From an idea, to a plan, to a movement to an experience........
From an idea, to a plan, to a movement to an experience........
Welcome to Carola and Robert’s Relax and Live, Magical Mystery Tour Blog! We hope you will tune in to keep up with our adventures and also chime in with comments once in awhile so we can stay in touch.
Our journey has led us from our 5 bedroom home in Rohnert Park (Sonoma County, Calif.) to a 2 bedroom condo nearby in Cotati at the FrogSong community, to a smaller, temporary condo in Honolulu, Hawaii, and is headed to our next adventures in The Philippines, India, Thailand and wherever…………..
Making lemonade out of lemons
The first phase of the journey, moving from our 5 bedroom home, was precipitated by the collapse of the real estate and construction industries, which literally threw us for a loop.
Our new extended journey started with a simple, but evocative idea in Carola’s mind. “We could live comfortably on our current income and enjoy life more in another place.”
Listening to tales from friends who have been spending extended stays in other, less expensive places, with less stress and more fun, has inspired her (and by extension, us) to do the same.
And that idea has grown and become a focus and has become manifested. That is “the law of attraction” in action. My understanding about that has grown. To produce results, you need more than a day dream, you need focus, passion and action in the direction you want to go. Carola has demonstrated how this works. She got the idea, did some research to verify that the general idea might work and launched into action. I am trying to keep up!
Something else I’ve learned in the last little while. You don’t need to plan too much, just enough to get going. Since circumstances are always changing and you are always learning, you will be revising as you go anyway.
In software development, that is called “agile development.” Instead of making a huge application, launching it, and then trying to convince consumers to use it, you get a better application if you launch a small part of it, get feedback from users, then develop more of what is pleasing to them.
Similarly, doing volunteer work, a wise Indian explained different approaches to doing construction projects like this; there is a western way and an Indian way (as in East Indian). The westerners plan and plan and organize and then go to work and work to the plan. The Indians get an idea, maybe make a sketch, go to work, then redo what they did until they like the result. In the end, both take about the same amount of time.
On this journey, we are doing a bit of both, planning some, then launching into action and being agile, revising as we go.
Next: We downsized and moved to the 2 bedroom condo at FrogSong in Cotati.
Tuesday, November 1, 2011