Skip to main content

This one's for me.

"To see the world, things dangerous to come to, to see behind walls, to draw closer, to find each other and feel. That is the purpose of life."

Life Magazine's motto, and a quote brought to the attention of me through Ben Stiller's recent film 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty'.

Day by day we live our lives. That is as much truth as I dare to say, but today I feel like a small part of me has transcended, a different level of understanding has emerged in my mind, spelling out how to live by appreciation, kindness, and just a little bit of madness. Like any recipe, it takes years to perfect, but just a little bit of effort to make it a good experience.

I've recently realized that no matter how much I travel, or do any type of activity that pumps the adrenaline into my heart and fuels me with the very reason which I like to live, I will never get tired of it. It is not necessarily where you travel, but rather simply the fact of changing where you are that will consistently engage your mind and make the connections you need to keep on achieving greatness.

Jason Silva, whose talks often inspire and enlighten me, speaks of 'hedonic adaptation', in his video, Awe. 'Hedonic Adaptation' is a concept which represents the repetitive nature of our daily lives. We live by repetition, every day we continue to do the same kind of thing and very quickly this dissolves our brains into machines, using the same kind of mental models, we quickly forget that we are in fact alive.

I now realize this is why I have always thoroughly enjoyed cleaning my apartment, or rearranging my furniture, if ever so slightly, it changes things, it reminds me that we should not wait. We should take advantage of the opportunities at hand and make sure that we embrace changing our environment to continue to grow who we are.

Yes, with time, we grow older and our brains seem to degrade in their development, but perhaps its because we have over exposed our sensory input to repetitive patterns that lead us into killing the very thing that we strive to drive closest to our heart. Our memories become forgettable. This idea brings to life the very nature of the concept that traveling keeps you alive, it stimulates you to continue to achieve greatness.

Without new experiences, you close yourself in, you forget the opportunities and can't help but wonder why you no longer remember yesterday. It's because yesterday was shit. Yesterday was an uneventful, repetitive day in which you forgot that the clock was still ticking, so remember that every day of your life. When you step out into the world, make today memorable. Make sure that every beat your heart takes was one in which you pumped your brain with new experiences, and lived a life that you will always remember.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Food: Volume 2

The Food Guide: Volume 2 August marked the start of my 10th year in Atlanta, Georgia. My first 3-4 years were arguably a waste in the context of visiting places (still remember being blown away when I first ventured into Decatur), but I wanted to revisit my Food Guide now that I have frequented many locations around Atlanta and found the pockets that I really love. Before I had structured the guide from cheap to expensive, but this time I will break it down by neighborhoods, since I think that better represents Atlanta. Disclaimer, I also love beer so some of these may be bias to the beer world. I explicitly won't be mentioning breweries or bars because this would just get insanely long, but hit up Hop City, and check out every brewery in town. I particularly have been loving the atmosphere at Atlanta Brewing Co. so go check them out! Updated lightly in January 2021 to add PERC Coffee, otherwise intact so forgive if anything is stale, and another update 5/10 I removed Le Fat
Post a Comment
Read more

"I'm not the whisky you want, I'm the water you need." - Rupi Kaur

The light came through, Your peaceful smile, in truth. The surreal was still at bay But I did not know what my words would convey. I heard the silence pedal, I spent the days winning medals Hoping to protect my heart By covering it with metal. I'm trying to explain these walls, The shields and simple fears, I hope they don't reflect you away, But I do not know if you can stay. I buried myself deep within Behind this thick armor My wounds had frozen As I lay there, I burned the roses. A little heat was a sweet reminder Of my burnt past The loving pleasure and pain I ran from what would always remain. So when I glanced at you in disbelief, It was hard to mutter past my walls, But you saw past them with your own, By admitting what I had never known. The vulnerabilities we touch Let us know we are loved They acknowledge our shame And let us play our game With a silly smile, I finally got the courage I finally had the nerve, To yell past my wall
Post a Comment
Read more

Building your passion.

This was inspired after I went to a SpokenWord event for the first time at JavaMonkey in Decatur. Loved the experience! Perhaps I was only dreaming, Only wishing that things would fall into place, That the blocks that scattered my mind would build an empire from the rubble, But deep inside, buried under this mess I knew those words that told me to stretch out, To reach out that hand and pick everything up. Piece by piece, I had to rebuild. Don't you tell me that your dreams have fallen, Don't you tell me that its been a waste, Because when you give up, that's it, That's all you've got. Sure there's a friend, a mother, and a brother, Sure there's the heart of compassion of others, But if your heart doesn't want it, Then don't expect it. I want you to take down every wall, Take down every word against you, Step on them and build a ladder, Make it to heavens, you are greatness. I believe in you, I believe in passion. Passion
Post a Comment
Read more