The Occupational Adventure (tm)

Oaxaca-bound (and a little lesson)

Today I'm leaving for Oaxaca, Mexico on a long overdue vacation with my parents. I've been to Oaxaca several times, but this time the trip has extra meaning.

Close to four years ago, my parents and I planned to go to Oaxaca together. Shortly after we made those plans, the dot com implosion and my own subsequent financial challenges as I struggled to transform my career from high tech marketing consultant to Passion Catalyst put any travel plans on hold indefinitely.

Last year, my dad was diagnosed with cancer (lymphoma). The first couple days after I found out, I began future tripping. What if I lost him? It manifested itself most strongly when I suddenly thought about our planned trip to Oaxaca.

"What if we never get to go to Oaxaca together," I thought. I would never be able to go back without breaking down.

Soon after that, I made a conscious decision that the negative energy from that kind of future tripping wasn't what my dad needed to aid his healing and recovery as he went through chemo. I decided that the trip to Oaxaca was going to be the touchstone for a positive perspective.

I chose to focus on the trip to Oaxaca that the three of us would take once the cancer had gone away. I treated it as a foregone conclusion, and it remained that way throughout his treatment. The trip to Oaxaca gave me something concrete to focus on.

Close to a year ago, we found out that his cancer has gone into remission. This trip is the trip I focused on all through his chemo treatment.

Looking back and taking an objective look, the reality was no different after I chose to shift that focus than it was before. My dad still had cancer. He was still going through chemo. But choosing to focus on the Oaxaca trip as the result of the positive outcome was the difference between months of anxiety and months of believing that he would heal. So though the reality of the circumstances was no different, the difference in the reality of my perception was night and day.

That's a powerful lesson I hope I can keep applying as my life unfolds.

Curt Rosengren
Passion Catalyst ^SM

Every day is a special occasion

Last year, when we found out my dad had cancer, I started an e-mail list, a weekly reminder/request for people to pray for/meditate on/send good energy towards/plain ol' think good thoughts about his healing and recovery.

He has been in remission for a year now, but on occasion I still send an e-mail out to the list on behalf of others. In the e-mail, I include quotes, stories, links - whatever I come across that seems relevant. I just found out from a friend that both her father and brother have cancer (her father's is terminal), so I've been surfing around looking for some bits and pieces to include in an e-mail to the list.

I came across this piece, written by Ann Wells of the Los Angeles Times. It made me stop and go, "Oh yeah." So I'm sharing it with you. I think we all need to be reminded.

Curt Rosengren
Passion Catalyst ^SM

Lessons to remember

Two years ago today, Swedish adventurer Göran Kropp died in a rock climbing accident. He was a friend of mine.

I encourage you to go here and here for some lessons inspired by Göran's life that are worth remembering.

Thanks.

5 Balls - a lesson worth remembering

Rebecca Ryan over on the Worthwhile magazine blog shared some insights today worth repeating. Her father passed away two weeks ago.

A few days before my dad passed, I was grilling Kelly [the hospice nurse] to learn EXACTLY when my dad would pass. His death was imminent, but I had already canceled or rescheduled so much work; I didn't want this to be a false alarm. Kelly candidly but gently advised that it would be just a couple of days. Then she looked straight into me and said:

“Rebecca, I'm going to share with you my philosophy of life. Each of us is given five balls. One is rubber and four are glass. The rubber ball is work. If you drop it, it will always bounce back. The other four glass balls are family, friends, health and integrity. If you drop them, they are shattered. They won't bounce back."

Thanks Rebecca, for the reminder.

Life Lessons - moving through adversity

As you go through life, you will meet adversity. You will struggle. You will occasionally feel knocked down. There's just no way around it. Here's an article on the Life Challenges site that summarizes some hard learned lessons on moving through the difficult times so you can get on with having a rich, meaningful, fulfilling life. The lessons outlined aren't rocket science, but they're worth taking a moment from your busy day to pause and reflect.

Over the course of four years, Debbie Gisonni lost her mother, father, younger sister and a close aunt. As a result, she decided to walk away from her six figure income and the prestige of her job to do something meaningful for herself and for others.

She wrote "Vita's Will: Real Life Lessons about Life, Death & Moving On," a book about her experience and the important life lessons she learned from brain tumors, cancer, suicide and success.

In a nutshell, the lessons are:

1. Remember Your Inner Power.
2. Move With Life, Not Against It.
3. Connect With People.
4. Know What's Important.
5. Learn to Laugh.
6. Give Yourself a Break.
7. Be Humble.
8. Learn to Love.
9. Don't Cheat.
10. Be Thankful.

Curt Rosengren
Passion Catalyst ^SM

John Porcaro's lessons learned

Once in a great while I stray from the career focus on this blog and fall into "musings on life." This is one of those posts (but this time I'm going to let someone else do the musing).

John Porcaro, blogger extraordinaire who inspired me to start this blog in the first place, posted a long "What I learned from my parents" piece in celebration of his parents' 50th anniversary. There's some great stuff there that's definitely worth a read.

Curt Rosengren
Passion Catalyst ^SM

Making an impact and changing lives

As I've mentioned before, I am on the board of Around-n-Over, a non-profit set up with the purpose of creating online educational content for schoolkids, based on the upcoming round-the-world, self-propelled, human-powered journey of Erden Eruc. It's about Education and Inspiration.

Yesterday Erden, Around-n-Over attorney Chris Beer, and I had the chance to have an inspiring conversation over breakfast with the Charlie Hartwell, President of yourexpedition, the company that was set up to support the expedition of Liv Arnesen and Anne Bancroft, the first women to cross Antarctica. Like Around-n-Over, they created an online curriculum for schoolkids based on their journey (I posted about it in "Teach your kids to dream").

I recently read No Horizon is so Far, the book about their Antarctica expedition, and for the first 95% of it found it to be a fun, motivating tale of determination and drive. Inspiring in a "you-can-do-anything-you-set-your-mind-to" kind of way. At the end though, I got something completely different out of it that struck a deep chord for me.

Towards the end, Liv and Anne were both depressed because, while they had reached the end of the land mass, technically crossing Antarctica, they hadn’t been able to finish off the Ross Ice Shelf before their departure deadline, which extends another 400 miles. They were talking by satellite phone from Antarctica to a class of Minnesota schoolkids when one of the kids, named Logan, changed their perspective. [Following is a paragraph from the book.]

He leaned over the phone and simply said, ‘I just wanted to tell you that both of you have been real role models for me. Sometimes I have a hard time with school, and I just used to feel like there were lots of things that I could never do. And now that you guys have done this, I see that I can do anything I put my mind to. You changed my life.’

In the pause that followed, Ann and Liv’s disappointment and fatigue fell away. Suddenly, ever fall, every mile, every injury, each bowl of oatmeal choked down, seemed worth it - for Logan and the others out there just like him.

For the first time in many days, Ann and Liv smiled.

That hit home incredibly deeply. It still brings tears to my eyes. In a lot of ways, that’s what it’s all about, isn’t it? Making an impact. Changing lives. Leaving things better than you found them.

Curt Rosengren
Passion Catalyst ^SM

In memory of Göran Kropp - Lessons I learned

This doesn't have anything to do with careers (though Göran was one of the most passionate people I have ever met), but I wanted to share it anyway...

One year ago today, the world lost an incredible gift when Göran Kropp died in a rock climbing accident.

Göran was best known for bicycling from Sweden to Nepal, climbing Everest solo with no oxygen, and then bicycling home again. While his larger than life achievements continue to be an inspiration, Göran's biggest impact on me came elsewhere.

From Göran, I learned what an incredible opportunity we have to make the world a better place for the people around us, simply by the way we engage them.

Göran had a gift for making everyone he came in contact with feel great. Everybody he met was suddenly his best friend. He was so present when he talked to people, and really focused on them. When you talked to Göran, you came away feeling important.

I saw it when I first met him as he sat signing books and posters after a presentation about his Everest trip. I saw it with random people he met out climbing, or at a party. I experienced it myself.

He had a robust joy for life that you just couldn't help but catch. And you couldn't help but feel better about yourself and your world after talking to him.

That was the biggest lesson I learned from Göran. After he died, I started being conscious of how every interaction I had gave me the opportunity to change someone's world, however incrementally. I started engaging people more consciously. I started purposefully showing more interest in them, and what they had to say. Even if it was something as mundane as an interaction with the checker at the grocery store.

I started asking myself, what impact did talking to me have on someone? Did they feel better - maybe because they came away laughing, or because somebody had really paid attention to them? Were they indifferent? Did they feel worse - maybe because I had been in a bad mood and let that show in how I treated them?

I started expanding that idea, even to other drivers on the highway. I tried to maximize the positive impact I had in any interaction, and minimize the negative.

As a result I found that not only did it have an effect on others, it had an effect on me. I felt better too.

Göran's accomplishments left a legacy of inspiration for thousands of people around the world. For me, at least, he also left the legacy of realizing what a difference I could make once I just started being aware of it.

I hope I can pass that legacy on. The next time you meet someone new, or go through the checkout line in the grocery store, or even next time you get together with a friend, ask yourself, does this person's world feel even just a little bit better after talking to me?

Because it could. The power to change the world is in your hands.

- curt rosengren

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You can also see something I wrote the day I found out about Göran's death at http://www.rosengren.net/goran.htm .