We can change the world.
Sailing off the coast of Quintana Roo, August 2020
I realize more and more that the people in my life are the biggest factors of my experience. My joy is determined by those I love. As the years go by, the people we spend time with matter. They set the course of my life. I am so grateful to be human, and to enjoy the social element of our shared existence. We are who we live with, and I wouldn’t trade my tribe for anybody’s.
Starting a journey so much time ago, El Chalten, Chile - March 2019
Today marks three years of blogging every day. The purpose of this daily post is to raise global consciousness, unite humanity, and inspire change. And even if I struggle to deliver to that mission each day, this offers a space for me to be intimate and be honest, even if it’s a public submission to the world. I truly believe in the themes that guide my writing: we are more similar than we are different. It’s a huge diverse beautiful amazing world, within this unknown we call the universe. We can be kind to each other, and that truly makes all the difference in our experience together. Respect responsibility and resolve can guide us in our quest to contribute. And no matter how small we may feel at certain times, we can change the world. Even if this is your first time ever reading, thank you. Life is beautiful, and not only can we be grateful for its beauty, we can also add to it.
Gazing toward the sky at Wat Phra Si Rattana Satsadaram in Bangkok, Thailand - February 2020
Momentum matters in this universe. We grasp the concept and its significance in physics, but we often underestimate its importance with our minds, moods and bodies. Consistency in exercise is key to prevent injury and get stronger, faster, and healthier. We generate literal physical momentum with our bodies when we are consistently active. Meditation practice, regular breath work, and time out each day promotes clarity, focus, and energy. We must routinely engage in such nurturing exercises for the mind for them to be effective; we experience the benefits with momentum. Gratitude and patience and love must be practiced daily to fully feel our emotional baseline improve. Momentum is a powerful phenomenon in this universe, and if we embrace it, we can change the world.
Walking down 4th street in San Francisco, October 2022
This is life. Whatever’s in front of us right now, this is what our lives are. We don’t get to choose; we are so far away from any semblance of control of the universe. But we do have the wonderful opportunity to act with freedom. We can limit that in our global society, or increase it. The future of humanity will judge the decisions we make now. What shall we do?
Stopping to wonder at Lake Titicaca during a long journey. Copacabana, Bolivia - April 2019
It’s a wonder how many thoughts go through our heads on any given day. Even while cleaning up tonight, the thoughts kept flowing by: that the most ornery people can be loved by others (those that possess patience); how the identification and acceptance of liberalism in America has shifted, how easily we forget the way things were with the passage of time; and the fact my time spent writing is one of my most joyous series of moments each day. Perhaps it’s my current refrain from mass media, or conceivably it’s my most recent foray back into meditation. Maybe it’s the simple combination of music and doing dishes. Whatever the confluence of factors (there always is), I welcome the human experience we deem “life.” It sure is one big beautiful amazing universe. How lucky we are.
Witnessing sunrise with a loved one, Zanzibar, November 2019
We need three elements present in our lives in order to feel fulfillment and hope: time, health, and love. Whenever a significant absence of one of those variables occurs, we experience some level of suffering. Without love, our health and time becomes stale or meaningless; without health we cannot enjoy our time or love, and without time we have no vector of which to exist at all. And when we encounter an abundance of each entity, we are able to achieve synergy with the universe. When we value and strive for all three, we are fully activated as human beings, and can maximize our contribution to the ether.
Thousands-year old ice on the sea off the shore of Antarctica, March 2019
I’ll comment more on this on the 29th, but I want more for this blog. I want to provide longer term vision in my writing, instead of retrospecting on the day-to-day.
That aside, my astonishment continues to deepen each day I’m here. When you step back, it’s humbling to gather we don’t fully understand the extent of this experience. We don’t know the physics of this universe, we don’t know all the species on this planet even… there is so much we don’t know.
Even with how proud of our collective tribe we can be, with our technological advancement, our societal advancement… it’s still just the beginning. There is so much more ahead of us, if we see it and work together. It’s truly a big beautiful amazing world, and universe, and if we rejoice in that most basic of facts together, we prosper.
Fall sky over a beautiful valley in Parachute, Colorado, September 2022
There’s something about fall days and autumn nights that’s cozy. The cold is coming, and it’s darker for more of the day, and when you’re happy and with your loved ones, all warm inside, there’s a completeness to it. These little things are what make our life experience so special, and the act of recognizing that is bliss of itself. Bring on the fall nights.
Visiting Hong Kong in 2013
And here we are in another day. Does life ever feel like that? Yet every new day brings something new! We can shake off these pandemic blues, and get back to what makes us few.
There is much to despair over in today’s world. But there is also so much to celebrate, if we see it. The world is better now, than it was 50 years ago. Better than it was 1000 years ago. For all the better that we can be, we can also pause to smile.
So show me what you got… San Francisco, October 2022
It’s always easy to talk. It’s a different thing to interpret another one’s experience.
Isn’t that what makes us special? To be able to actively listen to the sounds, the tone, and the context… and then to deductively interpret what is a shared experience?
Excerpt now, more than ever in human history, there is an incomprehensible amount of noise. Which makes it easier than ever to talk.
How do we navigate this? Through our ubiquitous means of communication, or through another pathway? I believe we can find the solution.
Passing by a building In Sevilla, Spain, August 2019
Earnest is an important habit to practice. We can preach about whatever values or philosophies we want to hold in our society, but without earnest, they don’t translate into anything tangible in the world. We can ask ourselves, whatever our orientation to the universe: did I pursue an aim with earnest today? Simple, but powerful. And those seem to be the most effective mechanisms for change.
Looking out at the hoodoos in Bryce National Park, July 2019
Our perception of time can be so subjective sometimes: certain days whirl by, and others progress slowly. The fact is, time is a limited resource of which each of us has an indeterminate amount. We don’t know how much we have left. We can only choose to use it in the way we sit fit. Will we waste it away… or will we contribute to the universe… will we change the world?
Observing old boats as we pass them by off Isla Mujeres, Mexico, August 2022
We’re such adaptable creatures, and that applies to the level of the brain. We become accustomed to the amount of stimuli we receive regularly, and when it changes it can be difficult to adjust. This is why it can be hard to remove one’s self from consumption of mass media, because it’s everywhere around us all the time now with our phones and the internet. And this malleability of attention affects how we interact with each other and the world. That is why it’s important to keep our consumption in check, in perspective. So that we can see what truly matters in this world: the life and love that surrounds it.
Walking past an alley in San Francisco last month
I’ve realized I’ve fallen away from my hobbies over the years. I’m not sure if it’s the pandemic or something else, but I don’t run or play basketball or play pool as much as I used to. Running has become more routine, despite my transition to minimalist footwear, and it feels great. When we have habitual activities we can retreat to, the world seems saner. Perhaps we should all pursue our hobbies to help everyone, not just ourselves.
Viewing the horizon at sunset, Aruba earlier this year
I still maintain there’s a fall feeling in the air, despite the heat wave recently. And recently, I’ve spent so much time with my family. Do we enjoy the change of seasons more when we’re comfortable with our tribe? It’s how we’ve always adapted to transition. I feel honored to be a part of it all.
Soaking in the sun at Soquel Vineyard today
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.
Another train passing by in Alviso, December 2020
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.
Lights on the Yangtze River in Wuhan, September 2012
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.
Seeing the path between the trees in Mossman Gorge, Australia, February 2020
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.
Admiring the clouds coming over Bigs Beach in Maui, February 2021
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.