i blocked facebook

and instagram and snapchat and deleted the email app from my phone. 

Today I spent some time surfing around wikipedia and learned a great deal about eastern mythology. It was amazing. I read the tale of a fisherman who, upon saving a sea turtle, was invited to the sea gods palace at the bottom of the ocean. There he spent time with the Sea God’s daughter and after 3 days wished to return to the surface. He was given a box, which would protect him as long as he didn’t open it and up he went. Upon reaching land again, he realized that 300 years had passed. 

Struck with the grief of losing everyone he loved, he opened the box after a few days and immediately aged into an old man. The voice of the Sea God’s daughter echoed from the box “I told you not to open the box, it contained your age.”

I really like mythology – there are some parts that make no sense, but there are other parts that mean something deeper which you can’t really explain. I like that they don’t follow much logic, yet there are still lessons to be learned. It makes me feel like the human mind isn’t designed to engage and understand the world on a logical level, as all thought and emotion is fundamentally wordless.

I wonder if old souls get older and more removed every time they are reborn (i recently decided to adopt this concept of reincarnation on really no basis whatsoever except that I like it. It’s very mythological this way!) I think old souls are kind of sacred. 

Where is your yeast?

While baking a loaf of bread today, I realized I had no yeast. Its funny how the smallest ingredient makes such a difference in terms of how the loaf turns out.

Yeast is considered the soul if the bread. It is its essence. A loaf of bread is literally a thriving ecosystem up until you put it in the oven.

I started thinking about what this might mean for my own life. Perhaps I have all the ingredients lined up, and I just need to make that one small change for my own creativity to thrive and multiply in size without any effort on my part (yeah right).

I can dream, can’t I?

How to pack a carry-on for a week long trip

I’ve been backpacking for a while and thought I’d share a little about what I think about while packing for a trip.

Enjoy my quick video about how to pack for a week-long trip using only a carry-on

Why temporarily lowering your standards is a good thing

Having standards is essential for development, that being said, sometimes you need to abandon them entirely in order to grow.

how my camera became a dance partner

I went to the museum last night make a movie of an exhibit called Zoodram 5,  an otherworldly aquarium in a dark room with a big red hermit crab wearing a golden mask as its shell.

Instead I found witnessed a performance in one of the temple rooms of the museum. Authentic  Indian dance and music in an authentic South Indian temple.

While recording this video I noticed myself swaying back and forth, following the dancer. In this way, I experienced the performance differently than anyone else. It was as if an invisible thread were tied between me and the performer and it was a pleasant ephemeral experience.

I probably wasn’t supposed to film this so if you don’t hear from me for a few days it’s probably because they kidnapped me and stuffed me in a sarcophagus. 

How holding hands saved my marriage (if I were married)

In due time I will write a book by this title first I just have to find a girlfriend. However, this entry isn’t about hand holding in a romantic sense, but in the platonic sense and how it can open up a physical pathway to deeper understanding and help strengthen current friendships.

Clearly I have my priorities in order

Right after writing this I decided it would be better to make a bucket list as a google document so I could always have it with me.  I still hung this up on my wall because it’s basically the cutest thing ever.

Adventure: I don’t wanna be a preacher

I have a confession to make: I haven’t been as honest on here as I wanted to be.

I don’t think any good can come from trying to impart any sort of wisdom onto someone else. I’ll just stress myself out trying to come up with things to say and you’ll feel like

The best thing to do with your loved ones this spring

Why don’t we have a counterpart holiday to Thanksgiving? Spring is such a magical time of the year – a time when hidden energies beneath the earth reawaken and smother the world with life.  Spring is a time for renewal – not only for plants and hibernating mammals, but for people as well.

Why you should start planning your funeral now

Birthdays, weddings, graduations… we have celebrations for the most important days of our lives. Some people have ideas of exactly what they want their weddings to be like, however very few people make any plans for their funerals. If death is the only certainty in life, why don’t we plan our funerals to reflect the way we live our lives?