Awesome Anonymous’ Burning Question: “Are certain parts of the world more spiritually or vibrationally “enlightened” than others? If younger beings tend to have a higher and less dense vibration, does it mean that younger countries and societies that embrace newer ideas and practices have an overall higher vibration than older ones or those more rooted in tradition? Does it mean that places where people are more encouraged to freely and more openly “be” themselves are more high vibrational and advanced?”

Dear Awesome Anonymous,

You ask a very interesting question. While we’re each ultimately responsible for our own, individual vibrations, WHERE we grow up – the geographic region, the culture, the society – can and does have a major impact in our belief structure. Is it easier to raise your vibration in some parts of the world? Are the people in certain countries or regions more “enlightened” to begin with? Let’s explore.

How do we measure vibration?

Before I construct of list of the 50 most high vibe places on the planet, or something like that, let’s first take a look at what, exactly, we mean when we’re talking about a “high” or “low” vibration. You see, while it’s so tempting to compare ourselves against one another (“my vibration can beat up your vibration!”) there’s actually no real, accurate way to do that. Here’s why:

While referring to a vibration as being higher or lower is convenient, it’s not actually 100% accurate. Yeah, I know, I’m guilty of this, too. Like I said, it’s convenient. And to be fair, these are terms of expression we can continue to use, in my opinion, but we have to be aware of what it is that we’re actually saying. Now, we all know that a higher vibration means that you’re feeling good, and a low vibration means that you’re feeling bad. So, the goal becomes to raise your vibration from a lower place to a higher place – relative to you. Your vibration is a uniquely personal thing.

The terms “higher” and “lower” are not value judgments. They can’t be mapped out on some kind of number line, which we can all compare ourselves to, like grades in school. There is no one standard for all of us. The idea of a linear standard relies on the premise that we all started in the same place and are all going to end up in the same place, and that we can chart our progress against each other. Only, that’s not the case at all, at least not in the way I’ve come to understand it.

It’s less like we’re all travelling from NYC to Tokyo, and more like I’m going from L.A. to Paris, and you’re going from Venzuela to Turkey, and someone else is going from Venus to Mars. We’re not coming from the same place, we’re not going to the same place and we’re not using the same method of transport. Oh sure, sometimes our journeys cross and we can travel together for a while. But even if our paths are eerily similar, they’re never quite the same, because we didn’t start off in the same place and aren’t going to exactly the same place. And so, we can’t compare one against the other.

Your vibration and how it feels to you is relative to Who You Really Are. That’s it. The BIG YOU, the REAL YOU, the non-physical you (your soul, higher being, inner divinity, or whatever you want to call it), is holding a vibration for you. This vibration represents your highest potential for joy in each moment – what you could achieve if you were to let go of all resistance. Notice that this is a moment by moment thing – which means that your highest vibration is ever changing and evolving. But it’s also very personal to you and each of us. When we are in “alignment” with this vibration, when we don’t resist it, or are well on our way to attuning ourselves to it, we feel good. Our vibration becomes “higher” as we get closer to our own highest potential vibration and “lower” as we move away from it. It has absolutely nothing to do with any other person.

We can’t really declare that one person has a higher or lower vibration than another, not in a linear fashion. We can observe that one person may have more resistance to their own highest vibration than someone else has to theirs, but trying to judge them against each other is like comparing the progress of a long distance swimmer to that of an astronaut taking a spacewalk.

But what about high vibe places?

“But”, I can hear you asking now, “what about the geographic places on our planet that seem to have a higher vibration? What about Sedona, Arizona, or the Himalayas, or the mountains of Peru? Haven’t I heard you talk about the wonderful, supportive energy of different places, Melody?” Yes, indeed, you have. Allow me to clarify.

If you remember that everything is relative to you, this all becomes much clearer. You see, there are going to be locations, places on the planet, or even different places in your own town or country, which are more amenable to you raising your own personal vibration. Some places will simply feel better to you than others and will, as such, support you in the process of alignment. When you’re in that state of aligning you can and often will meet others who are doing the same and find similar relief in that location. You’ll then want to call that a “power spot”. And I’m not saying these spots can’t be powerful, but they are not the fix all that people often want them to be. The Arizona desert is filled with people convinced that if they just go there, they’ll become enlightened.

To me, whatever experience you have, even the experience of feeling that a particular place on earth has “power”, is down to you. Period. If a particular place on earth is conducive to providing you with a certain experience, you’ll be drawn there. If a certain place no longer has the ability to serve you and isn’t a match to you raising your vibration more and more, you’ll want to move and will be compelled to do so. In that sense, the toilet paper isle at the grocery store has just as much potential to provide enlightenment as a trek in the Himalayas does, providing that you believe it can. In other words, as you focus on feeling better, you’ll always be exactly WHERE you need to be in order to have the experience that best mirrors back your current vibration. Always. You can’t be in the wrong place, ever.

Do certain countries have less resistance?

Now that we’ve laid a basis, let’s move on to your real question. Do certain countries on this planet make it easier to have less resistance? Are some of them inherently more enlightened because humans have a shorter history on that particular patch of earth? Well, let’s think about it this way: Considering the entire life span of the earth, humans have been around for around a micro-second, comparatively speaking. You may be assuming that places untouched by humans are high-vibe and that homo sapiens moving in inevitably craps up the place. And I agree, it certainly often seems that way. But we have to remember that this “crapping up” behavior is a relatively new phenomenon. We weren’t always the horrible house guests we tend to be today. Human presence, in and of itself, does not bring down the vibration of a particular place, just as an ant crawling on your arm doesn’t kill the arm. Even if the ant takes a little tiny ant shit on your arm, it’s relatively easy for you to rebalance yourself. It’s the same for the planet.

Humans, however, tend to gather in those places that best support where they currently are in their vibrational journey. This means that people with similar belief systems will congregate in the same places. And yet, as we move through our resistance and continue to evolve, those places will often change, if we allow them to.

So, you chose to be born into a certain vibrational environment. The country, region, culture and family that manifested in your reality all perfectly represented this vibration. But that doesn’t mean that any certain location or region or culture or even family only has the ability to represent one particular set of experiences to you. There’s always a range. In fact, some places on earth can support a vast array of extremes. You can have war and peace in the same country or region, for example. You can have heaven in the same place as hell. Which one you experience is down to your perspective.

Heavily populated cities, such as NY, L.A., Tokyo, Paris, Buenos Aires and the like, have the ability to provide us with a huge variety of experiences, for example. There are so many people and resources in one place, that anything becomes easily possible. Want a crazy dude that’s going to flash you in the street? Check. What about a whole series of people who are willing to be rude to you to help you become aware of your sense of powerlessness? You’ve got it. Want to be surrounded by kind and wonderful people all day? Yep, we gotcha.

But in these cities, we can also quickly become overwhelmed, if our own vibration isn’t very stable (meaning we focus on whatever presents itself instead of deliberately choosing). The country side can provide a less volatile experience. It’s quieter, we can hear ourselves more, and nature is beautiful. We can connect with the energy of the earth more easily (of course, we can always do it, but it’s so much easier to focus this way while basking in a sunset or sitting next to a babbling brook).

Which location should you choose? Again, it’s totally up to you. Whatever feels best to you in that moment, whatever feels most conducive to where you are right now. And if that location no longer seems to serve you, if you get the itch to move on out of there, listen. No one country has a monopoly on enlightenment. You can find joy in the most dire of circumstances and you can be dissatisfied while living in a palace. And both of those experiences can be happening just blocks from one another. The location doesn’t really matter, except in how it relates to you and how you feel about it.

So… I’m moving

I’ve personally moved around a lot in my life. I didn’t always know why, of course, but I’ve always been willing to listen to my intuition, even if it told me to drop everything and move to a different city or country. I was born in Germany, which influenced my belief system. It was interesting to drop cultural beliefs which I never cognitively formed, such as beliefs tied to WWII, during which I wasn’t even alive. I moved to the US when I was 9, which provided a very different environment. One that started to mirror back my shit to me in a big way. This was not pleasant, but I can now see just how valuable this process has been. I lived in Boise, Idaho; San Francisco, California; Las Vegas, Nevada; back to Germany; and for the past 13 years, I’ve been living in Barcelona, Spain.

Each location perfectly supported me through whatever part of my journey I was on at the time. Boise, Idaho, witnessed me in my angsty, angry, painful teenage years. San Francisco watched me begin to question everything I’d ever been taught, giving me access to experiences and mindsets I had never been exposed to. It also nearly broke me as I crumbled under the weight of my own self-expectations, now so incredibly apparent without the buffer of my family around me. Las Vegas let me explore my wild side and gave me something I hadn’t fully known before – freedom. I was free to be me, to do pretty much anything I wanted (it’s Vegas, after all). This process also brought up a lot of my shit. I started to meet my dark side, the depression came back, the angst, the fears, and it was all so vividly and willingly mirrored back to me by those around me. In other words, if you need people to be assholes to you so you can become aware of just how incredibly unworthy you feel, Vegas is the place for you. Germany took me out of that environment completely, and provided more structure. I felt soothed but the expectations of myself, the need to prove myself came back full force and my workaholism once again threatened snap me in half. Barcelona is the city I credit with finally supporting me through the process of healing all of that (perhaps not completely, but for the most part). Each location was perfect for whatever stage of my development I was in at the time.

As many long term readers will remember, I’ve mentioned before that I was getting the hit to leave Barcelona. For a brief time, I thought I was going to move to the island of Ibiza, but that gravitated out rather quickly. It’s taken me nearly two years to realize where my next place of residence is. It didn’t need to take that long, but I was incredibly resistant to it. Whereas I figured I’d be moving to some exotic locale, cosmopolitan and international, you know, just like I’ve been doing for years, the Universe had a different idea. The location that best matches who I’m becoming is…. *drumroll please*… Boise, Idaho. I know, I can hear your collective gasp. But honestly, it feels so right (now that I’ve let go of my resistance to it, that is), and I’m actually really excited about moving there.

So, I’ll be leaving Barcelona at the end of June, will be spending three months in Germany (and a bit in London, since my book is dropping on July 27th, totally shameless plug right here), and will then be heading off to Boise. Of course, I won’t be there long, as I’ll still be taking my annual end of year spa holiday, and will be spending the month of January in Peru, so house hunting will have to wait until 2016. But all in all, I’m actually really looking forward to how this new location will serve me. I don’t see it as going back, since my vibration has so drastically changed since my teenage years, I can’t possibly manifest the same reality (not even close).

For those of you in the US, this means that I’ll be a bit more accessible, being able to do more local speaking engagements and the like. But really, since my business is global and I communicate online, I don’t think that you’ll really see much of a difference. Or maybe you will. Who knows…? I’m not leaving Barcelona because I no longer like it. In fact, I absolutely love this city. I’m leaving because I’m being called to a new place, not moving away from something, but rather moving towards something else. And I can’t wait to see how the adventure unfolds. As long as you follow your own path, as long as you honor what feels right to you, you’ll never EVER be in the wrong place at the wrong time. And every place will be the perfect place.

Other Posts You Might Like...

Access our LOA Vault!

Get instant access to all our FREE resources, including courses, workbooks and a bonus chapter for my book!

  • Very interesting topic, indeed! I’ve been thinking about this many times and I believe that there are different energies and vibrations and in some countries it feels just different to live! Like places where there aren’t many people and the nature is still preserved feel better to me then the overcrowded cities. I live in a big city (London) and I am seriously considering moving to some small village in Spain! Thanks for the article! It is really interesting!

  • Great article, moving and the concept that spots are not so much high or low vibration but rather You, the real you, at the time feels drawn to that geographic location for reasons of where you are at the time and how you are vibrating and proceeding in your own journey is so true.
    I have been around a while, and have visited and lived in several countries and many areas of the United States. The interesting thing about all of them is that I never felt unwelcomed, or like I was not at home. Well, except one, Viet Nam, but that is fairly explainable because I wasn’t welcome and it was not a place I could feel at home in during a war. I think if I were to travel there now, I probably would be comfortable.
    So yes, I think you hit the nail on the head. Great article keep up the good work.

  • Is there a time when you should give up trying to use LOA to get what you want? I’ve been doing this for a decade (visualizing, feeling good, taking inspired action, letting go) and I still don’t have the things I really want. I feel so frustrated and exhausted. It feels almost better to just accept that I’m not going to get what I want in this lifetime and just go back to living a mediocre life with low expectations and more realistic desires. All this LOA stuff feels way too hard and hasn’t worked at all for me using it deliberately. It sucks to realize that I may never live my dreams on earth, but it also is painful to be doing everything right and still not have the physical manifestations.

    • Upset:- I felt the same way as you, I have followed the teachings of Abraham and Melody’s wonderful blog posts. Visualising three times a day, still do, trying to feel good most of the time, all of it, but still without what I really want.
      However this past week things have dramatically changed since I was inspired to buy the book ‘The art of taking action,’ by Gregg Krech.
      Basically it shows you the fundamental importance of taking action, and how to move towards achieving your purpose in life. This is by very small actions, which builds momentum, and becomes a habit. A thought remains a thought with reality unchanged until you move your body and take action. It is about taking the uncomfortable feelings with you that this entails, and not waiting for inspired action or to feel good, because you’d be waiting forever if you did, the solution comes from taking action, you figure things out by taking action!
      Be it painting, drawing, writing, science, whatever your talents, it places action taking towards your purpose first, which brings up uncomfortable feelings, but if you develop this habit of action taking when you don’t feel like it you’ll be very successful.Subsequently you’ll love yourself more, and your life will reflect that in all manifestations back to you.
      It means focusing on your effort more than your goal or dream, because that tends to keep us focused on the outcome that keeps us perpetually attached to form, and we can never really know how manifestations will come about.
      Also by focusing on the effort moves us from focusing on the future (which focusing on dreams, goals does,) to focusing on the present which is all that matters.
      Anyway if you just read the book you’ll know what I mean.
      Hope this helps.

  • Good post, Melody. I moved around a lot as a child due to my dad’s job. I was born in Swaziland in Southern Africa, lived there for a few months after my birth and then went to England. Then I lived in Lesotho in Southern Africa for a couple of years, came back to England briefly and then went to Fiji. I’ve been living in England again since I was 4. England feels like home to me because I’ve lived here the longest (nearly 27 years) and also my mum’s family is from here. I would really love to travel again one day though.

    Good luck on your new adventure in Boise! And I’m looking forward to your book. 🙂

  • Love this post! I too have moved all around and experienced something similar to what you did when you moved around. I’m also planning another move too 🙂

  • I always asked myself and wondered if some countries had a higher energy vibration than others, and I have been looking for Information on that topic for a long time, and this is the first article I come across. I also feel that some countries have a higher energy than others, as well as cities in the same country! For instance, I live in Brussels, Belgium, which I feel has a low enlightened energy for me, which may not be the case for another person. As soon as I leave Brussels, even for a day, I feel the shift of energy, and I come back home more energetic than if I spent the whole day in Brussels. Also, many of the good opportunities for me come from outside Brussels, such as students to teach, or activities that are beneficial for me and my career! My friends think I am crazy to spend an hour train journey to go teach or to see people/friends, but I go where the opportunity is! If I was living in the same city where I teach, I would probably receive an opportunity to teach in another city! Therefore that also means that some people resonate with the energies of the countries or the cities, and others always have opportunities far from where they live, which is my case! Also, when I go to the UK (all cities except the Midlands) or the U.S., I also feel the shift of energy, and the energies in these two countries are very positive for me. However, when I go to other countries, such as Spain (except Valencia and Malaga), I don’t resonate positively and I feel the tension in my chest. I really enjoyed reading this article, and I hope that more research will be done on the same topic.

  • I signed up for the Hay House Summit. I have to say it was so freakin’ cool to see your face among the faces of Esther Hicks, Eckhart Tolle, Deepak Chopra. OMG! That is huge and I’m super excited for you Melody! 🙂

    I also wanted to share that you totally just gave me an “a-ha” moment with this post. Something so simple, yet it was like a light bulb went off in my head.

    When you talked about moving to Idaho and you said you were not moving to get “away” from something, you are moving “toward” something, that was like music to my subconscious. I don’t really like the house or the neighborhood I live in right now. And I just kept focusing on my dream home, in my dream location and I would also think about how I could not WAIT to leave where I am – to get AWAY from it. But you are so right. I am right where I need to be. Do I want to stay here forever? Of course not, but I know that I am exactly where I need to be and the move that is in my near future will not be a move to get “away” from here.

    I will be moving “towards” something. A new beginning? A new outlook on life? I don’t know, but whatever it will be, I am excited about moving TOWARD it now!

    Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!!!!! 😀

  • I will read this post again Melody. It’s so lovely. I can’t wait to read about the blessings that idaho will bring you and you will bring idaho! Lucky idaho!!!! 🙂

  • As usual, this was a very timely article, Melody! I actually plan on moving soon, myself! For the first time, I’m going to be living outside of Louisiana and will be traveling to the big city with the intention to stay! I’m so excited! I ultimately want to live in New York City, but I’m transitioning via Chicago.

  • “Wherever you go there you are.”

    Great post, Melody. Best wishes for a safe and easy move. I’m sure your family will love having you closer to home. I think it’s possible to hold a high vibration wherever we are, but some places can make it more difficult. I’m a Texas girl, and I recently made the very painful decision not to follow someone I loved to one of the major cities in the east coast. I have traveled to the east coast my entire life, I have family there, and I love to visit, but it is just not for me. Living there would be an entirely different animal. While the challenge might be interesting, I don’t want to put myself through the struggle. As heartbreaking as it was I know I made the right decision.

    On the flip side, the stark open landscape and big beautiful skies of my rural west Texas childhood always live in my heart, and it’s a place I travel to in my mind when I want solitude and contemplation…but it’s not a place I can go back to, at least not right now.

    For now my home is in my chosen Texas big(ish) city. It’s not just the comfort and convenience (and the good job and house); it’s HOME. It’s my city. I have the money to travel to the ocean and the desert, two places that speak to my soul. One day I might move there. I’m not too worried about it. When it’s time I’ll know.

    • hi melanie, i’m reading this book called ‘wherever you go there you are’ right now at this moment and your comment just caught my attention! haha wow! thank you. 🙂 i will be reading your comment as well again when i read melody’s post again!!!

  • A very interesting blog Melody, on something I hadn’t really thought of before (do you read these posts Melody? I sometimes wonder if I am talking to you and you aren’t even there…) I remember many years ago I was called to another country instinctively, and I ended up meeting someone there who facilitated a huge quantum leap in my personal growth, not to mention having a ball there for five years. It all started when I had an urge to learn the language of that country while I was in high school – they didn’t even offer it at my school so I bought a book and taught myself. Now 30 years later I teach that language! I am being called to France next, I know I will end up there one day. Oh and a tropical island somewhere too!

  • Hey Melody,

    Long time reader first time commenter (I think).

    I found this article quite relevant to me as I’m someone who is wont to frequently change locations depending on the ‘vibe’ I get from particular places, and I think you’re absolutely right when you say it’s subjective.

    I remember, for example, when I was in California a few years ago, and actually the US in general, I felt a sense of ‘anything being possible’ and attributed it to cultural factors. Whereas I’m from New Zealand – a country where, on paper, I’m as likely if not more likely to become successful, but which has a culture that tends to be shun ambition.

    But interestingly I would meet people from California in New Zealand saying the opposite – that they felt suppressed in California but like they could achieve anything in New Zealand.

    So ultimately I don’t think it’s about the place, but rather what the places symbolises to you.

  • Eagerly awaiting the book! Idaho is awesome! My cousin lived in Coeur d’Alene, but I’m sure Boise is great, too!

  • ‘Power places’ are described in “Tales of Power” by Castaneda.

    Not sure if there’s anything to it.

    I tend to agree that a place will offer up wanted/unwanted stuff depending on the person’s vibe at that moment in time. Wherever you go, you take yourself with you. Old saying.

  • Hey Melody
    This was an awesome article and I was just thinking about this the other day…well, it is something I have thought about a lot actually, and the other day was just one of those times! Having spent the last four years traveling, I totally see how different environments were perfect for reflecting certain things back to me. Ryan and I had some particularly interesting experiences in India that were challenging like sickness, but lots of growth there.

    You make a great point about how we really can’t compare our vibrations to others and you did such a good job of explaining the nuances of why.

    Awesome as always! And congrats on move…I am sure that will be exciting and if you are following your intuition then you are certainly making the right choice.

  • This was so relevant to me right now. Ive had a sudden urge to move house at least. Id prefer to run away to the country, which has always been my dream, but my husband wants to stay stuck here. Its really frustrating me. We are also struggling financially at the moment so we have to wait until tax time in a couple of months. We have both lived in this town for most of our lives and ive wanted to leave for a fair while. The one time i did leave, alone, was one of the worst years of my life. The locals have a saying about never being able to fully escape this place. What does it mean when you feel stuck somewhere despite desperately feeling like leaving?

    • ”… but my husband wants to stay stuck here. Its really frustrating me.”?

      Part of your frustration is because you are thinking because you two appear to want different things, that both of your desires cannot be fulfilled–that is has to be one or the other. But, when you give your focus and attention to what you want, feel good thinking about it, the Universe will figure out the details of how to match you to the vibrational essence of your desire.

      ”What does it mean when you feel stuck somewhere despite desperately feeling like leaving?”?

      All that means is you are focusing on the lack of what you want where you are, believing that the grass must be greener somewhere else, and so even if you did go somewhere else, you would still bring your point of attraction with you, and you would attract similar feelings and experiences that you are having now with you wherever you go.

      You can’t run away from your vibration. But what you can do, is focus on accepting and writing down/thinking about the positive aspects of where you are, and you will attract the place(s) that you do want to be and enjoy them as much as you enjoy where you are right now.

  • Fantastic news all round melody and I completely agree, I have experienced this so much too moving from place to place. As you change so amazingly do places, I said to one of my clients recently that every single part of Mother earth has to be sacred, as we all are. Places being of different vibrational power just didn’t make sense to me so hurray!! Once you let old stuff go, which is I know is totally ongoing, 🙂 and raise your own personal to you in the moment vibration, places feel different too. this has definitely been my experience, and so I’m curious to where that will guide me too in the future too. 6 years ago we went to California but skipped LA. Ill admit it frightened me but back then I had a very different view of life then too, now 6 years on with a higher personal vibration, i’m raring to go there for sure, so its definitely on my destination list. Closer to home, I was standing on the top of our local Hill on Tuesday morning, the wind was blowing a gale, and I started to laugh out loud. I was looking out to sea at the Horizon and wondered what it would feel like to be there, and I remembered, I can only control what I feel like where I currently am as it will only ever be Here inside me right now! nor was staying up on the hill overly long in a blowing gale go to raise my vibration any more when I really wanted to go and have some breakfast! Mother nature was giving me a hint! I also remember watching Eckhart Tolle being interviewed by Susan Sarandon a couple of years ago and he reconsidered his belief’s about the vibration of places too, as previously NYC hadn’t seemed a high VIBE place, he felt uncomfortable there for sure and he much preferred California, whereas years later, as his own personal vibration stabilised NYC seemed wonderful, so he realised too its always an inside job! 🙂 awesome post melody!! big kiss Bernie x

  • {"email":"Email address invalid","url":"Website address invalid","required":"Required field missing"}

    access teh free video course now:

    are you a spiritual gladiator?

    Find out why you've always been different, why life seems to painful to you, and why you're actually incredibly important. 

    >