Connecting the Dots to South America

by Liz Jansen

Be careful what you put out to the Universe. Never forget that Spirit is always listening and ready to respond. That’s how I find myself planning to ride to South America. Chile. Never in my wildest dreams did I see this one coming, but come it has. Connecting the dots is easier in retrospect than present time.

There’s lots to discover between now and departure this summer some time. Yet I know with unflinching certainty that this is my path. So you’re catching it right from the ground floor.

There are a few reasons why I’m getting it out there so soon.

1. To show Spirit I’ve heard, I’m up to the challenge and willing to do my part.

2. To make it real to me and to make it happen. I used the same tactic when I started writing Women, Motorcycles and the Road to Empowerment. I started telling people about it early on, so then I had to follow through, especially once I’d started researching and interviewing.

3. To gather resources. Although I’ve traveled around the work fairly extensively, it’s been a while, and it wasn’t by motorcycle. I’ve got a lot to learn.

4. To bring you along as I work through this and hopefully inspire others to listen to their internal guides and take action.

To say that it was like a lightening bolt strike would not be an exaggeration. I knew in the instant that thought arrived, that this was something I was to do. In retrospect, it wasn’t completely out of the blue. I’ve been taking steps towards it for sometime without realizing where they were leading.

1. I’ve actually spoken at two Horizons Unlimited meetings, attended adventure rallies, hung out with people like Carla King, interviewed adventurers like Rene Cormier, Lois Pryce, and so on. I was vocal about not being interested in international travel, and it was nowhere on my radar. Evidently my words and intentions, still in my subconscious, were not aligned.

2. Last year, I spent 6+ continuous weeks in the Pacific Northwest, experimenting on working and living from the road. I loved it and felt so at home – anywhere. I said then that I’d return to the road for longer this year.

3. A few years ago, I set a goal to be able to work from anywhere in the world. I didn’t know why I was doing that, only that it seemed the right thing to do.

4. Eleven years ago after leaving my marriage and my career, I spent two months riding across Canada and the US. One of the things I wanted to better understand, besides what I was going to do next, was the Native American perspective on life, and our individual roles in the grand scheme of things. As a result, I visited a number of sites in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. Last year, it occurred to me to make a theme of visiting Native American sacred sites in the US west and southwest. South America was not on my radar.

5. I’m turning 60 later this year. It’s a fact so I might as well embrace it. Japanese call this Kanreki and see it as a time of rebirth. You’ve gone through the years of the Chinese zodiac five times and returned to your birth zodiac.

6. I’ve become increasingly intrigued by my Mennonite ancestry and how that’s shaped me. Maybe it’s an age thing. I moved away from that religious practice years ago but I want to understand more about how my forefathers lived and what they must have gone through. A Gift from the Past and a Lesson on Fear. Even when I wrote that post, I had no idea what was about to transpire.

7. I’ve started studying energy medicine based on ancient wisdom handed down from the indigenous people of the Andes. This was the final straw. The lightning strike awakened me to the fact that if I’m visiting Native American sacred sites, they’ve got to be included.

Looking back, you can see it coming, but I wasn’t ready to see it until now. I didn’t know where any of these steps were leading, only that they were right for me at the time. It’s going to make a great coming of age book.

Thank you for being with me on this journey. I look forward to sharing it with you.