Live in Reverence by Bowing to Life
To live in reverence is to accept that I’m no better than the life that has always been. To live in reverence means I am not above any person or thing. For a few quick minutes, I could hardly control my body as the cold ocean water drew away my breath. But then, my body settled as the cold brought me to the present.
Read full storyLife; Not a Race
Balance. Even the word seems balanced; unmovable, stable, peaceful. Arms outspread where life can try to grab ahold, but the core stays strong. Not leaning too far one way nor the other, the morning sun and dusky moon, juxtaposed, contending, yet through it all, at ease.
Read full storyBlack Sage
Late in the afternoon with nothing left to do, I took off without a phone to climb the nearby bluffs that overlook the vast Pacific Ocean. Don’t think so much, just go — my body drove me out the door and into the waning light.
Read full storyBe an Artist Who Never Stops Giving Your Gifts to the World
Three lessons from Seth Godin’s “Linchpin” on what it takes to be indispensable in anything you do. I settled into my seat in the back of the plane, soaring through the clouds on my way to Austin, Texas. I was curious how flying would be during Covid. In an unlikely way, it was a far more pleasant flight than many I’ve had in the past.
Read full storyNever Be Ashamed of Anything You Create
Myself for anything else. Inside I’ll always be the same. When it’s easy to look down. Iwrote this poem a couple of nights ago on a small scratchpad under the orange glow of a streetlamp. I was on a late-night walk when I stopped to watch the traveling lights of cars on the far-away freeway, dimmed by a layer of fog.
Read full storyThe Value of the Commonplace Book
Keep a commonplace book to observe and take notes, a practice mastered by the Renaissance thinker, Leonardo da Vinci. This is my commonplace book, a place to connect what I see with what I think, a place to store my interests and thoughts and explore my soul.
Read full storyOur Daily Experiences Make Us Who We Are
Make every day a new experience you can be proud of. Waiting, looking, hoping for the next experience, where I take to the road with not much more than my spirit and a camera, books and a pen, lost to find my way.
Read full storyDo I Keep My Passion a Passion, or Strive to Make it My Career?
I’ve been contemplating a decision for a while now, since I left my job at the beginning of quarantine. Do I strive to write for money, or do I continue to write strictly as a hobby, a passion, untainted by the lust to make writing my profession?
Read full storyA Day to Cherish in Austin, Texas
A look to the left, and we could see the Texas Capitol building overlooking downtown Austin. To the right was South Congress Ave, lined with golden autumn trees, bustling diners, and some of the world’s best barbecue joints.
Read full storyLessons On the Art of Livin,’ From Matthew McConaughey’s Book, Greenlights
the Austin, Texas airport on my way back home to California, I picked up Matthew McConaughey’s memoir, Greenlights. McConaughey is a slick-haired smooth-talkin’ Texan, and one of the leading men in Hollywood. As a proud University of Texas alumni, he’s a symbol of the Texas capitol; it only felt right to get the book while I was there.
Read full storyKick Back and Enjoy the Flight; Thoughts From 10,000 Feet
I'm sitting a few thousand feet up in the air, heading back home to California from Austin, Texas. I’m coasting through the darkening sky with a group of people I’ve never met.
Read full storyThe Thoughts of Othello
Sometimes it’s difficult to appreciate that this is my life right now. Rome and I are headed to Osaka on the Shinkansen, blazing through the Japanese countryside before his tournament tomorrow. And like always, I’m along for the ride. I’m sipping from a glass bottle of sake, and I have a Sapporo in front of me.
Read full storyThere Are No Universal Truths
Exploring Plato’s “The Parable of the Cave.”. Standing on the beach with my feet in the sand, I can feel the water rush from the sea and swallow my feet. I can feel the cold surge through my legs into my core; I can see the waves form and crash. I taste the lingering salt in the air.
Read full storyA Fortuitous Meeting With the Man Who Changed My Life
The sunset was a burning pink, almost as if the earth was on fire. I remember the day as the most tumultuous of those during quarantine early in the summer; everything on the news was chaos, looting, violence, and protests.
Read full storySix Lessons From Ray Bradbury on Love, Zen, and Writing With Gusto
Bradbury is my kind of guy. There’s a serendipitous joy that comes from stumbling upon a wonderful book, an uplifting movie, or any form of creation that has existed in the universe without our knowing.
Read full storySometimes Leaving Is the Hardest Thing to Do
The sky was dark and alive with incessant rain; dusk slowly fell and enveloped all that could be seen down to the sodden earth. The steel of the worn tracks, a symbol of modernity, glimmered amongst the bucolic landscape.
Read full storyLife; a Four Letter Word to Make Our Own
This word of four letters bears our hopes and dreams and loves. The letters withhold the time we were just kids and the word didn’t daunt us because we had our hands full living it.
Read full storyMy Homage to Coffee
A subdued white light eased its way through the open window early this morning, along with fresh, cold air. I turned on the stove, poured water into the graphite kettle, and placed it on top. With each exposure to the open flame, the metal on the bottom of the kettle tempers. Its polish has faded from a dark, metallic grey, into a faint spectrum of color.
Read full storyGive Away What You Love to Benefit Another Soul
Give away what you don’t need, as well as what you’d rather keep. It can be emotional to give our things away. We feel what we own is ours. We’ve worked for them, we’ve paid for them, and at one point, they meant something special to us.
Read full storyI Left the House and Ran
In a moment of hurt, the kindness of a stranger put a smile on my face. I don’t know what I’m doing. This is the most at peace I’ve felt in a while, looking out into the pale ocean, listening to the faint squawk of birds and the sound of water breaking on the rocks below.
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