Newfield News Article: The Value of Unplugging

Newfield News Article: The Value of Unplugging

The Value of Unplugging

A Newfield News Article by Gonzalo Cordova

Last week I was in Mexico City, Michoacán and Cuernavaca, three places that taught me different lessons. Mexico City, with its traffic, taught me patience and the value of staying focused on myself and not outside myself. In Cuernavaca I experienced many emotions, such as love for others, caring for my family, the tenderness of children, and the value of friendship. However, the most valuable learning came in Michoacán.

I attended a program in Agua Blanca Micoachán, a beautiful place in the depths of a canyon decorated with green trees and eagles flying over the sky. This place has hot springs, superb cuisine, excellent service, a neat landscaping, a temazcal, and beautiful nature everywhere you look. Everything was going great until I discovered that my computer could not connect to the Internet, and my cell phone had no signal.

A temazcal is a type of sweat lodge which originated with pre-Hispanic Indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica. The word temazcal comes from the Nahuatl word temazcalli ("house of heat"). It is used in ceremony for purifying body, mind, and spirit. This photo was taken in Colombia at the Alumni Gathering.

I do not understand how it happened that people begin to value the power of technology over all the other alternatives before us. Frankly, I did not see it before because my eyes were completely distracted by that same technology.

In this beautiful place, in the middle of a canyon, I was forced to be with me, unplugging all the wires, websites, emails, phone calls and everything else to finally look at this world and reconnect with myself.

After almost five days without access to these technologies, I realized that I was not disconnected from the Internet or from my phone, but I was disconnected from the world for a long time, literally. I had lost the capacity to wonder in awe about the water, the butterflies, the grass, the birds’ flight, the arrival and departure of the sun, the starry sky, the smile of others, my heartbeat.

Today, at home, some questions came to mind that I want to share. What practice will I include in my life to stay connected with the world? What will advise me of my disconnection if this happens? What’s the gift I received to value the world? How do I give testimony to the value of the connection and disconnection?

The biggest transformation I've experienced in my life in recent months has been the capacity of seeing with new eyes. It sounds easy, but it is a task that requires much love, care, and, above all, losing our own lens. Be willing to give up seeing to begin observing from a new, fresh, authentic place where the world is an integral place, valued, loved, respected, unique, beautiful, ours.

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Gonzalo Cordova, a native of Mexico, is a bi-lingual executive coach based in the San Francisco Bay Area. He's a Newfield program coach, client relations consultant, and senior leader. His interest in ontological coaching grew out of his love of people and language, as well as his determination to help others lead happier, more fulfilling lives. Gonzalo and his family enjoying calling San Francisco their home.