Tenerife and the Inner Journey: How Our Perception Turns Paradise into Purgatory.

Tenerife and the Inner Journey

How many times do we seek answers in life, and in how many cases do we tend to look for them outside of ourselves? Many.

As thinking beings, our rational, logical-analytical, moralistic, and ultimately utilitarian mind guides and influences our decisions most of the time and in the vast majority of cases—even when we are convinced otherwise.

The conscious mind, a box full of beliefs, convictions, and attachments, feeds on questions that demand answers without allowing for any deviation. This means that when we do not find the answer we are looking for, it can turn into a real problem, permeating our daily lives with tension, discomfort, dissatisfaction, doubts, uncertainties, fears, and insecurities on all levels.

I have encountered this countless times during my journey in personal growth as a Mental Trainer, Life & Spiritual Coach, and Mentor. Many people have sought in their move to Tenerife an answer and solution to their various problems.

Tenerife was also an important choice for me, one that many describe as “courageous.”

I have been living in this wonderful gem of the Canary Islands for three years with my husband, David Cardano, with whom I share a mission of support and personal growth.

During this time, I have heard the island described in countless ways.

What has struck me the most is how, in every account, the island is perceived as if it were a sentient being, endowed with human-like characteristics, making autonomous decisions, and having a distinctive personality that creates a relationship with those who come into contact with it. This applies whether we consider the island itself or Mount Teide, which, reigning over the land, is believed to hold immense power—not only from a geological perspective. It is often referred to as “Father Teide.”

In this island, which according to this logic we could call patricentric, the "parental" figure of Father Teide, with its powerful energy, seems to determine our fate—deciding whether our stay in this earthly paradise, the land of eternal spring (as explorers from around the world have described it for centuries), will be temporary or permanent.

Accepted or rejected, embraced or literally spit out.

I have heard so many things in praise or criticism of this entity with human traits (Tenerife), so many people either delighted or displeased by the same characteristic, and many more reflecting on or preparing to leave, tired and weary of something that is either missing or excessive.

The most crucial point I have developed in conversations with these individuals was not to understand the daily problems they reported as the root cause of their struggles, supposedly stemming from the island itself, but rather to identify the exact moment or period in which they decided to pack up their lives and take the leap.

What was happening inside them at that moment?

What did their external circumstances trigger in their inner world?

It is in this space-time capsule that we can find important answers. And the key point is that this capsule represents something internal, not external, to the person.

Within this imaginary container lie all the insights that can provide the true answer to whether being on the island feels like paradise or, conversely, a purgatory—or even a hell, for some. These three states (paradise, purgatory, hell) refer to an inner experience, not to something external that generates them.

With everything I have said so far, I am not denying that the island has its own characteristics. Every place does—morphological, climatic, naturalistic, sociopolitical...

But "the map is not the territory."

The expression "The map is not the territory" comes from the work of Alfred Korzybski, the founder of general semantics. It means that our perception of reality (the map) is not reality itself (the territory).

In other words, the way we interpret the world is always a subjective representation, filtered through our experiences, beliefs, and personal convictions. We never see reality in absolute terms, but rather through our own mental model. This model was not born with us but is the result of all the experiences we have carried since childhood, the values we have absorbed, the people we have met, and the challenges we have faced throughout our journey to what we now call "today."

Each of these elements has shaped us and contributed to creating our personal vision of the island, along with the corresponding benefits or discomforts it brings.

The idea that what we call reality is a product of our mental model is at the core of many psychological disciplines, such as NLP (Neuro-Linguistic Programming), which is one of the tools I use in my personal growth programs (for further information, visit www.lauramonza.com).

This concept highlights that each individual has their own "map of the world," and understanding this difference can help us realize that the island, which seems to hold the power to change our destiny for better or worse, is nothing more than one of many places in the world that represents a potential opportunity.

To fully embrace this opportunity, we must first work on our inner world so that our perception, the filters through which we see reality, and ultimately our outlook on life—wherever we may be—are oriented toward what I like to call wide-angle well-being in my mission of personal growth and guidance.

If these words resonate with you and you feel the need for support and guidance, you can find me here in Tenerife at the Body Mind Spirit studio in Chayofa (go to homepage - more - contacts). If you are elsewhere, we can embark on this journey of transformation and growth online.

My mission is to help people like you find serenity, inner peace, and harmony with the world around them.

With Love.

Laura