PASEO Program Adventure- Day 12: Trujillo, Peru

This whole lack of a cell phone thing really got me wondering why our society places such a large emphasis on electronics and non-verbal communication. Text messaging instead of phone calls, following people on social media sites instead of maintaining active communication, ignoring one another at the dinner table to “talk” to others via cell phones instead, and the infamous “let me take a picture of this so I can capture the moment.” When you don’t have a phone in front of you to partake in these actions, the only thing you really have is time to sit and think about all of it.

I’ll be the first to admit that it’s sad to think that so many pictures and videos are lost, but at the end of the day, that’s all they are—pictures and videos. The memories will always remain. (Yes, I’ve been told numerous times that I should have backed everything up on the cloud, but seeing as I’m not the most tech-savy person out there, the only thing I know about the cloud is that it’s what the weather forecaster speaks about whenever providing inaccurate weather forecasts). And in case you were wondering, no, my sense of humor hasn’t improved since losing my phone.

But really think about it. Everyone is trying to capture the moment we are currently living in, but are we really capturing the moment by snapping a picture? Of course you can look back years from now and enjoy the tangible object you have in your hand, but if we’re so focused on “capturing the moment,” we may lose out on actually living in and enjoying the moment. And that would be the biggest loss of all.

Maybe this is me trying to rationalize not having a cell phone at the moment and trying to look on the bright side, but I do hope that the day will come where we can stop relying on electronics to communicate with others while distancing ourselves from those around us, stop using emojis to describe how we’re feeling, and stop trying to preserve the moment we are currently in. When you take the time to think about it, each of the aforementioned actions only cause us to miss out on so many incredible memories that could be made all while doing so.

Yes, even though I’m sitting here writing about the challenges of communication in an era of technology, I still went out and purchased a Peruvian cell phone this evening in order to communicate with others. However, there is still something to be learned, seeing as so many of us are guilty on missing out on the current moment every time we try to “capture” the moment as best as we can. And as a side note, since the quality of the camera is subpar, I’ll leave you with a blank canvas to paint your own picture.

Simple Quote Sunday

“The ultimate lesson all of us have to learn is unconditional love, which includes not only others but ourselves as well.” -Elisabeth Kübler Ross

Simple Quote Sunday

Last week, we lost an incredible individual who impacted the lives of countless individuals across the globe. This week’s Simple Quote Sunday will be in memory of Wayne Dyer, and although it is more of a story than a quote, there is still an extremely valuable lesson that we can all learn something from.

“I was preparing to speak at an I Can Do It conference and I decided to bring an orange on stage with me as a prop for my lecture. I opened a conversation with a bright young fellow of about twelve who was sitting in the front row.

‘If I were to squeeze this orange as hard as I could, what would come out?’ I asked him.

He looked at me like I was a little crazy and said, ‘Juice, of course.’

‘Do you think apple juice could come out of it?’

‘No!’ he laughed.

‘What about grapefruit juice?’

‘No!’

‘What would come out of it?’

‘Orange juice, of course.’

‘Why? Why when you squeeze an orange does orange juice come out?’

He may have been getting a little exasperated with me at this point. ‘Well, it’s an orange and that’s what’s inside.’

I nodded. ‘Let’s assume that this orange isn’t an orange, but it’s you. And someone squeezes you, puts pressure on you, says something you don’t like, offends you. And out of you comes anger, hatred, bitterness, fear. Why? The answer, as our young friend has told us, is because that’s what’s inside.’

It’s one of the great lessons of life.  What comes out when life squeezes you?  When someone hurts or offends you? If anger, pain and fear come out of you, it’s because that’s what’s inside. It doesn’t matter who does the squeezing—your mother, your brother, your children, your boss, the government. If someone says something about you that you don’t like, what comes out of you is what’s inside. And what’s inside is up to you, it’s your choice.

When someone puts the pressure on you and out of you comes anything other than love, it’s because that’s what you’ve allowed to be inside. Once you take away all those negative things you don’t want in your life and replace them with love, you’ll find yourself living a highly functioning life.”
-Wayne Dyer

(http://www.drwaynedyer.com/blog/why-the-inside-matters/)

Wayne Dyer

Helping Yourself Before Those Around You

I recently began reading a book titled, “Be the Miracle: 50 Lessons for Making the Impossible Possible” by Regina Brett. Each chapter in this book is a different life lesson Ms. Brett offers to her readers based on accounts in her life with inspiring figures. In one of the chapters, she mentions aircraft standard safety procedures we constantly hear on flights before takeoff. “If you have small children traveling with you, be sure to secure your oxygen mask before assisting others.” This is such an easy concept to grasp, but in reality, how many of us would actually put on our own oxygen masks before helping those around us? Often times we spend so much time trying to help others that we tend to lose focus on how we treat ourselves.

Every so often I go to a hypnotist and the very first time we met, she stressed the importance of having our fuel levels be fully charged with energy and relaxation on a daily basis. She told me that it isn’t possible to help others if our fuel level is on low. While it is very noble and respectable of us to tend to the problems of others whenever something goes wrong, we need to first tend to any personal issues at hand before doing anything else. If you constantly aid others every second of your life, you are bound to wear yourself out. This is why you need to first and foremost care for yourself. So go to the gym, get a massage, find time to meditate, listen to relaxing music, go for a run, take a nice bath, or even just go outside and enjoy the surrounding environment around you. Do what you need to do for yourself because if you find yourself facing a state of exhaustion, then you’ll ultimately have nothing left to offer, meaning you can’t help anyone out when they may need it most. Now do you understand why it is so crucial that you take care of yourself?

How many times do you really get the chance to be selfish and only think about yourself? This is the time where you get to focus on you and no one else. At this point in life, you need to make yourself a priority. Really try to take advantage of all the “me-time” you can get because I guarantee that in the long run, it will be worth it. And remember: be sure to secure your oxygen mask before assisting others because once you run out of oxygen, you won’t be able to help those around you.