Set simple, broad intentions, visualise, and go forth with curiosity and an open heart. This is how I’ve been managing to manifest some lovely experiences, and travel with comfort and ease. Listen to some joyful stories from my recent travels, and learn how to manifest your happy journeys too.

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Transcript: How to manifest a happy journey every time

(gently edited for a better reading experience)

I was on a quick trip to Mysore this week. A friend of mine has come down to India to visit her parents there. She’s a very, very close friend of mine, way back from school days. So I just had to travel out there to meet her, and spend some time with her!

On my way back, I took the train yesterday. And the train that I wanted wasn’t available, so I took a slightly lower priced train, which also takes a little longer to reach town.

When I sat in the train, it was very, very crowded. Packed to the gills. Unlike my train up, which was kind of empty and there were a lot of free seats. In fact, the seat next to mine was empty, and the seats were comfortable and wide, and oh it was a luxurious experience!

Whereas this train that I returned on was not such a great train, though it was an easy coach. It was kind of crowded and not very comfortable. The seats were smaller and all of that.

I picked a window seat

And when I went and sat there, I saw that the so called ‘window seat’ was actually next to the wall, the empty wall between the windows of the train, so I didn’t even have the window to look outside of.

There were three seats in a row, mine being the one closest to the side of the train, and the other two being towards the aisle. So I was getting a little bugged. I’m like, first of all, the seats are smaller. There’s no window so it’s extra packed tight. I didn’t have an armrest.

And then on the other side were these two fairly young girls whom I didn’t think I’d have much in common with, at least not enough to have a conversation.

I was polite and a little friendly

I said hi to them and thanked them when they moved for me to go sit in my seat. And one of the girls even offered to help me put the luggage up on the top rack because it was quite high I’m a shorty. Haha

Anyway, I managed to put the luggage up there by myself. But after that initial interaction, I was quiet. I sat down, put on my earphones, started playing a podcast, and I was quietly listening to it.

After some time I realised that it was past the departure time of the train, way past it, and the train still had moved. So I got a bit annoyed. I was like, “oh no, this is gonna be a long journey! Already the journey itself is longer than the journey I took on the way to Mysore, but now with this delay, I’m just gonna be sitting here for quite some time.”

But then I decided, you know what, I’m just going to forget all that and take it as free time to catch up with my podcasts, and just relax on the journey.

Then the girl next to me started chatting with me

Initially it was just to say how the train was delayed. Me, the girl next to me, and her cousin who was next to her, we were just cribbing a bit about that.

They had another train to catch when they reached Bangalore. They were a bit worried and I assured them, I said, “don’t worry, there’s plenty of time. Even if this train is delayed a little bit, it’ll be delayed at the most a half an hour, and you still would have a whole hour to catch up to your other train, before the departure of your other train so it’s fine.”

Now normally whenever I travel alone, I do have a habit of chatting with the person next to me

Usually it’s a few polite words. Some small talk, and then we become silent and we do our own thing. So once in a while just exchanging a few words here and there. But yesterday was so different!

This girl who was next to me, her name is Sakshi and her cousin’s name is Esha. Esha was the fairly quieter one, and Sakshi and I were the chatty ones. And Sakshi, if you’re listening to this, “Hiiiii”. Haha

So Sakshi and I, we were chatting throughout the journey. The conversation just flowed from one topic into another. It was so different from my usual conversations, with all those long silences in between. The conversation didn’t feel forced or awkward even. We just kept going, and talking about so many things.

I found this really amusing because we’re not of the same age, there’s a big age gap between us. We’re not from the same backgrounds. We’ve grown up into totally different kinds of places, speaking two very different languages, very different cultures. Everything about us was different, including what she is studying and what I have studied. All of it.

And yet, we had so much to discuss!

We spoke about creativity, culture, films, podcasts. We discovered that both of us are multi-passionate, we like to pursue different areas of creativity, passion, learning.

Then we spoke a bit about food, and of course, me being me, the topic did turn to veganism. So I spoke about why I was vegan and the dairy industry and everything.

It was so interesting to even listen to her tell me her thoughts about humans, about emotions, about having conversations like these. This girl is so mature for her age, and she’s very, very self aware.

I was so impressed! It was so nice to listen to her talk about her feelings and what kind of person she wants to become, all of it. The whole journey went by so quickly.

It was nearly three hours of sitting there in the train with her, and it went by in a snap

By the time we reached Bangalore, I was like, “Oh, we’ve already reached?” How cool is that? We just didn’t feel it.

She said that she also felt the same way. It was a really flowing conversation, and she was able to open up and talk freely with a stranger like this after so many years. It was a really nice time. And the journey went by really, really quickly.

Before going on any journey, I always set intentions

Particularly because I don’t enjoy the travelling part of visiting a place. Whether it’s a train travel, or drive, or flight, whatever it is, that is not usually the part that I enjoy most.

So well ahead of time, before leaving the house, I sit down and I visualise. I set the intention. I put it out to the divine, asking the universe to “make this journey smooth, joyful, comfortable.”

That’s all I ask for. I don’t ask for luxury, I don’t ask for anything else. I don’t try to control any of the other small things. And then once I’ve set that intention, I go out with an open mind and an open heart.

I go out with curiosity, and always there’s a delightful surprise like this waiting for me

Like I said, on the way up, empty seat next to me. Super comfortable. On the way back, even though apparently it didn’t look like it would be a comfortable journey, the comfort barely even mattered because the conversation was so interesting with Sakshi that I didn’t even realise whether the seat was small, big, armrest… None of it made any difference to me at all. It was so joyful.

A few podcasts ago I was telling you about my trip to Dharamkot and how all of that worked out. Even there, on the flight up, on the flight back, everything was so peaceful and joyful.

All because I set that clear intention, without putting in too many requests or details, or trying to control anything. Instead, just saying that, “okay, everything’s gonna work out beautifully. And I’m going to go with the flow. That is all I ask for.” And then I watch out. I watch for, “oh, what’s going to happen now?”

I met some interesting people even on my journey to Dharamkot and back

There was a long layover between Delhi and Dharamkot on that first flight out there. And during the layover, on the bus ride from one terminal to another, I met a couple of women who were also heading to Dharamkot.

We started chatting, and the whole overnight layover in the airport felt like nothing. It was so fun. It was so interesting chatting with them. And we also had time off to do our own things, plus chat with each other. It was so good.

And then on my way back from Dharamkot to Bangalore, right when I reached the airport at Dharamshala, the guy at the counter said that he’s going to upgrade me, free of charge, to an XL comfortable seat.

For no reason at all, he just put me in an XL seat, and I was like, “Yay!”

I was so happy, and just for that, my whole mood was uplifted right from the beginning.

On that first leg of the return journey, from Dharamkot to Delhi, the guy who was sitting next to me seemed to be so fascinated with looking out the window. And I was the one with the window seat. He was on the aisle seat.

Just because I was already in such a good mood, I felt like offering him the window seat

Initially he was a little hesitant, and he’s like, “No, no, it’s okay.” I said, “for a while you sit. Why don’t you take the window seat? You seem to be enjoying it.”

So he moved to the window seat, and he’s profusely thanking me. He’s like, “you know, this was my first time on a flight. And this was such a good experience sitting on the window seat.” And that made me so happy to have been able to help him have this really joyful experience.

Not that we chatted much, because he was really fascinated looking out the window, and I was looking at the other people in the flight. There were lots of little kids doing cute things. And I had brought, food I was eating it.

So I was busy with my own thing, he was busy with his own thing, but the energy was so high, and so good!

And even when we got off the flight at the Delhi airport, there’s a bus that you need to take to the gate. And this guy came with me, and he was offering to help carry my luggage. He wouldn’t want me to carry it on my own. He was being so kind because he was so happy to have gotten that window seat.

Just these little interactions, you know, with all these people who are vastly different from you. And you’re just open to seeing, “okay, I’m curious. What awesomeness is the universe go to bring my way?” And then you go with the flow of it, without overthinking, things work out so beautifully.

And of course, I’m talking about all these experiences from my journey because of my journey yesterday. But even in life, in your day to day working, your living, your business, whatever it is…

In your life, set intentions beforehand, visualise and ask for simple things

Not for all kinds of particularly worldly, material things. Those are secondary, those who will come to you. Ask for joy, peace of mind, ease, flow… those kinds of things, ask for that. Visualise everything flowing smoothly. And then with faith, open yourself up to see what the universe sends your way.

Observing these things that happen, it’s so enjoyable, it’s so amusing. It’s a lot of fun! It’s something that you play with. This whole visualisation and then the curiosity, you just play with it.

So yeah, this is what I wanted to share today. Visualise, be curious, be playful. And be very, very open to experiences, to interactions with people without preconceived notions.

Regardless of how different you both are, whether it’s the state you’ve grown up in, the language you speak, the culture you’re used to, the age difference between you, all of it. Regardless of all of this, it can still be enjoyable. All the interactions can be so enjoyable. So open yourself up to this.

Today, whenever you’re travelling out, wherever you’re going, set an intention to have delightful interactions

Just watch and see what happens. And then connect back with me. Let me know what the experience was. Or what kinds of delightful experiences you’ve had during your travels, simply because you were open and curious, and you had this intention of really enjoying yourself, and being joyful throughout the process.

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I use Otter for all my transcriptions, and it’s awesome! Try it out.