I recently took a trip to Italy. My hope before I left was to allow the beauty of the country to whisper words to me. Words that would manifest into poetry that would live with me forever but this unfortunately didn’t eventuate. What I learned instead was how important it is to simply be still. Still enough to breath, to think, to exist. My days were filled with scheduled tours, accompanied lunches and dinners, visiting family and shopping. The pictures I took stilled the beauty of the places and moments for me but I never existed within these places and moments long enough to soak them in. On my last day I took a solo stroll through Rome in an attempt to be fully present and those few hours of solitude is what plays most in the highlight reel of my 6 day trip. This was the one moment my mind was still. I had no place to be,  no appointment or pace to keep, no other being to accommodate. In that moment I was truly able to savor the beauty of such a magnificent place and imprint it into the stillness of my being for a lifetime.

“In the midst of movement and chaos, keep stillness inside of you” -Deepak Chopra