How the Greek Philosophy of Meraki Can Transform Your Travel Journaling

A red rose given to you by someone you love will rot and die, but there are ways to preserve the memory. We can pick a petal, press it between two pages in an old book, and come back to it years later when it has almost been forgotten. Life goes by fast, but our most cherished moments, our moments spent exploring the world, go by even faster. And since we often spend so much of our time looking forward to our moments away, we must learn the best way to preserve these memories. 

Travel writing can be this means of preservation. A good writer may sometimes spend a chapter describing the scenery, detailing each smell, the falling of the sun, and the light on a person’s face. Words and writing slow things down, separating and conserving the little details that pass us by.

Travel writing does not have to be a grand novel; it can be as simple as writing down something good, bad, and funny each day. Memories that defined your day, codified forever within a little travel journal, seemingly insignificant but a potential path to glorious recollection. 

Travel, Not Titles: What Really Moves Us

We are perhaps not passionate about a lot in our lives. When people ask you that dreaded question – so, tell me a little bit about yourself – you probably start rambling about your day job, your age, your studies. However, these are not necessarily the things that impassion you. Often they aren’t.

For many, it is travel that drives us, that reaches into our chests and beats our hearts. It feeds our brain, nourishes it with knowledge, and excites us with different flavors, people, and traditions. It is something worth remembering, something we do with complete passion and love. There is a philosophy for this type of full and fervent approach to life and living – the Greek concept of Meraki. 

What Is Meraki? A Greek Philosophy of Passion and Soul

The Greek philosophy of Meraki, in English, roughly translates to doing something with passion, one’s undivided attention, and pure devotion. The word ‘Meraki’ itself was derived from the Turkish word – Merak – translating to something like a deep curiosity.

Like all languages, the meaning changed over time, and now it embodies more of a philosophical approach to life for the Greeks. However, thanks to the digital age and globalization, Meraki has transcended its original roots and has found a place amongst a variety of different countries and cultures. Maybe, it will even find its place with you. 

The principle of loving what you do echoes writer Mark Twain’s famous quote: “Find a job you enjoy doing, and you will never have to work a day in your life.” Of course, for most of us, our lives don’t just exist within the workplace, but applying more love and passion to each area of our lives may be the secret to living more fully.

Meraki has, unsurprisingly, already been applied to places of work, trying to foster environments where workers are genuinely passionate about what they do, therefore performing better and reducing turnover.

Meraki in Work, Life, and Creativity

Findings in psychology suggest that the happiest people are those who are passionate, but not necessarily about everything. Passion isn’t available for everything. Not many of us would feel inclined to pour our love into daily chores, but Meraki doesn’t ask you to. The things that give our lives meaning, our relationships. Art or travel are the ones already brimming with Meraki.

Many aspects of life have fallen subject to modernization, and have become products of pure functionality and profit. We have seen a change in architecture, buildings that are stable and useful, sure, but with arguably less of the beauty or character we may have seen in previous centuries.

Writing and journaling is a decided act. Whether you’re on a train through ice-cold Russia or sitting at a quiet café with a cornetto and café in Pisa, picking up a pen and choosing to write is an act of passion within itself. More than love and emotion, the Greek philosophy of Meraki is about the soul.

If you do something, create something, with all your love and soul, it will no doubt be left with remnants of you. Writers may choose a random topic on which to write, but no matter how distant it is from their own realities, they will always leave a part of themselves between the words.

Eat, Pray, Love: A Case Study in Meraki Travel Writing

Elizabeth Gilbert’s bestselling memoir, Eat, Pray, Love, is a feat of travel journaling. Gilbert chronicles her year-long journey between India, Bali, and Italy whilst also working through a heavy personal crisis and painful divorce. Through Gilbert’s careful documentation of her days in each country, we begin to see a shift both in her mindset and our own.

We see a personalized, slowed-down glimpse into her own thoughts as well as the world around her, thus appreciating the passion and love, and soul she puts into everything she does. 

Gilbert does not need to write the word ‘Meraki’ for us to know she is practicing it. There is a reason her vibrant and resilient book caught the world’s attention, and it all started with little observations, a tiny bit of Meraki. Life is finite, fleeting, and fast, but not impossible to capture.

There may be a day, many years from now, when we open the old pages of a long-forgotten travel journal. We watch our dried rose petals flutter out like pieces of ash in the wind, tracing our fingers along ancient scribbles of our travels past, silently thanking our younger selves for knowing the art of Meraki.