Full Definition of PARADISE

Well, Elysium Fields, Avalon, the Garden of Eden are not what comes to mind here in Costa Rica. And since I am not a big believer in Heaven anyway this Webster’s definition seems totally archaic. So how would I talk about Paradise?

Simply put, paradise is a place that is as close to the natural order of the earth as any human can get. And here in Costa Rica the opportunity to remember the natural order of things, the rhythm of the earth and allow yourself to entrain you heart to the heart of the planet, is abundant and ever-present.

But my mind says,

”Maya you have to go back to the states for about a zillion reasons!”

My answer? “Mañana, or maybe not even Mañana.”

Paradise is heart centered, heart driven and insists on using the communication of the heart to do just about everything. From a chop wood carry water approach to life here, squeezing the papayas to see how they “feel, or closing your eyes countless times a day to smell something, taste something, listen to the call of a hawk or feel the change in the air telling you a storm is coming and to unplug your computer, paradise is all sensory. Which translates to, paradise is all about the body and the heart. The mind is forced to take a back seat.

And for me, this melding into an earth based daily life is totally the opposite to my years of living in a metropolis, to sitting in traffic and getting heart palpitations and wondering why living next to a cell phone tower was contributing to my insomnia.

Remembering being human and what being human is about, is what living in paradise offers. It is nothing about learning to walk on the earth as a heart centered human being, it is simply about becoming unconditioned, stripped of the habits and beliefs about life that insulate us from our own true humanity. Paradise is simply the elixir that jogs the mind out of its psychosis and jumpstarts the heart.

And if I take an honest look at what is happening around the globe it is not hard to see that our civilized world has lost heart. Has forgotten about humanity. It is changing little by little. But it all starts with that incredibly brave step to stopping what is simply inhumane in each of our lives and asking the question, “who am I really?”

I stumbled on paradise. I had neither intention, nor goal in mind by coming here to Costa Rica, yet once here, it was clear that this is home. Not because of the place, but because of my place I am in myself. They say home is where the heart is. I would say home is where the heart is alive and well and strong. We all need to remember who we are. The rest of the swirling life we have created is simply the illusion that makes us forget who we are.