ALIVENESS
A practical philosophy for living fully in the awareness that life is finite.
A few days ago I watched my two sons walk off down a jungle path on their way to a neighbour’s house to play Dungeons and Dragons with their new friends. No lift needed, or supervision. Just two boys heading off into the afternoon, buzzing with excitement and freedom.
As I stood there watching them skip away I suddenly realised that this was exactly what my wife and I had been dreaming of these last few months. We had wanted to find a modern, intentional community, close to nature where our kids could be free to roam where they want. And here it was, happening in front of me, living in a place I’d never heard of eighteen months ago.
Let’s rewind for a sec. We’re now living in the Costa Rican jungle, in a regenerative community called La Ecovilla, about an hour and a half west of San José.
The vegetables are grown on site in a gorgeous garden shaped in geometric patterns. There are fruit trees everywhere. Clean water you can drink straight from the source.
There’s a shared pool, a yoga shala for events and a posh co-working space. Once or twice a month there’s a potluck dinner with the neighbours. There are regular men’s groups, women’s groups and wellness modalities. I played volleyball two days ago and padel the week before. Most people here are entrepreneurs who quit their 9-to-5 lives, and it feels like a nurturing place to build our new lives and careers. We have been living here for three weeks now.
The jungle around us doesn’t stop moving. Creatures of all varieties everywhere. Toucans landed on the tree next to our house a couple days ago. Rivers crash over boulders bigger than houses. There’s noise and colour and something living in every direction you look. We even had a tarantula in our kitchen the other day which was super exciting!
The kids have settled into the community school, with classes of 7 or 8 kids max. We are sleeping very well and my body seems healthier than it has in ages.
Never, in a million years, would I have dreamed I’d end up living in the jungle, building a practical philosophy about living fully in the face of death. I am very, very grateful right now. And this gratitude feels like a reward for making some big and scary decisions.
A while ago, our life in England looked good from the outside, and parts of it genuinely were amazing. Awesome friends. Family. A home we renovated with love. A regular paycheque. Living in a vibrant town that turned out to be my ancestral home.
But some parts weren’t working, and we knew it. We could feel a pull toward a life closer to nature, with more freedom for the kids, more real connection with the people, more ceremony and meaning in ordinary days.
We had been flirting with a wild dream for years… to go travelling the world as a family. Because of my work with mortality, we became increasingly aware that we only have one life, that time is short and we made a decision that scared us.
We sold the house, let go of the version of life we’d built, and set off travelling the world as a family. It was hard. It was frightening. We grieved heavily. And there were plenty of moments we questioned it.
Were we crazy…?!
But as we travelled, the fog started to clear. We began to reflect and understand what we were actually looking for from life. And somewhere along the way we discovered these modern, regenerative communities… places built around exactly the things we’d been missing: deeper connection to the land, shared meals, children running loose and safe. Ultimately a rhythm of life that felt more alive to us.
I just want to be clear. The dream we had been postponing was to travel. Your dream might be very different. And sometimes the biggest changes in life are not big dramatic logistical shifts. They can be subtler, yet significant inner changes.
My wife and I didn’t have the clarity back then that we do now. We just trusted that the clarity would come with movement. And it did. Since then it’s been like following a trail of breadcrumbs.
One brave decision led to a discovery. That discovery led to another brave decision. And each one carried us closer to a life that actually fit us. A life we could never have designed on paper because we didn't even know it existed. We just had to keep following the pull of instinct. Even when it frightened us, and trust that the next breadcrumb would appear.
One of the things that came clear on this trip was my work, and where Aliveness was actually heading. Before we set off travelling I didn’t have half the clarity I have now. If you remember, this newsletter used to be called ‘Dying To Live With Purpose’. I just knew I had to keep putting my ideas out there and trust it would take shape.
Last weekend, something happened that told me we’re exactly where we’re meant to be. I put my hand up to run an Aliveness workshop on my first weekend here, in front of my new community. I didn’t know a soul. Around fifteen strangers showed up. The response was great. They asked me to make it a monthly thing!
So now, because I threw myself into the deep end, I’ve got a living laboratory for Aliveness, right here among the people I’m starting to share this life with.
I know how this might sound. Like I’m describing some perfect dream from a distance. I’m not. It’s real, it’s ordinary, there are mosquitoes and mud and things that go wrong. But the foundation of it: the freedom, the nature, the connection, the aliveness of the place… are everything we set out to find without knowing we were looking.
It all comes when you step outside one’s comfort zone. Into expansion.
Watching my boys disappear down that path to play with their new mates, I thought about how far back the trail went. All the way to one scary decision we almost didn’t make.
One question this week.
Are you following any breadcrumbs? Do please share as it could inspire others.
Practice Aliveness HERE.
Thank you for being here. Make the most of the time you have.
Live happy,
Hoppy
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I am a former CEO, filmmaker, soul midwife and druidic bard. Several times in my life, I realised the life I was living no longer aligned with the person I had become. Each time, I found the courage to make a difficult decision, and each change led me closer to my purpose. I could never have imagined doing the work I do today. I created Aliveness with a dream that it becomes as impactful as Mindfulness: a daily practice that helps people live more bravely, leave fewer regrets and build a more present and generous world.
John – It is so exciting to live surrounded with jungle. Be happy and live your dreams. One memeber of community said: "Ecovilla is not an escape from reality. We consciously create a new version of it. Where sustainability, community and quality of life go hand in hand. A place where our children grow up outdoors, where we share and grow together, and living well feels natural." It is exactly what you have in mind.
I saw on Internet that Regenerative community La Ecovilla, is a Global Community: Home to around 40–50 families representing dozens of different nationalities, blending international remote workers, families, and locals. It is a quite big crowd. It will be interesting to see how administration and management would be organized, who would take initiative and solve disputes. You would need some council 😊.