“People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.”                           ~Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth

Whale whispering is one of my favorite experiences in life. Each winter we fly to Loreto, Baja, Mexico to live for a month to escape the dark, rainy days of winter in Oregon. John and I have been coming down here for five years. Four years ago, I got the idea to rent a home for a month. The idea took root when we realized that John could schedule his ER shifts midway between two months and it would allow him to take off a month. I realized I could work part-time coaching my clients from Baja and make time to do the things I love to do in my life – be outside and experience adventures in nature.

Each year, we rent a house in Loreto in The Villages of Loreto Bay for a month because we have close friends who live here.  The little Mexican town of Loreto is about 15 minutes away and also offers a variety of hotels and places to stay.

The first two winters we stayed here a month, I was able to use Skype over the Internet to call my clients phones.  This worked reasonably well because the Internet had enough bandwidth. This year that has not been the case because there has not been enough bandwidth to make Skype calls.

After plenty of trial and error, I heard that one of two fiber optic cables was wiped out last year due to a hurricane. Midway through this trip, I realized that I could buy a $30 phone and purchase a calling plan back to the U.S. and Canada that was very affordable.

That is how I have managed to coach my clients this year. Technology is always the biggest challenge with a location independent business yet it’s worth the experience for us.

We are willing to experiment with whatever comes up because having this experience each year allows us the opportunities to whale watch, kayak, hike, take a half-day mule ride to a goat ranch in the mountains, and explore other parts of the Baja.

The government of Mexico has taken a leading role in the preservation of the gray whale by establishing the first lagoon preserves in the world as a sanctuary and refuge, according to Steven Swartz, whale researcher and author of Lagoon Time. 

If we are all seeking the experience of being alive, what adventures or experiences makes you feel most alive?

Often you can trace these same activities back to your childhood. I know that is true for me. As a young girl, I loved horses, animals, being in nature, loved camping, Girl Scout camp and earning those merit badges. I gravitated to TV shows such as Rawhide and Bonanza, (I’m dating myself here), and to art classes, and reading Nancy Drew Mystery books.

“It is impossible to define precisely what the soul is. Definition is an intellectual enterprise anyway: the soul prefers to imagine. We know intuitively that soul has to do with genuineness and depth, as when we say certain music has soul or a remarkable person is soulful. When you look closely at the image of soulfulness, you see that it is tied to life in all its particulars—good food, satisfying conversation, genuine friends, and experiences that stay in the memory and touch the heart. Soul is revealed in attachment, love, and community, as well as in retreat on behalf of inner communing and intimacy.”  Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul

What experiences are you yearning to have in your life?

What are Soulful activities you love to spend time doing?

What did you do as a child where you lost all track of time?

Where do you feel most at peace – in the forest, at the ocean, or in the desert?

What experiences call you to play and be in the present moment?

      I would love to hear from you about what your Soul loves to experience.  Do you find you still love the same activities you did as a child?

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