Monday quote:

Your world is as big as you make it
I know, for I used to abide
In the narrowest nest in a corner
My wings pressing close to my side

But I sighted the distant horizon
Where the sky-line encircled the sea
And I throbbed with a burning desire
To travel this immensity

I battered the cordons around me
And cradled my wings on the breeze
Then soared to the uttermost reaches
With rapture, with power, with ease!”

~ Georgia Douglas Johnson, Harlem Renaissance poet
from Share My World

Wow! Is that great, or what?

I’m still working on the rapture, power, and ease part. Perhaps the secret lies in battering the cordons?

Monday quote:

Is not life a hundred times too short to be bored?”
~ Friedrich Nietzsche

Looking at a different angle… Is not every minute of every hour too precious to be bored? With all there is in the world, I can’t even imagine being bored!

PS. OK, OK, I admit sometimes waiting for the airport shuttle comes close!

Monday quote:

I have found adventure in flying, in world travel, in business, and even close at hand. Adventure is a state of mind — and spirit.” ~ Jacqueline Cochran, aviator

This is exactly what the philosophy of adventure is all about. Couldn’t have said it better myself!

I just ran across this quote from Oscar Wilde, and it’s a compelling thought (one of his many).

clipped from en.thinkexist.com “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone else’s opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.”

Of course there is an alternative, though it involves a bit more risk. Living your own life (hopefully an adventurous one!) means stepping out from the crowd and showing yourself. Yikes!

I finally watched Shirley Valentine, the movie that’s been sitting on top of the TV for months. I got it because I’m watching movies about the places we travel. I was surprised to be quite captivated by it.

It’s a 1989 movie about a British woman who’s resigned to (and sick of) her routine, loveless existence. Quite by chance she gets an opportunity to spend a fortnight in Greece. While there, she discovers both a new love for life, and the self she thought she’d lost forever.

It’s definitely a chick flick, though I bet most of us over the age of 30 have had many of the same thoughts & feelings. One of my favorite parts is where she muses

I’ve allowed myself to lead this little life, while inside me there was so much more. And it’s all gone unused. … Why do we get all this life, if we don’t ever use it? Why do we get all these feelings, and dreams, and hope, if we don’t ever use them? That’s where Shirley Valentine went. She got lost in all this unused life.”

Recommended for (mostly women, but hey, a lot of us feel the same):

* Anybody who’s wondering what happened to the life they dreamed of
* Anybody who’s wondered what happened to the person they used to be
* Anybody thinking of visiting the Greek Islands

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We’re doing our next women’s trip to the Greek Islands in June. While your trip is unlikely to be the same as Shirley’s, I know from experience that it can be a rejuvenating, life-affirming adventure. Even if you’re not going to Greece, the movie is still recommended.

It’s wonderful to think, but it’s even more wonderful to experience life with all your senses.” ~ Oscar Wilde

.
How right he is!

I’m back in the office now. The life of the mind uses a lot of my time when I’m not traveling. It’s incredibly interesting! Whether I’m researching possibilities for new trips, or working on long-range strategy plans, or writing a blog post, or learning new coding techniques for our computer system (yes, I still have some techie left in me!), it’s all quite fascinating. Like the man said, it’s wonderful to think!

But there’s so much more, isn’t there? There’s the part we don’t get in the office, sitting in front of a computer. There’s the part we (or at least most of us in this culture) tend to forget about in the stresses of jobs, family, and all the commitments we have. That’s where travel, vacations, and adventures come in. When you get away from the everyday, all of a sudden, you experience life with so many more senses!

A couple of weeks ago, I was up in Cottonwood, and took these pictures of trees in the winter. I was struck by their beauty, and this quotation fit them so well.

While I was out walking there, I was feeling the chill in the air, hearing the river running nearby, gazing astonished at these incredible trees and the blue, blue sky, and feeling the path and the leaves underfoot. I was using all these senses in a way that doesn’t happen here in the office.

Now that I’m back, looking at the pictures can bring back some of the sensations — the exhilaration of those deep, fresh breaths, or the the nip in the air that made me glad I had a hat. But the pictures couldn’t do that unless I was actually there in the first place.

Oscar Wilde was so right.

We stop in the small town of Cottonwood on our Sedona hiking tours for women. You might even see these exact same trees, but you’d never recognize them covered with green leaves.

What is happiness, and how can we all get some? In this video, a French scientist turned Buddhist monk answers these questions.

Matthieu Ricard has devoted his life to studying this subject, and his answer blends elements of faith and science: We can train our minds in habits of happiness.

Video - TED: Habits of Happiness

As soon as I saw this, it made me want to do two things: take up meditation, and go to Tibet.

I got 2 days into meditation, then my recurring problem came up. Time. There’s always something more important — pressing, concrete things that need doing. “How can I just sit here thinking, when there’s all this work on my desk?” And the fact that I’m an unskilled meditator makes it seem all the more like totally wasted time.

But hey - if this is the key to happiness, what could be more important? Could it really be this easy — something that everyone in the world could learn with a bit of training and practice? Surely if this guy is known as the “happiest man in the world”, he must know something I don’t! Maybe I’ll get back to meditating soon…

Years ago, I did a profile of Robert Mondavi as part of my MBA. What an amazing man! Wine drinkers will recognize that name — one of the most influential people ever in the California wine industry. When I ran across his autobiography Harvests of Joy, I had to find out more.

It’s enlightening to see how much difference one person can make. He didn’t do it all by himself, but nobody can deny that he was a major force for change. Napa and California (and possibly all of the US wine industry) would not be what it is now without Robert Mondavi. And to think he started his own winery at the age of 52, after being kicked out of the family business. (Yes, all the stories are told in the book!) There’s no such thing as starting too late! It certainly gives ME hope.

If you’re thinking of visiting Napa, it’s also fun to read about how Napa was a few decades ago. My, how things have changed. Not the sleepy little farm towns anymore.

The other thing I find inspiring is the spirit. He shows his hard-driving business side, and admits that had some serious impacts on his family and those around him. But there’s a level of joy throughout, too. How many business owners view their endeavors as “harvests of joy”? I love it!

Recommended for:
- Anyone who wants to follow their dream,
- People visiting Napa Valley.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We do a Napa Valley tour for women each fall at harvest season. It’s a stunning place - beautiful and sophisticated. Funny to think how different it was, not so long ago…