5 Lessons on Coping and Thriving from Around the World
Wisdom is portable — even when we’re stuck at home
When fear and despair nip at our heels, some people turn to religion; others to psychology, or tequila. As a longtime travel writer and lifelong wanderer, I turn to my globe. It’s nothing fancy — a simple, steel model, faded from use and old enough to include the Soviet Union. But that globe is my talisman and my salve, a reminder of where I’ve been and what I’ve learned there.
I subscribe to Henry Miller’s philosophy of travel: “One’s destination is never a place but a new way of looking at things.” Such transformed vision demands open eyes and ears, as well as a willingness to wonder: What do these people know about living that I don’t? We can’t mime other cultures, but we can mine them — learn from them.
Wisdom is portable, even when we’re stuck at home. Here are five “place lessons” that have sustained me during these trying times.
From Iceland: Trust thy neighbor
Iceland is a remote island-nation, cold and dark for much of the year. Yet it is one of the world’s happiest. Why?
In a word: trust. It is the most precious form of social capital, and Iceland is awash in the stuff. During my visit more than a decade ago, I…
