Hoping your week is kicking off well! I've been on the road for 10 days of adventure, discovery, and self-care, so I'm excited to share this edition of the newsletter with you. The theme is exploring Life as an adventure, and living to the fullest while we can.
After getting back from Japan, I went to my home town of NYC. What a city, I honestly love it so much even though I moved to the tropical paradise known as Costa Rica over 18 years ago. In a way Costa Rica is just like New York!? What is this guy smoking, you may be asking? Nothing actually, I've been totally sober for a year now, but in all reality NYC is a melting pot of people and cultures and so is Costa Rica. Known as the land bridge of the Americas, the meeting place of the tribes, where the Eagle and Condor meet (in the nest of the hummingbird). So there's actually a lot of similarities. I meet people from all over the world here, from all walks of life, socioeconomic backgrounds, cultures, religions. Its like Florence during the renaissance - people mixing ideas, art, and models for better, more abundant ways of living. So thats why I love it here, while I remain always and forever a citizen of the world.
Here's What I Want to Share This Week:
1. Resilience and Integrated Cooperation
I think the major take away I had from this travel to the Big Apple was in Resilience. New Yorkers are resilient as fuck. You can't stop us. Terrorism, Hurricanes, Covid, you name it, we will take it and come back stronger. And thats one of the most important muscles I think we can develop as a society today, as the seas get rougher and times get shakier. I love planting food, composting, having clean water come out of the ground into my faucet in CR and have resilient systems of sustenance but the biggest one is people. We won't make it very far without each other. So I've been studying and practicing integrated cooperation with a group called Leap Forward. This involves learning how to lead, while trusting others to their part as well, both being our masculine and feminine. Relying on community while also adding to that community. It ain't easy rubbing with people, getting triggered, pausing each other to see what we are feeling and what's the story. But usually we see its not them, it's us. And usually something rooted in an old story or emotion that we can reprogram and re-write. This type of rubbing is necessary for growth as individuals as well as for the evolution of humanity.
A cool dinner experience with Leap Forward in NYC
Spotting an old friend Ro Polomo in NYC
2. Building a Team you can Rely on
When it comes to creating a resilient future and building our land projects, a team is key. In my Land Accelerator I help people identify their team to bring their land project to life. Be it Lawyers for due diligence, Topographers to do survey the land, Architects to masterplan and envision a property, Construction companies that you can trust to build your home or project, and finally operators and management companies to manage it while you travel. Without a team, this whole thing becomes a lot harder and after 18 years in Costa Rica, I've cherry picked the best. Once a Vision is aligned, a Team is chosen, and a financial plan and strategy is created - then we can rock. I'm super picky and stubborn about taking things slow in pre-development as its the one part countless people rush, thinking that "they got this" and then call me after making some expensive mistakes. So take it slow, build a team, and listen to the land people. We can't just keep hacking away Mother Earth.
My little Cabin in the Mountains of Cuidad Colon
Chief of Staff - my Barber Greivin
Queen Maya keeps things cool at the house
3. Designs that caught my eye this week!
Okay so obviously its NYC as each issue I feature tropical architecture so if you want more of that just see my PINTEREST.
Okay I love Pizza, yea I know I "should be" gluten free, and should be vegan (one day), but for now I am me and love Pizza.
Second Curiosity: The Remarkable 2
This has literally changed the game for me. Like a kindle for notes.
Third Curiosity: Damn Keanu - what a quote!
Who We Are Celebrating This Week: MY GRANDMA
This week I'm celebrating my Grandma Sima. She's the all-star of our family - the Matriarch who made it all happen and feeds me amazing food. It's amazing how the body ages but the heart stay so young and filled with love and light. Love you grandma. Every time I go to NYC, I go to see her and she sets the table for an army even if its just me and my sister. Family time is so important. We live such busy lives sometimes, but always remembering that family comes first.
