Last May I found myself boarding a flight, this time from London back home to Chicago, after having taught several small workshops in several different venues in the city over the weekend. I felt energized, fatigued, satisfied, relieved, excited to get on board, eager to be home, and thrilled at the wonders, both inside me and all around. As soon as I received my boarding pass, I got a call from my sister and soul friend, Cuky.

“Where are you?” she asked, not knowing, as she usually finds me in transit.

“I’m in London,” I answered.

“Well, you must have been very busy, because your guides, your nonphysical spiritual helpers, have been trying to get ahold of you and have had no success, so they contacted me instead.”

Grinning, I said, “I’m not surprised. I have been rather deeply involved in teaching. What do they say?”

“They told me to tell you the name of your next book. It’s called Traveling at the Speed of Love.”

Looking at my boarding pass as I was rushing to the gate at that very moment, I laughed out loud. “Well, that’s what I’m doing right now,” I answered. “Did they tell you what it’s supposed to be about?” I asked.

“No. They just said, ‘You’ll know.’ That’s all.”

Just then, as I boarded the flight, my phone disconnected. How dramatic of them. Settling into my seat, I began to ponder the message I had just received. It may seem odd to some to have guidance delivered that way, but it’s actually very common. If intuition and guidance can’t get through to you directly, they often gravitate toward other openings, such as into the awareness of others who are on the same frequency, who then can reflect them back to you. It happens to me all the time, and probably to you as well. We are telepathic beings. We share thoughts, ideas, and inspirations far more than we know, and often deliver messages from higher sources to one another without ever realizing it. Receiving messages like this is actually one way in which we (or at least our higher awareness) do travel at the speed of love.

Continuing to smile, and to ponder my new marching orders, I buckled up. Traveling at the speed of love. Wow! What an appealing notion. As a traveler who has crisscrossed this planet for more than 25 years—doing stints as a flight attendant years ago—and a true gypsy at heart, I couldn’t think of a better way to go.

As we lifted off, floating through the gray London drizzle, rising above the thick blanket of clouds towering overhead, and finally emerging into a crystal blue sunshine-filled sky, I realized that we are all travelers, and we are all on a journey of one sort or another all the time.

Whether we’re taking a simple stroll from the living room to the kitchen or a trek across Nepal, every single one of us inhabiting a physical body here on Earth is also a spirit traveler journeying through the earthly experience.

Although we are all traveling this Universe together, the speed, the tone, and the quality of our journey differs greatly from person to person. We choose our way just as when we travel on airplanes we choose our class: first class, business class, economy, or even standby.

In the journey of life, the destination is always the same—our death.

What makes each life unique is the means by which we arrive there. Do we plan an adventurous, exciting itinerary with stopovers in exotic locales; or do we join a package tour and stick with the crowd? Do we take the risk to venture into the unknown, explore the beauty, experience the variety, and connect with the wonderful diversity of people we meet along the way, making new friends who enrich our lives and bring us new awareness? Or do we stay on the beaten path, have a superficial drive-by experience, with the windows up and the AC on, keeping to ourselves, shunning what is different, and viewing the world around us through the isolating windows of our fears and negative beliefs? Do we have a rich experience filled with discovery and excitement; or a bleak, boring, and dreary trip that rarely takes us out of our comfort zone but fails to expose us to the wonders of the world?

Perhaps it’s time to reevaluate the speed and level of awareness of heart at which you choose to travel through life. It’s easy to do. If you love your life, and every day bears unimaginable gifts, exciting opportunities, blessings, and deep soul connections, and you wonder how much better it could possibly be, you are presently traveling at the speed of love. Whatever you are doing, keep doing it. It is working, and you know it.

If, on the other hand, every day is a drag and you feel victimized, ripped off, despairing, disappointed, shut down, cynical, frustrated, or depressed, then it’s time to reassess your travel plans and consider an upgrade.

Traveling at the speed of love means being liberated from the fear that plagues this planet and robs us of a joyful journey. Shifting from a paradigm of fear to a paradigm of love will help you sharpen your ability to fly above the fray, catch the jet stream of joy, and have a delightful and wondrous adventure.

We are intended to flow with the forces of goodness, beauty, creativity, and abundance that are our birthright as Divine Beings. Once we find our way out of the quagmire of negative, fear-based consciousness, we can soar to heaven. Loving life is what our journey is all about. If you’re ready to travel through life in the best possible way, buckle up and let’s take off.