“So many people live wi…

“So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.”
― Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild

You said it, guy who wrote Into the Wild

“One day I will find t…

“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.”
― Jack Kerouac, Dharma Bums

I have two gifts that come to mind upon seeing this quote.  These are gifts of mine, of course.  On is my gift of gab and one is my way with words.  Now while I had to beg borrow and steal popular idioms and phrases to convey this, I think I speak for myself and almost everyone around me when I say, if there is anything that is evident it’s that I like to talk and I like to write.  And when I can’t seem to do one, I usually do the other.  I started writing poetry, and I think I constructed a style for myself in which words were numerous and sentences were long and descriptive.  What I mean by all this is one day I hope to find the right words, the ones that can stand without much extra coloring.  That will be right.  Like this experiences and many other experiences, encounters, and relationships in life, I can’t seem to color them.  They stand quite right on their own.

“Travel is like love, m…

“Travel is like love, mostly because it’s a heightened state of awareness, in which we are mindful, receptive, undimmed by familiarity and ready to be transformed. That is why the best trips, like the best love affairs, never really end.” — Pico Iyer

In the morning, it will be my birthday.  No gift can measure up to the gift of experience.

And honestly, the gift of my mother, who loves me with this kind of undimming love, and always pushes me to try things and allow myself to be transformed.  While I will miss family and loved ones on this day, I feel their presence even stronger in some ways.  How I got here, to this point in life, this physical place, is not all my own doing.

“Perhaps love is the pro…

“Perhaps love is the process of my leading you gently back to yourself.'” – Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

You know who you are, my little metaphorical compasses

“Adventure is a path. R…

“Adventure is a path. Real adventure – self-determined, self-motivated, often risky – forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world. The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it. Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness. In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind – and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both. This will change you. Nothing will ever again be black-and-white.” – Mark Jenkins

But it won’t be grey either.  It’s actually plenty colorful in Kathmadu, in case you haven’t heard.