Curiosity, humanity and storytelling have always intrigued me. Makes sense since I chose a career in Journalism, writing, PR, and branding early on in my life prior to segueing into coaching creatives 11 years ago.
Transformational Travel is now part of that equation as to what lights me up and what I have found to be a popular coaching topic for my creatives because it feeds and nurtures the f-r-e-e-d-o-m we all crave.
Simply put, Transformational Travel replaces the “vacation” mentality of traveling with a mindset and intention of using cultural immersion in a foreign country as a platform to change your life. “Travel brings power and love back into your life” – Rumi
(Photo: Florence, Italy 2017)
In other words, instead of coming home from an incredible trip to Italy, France, Brazil, Israel, Australia, Mexico, Spain, etc., and resuming life back to “normal” – you intentionally use that travel experience as a way of changing you, your habits, behaviors, mindset, and courageously step into your life vision.
It’s the ultimate pattern interrupt to help you see life through a new set of lens and make necessary changes to bring you closer to living a life you truly love.
Transformational travel is meant to be the best and most enjoyable self-development experience we can have. The gifts are:
- It’s a lift up from life’s routines and stale habits.
- It’s a new lease on life.
- It’s spiritual growth that deepens your connection to your purpose.
- It’s the shift to not taking life so serious and adding more play, fun, laughter and creativity in your life!
And so it follows with my new friend and colleague Nancy Showalter, an author/speaker/coach/spiritual mentor, and host of “Spirituality for the Politically Incorrect” podcast, based in Ecuador that I chose to share her inspiring personal and creative entrepreneurial story that speaks to this transformational travel theme.
We met a month ago online after she watched a podcast (Thanks Molly Mahoney!) I was on two years ago. She reached out to me about our common passions in spirituality, serving creatives, law of attraction, money as an energy and a blessing, and wealth consciousness.
These synchronistic events I call the magic of life led us to a delightful Zoom conversation where she invited me on her popular podcast (the show aired Nov 3) and I offered to share her brilliance via my blog to you!
Her travels over the years where she taught seminars and attended conferences included Thailand, Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, the Golan Heights, Egypt, Panama Canal, and more led her to making the intuitive decision in 2008 to move from the Midwest to Ecuador with her husband of 43 years.
This is exactly what I encourage you to do in using travel to inspire you to make decisions out of your comfort zone and go for designing a life and business you really love.
It was during the 1990s when working for a non-profit, Nancy traveled to a number of countries in Latin America, lecturing and working with local groups and fell in love with South America. After that position ended, she told her husband, a minister, that she thinks he would like Ecuador especially for its special spiritual vibration.
Nancy explains, “We took a trip to Ecuador for a vacation that included an International Business seminar. We loved it and returned a second time for a super-learning Spanish course. During that course, we each independently felt the impulse to look for property, which we did.
We ended up purchasing a small cottage on a little over 1/2 acre not really knowing exactly what it held for the future. We felt a strong calling to move and did so in 2008.
I just retired from my job as the manager of an inbound call center in the Midwest and my husband and I who have been married now for 43 years, established our second home in beautiful Ecuador, South America where we spend most of our time. (Photo: Eucalyptus Forest in Ecuador)
It is from this beautiful, serene home in the mountains that we are able to extend our reach and continue our life’s work of helping others rediscover who they really are and to find meaning and purpose in their lives.
I have three wonderful sons and two grandsons. And here in Ecuador, we have a charming little home-away-from-home, abundant nature, some chickens and two adorable cats–and lots of help for when we are back in the States. We travel back to the States 5 times per year and have held a 2-week conference in Europe each year plus some work here in Ecuador.”
Nancy walks her talk. She lives what she teaches. She is dedicated to helping people courageously step into a larger dimension of themselves by accessing the power of the divine within themselves to inspire constructive change, including discovering their unique purpose, healing painful memories, and shifting from victim to victor.
For more of this and her spiritual coaching and mentorship, I highly recommend you reach out to Nancy at her site, www.nancyshowalter.com to sign up for her free Life Shift Strategy Session and copy of her book, It’s OK to Be Rich: The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Increased Wealth and Personal Mastery.
Where are you traveling to next? And, when? No more negotiating your truth about what you truly desire. It’s time.
Do you want to explore your travel desires? Have you been holding back for the reasons of time or money? I’ve got you. Let’s talk. Email: support@marladiann.com to schedule an inspirational discussion. I’m here for you.
Blessings and joy,
