Shira & Ulli Helmstetter: A Young Traveler’s Take on Arriving, Fears and Life

In this podcast, meet Shira and Ulli– my dear family that has come to live together in a patchwork format. And we will talk about and share how our experiences of moving (together and apart) helped us build a more open outlook in our lives. With so much clarity for a very young mind, Shira leads us to share how we are dancing between control and direction and letting ‘life happen through us’.

Traveling and living in different places has been part of Shira as she grows up. She shares here how she was able to manage through that even at a young age and the things that she does to make herself feel ‘at home’.

As tiring as traveling can get, Shira and Ulli share strategies to rest and settle. They also fondly recall the perks of being in a new place such as trying out new food and eventually loving what thrives in the place they are in, especially mangoes for Shira!

Shira also narrates how music helps her let out every kind of emotion she is feeling. To her, music was one of her outlets and companion to get along. Music has been her friend amid the momentary loneliness of traveling to different places every so often.

And part of everybody’s journey is fear. But for a very young Shira, strange as it may initially seem, her greatest fear is the internet! Here, she also talks about the internet’s dark side, the unknowns in the deep web, like the monster under the ocean while Ulli reveals his trivial stage fright. From this, the two enthusiastically delved into a deeper conversation on fear and their shared experiences which taught them more about themselves.

There’s a lot to reflect upon and learn as the young Shira and Ulli give out their thoughts on fear, death, and, more importantly, on life. Ulli tells how he is amazed that Shira, even at a young age, has that clarity. She’s an alchemist!

Links mention in the podcast

• Shira’s Instagram
• Ullis’s Instagram
  
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• Check out our Free Meditation Challenge

Podcast Highlights

• Strategies to Arrive:
  “After I travel, I just want to find a place to throw myself in bed and just do my own thing there.” – Shira
• “When I come to a new place, I always bring a batik, hung it on the wall, arrange my stuff around it and it makes me feel more at home. I always try to get rest with other people, to get into talk with the people around, slowly increasing my radius.” – Ulli
• “Shira is an earth person, she likes to ground, lie down, and feel herself. Ulli, on the other hand, likes to connect to the space around him.” -Alexandra Kreis
• “When I feel lonely, music is my escape. When I’m happy, sad, even angry, music is my friend. It expresses how I feel and helps me get along.” – Shira
• “In Ayurveda, music expresses the rasa or the juice that flows through us. It’s like the ebbing of the tide; you feel like you’re in a big ocean when you’re listening to music.” -Alexandra Kreis
• “I’m not afraid of dying. I don’t think of dying as me vanishing but more of the people I will leave behind. This I think is what the fear of dying really means.” – Ulli
• “Even at a young age, we can die any minute. But we should not think about that right now. And also not if you’re older. Don’t force yourself to think about thinks and give yourself an answer.” – Shira
• “Have trust. If we don’t, we often try to control things, our lives. Life happens to you.” – Ulli