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Ordinary Sherpa: Family Adventure Coaching and Design

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015 | Create intention and Connection

Feb 17, 2021

015 | Create intention and practice of meaningful experiences

In this episode we walk through tips to get intentional about creating an experience and documenting it for deeper connection.  

Goal setting workshop the activity was: "10 years from now, you just had the best year of your life.  Make a statement about your year."  Mine was: Everyday felt like vacation!

Bill Gates states we under estimate what we can accomplish in 10 years, but overestimate what we will accomplish in one year.  I got curious.  What is it about vacation that I crave and how could I have an experience like that every day?

Vacation Qualities:
-Connection and removed from daily life distractions
 - while experiencing something new and different.  
Not about the destination, we can create these experiences anywhere.  

Create the intention each day using the 3 things list. 
What 3 things do I want to focus on today and accomplice or experience? If you focus on 3 you a highly likely to achieve them, if you focus on a to-do list of 12 you will likely only accomplish 1 or 2 because the list becomes overwhelming.  

In order for the experience to become a memory it requires us to transfer from Short term to Long Term memory.  

  • Adv Education (episode 010 w/ Jessica Jens) the reflection is the most important step in the process
  • Educational theory- transfer the experience to another method actually deepens the learning
  • Creates intentionality and accountability (photo a day, Visual Accountability journaling) 
  • Life is about more than the highlight reels of you life
  • Neuro-Science: Horrible at remembering.  Formal reflection process helps you process the experience.  

Documenting helps create connections

  1. 1. Allows you to connect to you, who you are and who you are becoming.  All of it-the good, bad and ugly.  Honor all of it.  This is your life.
  2. Connects with people in the stories.  We need to tell and capture the stories because they may not be able to.  When they hear it or see it will feel a sense of belonging.  They mattered enough to be in your stories.  
  3. People we may never meet might need to hear our stories.  Our stories might offer hope, comfort, and perspective.  That offering allows them to feel.  I have a few listeners, whom I’ve never met share these words with me.  I feel like you are telling my story.  

Methods:

Capture 

  • Photos: Power of visualizations (BI work and One second every day Ted talk) NOTE: Make sure as the photographer you get out from behind the lens to be included in the photographic proof of the experience.  
  • Journal/blog.  Upcoming episode with Author Johanna Garton who literally turned her family adventure story into a book.  

Create

Curate/Collect:  What is “the thing” from this unique experience that you want to remember.  I know some collect rocks, ticket stubs, postcards, stickers, magnets, coffee mugs or maybe something unique for each experience as appropriate.  

  • When we are downhill skiing we collect stickers for our car top carrier, often the kids will put them on their ski helmets as well. 
  •  My daughter has a travel goal to hit all of the national Parks so we have a Postcard for each one and she writes the date she visited and one sentence about the experience.  
  • My mom was a long time coffee mug collector.  I took her to Texas  for her birthday in 2019.  We both bought coffee mugs at the Magnolia Silos in Waco and I can’t tell you how many times during covid we texted each other a picture of our coffee mugs as a reflection of that memory.  In a time that we weren’t physically together we could share a cup of coffee and remember that shared connection.  
  •  Artistic reflection (drawing, home decor, scrapbook) Creating and doing is one of the greatest sources of learning. It defines your individualized experience 

Sources for deeper reflection:
Why Mundane moments truly Matter (NY Times article).  “How we spend our days, is how we spend our life.” Why Mundane Moments Truly Matter - The New York Times (nytimes.com)

As mentioned earlier in the show, I have several upcoming episodes with adventure author Johanna Garton.  She is the Author of Awakening East and Edge of the Map.  The first episode will dive into her adventure story which is Awakening East where she unfolds the story of international travel, adoption and living abroad with her family.  Part 2 will dive into Edge of the Map which Johanna authors the adventure story of Christine Boskoff, a world class alpine climber.  Awakening East is an older book so it may be hard to find in independent bookstores.  I am including the link to it on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2N9Mn3o  However, if you purchase Edge of the Map from her website www.johannagarton.com  and use the coupon code SHERPA for 25% off.  They are both great reads for on the beach or by the fire, wherever you might be right now and I can’t wait to dive into them with Johanna in upcoming episodes.  

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