How
to Get the Most Out of Your Vacation (and Life)
by
Susan Dunn, MA Clinical Psychology, The EQ Coach
Becky
asked me how the food was on my river cruise through Russia, and
I could tell from her tone ofvoice she expected it to have been
nasty. Nope! It was great. In fact I returned healthier and more
refreshed from all the walking in the perfect weather, the beauty
of the rivers and countryside, the charming and beautiful people,
and the heavy-on-the-cruiciferous-and-beta-carotene diet. Cabbage,
cucumbers, beets, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower everywhere. A
large salad with every meal and just a speck of meat, and also,
I told her, one of those "perfect moment" meals.
We'd
been tromping around Peterhof, in St. Petersburg, in a chilly
downpour, walking for
hours through the gardens (a really professional tour guide gutsed
it out with us) and then had taken a hydrofoil back to the ship.
We were famished and our cheeks were pink from the outing and
exercise - I mean this was a BRISK walk.
And
what awaited us for lunch? The usual great salad, and then an
individual crock pot, about 8" high, sealed with pastry on
the top, and when you broke the crust, the hottest, most delicious
most homemade-tasting and yummy sort of pork and potato stew.
It was one of those meals that really "hit the spot"
that you'll always remember.
WHAT'S
FOR LUNCH?
"The
potatoes in Russia are wonderful," I told Becky. I don't
know what kind, but they are
excellent, and I'm a connoisseur of the potato. However I was
puzzled that when each meal offered a vegetarian selection, we
had never been given a huge baked potato.
Becky,
who's a world travele, told me how rare "our" baked
potato is around the world - and how she has excited Japanese
exchange students with it, as well as Argentinian visitors who
eschewed the steak they were served, in order to get to the delicacy
- the baked potato, wanting to know if it was Russet or Idaho
and to hear all about it!
AND
SPEAKING OF THE POTATO
That's
the fun of travel - new experiences, new ways of looking at things.
And speaking of the potato, I had taken some books with me to
read. After I plowed through two scientific books related to my
field (coaching), I picked up one my sister had brought, "The
Botany of Desire: A Plants-Eye View of the World," by Michael
Pollan.
(http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0375760393/susandunnmome-20
). What else could someone with that name write about?
Michael
was working in his garden one day watching the bees buzzing around
pollinating the flowers, and realized that he was, in a sense,
doing the same thing for the plants. The book takes up from there.
In
the book, he explores our (humans) coevolution with plants looking
at the relationship between humans and four specific plants: apples,
tulips, marijuana, and potatoes.
HO
HUM?
Not
at all. You'd be surprised at what you don't know about Johnny
Appleseed, and the apple. Johnny Appleseed was more entrepreneur
than humanitarian; he sold those trees! And did you know that
all apple trees are, like cats and rose bushes, one generation
away from feral?
This
book forces us to take a new look at two ofthe simplest objects
we take for granted -
potatoes and apples - and shows us a whole new fascinating world.
I discovered there were a million things I never knew about the
apple and that I, too, had a relationship with them. They've been
very important in my life as I went to school in Minnesota, where
the preferred apple was hard, crisp, tart and red, and then moved
to North Carolina, where the preferred apple was mushy and sweet
and yellow, and I was desolate It fact it became the focus of
my homesickness - there were "no apples" in North Carolina.
What was I to do?
BEEN
THERE, DONE THAT?
Try
this on your life! Especially when you're full of "been there
done that." Take a new look
at the relationships in your life - your partner, colleagues or
child. Think outside the box,
reverse the roles mentally and play with some ideas. If the plants
have really gotten us to
pollinate for them, has your secretary really got you working
for her? Is your child teaching and nurturing you? Are you teaching
your teacher? Is the minister administrating and the secretary
ministering? Are you coaching your coach?
And
then question the history you've learned and go learn some more.
Didn't you learn in school, as I did, that Johnny Appleseed, with
that crazy pot on his head, was spreading those rosy apples around
the US so children could be healthy, when in fact no one at the
time ate apples, they weren't "rosy," and they were
used to make liquor. And Johnny Appleseed himself? Well, read
the book.
I
challenge you to get curious again and open yourself up to new
experience, and grab the
opportunity that presents itself, not just the one you planned.
The book I stumbled upon taught me more about my profession than
the tomes I'd brought along. And now when I'm ho-humming my way
through the grocery store and come to the produce section, and
see those apples and potatoes, my mind is buzzing with facts,
ideas, and feelings. Isn't that wonderful? I recommend it.
************************************************
© Copyright 2003, Susan Dunn
Susan Dunn, MA Clinical Psychology, The EQ Coach, http://www.susandunn.cc
Coaching for all your needs with an emphasis on learning and applying
EQ to your career and relationships. Mail to:sdunn@susandunn.cc
for FREE ezine. For EQ coach training and certification, go here:
http://www.eqcoach.net.
Warm Regards,
Susan
Dunn, The EQ Coach
210.496.0678
EQ Enterprises-Individual, Business, Multicultural
www.susandunn.cc
EQ
Alive! - The tools and training you need to coach emotional intelligence.
www.eqcoach.net
WebStrategies
for coaches and entrepreneurs. Specializing in global, multicultural
www.webstrategies.cc
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