Author: aryask@gmail.com

Walking toward the train station, I enjoyed good writing topics swing in and out of my head, some were netted in long-term memory, others left in the eternal void. One in particular left me with a strange impression, I could not remember what it was exactly other than it needed to be called on. I walked with a gaze into my own abyss, listening for the call, a conversation grew but nothing crystallized. Then it hit me, “why am I trying to remember something that is not presenting itself to begin with? What is this walk about anyway?” I took a breath, crossed the street, and remembered something I had written earlier: wandering portals in my unconscious, nothing foretold, approaching the corridors, molding my gold; it’s when my attention naturally…

The nature of our professional calling is to satisfy our own personal goals as those of the institutions we work with. We work to feel energized and to know that we are making a genuine impact. We work to be our best and to explore unbounded potentials. With this premise and the right practice, the inevitable stress and uncertainties that arise seem natural to the process rather than counter to the mission. Mindfulness and art-based activities can provide an opening to generate clarity and satisfaction in the way we live and work every day. Be simple Simplicity is the key to cutting to the essence of things, saving us time and energy. It’s about being precise with a keen perspective on life’s priorities. It’s easy to make things stressful and…

Just doing me, in a place where regrets and complaints lose weight, and future ideals readily fade away, now is all I’ve ever known.

I've had the great fortune to stay in Hamburg, Germany with my uncle who lives in a forest close to a lake. It's the perfect place to decompress and meditate, and quite an enchanting walk to the nearby coffee shop. There is a magic and wander about the place that just doesn't get old. There is a presence in the trees, in between the leaves in the bushes. During one of my walks, I saw an enormous tree that had a gentleness about it, I approached it with care and made contact with my right palm, turned and rested my back against it. It was pleasant, made me become very present. I smelled something familiar. I looked down and it was truly magical, dog shit smashed under my right foot.…