Needless to say, they both have to do with leisure, health and wellbeing.
At some point enough is enough and one has to admit that this is the world we live in. While risks have changed, life must go on and, with adjusted responsibility and awareness, we should continue to travel and explore this beautiful planet we have.
Travel to new destinations will be enhanced by how hotels continue to evolve
Hotels are amazing places. They are our palace-home, away from home. We all, if we get there, no matter from what economic bracket, are pampered, serviced and treated with full attention. As hotels compete for an increasingly selective traveller, new trends will emerge in hospitality that will be bound to please the famished globetrotter in all of us: we will likely see an increase in service offerings, rooms will have an added personal touch and select VIP packages will offer unique and extra-memorable experiences.
From herbal scents on the pillows to florals and welcoming baskets, we may move to seasonal bedding and carefully placed, elevated art demonstrating the ever-growing benefits of neuroaesthetics. The future holds almost infinite possibilities.
FUN FACT 🧐
Even though the name “hotel” clearly derives from the french Hotel de Dieu – the medieval Catholic-run hospitals for the poor – the evolution of the Latin word into what we now know as “Mansions” is a truer root to what the hotels of today encapsulate: the aspiring luxury and refinement of well-off living.
Blue Zones are hot, and not just literal
With all the pressures of every day, some of us simply forgot to live.
Currently limited to only five coveted spots on earth, I’m certain the number of blue zones is on the rise. The increased attention to what we eat, reducing stress levels and overall accent on the quality of living will spark a return to some of the simpler things in life – because summed up, all the blue zones that we have now share only one important common denominator: just chill’
Chill not in a non-active, doing nothing on the couch kind of way but rather active, fun, full of life, friends and social interactions, a lot of daily walking and a constant array of stimulating activities that keep both your heart and, most importantly, your brain! rolling forward.
With all this, one important aspect of blue zones is systematically being neglected from all the lists describing these places: the connection of the occupants to their immediate surroundings. Most blue zones are in hot climates, but is warm weather an indispensable ingredient? I think not. Consider Selftropy.
Years in the making, selftropy™ is a new fulfilment theory that explores the connectedness between people and their environments. Stemming from many years of practicing interior design, art, writing and architecture, Selftropy has been at the basis of it all for over two decades. I did not call it anything in particular up to now however, as it became more and more defined, the tasks and steps more and more articulated, I found that it became important to recognize it as a distinct method and detail its recognizable identity. In my recent eponymous book, I’ll share the overarching principles, its benefits, my comments and findings. Exclusively used for selective clients, it will soon be available to a wider audience ready to absorb the full benefits of a happy lifestyle through design.
Designing with selftropy in mind you have control over your personal emotional bond between you and your surroundings.
The root of this concept is not new. From the primitive hut with the hole in the roof and its connection to the stars – we felt that we are more than just cosmic matter encased in elastic skin. Thru neuroaesthetics and other advancements of science, the connection, that was then intuitively present, has been analyzed, dissected, probed and gradually understood to a level that now allows us to devise specific means for particular effects.
Selftropic design is a fantastic method to achieve similar effects, if not often better than Meditation, Wabi-Sabi and Feng Shui. It does that by generating positive self-enhancement through a more idiosyncratically permanent, seamless and fluid attachment between you and your immediate external environment.
It has the potential to democratize design and the power to create confidence and a recharged environment always there to connect to.
As the earth becomes smaller, and we become self-sufficient, we look for alike places and communities to be part of; these communities may become tailored to specific interests but really, any community almost could, in theory, become a blue zone.
Diet, mindfulness, natural movement, interpersonal relations are some of the most important qualifiers. I believe that selftropy is also present and ignored, because of the lack of definition and a name; so now that it has one, it will not be long before it gets added to the list. The bond with your own environment, the comfortableness and constructibility of that comfort is not simply an add-on to the list but an essential element.
As buying a home in a blue zone is becoming the dream of many, this mode of living is on its way to becoming a trend. It is only natural that more blue zones will emerge since there will not be enough space, for the demand, in the existing ones. That does not necessarily mean that new communities will be created. The key question is, how can other areas on earth become blue zones?
All the qualifiers are achievable in any zone. So why can’t the rest of the world get it right? Hopefully, we will put some time into figuring it out fast, so that we can benefit from it, not just those that will follow us.
