When I was hitchhiking through South America with another girl, there was a man who gave us a lift at some point in Argentina.

He had a furniture factory along the way, so not only did he pick us up from the road but took us to his factory to lodge.
 He opened a bottle of wine & cooked some food for us. I didn’t speak Spanish, but my listening comprehension was quite extraordinary. When you spend hours & hours in the cabin with the truck drivers, you pick it up at the speed of light!

When we were almost off to sleep, I remember him sitting with us on the floor, telling the story of his life. He had a daughter who was adventurous & free-spirited. He said that she also dreamed of travelling around & exploring the world. He said that we reminded him of his own daughter, so by being kind to us, he hoped that 1 day someone would be also kind to his daughter.
 This is just 1 of the countless stories that I have to share that would prove over & over that love is all there is. 

There’s one question that defines our entire existence. It’s the question of how benevolent we believe the world is around us. This question has never been a question to me. When I look back at my life, I can say that I’ve never had a single doubt in the benevolence of the Universe & people around me. This fundamental inner knowing that I’ve always had enabled me to go to Afghanistan when I was 17, & after, volunteer in Cambodia, Philippines, Nepal, & Bolivia. I did unthinkably reckless things along the way, nevertheless I have remained intact. 

If you still think that survival is our basic instinct, I can tell you from my experience that it’s not. It’s not about surviving by preserving your status quo – whatever it is right now for you. Our instinct is to grow & expand in whatever way is relevant for you at every single moment. It can be something tiny but different from what you used to do without thinking or didn’t do with overthinking. You ask me why? Because of that false belief that you have to survive because the whole world, life itself is against you. The truth is, the Universe has always been, is & forever be for you. In fact, it’s all YOU expressed through you in a unique way.