Society
-
Rationality: Home of The Mind or The Heart?
Many of us in modern, Western society like to say that our feelings are irrational. They are illogical, unreasonable, foolish… When, in fact, our feelings are not irrational at all. They’re probably our best source for the most rational advice ever to exist. We have been using our feelings for decades, centuries, even millennia to…
-
Film Pictures
I think I’ve spent the last four years trying to figure out who I would be without the influence of my family, the people around me, the media, society… Like if I grew up on a beach alone, who would I be? When in reality, that will never be the case It never is the…
-
We Are Never “Doing it Wrong”
Maybe we never need to learn anything new Maybe we have always had the answers in us in our gut reactions in our intuiotons in our deepest feelings Maybe we don’t ever have to think about how we feel or the way to find them Maybe life isn’t a journey of collecting new ideas things…
-
It’s All Stories
We can’t control anything besides what we tell ourselves (aka the story we tell ourselves). We are always creating stories, whether we know it or not. It’s what makes us homo sapiens. And since we are always telling ourselves something, we have some sort of autonomy in the story in a way. Think of it…
-
The Gift of Pain
Pain slows you down, and that’s its gift to us.
-
Imperfection Makes The Most Beautiful Sunsets
There is no perfect life sitting out there like pieces to a puzzle waiting to be collected. We are all individual, imperfect pieces that will never perfectly fit with anyone else or anything else or anywhere else. We shouldn’t be searching for exact matches. We should just be searching for similar edges. Similar colors on…
-
Messy Kitchens
Has individualism made is anti-relationships? Has the idea that we don’t need anyone but ourselves implanted some idea that we are all better off alone? When in fact we are missing the whole point of life? We all are supposed to have other people. We are supposed to lean on others. We need others. True,…
-
Pushing & Pulling
Life is a balance of both pushing and pulling, pushing for your goals and pulling back to slow down. Pushing to fight for what you deserve but pulling back to remember to smell the flowers and breathe. And knowing when to push and when to pull is the hardest part. However, I think we can…
-
Nesting in the City
birds in the city still sing to each other even with all the noise that does not belong. buildings that are not their trees and yet they still make nests. as long as I am where birds are, I can feel my soul, I can be human, and she can nest.
-
Words
Your soul doesn’t speak in words. It speaks in feelings, temperatures, movement, colors… Words have only been created by us not too long ago compared to our time on this earth. Words are not ancient. Words are not the truest form of communication. Before words, we only had our instincts. Our gut, or our “second…
-
There’s Always Enough
Humans are nature, and nature is perfect. And yet, the soul of the universe, as beautiful as it is, is just within a world that doesn’t have enough space for it all to exist at once. So, it created life, a linear, finite home for it to breathe. And we, as parts of life, think…
-
Traffic
Who are all these cars driving next to me? I’m sitting in my car, on my way to my appointment that’s scheduled in 20 minutes, and I want to be there on time. But all these other cars are in my way. Who are they, though? Are they a car? A chunk of metal that’s purposefully…
-
One’s Work, or One Who Works
It doesn’t matter if you’re a barista, an architect, a teacher, or a world record breaker. It almost doesn’t matter what you are doing with your work. What matters is how you do it. I refuse to believe that a person who works as a janitor is less worthy than a person who works as…
-
Rooted
All trees start as a seed, from a single point. And when the trunk is cut, you can see it’s solar system with different rings, planets, parts, stories, orbiting around the center. You can see the seed in the middle. Every year, the tree sheds its leaves and branches while growing a new layer within…
-
Self-Help, From Everyone Else
We don’t really need these poems. You don’t really need to be listening to that wellness podcast. Doesn’t the idea of “self-help” being something you buy and read about from someone else contradict the entire essence of the idea itself? You don’t really need that ten-step guide to a perfect life, and you definitely do…
-
Innovation
I shouldn’t be allowed to think like this. I shouldn’t be allowed to be moving my fingers on this phone, this technology that probably shouldn’t have even been created, and writing down thoughts of desire, control, expectations, and worries that most living species have never had the capacity to think before. We’re the only ones.…
-
Big, Bad Wolves
Remember the story of the wolf huffing and puffing and blowing the house down? And how the house of straw blew down when the big bad wolf huffed and puffed but the house of stone stayed? The wolf may be strong and loud and show his teeth and growl, but the stone house will never…
-
There Will Always Be A Bed
When I was walking to Camino de Santiago, one of the lessons I learned right away was to not rush through the walk for fear of not getting a bed at the end of each day. On my first day walking, I pretty much ran the whole way. I worried all morning that the beds…
-
Happy People!
Everyone wants to live a happy life. And for a long time, I believed that finding a happy life meant saying yes to everything. I thought that the only way to have any fun was to be spontaneous. Go! Do! Let go of all your boundaries! Go out to the bars with strangers you just…
-
Floating Away
Why do I always speed up my life when I’m excited about things? Why do I lose contact with my soul and refuse to make myself a nice meal or do my routines or call my friends when I’m excited about something I’m working on? It’s different when I’m at a job and people are…
-
Plots of Land
Birds never stop singing. Fawns are always looking to learn from their mothers. Chipmunks are ruffling leaves, bluejays are gathering seeds, pine needles are making a blanket over the earth as the trees prepare for another rebirth. Voices of fishermen bounce on top of the lake water and travel all the way to shore. No…
-
Sickness
We are still the same after a diagnosis. We were sick before the diagnosis, and we are still sick afterwards. The only thing that is different is that now our minds actually think we are “sick.” We’ve put thoughts into our beings about what that sickness means. But we are still the same. We can…
-
Grandmas Giving Up
We waste so much time trying to live lies because we are so afraid to feel and live the truths we have within us. We are so afraid of being honest with ourselves. I see so many grandmas saying, “I just don’t care anymore.” “I’ve finally given up trying.” “Now, I’m doing whatever the fuck…
-
Terrible Dancers
We should relish the terrible dancers. The people who sing out of tune, those who write incorrectly, our friends who confess embarrassing secrets. They are creating something in this world. Perfection is not creation. Mistakes, trying, failing, embarrassing – those are all part of us adding something to this world. And those who judge the…
-
Power, An Illusion
We often feel that the things we fear the most always have the most power over us. If we are afraid that something will come and hurt us, then we are giving it the ability to do so. The thing we forget is that these things never had that power in the first place. Nothing…
-
Between Two Worlds
This period of humankind is especially hard because we are often conflicted between two worlds: science and spirituality. They both don’t have the answers. They are both manmade and, generally speaking, built mutually exclusive from each other. And if we try to follow both science and spirituality together we tend to get lost. We don’t…
-
Candid Pictures
Pictures are existential. Pictures are essential. When we pose for pictures, or edit them, or filter them, we are telling ourselves that we don’t want to see our actual selves, our natural selves. But our candid pictures are us just without masks. Candid pictures, ones where we don’t pose or curate what the photo will…
-
The Law of Least Effort
The law of least effort means that the maximum outcome presents itself when the least amount of thought is put into finding it. This law defies everything we are taught in society. We are taught to always be productive, active, constantly doing something because those who work the hardest and/or are the most efficient will…
-
Masks
As I sit at this bar table, eating some super delicious pumpkin deep-fried fritters and reading Joseph Campbell, I’m noticing when I am overthinking. Such as how I just walked around for an hour, deciding where to eat lunch rather than just making a decision and enjoying whichever restaurant I choose (and it’s always delicious).…
-
Over-Engineering
We over-engineer our lives. Our cars have too many buttons. Our houses have too many gadgets. We track too many things. Edit too many photos. When we over-engineer, we add more things that could go wrong, more things to worry about, more things that we are responsible for. Heated seats, cruise control, backup cameras are…
Ali Walks Around 