SOUL TOWN VERSUS HAPPY PLACE

The expression of SOUL TOWN is the perfect one if it comes to having to answer people why you are going to one place often. “It´s my SOUL TOWN” is that one place that has caught you for some reason and have a strong connection to and you instantly feel at ‘home’. Of course you are connected to your actual hometown but perhaps it just does not seem to have that same kind of feeling. The town you call home is of course connected to family, to places where you grew up, to childhood friends, to things that you did the very first time, to memories and to the love of beloved ones. I guess that is what is meant by the saying ´Home is where the heart is´.

That doesn´t however mean that your soul is connected to the same place.

FIGURE OUT YOUR SOUL TOWN

Once you´ve felt that strong connection – like being in a soulful (or deeper) interaction with the place you are in – you will know what these following lines are about. And if not maybe this will help you to figure out your own. First, let´s have a look on the concept of a ‘happy place`. This one might look like a fancy, hipster or blogger expression and yeah it is one expression that perhaps has been over used in the last few years where more and more people are traveling, planet discovering and into sharing their favourite places as well as their feelings and insights via a snazzy HASHTAG #happyplace!

PLACES THAT MAKE YOU HAPPY

A `happy place` gives you the feeling of home too, without it needing to be the original one. It’s not about being reminded of the place you were born or the where you grew up. It´s much more about the moments you have there, the memories you create and the connections to people that you make. It´s about the vibe that you get while there, the smiles that you catch while you are walking and the beauty you discover in your surroundings. In sum: the feelings that pop up while doing all this (happy ones). When you feel like going back and back and back and the moment of returning gives the soul this feeling of relaxation like directly by touching the ground. You feel balanced. When all this in total brings you happiness, when this in sum is putting a permanent smile in your face, then you´ve surely found your `happy place`. BAM!

The difference between a ‘SOUL TOWN’ and happy place

Did you find your happy place yet? Well if you did then you may wonder what the difference may be…of course happiness is connected with your soul. The biggest difference might be that a happy place can be very distracting. Sure your soul might be happy but – regarding to how focused you are – all that joy of life and living can be very distracting. Your heart is open, like an open gate where all the joy is floating in. When you let it all in, it overwhelms you and the more you discover that joy the more you want to enjoy it. Normal thing! So you soak it in and in and in. Which is totally fine, nothing wrong with it because first, life is about living and enjoy living and second, all we have are these moments and the memories about it. That´s why going out there and finding that place which gives you that freedom and happiness is worth every penny. It should be at the top of your bucket list!

One for the heart. One for the soul. Back to the difference:

Let´s get back to the comparison, let´s get back to place called `soul town`. This one is defined by a connection of the soul. You may not feel happiness at first sight after reaching the spot. It might take some time until you discover that deep connection, you just feel in your bones, a tingling, a knowing you might say… Yeah, it might be challenging for you and it can be at the moment when you are flying out, the moment of leaving the place that had let you struggle, the moment to recognise that this one, this place made you grow. The moment when your soul is growing and creating connections is similar to the connection of two people in a relationship when it gets deeper and more intense after passing successfully a big challenge or problem. The growth in a situation – whether with the people or places around us – is connecting us with them: You and your boy/girl/or best friend the same as you and the places: overcoming the trouble and struggle made both of you growing together. Because first, everything you go through grows you and second, the result of this growth is an expanding horizont and a relaxation of being already experienced of a certain situation.

THE ATTRACTION OF CONNECTION

So after being connected through your own kind of way, through your own kind of experiences, you feel the attraction of this connection. This attraction makes you come back followed by returning and returning. And when you again touch down this place your soul is connecting very quickly to because it´s there (here) where it expanded. A place from where it is easy to move to a spot within yourself, a spot where you are more reflective than elsewhere, a spot where you do have this insights, where you get to know yourself better, a spot where it regularly click in the way that two different thoughts are connecting, or the analysis of an experience brings you to a result which you able to grab now as a learning. The feeling of being much more connected to yourself than anywhere else, where you feel that you don´t have to be anyone else. And this kind of individually freedom is giving you soul peace, is bringing yourself in alignment and with it you can reload your energy like recharging batteries. And this feeling of being in one hundred percent of charge catches you that much that your soul wants to go back for the rest of it´s being. Because it found freedom. Because it found home. The soul´s home.

SOULTOWN.

Ergo: And of course when your soul grows your happiness grows because everything is connected. It´s one unity. That´s why leaving the comfort zone and being confronted which situations that challenge you is an important aspect of meeting your soul and of letting it grow as well as letting things go, of finding stability of happiness and places to recharge. Places of inner peace, one for the heart and one for the soul. You´ve got both in one place? Great then, you are saving traveling costs. 😉

The story behind the lines

I am in Bali right now. A friend from Kathmandu has just left to return back home to Nepal and after hugging and waving good-bye to her

I met Shan at the coffee corner while getting a cup of the coffee. And while chatting about my love to Nepal I´ve used `soul town´ and while talking about Bali I´ve used `happy place` so he was asking me about the difference of these two expressions. A question that made me think. The reason why I was turning inside my thoughts and grabbing my laptop later to capture them.

When I heard about the concept of ´soul town´ the first I was in conversation with Sam, a cool guy from Mumbai who was living in Goa. I was in Nepal at this time. We were talking about why he´d chosen Goa as his base and he´d answered because it is his SOUL TOWN and that there is difference regarding to the expression of hometown. It directly clicked and matched with my feelings that I feel like being in Kathmandu like every single time I go there which is pretty regularly.

Since then I´m thankful to have found this expression to explain to people what is that makes me going back to this city that much often. It´s because it is my SOUL TOWN. Now I know. Thanks Sam for introducing me to that one and because I´m loving it that much I do share it with you guys now. Let me know about your SOUL TOWN if you feel like sharing and if you´ve met it already and it did make click while reading. Super curious to know about the places your soul is connected to and if you could add the why too, I will be the happiest ready it.

It´s all about connection.

hello@adventureandyou.de