I love going on safari. Safaris have an amazing way to get me connected to my true self. Being present with nature and experiencing the wildness of the savannah opens my heart and give me such a sense of freedom. I always wake up with this excited impatience to feel the sun caressing my face while we are driving in quest of adventure. I love the excitement, almost child like, to discover what surprises nature has prepared for us. It is like being on Christmas days in front of the tree waiting to discover what Santa Claus has brought for you.
My first experience of safari was in the Sabi Sands in South Africa. It is a true paradise for observing cats. I had the privilege to see a beautiful cheetah stretching gracefully on a trunk, almost pausing to let us admire its beauty before heading for its next hunt. I will never forget, the incredible eyes of this leopard lying on top of a mound scanning and monitoring its territory like a king in his castle, as well as this very flirtatious female leopard desperately trying to motivate her very tired and uncooperative partner for mating. Yes, we do have that in common with leopards; it is not always the male chasing the female!
Safaris have the surprising ability to teach you in the most unlikely ways. One of the lessons I will never forget was taught to me by two rhinoceros, named Tom and Jerry by our guides. At first, as we were driving towards them, I naturally thought it was a mother and her child; until the guide revealed to me that it was actually an adult male and a young male. The adult, Tom, had been taking care of Jerry, the youngster, since the killing of his mother by poachers. This is quite an extraordinary thing to happen. As far as the guides are concerned, this is unheard of. They had never seen or heard of such behaviour, nor read about it in any book. Male adult rhinos just don’t take care of youngsters. That’s the females’ job! Well, thank god for Jerry, Tom does not read books nor follow them! It was a good reminder of the power of living your life concept free and having the courage and audacity to go for what you love.
We often imprison ourselves in definitions and concepts about who we are and what we should or can do, that we often disconnect from our true nature and end up missing on so much life gold. I personally have a good track record of that. I used to see myself as an intellectual, brainy-sort-of type of person, certainly not intuitive, nor artistic. I would define myself as somebody who is more mind based than heart based, and would definitely avoid too much intimacy and close relationship with almost everybody. Simplistically, my unconscious motto was as Sartre said: “l’enfer c’est les autres” – hell is people. My reality certainly reflected those definitions. I was working as financial analyst in a job that never fulfilled me. I always felt somehow separate or awkward with people, sometimes even in my own family, and would always keep enough distance to make myself feel safe. I was actually very disconnected from my true nature. I feel very blessed to have awakened to the truth. Working with my intuition and learning to decipher its subtle messages has been life changing. It has opened a world of discovery and understanding of my egoic structure and tendencies, as well as my true nature and purpose. Choosing to honour my creative self and embracing the path of truth has sometimes been tough, and called for some tough decisions, including breaking my marriage. But I never regretted to follow my truth and to surrender to the wisdom of my intuition. Reconnecting with and living in my heart have been the best gift I could possibly give to myself. So if you feel the slightliest warm light in your heart telling you to try, I encourage you to follow your heart and to start exploring using your intuition to create a life that you truly love.