Now that we have moved into 2014 I thought I would share one of my resolutions which is simple in theory, but hard in practice. It’s more of a goal, really. (In my head, goal is less scary of a word than resolution).
What is it? Well, I’m applying the phrase pura vida to all aspects of my life.
Literally translated, pura vida means pure life. However, in Costa Rica, it is used to say hello, good bye, thank you or basically, that things are going well. Having just recently spent some time with a true Costa Rican family (gotta love vacation!), I would say that the meaning goes even further. To be honest, I look at pura vida as a philosophy of sorts and I’m sure my new friends to the south would agree.
Pura vida is living life to the fullest. Pura vida is having a good time surrounded by your family, your friends, eating a great meal, drinking delicious beverages, enjoying the fruits that all of us, especially here in Los Angeles, have at our fingertips. It’s surfing a great wave in the morning and having a cold beer at a surfside shack in the afternoon. It’s hitting a streak of green lights on a normally horrible street (here’s to you, Santa Monica Blvd.) It’s the sunshine in January, the smile from the grocery store clerk, the birds chirping outside your window. Pura vida is recognizing the big and little things in life that are worthy of appreciation.
My plan has been to take all of this and make pura vida the barometer by which I measure what I involve myself in – I’ve been going all in, with work (creative or otherwise), free time and choosing how I treat my body with food and exercise. As 2014 continues I want to be able to grin and (metaphorically) say pura vida after every choice I make, feeling with confidence that I’ve given my all. I want to hang out with the people who make me feel good about myself as well as my aspirations for my future. I want to spend time working on things that make me happy and move my dreams forward. I want to eat food that is delicious but doesn’t weigh me down. I want to enjoy life as I work hard and I want to reward myself for working hard.
While I can’t wake up every day in paradise on vacation, I can take the life I already live and make it more of a paradise. A simple change in perspective, a slight change in philosophy, makes a huge difference. Sometimes it takes going on vacation to figure out a better way of looking at the world around us.
Pura vida!