I just returned from Guatemala where I spent 10 days. My key goal was to unplug. No TV, No Internet, No radio, No telephone, no technology. Not that Guatemala is primitive, it has all those things, but it also has a latin, relational culture. And so you don’t think I was lying on a beach all day - It wasn’t all relaxing, warm, and fruity.

This was a return trip for me. I spent two months in Guatemala during my sabbatical in 2001. Guatemala on that trip radically changed who I was in the world. I went from a man living in the future trying to control everyone and everything in my environment to a man who lives in the present. A man who sees whatever he is doing right now as the most important thing. PERIOD. Guatemala taught me to let go of expectations. Expectations are severe attachments and are crippling if not met. I discovered through Latin American culture that trying to plan and make things happen was fruitless and frustrating. When I lifted my eyes and looked around I discovered that life was happening all around me and I was the only one not enjoying it, I woke up.

Well, a similar thing happened this trip. Apparently I have slipped back into old habits as of late and keep getting anxious over not so important things. It took me nearly four days to reach my re-epiphany. I had a schedule to keep and places I wanted to go! Well, the “launcha” to Monterrico on the Pacific coast was the first awakening, where I waited with a “gang” of locals for the 90min late (according to the schedule) boat. When I asked they all laughed at me. When I did get to the other side of the river, I was hurried onto a bus, which sped off only to stop 100meters down the road and have the driver get out with his son who took the front seat cushion and proceed to take an unannounced hour siesta at 11am. This was the first of four chicken busses that day for me.

By bus three it finally dawned on me – once again, I was the only one on the bus who was unhappy and it was simply because I had an expectation, a plan. So - I let go of the plan and enjoyed the rest of the trip. A little state of mind trick.

I recall seeing several backpackers on the journey and seeing their pain and frustration at times as they suffered from the same delusions of control that I had.. From my re-epiphany forward I was a happy camper no matter what happened, including sitting on toilets without seats, schedule deletions, chickenbuses packed 8 to a row, contracting something similar to or actually contracting Cholera. So we had no water, the city turned it off - That’s ok, there is water at 2am for a shower. Que sera sera.

I am much more at peace now. I feel that I have reclaimed my epiphany that so changed my life four years ago. What epiphany do you need to re-experience? How might it impact your life? How will what you know now about life and coaching effect your perspective on that epiphany? What do you need to change today to regain clarity in your life? How balance is your life now – really? Do you need a coach?