation can occur.
I still have no plan, so to speak, and I still get distracted from focus on my underlying goals and dreams from time to time with the craziness in the world around me, that, nine times out of ten doesn’t even directly effect me. But the longer I walk this path, the less and less I worry about the future and the specifics of how all my needs will be met, increasingly able to look back at how many times everything I needed was always put right there in front of me, right when it was needed, and usually never a day sooner - a testament to the futility and needlessness of doubt on the path to self empowerment and liberation.
And although I don’t have a specific plan in place, I am very much focused right now on gaining as much experience living in and helping to build/grow small independent communities, accumulating as many practical homesteading skills as possible, and learning as much as I can about various sustainable organic gardening techniques and methods. But beyond that, I plan for my focus and attention for the rest of the year to be on the attunement my inner state of being, inner growth and healing, and the eradication and replacement of any mental programs that no longer serve me on the path to peace and freedom, pinpointing and getting rid of all those thought patterns that stand between me and the realization of the peace, freedom and abundance that I seek for myself and indeed all of humanity.
It is encouraging to see that so many others are doing the same, and that so many of us are working to overcome the countless fears and doubts and societal programming that has kept humanity in chains and in various states of suffering for so long, and we are finding so many unique ways of doing so. As we continue to increasingly work together towards these shared goals, our physical world will no doubt continue to increasingly reflect these inner changes in many positive ways in the coming days, months and years ahead.
A new age of peace and freedom is now dawning, and until it is fully upon us, it will more or less only be seen by those actively participating in the creation of the new paradigm for this new age, as humanity’s consciousness continues to undergo the slow but monumental shift from fear to love and freedom, out of the darkness and into the light.
This post was inspired by the most recent Abundance Tribe bi-weekly question, and although I missed the deadline for entry due to a busy schedule the past few days, I still felt like putting this post together as these things had already been on my mind, and I hope some readers out there will appreciate my musings.
Cover photo: Views of a campsite in the Chihuahuan Desert of southeastern New Mexico below the Organ Mountains, just outside of Las Cruces, on my way east from Arizona (where I spent much of the winter camping after leaving California) to a farm in Arkansas - mid-April, 2021.