Tag: adventure

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~ The Movement Of Life ~

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~ The Movement of Life ~

“Move. You were born to move. From the very second you entered this earth you were born to move. Before you could talk, you cried; before you could walk, you crawled. Wild and curious, you grew and explored the world around you. First was your home and your school, then it was your street and your neighbourhood – then your city and its fields. As the weeks went by, your world and horizons opened up and everything became bigger as you grew into the universe around you. You dreamt, you learnt, you explored, you wandered – and you moved. Because that was the most important thing; that was what was natural. To move and to grow. But what happens? What happens as you get older?

Your natural curious instinct to move and explore is stifled out of you. You become an adult and are asked to decide on things that ultimately make you static. You’re asked to have a job in a singular building in which to spend your adult life saving to buy a static house that ultimately compounds and cements one’s lack of movement. Your range of movement that once soared week-in, week-out as you grew into your world becomes reduced to the simple repetitive commute to work, the few square metres in the building of the work space and the same old journey to the supermarket and pub at the weekend. Too tired after work, you park yourself down on the sofa to watch a box in front of you every night. Your mental and spiritual world also becomes ever-harder to expand and explore; with time constraints and a grinding exhausting routine, there is no time to write that book, to learn that language or to play that instrument. You are too tired and too busy. So you no longer explore, you no longer wander – and you no longer move.

But it’s not all your natural state of being; a lack of movement in intrinsic to a lack of life after all – no movement consequently suggests no life. If one lets their physical and mental movement decline exponentially then they are left living less and less each day as they descend into old age. And so you have to respond. To live to your fullest and make the most of now, you have to move. Whoever you are, in whatever capacity, in whatever format. Go running before or after work; find time to work on your passion; travel to a new place on the weekend; save up all your money to go on an adventure – an exploration, a journey, a voyage. If you’re young and have no responsibilities to attain to, then travel and live on the other side of the world, in a new culture, a new landscape. If you’re old and encumbered with responsibilities then embrace them – take your kids to new places, try new things in your spare time, seek to learn something new and break bad habits.

    Exercise. Exercise your body, your rights of freedom, your right to explore, grow and be happy. The ability to run, to cycle, to jump or to climb is due to the ownership of the greatest device one can ever own. Your body is the most valuable piece of equipment you will ever have the privilege to operate – a privilege that is fully denied to many others. So make the most of your mobility and feel the power of your existence as you tread the earth’s vibrant soil and run through space and time. Make the most of your mobility and move.

    And keep moving. Don’t let your movement decrease; ever. Stay hungry, stay wild. Your movement is the exercise of your life, your process of being conscious, alive and a part of this universe. It’s what quantifies your existence in this moment right here – right now. Never let your life slow down to the point where you are sitting still and killing time; not while you have the ability to run, fly and soar into the space around you. Just remember that the day all your movement decreases completely and you cease to move and look forward, mentally and physically, will ultimately be the last day of your life. To move is to live. So get up, open your horizons, explore your passions, plan your adventures, keep growing and keep moving. Always.”

(taken from my book ‘The Thoughts From The Wild’ available here)

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~ The Art Of Go ~

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~ The Art of Go ~

“Go. Beyond those desks; beyond those suburbs. Go with a heavy heart and a light backpack. Go to the lands beyond your horizons, beyond your doubts, beyond your cosy little comfort zones. The most extraordinary things will not come knocking on your door; the greatest treasures are not discovered by those dwelling in their caves. This world is a living dream waiting to be explored. Every day it creates heroes, moves mountains and changes people forever. So go and explore. Don’t let the others drag you down. Go beyond them and their fences of fear; go into the lands which you have not yet trampled; go to the places where the lightning strikes as the eyes blaze bright like burning stars.

Just get up now and for god sake Go.”

the art of go

(taken from my book ‘The Thoughts From The Wild’ available here)

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~ A Life Lived True To Oneself ~

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~ A Life Lived True To Oneself ~

“Stop worrying about what the others think of you. I know you want them to see things from your perspective, but the fact is they are not going to want to understand you, they are not going to try to understand you, and – even if they did – they are not going to understand you. Most people in this world are simply too busy or uninterested or incapable to consider worlds and perspectives other than their own. Accept it and move the hell on. Move on to the lands which make your toes dance and your fingertips flicker with excitement. Move on to the lands where no explanation is required for you to be your true authentic self. This is your one shot at life: don’t waste precious time on things that insult your soul; don’t mindlessly conform to mediocre expectation and convention; don’t allow your unique individuality to be suppressed in concrete crowds of conformity. I know that in a world where fitting in is paramount, often it’s an isolating act to believe in yourself and follow your own inner voice. Sometimes you will have to walk alone, sometimes you will face opposition – sometimes you will feel naked and vulnerable and nervous. But just do it anyway. Break free from the mold. Follow your bliss. Do whatever the hell it is that sets your soul on fire and use that passion as fuel for your long journey into the wild. Trust me: it will power you, it will sustain you – it will warm your soul with an indescribable inner joy. Nothing will be able to quell it. Even on the stormiest days, a life lived true to oneself is enough to keep you dancing in the rain.”

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(taken from my book ‘The Thoughts From The Wild’ available here)

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~ Cast Away ~

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~ Cast Away ~

“I remember the moment clearly my friend. It was on the mountain that day when I saw you were a cast away soul. It was in your eyes – the way you stared into that sunset sky. I’d seen that wistful look before in mirrors of the past. You were homesick for a place you’d never been; homesick a place you’d never known. Like me, you also felt betrayed by the universe that you’d been abandoned on this rock, chained down by gravity, trapped in a cage of slowly decaying flesh and bone. This planet could not offer you the grand adventure you craved. You were a foreign thing: a wayward wanderer of the cosmos, crash-landed and stranded in a world full of things you just didn’t understand. The situation was strange, and what was left to do but stare up into those skies, waiting for something to come and take you home.

Yes my friend, I know. I know that your soul longs to sail up there through the stars and not toil in this mud, but together on this rock we shall live out a blazing adventure that will make the stars above weep with envy. Maybe we will not reach those faraway galaxies, but with a heart full of passion and a mind full of imagination we shall embark on a voyage that will have the gods on the edge of their seats. Our journey through the wilderness will be dangerous and daring. We shall cross rivers of fear and climb mountains of wonder. We will travel into the depths of ourselves and explore the places where few dare to venture. The poachers will come and try to tame our wild hearts, but we shall fight them off at all costs. We will live a life of ferocious intensity, of complete and utter fullness, and when we die we’ll leave this world behind, ready for the next adventure, ready for the next voyage – ready to sail back to that starry ocean of infinity where we truly belong.”

mountain man sunset

 

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~ A Journey Of Passion ~

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~ A Journey Of Passion ~

“It is true. There is no greater pleasure in life than giving absolutely everything you have toward that which makes you feel alive. To give it all to your passion – to that which makes your heart dance and your toes twitch with excitement. Yes, this can mean solitude; it can mean messy hair and tired legs; it can mean going insane behind a keyboard at 3am. But make no mistake about it: nothing stirs the blood more than when you get lost in the wonderland of your own joy and imagination. In a world so often darkened by mediocrity and banality, the greatest way to respond is to not to attack the darkness, but to set fire to your soul and light up the shadows around you with the flames of your own inner being. Our passions carry the power of the stars. Without them, our eyes start to dim and our minds become stale; without them we fall into the pits of simply existing and no longer living. To give up on your passion is to give up on yourself – it is to give up on whatever the hell it means to be alive. So whatever it is that makes you feel alive, do it. Do it and do it with every last drop of your soul. Don’t let anyone else belittle your aspirations. Don’t let that spark inside be put out by convention or culture. Follow your bliss wide-eyed all the way to the grave. As a wise man once said, ‘it’s the only good fight there is’.”

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~ Over The Fence ~

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~ Over The Fence ~

“Life is too short to stay enclosed on the farm of safety for its entirety. At all times one must be ready to jump those fences of normality and run with the wild horses. One must be ready to enter the woods of madness and build tree houses with the elves. One must be ready to leave this world behind with the adventure scarred into their skin and the sunsets seared into their soul.”

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(taken from my book ‘The Thoughts From The Wild’ available here)

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~ The Trip Of A Lifetime ~

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~ The Trip of a Lifetime ~

“We are all on a one-way highway towards death. Stop kidding yourself and accept that fact. In every second we are cruising towards a cliff that drops into the abyss of the unknown. There is no way off this road; there is no secret turn-off hidden somewhere to the side. Life is transient and you are going over that edge whether you like it or not. So please stop wasting so much time stressing. Stop spending the entire ride trying to tighten your seat-belt. Some people rush around their whole lives trying to make themselves safe, working and toiling and creating the illusion of permanence, but I promise you that it doesn’t mean a thing in the end. The end of the road is coming whether we like it or not. This is not something to be sad about; this is not something to avoid thinking about – it is something to celebrate. It is the very thing that sets you free. Look outside your window and marvel at your environment. You are a human-being riding a rock around a big ball of fire. You live in a world of mountain peaks and dancing clouds. You are the most intelligent creature in the known universe, living at a time when horizons are easier than ever to conquer. Don’t be afraid to sit back and enjoy the ride. Don’t be afraid to stick your head out the window, screaming like an utter madman with the winds of life soaring against your face. I promise you that when the road finally ends – you will look back and smile. You will look back in complete fulfilment knowing that you were alive, knowing that you were free – knowing that you experienced the trip of a lifetime to the absolute, goddamn full.”

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(taken from my book ‘The Thoughts From The Wild’ available here)

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~ Toasting To A Life Well-Lived ~

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~ Toasting To A Life Well-lived ~

“What is terrifying to me is not death, but the thought of facing it unfulfilled and full of regret. I recently started working in a bar which is frequented by old retired men who spend their day drinking alone in silence. Many of these are people who have spent most of their adult life working and saving for retirement, only to find themselves sitting alone, drinking beer and descending toward death in a depressing manner. I can’t help but think to myself – is that what retirement is for some people? Is that what we human-beings get after spending all our lives toiling away in some time-consuming, unfulfilling job? There is one guy in particular who comes in about 10 am every day and drinks until he falls asleep or unconscious in his chair in the corner. Sometimes right before he falls asleep, he stares solemnly into the bottom of his glass and there almost seems to be a silent recognition – a sort of unspoken acknowledgement that he missed the point of life the whole way along.

    Perhaps I’m just another idealistic youth, but to me there is no thought more depressing than the one of never experiencing the wonders of life in our one ticket on the roller-coaster – the thought of missing the music because you were too busy playing life safe and following a tedious script. So many of our homes and buildings are already populated with the ghosts of the lives that were not really lived. Our culture has managed to condition us to a belief that life begins somewhere in the future – right after school, right when you get that promotion, right when you get that shiny car, right when you retire. This toxic philosophy that pervades our culture has already robbed many millions of time that can never be bought back. So, it’s important to realise this sooner rather than later so you don’t allow yourself to also be fooled by the madness. The time you have on this earth is your greatest treasure. You need not spend all your time chasing material wealth and security and retirement. By all means, do that if that’s what you truly want and it makes you happy – but if it doesn’t, then just don’t participate in the insanity that mindless mass society produces. You are a goddamn human-being – you already have the diamonds in your eyes, the gold in your heart, and the wealth in your spirit. Nothing you save up for to buy is more valuable than time. Remember: your life is now. Don’t keep perpetually postponing plans to some mythical future. Don’t allow yourself to become the person who spent their best years toiling away in a job they didn’t like just so they could earn the right to sit around in silence waiting to die. This world is a playground; the present moment is a gift. So, live your life fearless and free. Live a life you can go happily to the grave with. Live your life to the full and make sure those final drinks are toasted to a life well-lived.”

(taken from my book ‘The Thoughts From The Wild’ available here)

 

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~ In Search ~

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 ~ In Search ~

“It doesn’t matter if you die in a ditch or a mansion; both have the same end result. The only that matters – the only thing that ever matters – is what you do with the time you have here. We all grow out of the universe but many a life is denied its full blossoming due to the fear of failure or being different. Too many of us abandon our passions due to the influence of others. Gripped by an urge to fit in amongst the tribe, we instead choose to dwell in the darkness of living a life untrue to ourselves. We settle for the mundane and our homes and buildings become populated with the ghosts of the lives that were not fully lived.

For me it was that haunted darkness which drove me out into the world. Whenever I was on the road, I often witnessed the blossoming of a wilted flower. I looked into people’s eyes and could see people finally shining in the light of an overdue dawn, living life with the kind of inner joy they knew they deserved. The air was filled with electricity and there was a sense that anything was possible. It was in moments like that when you realised the true power of picking up that backpack. It was in those moments when you realised the value of wandering over the horizon. It was in those moments when you stepped back and realised that the real journey – the real adventure – had only just begun.”

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~ Life Is An Opportunity: Go All The Way ~

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~ Life Is An Opportunity: Go All The Way ~

“Naked and screaming you arrived: a living, breathing organism made of flesh, skin and bones on a rock spinning a thousand miles per hour as it levitates around a giant ball of fire in an infinite universe of exploding stars, black holes and interstellar nebulae. You arrived in your physical form with a body to explore with, a head to think with and time to play with – time that is, to undertake the brief, bittersweet journey that we call life. Planet earth is the stage for that journey – a playground of immense beauty where there are endless possibilities and where one thing can’t be denied. That from the day we are born until the day that we all die: life here is an opportunity.

It is an opportunity for us to come to terms with the mind-blowing scenario of life on this floating rock and decide how we are going to make the most of it. To decide how many of our dreams we are going to follow; to decide how many places we are going to visit; to decide how any professions we are going to undertake; to decide how many people we are going to share our journey with. Life is an opportunity – a chance to make our lives extraordinary and daring; a chance for all of us to push the lever of life down hard, chase the horizon and explore our wildest dreams. Life is an opportunity.

Yet when one looks at the world and society, how many people can honestly say they are pushing the lever down hard? Who are doing all that they can to make the most of their existence in the universe? Who are either chasing or living their dreams? We are all different, and one person’s version of a life well-lived is different to another’s, but so commonly as individuals we are disempowered and discouraged to neglect our dreams and passions (no matter how ridiculous they are) in order to be moulded and shaped by the cultures in which we are raised to live a life that is just ‘okay’ and ‘safe’. We forget that life is an opportunity and do things not because it’s true to our own nature, but to keep up with culture; to do something because everybody else ‘does that’ and because other people expect it of us.

That is why every now and again, one of us must come forward from the herd and remind people that they are all individuals. And that they are free. Free to chase their dreams and dance the ridiculous dance of life in an infinite universe. Free to abandon ideology and a culture that is oppressive to the true nature of the self. That they are free to realise once more that life is an opportunity for the artist to create works of art; for the athlete to set new records; for the scientist to make new discoveries; for the builder to create new structures; for the explorer to explore new places. It is a moment in time where the individual has the brief period of a few decades to make the most of their ticket in the playground of planet earth. And not to let any external force, any culture or any ideology hinder his or herself in any way.

When Martin Luther King stood up to fight for the freedom of black Americans, he knew that he would put himself in grave danger – but he also knew life was an opportunity; when Mark Zuckerberg dropped out of one of the world’s top universities to create the world’s largest social network, he faced failure and ridicule – but he also knew life was an opportunity; when Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hilary first ascended Mount Everest they knew the immense dangers involved – but they also knew life was an opportunity. They knew that such an existence is precious and finite – and thus a chance to go all the way; to stand up for humanity and push the boundaries of exploration, passion and adventure.

And so, just like them, it is down to each one of us to decide at what length we want to explore our passions and dreams – no matter how big or small they may be deemed. It is down to us to look in the mirror, gaze into the eye of self and say: what am I doing right now to live my life the best I can? What am I doing this week that keeps me on track to taking full advantage of this extraordinary reality I am a part of? Ultimately, what am I doing to go all the way in this magical and beautiful world? Because, as far as we know, there is only one life. So, push the lever down hard; make the most of it. Explore. Dream. Discover. Create.

This is your opportunity.

 

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(taken from my book ‘The Thoughts From The Wild’ available here)