“Find life experiences and swallow them whole.”
– Lawrence K. Fish
A magnet on the refrigerator belonging to my delightful South African hostess in Johannesburg says, “Find life experiences and swallow them whole. Travel. Meet many people. Go down some dead ends and explore dark alleys. Try everything. Exhaust yourself in the glorious pursuit of life.”
Lawrence Fish’s sentiment fits my experience of the month. I just returned from travel to the South Africa. As of 2015, I have both visited and trained mental health colleagues who hail from every continent in our world except Antarctica. The pursuit of life is glorious indeed!
But why did I flown 20 hours to get here? And why do I want to understand clinical psychology internationally? Why have I gone out of my way to carry heavy laptops for children in Gumboots, an orphanage and school in Johannesburg? And why did I register for an international psychology conference at Kruger National Park, where I will combine professional development with safari experience? What motivated me to do this when life is very full as is?
Paul Tillich is most remembered for his iconic work “The Courage To Be.” It is my favorite book because it counsels me to have the courage to face my anxiety square on, and live with it, even grow from it. So I, who has never really done much travel alone for the last half century, decided to go alone. Why bother?
The rush of pleasure I experience with heightened anticipation of each day of this journey titillated my curiosity about what goes on inside each of us as we look forward to fulfilling a lifelong dream, like a trip to Africa. Clearly my emotions are in heightened state and my pleasure hormones are activated, but how and why?
David Huron, Ph.D., has spent a long career deciphering the basic dynamics of emotional arousal. He tells us that emotion is strongly “felt” internal states. The primary emotions are anger, fear, sadness, disgust, surprise, interest and joy, while secondary emotions encompass shame, guilt, suspicion, hubris and pride.
Emotions function as motivational “amplifiers” that propel us towards or away from activities. I wanted to go to Africa and I was inspired by the visit to the orphanage. I am repelled by the thought of being eaten by a lion. This means my emotions are valenced: I avoid terror (high negative valence) and run towards delight (high positive valence). Those experiences are in synch with my temperament (high inquisitive, high creative, low fear seeking). Once involved, my mood (alert, tired, happy, sad) and the episodic emotion generated by an event or activity, create the gestalt of my emotional experience.
Now let’s apply this formula to my current status of a world traveler. I anticipate curiosity, delight, fascination, intellectual stimulation and visual satiation. Although I also expect anxiety in solo travel in a country with some dangers (malaria, crime), the positivity far outweighs the anticipation of negative times. Otherwise I would not have gone.
My anticipation of pleasure has prompted deep excitement. If I guard against fatigue and create safety, I should keep a stable mood for ongoing enjoyment during my travel. If I am very fortunate I will collect one episode after another of a delightful range of emotions and I will return home sated.
At this writing, I have left South Africa after a short stay. A museum about Nelson Mandela’s heroic life thoroughly involved my intellect and my emotion. The orphanage experience that motivated me to bring used laptops, has been unforgettable, and will be the topic of the next column.
I then sojourned to Kruger Park in Skukuza, South Africa, where I attended an international psychology conference. My plane companion began as a total stranger who quickly established his credentials as a internationally-trained industrial psychologist residing in South Africa. We conversed about the quickly building expertise in Clinical and Industrial Psychology, a field I know well.
The short ride to the Safari Park introduces us to easily sight a giraffe and three impala by the side of the highway. Languages around me included Dutch, Afrikaans, German and many dialects of English.
Today I look forward to a few hours with an elephant family rescued from poachers. I plan to ride and feed them with great glee.
Tonight there will be a South African barbecue with local music and dancing under the stars of Skukuza in Kruger National Park, this world famous safari center where I am surrounded by lions, warthogs, elephants, monkeys, to name a few.
The satiation I experience has been worth every mile. Emotional depth and richness may just be, at the deepest level, what life is really about. What do you think?
To consider: In your life, what ranks as a peak experience? Would you do it again? Why or why not?
To read slowly: The Courage to Be. Paul Tillich.
Judith Coche, PhD teaches and trains colleagues nationally and internationally. Find her at www.cochecenter.com. She owns The Coche Center, LLC, a practice in Clinical Psychology in Stone Harbor and Rittenhouse Square.
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