Go Wild! Go GREAT! The Journey from Now to WOWTM

Costa Rica Welcomes Brad Pitt Angelina Jolie

Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie, right, and actor Brad Pitt, second from right, meet with a Colombian refugee family in San Jose, Costa Rica, in this file photo from Dec. 25, 2006.



SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AP) - Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt
can't seem to get enough of this tourist-friendly Central American nation.
After spending Christmas Day here with Colombian refugees, the
Hollywood couple plan to ring in 2007 at the exclusive Four Seasons
Resort in Papagayo on Costa Rica's northern Pacific coast,
La Nacion newspaper reported.

Accompanied by their three children, a nanny and a personal chef,
the Jolie-Pitt entourage, registered as ``the Black family,'' have
been staying at the resort since last Friday, the report said.
Jolie &Pitt Continue Stay in Costa Rica(well now they'll have to change the name on the registration. . .)

Jolie and Pitt have three children: 5-year-old Maddox, adopted from
Cambodia; 23-month-old daughter, Zahara, adopted from Ethiopia;
and 6-month old daughter, Shiloh, who was born to the couple in May.

The hotel's Web site describes the facility as ``spilling down a lush
mountainside to an isthmus of golden sand,'' and says room rates
range from $470 to $6,800 a night.

Jolie, 31, and Pitt, 43, spent Christmas Day in Costa Rica with
refugee children and families from Colombia, also part of Jolie's
ambassadorship for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees,
the agency said.

There are about 11,500 refugees in Costa Rica, most of whom fled
Colombia because of the conflict among leftist guerrillas, soldiers and
paramilitary forces.

``I am deeply affected by having had the opportunity to be with them,''
said Costa Rica's former Culture Minister Guido Saenz, who gave the
couple a tour of the country's art museum. ``They have a mixture of
physical beauty, great talent and an altruistic attitude.''

Jolie co-stars in the Universal Pictures drama ``The Good Shepherd''
with Matt Damon and Robert De Niro. Pitt stars in ``Babel,'' a
Paramount Vantage release.

Mother Teresa--Anyway

As we approach a new year, words from

Mother Teresa – "Anyway"

(written on the wall in her home for children in Calcutta)

          People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. 

                            Forgive them anyway.

            If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior

              motives. 

                            Be kind anyway.

           If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and

             some genuine enemies.

                            Succeed anyway.

           If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you.   

                              Be honest and sincere anyway.

            What you spend years creating, others could destroy

                 overnight.

                            Create anyway.

           If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous.

                             Be happy anyway.

            The good you do today, will often be forgotten.

                             Do good anyway.

        Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. 

                            Give your best anyway.

         In the final analysis, it is between you and God.      

                            It was never between you and them anyway.

New Year Resolutions--Out with the Old-In with the New!

Take Out the Papers and the Trash!

This week is always cherished in our household.  In a week when most people pack on the pounds, we  get pounds lighter at Casa Rein as we purge a  year's accumulation of paper and stuff. Oh for sure, there will be more " STUFF" in the New Year.  Yes, George Carlin was certainly talking about the Reins in his classic comedy routine.  So Crank up the Motown, grab a leftover turkey sandwich and tackle the trash.  You'll feel pounds lighter.

Visualize Your Goals:

We also have a New Year's Eve tradition for Goal Setting that you might like to try in lieu of traditional New Year's Resolutions:

Every New Year's Eve, individually, we assemble our individual  "lists of 10"

10 Things I will do

10 Things I will have

10 Things I will be.....in the coming New Year.

Note that we write our list in first person as though, we've already accomplished the goals for the New Year. You see that's where New Year's Resolutions go terribly wrong....We tend to write non-specific goals as though their happening to someone else.  We write them negatively and not positively and then we tuck that list of resolutions  away to be forgotten by Janaury 15th.

We keep our goals in our "daily agendas"  so that we look at them every day and program our mental computers to "lock on to target".

Such positive visualization of goals with daily visual reinforcement is a proven and critical ingredient to goal achievement.  (Brian Tracy, Psychology of Achievement)

As the final hours of the year are upon us, Barry and I share our individual list of 10  with each other over a bottle of bubbly-- but only after reviewing how we did during the current year.     Granted some years have been better than others, but there's always certain progress and we laugh in reviewing each other's list for both commonalities and differences. (Barry's passion for Tennis and Bridge tends not to show on my list and attending a Huna Kana Retreat doesn't make his.)

So Out with the Old---In with the New.  Assemble your List of 10 and keep your goals for the New Year right in front of you.  Lock on to Target and Visualize your Dreams.

Blessings for a Healthy, Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Rosemary

 

"Talk to the Bird" Two Ingredients to Stress Management

          

                                 

As I walk alone on a  beach of Costa Rica with only the shells and my thoughts to listen to, I was thinking of the importance of balancing "moments of solitude" each day with "a personal support system.  Research shows that two ingredients of people who handle stress well is that they have both time alone each day and a strong support system to help them "surf the waves of situational stress".

Here's a quick test To assess your scorecard in these two critical areas of stress management:

1)  Do I plan for that much needed alone time each day?   I have found that working mothers often violate this rule as they try to balance both career and role as mother, collapsing into bed without treating themselves to a ritual of solitude during the day.

2) Assess your support system with Carol Price's, Author of Assertive Communication for Women's Circle of Truth". I met Carol at a Training Conference this year and found this powerful self-assessment "food for thought". Think of your support system and assign a different name to each of the following personal support areas listed below. The hard part is not using the same person for more than 1 category.  In completing this test, many people have discovered that they are relying on just 1 person to fulfill all of their needs.  What's wrong with that you ask?  How much pressure is that on that one person to fulfill all of your needs?  If you have ever been a sole care-giver to an aging parent, you know the stress of dependence I'm talking about.  Also on the flip-side, how vulnerable and dependent are you with a single life-line for support.    So here's the list...You can tap from Work, Home, Church, recreation.  The only rule is a different name for each category.

   1)  Someone who supports you:

   2)  Someone who likes you:

   3)  Someone you can turn to in crisis:

   4)  Someone who mentors/coaches you:

   5)  Someone who makes you laugh and feel great:

   6)  Someone who believes in you:

   7)  Someone who fulfills your needs:

Feeling a little lonely as you struggled to inventory that support system?  In desperation, did you jot down your dog's name or your pet bird? 

Most importantly, Somewhere on that list did you include your own name?  Do you believe in yourself or rely on yourself to fullfil your own needs

Stress Management Tip for the Day: Expand your personal support system, grab a quiet hour for yourself and build your psychological hardiness.   

 

Living Outside of the United States:

                     

Living Outside the United States:  Life as an Expat in Costa Rica in a Virtual Office

As I sit here on a pristine carribean beach in my adopted home of  Costa Rica, drinking what I consider to be the best coffee in the world, I once gain reflect on my great blessings to live amidst the wildness of mother nature.  For the past 9 years, I have joined a growing entreprenurial population who have become "Citizen of the World".  Thanks to technology and the virtual office, yes indeed you can work and live just about anywhere.

My clients have asked me why I live in Costa Rica?  How I came to the decision to live outside of the United States, while remaining a U.S. citizen?    Here is the story:

I read about living in Costa Rica over 15 years ago.    A book seemed to call my name from the bookshelves as I was taking refuge in the warmth of literature from  8 ice storms that had hit in Bucks County, Pennsylvania that year.   Heating bills were a killer.

As the song goes.....There's a place for us......  A warm country where I needed not heat or air-conditioning--"72 degrees year round in the mountain areas, a peace-loving country without an army and  warm and  friendly people "  a place where retirees and entrepreneurs were moving due to a montage of advantages from climate to tax-free earnings on a chunk of foriegn earned income when you live outside of United States,  political stability, healthcare.  There was an international community of writers, artists, executives and diplomats who by the very fact that they were there "demonstrated a creative and adventurous spirit"

I read where Costa Rica was a place where you could get a $5.00 massage.  That sealed it. " I'm so there!" Actually it was mother nature that was the best realtor.  Over 3 vacations, I fell in love with  this  magical country of incredible natural beauty,  described as the "jewel of the planet" and a "world in one country" with the biodiversity of alpine forests, pristine beaches and  deep jungle"    

For me, this means the opportunity  to live on a tropical movie set while speaking and consulting 10 days each month in the United States, Canada and Latin America. Okay, so I occassional lapse into "Gracias" and "Por Favor" in Fargo, North Dakota and when I return home to Costa Rica miss the glory of paved highway interstates and brace for our local roads----A 4 x 4 chiropractor's dream.  Still, I wouldn't have it any other way.    Yesterday as we were  cutting through thick jungle with a machete, looking for the site of our planned Carribbean retreat house,  Barry  and I broke out laughing at the contrast from our typical, tame Sundays back in the states with the New York Times.

"We're not in Kansas Anymore Dorothy" he laughed.   True enough!  However, for both of us living abroad has been a creative experience that has built our adaptability and kept us young in mind, body and spirit.   

Thank you Nature and yes, Thank you technology.  As much as I detest my tendency to be a "Crackberry", many options are now open to be a citizen of the world. Indeed, as I write this , virtual offices are up and working on beaches, ski-slopes and a world of exotic places.

I'm writing this with the help of DSL while looking at the Ocean on a secluded beach paradise

Pura Vida...Rosemary

 

The Healing Powers of Mud!

 

. Recently we set forth on an exploratory trip in our adopted country of

Costa Rica

for possible locations for our 2007 Learning Safaris.  Our destination was Rincon de La Vieja in the North Western part of the country:  The resort, "Hotel Borinquen" is a Mountain and Hot Springs Hotel and Spa and one of 3  destinations we will be using for a Couple's Rainforest Romance Retreat in the new year.  What a great place for female and couple's pampering at any age, complete with exotic massages including a Chocolate Massage...My first ever and Yum!  How wonderful to have chocolate that doesn't go to your thighs but on them! Rincon de La Vieja literally means "Face of the old woman".  Aah perhaps the old woman came here and indeed found her fountain of youth.

This tourist area is set amidst an  active volcano and an incredible state park with  beautiful waterfalls and wildlife.  It's also great Cattle Country.  In fact one of the hotel's tours,  takes you through primary forest and on to a 5000 hectare farm where yes, you can see the "Rush of the Buffalos".

You get the feeling you are in the middle of nowhere.  In addition to the hotel's zen like sanctuary, one of the spectacular treats of this resort is a natural,  stress reducing and wellness gift provided by  mother nature.  "Bubbling mud pots and small geysers".  A recent article in our local paper, the Tico Times, reported recent scientific studies that indicate that the small,  microorganisms in this special brew may just hold solutions for global warming.  Yet another case for saving the rainforest!

While the smell of sulfur from the bubbling earth makes you feel like slightly like you're in a complex owned by "El Diablo", the healing properties of the forest green mud are utterly  amazing.  Your skin feels refreshed and taut as though the stress was literally peeled away. There's also the side benefit of  Laughter. As shown in the photo above, you cannot help but release your cares as you share a new face to friends.  Warning:  As the  forest green mud dries and turns crusty, you might be confused with that old woman or the top of a volcano.

We have lived in Costa Rica 9 years and travelled here before that.  A great find and yet another new treasure discovered.

   

Hot Update:  Our 2007 Retreats have been Scheduled. Mark your calendars for the following dates:

Detailed Itineraries will be posted shortly.

"Go Wild-Go Great!  The Journey from Now to Wow"tm  A

Costa Rica

Retreat and Learning Vacation for Mind, Body and Spirit:

April 17-24th:

September 29th - October 6th:

"Women in Transition: The Journey from Now to Wow"tm

April 17th - 24th

October 20-27th

"The Rainforest Romance:  A Retreat for Couples"

  July 21s-28th