TED Talk on Happiness
Today one of the fabulous TED talks this one is by Biochemist turned Buddhist Monk, Matthieu Ricard, a really wonderful talk, enjoy
http://www.ted.com/talks/matthieu_ricard_on_the_habits_of_happiness.html
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My desert at Casa Oaxaca guava tart with rose petal infused vanilla ice cream
One of the absolute joys of Oaxaca is the food and it’s amazing on a lot of fronts. There is of course the excitement of the strange, they use insects here, as in many parts of the world as food. So it’s not at all unusual to see grasshoppers, ants or agave worms as ingredients. I had a really nice ground fish and ant pate as an appetizer one night.
There is the beauty of specialty in Oaxaca. Oaxaca is known for it’s chocolate, it’s cheese, it’s vast array of Mezcals and moles. In fact it seems to be the mole capital of Mexico. I’ve heard so many numbers thrown around about the number of different moles that exist here that I have no idea what number is correct. However, what I can say with confidence is that it is easily dozens as I’ve seen that many different types of moles here on menus and in the grocery stores. They also make a lot of use of flowers in the food including the most common, flores de calabazas which are squash blossoms. We’ve all been to a fancy restaurant and had an edible decorative flower on a plate. So we’ve all eaten a few flowers with our meals, since being in Oaxaca I’ve far exceeded the amount of flowers I had eaten in my previous 54 years.
There are all of the standard types of food you would expect in a Mexican City, there are tacos, tostadas, tamales, taquitos, empanadas, enchiladas, lots of salsas, shrimp cocktails and lots of different seafood available. There are also Oaxacan takes on some of the standards, Tlayudas are particular to Oaxaca, HUGE tortillas that are filled with beans, meat vegetables, the local quesillo cheese and cooked over the grill. Tlayudas are somewhere between an enchilada, a tostada and a burrito.
There are also massive amounts of amazing deserts, from a very standard churro dipped in melted chocolate, to specialty ice creams and all manner of fruit based tarts. The thing is that in southern Mexico there is a dizzying array of fruits available, some fruits I’ve never even heard of before. So this allows chefs to create all manner of interesting ice creams, tarts, crumbles etc…
Since I’ve been in Oaxaca I’ve eaten very well and put on a few pounds to prove it even though I walk 3-5 miles every day. I’m not complaining. The other aspect of food in Oaxaca is how inexpensive it is. If you ate out every day it wouldn’t be super expensive, probably the best meat I’ve had at a restaurant in town was at Casa Oaxaca. My entree, suckling pig in an almond mole sauce, a drink, all the normal fancy meat accompaniments, desert and a twenty percent tip was US$30. The thing is, this was a five-star meal, this meal was on par with meals I’ve eating in NY, Los Angeles, Vegas and San Francisco, the only difference being that the same meal, at the same quality in those cities would have easily cost me US$150 – $200. Since I’m renting an apartment here I’m able to prepare most of my own meals which I really enjoy. This also means trips to the markets which are fabulous. Massive amounts of seasonal fruits and vegetables that are insanely expensive. I typically buy a standard full-sized grocery bag full of tomatoes, cilantro, cucumber, green onions, chilies, peppers, potatoes, avocados, bananas, limes and apples for about US$5. The avocados would cost that alone in the US.
Sweet tamales in Oaxaca are traditionally wrapped in banana leaves, not corn husks
I expected the food to be good here and fairly inexpensive, but honestly it’s far better and far cheaper than I imagined, it’s made for many happy days here in Oaxaca. ~ Rev Kane
Polar Bear Selfie in the Arctic
We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open. ~ Jawaharlal Nehru
There has been a lot of talk of whether or not money can buy happiness. The cliche of course is that it cannot. However there is some research that begs to differ. This research all points to the same thing, that buying things will not make you happy. However, buying experiences can make you happy. It’s the combination of the enjoyment of the initial experience, the memories and the opportunity to relive the trip through stories and pictures that you share with others.
I am a very big supporter of this idea. Over the past year I have put this idea to the test with a vengeance. I’ve hiked a thousand miles on the Appalachian Trail, photographed polar bears in the Arctic and swam with Whale Sharks at the Georgia Aquarium.
I can absolutely say the expensive things I’ve bought in my life have never touched the experiences I’ve bought. My 22 days in the Himalayas, trekking to base camp on Mount Everest, was six years ago and it still brings me much pleasure and was one of the things that inspired the creation of the Ministry of Happiness.
So my friends, get out there, you don’t have to travel half way around the world to find adventure but you do have do get off of the couch and out the front door. Do a local hike, or a river float, go snow shoeing or cross country skiing. Heck even a walk on a frozen lake can provide enough adrenaline and adventure to stick in your head for some time. So go have an adventure and a happy day my friends ~ Rev Kane
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Challenging the meaning of life is the truest expression of the state of being human ~ Viktor E Frankl
So today I encountered a really interesting article on happiness and meaning in life. The article focused on a study related to suicide, what researchers found out was that it wasn’t unhappiness that caused society, but lack of meaning in life. I thought this was quite interesting.
The study also did an experiment by taking two groups of people. Asking one group to do meaningful things, help others, be kind etc… And the other group they asked to do things that made them happy. The participants were in their twenties and did things like party, play video games and eat ice cream. Both groups saw gains in meaningfulness and happiness respectively, but the meaningful group had longer lasting benefits. This was the one part of the article I had a problem with. As someone who studies and regular writes on happiness the researchers made a mistake. We know that the types of activities that bring on long-term happiness are experiential. Taking a trip, participating in a project, being out in nature. The activities in the experiment were things that provided temporary endorphin rushes, so I think they aren’t giving enough weight to the benefits of being happier.
None the less, I thought it was impressive that a week of doing even small meaningful things could have such a positive impact on living a more meaningful life. Those things are worth doing and the article is worth reading and is linked below.
Here’s how to find meaning in life:
I hope you enjoyed the piece and have a happy day my friends. ~ Rev Kane
Happiness and the Benefits of Gratitude
I have wandered all of my life and also traveled; the difference between the two being this, that we wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment. ~ Hilaire Belloc
One of the best things about traveling is meeting new people. My 2018 adventure has been no exception and I’ve been fortunate to meet some awesome people. On the West Highland Way I met a pair of hikers who were friends in London. However, one was from Poland and the other from Lithuania if I’m remembering correctly. We were on a similar schedule on the trail so I got to talk to them a number of different times. I also met a father and daughter from Colorado and a really cool Australian couple who had done a lot of the same hikes I had, including being on the Appalachian Trail the year after I was.
On the Great Glen Way I met a really nice named Sal. He was a relatively new hiker and after spending the day before yo-yoing each other on the trail. We caught up with each other and finished the day out hiking together. I also met a really cool young woman who was studying environmental science at the end of another day and finished the hike with her into town.
In Spain I met a really cool English couple, one who had been a guide for some time on the Camino de Santiago. I spent a really wonderful day hiking with them from time to time and then enjoying drinks and food as we sat outside at a great little restaurant in a small town in northern Spain.
In Morocco, I got to know the host of our Riad, he was from England and had been in Morocco for about fifteen years and had some really amazing insights into what was happening in Marakech. I also met a really nice American couple staying at the same Riad.
Here in Mexico I have a really great situation by studying at a Spanish language school. I get to meet a lot of locals but also a ton of travelers who are doing exactly what I am. I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some really cool women from Japan. Fellow travelers from the US and Canada as well as travelers from Scotland and England.
When you meet fellow travelers there’s an instant connection regardless of age or background. Just in my time at the language school I’ve had connections with people from eighteen to seventy from utterly diverse backgrounds, occupations and view points. Yet we all share the same hunger for learning things and that’s a heck of place to start. Hope you can experience this as well my friends, have a happy day. ~ Rev Kane
A slower pace of life can make you happy
Es dificil, mas no imposible. ~ Isis, my Spanish teacher
I’ve written her on the site before about how setting and achieving goals can make you happier. I’m not one of these type A madmen who feels you have to set and achieve it at all costs, hell I’m a well-known quitter. Why do something that’s killing your spirit, but I diverge. I think it’s important to have a direction. In my life, almost every time I’ve set a goal that goal has morphed into something else but that something else was very often in the direction of the original goal. So this is where tonight’s quote comes in, and for those of you with no Spanish background or access to Google Translate, let me, it is difficult, but not impossible. She says this a lot, and it’s accurate of learning to speak Spanish as it is with so many other things, we just need the drive, the patience and the time.
The reason all of this goal nonsense is on my mind tonight is because today on the Ministry of Happiness we hit the goal we set for annual page views. Given that it would be a partial travel year I figured we could make and average of fifty page views a day, or 18,000 page views for the year. We hit that mark today, forty-seven days before the end of the year. Yes, my friends, forty-seven days until 2019. My hope is, given that December is always a strong month on the blog, that we’ll actually make 20,000 page views for the year. It’s not a big blog, but one I’m proud of and one that nearly 225 people subscribe to. Never would have I imagined that there were 225 people on Earth remotely interested in all of my wanderings and rantings, but apparently there are and I’m grateful for every single one of them. Thank you to all of you who read this blog and have made it successful.
It’s also November my friends, a month where we all try a little harder to be more grateful than we usually are the rest of the year. I’m quite grateful for my life and the people in it. I’m grateful for open borders in other countries that allow folks like me to come see what things are like in the rest of the world. Especially grateful for the perspective that provides when I return back to the United States. My deepest hope is that through this blog I can somehow convince more of you that you’ll be happier if you travel. This year my annual goals were really built around my 2018 road trip and after a change of plans due to a heart condition, I’ve realized almost everything I wanted to do, including living for a couple of months in Oaxaca from where I sit writing this piece tonight. Have a happy day friends and thank you again for year readership, comments, thoughts and support. ~ Rev Kane
As you move outside of your comfort zone, what was once the unknown and frightening becomes the new normal. ~ Robin S Sharma
So in many ways a really boring post tonight but one that I really felt like I wanted to write. Having moved to my new apartment, today life really feels like it’s settled into some sense of a new normal. So here’s what a typical day in Oaxaca has turned into, with prices because I’m still amazed how affordable this place is.
Woke, got out of bed ran a comb across my head, ok, no that’s the Beatles. Woke up and was a bit lazy, played on the net, did some reading, booked an AirBnB on the beach in Delaware.
Went to the grocery store and bought two big giant bags of groceries for $13.50. Came home had a snack, pimento stuffed green olives and a Coke. I’m being really bad on the Coke front here. Then I headed up to the open air market near my old place to buy vegetables including ingredients to make my own salsa. I just had to stop writing to go have some, it’s the hottest, tastiest salsa I’ve ever made. The funny thing in is that I expected being in Mexico would mean constantly eating really hot, spicy food. To my surprise, a lot of the cuisine here has a sweet edge to it. Not that there isn’t spicy, this white salsa at dinner last night was so hot that you could literally only use drops at a time, but super tasty, the food here is really amazing. While walking to the market, I did encounter some dragons.
While walking up to the market I came to realize today was a big day for weddings in Oaxaca and bumped into two wedding parades.
There was something really cool about this festive little parade and celebration.
Returning from the market I went through my vegetable ritual. You see it’s kind of a bad idea for a foreigner to either drink the water here or just go ahead and eat vegetables from the market. You see they have been likely in the city water or worse. So you soak your vegetables in a sink full of water with iodine in it, honestly given all of the salmonella in the US in the last few years, I think I might continue this when I return stateside.
After cleaning vegetables I made salsa then set out for my next chore of the day to have my amigo Jesus afeitado mi cabeza. My new barber Jesus is a really cool old guy. He’s one of those meticulous quaffed older gentlemen. He took some joy in me describing my beard as palludo (really hairy), he chuckled at some of my bad Spanish and at some of my jokes he actually understood. He was impressed that I’m staying in Oaxaca for a full month to study Spanish. He not only shaved my head with the clippers but did all of the little service things that old school barbers do. He clipped my ear hair, used the straight razor to do all of the trimming, popped on the aftershave, brushed and blew dry my head. All for a massive $3.50 so I gave him $5.00 and he was generally grateful and smiling as I left. It was on of the little experiences in life that made me smile and is making me smile as I write this. I also found a little surprise walking back from the barber.
I then headed over to pick up my laundry which cost me a whopping $1.85. After I got it back I realized they had not returned my laundry bag. Ok, I know that sounds silly, it’s just a cotton bag with a drawstring and when it started to take a really long time for her to return I had decided to tell her no big deal. But happily she returned with it and the reason I was so happy is that this stupid little cotton bag was given to me during my first week of college in 1982, that’s right I have a 36-year-old laundry bag.
Returning home, I made a little dinner, sat down to write this piece and am about to take a shower and watch a movie. Just another happy day in Oaxaca, hope you had a happy one to my friends. ~ Rev Kane
Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love a new country. ~ Anais Nin
So the other day I was talking with a classmate after class was over and she said something that I’d be thinking. After we’d both mentioned we hadn’t been to the zocalo in a couple of days she said, “I’m starting to feel like I live here.” It really feels like that for me, I’ve been here for three weeks, I have three weeks of language school left. I’m in my apartment and my days are fairly standard at this point. I get up, go to school and after school come home make some lunch, run some errands and go for a walk, then do some writing and watch some Netflix.
Life is pretty standard and good. Had a great dinner tonight, Tamale with Mole Negro, a margarita all with local ingredients and very traditional. Really tasty and delicious and with tip, $12, you have to love Oaxaca.
We talked for a bit today in class about security and how safe people feel in Oaxaca. In my class are all women, from 28 to 70 and everyone expressed that they felt pretty safe. I point this out because people have expressed to me more fears about me being in Oaxaca than any other place I’ve ever traveled. One of the other things I’m really impressed with about my classmates is that almost all of them are traveling alone. Three women in their late 20’s and early 30’s and most impressively two older women in their 60’s and 70’s, on the road alone and fully living their lives, I really admire all of these women and I hope you do to. More than that, I hope you’ll use them as inspiration to set out on your own if you’ve been letting that hold you back.
Oaxaca is an interesting place, walking home from dinner tonight the parks were full, people eating at the street food booths. Kids rollerblading, playing volleyball, a band playing in the middle of the park. Lot’s of families just having fun. Hell, even a train rolling down the sidewalk.
It’s a pretty town in a complex way. It’s an older city, with a history of earthquakes and poverty, there’s a real mix of new modern buildings, kept up historic old buildings and abandoned buildings with razor wire. But I like it here.
Just a truck full of dugout canoes
Have a happy day my friends from my new temporary home in Oaxaca. ~ Rev Kane
Hello friends! Today was a really great day, I hope it was for you as well. First, it was my second day of Spanish language school at the Institute of Oaxacan Culture. I’m really digging my class, I’m in the absolute beginner class but it’s a good spot for me as I prefer as a student to be a little ahead of the curve than behind. We’re doing a lot of vocabulary and basics which I already have, but it’s given me lots of time listening to a native speaker talk so that I can improve my listening comprehension skills. Not that I’m not learning things besides that, I’m picking up new vocabulary and tightening up details I have a tendency to skip over when learning on my own. Our teacher is great, very approachable and the other students in the class are super nice and they are from all over the world, the US, Canada, Japan and Scotland. I do three hours of basic class and one hour of conversation training each day. I have classes for the next four weeks so I’m hoping to make some good progress.
Today was moving day for me, as I was leaving my last place one of the other guests and I got talking and he mentioned this festival he goes to, maybe I’d heard of it, Burning Man. I smiled and let him know I’ve been on the playa eight times, we had a great conversation, he’s a great guy and let me know that there is a burner community here in Oaxaca. He also turned me on to two burners who are producing their own brand of mezcal, their names are Gem and Bolt and the link will take you to their website. Great product, cool website and I really dig the spiritual nature that they infuse in what they do. Turns out there’s a burgeoning burner community in Oaxaca and I’m happy to have gotten hooked into it.
So I moved into my new place, my last place was great but it was on the basic side. I’m now in an apartment that is all mine, in the central district of Oaxaca so a little closer to sites, the zocalo etc… It also meant tonight two things, a really hot shower and being able to cook in a kitchen I’m not sharing with anyone. The apartment is great and I checked-in with the mother of the woman who owns it, who although I said I spoke a little Spanish, waived me off, said my Spanish was great and then started talking at the speed of a coked up New Yorker. I was impressed I followed her as well as I did but I’m sure I missed something important like don’t open that closet there’s a nine foot python inside. The apartment also has a great wifi connection so I’m really happy to be here for the next month.
I celebrated my move in with a pasta dinner, a coke and my old favorite white chocolate covered Oreos for desert. Even bigger as I lament the diminishing amounts of protein in my diet, I bought a dozen eggs so I can have eggs for breakfast. I’m more excited for that than you can imagine. I’ve spent so much time in places like Spain, Portugal and Mexico, places that tend toward bread, pastries, juice and fruit for breakfast that it will be a joy to have a couple of eggs each morning for the next week and even better to get back to my standard egg beater, veggie omelets in the morning.
Well my friends, a great but long day, I hope you’re smiling and had a happy day as well. ~ Rev Kane
The original AARP group after their climb out of the NOC
Without a sense of caring there can be no sense of community. ~ Anthony J. D’Angelo
Sunday’s are always an interesting day for me because they are the day I write my Sunday post. While here in Oaxaca City, I’ve been writing a new post nearly every night. I hope to be able to keep that up for the entire time I’m here, we’ll see how that works once I start four hours of language school each day tomorrow. So far it’s been easy, a new place, new revelations and the Dia de Los Muertos festival.
Each day I take a couple of walks, I’m trying to make sure that I walk at least four miles every day. Typically later in the day I take a walk through the zocalo to see what is happening. One of the really nice things about Oaxaca is the zocalo. The space is ringed with restaurants, shops, vendor booths and food vendors. There is almost always some form of entertainment happening each night.
One of the things I really noticed tonight as I was walking around was the sense of community that I saw in the zocalo. Small groups of friends and/or family eating dinner. Groups enjoying the music or just walking and talking snacking on the corn on the cob that is so prevalent from the street vendors.
A sense of community or sense of belonging is an important factor in feeling happy. This need is initially addressed as children by our immediate and extended family. As we grow older, particularly as we complete school and begin working that default community structure is not always as strong or available. Particularly for those of us who move out of the places where we grew up. No longer having family near at hand, or being in a town where there are people you’ve known your entire life can make finding community a lot harder.
There are plenty of recommendations about how to build community. People most often develop community through their workplace, or via their children’s connections to other children through school. People participating in church or volunteer organizations build community through those structures or through group activities/hobbies. But what if these don’t work for you? For many of us, particularly those of us who are introverts, we find that at work, we’re often the youngest or only single people in the office. Without children and if you don’t have a strong religious conviction, you lose out on those opportunities as well. Finally, particularly for those who are just starting out in their career, you are putting in a lot of hours at work and for those of us further along overworking often becomes a substitute for community. It’s hard, I don’t pretend to have a solution, I know all of the right things to say, I listed a number above. And one thing that I’m not very good at is just putting yourself out there, become a joiner until you find something that works for you.
For me, given my nomadic nature, my community is virtual. Not is the sense that the people aren’t real, but that they are not physically present in my life. It is something that I would like to change, it’s a hole I feel in my life, but given my core nature, I’m not sure I can. So I was more than a bit envious tonight walking the zocalo and seeing all of these little communities. I was happy for all of these folks and their happy smiling faces, I hope that you’re smiling tonight my friends and having a happy day. ~ Rev Kane
The Ministry of Happiness 