You are unable to submit
to the life other would have you live
It brings neither joy nor completion

Rebel and face the world
on your own terms

It is overwhelming happiness
A joy in every breath

It’s hard to describe the sense of freedom achieved by traveling the world with no plans of return. Your perspective shifts dramatically. Cultural differences dissipate and your senses are overwhelmed with a beautiful, open, and accepting world.

Life is Perfect

I believe the world we perceive is an illusion we construct to aid our survival. We see the world as we want to see it, and the reality that we live is only the perceptual illusion that we create.

The truth, if there is a such a thing, is that everything is and must be perfect. Everything is perfect exactly as it is at every moment that it exists. This means the world around you is perfect, every bit of it necessary for this existence. Life is continuously dying and continuously reborn, all perfect exactly as it is…

If there is a heaven, it is right in front of you; and if there is a hell, it is your blindness to this perfect existence. Your laughs, cries, sorrows, joys, all of it perfect. The perceptions are yours to control, you can see the world in any way you choose. And this life, your life, is perfect in every way.

Life is Fundamentally Simple

I believe that being happy is a choice. Anything you want can be achieved merely by focusing your awareness.

A wonderful trait of being human, we shape our world through our every want, it is as natural as breathing. We are the shapers of our world. I believe our brains are more limited than we imagine and yet more powerful than we often realize.

I also believe that everything negative has a positive opposite. Your perception of what is negative is a wonderful gift to guide your life. Focus on the positive opposite of every negative thought, life is as simple as that…

You are what you want
Who are you? Who am I? Who are we?

Your wants are the answer, your life and your existence are affirmed through the acceptance of you wants. If you want to know yourself, follow your heart, follow your bliss, and understand that doing the things you enjoy are the very definition of who you are… All the answers are already known to you, be quiet and listen!

I’m staying in central Manila. Near Abad Santos LRT. I’ve walked around the neighborhood at various times during the day and night. The tricycle drivers all know me, and they know where to take me when I don’t feel like walking from the LRT station to the guesthouse. They’ve also been great with directions when I want to walk around by myself.

I’ve walked to the local mall which is a couple kilometers away. Next to the train tracks is a sort of shanty-market where you can buy food and furniture. Kids are playing. People are noticeably happy. I’m asked to play a quick game of basketball (I assume because of my height). There are live roosters tethered near shacks.

I smile. People smile back. People are curious, they ask my name, where I am from, and if I’m enjoying my stay (I am, very much). Most of the children near the guesthouse know me and usually wave and ask where I am walking to, occasionally they walk with me for a block or so (before getting bored and running off to something more interesting).

Many people have echoed concerns that the neighborhood I am staying is not safe, and I definitely shouldn’t walk around alone. At least two of my friends have messaged me to get out immediately, as if I am in a war-zone. All of these are people I trust, and most of them live in Manila.

Nothing I have seen would lead me to think this area is unsafe.

Makati and Malate have been the names most recommended of where I should stay.

I went to Malate, and I also went to Makati. The mall in Malate, compared to the surrounding neighborhood, is extravagant. Same could be said of the Makati greenbelt. There is no middle income area; grinding poverty, hawkers, and prostitution outside, and upper-middle class yuppie luxury on the inside.

I smile. Few smile back. Many offer dirty glances and judgmental stares.

In these “tourist friendly” neighborhoods many cabs have refused to take me to where I am staying. Normally, I ride the MRT and LRT, but the trains close early during the week so even a late dinner means you’re taking a taxi home.

“It’s a dangerous neighborhood, I don’t drive there at night.” said one driver.

“that’s not true, it’s quite safe” I replied with a reassuring smile

“I know this area, I only drive in this area” he said. “let’s find you a girl, I know a place nearby”

I had one driver who claimed he didn’t know where my place was, and then claimed not to know where the LRT is when I mentioned that I am near a station. I’d say maybe one-in-five taxis are brave enough to make the journey late at night.

Normally, I am not one to criticize cultures I am foreign to, but I feel this is less a cultural issue and instead a shared-humanity issue.

In the high-class neighborhood, if I talk to a girl, many will assume she must be a prostitute and that I am sex tourist. Hawkers offer me girls, and some hostels (in an offensive way of preventing sex tourism) refuse entry if I am not with my wife (I don’t have a wife).

Manila, the best of who you are is found in the streets you most scorn. Manila is a place to love. And it is because of those “unsafe” neighborhoods that I love it — where I am treated as a human being by other human beings, and our shared curiosity brings out the best in both of us.

Manila, rather than warn travelers to stay away from those neighborhoods, perhaps you should visit them yourself, and be reminded of the hospitality and kindness of the human spirit (and not the kindness enforced through armed guards).

Drowning, drowning, drowning forward. This place was not easy to find, and yet it was here the whole time. We let go. Who we were cannot enter, and we drown. Awake anew. See the other side; familiar and yet unlike anything we have ever seen.

We have only to let go. Completely let go.

Simplify, simplify, simplify…

Less is more, and this is everything I own. I went from a 55L duffel to a sturdy wheeled backpack and a simple laptop backpack that carries my laptop, wacom, camera, kindle, water purifier, sandals, and various other necessities.

I’d be interested in an even simpler approach, if possible to ditch the clothes and toiletries and always acquire new ones as I travel. At a certain pace I think this could be sustainable.

Spicy ramen, you melt in my mouth, I love you. I have traveled far and wide and never have I found one such as you.

Looking at you, no one can tell where you are from. It matters not, as you are exactly who you are. You have been shaped by both east and west, the best of the world is in you and I share the joy of your company every moment we are together. It is a love like no other, undefinable and life affirming. Through you I know bliss and in that bliss I understand the nature of love: loving you is loving me is loving everything.

I will miss you ramen, until we meet again, I love you.

Look at the blank canvas, every edge and surface
Discover the image that is yearning to be found

Shape the world, release the life yearning to be found

We called well over 30 hotels, hostels, and some couchsurfers — everything is booked in this part of Japan. Turns out it’s a national holiday, fortunately we found the Municipal Hiroshima Youth Hostel… it’s also booked to capacity but we’re staying in what appears to be an emergency shelter in an old meeting room.

As the temperature was dropping I realized a warm bed is certainly something to be thankful for… Although I also liked the Japanese concept that it is a day to think about environment, human rights, and peace :)

Liebe; middle high German meaning "the quality of love, pleasure, joy"

It was raining all day yesterday on Jeju island. It finally let up this morning. It’s cold and windy, and I can barely find my way around. I stumbled into this cafe looking for a warm cup of coffee.

It is quiet except for the melodic strum of classic guitar playing on the stereo. A child sleeps on a couch near the back, his mother takes my order. I fall back into a chair and sigh a breath of the warm comforting air. Spas aren’t this nice.

I look outside to the cold wind and busy traffic; it feels a world away from this moment. It reminds me that the rest of the day could be amazing, it could be anything I want it to be.

hear a song in every color
align every want and
orient to the blue