My wife and I watched a movie called “The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”, the movie is all about a young man who restores a hotel in India and opens it up as a retirement home. Many ex pats from the UK live there and comedic misadventure ensues.
One of my favorite lines from the movie comes from a conversation between two of the hotels residents. One resident hates the country the people and the hotel another one loves all of it. She asks the resident who loves the experience why he loves it he responds that he loves the people because the look at life as a gift.
“The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”
Eleanor Roosevelt
When we approach everything as gift life changes and we change. Gratitude is one of the most powerful ways you can make a change in your life. With gratitude we can truly live our lives and experience everything.
I was working for a company as a janitor. I would clean floors every week night at the local grocery store. The employees were paid every two week. Every other Friday I received a paper check (it was a while ago and we didn’t use direct deposit). One Friday I went to work on the payday and there were no checks available. The manager did not know why and let all the employees know that we would vote to see if we worked that night or not.
Me and the rest of the employees worked everyday because we believed that we would get paid every other Friday. The believe was manifested through hope and the hope was bolstered through getting a check every other week. The week we didn’t get the check shook our faith and belief.
The CEO visited the Monday after with payroll checks and spoke to the workforce in an effort to shore up the belief.
Sometimes things happen that can shake our belief in ourselves, religion, organization, fill in the blank. When this happens we need to “recharge” our faith. We should never loose faith in ourselves but we can and it does happen.
How do we fix it? We invest and support ourselves with positive work. Work on yourself. If you feel like you are loosing faith work on you. Take care of yourself and surround yourself with good people and things. You will only get your belief back through actions.
Get out of town! No seriously you really should get out of town of course this travel should be done as safely as possible with the current pandemic still raging. Get the vaccination and booster prior to traveling and when in a crowd wear that mask.
Travel brings with it perspective and education. Every group has a culture that is part of that places and persons identity. It is perspective and education that bring unity and compassion along with understanding.
When we get out of town we learn that the world is big and small at the same time. People who look and speak differently than us still have the same primary concerns. No matter who or where you are Maslovs hierarchy of needs seems to be the goal. How we meet those needs can differ wildly and that is where it can be interesting and educational.
I live in a pretty warm climate, I rarely break out a sweater or jacket, I used to live in a more severe climate and would be often seen wearing a sweater and jacket.
I have lived and worked on US military installations and security was present and not uncommon, I have also lived in areas where the security presence was almost non existent and was on the periphery. Security was handled through trust and was reactionary.
In the Steve Jobs biography there is some detail about the time Jobs spent living on a commune picking Apples. Commune living is attractive to some for various reasons I have never lived this way however the strong family bonds are quite attractive.
Different areas of the world honor different people for various accomplishments. Some rural places award livestock raised by farmers and produce grown by farmers. Other communities give out awards for running or cutting down trees the fastest.
It is through meeting all our needs that we learn who we truly are and chances are high that not all our needs will be meet with the perspective and education that comes from only having seen or experienced one group of people.
The world is roughly 24, 901 miles wide (circumference at the equator) it is large and chances are high that you will through travel find people and places that help you meet your needs or better yet through travel you can help others meet their needs!
The Corrigan Encore 