Personal Growth...on Vacation?!

I was both lucky and blessed to vacation at Rancho La Puerta in Tecate, Mexico, last week. It was a kind of busman’s holiday insofar as I was teaching editing classes four of the six days I was there. But there couldn’t be a more splendid place to do so!

One of the treasured takeaways from my week in paradise was learning about a beautiful way to start the day. I read it in a book that the ranch’s former Fitness Director and now yoga and meditation teacher Phyllis Pilgrim, self-published. Phyllis’ classes gently attuned me to my breathing and my body so that when I left her classes, I felt taller, grounded and centered. I loved the classes so much that when I heard about Phyllis’ book, The Hidden Passport, which describes her early years in Japanese concentration camps during World War II (she was only five years old when her mother, brother and she were led away to the first of four camps), I went straightaway to the mercado (gift shop) and bought a copy. 

While hers is an amazing story of resilience and love amidst grueling, inhumane conditions, what I will remember best from the book is the intention that Phyllis’ mother learned from her nanny and used to keep hope alive in the camps:

 “See something beautiful, hear something beautiful, and say something beautiful today.”

These simple words can be a powerfully positive portal into your day. Print them out. Post them in your bathroom, on your computer or fridge. Use these words as a morning prayer. They could change your life.