Tribe Contribution

How lucky am I to be able to declare I genuinely love spending time with my family. Perhaps in a lot of the world that’s a foolish statement; that’s a conversation for a different day. But in the world today, where I live, it seems like a too rare thing. We have this one experience, however long it may seem at times. If we spend it with those we love, with those that make us better, we actualize our full potential: to contribute to this universe, to impact all we experience for the betterment of it all. And the fact is: we need each other to do it.

Influence on Others

I went to a wake today of a person I didn’t know that well. He impacted my life in a positive way, and I was moved during the service. Having gone through the very personal and visceral experience earlier this year, I processed how unique every situation can be in such circumstances. What I took away: we exist in circles of connection in this world of billions of people, and our impact on others matters. Our lives appear to be such a long time scale, but time can be funny. Our influence on each other matters, and it carries. This one’s to Don Church.   

Grappling with Time

Gosh time is such a trip. It slips away without notice when we least want it to; and when meditating, it can go on forever. It seems our perception of the concept of “time” is dependent on our ability to be present. Thousands of years ago we were immersed in presence, clawing for survival. Now, in the 21st century, we have stimuli bombarding us constantly. How present are we as a species? How present do we need to be? We can consider such questions, as we try to change the world, and grapple with time.

Life’s Complexity

Life is hard and complicated and unclear. I try to remind myself that no one has it completely figured out, not one person on this planet. Sometimes it’s nice to lose yourself in music while reflecting on the grandness of it all and all its complexity. It can be helpful to exercise it out as well. On a run this afternoon I couldn’t help but marvel at my fortune, to be jogging on a long wide street towards distant golden hills, bright blue sky with flecks of pure white clouds at 5pm. It was bliss, as life sometimes is. It makes the times of uncertainty seem less enveloping. And then there’s your tribe: it’s a lot easier to figure life out with someone, to figure it out together.

Traveling Mother Earth

Booking travel can be exhilarating because you actualize a place you want to visit. It helps that airline and hotel websites plaster their pages with exotic pictures of fantastical destinations. But you can’t deny the world is incredible. There are arctic fjords, tropical beaches, and temperate forests. It may all be mapped, but it’s still waiting to be explored by each person, to bring our union closer to Mother Earth.

Season of Change

Can you feel the season changing? Growing up, Summer was always my favorite season. It meant swimming in the pool, my birthday, and no school. As I’ve gotten older I think my preference has shifted to Autumn. It probably started in Beijing, where I regularly experienced all 4 seasons for the first time. Something about Fall is anticipatory: the holidays are coming, and winter, and the new year. There’s a chill in the air that makes it that more precarious to be out in the elements, which makes you feel a little more alive. It’s a season of change, of transition. It’s a reminder that the world is always changing, and we must change with it. We get to. What will it bring?

Little Things

There are times when I recognize it’s the little things we do that keep it going day after day. The small habits we keep carry us on a positive path. I notice it, when I’m good, in my personal life. It makes me wonder if there are little things we can do as a group to make the world better. Being patient on the road, cleaning up after ourselves in public, treating each other with respect. Maybe it’s just the little things that can change the world.

Interesting Planet

I’m always taken aback by how different the city and the South Bay are. I arrive back down where I’m from today, and it’s a whole different world; a calmer, quieter one. A mere 40 miles separates these two locales, and yet if you removed the time concept from traveling between them, you’d wonder if you crossed the country. The world is a big interesting place. We can so easily become accustomed to the ways of the area in which we reside. But when we get out and explore the planet, we can truly appreciate its vastness and diversity. How lucky we are to inhabit a place so interesting.

Natural Seeking

We’re still a little weird when we’re all in public together, even at a festival in San Francisco. I have to say however: maybe I was in a great mood because I was enjoying the day with my family, but I found people to be relaxed and friendly at Hardly Strictly Bluegrass today. The bottom line is simple in that we’re all embracing the same thing. We seek fulfillment and connectedness and play. When that’s hard to find due to larger societal mechanisms, we can start to become restless in larger groups, these affiliations that exist in modern times that transcend our biological evolution. But I believe in our capability to figure it out. We can build systems that work for us, and when we do, it will enable our better nature to absolutely flourish.

Find the Good

And sometimes you just have to realize how good you have it. When I really see it, I feel ashamed for having ever complained about anything at all. You’re born into a lot of shit in this world; it still dictates too much of your life path chances. But the people you love, the relationships you forge, can be a separating denominator. As social creatures, our company greatly impacts our experience. When you’ve found that tribe, whether born with it or not, it transforms what’s possible. And at that point, there’s nothing to contest, there’s only things to get done, and time to enjoy.

Just Your Mind

Today I was told during lunch that a celebrity died—I didn’t know because of my temporary hiatus. Instead of browsing the web, I’ve thought about the tattoos I want to get and reminisced to myself about good times. I haven’t been perfect in my refrain, as it’s hard. It can be easy to replace a habit with a worse one. I’m trying to choose that wisely. But there’s certainly less negativity in my life; instead of calling myself an idiot when I do something dumb I chuckle, “ha that was silly.” I’m less judgmental of strangers’ acts. There are lots of benefits I probably haven’t even noticed yet. Abstaining from mass media permanently isn’t a viable long term strategy (probably), but I can use the experience to better inform how I want to approach information in the future. It’s a ride when you just have your mind.

Pushing Through It

Sometimes you just have to push through. I think about all the times that were difficult in my life, and at some point, even if it seemed like forever, things became better. We have to believe in that light, for ourselves, and for the world. We are a part of the universe, and we can influence its path. Sometimes we just have to push through it.

Connectivity Paradox

It can be incredibly hard to be bored in the modern world. There is distraction everywhere, opportunities for neural connections to form and strengthen. I’ve found this to be true in villages on dirt roads in Africa, or on jungle border towns in South America. Our world is connected, which in general can be construed as a really good thing. However creativity and muse and wondering and wandering happen when not hyper-connected. Balance as we move forward in the future will help us effect the most impactful change.

Starting Small

Mass media can be difficult to escape in today’s world. I’m starting to think a cyclical hiatus is the best strategy for finding balance. It’s important to stay informed with what’s happening in the world, but I’ve found it easy to get lost in extraneous concerns far outside one’s circle of influence. We can only control so much, and that all starts with our internal environment. When we’re centered in our disposition, it is then we can effect change in our smaller circle. And that can change the world.

Taking a Rest

It’s okay to be tired. That means you’re living. But it also means to rest up so you can go again. We’re not done yet as a species. We can do this. We just have to see.

Being Thankful

I’m so thankful for everything I got. I wouldn’t be where I am without the support of my tribe. Where would any of us be? On days like today, I look back and I’m thankful. It is one big beautiful amazing world.

Teaching Epiphany

I encountered a silly epiphany this morning: every single thing we know was taught to us. All knowledge that any one of us possesses relies on a foundation built by those before. When we learn how to count and read, when we learn the known properties of the universe or the theories of economics, we are being taught by someone else. This transfer of knowledge and information is what makes the human species utterly unique. No other plant or animal can teach so effectively and efficiently. Without teaching, we would still be in caves huddled around primitive fires.

And in many circumstances, it is a parent or guardian that instills these skills and values in a child. A mother or father frames our understanding of the world upon birth. I’m lucky to have a father who taught me my most important lessons: math isn’t scary but a puzzle to figure out, hard work matters and yields success, and humans are one race. Thanks Dad.

To Be Kind

I judge people so quickly and so easily. Not sometimes; it’s become my mode of operation. I can blame larger societal forces, the pandemic and how it’s affected us all so much, that the world is going to shit, etc. But I don’t have control over those things, and extremely little influence, if I want to flatter myself.

I have control over me. That’s it, that’s the one entity in this universe that I preside over. It’s pretty  simple when you look at it in that way. So what am I going to do? Will I help change the world? Because it seems to be, the best way to do that, is to be kind.

Information Overload

There’s a lot of information out there in today’s world. When before we could claim ignorance, we can now easily assert overwhelm. How do we separate fact from fiction?

It may well prove to be a defining element of our time, the Information Age. So far it has complicated organization and deepened tribal affiliations.

But we have agency. We can counter this confusion by adopting the largest unified perspective possible: the universe exists on enormous scales of space and time, and we are all inhabiting one pinprick out of all the possibilities; we are one species on an incredible planet full of other life; and we all want the same things in this existence we call life. When we start from there, we can wade the through the mass of information, and we can begin to change the world.

Enjoy the Ride

Sometimes you just have to forgive yourself at the end of the day; we can’t reach our lofty expectations every time. But we also can’t have too many such days in a row. There’s a weird inherent catch-22 in many things in life. We can help each other figure it out, navigate this ever-changing soup we call the universe. The ride will be a lot more fun.