Helping Hand – Life Coaching

Today’s blog is coming to you from the sunny shores of the Mexican Yucatan Peninsular 🙂

I am here for the next month, hopefully longer. I am not on vacation as such but for health reasons I have become a ‘Snowbird‘ escaping the Canadian winter, which unfortunately these days, causes me so much pain.

So here I sit, drinking my coffee, looking out at a spectacular sea view as the sun rises slowly from the ocean, bringing its life to us for another day.

Life here pretty much revolves around the passing of the sun.

Few people wear a watch, they simply look up to judge if its time for work or lunch yet. Many of the winter visitors, ‘the snowbirds’, have no idea what day of the week it is. Work is also not hurried, it is often too hot to rush about, so work proceeds at a more sedat but effective pace. Things may take a little longer than many of us are used to, but it gets done and no one has had to burst a blood vessel to do it.

With Stress being the route cause of so much suffering and illness in our corporate world, I think we can learn a thing or two from Mexico, especially the Mayan cultures of the Yucatan. Here life is a gift, not to be squandered. It should be treasured and enjoyed, not raced through at breakneck speed in search of the next material item we have been told we need.

Don’t get me wrong they work hard here, but work is not their life, they do not judge themselves by what they do. Sure most could do with more money, most are inadequately paid and their lives tough but they smile readily and like to joke around at any opportunity.

With the ever growing tourist industry, rapidly taking over the coastal villages, my fear for the Yucatan is that our ways will infiltrate them. That they will slowly begin to need ‘the stuff’ we have and that will erode a way of being that impresses me. This makes me feel guilty for being here but I also know our money helps bring them many of the basics a human needs to survive. Without the money our culture brings the Yucatan would be a much more difficult place to live for the local populace.

We cannot stop this flow now, too many need us here, an entire industry dependant on foreigners has evolved. Yes, a lot of the profit is not staying in this country and I wish that was different but for the local people this is all they have right now. There are a lot of people like myself, who see this and make an effort to directly support the locals, not the industry but its a long way from being fair.

I for one love my time in this magical part of the world and I want to continue to come here. I just hope the price paid by the local population is not too high. I do see changes in the yonger people. I just hope they do not devolve into the needy material driven society, that many of us are all too familiar with and running from.

I truly hope that here, somehow, the Mayan Culture survives the changes.

Musings of a SNOWBIRD who is living the dream.

To contact Coach Lin for help in this or any other life goal, please email lin@helpinghand-lifecoaching.ca.