I’ve been an expat in Costa Rica for a long time now. From a physical perspective being an expat means absence from one’s home country and presence in some foreign country.

However, to be an expat has more than simply physical connotations.

Let’s first discuss what it certainly does not mean…

In some ways I’ve grown more patriotic as a result of living out of the country for many years now. I believe that in large part stems from my being an observer, or someone on the outside looking in. I’ve been able to observe with a heightened sense of objectivity certain things about my country of birth that concern me deeply.

For example, I’ve been able to observe how U.S. interventionist or imperialistic polices have affected certain people negatively, which in my case means Latinos. I’ve been able to discern that if that has been the case in Latin America, perhaps our interventions in other areas of the world, such as the Middle East, have also been less than laudable.

I’ve been able to observe with a heightened sense of objectivity how the form of capitalism run amok that prevails in my country of birth has widened the inequality gap. It has also led to a reckless disregard for how the pursuit of money and material has taken a heavy toll on the well-being of people and planet. Sometimes those effects aren’t as readily apparent to those on the inside of a wealthy nation like the U.S. as they are to those in the so-called 3rd world.

The U.S. has in large part lost its way in that regard. And the entire world is suffering for it. The world needs the U.S. to lead in positive directions, away from soaring income and wealth inequality, and away from dependence on fossil fuels. But the U.S. refuses to lead. And the recent election of Donald Trump only strengthens its resistance to assume the role of positive leadership in the world at large.

To be an expat means to have one’s eyes opened. To get the chance to really see things from the perspective of others who are very different. It provides ample opportunities to exercise the empathy muscle and to improve one’s capacity for altruism and impact. I call that expat mindfulness.

To be an expat does not have to mean permanent physical removal from presence in one’s country of birth. The ability to go back is always an option. Of course, one can also be a part-time expat.

I believe time in a foreign country can truly heighten one’s ability to make an impact in one’s country of birth. It sensitizes you to things you might otherwise be desensitized to. It heightens your sense of awareness. You become a more well-rounded human being. And all those are very positive traits from undergoing the expat experience and increasing your expat mindfulness.

I’ve written much in the past in my blogs and books about how being an expat in Costa Rica has changed me. It has made me a more humble and compassionate person. Some of my former friends and family members in the U.S. will say that it’s turned me into a left-wing loon.

Well, it has made me more progressive. It has made me more inclusive. It has allowed me to see the error of capitalism run amok in ways that I probably would’ve never detected without the expat experience. It has made me care more about my impact than about my economic self-interest. It has allowed me to see things more from the perspective of the Big US. It has removed many impact blinders that I came to Costa Rica wearing.

In short, it has been responsible for implanting impact mindfulness as my current mindset and worldview.

If you’re thinking of taking the plunge and moving to a foreign country, perhaps motivated by the recent election, remember this…no matter where you go, you’ll still be an “American” by birth. If you love your country it can actually make you love it more, albeit for different reasons. It will make you long for change and might even provide the motivation to be a catalyst for that change yourself.

To be an expat and thereby increase one’s expat mindfulness can be an intensely patriotic endeavor. [It’s Tweetable!]

You can read more about Expat Mindfulness, Impact Mindfulness and Being an Expat in Costa Rica in my books.

Click here to go to my author page.

Donald Trump is President. That’s a fact.

That will mean different things to different people. Some will rejoice. Others will lament.

But what will it really mean, in general, for people and planet?

More than likely it will mean change. Things are probably going to change in the U.S.A. and in the world. The question is, will they change for the better?

I’ve been writing in my blog for quite a while now that America, and the world, does in fact desperately need a change in direction. I just don’t believe that Donald Trump is the right one.

Trump’s election will most likely usher in a renewed sense of “putting America first”, or of “American Exceptionalism”…as if the rest of the world just doesn’t matter all that much.

And in that effort, jobs will likely be created. Heck, the stock market is already rallying in anticipation of all that pent-up demand being released into the market-sphere.

However, I have a sense that there are many, millions even, like me who believe that a heightened emphasis on money as the measuring stick for human prosperity in the context of a zero-sum, us versus them, world view, is not really the right direction to go in.

It certainly wasn’t the direction strongly suggested by that anti-Trumpian counter-revolutionary named Bernie Sanders…now was it?

However, in my estimation, that’s exactly the direction in which “we” are going…at least for the next four years.

I’ve been operating on dual “career paths” in the last couple years. One in which I espouse this mindset I call “impact mindfulness” in my blog, Revolutionary Misfit, and in books, like The Impact Revolution and The Revolutionary Misfit Manifesto.

And the other where I tout the Costa Rica expat life and offer services for guided Costa Rica Expat Tours, or Costa Rica Expat Consulting, to anyone who thinks they might like to give Costa Rica expat living a try.

I have decided that it wouldn’t be a bad idea for those two paths to merge into a concept you might call Expat Mindfulness. And the change that has now been unleashed in the world, in the form of the Donald J. Trump, is a prime motivator behind my thinking.

Certainly this epiphany is part economically motivated. I do anticipate that many will decide that the direction the U.S.A. is going in just ain’t consistent with their values anymore. I believe that might give rise to more demand for my services.

Hey, we’ve all go to make a buck…right?

But there’s more to it than just that.

I’m thinking more in terms of tribe building.

If you’re one of those who might be thinking of making a change as drastic as leaving your country of birth…well, I want to give you some solace and some inspiration.

Solace in being part of a tribe of others who are of similar mindset. And inspiration in the form of a cogent reason to make your expat move…

Expat Mindfulness.

Because, you see, the last “change” that the world needs is an even stronger sense of the accumulation mindset. That what really matters is my capability as an individual to become “super successful”, measured in terms of my ability to accumulate more stuff in a dog-eat-dog competitive context.

On the contrary, what the world needs right now is love, sweet love…to steal from a song.

No, really, what the world does need is a heightened sense of togetherness…of the Big US.

What the world needs right now are more people willing to put their impact over their self-interest.

What the world needs right now are people willing to reject the impact blinding messages whispering that what’s most important is accumulation of more, more, more…even if it comes at the expense of people and planet.

Hasn’t our planet indeed been sending us ample signals as of late about the folly of that type of thinking and doing?

Trump and those who lifted him to his current position as most powerful man on earth seem to want to just completely ignore those signals.

But our planet will return the favor and ignore us unless enough of us rise up and resist.

Now, you can choose to resist at home, or abroad (in a place like Costa Rica!). If you’d like to give Expat Mindfulness a try…

I am here to offer you a hand in that effort.

In addition to the blog you are reading right now, learn more (and participate) about Expat Mindfulness at one or all of the following locations…

The Costa Rica Expat Tours website

The Costa Rica Expat Living Facebook Page

The Impact Revolution Facebook Page