Where Are You Supposed To Be? Thinking Global Acting Local

Welcome home!

If you only read one post this week...this is the one! Take some time and listen to Carra's words. If this is an indication of Carra's writings, there is a best seller coming! Please welcome Carra back from her amazing journey. Yes she is back home with family and friends.
 I am looking forward to more lessons she has learned.

Please read this post and comment on the original.
Welcome home, my friend!

Via Carra Riley CRB, CRS, GRI (Author, Speaker, Consultant, Second Homes AZ LLC):

Where are you supposed to be?  Thinking Global, Acting Local, going "glocal" with the "Real Reason Rule™."    

                               
Do you appreciate the concept that everything happens for a reason? I am a firm believer in this philosophy and know all our experiences are directed from a higher source. When going through something, many times it might not be until you get in the middle of it do you see the "real reason" something transpired. Our global lesson proved this theory showing how the "Real Reason Rule™" works.

My husband Tom and I have been on a journey around the world and in the middle of the South China Sea we got a call from family letting us know that his 92 year old mother had been admitted to the hospital with pneumonia. Serious thoughts of guilt began to rise as we thought about her original concern with us taking the trip at her age. Gertrude, Tom's mother, was not in bad health when we left so we felt that 104 days should not be a problem and we proceeded with our plans.  We had driven to Colorado from Arizona for Thanksgiving prior to embarking on our January voyage to say our personal goodbyes and hopefully made her feel better about the trip.

Upon receiving the news about his mother, Tom checked in frequently with his sister, about his mother's condition.  Gertrude improved and was quickly moved to a re-hab facility which was good news for all of us. The news of the tsunami and earthquake in Japan on March 11, 2011 was also starting to undermine the thoughts of everyone on the ship including our family watching the news and knowing we were very close in the China Sea. The only news coming through on the satellite to the ship was the Aljzeera network which continually repeated the bad news about the global disaster in Japan.  Prior to the incident in Japan we did not have any news at all on the TV so getting to catch up through the broadcast was helpful as we processed what was going on in the world around us as we gradually approached Japan.

The decision was made by the trip organizers to cancel the stop in Japan and change the last port before Hilo, Hawaii to Taiwan. Tom and I started to think about how his mother loved looking forward to visits from us so we decided that disembarking after Hong Kong and Shanghi then going to Colorado to be with her might help the healing process.  We e-mailed and called our daughter in Arizona and a friend in Colorado asking for help with trip plans as the Internet service on the ship was not working well and we wanted to take action immediately.  All of the flights leaving Hong Kong on the short notice were going though Japan and that global stop was not an option. Our daughter booked us a flight leaving from Shanghi direct to Los Angeles. Nineteen hours later we were in Phoenix, Arizona on solid ground, happy to be in the United States of America.  The fifteen hour time change was quite an adjustment as we crossed the international dateline we had the opportunity to live March 30th twice.

There were several reasons we decided to disembark from the journey early.

1. Tom's 92 year old mother was in re-hab after contracting pneumonia.
2. The Japan disaster was a looming danger which caused some concern for our family.
3. The ports of call on the trip were almost complete.  Having lived in Maui, Hawaii for three years, the last stop in Hilo was just extending the voyage time.
4. 21 more days of crossing the Pacific was not going to add to our Global knowledge as the international cultural engagement had been completed.
5. My head needed to re-boot with all the global experiences before I could accurately write about the lessons and rules that unfolded in each country.

To our friends who indicated that 104 days on the ocean might be too much, you were right! We were so happy to see the sign "Welcome to the United States of America" and Welcome to Los Angeles.
Why is she explaining all this you may be asking? To share how this global activity shaped our local experience in allowing us to travel back to Colorado and be where we needed to be for two very important reasons we were not aware of at the time we made the reservations.  Everything happens for a reason and the "Real Reason Rule™" became clear after this adventure.

Five days after making the decision to disembark, while still on the ship we had a call from the son of a close family friend. His mother had passed away and they were having the services on April 8, 2011.  I was able to assure him that we would be there and would be able to help with anything that needed to be completed.  He was so appreciative that we would be able to attend and be there with his family.

Seven days after we had decided to leave and still on the ship, our daughter in Phoenix called, very upset as she had totaled her car. She was not hurt but frightened and needed the support of her family. We had made arrangements for her to fly to Colorado to see her grandmother as we were going to drive and she could not take off more than a weekend. We were all together this past weekend and it was a healing event for everyone as we were all together and able to make plans for the future and move upward with our thoughts supporting one another.

The celebration of life service for our family friend of thirty years, Cindee Murphy, helped me continue in mental growth about life and it's meaning. Cindee's son Kip delivered a memorial speech talking about the hyphen between the dates of her birth July 17, 1943 and her death March 27, 2011.  Creative writting has been going on while working on a chapter about the meaning of a persons "dash" and several new ideas connected as he spoke so lovingly of his mother.  The family had Santana and Pink Floyd playing as they flashed photos of her life on the two big screens.  I was moved beyond description as I saw my picture included in the family treasures. I started thinking about all our experiences and how she would be missed then my thoughts turned to the higher meaning of her life and what she gave to us and what we gave to her.  Cindee Murphy's dash made a difference in the world.  She always completed her real estate business with unblemished ethics and set the bar for high standards in the industry.  We were  sounding boards for each other on ideas that were outside of the box and she was always respectful and kind in the way she responded.   Based on Cindee's request she had us dance out of the hall with Santana blaring thinking only happy thoughts of Love.

Creating letters to friends and relatives upon passing is something I had only seen in movies and read about in books and had never experienced receiving a letter from anyone I knew that had passed.  Cindee's son brought me a letter she had written to me along with a beautiful red bag that contained two hand beaded, purple necklaces and bracelets Cindee had made especially for me.  I wept as I read the letter and will only share one sentence Cindee wrote to me:  " ....you gave me one of the biggest gifts anyone has been able to give me.  That was to constantly reinforce my relationship and love with my son, Shawn." Remembering conversations in the past helped me realize how  verbal exchange really does affect people and how important positive reinforcement is in our relationships.  I know I will take this lesson from Cindee and start to write letters to my friends and family,  letting them know what they have done for me and how they have helped me with along the way. I plan deliver those letters NOW to start discussion on how important everyone is and how who they are has made a difference in my life.  Hopefully, dear reader this might touch you and the "pay it forward concept" in sharing how someone has helped you makes a difference in both your dash and their dash.

Had we not made the arrangements to get off the ship early we would have missed this once in a lifetime opportunity to share with family and friends the celebration of life of a very special individual, Cindee Murphy.  I am so grateful to have learned the "real reason rule™" and realize how important it is to listen and then respond accordingly when ideas come, as everything happens for a reason.

We were able to be where we needed to be and did not know the "real reason" to disembark until we had already made plans to leave. Tom's mother is recovering beautifully and two families who really needed support got our love and physical presence because we listened and believed that everything happens for a reason.  Taking this global lesson and applying it to local situations makes this glocal lesson the "real reason rule™."

 Where in the world is Carra Riley contest is still active and will continue as originally outlined until April 24, 2011.  New photos are being posted on facebook and flickr daily along with  youtube videos of the port adventures.  The game is still on winner to be announced May 13, 2011.

       

Cosmic Cow Pie

Carra Riley