In Morocco, kindness greets you warmly and without abandon. “As-salamu alaykum” — may “peace be unto you.”
Find comfort within the ancient medinas. Watch the children run freely through the cobblestone streets, pathways that boast the stories of those who have walked them before. Come nightfall, listen as the prayers rise through the flickering candlelight. Hold your eyes open wide, ready to observe the precious moments that lingers through every twist and turn of the city.
I left Morocco having learned more than anyone could ever pass down — I learned to live beyond words and interact with intention.
There’s a universal language that translates through all realms. Beyond culture, beliefs, color, shape or size. It is a silence that resonates upon you with grace and a natural understanding of one another’s lives. With just a simple smile, you can reach the purest part of one’s soul. A realization of unity that we all live under the same blue sky that spans from one side of the world to the other. We may look different, and speak differently, but we feel the same emotion and transmute the same energies. These interactions fill one with bountiful gratitude for your own being, your own life and the opportunity to have crossed paths with a stranger who instantly felt like a friend. For me, that didn’t just happen once, but rather repeatedly…from one beautiful interaction to the next.
On the set of our Chefchaouen story, I met a young girl who extended her arm through a barred window and grazed my hand, all the while she smiled. We forged an instant connection. I invited her out onto the powder blue streets for a dance and a giggle, a moment to truly let go and be in the present. We shook and swayed and allowed the motions of our bodies to transmit a frequency of kinship.
Her family invited me in for tea while I continued to learn more about them through the gestures of their offerings and wrinkles that formed when they smiled.
As the sun was setting I found myself lost in the maze of the blue city…but ended up in front of their home 20 minutes after leaving. From across the corrider I saw the pink floral dress I had met just minutes earlier. She ran to me, as fast as she could. And jumped into my arms and gave me the biggest, warmest embrace and kisses on the cheek…telling me via the silence, “please don’t go” We parted ways after a time, but I find it so amazing that, with the simple offer of her hand, she opened a gateway of kindness, courage, acceptance and love that will forever be engraved in my heart.
It’s the silent moments that speak the loudest and shift you the deepest.
+Where have you experienced the universal language?
Words and photos by Tina Deleon.
Beautiful post :) I find that whenever I travel, people from the place I’m travelling to are very kind to tourists and very eager to help :)
xx
Victoria | Chronicles of a Mermaid
so beautiful, tina <3
This post is written beautifully. It is elegant yet simple and powerful. I think most of us have experienced moments such as these, maybe not in another country but right in our backyard. Knowing the small peaceful moments of life will come and go is a wonderful feeling. I love the part where you dance with the little girl. I can see the imagery in my head and it brings me peace.
Beautiful written, simple and honest. I guess you have took me there with you through your words.