Interlude ❦ Share the Gift of Patience

Interlude  ❦ Share the Gift of Patience

One Hundred Days of Giving is Back!

During the last four months I have been in the country for less than 30 days, visiting Ghana, Cambodia, Thailand, Nicaragua and making stops in Holland and Japan - some of those countries I visited more than once in the last 4 months. I am still waking up wondering what country that I am waking up in! While all of the trips had a fun aspect to them, in each country I worked; as a trainer and facilitator, as a blogger gaining new recipes and travel ideas for my food and travel blog, or working to develop a model for delivering humanitarian service more efficiently...but in everything I did, I learned.

I traveled as a student of life absorbing all I could and sharing myself when appropriate. I have enough material to sit and simply write for years to come and I hope to carve time to make sure that all of the things I learned and experienced get captured and shared in a manner that honors the experiences and the people who so graciously shared with me. Patience was the gift I was offered the most by others, patience when I didn't have the words to describe my feelings or questions in a language that was not native to me, patience when I asked a million questions when learning about a new cooking technique, patience when asking directions for the fourth time and still not understanding, patience as my fears tried to overtake me, patience as I grew weary from travel, heat, lack of sleep, more heat, patience as I got frustrated for the myriad of reasons I got frustrated, patience as I struggled to express myself and just couldn't  patience as I laughed at inappropriate times, patience as I teared up and was overcome with emotion, patience when my hearing problem kicked in, patience when my joy overflowed...patience, patience, patience.

In part I am sharing this because the giving lesson is obviously, patience. But I am also sharing this with all of my readers to explain my absence. When I travel, I go all in and find it difficult to “split my brain” wanting to remain in the present at all times. Not only is it a safety thing, but it is a way that I can be sure that I absorb every experience. My brain records everything when I am fully present. Thinking about things on my desk has not been a useful strategy for me while traveling. So I made the decision to not write while I was on the road. Actually I didn't give up writing altogether, I wrote various travel journals on individual blogs if I had access to electricity or internet, or in some cases computers - but I worked to keep the posts in the moment - sharing experiences of the day.

There is also quite a bit of discussion in the blogging world about “auto-posting” which can incorporate two different aspects of blogging - one definition of auto-blogging is when the author has someone else in their office or company write, or respond to comments or questions on their behalf - for me, if my readers think they are hearing from me - I need to be the one who writes the post - and I do, unless I specifically indicate that there is a guest writer. I do not have an opinion about how others do it, I am just assuring my readers that if I put my name by an article, I am the author. The second method of “auto-blogging” is using the scheduling feature of the writing software. Now, I have often used that method of getting my articles out when I know my schedule is not going to allow me to write in real time, but the comments and questions that arise from the articles are responded to by me. Knowing that I was going to be unable to respond to comments or questions while I was on the road in a consistent manner was enough to encourage me to “hold the presses” so to speak. Now I am back at my desk, writing, writing, writing and I do appreciate all of your patience.

❦ Patience is a gift we can all give...and receive!