thoughts

~ Toasting To A Life Well-Lived ~

January 3, 2019January 3, 2019 nofiltersnecessaryLeave a comment

~ 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)

thoughts

~ Stepping Off The Conveyor Belt ~

January 3, 2019 nofiltersnecessaryLeave a comment

~ Stepping off the Conveyor Belt ~

“Whenever I started a new trip, I always delighted in grabbing my backpack from the airport conveyor belt. It was a standard act everyone went through when you flew to a new place, but I felt like it symbolised so much about what it was to travel. All throughout our lives we are continually placed on conveyor belts; from the mechanical process of education, to the roundabout of the 9-5, to the circular nature of riding back and forth down the same highway everyday – perpetually we rotate around and around in a repetitive and predictable fashion. To travel to a new place with no plans was to finally step off from the carousel of routine; whether for a week or a year, it was a journey away from the robotic process of normal life which required you to do the same things every day. Whenever I looked around at the people collecting their bags, I rarely saw the defeated faces that were found in those Monday morning traffic jams. Instead I saw hyper kids and hyper adults; I saw burning eyes and wide smiles; I saw the wild faces of those who knew a great adventure awaited them. And the more I collected that backpack, the more it became clear to me that we all loved to collect those bags. The reason we love it is because we know a new journey awaits us. The reason we love it is because we know the world is rich with possibility. The reason we love it is because – if only for a short and bittersweet period – we know that we are finally free.”

off the conveyeur belt.jpg

thoughts

~ The Road Less Travelled ~

January 2, 2019 nofiltersnecessaryLeave a comment

~ The Road Less Travelled ~

“Always say no to the things that insult your soul. If the safe highway requires you to feel pain, then walk alone through a forest of bliss. There is a priceless pleasure in living a life true to yourself. It is not something that can be purchased in a store, or downloaded onto a computer, or stored in a house. It is the magic of the wild – the magic of trusting yourself to the water and learning how to swim. Yes, the path can get scary, and you often walk alone, but better to breathe in the air of solitude than to slowly suffocate to death in a crowd.”

pricless pleasure

articles

~ Life Is An Opportunity: Go All The Way ~

January 1, 2019January 1, 2019 nofiltersnecessaryLeave a comment

~ 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)

articles

~ Expanding Horizons ~

December 30, 2018January 1, 2019 nofiltersnecessaryLeave a comment

~ Expanding Horizons ~

“Your life is a miracle. An unprecedented phenomenon that can never, or will never, be matched on any imaginable level. The very fact that you are currently conscious reading and understanding these letters, words and sentences is a moment in which its recipe consists of infinite combinations of abstract events happening in the right space at the right time. The optimum position of our planet in the universe; the perfect conditions on earth for life to flourish and evolve; the very fact that your parents went out to the same place on the same day and met each other. Just think: above anyone else that day, in any place, at any moment, they met each other – and you and your ridiculously complex DNA were the result. Just like they were when their parents before them met each other. And their parents. And their parents. The very fact that all these endless combinations of events led to your being on this earth means that your very existence is miraculous – a stoic defiance of the odds and the culmination of a billion unlikely things all gelling together in perfect discourse. YOU are a miracle. So revel in it. Celebrate it. Your life should be a symphony.

But it throws me – life, sometimes. It saddens me even. Amongst this grand symphony of existence on the magnificent stage of planet earth, I look around and I see so many of us consumed by monotony, recklessly killing the precious time that has been gifted to us. I see so many of us plodding along aimlessly, burying our desires, toiling endlessly in a job that we have no interest in – contentedly dwelling in dead-end towns where nothing ever happens until our minds and bodies become old and weathered. With our precious time on this earth dissipating as we sit comfortably on a sedentary cushion, we so easily fall into the trap of drawing the curtains on our world and perpetually living a systematic and samey routine in which we let days become weeks, let weeks become months, and let months inevitably become years. So many amazing opportunities and experiences drifting on by in the great ocean of time out in this vast world – yet we don’t reach out to explore and experience. And why? Why in a universe of violent bursts and endless movement do so many of us let our lives and horizons become so static and still? Why in a world where we could explore and experience a million different things do we persist in doing the same ones week in, week out?

I don’t hasten to say it, but I believe it to be so – just because it’s easy. It’s easy for us to get accustomed and stay in one place; it’s convenient for us to only ever interact to the same people; it’s comfortable for us to perpetually relive the same week and repeat the same habits for a lifetime. Due to the impulses of comfort, routine and security, a world can become a bubble – and eventually that bubble can become a world. A world where precious time flies by as we tumble endlessly through the vices of systematic living; a world where comfort and frivolous possessions rank higher than personal growth and experiences; a world where magazines and newspapers open and our minds close.

I know this because I’ve seen it, and I see it more vividly now than ever. After seventeen months of travelling around the world, seeing other-worldly sights, meeting hundreds of new people, sharing ideas, thoughts, language and adventures, I return home from this small lifetime to find that very little has changed. People have new shoes, but the same routine; people have new televisions, but the same knowledge; people have new cars, but the same scripted conversations. And with the pain and bitterness that comes with being back to square one, I have to look in the mirror and ask myself: is this lifestyle really our final destination? Is this static, comfortable bubble really where you and I want to dwell till the end of our days?

Even after only just a few of years of living a culture of experience rather than one of security and possession, I personally already know my answer to this is forever a resounding no. Life is not some story we tell ourselves; it is neither a tale of the past or a preconception of the future – it is the very thing that is happening to us right here – right now. Even as you’re reading this sentence. Now is forever; and if we are to sink into a bubble, stay still and never plot to move forward in any way – nor experience other things, peoples, places and ideas – then we are being short-sighted and condemning ourselves to not taking full advantage of the miracle of life and consciousness that we have all been gifted. And we’re bigger than that; in a time and age where we are more connected and capable than ever before – you and I are bigger than that bubble. Bigger than our sofa realities; bigger than those tabloid newspapers; bigger than closing our curtains and selves off from the outside world.

Our time is now and our time is precious. It truly is – like a drop in an ocean or a grain of sand in the desert, our brief time period of existence is ultimately nothing against the vast canvass of time in the universe. And this universe will not wait. Life is not a rehearsal; it is not some show on television – it will come to an end and there will be no replay button. Time shall pass; youth shall escape us; our bodies shall age; our lives will come to an end – and we will all die – that is undeniable and for sure. But when the time comes, our sun sets and our miraculous time on this earth comes to an end, the only thing of any importance to me and you will be just how much we ever really lived in the first place.”

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

thoughts

~ A Life Worth Dying For ~

December 29, 2018December 30, 2018 nofiltersnecessaryLeave a comment

~ A Life Worth Dying For ~

“If that heart of yours aches for some adventure, then don’t allow yourself to sink into a sofa of submission; don’t allow yourself to get too settled in a life of constant comfort and routine. Out there beyond those curtains waits a magical wonderland of amazing sights and adventure. The mighty mountains. The lonely forests. The ripples dancing upon the water’s surface. The sandy shores where those fiery sunsets sear themselves into your soul. The ocean breeze gently kissing your skin. Yes, it is true that there is also danger, but don’t forget that other insidious dangers also lurk in the suburbs of safety in which so many spend their entire life. To chase security and comfort all your life will slowly suffocate your soul and take the fire from your belly. Life kills us all in the end, so don’t forget to do some living while you still have the chance. Don’t forget to pursue your passion and curiosity. Don’t forget to live a life worth dying for.”

thoughts

~ A Fire Inside ~

December 29, 2018December 29, 2018 nofiltersnecessaryLeave a comment

~ A Fire Inside ~

“There is only so much pain a man can endure before he is either destroyed totally or rises up against his demons without fear. As those monsters did their work on me, I stopped searching the skies for help and turned my gaze inward. It was only then that I found the temple of peace and warmth I had yearned for. The candles of contentment have been lit and their flames flicker to illuminate the darkness that once consumed me totally. I used the flames of hell to my own gain and started a fire that keep the demons cowering in their darkness. An eternal life blazes within me as I stand here burning up on this rock, incarnate in a human body, proud to exist and breathe the air, proud to look outward at the storm of existence knowing that there is an inner flame of joy that will never be extinguished.”

mountain man sunset

thoughts

~ The Last Flowers ~

December 24, 2018December 24, 2018 nofiltersnecessaryLeave a comment

~ The Last Flowers ~

“The long storms have come and gone, and here I stand drenched in the rains of my own madness, offering you the last remaining flowers of my heart. I am not one of the polished prizes I know. I am scratched; I am scarred. I am stained with a dirt of which I’ll never be cleansed, but I still have some of my soul left and I hope that’s enough, even though I suspect that it’s not. Happiness never seems destined to those who love fully, but still I can’t help but let my eyes lift to those horizons of hope which have haunted me my entire life. Something ineffable inside of me tells me that these flowers have a home somewhere out there before they finally wither away and die. And to that place I shall walk until the final breath of life has left my lungs. To that place I shall walk to see my joy blossom, if only for one fleeting moment in this bittersweet and beautiful life.”

the last flowers.png

thoughts

~ The Lightest You’d Ever Been ~

December 23, 2018 nofiltersnecessaryLeave a comment

~ The Lightest You’d Ever Been ~

““Isn’t that backpack heavy?” they’d ask. “Doesn’t it weigh you down?”

There was always something about that question which caught my attention. It was an ironic question in my mind because for me – whenever I had that backpack on – the exact opposite was the case. When I put it on and pulled the straps tight, it was like a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. Suddenly I was a bird with wings – able to up and leave to far-off lands. Because if you want to know the truth, a backpack with some crappy clothes in won’t weigh you down at all. The real things in life that hold you down aren’t usually found in a bag; they are the things we unquestionably accept as part of a normal lifestyle. Contracts weighed you down, debts weighed you down, credit-card payments weighed you down. Sometimes it was a gym membership, a cable subscription – a goddamn football season ticket. Often it wasn’t even physical, but the things that existed only inside your head. Fear weighed you down, ignorance weighed you down, the opinions of your work colleagues weighed you down. Usually you didn’t even notice, but all of these things subversively crept into your life, clipped your wings and left you cemented in one spot. That’s why whenever someone asked if my backpack was heavy, I couldn’t help but smile inside at the irony. I smiled because I knew being able to happily walk out of door with just a bag to your name wasn’t a heavy task at all. Whenever you did that you were agile; whenever you did that you were free. Whenever you put that backpack on and headed out to face the world, suddenly you were the lightest you’d ever been.”

thoughts

~ A Kingdom Untouched ~

December 22, 2018 nofiltersnecessaryLeave a comment

~ A Kingdom Untouched ~

“There is a flag which flies in my heart. It flutters in winds of hate and dances in storms of pain. It stays raised proudly at full mast in the darkest of all nights. There is a flag which flies in my heart. It will never be replaced by another. No tyrant will ever take it down; nor storm wear it away. Forever it will flutter free in that breeze, overlooking the lands of the wild. There is a flag which flies in my heart. It is the flag of joy, the flag of courage, the flag of adventure – the flag of a kingdom which will never be conquered in this life, or the next.”