The Morning Ritual That Changed Everything
- Dennis J. Easters
- Dennis@pldatenasrealty.com
- +506-8854-7721
Early mornings in Atenas are special. At 5 a.m., the first light begins to peek over the mountains. The sky shifts from charcoal gray to soft blue, then pink, then orange. Roosters announce the new day. Gardeners arrive for work, their distant “¡Hola!” echoing through the valley. I finish my first cup of coffee, lace up my shoes, and head out the gate, looking forward to my morning walk.
Depending on the day, I may linger on the front porch, watching butterflies and hummingbirds feast on fresh nectar. If business is pressing, I’ll spend a little time at my computer—but only briefly. By 6:30, I’m out the door.
When we first moved to Atenas, these walks were simply a way to exercise without being stuck on a treadmill. Somewhere along the way, they became something entirely different.
I’ve had an exercise routine since I was a teenager. My family loved being outdoors, and I knew the hills of Atenas would be a challenge for a flatlander like me. From our first home in Vista Atenas, I’d make the loop through the community—up one side of the mountain and down the other. Patsy, my occasional walking partner, and I dubbed it the “Killer Loop.”
Wanting to stay healthy, I added walking as extra cardio because it seemed like something I should do. In the beginning, walking wasn’t profound. It was practical.
That would eventually change.
Naturally, there were physical benefits. My legs grew stronger. My breathing became easier. But after a while, something else began to change, especially on the mornings I walked alone.
Solutions began to appear.
One morning, frustrated with a complicated real estate transaction that seemed to be going nowhere, I mentally structured a solution that had eluded me for days. Both sides were at an impasse. When I returned home, I sketched out the idea, presented it to the buyers and sellers, and we went into contract.
Other mornings, I’d notice a flock of birds I hadn’t seen before or a patch of wildflowers that somehow escaped my attention until that day. Once, after an evening rain, the morning air was especially crisp and sweet. Sunlight glistened on dew-covered grass, scattering tiny prisms of color across the hillside. Even now, that morning remains one of the richest sensory experiences I can remember.
As the rainy season gave way to the dry, deep emerald hillsides slowly turned to amber waves of grass. Then came the Christmas winds. Almost overnight, the air became warmer and drier.
Writing ideas began to arrive, often inspired by the countryside around me. One morning, it was a galloping horse carrying a worker to check on the coffee crop. Another day, it was the old farmer next door offering me a stalk of plátanos.
“Muy dulces,” he said with a smile as he handed them to me.
Other mornings, my mind wanders off into the jungle. Halfway through the walk, I realize I haven’t noticed a thing. For a split second, I almost feel lost.
I’ve never gone looking for ideas, but somehow they appear like the wildflowers scattered along the trail, quietly waiting to be picked.
All of these experiences have proved to be something more than a walk. They’re pieces of a much larger puzzle that, over time, have become lessons.
Today, we spend an enormous amount of energy trying to make time. I’m guilty of it—we’re all guilty of it. But what I’ve discovered is that time, like many of life’s greatest gifts, needs space to find you. You can’t chase it. It isn’t a problem to solve. It has to come to you.
My morning walks have done just that.
The walks themselves didn’t change.
I did.
I simply gave time the space to find me. And when it did, a whole new world of creativity, perspective, and unexpected answers quietly opened before me. The solutions I’d worked so hard to find simply appeared—without effort, without force.
Costa Rica has given me many unexpected gifts over the past twenty years. But perhaps the greatest has been the gift of time itself. The luxury of slowing down. Of not rushing from one obligation to the next. Of discovering that life’s richest moments often arrive when we finally stop trying to control them.
Tomorrow morning, as Atenas begins to stir, I’ll head out once again. One of the same four routes. The same familiar hills. The same cup of coffee.
But never the same walk.
If yesterday was any indication, I have a feeling I’ll come home with more than I left with.
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Dennis Easters
Real Estate Broker
+506-8854-7721
Dennis@pldatenasrealty.com
