Sally Vantress-Lodato

Fence posts, walls and borders don’t confine or define us. Open space can also be our arena. No rules but a simple analogy of how we dig in and learn the treasures and challenges that help explore our truths. Ultimately, this important and difficult work takes us to places of vulnerability and fear of the unknown, where we begin the journey of discovery.
 
My life has been a series of adventures both big and small, where coura...

Can life be replayed? Rewound, reviewed and relived? What is the point in looking back? It's done, finished, complete, right? 

Perspective looking back gives a fresh view forward. Perhaps reviewing the past allows the building of future endeavors far beyond what could have been imagined. 

Disrupting life two years ago put me on a trajectory similar to the change I made in 1987 when I cycled around the world. Neither was pla...

How often do we hear of an inspiring story of someone overcoming extreme odds? Watching the Winter Olympics last month is a great example. There were so many stories of athletes who pushed beyond unimaginable barriers. We might not relate our own limitations and triumphs to famed athletes, yet there are many components of courage, conviction, strength and failure that we can relate back to our own lives. 

What are our drivers?...

 It's dark, its cold and I feel numb. I don't understand this place, it's unfamiliar, but somehow I keep moving, one foot in front of the other. Maybe I see light ahead, but it fades in and out, so all I can do is keep going because stopping would mean dying.  

Fear takes our breath away. It can absorb and control thoughts that harm us. This dis-ease feels like an epidemic at times. So how can we fight...

Standing at the edge of the earth, at zero kilometer was eerie, exciting and thought provoking. Zero to me is a beginning, a new start, yet explorers looked at the edge as the end. Failing forward is about starting new, testing beliefs and assumptions and failing in order to find a purposed direction. A way to give back and serve. It's exciting and humbling to venture inward while exploring outward; new destinations, new circl...

Can a daily regiment fuel spirit? How often do we search outside our routines longing for adventure. Wondering how will we accomplish our goals and dreams when our schedules are full with work, raising children and daily responsibilities. We look forward to the next vacation that will help us unwind and recharge. How can we live balanced if we wait for those get-a-ways that might happen once or twice a year? 

Oft...

Solving problems and seeking solutions are often a daily routine at home and at work. Time constraints and resources often force us to move quickly to a resolution. How often do we take time to dig deeper, to create impact beyond the problem we are solving?

During my recent trip to India, I stayed at Khem Villas in Sawai Madhopur, Rajasthan and learned about a man who did more than save the tigers. He created a movement that im...

 My feet are screaming, my back is sore, my neck aches, but my soul is alive! ...... Life events have funny ways to redirect us. How we handle these changes are up to us. God gave me a second chance to re-invest, to serve and make a difference for good. I am grateful to be able to rediscover my place and explore a meaningful future.... And yet I find myself on one of the toughest journeys of all. It's a delicate dance between...

 Insights from India...

In America, we are free to choose our relationships, our friends, our religion, traditions and pretty much everything. How would our life be if we were not free to choose? I could not help but wonder how someone who is given their spouse and meets them for the first time at the ceremony finds love and happiness. Meeting people who spoke about their beliefs, traditions and relationships was enlightening....

 Tigerland...

It's hot, it's dusty and it's rugged.....  but unforgettable....

Our small jeep of two passengers, a driver and a guide, raced down the rocky narrow dirt roads of Ranthambore National Park in search of the famous and rare Royal Bengal Tiger. We crawled up and down steep rocky terrain, covering miles and miles of mountainous dirts roads wide enough for only one jeep.  It's like a endless roller coaster where a...