Tag: Embracing Uncertainty

Gratitude At the Break

by Living Wherever We Are, posted in Life Lessons, Travel, World Travel

Most mornings on our trip to Costa Rica a monkey awakens me.   The primate I hear is not the screeching of a howler monkey mind you, willfully I sleep through the sounds of those, the loudest land animals, each dawn.  A 3-½ year old curled in my arms wakes me with whispers to set out to go to the beach and romp in the waves at nearly past 6am. We began this schedule each trip to Nosara, 4x now since she was born, and it is a precious time for both of us.  There is solitude and unity in those precious few minutes alone when neither individual feels the overwhelming need to communicate in words while winding down the path to the sand.

Howler monkey outside our hotel
Howler monkey outside our hotel

Now that she is old enough to comprehend, when we reach the shoreline and gaze into the waves as the sun is rising and share moments of gratitude.  I lead the words of the new day with something simple such as  “Gracias, gracias, gracias for ……” or “Thank you for all our blessings and our gifts”.  The words reverberate in the little spirit next to me who sometimes repeats verbatim but mostly adds her own thoughts as the novel daylight reaches forward.  Of all the times we have recited this simple sign of gratefulness to the universe she, amazingly for a child, never adds anything trite and senses the significance in her earnest terms.

At the Break

We stand with the waves rushing towards our toes and steer to move deeper to get thigh high for my counterpart.  Now no longer a novice in the waves, there is an ease that she now places on her approach.  Her awareness of the breaks is present but with care and ease and barely a pause in her reactions she assesses each with split second pronouncements. The unfettered mind of a child: Jump the wave? Set and take the wave as it is? Ride it, swimming in? Or if needed reach for a hand to assist.

Ah, the bliss of clarity in gauging the moment as it comes lucidly.  Along with it comes a lesson for us all, to perceive in transparency without allowing the measure of our own thoughts and emotions to crash upon us with each swell – Seeing each surge as an opportunity as opposed to a challenge.

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them.  – John F. Kennedy

Our small token we left in Nosara was a tree we planted with the Harmony Hotel’s “Plant a Tree” program to compensate for the hotel’s carbon emissions during our stay.

Planting a tree @ the Harmony Hotel

**The Harmony Hotel maintains a five-leaf rating from Costa Rica’s prestigious Certificate for Sustainable Tourism (CST).

Decompressing and Harmonizing

by Living Wherever We Are, posted in Embracing Uncertainty, Life Lessons, Travel, World Travel

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Our compassion goes out to our friends and family in the Northeast.  As I write this they have been hit with two snowstorms since our departure and foresee another ramming this coming weekend.  We, fortunately, got out while the getting was good.

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Some may be waiting in anticipation of where we disembarked.  We copped a squat in our favorite Central American country and town Nosara, Costa Rica.  We wanted to choose a place that would reflect complete relaxation and retreat from the rush and hurry energy of which we came, a place that would require minimal exertion on our part to undergo decompression. The comfort of this local provides us with a safe haven and respite due to our familiarity.  We have been here 5 times now, 4 years in a row, bringing the wee one here first when she was a mere 6 months.  Here we have close friends, make new friends, and meet friends of friends.

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Nosara is a surf and yoga mecca, ironically CNN and National Geographic voted it one of the “11 places to go in 2014”.   Our hotel the Harmony, is the pinnacle of serenity and nature’s elegance.  Time floats and becomes transparent – time evaporates.  No really, the hotel has no clocks in the rooms or common areas and there is no Television.   No clocks or watches seem to allow the body to naturally reset its rhythms.  Wake with the sun to the sounds of the howler moneys and exotic birds collaborating in the distance or maybe a 3-year-old eager to explore the beach.  Sleep when the urge comes to slip into a siesta.  Lights out literally in the common areas of the hotel at 10 PM and physically when the body draws you to retire synchronizing to the natural, rhythmic body clock.

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Now we are boundless, nomads.  Several days in and it has yet to completely bore into our consciousness.  Comparable to when a lover leaves, the familiarity is so fresh one expects the silhouette to surrey in and settle back into the comfortable nook.  Last year on this same trip Rick and I began to discuss the strong possibility of taking this conduit and here we find ourselves with an open pallet to add the strokes deliberately and thoughtfully.  The same we that stands here now in the universe of our creation.  Since fate agrees, then who are we to disagree?

Pura Vida!

Lucky You(s)

by Living Wherever We Are, posted in Embracing Uncertainty, Travel

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The past few weeks have been moving slowly at first and now faster than one can imagine.  We love Mike Lee the new owner of our precious Academy (PAMA) and have spent lots of time and energy assisting him in getting the new place spiffy and ready for the official public Open House celebration and Rick has continued to instruct through January. Yes, the business was sold in December but days have been filled with settling up the business and tax matters, organizing our personal matters to take place in our absence, and finally packing for a jaunt starting out in a foreign country.  The new PAMA is settling in and my family and myself are getting ready to set out.

We are setting off this Sunday (to parts disclosed on my next blog – bye-bye snow!).  With all of the lead-time before our outward journey began we have graciously received an outpouring of love and well wishes for our future endeavors.   Truly – the Love You Make is Equal to the Love You Take. We have had a few, very few people say Well Must Be Nice guised in a statement of “Lucky You” – no well wishes added.

This journey has very little to do with Luck but lots to do about the choices that we make in life and the courage to follow through on those choices. Now this is where the peaceful warrior and the hero come into play as the great Joseph Campbell would say. A hero is not just someone who saves someone’s life nor is a warrior a person that runs around fighting all the time. A hero is someone who goes beyond where others may go to bring something back for the good of others as well as for themselves, but the hero needs the warrior to keep up this tough journey whatever it may be. Now, people may say so what is so tough about taking time off and traveling.  If it wasn’t in one sense tough and different from what most people as a family would do, then many more people would do it.

There is a commercial on HGTV it says… “You don’t have to be rich to move to Hawaii you just have to want it”.  And that’s what it is really about, if you want it badly enough you will find a way. Rick began his hero’s journey way back when he was 18 and determined against all odds to learn the art of Bruce Lee, a story to be shared at a later date. Overcoming many, many obstacles and ups and downs he persevered.  Because of that determination thousands of students have benefited over the years.   That is the mindset of the peaceful warrior, and a hero’s journey. Another quote that we love is “This is your world shape it or someone else will” by Gary Lew.  Lucky?  Well, we very well may hit the lottery but no such luck yet.  Blessed?  Hell yes!  Rick, 20 years my senior began working at the age of 13, I began at the age of 15 and we both have been completely self-sufficient our whole adult lives.  Our strong will served and will continue to serve us well.

As those who are business owners know, in a service-based industry and something you are passionate about, your heart and soul are poured into every crevasse. These adventures we are about to partake in are not only about “fun” but to allow us the freedom that owning a business did not provide.  The freedom from everyday life, to open our minds and explore ourselves on a deeper level and truly understand what shifts we need and want to make in ourselves and how to contribute to the world in a larger way.  There are even parts of our journey that will allow us to assist and work with others along the way.

So to all those reading, thank you for the well wishes and love.  Wishing you all your own internal and external explorations and the courage to live and dream on a grand scale.  Also, for the “Lucky You(s)” I wish you love and even more valor because feelings of jealousy are no more than a mask for fear.

It is fitting that the Open House for PAMA at the new location will be this Saturday, February 1st, and we leave early in the AM on Sunday.  Both are setting out on their paths.

Bags Packed!
Bags Packed!

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.”  – Buddha

Honoring the Past and Embracing the Future

by Living Wherever We Are, posted in Embracing Uncertainty

As I was about to pull out of 14 Farber Road to attend the first PAMA classes at the new location, I started to tear up.  Those tears were quickly replaced with a chuckle as our daughter, also a Beatles fan, began humming the oh so fitting tune… What goes on in your heart, what goes on in your mind.

The Green Room
The After

To provide some perspective, I left my parents house when I was 17, this week I departed 14 Farber Road for the last time just short of 16 of my adult years.  Comparable to when I moved out of my parents’ house I don’t have reservations that it was the proper decision but a piece of my heart, rightfully so, is subject to be tugged by those memories.

The Gold Room

Looking back, the events and emotions that took place within those walls will far greater exceed the physical necessity for the building but, after all, I literally grew up in that martial arts haven.  Like many who have joined Princeton Academy of Martial Arts (PAMA) over the years, I entered naïvely having never explored the deeper depths of my soul.  Martial Arts, if practiced in a mindful, spiritual practice will chew up your ego and spit you out.  That is why many people could not handle the intensity of Sifu Rick and the training.  I am a strong-willed person and back in the day he made me cry several times (not in public mind you).  Although I came back, many times I saw others leave and not return because the training can mirror back to you deep fears and shatter images one has and cannot bear to scrutinize.  But for me, after going through some personal life trials, it was time to be real with myself.

The Weight Room

The importance of Martial Arts, on the deeper level as it is trained at PAMA, is about truly examining and knowing yourself, not your enemies or perceived enemies.  Martial arts took on a significant role my life, being drawn closer to it while many internal transformations took place that prompted me to change my world.  PAMA was my sanctuary and many times I found refuge within those walls, especially when I felt that the outside world could not comprehend what revolutions were going on within.

The Art Gallery

Through the years, I have been blessed with many close friendships and lots of love from my fellow training partners, instructors, and my students.  Many memorable people, to many to mention, have stood with me as I experienced blood and sweat, broken bones and lifted spirits.  I thank each of them for their support, camaraderie, and laughs.  Of course fate and our love for Martial Arts brought Rick and I together many years ago and ironically, together made the choice to sell the business and take the next step of our journey elsewhere.

The Pro-Shop

If someone had asked me 16 years ago, where I thought martial arts could lead me I would have never been able to imagine my place in the world today as a Martial Artist and a Warrior.   I am enthralled that I found martial arts and ecstatic that I found myself.  As our new journey now truly begins, we welcome it with arms wide open and with the Warriors’ approach saying “YES!” to life and the path ahead.

STAY TUNED!