SIDE EFFECT: Vivid Dreams...

So, with a travel destination of Kenya, and many other places throughout the world, we need to get a full dose of travel vaccinations. These are always fun :) and probably one of the first exciting things that happens on a Voluntourism trip. You see, as I promote these trips that is often a question that pops up early...DO WE NEED SHOTS?

YES, you need shots! Some are tough, some don't care, and than there are those that totally rethink the trip because they hate needles so much. I love reading the facial expressions of people.

So along with the Typhoid, Hep A & B, and the infamous yellow fever...we also need to get a few perscriptions as well. Cipro, for the ultimate stoppage of the ravishing travelers diarhea (DO NOT TAKE UNLESS YOU ARE SURE AN IMMODIUM WILL NOT DO THE TRICK LOL)...and our choice of preventive Malaria medications.

So, whether it be Malarone, Doxy..., or Mefloquin. Often these preventative treatments do the trick. But, the conversation among travelers, family members, and travel physicians are often interesting...

As you may or may not know, one of the "side effects" of Mefloquin is "VIVID DREAMS". Or so many of us have been told by our travel medicine specialists. For some people that is an instant turn off...and for others an instant SELL!

So today, I would like to take a second and talk about the VIVID DREAMS that go along with Voluntourism and life.

On the first night of taking our Mefloquin just this past Wednesday my wife (this is her first time on Mef previously she took Mal because she was afraid of the dreams...but that flipped her stomach and those of you familiar with squatters toilets know how inconvenient a flipped stomach can be! Shh, don't tell Jodie I wrote that...she doesn't read this :) anyways...she had some pretty wacked out dreams and tossed and turned all night. In the past I too have had very VIVID DREAMS on Mef and kinda enjoyed it...

So, I was talking to another traveler that is going and is taking her Mef a day after us (Thursday). She asked if there were any weird dreams...and of course I told her...Jodie had a bunch of very VIVID and crazy DREAMS! So, while I havn't heard yet, my guess is all day she was thinking about the potential for her dreams last night...we shall see.

The point is, I think people when they choose Voluntourism, they too have VIVID DREAMS. Dreams of traveling the world, meeting new people, having new experiences, and returning to a life with a different perspective on things. For most, these dreams don't last; the "camp" experience tends to end a few weeks after you return home. While many would say, "that is too bad that view and experience ends"; I would challenge that it is worth the time and the money to have the experience even if the "high" ends after you return...especially when compared to not taking the experience at all!

Don't be afraid of VIVID DREAMS! Run to them, embrace them, and allow those experiences to positively impact the rest of your life.

Phill

What is Happiness? Part 3 of 3

???

We have already been through what (in my opinion) happiness is not. Events, Circumstances, Stuff, Objects, Things, Job, Occupation, Work, Family, People, Faith, Religon, Volunteer Work...

So what is it and how does a person have it in their life?

Happiness can be found in anything. Happiness is a choice. Happiness can be a feeling, but one can be happy without "feeling" happy.

People choose to be happy and have the ability to be happy at any POINT (event, circumstance) in their life; while they are around ANYBODY (people, family, job, occupation, volunteer work, etc); they can be happy with any THING (stuff, objects, money) or the lack of anything (stuff, objects, money). Happiness is a state of mind, often impacted by many different things (media, culture, friends, family, circumstances, events, etc). But the point is, we as people ALWAYS have a choice to be happy or not to be happy.

"But the point is, we as people ALWAYS have a choice to be
happy or not to be happy."

For some people this is easier than others. I believe it is a skill that some have been developing their entire lives to choose to be happy no matter the circumstances, events, things, work, or positive impact. I am not implying that a person is or should be happy at all times, we are human, and I believe that to be highly unlikely. My point is we ALWAYS have a choice.

Again, to go back to Viktor Frankl:

"Everything can be taken from a man or a woman but
one thing: the last of human freedoms to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way." (Emphasis Added)

Remember this is a man who lived through the concentration camps, lost his pregnant wife and parents, and saw what we can only imagine through textbooks, movies, and museums... If he believes that we can CHOOSE in ANY given set of circumstances...than my question to myself and to you is what are you choosing for your attitude? If Frankl and plenty of others can survive the Holocaust, than why is it that we struggle so much at times to make it through our lives?

To put this into the Voluntourism lens, I believe that throughout the world right now extreme poverty is a major issue. People are dying and suffering and trying to make life better for themselves and for their familes, for their communities and their futures...and when a person chooses to be a Voluntourist in one of these areas they see it with their own eyes, smell it, feel it, get to know it...in fact, I would guess that in fact at some point during a trip like the one we are about to go on, the traveler will feel it so much they just may be overwhelmed.

This is not a rollercoaster ride to feel the rush for a little bit and get off. This is not a museum to look and admire and than go back to life. In fact, this is a life changing experience. I think the quote that best fits here is by Oliver Wendell Holmes:

"Man's mind, once stretched...never regains its original
dimensions"

Are you ready to stretch? To reach and feel and not go back to the way you are?

My hope is that we will be able to choose happiness more often and take a control of our attitude in our conditions...if needed we can consider Viktor Frankl and the Holocaust and put our life into perspective. If that doesn't work, I would suggest traveling some time on a Voluntourism trip so that your paradigm will change...it is unlikey that you can feel sorry for yourself when you remember the look on the school girl's face as she attended school in one of her 2 outfits, as she walked well over an hour to get there, as she remembered her family that lives hours away. Don't feel sorry, just feel and use that as a compass to put your life into a better perspective.

Constant Thought... Part 2 of 3

After some constant thought I have decided to make yesterday's post into a 3 part series. Yesterday was the first time I have ever written those thoughts down and while I am not happy with the style that came across I believe that if you read it you get the point.

Today, I am going to add a touch of surprise.

Happiness to me is not about religion...or faith. Now as many of you know I am a Christian, a believer in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who lived a perfect life, was crucified, buried, and rose from the dead. While many people in my circle of friends have those same beliefs, I am not talking about the JOY that I believe comes from having faith in God.

The happiness I talk about can transcend different faiths. I have met happy Christians, Jews, Budhists, Muslims, Atheists, Agnostics, etc. I have also met unhappy people that would profess one of the faiths that I have just listed.

So what does make someone happy?

If it is not a higher calling, a faith in God, a belief in life after death...

If it is not earthly things or objects, money, or the ability to HAVE anything you want...

If it is not our occupation, our job, how we earn our living, what we ARE...

If it is not our good works, what we DO to help others, the changes and improvements that we DO in the world...

If it is not a circumstance or an event in our life...

Than what IS happiness? How do I find it? How can I implement it in MY life?

I promise...more to come tomorrow!

What Makes Me Happy? Part 1 of 3

What makes you happy? C'mon, I'm serious here. What is it that makes you happy?

• Family, your wife and kids, mother, brother, grandma, grandpa...a special memory.
• Is it that special object that you have always wanted? A car, house, dog
• What about status? Is it your position at work, in the church, friends on Facebook or MySpace?
• What about money? Your bank account numbers, having the ability to be a big spender, having things that others may want or envy?

I know the list can go on and on. I'm not saying that anyone here is greedy...feel free to want, it is a human trait. Dream Big, Reach for the Stars, Swing for the Fences...

But today I am talking about happiness.

I have heard over and over again the "Be, Do, Have" Philosophy...Find out what you want to BE, find a person that is doing that, learn from that person, DO what they have done and are doing, and you will HAVE what they have. While that is all fun and nice, I think the implications there is that will satisfy one's thirst for happiness. That is FALSE.

In order to be happy, lets do some informal research around the globe from right here on the internet.

• First of all, find someone who is happy that is rich? Can you find him or her? (Bill Gates?) Now take someone that is not happy and rich...(Madoff or what about the South Korean guy?)
• Now lets find someone who is happy and poor? Have you been to a really poor place on earth? I find my friends in Kenya live on a dollar or two per day and they are some of the happiest people I have met in my lifetime. I have also been to Sri Lanka, one night I met a squatter and his son walking around...probably living on less than $1/day. They were happy too.

So, alright maybe that is too simple...but I am going to figure here that you are all in agreement with me that money alone cannot make a person happy. So that is the HAVE. A person's happiness is not dependent on what a person HAS. No THING or OBJECT can make a person happy no matter what you think or feel.

Let's go to BE. What a person does...can that make a person happy?

• In the past I think it is safe to say that the moviestar and sports superhero were the ones everyone thought had the happiest life. Let's look around...are these people happy? (Lindsay Lohan, Brittany Spears, Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco, Brett Favre) there are tons more and I am sorry to pick on these if they are your favorite, but these are people that from an outside have are BEING what everyone thinks would make them happy and they are not happy.
• Now, lets look at the lowest of the low by society's standard. Will anyone agree with me here that we will take a homeless, unemployed person. I have met multiple of these in the US, Sri Lanka, and Kenya. Today I will share the story of the one I met over 10 years ago in Fort Collins, CO. All I know, is that he was homeless, he made it obvious...and through a series of proveidential events I was honored to buy him lunch. I forgot his name...I wish I could remember that because I will never forget what he said, "My mom always told me that God will only give you what you can handle. I have been homeless for 18 years, my favorite book is the Bible...but that got stolen a while ago. God must think I am pretty strong because He has given me a lot to handle." Than he looked me straight in the eyes and smiled...talked about his girlfriend, and how they were going to get married the next time they both could get a job.

Friends, what you ARE or strive to BE will not bring you happiness. Many people think of a certain position at work if they get this or are able to do that they will be happy. Friends, all that is done in vain. Nothing that you choose to BE can make you happy.

Finally, lets look at DO. For this part, I will focus on people and the good that they try and do. Maybe it is in their church, their neighborhood, with their family, or at school. Could it be a charity or a project to help others...I will not pick specific people out here.

Let's just face it and say that no matter how much GOOD a person DOES it does not guarantee them happiness. People can and have literally changed the world for the better and have gone to their graves bitter because they felt that they just did not DO enough.

Dear friends, it is not what we strive to do for good that makes us happy; it is not even the good that we accomplish that makes us happy. In fact, nothing that we can DO will ever make us happy.

Another point, no circumstance or event can make us happy either.

Wow, what a depressing post...

Have you ever heard of a man by the name of Viktor Frankl? He spent 9 days writing a book that has since sold over 12 million copies...it is called "Man's Search for Meaning". In that book he says that no event or circumstance can make a person happy...no thing can make a person happy...in fact all of that can be controlled and taken away by another person and even taken away by another person. In Frankl's mind the only thing that we can control is our RESPONSE to a given situation, our ATTITUDE. No one can take that away says Frankl.

If you do not know Frankl's background...check it out, he was a Ph.D. who spent time in Aushwitz, thats right a concentration camp. He says they took everything, they beat us, kicked us, yelled at us until there was no humanity left. The only thing that we had left was our CHOICE to RESPOND to the situation, in short our ATTITUDE.

How does this correspond to Voluntourism...we can talk about that tomorrow.

Today's Investment Promises Large Returns in the Future! *Investment Tip*

*Reading further may change your life, do so only in EXTREME CAUTION!

Many of us have heard our personal finance talk about investments and about long term yields, riding out the market in the long run, and the fabled rule of '72.

Often times I look at travel in the same way...having been on a few international volunteer trips myself I strongly feel that they are strong investments.

How many times have you heard a person return from a trip and say, "That was not worth my time!"

Take a moment and reflect on some of the positive things you hear when a friend or family member returns from a trip and even more specifically a voluntourism trip:

• "It was awesome! The people were so friendly and the sites were beautiful."
• "I just fell in love with the children, it seemed they could be so happy with so little"
• "I really feel called to help more here in the future, it is so important to me to have a direct personal relationship with the people and the area I am helping with"
• "I want to take my friends so that we can do more together"

Fortunately there is a tide that is turning from travel being mostly "after you retire" to being more and more about "traveling young and traveling often". My point here being:

If the benefits of travel and more specifically Voloutourism are so great and without a doubt will impact everyday that we have left in our lives...WHY WAIT?

I am all for people of every age traveling, but lets use a person who is 70 and a person who is 17. Now lets take the life expectancy of a US citizen at birth (link) 78.11 years. Now we all can agree that a 70 year old and a 17 year old will pull different things from a trip of this nature but for this example let's assume that the experiences they both pull have the same "worth". The trip will impact the 70 year old approximately 8.11 years...pretty good for a couple of weeks of a trip impacting the rest of your life right? Well worth it I would say. But now lets look at the 17 year old 61.11 years of life expectancy left for the trip to make an impact!

As an investment in life, a Voluntourism trip promises to be a great investment. WHY WAIT?!

"The most important investment you can make is in yourself." -Warren Buffet

Tomorrow's blog...What do I need to be happy?

18 days and counting!

18 days until the adventure starts...or has it already started? You see about 13 months ago a decision was made to return to Kenya in the summer of 09. Much has happened in the last 13 months as we have planned and changed plans, invited people to the group and watched people quietly leave the group, dreamed of our time together and now with only 18 days to go it is about to begin.

As for me it will be a wonderfully sweet opportunity to return to a place that has meant so much to me over the past 3+ years. Adventure, friendships, hope...meaning, understanding...and the list goes on. (Have you read Man's Search for Meaning?)

This trip I will take with me 21 people who have never stepped foot on the mysterious continent of Africa, soon after another 15 or so will come and we will welcome them.

What is in the future of this trip? Is it about safari's and animals? schools and orphanages? Is it about being with friends and loved ones? You see I don't think so...Its about so much more.

Tomorrow, I will talk about what I believe is the future of the trip...tune in!
Phill

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