Life On La Ramblas: Getting outside to get perspective
Have you ever thought we don't spend enough time outdoors any more? I have spent the week visiting with my colleagues in our Barcelona Office - and one of the most striking differences here in Spain, in the center of a commercial and tourist hub like Barcelona is the outdoor lifestyle.
In London, my home for the past 2 and half decades - coffee culture, outdoor eating and city cafes have become far more common place, but as we continue (particularly this year) to be hampered by our weather - getting outdoors for large portions of the year is a pretty dismal experience all told.
The Spanish however are blessed with a little more light than us Brits - and as such the business and personal life is influenced highly by it. This morning I stopped by a great little place for a Cafe Con Leche and a croissant and found myself surrounded by business men and women (all glamorously dressed in suits despite the early morning heat) - lining the little tables and chairs of Passeig de Gràcia.
There is a distinctly different "vibe" - for want of a better word - about how business is done here. It seems almost less stressful, less pressured by the mere fact that it can be done in the outdoors, in the hustle and bustle of the cafe.
Getting outside more often seems to do the world of good. Long hours, punctuated by moments of reflection, or light and sunshine - a good dose of Vitamin D and a moment to breathe in the whisps of the Mediterranean and all the potential it has to offer on it's horizon.
Sitting here this morning I think of Jesus roaming around Jerusalem and the surrounding towns. Outdoors. In the open air for so much of his ministry. Sharing breads and wine and steering the course of history with his words - but in the same turn punctuating his daily life by withdrawing to a high or quiet place to absorb all that his father had for him.
Perhaps life on the La Ramblas - the perspective of the outdoors is what we all need a little more of in our business and our buysness. A chance to look up to the sun and the son and see all he would have us understand - and all the more what we cannot fathom.