What a relaxing time in the hot springs after days of focusing on studying Spanish! Now, after traveling here, getting thoroughly cooked and enjoying some good food, I’m pooped! Now, I’m feeling challenged to stay awake long enough to wait for bed time!!!
First, a thoughtful quote. Often, I find some provocative insight in reading a mystery novel. This time, it was in an old Robert Parker novel. Toward the end of the book as a situation was winding down, Spenser summed up the situation by paraphrasing Thoreau.
“Thoreau said something once about judging the cost of things in terms of how much life he had to expend to get it.”
–Robert Parker, “Promised Land” on page 203
It reminded me of a story a friend shared with me years ago about a client who had been promoted and promoted until he had reached a cabinet level position. My friend asked him what it took to get promoted to that level. He was told, “You have to be willing to give up a little bit of your life for each promotion.”
I shared that story in a training for the Police Executive Leadership Program at Johns Hopkins University. I commuted from Denver for the weekend classes. The following weekend, a man came up to me during a break.
Last week, he had attended an interview for his “dream” job in D.C. While considering the offer, and talking it over with his wife, he shared that story with her. They decided that although it appeared to be a dream position, it would cost them too much of their life to take it.
For what do you expend your life for and is it worth it! What is worth it? Good question for me to ponder now traveling and helping others.
We had an adventure today rather than formal class time. After about an hour sitting in the hot springs, every part of my body felt relaxed and quiet. Every area of the rocks was a different temperature with none being too hot. Awesome!
I have never traveled with a warm hat before. Thinking about how cold it can get here and in the mountains of Oaxaca, I brought and extra warm shirt, long pants and a cool tiny recycled hat I got from my friend Susan. Yesterday, the hat saved my butt when I got caught in the rain.
Last night, I needed an extra blanket because it was so cold. This morning, same story, saved my bacon in the cold of the morning traveling by bus to the hot springs!
Ciao!