Here in Canada, it’s almost Thanksgiving (celebrated on Columbus Day for you folks south of the border). I’m not sure if there’s any relationship between the time of year and the conversations that I’ve been having but wow, gratitude, perspective, and optimism are being discussed all around me.
My third-grader’s class is following a mindfulness curriculum this year. The teacher shared some research with parents: It showed that children who take time throughout the day to acknowledge the moment and consider gratitude are more intrinsically motivated learners and optimistic human beings. The class has an inspiration corner. Stories of people, children and adults, doing interesting or unique things are pinned to the board or shared on the shelf for kids to read whenever they have a moment.
At dinner on Saturday night, a friend – an MBA corporate guy – told us about the “be yourself” (I’m paraphrasing) curriculum he is developing for kids – with the support of his employer. He talked a lot about gratitude and optimism.
Of course, now I can’t help but think about perspective and how it shapes our lives. Obviously I am grateful for my time in Costa Rica and my community there.
But there’s more.
When you live abroad, your perspective shifts. In 2012, our first six months in Costa Rica gave us a taste of adventure and glimpse into another culture. These last two years gave us more time to establish a new ‘normal’. We had a time to reflect on why we loved our life abroad and what we could take with us back to our Canadian home.
I have said before that I learned a lot about myself living in Costa Rica. By taking myself away from built-in coping mechanisms, I learned what energizes me, what leaves me feeling stagnant, and what works for me as part of a family and larger community.
I see an obvious shift in my kids. They talk with an awareness of how small their Canadian neighbourhood is and how much of the globe they have yet to explore. They assume they will visit many countries in their lifetimes and have a natural curiosity that one develops with an understanding of how much there is to know that you don’t yet know.
All these shifts and alterations leave us grateful and open, yet sometimes slightly off kilter. To bring ourselves back into balance, we are taking action to bring those ‘flow’ moments from Costa Rica into our lives here in Canada.
I think anyone can do this when they come back from vacation; if you take a small piece of what you did on vacation – like taking a moment to breathe a little more deeply, or take a 10-minute walk before breakfast, you can create little habits that bring more joy into your everyday.
Wow – before I sound like I’ve gone completely off the deep end in self-help-ish nonsense, let me give you some tangible examples of what we’re doing to move forward – cause staying still is just boring (for us).
1. Maintaining strong ties to Costa Rica
2. Spending regular quality time with friends
3. Making decisions with purpose
4. Living in the moment
And here’s how…
Keep Costa Rica as a second home
We are building a home in Costa Rica! By investing in our lives in Costa Rica, we feel better about the time we are spending in Canada. The house should be ready late spring 2016. This will be a vacation rental property which we expect will pay for itself and perhaps generate an additional income stream.
What does this mean for you? You can book Casa Maracuya now for your 2016 vacation. You and your family can experience all we love about Costa Rica. The house will have five bedrooms and is perfect for a large family or two families travelling together. That’s our plan – to share Costa Rica with friends and family!!
Learnings applied: Take risks ’cause living too cautiously is just plain boring. Share your enthusiasm for what you love.
Spend regular quality time with friends
We loved the social life we had in Costa Rica. Communities that are full of people from abroad are open and welcoming because everyone is in the same boat. Here in Ottawa, both Derek and I have made concerted efforts to get friends together. We are doing regular monthly dinners with friends. I have organized a bi-weekly girls’ night out with old friends and new, which has already proven to be a hit. Even Derek, typically not a social organizer, has put together some sort of pub crawl this coming Friday… a direct result of enjoying time with friends so much in CR.
Learnings applied: It is easy for our schedules to get away from us in the US and Canada. We may have to try a little harder to get friends together, but it is important to us.
Make decisions with purpose
As I have written before, many of our choices today are made by our ‘default settings’, the stuff that society expects from us. Instead, now I carefully weigh decisions to make sure they are furthering our family’s goals. We moved to Costa Rica to expand our perspective. We moved back to Canada so the boys could play the sports they love in a more intense setting – cause that’s what they wanted to do.
Every time we make decisions, big or small, we ask ourselves, is this getting us closer to a goal. Those goals can be big broad life goals, or smaller short- and medium-term goals and objectives.
Learnings applied: Life is too short to act without thought or be held back by fear.
Do our best to live in the moment
We decided to move back to Canada, but I can tell you that Derek and I are NOT happy about the climate. However, we do our best to make the most of our lifestyle here. We are thankful for all the opportunities and comforts we have, and we also appreciate the energy and momentum that surrounds day-to-day life. We are trying to harness productive energy for personal projects. For instance, Derek is starting a not-for-profit to provide sports programming for children with ASDs* (Autism Spectrum Disorders). *I will keep you updated on this as it develops! Would love to hear if you or your organization would like to be involved.
Learnings applied: Pura Vida! Live in the moment and enjoy the most important things in life – for us, that is each other.
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