I’m on vacation this week on the island of Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Southern Massachusetts. There’s so much inspiration here that I could write about yoga, farmer’s markets, biking, the ocean. But having a little down time has given me a breather so that I can let my mind wander. These days my mind wants to ponder happiness. CONTINUE READING

Image: Master isolated images / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

His quote, “Life is what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans,” is so true. Even though life does happen when you’re making plans, I still plan.

My best life decisions resulted from having plans and accompanying visions. I would venture to say that I’ve surprised quite a few people with what I’ve accomplished in my life through planning, determination, tenacity, and hard work.

I’m not bragging. I’m just telling you how I accomplished some of my dreams. As a matter of fact, I never want anyone to think that I think I’m great, because I am just like everyone else, struggling to make my way in a confusing and complicated world.

Even though I’m working extra hard right now being in editorial on two books, I’m reminded of my own need to balance my life so that I don’t crash and burn. One way to feel balanced is to make some plans.

My next life project is to write out where I want to be in five and ten years. Along with those goals I will list all the places I want to visit, the people I want to spend more time with—and people I want to meet—the activities I want to participate in like a few mountains I would like to climb, some yoga and meditation retreats, the things I want to learn more about like health and wellness, to be a better cook, to learn the piano, to finally learn another language (I did speak OK German when I lived in Switzerland but I’ve forgotten it all).

Aside from all of these pleasurable pursuits, I think that the most pleasure comes from helping others. I keep my goals of sharing to a few so that I’m not spread out too thin, and so I can better focus on making a difference.

The three goals I have to help others:

1. I would like to continue to establish my voice in the real food movement so that I can help people lead better lives by eating real food. That may sound crazy, like, “What does real food have to do with living better lives?” Well, actually everything! If you eat real food you will live a much happier life.

2. I would like to make a difference in how Americans are dying so that more people eat real food and are consequently healthy enough to stay at home to attend to business as usual until the very end and then die at home surrounded by loved ones in a celebratory experience. I believe that this is the way we are meant to leave this world, rather than tethered to machines in impersonal hospitals.

3. Help sex slaves. Living through the experience with my character Meredith Fitzgerald when I wrote my novel Karma, changed me forever. I can never forget the women and children who are enslaved. Just the other day, when cleaning out my closet (you know the end of summer beginning of winter thing), I thought, okay, I did this while people are being systematically raped. We live our lives, enjoy our joys, struggle with our woes (bills, cars being towed, getting sick) but nothing compares to what’s happening to these innocent people. I’m in awe of those who are actually in the trenches doing something to end slavery, and to help sex slaves be embraced and loved and cherished so that they can establish quality lives for themselves. I hope I can help at least educate and open eyes through Karma.

These are part of my life goals and visions. What are yours?

Om Shanti,
Your girlfriend in health,

Karma

The youngest attendee was the nine-year old author, Emma, who is pictured here as I shook her hand.  Tomorrow night is another event at the Morson Collection in Boston. You can listen to the two radio interviews I gave last night and this morning here.

Last summer when my friend Natalie asked me if I would be interested in attending a Wilderness First Responder course we were on the beach in Martha’s Vineyard and the air was warm and balmy and it was all just academic.

Three months later I found myself in Jackson Hole, Wyoming layered up in piles of wool and down, suffering from altitude insomnia while practicing rescues in zero- to- minus 18º weather. Then it became real.

Over the course of ten days there were many incredibly fun, frigid, stressful, anxious, exhausting, fascinating, educational, funny, and zany moments—in the classroom and out. Like fact that our class was split into three teams: Ho Ho’s, Zingers, and Ding Dongs. The irony . . . . Like the night we pulled one of our fellow students out of a frozen creek while practicing a mock helicopter crash rescue. And the night we hiked an hour in the snow to the top of a peak to practice a rescue, and I said, “There is not a place in the world I would rather be right now.” I meant it.

Later that night I followed through with my “secret” instructions to be the “surprise” patient and had a pretend grand mal seizure in the snow (which I was told was an Academy Award winning performance). With my team hovering over me it seemed real to me—I guess that’s what method acting is like. They went through the steps of the APVU scale, which is a system first responders measure and record a patient’s level of consciousness. After 45 minutes I was A&O x 4. (Alert and Oriented to who I was, where I was, what time it was, and what happened.) It was fascinating to me to listen to them go through the process.

And the night before our practical exam when I suggested we use a stuffed snowman I found in the cabin closet to practice on. (We abandoned that idea after peeing in our pants laughing.)

The medical material, which could have been dry and boring was brought to life by two animated, highly experienced, hysterically funny instructors, Shari Leach and Ryland Gardener who were superb at both distilling the information and interjecting humor.

Even though the course was unrelenting, there was never a dull moment. There were homemade sticky buns, a lot of splinting, bandaging, taking blood pressures, fake blood and bruises, learning how to “log roll” a patient, and studying. (You haven’t lived until you’ve had someone much bigger and stronger practice CPR on you, accidentally using real chest compressions.)

It was all good. I loved learning what I learned and was inspired to continue studying to learn even more.

Some of the things the course covered were the Patient Assessment System, CPR, vital signs, shock, chest, lung, head, musculoskeletal injuries, Focused Spine Assessment, dislocations, burns, hypothermia, heat and attitude sicknesses, cardiac, asthma, neurological, poisoning, diabetes, and much more all in the context of wilderness medicine.

There were fascinating people taking the course with me, like my friend Natalie Orfalea, whose Orfalea Family Foundation supports a number of initiatives to help children and underprivileged families. Natalie’s Montana ranch is one place where her kids go for summer experiences and Natalie wanted to have wilderness first responder training for that and other of her many philanthropic endeavors. Among the other students was a former neonatal nurse, several students who had Ph.D.’s, including a patent attorney, the manager of a dude ranch, an avalanche instructor, a four-month pregnant anthropology doctoral student, high school and college students, the owner of an organic restaurant, a former international fish distributor (who attended the course on crutches after a rock climbing accident), ski bums, several people who are instructors and wilderness guides for adults and children, and a mountain girl who butchers and eats road-kill, then skins and tans the hides. Everyone had different reasons and goals for taking the course.
Exam day was yesterday and we were all elated to have passed the practical and written exam.  And Natalie and I were ecstatic to go out and celebrate.

I’m in Los Angeles now to resume preparation for the launch of Karma. I hope that someday I can put what I’ve learned in the first responder course to good use. Whatever comes of my training it was one piece of my life mission completed . . . a zillion other pieces to go.

I’m not wild about being cold (it’s 8 below this morning), the days are really long, and the material is pretty dense. Everyone is tired at the end of the day. But it’s really cool to be here, to be meeting a lot of people dedicated to the outdoors who are living their passions and following their dreams.

One of the instructors Ryland Gardener begins every morning with a quotation. This morning it was from a Buddhist text:

The master in the art of living makes little distinction his work and his play, his labor and his leisure, his mind and his body, his education and his recreation, his love and his religion. He hardly knows which is which. He simply pursues his vision of excellence in whatever he does, leaving others to decide whether he is working or playing. To him he is always doing both.

Think about that when you decide on your life mission.