I wrote yesterday about Ryan Bingham and his lighter backpack theory of life.  In case you’re wondering who that is, he is the fictional frequent flyer character played by George Clooney in the movie Up in the Air.  Bingham’s suggestion, if you’ll remember, was to lighten your pack by discarding things that “tie you down.” Things like relationships and a stable and stationary place that one might call a “home.”  Bingham’s home was an ever advancing jet plane hovering various dull locals at 40,000 feet.  As he peered down at the bored and tired masses he came up with his brilliant idea to motivate them towards a lighter and less languid existence.  Last night I had the opportunity to dine with some of my customers.  It was a group of guys from the U.S. that have been visiting Costa Rica through my company for each of he last five years.  One of them mentioned to me, “you know, I read that Costa Ricans are the happiest people on earth and that they live the longest.”  Another one chimed in, “Scott, how could that be true?”  Well anyone who reads this blog on even a less than frequent basis would likely have an idea as to how I would answer that.  Surprisingly, given my negative attitude yesterday regarding Bingham’s philosophy, the answer really is a “lighter backpack.”  But not lighter in the sense of shedding those non-material things like home and love ones (i.e., things money can’t buy and things that Costa Ricans certainly do cherish), but lighter in the sense of less “stuff.”  Stuff you really don’t need and stuff that is cluttering not only your world, but mine as well…in fact everyone’s.  What I am mainly getting at is the competitive spirit that prevails in the developed world that I am not successful unless I have as much or more as my neighbor.  That drive to fill one’s backpack to unbearable proportions is at the heart, I believe, of unhappiness in the Western developed world.  It is something most folks down here just don’t experience…partly because they can’t afford it, but also because other things are on their mind….like filling the backpack with non-material things that really do impart happiness.  It would seem that some of the most miserable and suicidal people on this planet also are those with the most stuff in their backpacks, wouldn’t you agree?  So in that sense, Bingham is on to something and actually has, with his twisted and warped ideology, answered the question posed by my faithful customers….a lighter backpack! For those of you interested in lightening your backpack in Costa Rica, give me a buzz sometime, or check out one of my own seminars (coming soon to a theatre near you).

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