Just Bought Some Ink

How can one be grateful for unimpressive things like a can of tuna? In Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore -- the chillest citizen of the Hundred Acre Woods -- has a birthday party. Pooh and Piglet brought gifts: a jar of honey and a birthday balloon, respectively. Unfortunately on the way to the party, all the honey in the jar was eaten and the balloon was punctured. So Eeyore received an empty jar and a deflated balloon as gifts. However, instead of sulking over lackluster presents, Eeyore is delighted to be the proud new owner of a useful pot and an object which he can store in said useful pot.  On the other hand, I take many things for granted from the bath towels that keep me warm and dry to the rain that washes piss off the sidewalks. Gratitude comes from one's mindset, not from the object of affection. If I expected a gourmet breakfast buffet at the Ritz-Carlson, but only had a can of tuna, I'd be very disappointed. I could choose to focus on the fishy chalkiness of the tuna and yea...

I would argue water is the best element out of all the elements available in the Pokédex because water is infinitely adaptable and it embodies the human experience more than fire, wind, or earth. One that adopts the philosophy of water will be unfazed by the ups and downs of life and find inner peace. Water is infinitely adaptable because it adopts the shape of the vessel that contain it. Anything that cannot adapt is bound to break. Most things aren't immortal because at one facet or another, they're unable to adapt to one or more changes in the environment. In humans, aging is the gradual erosion of the body's ability to adapt to stressors. For example, as one ages, their skin loses elasticity over time, making it vulnerable to wrinkles and tears. I practice the art of accepting the impermanence of all circumstances of life by embracing uncertainty in my day-to-day life. Instead of planning every minute of my day, I outline a few of the most important tasks I must get don...

Imagine walking along a trail in the early morning. You see a beautiful sunrise in the distance and hear the calm lapping of water from the river next to your path. You feel calm and content for a moment. But your brain begins to obsess over how good the moment feels. You worry about your emotions returning to baseline after the experience ends. Intrusive thoughts enter your mind, "what did I do to feel so calm and content a minute ago?" and "how do I remember this feeling and process so that I can experience this happiness again?". When your mind begins to stray from the present moment and spiral into a rabbit hole of worry, you should take a break and journal. This is the perfect situation to write down your emotions and necessary cues to remind you of this experience and, most importantly how this experience made you feel. This is a process I call snapshot journaling because documenting experiences immediately after the fact is like taking a snapshot of one's...

Does your day-to-day look like this? Wake up, make breakfast, drive to work in intolerable rush hour traffic, get to the office at 9am, attend meetings, respond to never-ending emails, have lunch at 12pm, get back to the grind at exactly 1pm, go home at 5pm, scroll on your phone or watch TV while eating a microwave dinner out of exhaustion, stress about all the unfinished tasks you’ve left at work, and finally, go to bed to repeat the same thing the following morning. What do you think is wrong with this typical day-to-day life? Sure, there’s nothing so bad about it. It’s stable; it pays the bills and keeps a roof over your head. However, how does going through this schedule for five days a week for the rest of your life going to make you feel? I believe this sort of schedule kills your spirit of creativity because you don’t have time to experience a deep sense of boredom or reflect on your actions and the direction in which your life is moving. But, you might ask, why should I reflect...