{"id":2480,"date":"2013-02-16T17:03:12","date_gmt":"2013-02-16T17:03:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dev.theexecutivehappinesscoach.com\/?page_id=469"},"modified":"2018-10-04T22:18:28","modified_gmt":"2018-10-05T02:18:28","slug":"trip-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theexecutivehappinesscoach.com\/2013\/02\/trip-tips\/","title":{"rendered":"Searching For Happiness: 10 Tips For Your Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"
Picture this:<\/p>\n
I am on vacation in Costa Rica. I sit in the shade on a mountainside patio with a spectacular view of greening hills, the deep blue waters of the Pacific Ocean, and two far-off volcano peaks wreathed in white clouds that lay soft against the crystal blue sky. A gentle breeze whispers through the gardens, while butterflies and hummingbirds dance among the purple\/pink\/orange blossoms. I breathe in the sweet perfume of jasmine. The air sings with monkey calls, cricket chirps, and the trilling of brightly feathered birds.<\/em><\/p>\n At my side: a chilled fruit smoothie made with mango, pineapple, and papaya that were fresh-picked yesterday. My wife lolls in a nearby hammock, gently rocking as she reads. Ahhh. This is a moment of great Happiness and contentment\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n Real Life?<\/strong><\/p>\n Hmm. I was on vacation, living in another world, enjoying a moment created purely for my pleasure. This was not Real Life\u2026yet it was real Happiness. And I so appreciated that moment of pleasure, since it was hard earned, just like in real life. In fact, many aspects of our Costa Rican vacation reminded me of the complexities involved in finding Happiness.<\/p>\n Fact:\u00a0street signs do not exist in Costa Rica;<\/strong>\u00a0in fact, there\u2019s no such thing as street NAMES in Costa Rica, or for that matter addresses. Directions to anywhere are given in relation to landmarks. One place we stayed was,\u00a0\u201c400mtr west and then 300mtr south of the main entrance to the US Embassy. If you pass the Supermercado, you\u2019ve gone too far.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0Another day our directions were,\u00a0\u201cturn right when you see the bakery. When you come to the end of the paved road, keep going another kilometer, almost until you see a big tree on your right. Turn left after the pink condominium. Keep driving until you come to paved road again, and then turn into the second driveway.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Needless to say, we got lost. A lot. And isn\u2019t that just like real life?<\/strong>\u00a0We hear about a \u201cplace\u201d to find Happiness, but there are no signs. And even when we think we are following directions well, it turns out that landmarks have changed and we\u2019re back on our own.<\/p>\n So there were moments of frustration on the road to Happiness. Fortunately some of the other lessons from our trip more than made up for the uselessness of maps, and I offer them for your journey.<\/p>\n (note: citizens of Costa Rica call themselves Ticos)<\/p>\n <\/p>\n ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~<\/p>\n Jim Smith, PCC, is The Executive Happiness Coach\u00ae.<\/strong>\u00a0He is an international speaker, executive and life coach, and author. He provides his clients with inspiration and practical tools to live a happier life and build more positive work cultures. He is the author of\u00a0Happiness At The Speed of Life: 13 Powerful Strategies for Finding Happiness at Home and On The Job,\u00a0and has touched the lives of over 10,000 people worldwide through his work on Positive Emotion and Leadership. You can connect with Jim at\u00a0theexecutivehappinesscoach.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Picture this: I am on vacation in Costa Rica. I sit in the shade on a mountainside patio with a spectacular view of greening hills, the deep blue waters of the Pacific Ocean, and two far-off volcano peaks wreathed in white clouds that lay soft against the crystal blue sky. A gentle breeze whispers through … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5789,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,21],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nGetting Lost on the Road to Happiness<\/h2>\n
Tips for Your Trip to Happiness<\/h2>\n
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\nThe first time we got lost, we approached a knot of Ticos outside a restaurant. Despite our limited Espa\u00f1ol and their zero English, we connected on meaning; one of them hopped on his scooter and escorted us to the destination. After that, we never hesitated to engage. One scary moment occurred when a would-be helper opened the car door and got in. As my wife stared at him with a stunned expression, he looked to my son-in-law and said, \u201cI take you!\u201d<\/p>\n
\nThe mountain road up Monte Verde is terrible, even by Tico standards. We literally\u00a0vibrated<\/em>\u00a0uphill over 25 treacherous kilometers of cliff-hanging gravel road, around blind curves where the road narrowed to one lane, constantly dodging between huge rocks and craters large enough to swallow us whole. Yikes!<\/p>\n
\nNature uses color in powerful ways: to help camouflage, to attract a mate, to lure pollinators\u2026 and to provide warning. Both underwater (on our scuba trip) and in the mountainous cloud forest, we saw many, many colorful plants, animals, and insects. I can\u2019t tell you how many times I reached out to a pretty thing and received a \u201cDON\u2019T TOUCH!\u201d signal from my scuba instructor or our rainforest guide.<\/p>\n
\nThe Tico diet is built on a base of rice, beans, fresh fruit\u2026and plaintains. Lots of plantains. Fried, salted, saut\u00e9ed, sugared, pureed, and served in countless ways. I overcame an initial aversion to \u201ceating bananas\u201d at every meal and grew to love the myriad ways I could enjoy this versatile, nutritious food.<\/p>\n
\nRemember that idyllic scene I described in at the start of this article? I did not mention the swarms of insects and that I sat in the shade because 10 minutes without sunscreen meant a bad burn!<\/p>\n
\nIf you\u2019d told me that one of the most glorious moments of my vacation would be getting strapped to a thin cable and pushed off a platform 100 meters above ground to scream across the forest canopy \u2013 upside down \u2013 I would have said, \u201cno way!\u201d It was WAY cool!<\/p>\n
\nWe stood on the Continental Divide \u2013 on one side of the mountain the sun blazes hot while a warm, dry Caribbean wind screams up the mountain pass across dwarf trees that have evolved to survive the wind. On the Pacific side, that same air becomes suddenly still and drops down the mountainside in clouds of mist that obscure the sun, while the moisture feeds tall rain forests. The climate shift is so severe that many plants\/animals that live on one side cannot survive on the other, just a few dozen meters away.<\/p>\n
\nI am convinced that most of the road system in Costa Rica was designed by sadistic civil engineers with an underlying sense of drama. There are few straight roads; 75% of our travel occurred on roads that bristled with hairpin turns, on the edge of high cliffs, with no guard rails\u2026AND<\/span>\u00a0that offered, at every turn, breathtaking views of mountain, valley, water, & sky.<\/p>\n
\nIn the rainforest we saw trees that were hundreds of years old. Every so often one of those giants, weighed down by age, vines, and parasites, dies and falls to the forest floor. It\u2019s sad to see the huge gash this creates in the forest canopy. But\u2026 the event triggers activation of seeds that have lay dormant for years, waiting for some sunlight and rain to hit them directly. New life (what they call \u201cpioneer trees\u201d) grows rapidly into the space, securing the forest floor and prepping the way for a new giant to grow into place over the next hundred years.<\/p>\n
\nAs we drove across the countryside, we passed mile after mile of little trees in straight rows, tacked with barbed wire to form fencing. It seemed odd, until we learned what\u2019s really going on. Farmers and ranchers fell trees, cut them into posts, and build their fences. But then it rains for five months\u2026and those seemingly dead logs, sitting in waterlogged soil, put out roots and shoots. For this reason, Costa Rica is called The Land of Living Fences.<\/p>\n