From the Bottom of the Bucket

          Rejuvenation

My wife and I just completed a sixteen day, grand tour of the Pacific Northwest.   Starting in Colorado, and then moving on to Oregon and Washington State.  In each of these states we built the trip around visiting friends from our “former” life in business.

 

Traveling is one of the best ways to build your Vigor. I think this is because a change of scenery forces you away from your customary points of reference and compels you to react to an unfamiliar orientation.   This, in turn,  places more emphasis on your internal intuition than you normally use.  This switch in attention alone can expose some outdated reference point that you (out of habit) continue to use in your daily life.  We all need to “shake things up” in order to affirm the validity of these instinctual references, which we use in familiar circumstances almost without thinking.

Take restaurants. At home, we all have our favorites, but away, the world is filled only with possibilities (like frozen beer in Portland !).  What about relationships?  In our daily lives, we are familiar with the patterns of interaction with those around us.  Drop yourself  into a crowd of new people and every conversation is ripe with new thinking and perspective.  This is especially true of friends who we don't see often.  We stayed with three different friends and that allowed  for  extended conversations in which I learned about new music, books, and technologies that will change how I spend the rest of the year.

In some places, the vistas alone are enough to invoke a sense of awe and the realization that your home surroundings represent just a small part of the world we live in.  Crater Lake National Park (one of our stops) took our breaths away on our first day hike. 

 

 

 There is also the ever changing show Mother Earth puts on (what about the solar eclipse? Day into night into day, in  twelve minutes !)  The second day at the national park was clouded (literally) by smoke from two “uncontrolled” forest fires that threatened to close down the park.

smoke not clouds!

What does this have to do with Living in the Bucket?  I have discussed Vigor Activities in the past.  In order to assure a robust effort in each of your Roles, you must plan undertakings that are rich with the potential for rejuvenation of your excitement and awe.  Be wary of getting into a "comfort zone" where all is familiar and easy.  This state is a trap which dulls your senses and steals your creative potential.

Take some risks, try something new (even if it feels uncomfortable) and build your Vigor in a purposeful fashion.  Then you will find what is necessary to bring your best game to the challenge of meeting the full potential of your Roles.

Until next month, I wish you fulfillment.

Bob