There are a variety of reasons why people move to Costa Rica. By-and-large the top two reasons I often hear are political and economic. However underneath whatever explanations are given, what I really hear people saying is that they are looking to achieve a personal sense of peace that they weren’t able to find in their home country.

Sure, the politics in places like the United States are becoming totally unbearable for many. And yes, it is possible to live on a smaller budget in Costa Rica than many other places in the world. Yet can a person move to Costa Rica and really find paradise and this sense of “peace?”   

There are really only two stories being told. Either you’ll hear a
person came to Costa Rica and found it to be full of crime, corrupt,
difficult and expensive – or you’ll hear that Costa Rica is peaceful,
inexpensive, full of loving people and the true paradise they had been
looking for. There doesn’t seem to be much of a middle ground.

How is it possible to have such diversity in experiences? Are the
experiences one can expect to be totally random, luck of the draw so to
speak?

Spiritual psychology would say no. “Outer Experience is a reflection of
Inner Reality.” In other words, the more disharmony one experiences
internally is directly reflected in the experiences they have in the
“real world.” Conversely, the more healing that has taken place inside
oneself and the more aligned one feels with their true purpose in life,
the better an experience they are likely to have in life.

Sometimes we put unfair expectations on ourselves. Many of us come from
cultures in which we learned that the grass is greener on the other
side of the fence. When we find that things aren’t working for us, we
figure that making a change in our job, relationship or home will solve
our problems. How often is this really so?

When I was preparing to move for my thirteenth time, a professor I had
once told me “no matter where you go, you’re still going to be there.”
I guess he was saying that the problem was me, not everything I was
trying to run away from!

It isn’t until we really get a sense of who we are, define our core
beliefs and become willing to drop some of our misperceptions of the
world that we are able to reach the greener grass.

One thing that Costa Rica does provide for many people who move here is
some time to get quiet and to explore some of who we are. This can be
very refreshing, as the more aligned one gets with oneself,

Some questions you might ask yourself are:

• What do I really believe about the world I live in and how it operates?

• Are there beliefs I have bought into that really don’t serve me? An
  example of this is the story of one client I had who was living in
  constant fear about getting remarried and telling her children about
  her plans. She was raised Catholic and had always been told that she
  was going to go to Hell if she got married a second time without
  receiving an annulment of her first marriage. Her upset and fear had
  created a lot of other external problems in her life. It wasn’t until
  she was able to rise above the situation that she could see that
  perhaps she had bought into a belief that didn’t serve her. After
  re-examining what she really felt to be true inside of herself and not
  what someone else told her to believe, she was able to make peace with
  herself about the situation and relieve herself of the torment that she
  had created – both internally and externally.
• Are there unfair expectations I am placing on myself or others? Do I
  expect things to always go my way and then get upset when they don’t?
• Am I unfairly judging myself and others, unable to move on with my life because I constantly re-live old situations?
• Am I taking responsibility for my own happiness, or do I allow others
  to determine my happiness by blaming them for what they “do to me?” Do
  I have a victim attitude?

While examining these questions, one of the most beneficial and
important things you can do is to really sit down and to imagine what
kind of life you really want to have. Be willing to write these dreams
down and to allow yourself to see and feel what it will be like when
these dreams are fulfilled. Belief that you can have what you want and
the willingness to take small steps in the right direction are the only
requirements to the fulfillment of your dreams!

I promise you that becoming clear about these things will change your
experience in life, no matter where you live. And if you live in Costa
Rica, you’ll be able to tell one of the happy stories of the peaceful
life you are living!