What I learned from Buddha, Santa, and the Land of Smiles

Last week, I got back from a truly incredible vacation through Asia.

Being able to experience different cultures and ways of life is such a gift. And travel has been an investment in my personal growth as well.

There's so much I'm still digesting about our trip, but here's one thing that really stood out to me.

Having visited more temples than I can count, I was really struck by how open-minded and accepting people were of multiple belief systems.

People in Japan practice both Buddhism and Shintoism - each taking a role in different aspects of life - without seeing them as in conflict with each other.

In Cambodia, Hindu and Buddhist motifs sit side by side within the same temples built over 1,000 years ago.

The same is true of the temples in Thailand, The Land of Smiles, which has such an open and accepting culture in general and whose people embrace positive aspects of many different religions and cultural practices.

Hilariously, despite having a 90% Buddhist population, Bangkok was fully decked out for Christmas when we left.

I wonder what the US would look like if we had the same attitude?

Whether it's religion, culture, or even business practices, though we’re very accepting of other people's beliefs, we rarely make the jump to take on other’s belief systems as our own.

We're pretty good at adopting only one way of thinking even if we're also good at agreeing to disagree. (I'm reminded of conversations I’ve had with people about gut vs. data-driven decision making, for example).

What would it look like if we were more embracing of a multitude of frameworks, practices, and belief systems?

What if we stopped treating the gurus and the thought leaders as quasi-gods that have discovered the one right way to do things?

What if we took the fingers out of our ears and listened to more (not all) of the noise out there?

Imagine the possibilities we might discover if we were more open to the things that come our way without us looking for them. If we accept that there’s often more than one right answer.

As someone who believes in my own framework and who often espouses the value of focus while scaling, these are questions I’m asking myself as well.