The Gorgeous Library in the Amazing Apartment.
A few years ago, I’d just taught an inspiring and beautiful yoga retreat in Amalfi Coast of Italy and my wife, Seneca, and I were musing about how wonderful it would be to one day live in Europe. “Yeah, but how do you earn a living?” was one of the obvious answers to that dream. Regardless, we decided to state it as a serious dream and somehow figure it out.
Around that time, Seneca introduced me to something called Mind Movie which acts like a digital vision board. In essence, this program helps you focus on several areas of your life, to make goals and visions around those goals, and then build a movie which you watch regularly to continue to inspire you to work toward those things. As I was building my life movie, one of the things I dreamed of was living in a beautiful city in Europe in an exquisite dwelling that had a gorgeous library. I found a picture of a truly inspiring home library and put it in my Mind Movie so I could see it regularly to work toward that goal.
Well, not long after that yoga retreat in the Amalfi Coast where Seneca and I were dreaming about somehow living in Europe, we found ourselves in a transition between jobs and locations (we were living in NYC at the time) and decided to search around the US to find another home that would suit us. With all but a few suitcases of stuff in storage, we were mobile to search for where we might want to settle. In our search, we went back to Salt Lake City and also explored L.A. I even attended a yoga training at a studio I wanted to work at in L.A. so I could teach their method. It was during a break at this training that I got a text from Seneca that simply said, “Hey, wanna go live in Nice, France?” My answer back was an unequivocal, “HELL, YEAH!” Since all of our stuff was in storage, the house we owned was being rented, and our kid wasn’t old enough to be in school yet, we figured, “why not?”
We enjoyed a lovely year in France and came back to Salt Lake City about the time that our renter in our house was eager to buy his own house. Incidentally, only about a month or so after we returned, the world shut down due to COVID-19 and we found ourselves staying in Salt Lake City longer than we’d intended. It turned out to be a blessing because my mom’s cancer came back during that time and we were able to spend several months with her before she ultimately passed away in November of 2020. A difficult and trying time, yet we were extremely grateful to be close to family.
With COVID-19 vaccines rolling out, we yearned to be back in Europe and decided to try someplace new, maybe Spain this time. We honeymooned in Barcelona and fell in love with it so we thought maybe we’d learn Spanish and attempt a life in that town of architectural wonders, warm hospitality, and cosmopolitan appeal.
Seneca has many gifts and talents but one of her superpowers being a bureaucratic ninja who can cut through red tape with her katana-like smarts and unrelenting determination. Yet, even with her superpowers in full force, after 5 months and literally HUNDREDS of hours of effort, we were no closer to getting a long-stay visa to Spain. We were met with roadblock after roadblock, and with each roadblock we’d discover a loophole that we could trace, only to meet another roadblock and yet another loophole.
Eventually, Spain finally opened up to tourists who had been vaccinated from COVID-19 and a consultant informed us of the possibility to arrive in Spain on a tourist visa and then apply for a language school whereupon we could then apply for a student visa and stay there longer than our tourist visa (only 90 days). So off we went to Spain!
First on our list of tasks was to find a suitable apartment for our family. We had enrolled our son in a bilingual school and we wanted something that was relatively close to his school. We found a truly INCREDIBLE furnished apartment (see a video walkthrough here) and when we walked in to see the apartment, wouldn’t you know it, but there was my gorgeous library that I’d dreamed of several years ago and had envisioned in my Mind Movie. It dawned on me then: there I was, living in a beautiful city in Europe in an exquisite dwelling that had a gorgeous library. I had to pinch myself, it was so perfect! We’d made it, right?
Not exactly.
Fortunately, our first experience living as a family in Europe showed us that we could still earn a living no matter where we lived. Here we were in Spain, trying to do what we’d done in France a few years previous but the bureaucracy blocks we were getting were a serious wet blanket to our plans. We were kissing Spain but Spain was not kissing us back.
After about a month of living in Barcelona and teasing out yet more loopholes to try to make it work, we hopped on a plane to France because I was hosting a yoga retreat at a historic and luxurious château near Bordeaux with a pre-treat to Paris. As we arrived in France, both Seneca and I lit up with joy. We remembered how much we loved France! We honestly felt like we’d come home.
We spent a delightful fortnight in France and came back to Spain with an important resolve: Spain is over—France is giving us the love. So we decided to pivot and apply for a French long-stay visa and in 1 week, we found a new school for our son in France, left our incredible apartment with the gorgeous library, and found ourselves sitting in an office in San Francisco, submitting our applications for our French visa.
Unlike Spain, France was meeting our action with more action and it confirmed to us that this was the path we needed to take at the moment. France was kissing us back! Currently, we are back in Salt Lake City temporarily as we await our French visas with our fingers crossed. Nothing is assured but we are hopeful that by November, we’ll be back in France.
In truth, we are hoping that France will be ONE of our primary hubs, Salt Lake City being our other hub. To say that we will be operating from any one place would be incorrect because next year’s plans include classes, workshops, trainings, and retreats in Salt Lake City, New York, France, Hong Kong, Italy, England, and Spain.
What does it all mean, and what does this say about manifesting your dreams?
I think it would have been too simple to see that beautiful apartment in Barcelona with that wonderful library and think, “Boom. Done. I’ve made it.” Instead, what Seneca and I have been discussing about all of this is that the apartment was just one of the many breadcrumbs we’ve discovered along our path. What we are discovering about manifesting is that the process itself is a creative process, that manifesting isn’t just one thing.
First of all, I made that intention of the fine apartment and library several years ago and my experience, needs, and desires have upgraded since then. It’s ok —and expected— to edit your dreams along the way. As the years go by, we become more evolved along our own spiritual and personal journeys, so some things we’d hoped for in the past might become obsolete.
Also, the process of manifesting, including this experience, has taught me the importance of tuning yourself to be in sync with your True Self so you can feel when it’s necessary to course correct. I wrote a blog entry that explores the principle of Sympathetic Vibration, resonating in tandem with sounds, ideas, and people that hum at your same vibration. Keeping your body, mind, and spirit tuned through practices like yoga, meditation, and sustainability help you to be tuned such that you can hear your True Self whispering sometimes subtle shifts in life’s direction.
Also—and this is what I think is the most important realization of all of this— my wife helped to remind me that rather than being tied up in the individual details of how life is unfolding, we always have to keep our eyes on our North Star, our really big desires and dreams. There are many points of our North Star, including spiritual desires, relationship and family desires, career desires, but for Seneca and me, some of the elements of our our North Star regarding our living locations are to live in a place that affords:
A multilingual, multicultural environment
Good schools for our kid
Beauty, art, history, and stunning architecture
A hub for international travel
Affordable and accessible healthcare (France RULES for healthcare…don’t get me started)
As we keep our eyes on our North Star, we realize that many different places can offer what we desire. I have to remember that there are more beautiful abodes with incredible libraries in other places than just Spain. Of course, we understand that France isn’t necessarily the end-all-be-all. It’s just what’s calling to us at the moment. And the truth is that we don’t have to decide on one place.
At the end of the day, and what I really want to say here, is that in the creative process of manifesting, there isn’t a right or wrong answer. Instead, tune yourself to feel what resonates in the moment and keep our eyes on your North Star. Then enjoy the ride.
And truly, what is home? Wendell Berry hits the nail on the head with this poem:
A Spiritual Journey
And the world cannot be discovered by a journey of miles,
no matter how long,
but only by a spiritual journey,
a journey of one inch,
very arduous and humbling and joyful,
by which we arrive at the ground at our feet,
and learn to be at home.
At the end of the day, we are all making it up as we go, trying our best to discover what most feels like home. And since we are making it up along the way, let’s make it good and let’s have an adventure! Plus, let’s stay open to what reveals itself along the way lest we miss the point and potentially some really good stuff we hadn’t previously conceived of.
Like the immortal Ram Das says, “We are all just walking each other home.” May we forever stay rooted in love and with our hearts open to whatever reveals itself along the way as we find this elusive place called home.