Living in Colorado, I am blessed to have access to some of the most beautiful country and the greatest outdoor recreation opportunities on the planet. This gentle reminder to take advantage of the summer lull to relax and enjoy nature is as much for myself as for you. Let's take a break from 'business talk' this month and address the occasional need to drop the cloak of civilization and clear our heads. Most of you who only know me professionally, and have no long history reaching back into decades past, don't know that I have spent years of my life 'in the wild'. Whether it be the steaming Florida Everglades, the jungles of the Caribbean, camping in the mountains or roughing it on windswept prairies... I have probably lived five or six years of my life without the niceties of running water, electricity, heat or a ready food supply.
Sometimes those days seem so far away as to be a dream.
We Americans are a driven bunch. We tend to perpetually be in 'achievement mode' - trying to earn more, perform better, work harder and one-up the other guy. While that drive for success has been a critical factor in building one of the greatest and richest nations on the face of the earth, it draws us inexorably away from places, people and activities that inflame our imagination and test our physical limits. In short, our civilized urban existence gets boring!
Cartographers used to label undiscovered places and unknown peoples on maps by simply writing 'There Be Dragons'. How quaint. Now we call any untouched area or primitive culture a 'potential market' or 'eco-tourist destination'. Doesn't have quite the allure of dragons, does it?
We rest easy knowing that no matter where we go in the world the homey familiarity of McDonald's will always be close by. No matter who we encounter we will share brand recognition for Nike and Coca-Cola. Any terrain on this planet we haven't personally explored has come into our homes via television and any tribes we haven't personally met have been introduced to us online.
But it is reassuring to me to know that within 2 hours of just about any metropolitan area on earth there is an escape. You don't have to take a month off and trek through Bhutan to 'turn it off' and rediscover your sacred center.
My call to action for you this month is not to let the summer go by without making a brief escape. It is healthy for the body, liberating for the mind and healing for the soul. Find a place where you can spend one night under the vast expanse of stars, listen to the noises of the night, read a book by a stream, walk along the sea, climb a tree.
Turn off your Blackberry for just a moment and remember that there is something beautiful and primal beyond our get-ahead materialistic rat race. The magical 'something' you find in the wild may just be... YOU!
Sometimes those days seem so far away as to be a dream.
We Americans are a driven bunch. We tend to perpetually be in 'achievement mode' - trying to earn more, perform better, work harder and one-up the other guy. While that drive for success has been a critical factor in building one of the greatest and richest nations on the face of the earth, it draws us inexorably away from places, people and activities that inflame our imagination and test our physical limits. In short, our civilized urban existence gets boring!
Cartographers used to label undiscovered places and unknown peoples on maps by simply writing 'There Be Dragons'. How quaint. Now we call any untouched area or primitive culture a 'potential market' or 'eco-tourist destination'. Doesn't have quite the allure of dragons, does it?
We rest easy knowing that no matter where we go in the world the homey familiarity of McDonald's will always be close by. No matter who we encounter we will share brand recognition for Nike and Coca-Cola. Any terrain on this planet we haven't personally explored has come into our homes via television and any tribes we haven't personally met have been introduced to us online.
But it is reassuring to me to know that within 2 hours of just about any metropolitan area on earth there is an escape. You don't have to take a month off and trek through Bhutan to 'turn it off' and rediscover your sacred center.
My call to action for you this month is not to let the summer go by without making a brief escape. It is healthy for the body, liberating for the mind and healing for the soul. Find a place where you can spend one night under the vast expanse of stars, listen to the noises of the night, read a book by a stream, walk along the sea, climb a tree.
Turn off your Blackberry for just a moment and remember that there is something beautiful and primal beyond our get-ahead materialistic rat race. The magical 'something' you find in the wild may just be... YOU!
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