Revolutionary Misfit

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Expat Mindfulness

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Expat Mindfulness

Donald Trump is President. That’s a fact.

That will mean different things to different people. Some will rejoice. Others will lament.

But what will it really mean, in general, for people and planet?

More than likely it will mean change. Things are probably going to change in the U.S.A. and in the world. The question is, will they change for the better?

I’ve been writing in my blog for quite a while now that America, and the world, does in fact desperately need a change in direction. I just don’t believe that Donald Trump is the right one.

Trump’s election will most likely usher in a renewed sense of “putting America first”, or of “American Exceptionalism”…as if the rest of the world just doesn’t matter all that much.

And in that effort, jobs will likely be created. Heck, the stock market is already rallying in anticipation of all that pent-up demand being released into the market-sphere.

However, I have a sense that there are many, millions even, like me who believe that a heightened emphasis on money as the measuring stick for human prosperity in the context of a zero-sum, us versus them, world view, is not really the right direction to go in.

It certainly wasn’t the direction strongly suggested by that anti-Trumpian counter-revolutionary named Bernie Sanders…now was it?

However, in my estimation, that’s exactly the direction in which “we” are going…at least for the next four years.

I’ve been operating on dual “career paths” in the last couple years. One in which I espouse this mindset I call “impact mindfulness” in my blog, Revolutionary Misfit, and in books, like The Impact Revolution and The Revolutionary Misfit Manifesto.

And the other where I tout the Costa Rica expat life and offer services for guided Costa Rica Expat Tours, or Costa Rica Expat Consulting, to anyone who thinks they might like to give Costa Rica expat living a try.

I have decided that it wouldn’t be a bad idea for those two paths to merge into a concept you might call Expat Mindfulness. And the change that has now been unleashed in the world, in the form of the Donald J. Trump, is a prime motivator behind my thinking.

Certainly this epiphany is part economically motivated. I do anticipate that many will decide that the direction the U.S.A. is going in just ain’t consistent with their values anymore. I believe that might give rise to more demand for my services.

Hey, we’ve all go to make a buck…right?

But there’s more to it than just that.

I’m thinking more in terms of tribe building.

If you’re one of those who might be thinking of making a change as drastic as leaving your country of birth…well, I want to give you some solace and some inspiration.

Solace in being part of a tribe of others who are of similar mindset. And inspiration in the form of a cogent reason to make your expat move…

Expat Mindfulness.

What Costa Rica offers is the opportunity to simplify one’s life…to reduce the clutter. It offers the opportunity to learn to be happy with less. The ticos, or citizens of Costa Rica, are wonderful examples of that.

Because, you see, the last “change” that the world needs is an even stronger sense of the accumulation mindset. That what really matters is my capability as an individual to become “super successful”, measured in terms of my ability to accumulate more stuff in a dog-eat-dog competitive context.

On the contrary, what the world needs right now is love, sweet love…to steal from a song.

No, really, what the world does need is a heightened sense of togetherness…of the Big US.

What the world needs right now are more people willing to put their impact over their self-interest.

What the world needs right now are people willing to reject the impact blinding messages whispering that what’s most important is accumulation of more, more, more…even if it comes at the expense of people and planet.

Hasn’t our planet indeed been sending us ample signals as of late about the folly of that type of thinking and doing?

Trump and those who lifted him to his current position as most powerful man on earth seem to want to just completely ignore those signals.

But our planet will return the favor and ignore us unless enough of us rise up and resist.

Now, you can choose to resist at home, or abroad (in a place like Costa Rica!). If you’d like to give Expat Mindfulness a try…

I am here to offer you a hand in that effort.

In addition to the blog you are reading right now, learn more (and participate) about Expat Mindfulness at one or all of the following locations…

The Costa Rica Expat Tours website

The Costa Rica Expat Living Facebook Page

The Impact Revolution Facebook Page

On Moving Forward

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On Moving Forward

There are certain facts that we just have to face in this life.

Donald J. Trump is now president of the U.S.A.

My mom is no longer with me.

Those are two that have hit me within the last two weeks like a ton of bricks. Nevertheless, both have become facts of life that I must live with…while moving forward.

It’s an understatement to say that the last two years of my life have been the toughest to date. And the last two weeks the toughest of those last two years.

I’ve always considered myself to be a very optimistic person. But in the face of all this, it’s damn hard to remain that way.

But, really, what are my choices? What are our choices?

Oh sure, we can despair. We can give up hope. We can give up trying to make our lives better…and the world better. We can give up on making an impact. After all, our vote certainly didn’t seem to matter.

However, giving up is not the answer. Not for me…and not for you.

I launched a GoFundMe campaign about two months ago. I’ve revised the description a couple of times, as if words might matter. I’ve always suffered under the illusion that they do.

The bottom line is that even though I am resolutely determined to move forward, I still need a little help in doing so. I can see a glimpse of light, but there’s still a ways to go before I reach it.

I woke up this morning as determined as ever to move forward, despite the uncertainties of my life. I woke up determined to move ahead in spite of Trump’s victory.

It is what my mom would want me to do.

I have many projects and goals I am trying to move forward on…

  • My real estate business – both residential and commercial…
  • My Expat Tours – which are directly connected to my success with real estate…
  • My Vacation Tours – for Costa Rica and Colombia…
  • My Writing – I want to offer my books in written form…
  • Podcasts – I want to start two: one for The Impact Revolution and another for Expat Living…
  • Indigenous Arts and Crafts Sales – a sustainable business I’ve been involved with successfully in the past, which is a great way to have an impact…
  • Hydroponic Gardening – I put this one on the back-burner over the last year while I focused on real estate. That was probably a mistake and I want to reignite and reinvigorate the effort.

Many things on the above list I can move forward on right now and I am doing so. Some things, however, require funds that I just do not have at the moment. That is a major reason for launching this campaign.

I have a clear set of goals for each and I know that I can succeed…with a little help from my friends.

Speaking of help from friends, I wanted to take a moment to thank a few friends who have lent me some light…

  • Chris Palazzari
  • Dianna Adams
  • Teresa Berlin
  • Scott Sherman
  • Ed Flaspoehler
  • Michael Weiner

Most of this light was contributed directly to me, i.e., it does not show up in the official campaign results. But that doesn’t make it one iota less impactful. I want to thank each of you from the very bottom of my heart for what you did for me…for the light you extended to me. You are all a blessing and I will never, ever forget.

I am going to be OK. Our nation will be OK. Our world will be OK. But only if we stick together. Only if we remember that we’re all on this planetary ship together. Only if we put our impact over self-interest. Only if we refuse to be blinded by the insidious and erroneous mindset of us versus them. There is no “them.” There’s really only one Big US.

The truth is that we don’t have to all think alike, politically or otherwise, in order to realize that the best path for moving forward is one of connection and cooperation.

So, I am reaching out, not just for help, but also to extend encouragement. Don’t give up hope. Stay in the fight.

Our world is depending on your impact.

My GoFundMe Campaign

Because we all get by with a little help from our friends.

On Feeling Judgment

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On Feeling Judgement

One thing humans definitely excel at, in comparison to other species, is the art and act of judgment. We’re really good at judging one another, aren’t we?

Now, this post is on feeling judgment and does not address in any way the act of earning judgment. We all do that. We all deserve to be judged. Our great religions tell us that very clearly. But they also warn us against being the one who judges.

Of course, the gravest consequence of feeling judgment is guilt. That’s another thing humans are very adept at, again, in comparison to other species. And that is suffering from the pains of guilt…usually as a result of feeling judgment.

My own experience, especially these days, is that I feel a lot of judgment. And, certainly, I’ve earned it. But, again, the universal human activity of earning judgment is not relevant to this discussion.

I mean, it’s very difficult to get through an entire day without earning judgment for something, right?

What do I feel judgment for? Well, here are a few examples that quickly come to mind…

I feel judgment for being in Costa Rica and unable to visit my ailing mother.

I feel judgment for being separated from my children.

I feel judgment for economic failure.

I feel judgment for moral failure.

I feel judgment for adopting a political and philosophical mindset that is often at odds with those I love.

Judgment can be crushing. We deeply wound one another with this brutal act. And why do we do that? If we indeed all deserve judgment, then why do we also feel the self-righteous need to engage in the act of judging others?

I believe the act of judgment is essentially one of separation. We judge others in order to place distance between ourselves and them. It makes us feel superior to do so. And our egos feed off that feeling of superiority.

The U.S. is a country where judgment is almost a way of life. We judge others on account of their political affiliation. We judge them according to their race, religion, or sexual orientation. We certainly are fond of judging folks based on their socio-economic status.

I believe that’s why the poor in the U.S. in some ways have it worse than the poor in other countries, like Costa Rica, for instance. Here you really aren’t judged by the make and model of the car you drive, or even if you have a car at all. But in the U.S., if you’re poor, you are made to feel judged. You are made to feel like a second-class citizen.

Of course, the ultimate acts of judgment are those which take place in our criminal courts. Those who are so judged then have to endure the most extreme separation from society, as they are locked behind concrete walls and steel bars. And then when they are finally allowed out of their cages, they are judged as unequal citizens, without the right to engage in society as normal non-felonized human beings.

I’m writing this post on feeling judgment today because it really sucks. As I mentioned, I’m on the receiving end of a ton of it these days, so I write from my own experience.

The act of judging another human being, even one as worthy of judgment as yours truly, does not really elevate the judge to a higher human status than that of the judged. You see, we all deserve to be judged in one way or another. None of us are perfect…far from it.

So, what do you think gives you the right to judge, other than this false feeling of superiority?

Maybe there’s a reason the bible has strong admonitions against judgment, where it says…

Do not judge, or you too will be judged.

Matthew 7:1

Christ himself, whom the Christian religion claims is really the only one worthy of carrying out judgment, since he alone is without sin, came not as a judge, but as a compassionate redeemer. He did not try to separate himself from the judgment-worthy. He embraced them.

I believe compassion is a more effective tool for rehabilitation than judgment. It seems I’m fairly alone in that sentiment, but I truly believe it nonetheless.

I believe we need to stop being quick to judge and separate and start being more prone to forgive and connect. Tweet it Out!

What do you think?

A Capitalist Conundrum – Capitalism Run Amok – Part 3

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a capitalist conundrum

I found myself involved in a Facebook discussion this morning with a couple of really smart cyber-friends concerning what I would consider to be “a capitalist conundrum.”

The discussion was triggered by the meme to the left. It’s basically a slam against “trickle-down” economics, or the idea that if we get out of the way of the rich, that their success will inure to the benefit of the rest of us poor saps. That theory, while it might sound logical, has not shown to be a very viable one in practice.

But the discussion centered more around a comment that implied that there is a disconnect between profits and wages…that the only thing that does and should determine wages are needed skills. That there is a market for needed skills and that market sets the price for said skills. How those skills are then employed, and to what success, is irrelevant to their price.

And that would be correct, according to a standard capitalistic theory of economics. The purpose of the business enterprise is to maximize profits for shareholders, or owners, period. And if it can exploit workers in the process of achieving that purpose, then fine, go right ahead. After all, the workers can opt for another job in which the market for their skills will pay them more, correct?

Well, maybe.

In practice, when one is forced to shop their skills in the marketplace, the results are often not so stellar. That’s why the government often has to extend and re-extend unemployment benefits…to the chagrin of the same business owners whose exploitation is causing the need for extension.

I believe this notion of a disconnect between profits and wages is at the heart of the capitalist conundrum.

After all, what does a business enterprise really consist of? A corporation does not exist in physics, only in law. The activity of a corporate business enterprise is that of the flesh and blood humans that pledge allegiance to it, either as owners, employees, or both. The owners of a corporation are no different in that regard than the factory-line workers.

Let’s put it this way, even in this age of increasing automation, if you take the humans out of the enterprise, there is no enterprise.

Now, if those humans work together efficiently and effectively to the success of the enterprise, why is it that only the owners should enjoy the benefits of that success? Well, because capitalism tells us that things are just that way…

But that doesn’t make it right, or even reality.

It is my opinion that capitalism attempts to impose its own reality upon us. A fictitious version of reality in which profits and needed human skills (or even needed humans) are disconnected. One in which profits are more important than people or the planet they inhabit.

The problem with this capitalist conundrum is that if in the pursuit of profits, workers are exploited in the name of hoarding profits and building value solely for owners (a situation that has been occurring at increasing levels over the last 40 years), then the system breaks down. Workers aren’t as motivated, perhaps rightly pissed. Strikes ensue. Government has to step in with regulation. There are less and less ordinary folks, workers in their own right, able to buy the products or services of corporate America. A recession occurs, maybe even a depression. Revolutionary impulses are fomented. Shots are fired, wars begin, society crumbles.

I may be being a bit over dramatic, but all this has happened before, hasn’t it?

The idea that business enterprises should be able to pursue profits, and exploit workers in the process, without any government interference, lies at the heart of neoliberal capitalist philosophy. It also lies at the heart of the problem we’re now in with inequality rising to never before seen levels.

It is simply not reality to say that wages and profits are disconnected. It might be correct according to a certain brand of economic philosophy, but it is not real world reality. Corporate profit generation requires people and the resources of the planet in which we all inhabit…profits are not disconnected from those things.

A philosophy that ignores the connections between human (worker) and planetary well-being and macro or micro-economic success is not a sound one.

That is a capitalist conundrum and we need to be able to escape from its impact blinding influences.

Stories Run Deep in Colombia

My new book, The Impact Revolution, is now live on Amazon. It was written to inspire empathy, to inspire connection. It was written to inspire the positive impacts that flow from empathy and connection. It was written to inspire an acceptance of the idea that we’re really all in this together.

Get the Book!

Chasing Wind – Capitalism Run Amok – Part 2

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Capitalism Run Amok

And I saw that all labor and all achievement
spring from man’s envy of his neighbor.
This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

Ecclesiastes 4:4

I want to be rich! Ever had that thought?

I have.

But why?

The verse above offers an intriguing and thought-provoking explanation. The explanation is not completely true, because, after all, a man’s gotta eat. But normally we aren’t satisfied with just putting a roof over our heads and bread on the table, now are we?

We want more than that, much more. We want “the good life.”

And that life is usually defined by how many possessions we are able to accumulate. Proof of capitalistic success is always measured in this way. And since the measuring rod is accumulation and consumption, we strive to do so at ever increasing levels.

Enough is never enough.

Greed becomes good.

Envy becomes a positive motivational force.

And all that whipped up into a frenzy becomes, as I am fond of saying, “capitalism run amok.”

Nowhere in the bible is envy considered a virtue and I don’t believe the verse above signifies that envy is “proper motivation.”

Another word for envy is “covetousness.”

Exodus 20:17 states that “you shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

That happens to be the 10th commandment.

Hmmm, let’s evaluate this for a moment. Solomon says that “all achievement” (which I really take to mean a “lust” for achievement and more possessions than one really needs) is motivated by envy, or covetousness. The 10th commandment forbids covetousness.

Does that mean that the very root of capitalistic excess is contrary to God’s will?

The paradox is that in the U.S. we often equate “unrestrained” capitalism with freedom. We describe ourselves as the model of a free capitalistic society. Any idea, political view, or policy initiative that imposes even the slightest constraint on our capitalistic freedoms is quickly branded as socialism and its proponent as an enemy to our capitalistic way of life.

But freedom always carries with it responsibility. Is “capitalism run amok” responsible? I don’t think so. I think it’s driven or motivated exactly as Solomon describes in Ecclesiastes. I think it’s motivated by the covetousness expressly forbidden in the 10th commandment.

And where has it taken us? Well in 2008, to the brink of ruin…that’s where.

Now is a great time of examination. Now is a great time for us to step back as a society and take a hard look at who we have become. Now is a great time to exchange the capitalism run amok that has gotten our society into quite a mess for a different more compassionate brand.

One that cherishes freedom, but also recognizes the responsibility it carries.

One that recognizes when enough is enough.

One that recognizes that the blessings we enjoy should be shared, should be spread around.

One that is less concerned with protection of private property and more concerned with promotion of public prosperity.

Post Update: This was written in 2009 at the time of our nation’s great recession. We made it out of that one. Will we make it out of the next one?

Stories Run Deep in Colombia

My new book, The Impact Revolution, is now live on Amazon. It was written to inspire empathy, to inspire connection. It was written to inspire the positive impacts that flow from empathy and connection. It was written to inspire an acceptance of the idea that we’re really all in this together.

Get the Book!

image credit: valhb Flickr via Compfight cc

On Veering Left – Capitalism Run Amok – Part 1

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on veering left

This post was first written by me on August 8, 2009…

Funny how we change our perspectives as our age, and hopefully our wisdom, increases.

I can remember those law school days at Georgetown University in Washington D.C., during Bill Clinton’s first campaign for president and his heated attempt at dethroning George H.W. Bush (Bush ’41).

I remember watching the debates in the student lounge surrounded by very liberal aspiring lawyers, just brimming at the opportunity to get their hands on some of that federal government largess.

I remember the vehemence I felt about this election and against the prospect of the philandering Bill Clinton and his robotic running mate, Al Gore, actually ascending to presidency.

Well that was then, this is now. Time and experience have gradually shifted my perspective and have me veering left these days…some might even say “far left”!

Why is that, I have to ask myself?

I can only attribute it to my time here in Costa Rica. The opportunity living here has allowed me to be someone “on the outside looking in.”

There are certain things about this place that have brought about this grand paradigmatic shift. First, I would have to say living here has ignited a deeply felt appreciation for nature and biodiversity and also a concern for how over-consumption threatens them. I no longer buy into the argument that human achievement cannot coincide with respect for and care of the environment.

Ignoring the symbiosis that exists between us and our environment and instead religiously adhering to the idea that “people matter more than trees, or the critters that live in them”, has set our planet on a course that threatens exactly what the idea was suppose to promote…humans. You see if we destroy our environment in the pursuit of more consumption and a higher social-economic position, we end up destroying ourselves. Al Gore, and not Rush Limbaugh, was and is right on that one. I didn’t recognize that back at Georgetown, but I certainly do now.

Second, there is a realization that U.S.-style consumption, driven largely by the bizarre notion of “American Exceptionalism”, has placed the country at odds with the rest of the world and set it on a course for disaster.

What do I mean “driven largely by the bizarre notion of ‘American Exceptionalism”, you ask?

Good question. Let me put it this way, the idea on the right seems to be along the following lines; that since the U.S. has done so much good in the world, it is privileged to exploit other nations and peoples in pursuit of a lifestyle that is at a level of luxury that is absurd in comparison to the way folks live in other places, like Costa Rica for instance. In other words, the rest of the world should just look the other way while we consume ourselves, and them, out of existence.

I have in many past posts to this blog cited examples of U.S. intervention into the affairs of other nations in pursuit of this ideal. That it has the right to pursue its own selfish interests, be it for oil (Middle East) or bananas (Central America), within your borders and if you try to stop it, well, then you’re a “communist” and that gives us the right to pressure you with our economic and/or military might, or just take you out altogether.

Third, I have come to realize that pure U.S.-style unbridled capitalism, “capitalism run amok” as I have called it, is as rotten to the core as the communistic or socialistic alternatives that its proponents rail against. The idea that the only thing that matters is “property” is all fine and good for the owners of the property, but how about for everyone else?

Can I as a poor, destitute person, who has not had the good fortune to have been borne with a silver spoon in my mouth, place my confidence in your altruism, Mr. Property Owner? I seriously doubt it.

The fact is that if you are so fortunate as to have accumulated great wealth during your lifetime, and I am all for honest achievement and believe the government should not get in the way of that, then yes you do have a responsibility to care for those that have not been so fortunate or blessed. AND if you won’t exercise that responsibility on your own, then government should step in and do it for you.

Why?

Because there are actually some things that matter more than the right to private property. And those things that matter more are PEOPLE and the PLANET in which they inhabit.

The right-wing of the powers that be in the U.S. have long been so obsessed with guarding capitalistic notions of private property that they have forgotten that those latter two things matter just as much, perhaps even more.

Maybe that is changing a little now…we shall see.

Post update: The recent election (and the rise of Donald Trump) is proof that nothing has really changed and that perhaps, it’s gotten worse.

Stories Run Deep in Colombia

My new book, The Impact Revolution, is now live on Amazon. It was written to inspire empathy, to inspire connection. It was written to inspire the positive impacts that flow from empathy and connection. It was written to inspire an acceptance of the idea that we’re really all in this together.

Get the Book!

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