what happens when an Israeli and an Iraqi share a 3-day car ride?

Last weekend, I went on a trip to Danakil Depression in Ethiopia (one of the hottest, lowest, and driest places on Earth)”

3 days without internet, sleeping under the stars, and surrounded by incredible nature. The nature here is truly insane - here are some impressions of my trip:

But what was even more interesting - when I was at the airport I got picked up by a van and I found myself traveling for 3 days in the same car with a Chinese man, a Polish woman, and a Jewish Israeli.

As an Iraqi who grew up in Muslim and Arab culture, I knew there could be tension with the Israeli due to current and past conflict between the arab countries and Israelis. But at that moment I made myself a promise to be as open, curious, and loving as I can be. Simply because I don’t want to hold hate in my heart. I don’t want to fall into the illusion of separation, because the truth is - country borders are an illusion. In essence, before God, Nature, Universe, and Consciousness we are all one. There’s no separation. So I wanted to act from that space.

As a group we spent 3 days together - talking, eating, hiking, and even sleeping next to each other under the stars - these were our beds:

We spent a lot of time driving in the car, so he shared stories about his life in Tel-Aviv & I shared stories about Iraq, our food & chai culture, and our traditions. He was intrigued and asked many questions. We disagreed on some things, especially about the Arab-Israel conflict, but we always respected each other. And that’s how it should be. You don’t have to be enemies just because your countries are. You don’t have to be enemies just because you disagree.

The interesting part is that his father was an Iraqi Jew who left Iraq in the 50s to go to Israel (at that time many Jews around the world left their country to go there). So one morning, while having coffee, I described how we drink chai in Iraq, and it brought back memories of his father.

As I talked about our food, customs, and daily life, he was reminded so much of his father that he started crying. My stories about the Iraqi habits reminded him of his father’s way of being and I made him realize that his father had many Iraqi habits within him. He was touched and moved and told me with tears in his eyes: “you know I’m so happy I met you. You brought me back to my father. You made me remember him again.”

In that moment, an Iraqi and an Israeli, from two conflicted backgrounds, were sharing tears. At that moment we were one and I couldn’t feel any separation. That was a moment of true love. Love that sprang from openness, compassion, and presence.

For me, it was a powerful reminder that, despite our differences and disagreements, we are all human with intrinsic value and connection. It taught me to choose love, understanding, and connection over separation. This experience showed me that by being open, we find unity everywhere. And separation = Disease; Unity = Health. The more you realize we are all one the healthier you’ll be.

That is my mission statement for life - to see unity everywhere. Often we are trapped in separation. And when we are caught in our drama of separateness we dismiss people for being different:

• Alcoholics, drug addicts

• Different race or religion

• Different socioeconomic status

• Looks, behavior, ways of speaking

• Leftist, conservative, criminal, feminists

We use these differentiations to make REAL humans invisible to our hearts. They are characters in an upsetting movie - not loving, breathing humans.

But we need to make an effort to see past this and see the innocent humanness inside. As Ghandi puts it: “Train yourself to include everyone in your heart.”

that’s it for me for now…What do you think about this story? Let me know by replying to this email!

And before I leave you:

I had beautiful conversations about Acceptance-Commitment Therapy the last weeks. So I decided to now open 3 spots for private 1:1 Counselling with me. Together we will learn how to:

• rewire your brain from anxiety and shame + heal your repressed trauma

• create a meaningful life while accepting the pain that goes with it

• separate from thoughts & emotions instead of getting caught up in them

• create clarity on your value system to give you direction in your life

If that’s for you, reply to this E-mail with “ACT” and I get back to you. Don’t know what ACT is? I recently gave an 8-hour Workshop on ACT - I want to give you access for free to the 86-page course material here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/10B8preWKk_ziqEEkGRfcQTWnK_6_OHpx/view?usp=sharing

Talk soon.

Lot’s of love, lot’s of unity, and lot’s of bliss,

Heythem