01Feb 2018 by aryask@gmail.com

Friends are fuel

gratitude, mindfulness, patience, self-awareness
Recently, I’ve found myself in a bind with my work-life situation in China. Without going into details, I’ll say that it’s been tough, like dragging my soul around. Difficult to wake up in the winter mornings. Then as I'm keeping afloat during the day, my heart would reignite into joy and drown the despair. It’s been a series of ups and downs and I've set hope aside for now. Hope and expectation have fueled the roller coaster. Some say there are greater forces at play and some say it's just a part of growing up. Whatever it is, I've kept a steady habit of stepping back and just being grateful. My friends have been enormously helpful with their pleasant words and gestures. Without friends, my NowHere project would just be…
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16Nov 2017 by aryask@gmail.com

Inside out: 4 ways to lead positive change with self-awareness

mindfulness, purpose, self-awareness, storytelling
Getting past speech impediment and low self-esteem didn’t happen overnight. As a teenager, I remember listening to the radio feeling puzzled by how people could enunciate words so well and be so easy and confident. How was their voice so clear and mine so muffled? The root of the struggle was that I held too many distractions and so I would easily get overwhelmed, and lengthy episodes of depression followed. By quieting the mind through meditation, I learned to give up buggy beliefs and things began to clear up. A friend told me, "when we change the way we look at things, the things we look at change." It was a good look in the mirror and poetry was an outlet for me. It's where I found my voice. I no…
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07Sep 2017 by aryask@gmail.com
Without a head

Without a head

empathy, mindfulness, self-awareness
The first night I fell with a high fever, vomiting through trembling teeth. My head was caved in from the high altitude I could feel death looming in and out of my veins. The next morning, I stayed in bed while the others wandered the town. I was extremely glad to have a comfortable bed with the hostel manager looking after me. He was lighthearted and I didn’t have the energy to say much. His Chinese name translated to “without a head”. His WeChat id had the tagline “always stay naive.” It was Spring and the three of us had taken a 13hour bus ride to Seda for a taste of Tibetan culture. Seda, also known as Sertar, is a Tibetan county west of Sichuan in China. At nearly 4,000…
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30Aug 2017 by aryask@gmail.com

Why Forward

self-awareness, storytelling
The sun was out after a stretch of stormy days in Chengdu, China. I was working at the English center and had a small group of high school students. We were discussing core values. As a warm-up I asked, “what do you look forward to this week, this year?” One student had a shine in his eye and described his plans to travel to Russia with his friends. Another was keen on joining a potluck at a friend’s house that week. One student, Jeff, was sitting in the back of the class with his head slouched in his phone. When I called on him he sincerely replied, “I don’t look forward to anything.” I reminded them, “we live in a noisy world and many people talk, yet few communicate and communication…
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05Jul 2017 by aryask@gmail.com

A good look in the mirror

purpose, self-awareness, storytelling
“Knowing others is intelligence; Knowing yourself is true wisdom. Mastering others is strength; Mastering yourself is true power.” - Lao Tzu, Chinese Philosopher For many years I struggled with self-doubt and social anxiety because I held too many distractions. It's a classic self-shame story: I used to suck and now I suck less. Eventually, I realized that we live in a noisy world and many people talk, yet few communicate. What I grew to accept and love was the gift of conversation. It became clear that deep connections are not based on take or blame, they are full of joy and empathy. A friend once told me, "Time flies when the senses are full." Leading an inspired path means doing what makes you come alive. And it is the way…
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