It was cold on day three.  We were chilled to the bone on a tour bus with an open roof for two hours.  We saw the city, especially the Olympic Venues from 1992 and the World Expo sites from 1929.  It is a beautiful City with outrageous architecture.  It is busy and alive and the restaurants have all been wonderful.  People speaking every language in the world pass by you on the street.

We attended an Opera/Flamingo Dancing performance.  The dancers and the singers and the musicians were so talented and it was easy to follow the story.  It is part of Catalonia culture.  Here in Cataloniathe “turn off your cell phone” announcement was made first in Catalonia, then in English and THEN in Spanish.  They really have a separatist attitude here.  The shoe store guy told me that it was like Quebec in Canada.  They have their own language and culture and dancing “Everything except our independence”  he told me.

A late night drink and dinner and some awake time with jet lag and today is raining … the day we board the ship.  More to follow ….  If you were here you might be saying “Bon Voyage ..”

We had a great day.  We met at 11 and took the metro to the Sagrada Familia by Gaudi.  It is the most amazing and ugliest church I have ever seen.  It is not finished although people have been working on it for over 100 years.  It was worth the ride just to experience its affect on people.

Then we went to an espadrille shop where Lynda and Susan bought the same pair of multi-coloured sandals with ribbons that tie up around the ankle.  Then we found our way back to have lunch with the others at a corner restaurant near by with probably the best example of single tasking I have ever seen.  The waiter could not pick up glasses and take an order at the same time.  He literally did one thing at a time.  The beer and the sandwich were good once we got them.

We strolled back to the Rambla and down to the harbor where we boarded a boat to do a harbour cruise.  On the way we were intrigued by a man playing a shell game for money.  Lynda was picking the right box every time.  It seemed that as soon as she got interested people moved in around her.  John and I were watchin gfrom a few yards away and could see the crowd assembling and John went in to take Lynda’s purse from her before someone else did.  It was very interesting and a little scary, a reminder of how aware you have to be at all times.

Aboard the harbour cruise there was no discernible commentary.  We floated through the docks and along the shore of the city in 10 foot swells.  Especially out past the breakwater, the seas were wild.  I was amazingly not sea sick.  The Cava was the saving grace although there were only 3 chilled glasses and five of us.  Refills were available. It made me realize again how important the question is.  There are only 3 cava’s means there are only 3 glasses to serve cava in….  who knew if you didn’t ask.

After the harbour tour, such as it was, we went back to the hotel and looked at pictures in our room until it was time to meet everyone again for dinner.  I called the concierge who suggested a tapas place within a short walk … if you followed his directions ….  We made a wrong turn and had to ask for further directions which took us back to the square that we had left 10 minutes before and up the correct street to the restaurant which was excellent.

Today is US Thanksgiving.  Dan picked up the tab.  We had a great meal with tapas for 8.  It was tasty and filling and there was wonderful atmosphere.  It was a perfect evening.  It was raining when we left to walk back to our hotel … a shorter walk than the one there. Tomorrow we hope to do a bus tour of the city.  Today I learned that we are a good group.  Every one is getting along.  That’s good.  We have fourteen days at sea to spend together.

As we watch CNN we see the attacks in India.

Tomorrow a bus tour of the city more shocking architecture. Be safe.

Hello everyone.  Welcome back to the world travel report…..

The flight from Calgary to Frankfurt was long and because it was a different time of day it was almost impossible to sleep.  Frankfurt to Barcelona is only one and a half hours and I have to say that I don’t remember much of it at all.  Once we got to our beautiful hotel, Le Meridian, on La Rambla, we took a nap.  I tried to shower but the drain was clogged and I flooded the place.  Then we went out with our friends to ramble on La Rambla towards the harbour and the cruise ship dock which is really walking distance.

It is quite lovely with the large boulevard and merchants and buskers all along the way.  We picked up a pamphlet for a Spanish guitar concert tonight at the Basilica which I think we will try to attend.   It is at the same time that we are supposed to meet our KC friends and Marjorie but we have sent messages for them to come early so that we can all go to hear the music.

It is surprisingly cold here.  It is the kind of cold that penetrates.  I will add a layer or two tonight before we go out again.  I had also forgotten that in Europe the restaurants close between 4 and 7:30.  No civilized people eat at that time of day.  We had some difficulty finding a place to have tapas and beer.  Perseverance paid off and at a delightful place, the waiter ordered for us and we had a nice light snack.

Now we are back at the hotel room.  It is 10:30 am there and 6:30 pm here. And we have had some interrupted sleep over the past 36 hours.  I find my self fighting to stay awake so that we can sleep for 8 hours tonight and make the adjustment.  I am very curious about the Atlantic Crossing and how our bodies will adjust to a less traumatic movement through the zones.

Today I am reading Wayne Dyer. ” Change Your Thoughts – Change your Life”  I have been reading Wayne Dyer since the 70s.  Today he is exploring the “Great Way”, the Tao Te Ching of Lao -tzu.  There are 81 verses in “the Great Way”.  I am intent on reading one verse per day until I am done.  I find it interesting that there are 81 which is 9*9.  I have enjoyed the first three verses; The Mystery, The Paradoxical Unity and Contentment. 

The Mystery … be curious about things.  Experience non-judgement and mystery. 

The Paradoxical Unity … states are defined by the  knowing of the opposite.  Accepting or allowing both at the same time is the paradox of unity.

Contentment … just notice the Tao.  What does the integrated self tell you about your desires?  Move from desire to allow the reward to be the path, the journey.

Of course those are my interpretations which I accept witll be different for you.  It is interesting and comforting to read about and from the ancients.  Comforting to me to thing that people of other times had it all figured out before we got here.  That simplifies things for me and allows me to accept the ’42’ answer to the question of life, the universe and everything.  That answer that came from the imagination, the thoughts, of Douglass Adams and it works for me.

Life is good. Integrated thinking, sensing, feeling is good.  It has been, is and will be good.

Develop Relationships

Accept Chaos

Name Elephants

Share Information

Embrace the Process

Douglass Adams wrote about a computer named Deep Thought and how that computer over millions of years was able to calculate the answers to the question of life the universe and everything.  The answer was 42.  It is a great answer when you think about it.  42 – simple yet complex.  And isn’t it comforting to know that their is an answer.

Hello world….  Today is a new day.  Obama is president elect of the US and the ‘us’ is back in the US.  The hope of the nation and the world seems to be wrapped up in the man and yet we all know that it was the voters who made their own dreams come true.  They had the courage to support someone that they felt would support them back.

I hear a predominant message about a black man in the White House.  Barak Obama is more than that.  He represents the world.  Mixed and inclusive in all aspects and a small ‘L’ liberal champion for the US and the world.  “Hope lives as long as their is breath.”  Everything is possible if you engage the people in conversation.  Obama was masterful and the engagement piece.  Everyone is celebrating with him not for him because they were a part of the conversation, involved through Internet and other messaging at a personal level.

Barak Obama and his team have mastered the engagement piece and have given the world evidence of what can happen when you talk WITH people reather than TO them.  A brilliant campaign run by a brilliant and caring leader.  Congratulations.

Our Canadian people will learn the lesson and adapt the approach to match the Canadian need.  Around the world the message will be interpreted in at least 9 ways.  Hope = personal control… Hope = inclusion and contribution… Hope = achievement and success … Hope = creativity and differentiation … Hope = analysis and thought provoking opportunities… Hope = loyalty and security and predictability… Hope = excitement and variety and possibility…Hope = furthering the cause, taking control… Hope = peace and harmony in the world.  Hope lives on…..

And the conversation continues …..

How much peace do you feel?  How much pressure do you feel on you?  Peace and pressure. chicken and egg …..  Can you know peace without knowing pressure???  Peace is a sensation for me, more than a feeling.  It is a state of complete contentment, when you know that things are right in the world.  I often feel peace and I am constantly seeking that feeling of peace.  Peace, like the others is a choice.

Pressure … I guess the best way to understand my relationship with pressure is to use an example.  Deadlines create pressure for me.  I often miss deadlines and then work very hard after the deadline to complete things.  It is weird but the pressure presented by the deadline shuts me down.  Once it is past then I can actually get to work and get it done.  So pressure often freezes me. I get stuck.  How much pressure is there in my life depends on me right now.  I consider myself very fortunate to be running my own business and although I answer to clients and there is pressure to provide the best possible product, the standards that I set for myself often are higher than any they may have.

What does pressure mean to you?  How can you use the pressure in your life to motivate rather than freeze?  That is a question I ask myself.  I set artificial deadlines to fool myself into getting things ready on time.  I am a procrastinator, and pressure is not my friend.  I create my own pressure and my own peace.  I am as satisfied as I want to be.  Each day brings new opportunities for peace and pressure.  Choose both.  Learn to manage both.

PULSE is about peace and pressure.  The path through, Prepare, Uncover, Learn, Search and Explain is the path from pressure or lack of peace to peace.