While travel has plenty to offer, one of its temptations is the opportunity that it affords us to experience ourselves in a different vibrational milieu. Each of us contributes a unique vibration to our lives and the world, and we embody this vibration wherever we go. However, our experience of ourselves can shift as we find ourselves blanketed by different energies. We may characterize the energy of a place as its “feel,” or its “tone,” or, even, its “tempo.” Some places will feel comfortable to us, while others may challenge us, depending on how the predominant vibration of the area harmonizes with our own unique vibe. In this way, travel enables us to clarify who we are—or, in other words, it helps us to understand our own vibrational contribution—by increasing our awareness of that with which we resonate, and that with which we do not.

While places can offend us, and delight us, our responses to a place need not be dramatic—they may be subtle. Different locations can accentuate aspects of us that lie dormant before we are immersed in a particular supportive environment. Once we recognize those attributes within us, though, we can allow their presence in our expression wherever we may be. Hence, travel aids our ability to access our many facets in our quest for self-understanding, development, and expression.

Recently, I visited my hometown in Southern Illinois. While I love living in the foothills of Colorado, I was struck by my sense of the different potentialities that each location holds for me. Boulder, Colorado provides ample permission for self-exploration and achievement. It oozes with the possibilities of greatness. The sky is the limit, and, in the foothills, the sky is clear and vast. Vibrationally, Boulder offers its inhabitants a setting that encourages individual awareness, expansiveness, and expression—it emphasizes autonomy and reason.

On the other hand, Carbondale, Illinois exudes warmth, emphasizing community relationships. It holds space for feelings of kindness and compassion. It highlights the poignancy of being human by accentuating the ways in which we need others in order to create a meaningful life. Hence, the accessibility of the human community of Carbondale provides a palpable and supportive backdrop to one’s endeavors. The focus of the place is cooperation and open-heartedness.

Clearly, the ability to tap into one’s full range of autonomy, reason, cooperation and open-heartedness is vital to developing a satisfying life; these facets of each of us are present wherever we may be. However, select facets within us can be encouraged by the predominant vibe of various locations. It is fun to notice what differentiates one place from another, and with which places and qualities one resonates most easily. By bringing awareness to the distinctions evidenced by various physical locations, one can not only increase self-awareness, but also differentiate between one’s own vibration and the vibration of place. This ability for differentiation affords us greater options when we choose how we want to be anywhere. Bon voyage!

Written by Heidi Szycher, a staff member at the Boulder Psychic Institute. Check out her personal site at healings.biz.