24Feb 2019 by aryask@gmail.com
Being mindful with dragons

Being mindful with dragons

mindfulness
It was a full day of meetings and I was rushing to make the afternoon train. I was leaving town for two weeks to volunteer on a farm. My day’s mission was to make it to the train. The farm was expected to be cold, so my girlfriend Ree graciously offered me her sleeping bag, which in hindsight was the greatest thing I took on the trip. It was a hectic day and I’m knocking out the meetings. At some point, I planned to swing by Ree’s house to pick up the sleeping bag. In between my meetings, she says that suddenly she had to leave her house, so she was going to leave it with the security guard. I was fine with it. Later as I’m dashing through the…
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20Feb 2019 by aryask@gmail.com

The Tao of bee’ing: Why bees are badass, but not without support

bees, ecology
It is said that bee populations are dropping and trees are disappearing, largely due to human activity. One might rush to assume that humans are just naturally harmful to living things, but a bigger question is why do bees matter in the ecosystem? What might humans learn from the presence, or absence, of bees? This article explores the vital relationship between bees and trees, and a Taoist approach to restore balance in the natural world. An ecological view The word eco means “whole” and an ecosystem is a community of organisms in relation with their larger environment. Earth is an ecosystem and the whole thing is made up of its interactive parts. Plants feed animals and animals feed on each other. The key thing about an ecology is that everything…
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09Nov 2018 by aryask@gmail.com

Optimal brain health and the art of non-action

mental health
In my obsession with mental health, a driving question is: what does an optimal brain state look like? This article aims to scratch the surface. Let us begin with the basics. Brain basics The brain is the thing between the ears, a grey lumpy organ that holds mental activity. It is part of the central nervous system (CNS) which includes the brain and spine. The brain alone weighs about 2% of the body's total weight yet uses 25% of the body's daily oxygen. With nearly 90 billion cells, an interconnected neural network regulates the flow of energy and information throughout the body. The noodle in the skull can ponder the meaning of infinity and has survived thousands of years of evolution in a continuous dance of adaptation. While the brain…
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03Nov 2018 by aryask@gmail.com

A cosmic gratitude

trust the process
The sun and Earth are nearly 5 billion years old and estimated to live for another 4. Humans have been on Earth for 100,000 years. If Earth is a year old, humanity has taken almost 2 seconds of its life. Your lifespan is even more minuscule. Seeing the big pictures simply burns away the worries and lets you focus on what you actually care about, what brings you pleasure and purpose. A day that begins with a genuine gratitude is never wasted.
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02Nov 2018 by aryask@gmail.com

The evil eye in my sole

self-awareness, storytelling
I was 5 years old with 5 other kids at my aunt’s house. There were no adults and we had the whole house to ourselves. So, we did the natural thing and played hide and seek. My turn was to hide and so I dashed into one of the bedrooms. As I ran to dip under the bed, suddenly I felt a sharp sting under my left foot. I sat on the bed to turn over my foot and saw a sewing needle sticking out from the heel. Turns out a sewing needle was sticking up on the carpet floor and I had stepped on it. I was a shy and well-behaved kid but if I had the words at the time I would have said, “Fuck.” I yank out…
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