049: A Vision For Your Life!

31 Aug 2024 — 6 min read

Hola Amigos,

I hope you are doing well! I write you from Diamante Falls, in the heart of Tinamaste, Costa Rica, one of the areas recently deemed by experts as a globally significant bioregion and critical watershed to protect. Thankfully we have our friend, Nic Rotundo, working on just that and many others who have called this vibrant region, home. We'll be looking at some of the places today where people are realizing their life visions from eco-neighborhoods in thriving natural hubs, to loners in the woods gettin' by, where foreigners and locals are trying to do this thing called "community." We're not quite there yet, at all actually, but we're getting there, and we're not alone.

At Sacred Earth, Nic Rotundo's Hub, Pre-Site Visit

The morning sun is coming to a wane, and the afternoon clouds are beginning to roll-in over the mountains, signaling a shift in the day. I sit in awe and gratitude, pausing for a moment, to feel part of this larger web of life, both an admirer and participant in the story, and yet also just a spec of sand in a desert that took billions of years to create. As I think about how we're treating this place, earth, our resources that are critical to life, how we're treating each other - it makes me wonder, if we as a species get that we're destroying this home that gives us life. I wonder if I really get that, do I walk the walk, or just talk? Can I look at this honestly, without judgement?

Diamante Falls, The Diamante Valley, Costa Rica

Our day-to-day choices, can be additive or extractive, and we as a species are starting to wake up (some of us), to the fact that we can't ignore this much longer, we're running on fumes. I'm slowly waking up to this reality, the interdependence with nature, with each other... Sure, I make my own soil from my food (compost), get my water from a spring, but there's more to it than that. Its the local stakeholders in the community all thriving, nature being one of them and people being the other. Are we caring for each other? Do I give a darn about my neighbors, or just smile each day, as I walk past them toward my own needs and survival strategies?

Sweet Potato Harvest that I got to share with my neighbors

I was recently called to look at my 40-Year Vision for my life, by my friend, teacher, and guide Ronit Herzfeld who founded a group I've mentioned here many times called "Leap Forward." A lot of what I share with you comes from my learnings and experiences with her and the group over the last three years, while I navigate my day to day life. Ronit's impacted me to the point, where the DNA of Leap Forward, lives in almost everything I do, and I want to own that, with gratitude and humility. I sometimes think that "I know" a bunch of stuff, but really I borrow so much from the mentors, teachers and peers that surround me and often fail to give them the real credit - being a living example of what I've learned vs just preaching quotes and wise words as I stumble through life. I've been curious since childhood to figure out the great mysteries of life - who I am, why am I here, what does community look like, how can we thrive as a collective and enjoy the ride? I always felt like I needed to have the answers, and today I feel more comfortable living into the questions with humility, curiosity, and with a group of friends and peers hungry for their own evolution, including those I work with day-to-day.

Rainbow graces us on our drive with mi tata, Ricardo from Void CR

I even did my Ikigai Map again, but this time things were different, I was different, the world is in a different place then years ago, when I first did this exercise. What is really needed in today's world - as people rush to build eco-villages, retreat centers, their version of solutions to problems, many have yet to properly define? Their heart calls for something, it called to me years ago, and continues to tug at me daily... How do I contribute to something beyond me, how do I contribute the the larger system of life? Where does that happen?

Firstly, it takes a Pause - to realize we're part of something bigger here - living in nature reminds of that daily, but to each his own.

My vision then began to emerge as something obvious and quite simple in concept, but complex in its execution. I saw that in 40 years, humans are living in deeper harmony with themselves, each other, and the larger system of life. In 10 years, I saw our efforts in ecology, social fabrics, education, politics - in a stage thats in way better balance than it is now. I saw us starting to figure out how to cooperate, how to live together, how not to poison our rivers and fields, how to raise our kids in non-toxic environments in all senses of that word... Lets get real here, this will take a shitload of work to arrive to, starting with how I show up in my life, and that of others.

People, Places & Resources

My visit to the Machuca Valley, home to La Ecovilla, Alegria Village, and Ecovilla San Mateo, was an epic adventure into how the cowboys (and girls) of eco-neighborhoods are coming together.

Residents playing games hoping they live past 100 :)

There will be over 400 families living in this valley soon, and from what I've seen, around a quarter have already arrived. Sure it's not yet the eco-villages of tomorrow, but its far from the concrete jungles and gated communities of the past. The question for me is more about the invisible structures, and cooperation between the people - will they learn to thrive together, or just live independently in fruit tree havens? At this point, it's on the residents, not the founders, to discover what interdependence can look like...

There will also be challenges on how to operate all of the rentals and airbnbs planned for these projects, if people aren't living their full-time. As well as, challenges running retreats and hospitality ventures, within and around these remote neighborhoods, yet people are slapping this stuff into decks and presentations like there's no tomorrow. Who will execute and manage all of these visions? Our company can help a few of y'all, but not at the pace people are getting these "downloads," and building what they think great spirit has guided them to (believe me, I was one of them back in the day).