Focus on Mexico Blog

by Kristina Morgan

Unless you’re completely out of touch and don’t watch the news or read tabloids you’ve heard of 2012. There’s even an action-packed movie by Mel Gibson that promises to scare the heck out of you if most websites about 2012 haven’t already. So is 2012 the end of the world? The beginning of a shift in spiritual consciousness that heralds the Golden Age of humanity?  Or just a bunch of conspiracy-theorist hype?

A History Channel program titled "Decoding the Past: Doomsday 2012: End of Days" says a galactic alignment or magnetic disturbances could somehow trigger a "pole shift."

"The entire mantle of the earth would shift in a matter of days, perhaps hours, changing the position of the north and south poles, causing worldwide disaster," a narrator proclaims. "Earthquakes would rock every continent; massive tsunamis would inundate coastal cities. It would be the ultimate planetary catastrophe."

Living in Chapala, Jalisco, Mexico makes the Mayan prophecies that originated here particularly fascinating to me but I wondered what the Maya really think of their prophetic date and about being at the source of all this hoopla, especially where it concerns a prophecy that may be ladled out in heaping mugs of fact-distortion and fear—or mean the end of the world. So what do the Maya have to say about these interpretations of their calendar?

 By Tere Ruiz

Very often we turn on the TV and watch the news, read the newspaper or talk to a person who brings bad news about the world or the neighborhood or the country we live in (do you happen to know somebody like that?). After listening to this news or comments about a specific situation, we start to feel fear about what we heard or were told and think of all the horrible things that might happen. Then we wait for the next newscast, or go to internet to research about it. Later we call or meet somebody and tell them what we heard and researched, and that person tells us what he or she has heard about the same topic. Suddenly we realize how worried, fearful, nervous and stressed we are feeling.

Has this ever happened to you? It is very common. Some people call this Collective Fear; everybody talks about something horrible that is happening, it is on TV, in the newspapers, on the internet, in every conversation you have, and every time you hear more and more about it, you feel even worse.

by Karen McConnaughey

I heard a wonderful story recently that I have to share with you. Alumni Jim Vivian and Cheryl Kotila-Vivian were participants in our October 3-10, 2009, Focus on Mexico educational program. We had a wonderful time, and as it was my first stint as Program Director, I know it will always remain my favorite group! We shared so many fun memories.

After Jim returned home, he wrote to tell us how he got ride of his pesos before leaving Mexico. It’s a lovely story, and I think it completely represents the people of Mexico. I can’t imagine this happening at an airport in the United States or Canada. But…judge for yourself!

 By Tere Ruiz

Living in Lake Chapala has brought many gifts to my life, and even when I thought that all my dreams had already came true after living here for almost two years, life keeps surprising me.

Being a single woman living in Mexico City for many years didn’t give me lots of options whenever I was sick. The distances, the rat race, and much more, made it very difficult to have someone around me whenever I needed help, even my family and friends, but living in Lakeside has been much different. Many times I thought of how great it would be to have someone to take care of me when needed or be around me when I was sick.

I had two very similar conversations this week. Both went something like this:

“I’m old now. I can’t take risks like I did when I was younger. It’s very important to me that I feel secure and I really don’t like change. I have basically had the same life for the past 45 years and I’m comfortable as I am. I am intrigued by the idea of visiting Lake Chapala to see if I might like it there but I really can’t see myself taking a risk by moving there to a foreign country….even if I like it.”

Both of these conversations left me questioning what is it about change that to one person feels positive and empowering and to another feels dangerous and uncertain?

What are the benefits in taking a chance?

You'll always miss 100% of the shots you don't take.  ~Wayne Gretzky

Penelope Trunk’s Brazen Careerist says, “Take the question of where to live seriously. Don't let inertia push you toward a big-name city, the place you grew up, or your old college haunts. Make a conscious decision to live somewhere that will improve your quality of life by really understanding what your core needs and interests are–and will be.”

I found an interesting study published by Science Daily that addresses the differences in the ways that people deal with taking risks. They discovered that the willingness to take risks markedly decreases with age and they found, “What is particularly striking is that people who enjoy taking risks are more content with their lives.” (Emphasis mine.)