Happy 7th Re-Birthday to Me!

Happy 7th Re-Birthday to Me! 

Seven years ago today, I fully embraced that this is it. This is the real deal. This is life. It's happening right now, and I need to fully accept responsibility for how I live that life. Seven years ago, I resolved to accept responsibility for living my own life. No longer would I trudge through the days wishing I could be someone else, doing something else, somewhere else. I was going to be that person, doing my thing, right here, right now.

A Bout of B - O - R - E - D - O - M

Many have asked: So, how was your Spanish study in Guatemala?

Here is the short answer: While I bettered my Spanish a bit, I bettered my understanding of myself a whole bunch of bits.

Before providing the long answer, I would first like for you to envision a spectrum. At one of end of the spectrum is flow. Flow exists when one is completely absorbed in what they are doing. Indications of flow include a deep sense of concentration, total immersion in an experience, and loss of the sense of time.

What it Feels Like to Be in Flow.
Adaptation from the "Flow" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi 
Pinterest Pin by Alexius Chua 

Flow is where people are the happiest. Popularized by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, flow exists when the level of skill matches the level of challenge in which that skill is utilized. As the time in flow lengthens, skill typically increases and challenge typically decreases. When this happens, we either push ourselves to stretch our skills or develop new challenges for using these skills. Being in the state of flow thus often leads to growth and discovery -- both cyclically fulfilling developments.

El Calcetín Rojo (The Red Sock)

I've had two teachers thus far for my Spanish studies here in Guatemala -- Cintia and Mary. Cintia did not assign homework; Mary did. I would like to share my favorite homework assignment with you.

At the end of one of my Spanish sessions, Mary wrote the following on the whiteboard:

"S/he spent an hour looking for the red sock."

My homework was to develop a story from this lead. And so that is just what I did. Later that afternoon, I sat down at my desk and flipped my brain switch to Spanish-mode. My pen began to dance across the lines on the page, spilling out ink...

that formed into words...

Gettin' Into My Guatemalan Groove

I spent the first few days in Guatemala slowly getting acquainted with the rhythm of things. Now that nearly two weeks have passed, I've gotten into my Guatemalan groove.

A wandering jew grows in the courtyard where I am staying.

I'm spending three months this winter in Quetzaltenango. Also known by the Maya name Xela (pronounced "shell-ah"), the city is located 7,640 feet above sea level and is surrounded by a dramatic panorama of volcanoes. With a quarter of a million people, a majority of them indigenous, the city is the second largest in Guatemala. Xela is quite possibly the ideal Guatemalan city. As Goldilocks would say, the city is not too big and not too small; it's just right.