“Pura Vida” and “Get Out of Bed and Go to Work!” share the same meaning.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They embody a philosophy in which communal ties are strong and close; difficulties are overcome with a resilient and happy spirit, where life is enjoyed leisurely and to the fullest, and where fortune of whatever size is heartily celebrated.<\/p>\n
Lon Kieffer was on vacation in Costa Rica this past week and would like to share this brief cultural lesson as it is a wonderful example of his GOOBERS philosophy.\u00a0\u00a0 <\/p>\n
Literally translated as \u2018pure life\u2019, Pura Vida is the phrase most commonly associated with Costa Rica. Most foreigners imbue the term with a sense of the \u2018laid back\u2019, hippy or surfer lifestyle where time is of little importance and friendship taken for granted. Indeed, the most credible origin of the word is that it developed from the interaction between the surfing pioneers of the mid 1950\u2019s and the local Costa Ricans (or Ticos) they encountered.<\/p>\n
Whatever it\u2019s beginnings there is no doubting that “Pura Vida”\u00a0has become part of the vernacular and Costa Ricans claim it to belong to “pachuco”, a slang or common speech somewhat removed from Spanish and very particular to Ticos. Used as a greeting, a goodbye, sometimes as an agreement, this versatile phrase, often shortened to a brief “pura”, signifies something deeper to Costa Ricans.<\/p>\n
Upon meeting your typical Costa Rican, in a bar for example, handshakes are exchanged to, \u2018Todo bien?\u2019 This literally translates as \u2018all good\u2019 and much like the English, \u2018Alright?\u2019 is at once both a question and an answer.\u00a0 \u2018Si todo bien. Pura vida\u2019, comes the reply to which the initiator will respond, \u2018Pura vida.\u2019 Thus both parties are assured of each other\u2019s health and a commitment to the Costa Rican philosophy of life is affirmed.<\/p>\n
So, to all my fellow GOOBERs a say, “Pura Vida!”<\/p>\n
* \u00a0<\/span>* \u00a0<\/span>*<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Lon Kieffer, author of \u201cGet Out of Bed and Go to Work!\u201d, Speaker, Consultant, Executive Recruiter and Expert on Workplace Culture Change and Generational Conflicts, gives seminars, keynote and plenary addresses, runs annual sales meetings, and provides Common Sense Consulting at:\u00a0 <\/span>www.LonKieffer.com<\/span><\/a><\/span>. He can be reached at:\u00a0 (302) 462-6748 or via email at:\u00a0 <\/span>Lon@LonKieffer.com<\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" “Pura Vida” and “Get Out of Bed and Go to Work!” share the same meaning.\u00a0 They embody a philosophy in which communal ties are strong and close; difficulties are overcome with a resilient and happy spirit, where life is enjoyed leisurely and to the fullest, and where fortune of whatever size is heartily celebrated. Lon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-136","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-workplace"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lonkieffer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lonkieffer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lonkieffer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lonkieffer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lonkieffer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=136"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lonkieffer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":139,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lonkieffer.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136\/revisions\/139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.lonkieffer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lonkieffer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.lonkieffer.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}