Hawaii and Punta Laguna, Mexico

The 2007 Hawaii journal is from February, 2007. It consists of the adventure experience visiting Waikiki, Waimea Bay, and the North Shore of Oahu, the surf heaven. While it was short and you always can "catch just one more wave", it was certainly exciting.

The Punta Laguna, Mexico journal is from Summer of 2002. This was a tropical conservation project in the Yucatan jungle. The group I was with studied spider monkeys with 2 PHd scientists, lived and played soccer with the local Mayans, visted archaeological sites, and studied the botany and ecology of the local Punta Laguna rainforest. There was also an anthropological, linguistic, and cultural exchagne in this amazing adventure as well.

The Best Customer Service Qualities

I was asked in an interview what was the best example of customer service I had ever encountered. I had numerous examples but it became clear that three distinct qualities make the best customer service exchanges. In order of importance these essential qualities are:

• Enthusiasm -- Enthusiasm is the number one invaluable quality to ideal customer service. Enthsiasm sells. Enthusiasm opens the door and creates the interface between you and the customer. It establishes the link and engages you with the customer and makes the product and or service interesting. It draws attention to the customer service exchangeand makes the customer service interaction pleasant and even entertaining.
• Knowledge Base - While enthusiasm gets you in the door, the knowledge base composes the subject-matter, the data, of the exchange. You have to know a lot about the product and/or service to answer questions and get across the type of information the customer needs in order to possibly make a purchase. Your knowledge base of the product or service entails the details of how it works, why it's a good thing to have, how it will benefit the customer, and details of its design.
• Adaptability -- Finally, you have to be able to adapt to what type of information the customer is interested in. Adaptability modifies the knowledge base component of customer service. If you get a customer who is a techie and you're selling computers, for example, you're going to want to share all of the technical nuances such as CPU speed, cache size, and hard drive space. However, if you are interacting with a customer who is a very novice user, you'll want to leave that technical jargon out to avoid the risk of confusing the customer and, instead, replace it with information on, for example, how easy it is to connect to the internet and use email.

A side note: you can substitute "customer service" for any people-based exchange such as long-term relationships, first impressions, and even interview or networking skills.

The 4 Elements Plot and Style

When reading a story, there are essential elements of design that craft and shape each unique story. Life is an unfolding story. Scrutinize the four plot elements and the how? element to get more insight on your own life.
The 4 Plot Elements

1. What?
This represents the narrative, plot, and subplots
o The typical path of the story is introduction, complication, rising action, climax, falling action and denoument. Notice the symmetry of problem, building, crescendo, resolving, conclusion

2. Who?
o Static characters do not significantly change the narrative
§ Static examples – stock, stereotype, foil
o Dynamic characters do significantly change the narrative.
§ Dynamic examples – allegorical, three-dimensional, antagonist, protagonist.
o Everyone should a be a dynamic character in their own life, but few people are. Most people live passively as static characters.

3. Why
o Topic – general issue; ex. “true love”
o Theme -- the message; the author’s specific argument of the specific topic. Examples:
§ True love exists
§ True love at first sight
§ True love exists only with focus.
o Motif – the mood; “hints” that shape the mood of the plot (could be tense, calm, fast, etc.)

4. Setting – Where? & When?

How?
· The How? Element depicts the authors style.
o Use of narrative vs. dialogue.
o Word choice – colloquial (Twain), formal (Austen), informal syntax (Faulkner) , terse (Hemingway)
o Narrative voice – 1st person, 3rd person, 3rd person limited omniscience

When you learn what is going on in your life, you become familiar with the direction, the pace, and the action of your life story. Discovering your why illuminates messages that are broadcasted throughout your existence as well as the mood of your life. The who can reveal which friends are mere acquaintances and which people have a profound impact on your well-being and ability to overcome obstacles. Your setting, the where and when, give you scope on the placement in time and space of unfolding events. Finally, understanding the how element reveals your method, your demeanor, your tricks, and your stylistic, individualized uniqueness in overcoming challenges, and leading your experience.

News Today -- Omnipresent Opposition

There’s still an opposition ruckus in Zimbabwe, Kiwis can keep their cool even in shaky territory or fast floods, ancient religions still face opposition, and psychotic authors fictionally write about and act out murder.

Zimbabwe government and Robert Mugabe has gotten so intense that they are fracturing the skulls of leading Opposition members, preventing them from leaving the country, near Harare airport. Some radicals, expressing the dire nature of the situation, agree that Britain has more grounds to invade Zimbabwe than it did Iraq. These climactic protests could foreshadow a resolving period marking the end of Mugabe’s dictatorship.

Seismic technology reaches new heights, as New Zealand volcanic river eruption is predicted and local citizens from nearby towns were evacuated to safety.

Despite their ancient pre-Christianity roots, Savior Mandayans are persecuted by Islamic extremists, fearing their religion may become extinct. Islamic extremists throw acid in the eyes of these refugees and make them jump over bonfires.

After, a saga of being given asylum of France , Italian Crime writer, Cesare Battishi, who, apparently to entrenched in his own novels was wanted for four murders, is captured in brazil with the combined efforts of French, Italian, and Brazilian police officers.

Live not Rationalize

The verb "live" was linguistically derived from the noun "life" for an excellent reason. Don't misconstrue rationalizing with living. If you rationalize your life instead of live your life, you'll create struggle.

Don't rationalize your life. Be mindful and considerate, but don't rationalize your life.

Live your life.

(With that note, I've got some dreams to check-off in Hawaii!)

Do I listen to other people?

A lot of people have asked if I receive directions well? If I listen well and can easily apply things that others suggests.

Let me explain this.

I listen VERY well if the message is profound. If the messenger has deep conviction. If the requester or the messenger has fully considered what the situation is like from my shoes. If the person is delivering the message from a completely selfless stance, then I listen and react and act almost instantaneously.

Unfortunately, when people speak from a conceited, inflated ego and act like they can swoop down and dash on a cure-all for me, I don't listen. Also, most people are selfish and request things that benefit only them, so I don't listen to those either. Finally, most people aren't fully uncertain about their requests, so I don't listen in that sense either.

Ask yourself. Do you possess 100% certainty? Are you selflessly examining the situation from his/her shoes? Does your message possess profound poignancy? If all those are true (certainty, poignancy, selflessness) it's guaranteed that person will respond almost instantaneously. Let's put it this way. I hope to be responding even more, very quickly.

Down-Low on Your Voice

Do not. I repeat, Do not force your voice. If you force your voice, you won't be genuine and your sense of certainty will be fleeting. I'll say it again. Don't force your voice. Just don't force your voice.

It's funny. Most people think you only speak with your true voice when you are talking about profound philoosphical concepts. In actuality, you discover your inner voice through chitchat. It's the idle chitchat that leads to your voice. You have to -- log by log -- unpack and unblock your inner voice starting with, first, the chitchat. If you want to say "man, it's cold today" or "gee, this elevator's crowded". Say it. You must say it. Saying that "meaningless prattle", those "senseless brain-dead comments" unblocks your inner voice. Don't expect this to be immediate. Don't expect yourself to say "Hey is that a new shirt?" and to then suddenly start spouting direct quotes from Plato's The Republic. The unblocking process of your voice takes time. But consider this: If you can't even motivate yourself to have a weather conversation with a person, how could you have a profound spiritual dialogue with a person? Start with the chitchat and your voice will arrive in its own time.

Again, don't force your voice. Start with the chitchat and your voice will naturally flow.


Fulfilling your dreams is about proportions. I'll say it again. Fulfilling your dreams is about proportions. Making your dreams come true is about being in proportion with servitude. The quality and quantity of your dreams must match the magnitude and amount assistance you provide to people. Your amount of personal motivation is limited to your amount of encouragement towards others.

The quality of your dreams is interdependent upon your quality of service for others. Experiencing your actual authentic true dreams -- not false dreams implanted onto you by advertising -- is inextricably interlinked with serving others. If you never serve others, you'll never experience your dreams. Similarly, if you never experience your dreams, you can never serve others.

Fulfilling your dreams is a two-way system. For every spoon of dream fulfillment you feed to yourself, you must serve to other people, and vice versa. When you give something to someone else, your reach, your magnitude of giving is limited to the amount of desires you've personally fulfilled. Similarly, if you try to

Balance your desires with the demands of others. If you have too many desires and not enough time being put into demands of others, you'll never experience your voice. Any time you tip the scales and have too much of external demands or internal desires you extinguish your voice. If you balance your agenda so that you have an equal amount of personal desires and demands for others, you unlock your Spirit's voice.

When people place external demands on you, balance those deadlines with your personal dreams and desires. If your personal dreams are ever improportionate with other peoples' demands on you, you extinguish your voice. Balance your internal desires with the demands of others. If you want to increase your amount of desires to five dreams on the wish-list, you must increase the amount of external tasks people ask you to do to five as well.

Cherish the "home" of a Belonging

Quick reminder on age old advice: when you take something out, put it back where it belongs!Laziness creates clutter. I constantly witness people collecting things for a project and then leaving the "shrapnel leftovers" of that project lying in a little smoldering rubble after their task they believe their task to be "complete". Example: you go to organize your basement and need tape from your desk, labels from you bag, a special pen from your kitchen, and boxes from under your bed. Four different places that were drawn from -- four different storage spots. Typically people cop out before the job is complete, and if they have some labels left over, extra tape, and a few boxes, they'll create a temporary "second" location for those belongings! NO! That's death; that creates clutter and like attracts like so your little obstacle pile will grow.

So my advice is simple. It is this: your task is only complete when you've putten the remains back where they belong. Then you don't even have to worry about remembering where you last left them because everything will always be in its place. Sure, this is an ancient adage, and you may feel a twinge of laziness before you "finished the project" but do yourself, your clarity, your strong sense of connection a favor and put things back where you got them out. You'll feel more alert, centered, and energized as a result of the organization and be able to emotionally and physically move more freely!