It’s nearly Christmas and I’m here in the city of lights, Paris, France. My new apartment finally has a bed, appliances in the kitchen, and a desk at which I sit to write this. Slowly, Paris becomes home. I know a few metro routes. People ask me for directions and sometimes I know the answer. I know a person or two outside of the training group and I know which cafes and patisseries I enjoy. I get complimented on my comprehension of the French language often and laughed at when I try to speak it even more so.

In this season Paris ups the anty, lights everywhere. The streets are all a glow. Boulangeries, fromageries, charcuteries, and patisseries filled with lines of customers. Aromas are wafted into my senses simply by walking down the street. Horse carriages pass and screaming children (what’s a holiday without screaming children) are dragged by their older siblings. The markets are bustling and I can’t help but to buy a fruit or two that I don’t even know how to cut open.

With all of this excitement right outside of my doorstep, I go to my apartment, into my almost home, and I miss my family and friends. Loneliness can easily creep in, especially now. I remember a conversation I had with a new friend of mine.

A 50 something American nomad. He hasn’t had a home in 11 years. He has chosen the life of travel and has written and published three books in the process. The most accomplished homeless man I’ve ever met. Sitting in a kebab and crepe shop he sat. His hair to his shoulders with a long green jacket, camouflaged by patches, pins, stars, and other memories of the lands he has traveled to.

“It’d be easy to wallow in loneliness or be upset that I forgot an umbrella when it’s raining again. Or the fact that I haven’t been able to start a fire in weeks,” he rolls up his sleeves to show me the Sanskrit tattoos printed along both of his forearms. “This reminds me that my journey and pursuit of nirvana is not based in this. I am healthy, I am in Paris, and ultimately my happiness does not require much.”

In case you missed it, happiness doesn’t require much. Simply a mindset that wills it so.

All the love you desire is already within you. All the energy you require is all around you. Instead of wishing you were elsewhere or with whomever, recognize the blessings in your lap.

Go into the world and spread your light, your love…..or merely pour it all onto yourself…that’s okay too.

With all the LOVE I own,

Tori F. Baby

#Livehappii #MerryChristmas #JoyeuxNoel #HappyKwanzaa #HappyHanukkah