I travel the world to awaken paths within my inner landscape less known. Yes, I appreciate and often adhere to the philosophical belief, “where ever you go, there you are.” One should not rely on outer stimuli for inner peace. However, humans develop a sense of identity and purpose, through people and place. Humans are also complex nervous systems that react to the environment and are composed of a unique physiology that emulates ecological systems and sustainable, growth-oriented living. We are, inevitably effected by, and a part of, the external. The outer, is the inner as much as the inner is the outer. We must expand our knowledge of both to become more whole, more unified, more global, more universal, and more conscious. I love, crave, and require travel and culture to help me understand my journey of embodied human. The roads less traveled awaken a nomadic heart of diverse experience that better informs me of who I am, who we are. In doing so, I forge an authentic path of self-discovery and spirituality. In my curious and often clumsy state of humaneness and naive exploration, I wonder the vast lands of life to embrace what we are all here to do…..become more pure, more well-lived…more open to the pure life.
Pura Vida
After an almost 10-hour flight delay due to unpredictable lighting storms, we arrived in the witching hour in a quaint, little, four-terminal airport in Liberia, Costa Rica. The air B&B owners waited nearly four hours after closing to personally hand deliver our key and offer a genuine welcoming to our first stay in a country that has, in many ways, changed the trajectory of my life.
Arriving, airport-exhausted in pitch-black night, we had not been fully awaked to the coastal ways of the beach front home. At the cusp of dawn, after some much-needed sleep, we awoke to the unique composition of salty air diffused through open, wood-paned windows and breezy, white, linen curtains filtering a tangerine sunlight, early morning Spanish conversations, happy rooster crows and waves hushing along a silty sand. We stumbled out of bed and drifted down the stairs to a people-barren beach overlooking a harbor of sail-boats filled with Ex-Pats and humble row-boats of local fisher-families casting their rods for fresh breakfast. We steeped our feet in the smooth, beachy tide and slowly began our unfolding into a new way of living.
With intentions of meeting the land and the people of the land. We rented a little 4X4 and took the nearly 6-hour West Coast drive from Liberia to Coco De Playa through tiny towns of Bagaces, Canas, Jaco, Parrita, and into our tree-top destination wedged between Quepos and Dominical. A two-lane stretch of winding roads reaching deep into rich, tropical landscape and the harmonious synergy of its inhabitants. A rural inquiry of Costa Rica, indeed.
Quiet beaches with bounties of fresh fruit and forests with barely any tourists, no hustle and bustle. Tin-roofed houses painted with bright mangos and periwinkles, ironically adorned with strategically placed satellites despite the precariously or absently placed windows and doors, chicken-run yards lined with fresh sun-dried cotton on long, wire clothes lines. Bus stops made of 2X4’s and spray painted plywood, small clusters of villages with a central soccer patch to which every night is filled with muddy, bare-foot football enthusiasts young, and old cheering each other on as if victorious world champions, local markets that provide unique and scarce food options that humbly bring you closer to the reality of most people’s lives… but the best service possible….like helping you make land line calls when you are in a pinch for cellular and then patiently teaching you the Spanish you never learned in 101.
Sharing the winding, tree-lined roads with Ox-driven carts driven by loyal, palm-harvesters earning a mere $7 a day, yet wielding home a victorious load with a proud and satisfied smile. Old Isuzu pick-up flats-beds of fresh produce and sturdy motor bikes carrying both driver, passenger and often toddler child, in addition to 12 bags of groceries, random 6-foot pieces of PVC pipe or other salvaged home repair apparati. Despite the heavy load, the motorists and 4am farmers would point to the painted sky in amazement and pull over to the side of the road where they congregated to watch the sun set. Scattered between tailgates and grassy fields, they seemed to share stories of the day, laughter and praise of life, and most inspiring, many moments of shared silence and sky-lit contemplation.
I saw it hundreds of times between sunset drives, little cafes, local markets, grandparents walking kids to school. People stopping the routine to enjoy in genuine conversation, genuine appreciation for each other, for nature’s beauty, genuine connection to the simple life. The country is rooted in values of sustainable excellence, holistic education, (the schools had the most amazing gardens, exquisite graffiti and heritage art and 7am mixed music and dance circles while still meeting the competitive academic standards of more industrialized educational institutions). It is a world of balanced work/play ethic, humility and modesty, familial bonding and generational respect, a demonstration of conscious living at its best.
Pura Vida
We took nest in a tree house on a high, high mountain with steep an often-scary inclines surrounded by dense forest understood more by toucan and monkey than woman or man. Trees wrapping around each other moderately competing for root and light yet finding a way to live together. Patches of butterflies and cicada creating a chorus of transformation among freshly rained soil, dew-draped ferns and flowers so vibrant in opulence they sang for the nectar of passion. Simply standing the field of this experience made me weep for gratitude and reverence for the mystery. The ecstatic flow of water erupting from random taps of earth cascading into refreshing waterfalls and meandering streams, brining life from the mountain tothe mountain. Our only stimuli were nature, each other, self and a sacred silence an omnipresence too grand to articulate. No phones, no internet, no business, not hustle, no bustle, not even a picture on the wall. The frame of thick woodland through glass windows was an art that captures the vison and admiration of both realists and surrealists. An art so glorious and magnificent it is beyond all interpretation or conceptualization, one that can only be felt in presence. An art so naturally inviting there is no need for distraction or other ‘things’. Enveloped in the grace of nature, not another human in sight, we energetically merged with the wisdom of the forest in a most harmonious way. Days of walking further into the thick roots, exploring the elements and its astounding, adaptive creatures. Each day consisted of, hours of journey, mediation, yoga, contemplation, healing, very little talk, more alignment with the quiet essence of feeling refined.
Pura Vida
Our time on the mountain was healing, sacred and simply profound. I have too many stories to tell, and as you can see, I am a sucker for detail and get lost in the roads of my own memory. My worldly musings have brought me back home to live my life with more attunement, respect and dedication to the pure life.
What are practices we can use to distill our experience of living when we can’t whisk ourselves away to a tropical wonderland? I recently had a wonderful philosophical talk with a regular student at the studio, a humble, wise elder, also with a nomadic heart challenging the ideologies of mainstream American aspiration. We were discussing three fundamental practices that are essential to pure living.
Simplicity
Sincerity
Silence
Simplicity: Refine needs from wants and consider the motive and meaning behind the desires. Practice modesty. Practice sustainable living don’t take more than is necessary. Remove unhealthy or unnecessary distractions and attachments. Release drama or self-perpetuated chaos. Challenge the concept that bigger, more, or busy is better. Embrace to idea that often going deeper with less is more impactful and meaningful than having “more” at the surface and being spread thin. Challenge the paradigm that simple is inferior or undeveloped. See the wisdom of simplicity as a practice of purification.
Sincerity: Be free from pretense, deceit, hypocrisy. Practice honesty, genuineness, truthfulness, good faith, trustworthiness, openness and candor. Sincerity and deliberate attention are gifts to yourself and to others. Inauthenticity is both exhausting and insulting. See the wisdom of sincerity as a practice of purification.
Silence:Pause, reflect, be still, be quiet. Meditate, journey, contemplate, feel. Speak consciously. Are your words kind, are they true, are they necessary, is silence more prudent? Take early morning walks when most of the world is still sleeping. Turn the tv off, the phone off, even the music. Silence is not to feared, it is a door to equanimity and inner refuge, it is a space of intuition and contentment. See the wisdom of silence as a practice of purification.
Remove the distractions, the conditioning, the unhealthy concepts that taint life so we can more fully embody what is pure.
Pura Vida.
Thank you, loyal listener, for taking the time to read my thoughts. May they find you with love and inspiration.
Thank you, Costa Rica, for the messages, lessons, beauty and grace. Your land, people and culture have better informed me of my own humanity and spirituality. I will carry your way with sincere honor in my heart.
Thank you, sweet David, for the most spectacular journey back to Self, into us, and for the most epic and beautiful proposal! YES, that right folks, I am engaged and have a fun story to share, so stay tuned.
Many blessings, Namaste, Aho
Robin Afinowich
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