After spending a week in Costa Rica fishing with Juan, I was inspired and most of all left with a host of new thoughts and ideas. These philosophy enhancements are natural occurrences at self improvement environments. Whether these are classrooms, think tanks, retreats or seminars there is something special for the participants and facilitators alike. My professional recommendation to clients for both therapy and corporate is to go. Attend the event, travel to the training and invest the time in yourself.
The reason why this is my default recommendation is simple. Experience and exposure. First, the experience of changing our environment is not designed to suggest anything is wrong. These events are more like performance enhancing experiences. The second part is the exposure and that is where we become more open. It requires an open mind to be open to be susceptible to the great things in life. Those great things might be physical or financial based on a measurable time horizon. The greatest change will be that of our character in terms of how we manage our fighting spirit. The fighting spirit that consists of our character and emotional intelligence. Having health and wealth with no ambition, courage and vision to make the world better for others is a life poorly lived.
So what about the disappointment? If we are pursuing something worthwhile, disappointment is inevitable. Throughout the weekend Juan and I shared different versions of our story. The highs, lows, growth points and the learning moments. It has been nearly a year since I have thought about his statement when responding to disappointments, “this is interesting.” To me it represents a holistic view of self, others and the world. I found myself since meeting Juan starting to apply this perspective to problems, issues and dilemmas that show up in life. Those three simple words remove judgment, pressure and help us to manage expectations.
Once we manage our expectations openly and honestly we settle into a rhythm. That rhythm of life is for us to create. The next time you face that major disappointment just repeat, “This is interesting.”