Author: aryask@gmail.com

I learn the most from people who are direct and authentic in expressing how they feel. A recent friend of mine happens to be such a person. With a passionate wisdom and a no nonsense attitude, she is a fellow teacher at the language center. She's like a gangster version of the Oracle from the Matrix - humored, wise, and no time for bs. Over 5 weeks of contemplating her stories, the themes she kept bring up were consistency, stability, and happiness. So I asked myself, what does it mean to be consistent in my words and actions, to be stable and happy? ... To accept their opposites without resistance and flow in dynamic ease. Worrying about what if's is like carrying around a heavy box looking for a way…

After work, a group of us went to a restaurant as a good bye celebration for one of the teachers. It's a big place with multiple dining halls and rooms. It's packed and everyone is living their own trance. There is a continuous clinking of kitchenware throughout the different rooms, like waterfalls of silver and glass. We find our seats and among the 12 of us there is a constant sprouting of gestures in-sync along the streteched table. Sitting at one of the ends, I'm taking in the atmosphere and turn to the friend next to me and ask, "do you ever open your eyes and find yourself at a restaurant in China, look around and recognize all the faces but you don't know how you got here..." The two…

Being happy while continually improving at something is simple to achieve. The difficulty depends on your relationship to time. For many years I've struggled to maintain happy and productive habits. There were too many distraction or my plans were too calculated which often left me in paralysis or just avoiding the whole pursuit. Now rather than policing or defending against unproductive thoughts, I acknowledge and gently guide. It's less of a chore and more of a chance to grow. Accept where you are Far from perfect, one of the major shifts in my development has been the way I perceive and appreciate time. Rather than a linear concept of a "me" walking a straight line and reacting to people and events, it's more of a dynamic field of many things…

The wind blows aggressively in Shanghai, the sky gray, and the city is a well oiled machine, people hurrying to their destinations. I don't have to talk much today. Just tending to the light along my spine, the sounds i hear, staying in the meditation of life, with its joys and challenges. Easily I can build the fire and call the momentum in the direction I want. Right now I want the experience of balance on this chair, comfortably seated, waiting for the next thing to appear, not efforting, just welcoming whatever to arrive because I know whatever comes has an origin and that origin is my home.