Watch this video if you want to know the secret to
REAWAKENING YOUR PASSION
Exploring the forgotten dreams of your youth!
How many of you know who this is?
I just became aware of her recently when a friend sent me an article she wrote for the Huffington Post.
Her name is Phyllis Sues and she just turned 90 years old in April of this year but she sure doesn’t look it. Her secret? She has 2 – keep learning, and keep moving!
In her own words, “I started my own fashion label at 50, became a musician and learned Italian and French in my 70s, took tango and trapeze at 80 and walked into my first yoga class at 85. So, if you think you’re old, think again!”
Does that inspire you? It sure did me! Staying healthy, fit, active, and alert isn’t easy. It takes work, hard work, and determination. Ready to do battle with me? Check out the whole article here. If it inspires you, too, download my free e-book above, contact me and let’s empower each other.
Because I ‘m such a sensual person, music speaks to me in a way that nothing else does. As I’ve gotten busy over the past year building this business, I have not taken the time to listen to music like I used to but today I heard a song that reached out and yanked me back from my busy-ness.
The song was Tim McGraw’s, Live Like You Were Dying. Why do we wait until we are given a death sentence to do all the things we’ve always wanted to do? Or to mend the relationships that have gotten damaged over the years?
When I did the exercises that helped me to find my passion and purpose I made a decision that I was not going to wait until retirement to follow my dreams. It meant making some hard choices like simplifying my lifestyle so I could afford to live on a lower income and still travel. But those choices have given me a life I hardly dared to dream of. I’m so blessed to be doing what I love to do every day and I get to travel all over the world.
Someone pointed out to me earlier this year that I could still live this amazing life and also help other women discover the joy of living with purpose and, voila, Travel With Lindy was born.
Along with finding my purpose, I’ve taken the time to say everything I wanted to say to my kids. If I should die tomorrow, there is no unfinished business in my life. Yes, there are things on my bucket list that I still want to do but I’ve accomplished the things I wanted to do with my life and I’ve built meaningful relationships with my family.
For the last 10 years, I have actually been living like I was dying and I pray that I will keep doing that until I breathe my last breath. Hopefully that won’t be for another 30 years (I have great genes) and what wonderful adventure filled years they will be.
What about you? Are you still carrying around regrets and wishful thinking? Is it time to start crossing off the things on your bucket list? No one will ever be able to tell you how exhilarating it is to live a life of purpose and accomplishment. You have to experience it for yourself to believe your life could be filled with that much joy! “someday I hope you get the chance to live like you were dying.” Please don’t wait until it is actually true.
Pick up your copy of my free e-book, Behind the Mask, at the top of this page, contact me for more exercises, and come join a fun group of like-minded women as we explore what the world has to teach us!
“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost.” – Martha Graham
Riding on the bus to work one morning last week, I heard one woman say to another, “Tell your girls to marry a plumber or an electrician. They make the best money.”
Once I recovered from shock, I began to wonder if nothing has changed since my generation were young women. Are we still socializing our daughters to believe that their whole purpose in life is to find a husband who makes good money and will be able to support them and their children?
Maybe it isn’t just my generation whose children are grown and gone from home who are searching for their purpose in life. Perhaps our young women need mentors who will encourage them to find what they love and where they were designed to serve before they get married and raise a family (or dare I say, instead of marrying and having children).
Women are intelligent, creative, talented, ingenious human beings who were created to serve a place in this world that was designed just for them. If you are a young woman today looking for your purpose in life, I hope you will do whatever it takes to find that place before taking on those roles. You will be better wives and mothers when you are fulfilled within yourself.
Whatever your age, if you are searching for ways to find your purpose, contact me. There are many exercises and meditations that will help you find your perfect spot. Let me help you find your purpose and become a woman empowered!
Many of the trips I take each year are what we in the industry call familiarization trips. I travel with a bunch of other travel agents to a destination I have never visited before to get first-hand knowledge that I can pass on to clients when they ask about that destination. They are fun trips. I learn a lot and come home eager to tell my clients all about it.
That’s how I came to fall in love with Ireland and decide, for the first time, that I would like to escort a group back to experience the hospitality of the Irish people that stole my heart.
My own personal preference for travel is to avoid many of the sights that are designed simply to entertain the tourists. I want to see the way the people of that country live their every day lives — what jobs do they work at, what kind of income can they earn, what is the cost of living in their country, what do they do for entertainment, where do the go in the evening and on their weekends off, how has their history led them to where they are today, what is their political situation, what have they produced in the way of art and literature? That’s where I get to see a country’s real culture and how it differs from our own. That’s where I learn what it can teach me about myself.
The familiarization trips I take don’t always let me see this side of a destination. Consequently, I sometimes come home from a trip disappointed by the lack of opportunity to learn from my travel. That’s why it is so important to do some inner searching to find your own personal style of travel.
Some people just like to lie on the beach and get some much needed relaxation. Others want to be active in the midst of the amazing wonders of this world. Others still love to view the great museums and art galleries of the world. If you know yourself and your travel style, you can plan your vacations around that and come home from every trip truly satisfied and thinking it was the best one you’ve taken so far.
I urge you to study yourself, learn what you love about travel, and then pursue your interests all over the world. Find out where you can find the things you love and when is the best time to visit. Choose travel companions who love the same things you do.
Maximize your travel experiences and learn from travel. That way you will create memories that will keep you company long into the years when you can no longer travel.
Dal Richards, still dancing and performing at 95!
So many times we are tempted to think that the time for exploring new horizons is over once we get to midlife or older.
Could I take up mountain climbing or sky diving if I’m over 50? Now that I’m retired could I go back to school and get that law degree I always wanted? Is it too late to learn to play the trombone, or write my first novel?
Where did we get the idea that our lives have to wind down once we hit midlife? If you want to spend your retirement in a rocking chair, winding down, that is perfectly okay. But many of us don’t relish that scenario. So what’s to stop us from discovering what new adventures await us?
On the Early Edition on CBC radio recently, they were talking about how Dal Richards is still going strong at 95. And then last week I came across an article on squidoo that made my heart skip a beat.
If, like me, you are eager to explore new horizons and learn from travel what the world may have to teach us about our identity and purpose in life, then read this article and be encouraged!
Sign up for my e-book, Behind the Mask, and join us as we start down this path together!
On my second trip to China with my daughter-in-law, we decided to walk down Wangfujing Street – the central heart of Beijing. It is a long, wide street full of high end shops, two shopping malls, department stores, souvenir shops, and at night, a plethora of neon signs. Everything stays open late so we just strolled down the street to soak up the local culture.
We stumbled across a side alley containing a night market. What a treasure! The alley is L-shaped and comes to a complete dead end. Both sides are crammed with stalls offering Asian snack foods, souvenirs, fabrics, and Chinese wares – a bargain hunter’s delight!
The first stall inside the entrance to the night market alley serves Asian snacks. There are sticks standing in jars with 5 or 6 scorpions and/or sea horses strung down each stick. They are still alive – we watched them moving. I was totally grossed out!
As we were about to move away from the stall a young Asian couple, in their late teens or early twenties, came up to the counter to place their order. They each picked out a stick which the vendor slipped into the vat of hot oil. It only took a couple of minutes before the young couple were ready to enjoy their meal. I stared in fixed fascination as this young man put his stick into his mouth and pulled off one of the scorpions with his teeth!!!! Then as he chewed it I could actually hear it crunch. I was repulsed beyond words but unable to pull myself away. I finally realized what culture shock is.
Never being one who could hide her emotions, my face must have been a kaleidoscope of horrified expressions as I watched these young people relish their treats. To break the spell, the young man came up to me with a mischievous glint in his eye. Before I realized what he was doing, he shook his stick of scorpions right under my nose. I scurried backwards with my hands out in front of me, palms out to ward off danger, and screeched, “Ooooohhhhhhhh, nnnnnnnoooooooo, nnnnnoooooooooo! “ I was laughing, and screeching, and scurrying away all at the same time. My daughter-in-law was bent over with laughter and the young couple were thrilled with my reaction. Even you are laughing at me, I can hear you!
The Asian kids each gave me a hug and went on their way. My daughter-in-law told me this was the highlight of her whole trip to China. And I was left feeling embarrassed that my reaction to watching what is obviously commonplace in Asia may have been offensive to this local couple. They chose to deal with it in humor rather than insult but I realized I must be more careful about how I respond to the world around me as I travel to different cultures. This was an important lesson to learn from travel – Do not offend the local population!
Talking about street vendors wouldn’t be complete without touching on the topic of bartering. Many people hate the thought of having to barter with a sales person in order to make a purchase. I was one of those before my first trip to China. Talk about what I learn from travel!
In countries where bartering is the norm, you can’t just pay the asking price. For one thing it is so ridiculously high no one would pay that price. But another reason is that to pay those highly inflated prices for their goods would upset the country’s economy over time. You either must barter or not buy!
The tour guides tell you to cut the price in half and start your offers there, being willing to come up a little to your final offer. I find that even half the price they ask is way more than I’m willing to pay so I had to come up with my own system.
Keeping in mind my lesson from Bali – if these vendors don’t make a sale, they don’t have any other source of income – I found a way that works well for me.
If it is an item I really want, I decide how much I would be willing to pay for it at home (a figure that is usually well under half the asking price). If the item is a trashy souvenir that I don’t really want but I want to support the woman offering it to me, I decide how much I would be willing to give her as a handout. (My personal preference is to support women around the world.)
Once I have that figure in my mind, I offer a price slightly lower than that, allowing for two or three counter offers in the bartering process. When I reach the figure I had decided upon, I just keep repeating that as my final offer.
Many times sellers say to me, “No, you no understand. You supposed to come up.” I just laugh out loud and tell them yes, I understand but this is my final offer. They always say no to my final offer and I simply walk away looking very disappointed. When they see that I have no intention of coming back, they chase me down the street and make the deal. Only twice have they let me walk away.
Many times on tour buses I have listened to tourists brag about making the vendor come down so far they got the item for a steal. I am continually told that I pay too much but I pay what I believe is fair – a bargain for me and a fair price for the seller. We both have to win or I wouldn’t feel good about my purchase.
One of the times that a vendor let me walk away was in Cancu
n, Mexico. I wanted one of the gorgeous masks they make from semi precious stones. His bottom prices was US$48.00 and I didn’t want it if I had to pay more than US$25.00. On my next trip to Mexico two years later, a vendor in Puerto Vallarta was offering those same masks for US$20.00. I didn’t even barter. I snapped it up.
My travelling companions told me I paid too much but it was exactly what I wanted at less than the price I was willing to pay – a win/win situation for both of us. If you barter with a conscience, you can’t go wrong!
If you don’t like to barter, come travel with me and let me show you how much fun it can be to learn from travel!
The rain forest is so serene
There are so many lessons we can learn from travel. Another one from my travels came from Bali, Indonesia.
Parts of Bali are amazingly beautiful. The rain forest in the Ubud area is breathtaking. I will never forget sitting on an open, but covered, veranda sipping tea during a rainfall with the stunning beauty of rain forest stretching out before me while the rain thundered on the roof. Peace and serenity flooded through every cell of my body as I sat there totally dry, sipping my tea.
But what I loved most about Bali were the people. They are warm and friendly and go out of their way to be helpful. Let me give you an example:
A tourist really stands out at a Balinese temple
Traffic is constant no matter what part of the island you are visiting and pedestrians do not have the right of way. On two separate occasions I was afraid to cross the street. I stood on the side of the street waiting for a break in traffic that never came. Both times a shop keeper left his shop and escorted me across the street. They are not timid about walking out into the traffic and making the vehicles stop for them – something I couldn’t do. I was so grateful for their assistance.
The lesson that I learned from travel in Bali came from the street vendors. They hang around all the tourist attractions and bombard you as you exit on the way to your vehicle, pushing their wares into your face and shouting out prices. It is hectic, noisy, and can be scary for the unsuspecting tourist.
When that happened to us in Mexico my travelling companion decided she would never again travel to Mexico. Just one experience traumatized her and spoiled all the rest of her vacation.
In Bali they are very aggressive, hanging into the door of our tour bus and pushing their wares into the open windows. The driver finally had to ease his way out of the parking lot, hoping they would get out of the way.
As I watched these gentle people acting so aggressively and listened to the negative comments of my fellow passengers I was suddenly struck with another lesson from travel -
In Canada we have a welfare system that ensures the basic needs are met for those who cannot or do not work. In poor countries like Bali, there is no such system to fall back on. If these sellers don’t make a sale they don’t eat! How aggressive would you become if your whole livelihood and that of your family depended on you making that sale to a tourist?
Pondering that new insight, I realized two things. First, the economy of those poorer countries depends largely on tourism. They need us. And secondly, instead of giving handouts to people in these countries, I just need to set aside a few dollars to buy their cheap souvenirs. They feel good about being able to take earnings home to their families and I’ve been able to lend support without damaging their self esteem or turning them into beggars. It is a win/win for all concerned.
What about you? What do you learn from travel? Come travel with me and other like-minded women so we can share our insights and grow together.
As we start into a new year, the subject of New Year’s Resolutions always comes up. Have you made your resolutions for this year yet? Have you made any and broken them already?
As I was contemplating this subject this year, I thought about my business. Every year, I outline a plan of how I will reach the goals I want to achieve with my business so why don’t we treat the goals we want to achieve in our personal lives the same way?
Instead of resolutions that we seem to break within weeks, or even days, why not set out a personal plan of the goals we want to achieve this year and the steps we will take to ensure success?
If this seems like a daunting task, let me share the system that I’m using this year. First I broke my personal life into categories:
Family
Work
Social Life – recreation & entertainment
Relationships – friends, coworkers, neighbors
Health & Fitness
Education
Travel
Then I asked myself what I wanted to accomplish in each of these areas by December 31, 2013. Taking the 12 months I have ahead of me to accomplish those goals, I listed the steps I would take each month in each category. Then I further broke it down into what steps I would take in each week of that month to make sure I stayed on track.
Luckily for me, I belong to a mastermind group where we list our goals every 2 weeks and hold each other accountable to achieving what we say we will. If you are serious about making some changes in your personal life in 2013, I strongly recommend you find a friend, partner, or support person who will check in with you on a regular basis to see if you are staying on track.
When you break it down into bite sized pieces like this, it is much easier to accomplish than just making a resolution to lose weight or get more exercise or read more in 2013. I’m expecting that this will be the year that I actually accomplish the things I’ve set out to do at the beginning of the year. How about you?
This is what Christmas is all about!
This is the last week before Christmas and I will be off spending time with my family so this is the last blog post of 2012!
And since my business is Travel, the best Christmas greeting I could send is this one that showcases Christmas scenes from all over beautiful Italy!
You will want to have sound because the music is by Andrea Bocelli! To view click here You have to download the file to play it but it is safe!
Merry Christmas, everyone. Hope it is filled with love as you share it with the important people in your lives!
Images: from the Internet, with credits to the authors
Music: Bianco Natale – White Christmas – Andrea Bocelli
Creation, research, compiling and formatting: Delza Dias Ferreira delzadfer@hotmail.com
Review of the Italian & English version: Flavio Musa d F. Guimaraes
Technical collaboration: Claudia Ricci Brazil – Sao Paulo – XII – 2010
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