One of the most striking things I have noticed about the Thai culture is their calmness. Even among chaos and hard times they somehow manage to move through life at a comfortable pace, never seeming to focus too much about the past or the future, but on the present moment.
This became really apparent to me during our visit to the Hmong village. I felt a certain peace among the people while I was there. Even when the rain started to downpour they just rested for a while until it stopped, never seeing a setback as an inconvenience. They’re lives are very continuous, and not broken up into good or bad times. This relates to the Human Ecology Model, specifically the sociocultural aspect. Their calmness and sense of time can be seen as influencing one another in a harmonious way. I’ve observed that the “Thai time” moves slower than our fast paced way of life, which contributes to their sense of calmness. Another time I noticed this calmness and slower time urgency was during meal times. Since the Thai people take such pride in their cooking, it makes sense that they would place value on meal times.
The Thai’s calm nature is something that I hope to adopt in my own life and I can’t wait to see more examples of this play out in the next couple of weeks.
Chelsea,
I love your post about the calm environment and culture of the Thai people. It truly is amazing their practice of mindfulness, the way in which they can find peace and happiness in every moment. Their culture truly is profound in the way the treat others and their constant mindset of being in the present and letting go of what doesn’t serve them.
Chelsea,
Your post just makes me feel like I am not the only thinking Thai people are very calm and gentle. The way a Thai person speaks, it is always so soft and calm. I wonder if that is something everyone do or if there are people who doesn’t follow the tradition. Thank you for your post! ((:
Chelsea, I completely agree with you that Thailand is definetely a calm culture. I’m glad you noticed the little things about I think that culture truly shapes an individual. Thailand represent it’s culture through language. Thanks for sharing your story about the calmness in culture. I look forward to next week.
Chelsea,
Same same. Your example in the Hmong village helped me wake up to this dynamic in their living. While I was sick I had “monkey mind” (digital monk KK), and was thinking what if? and the anxiety made the experience harder. My new favorite creature is the snail. Thanks for your post.