10Apr 2018 by aryask@gmail.com

A peaceful sail

poetry, prose, storytelling
Winds were heavy, and the boat was rocking back and forth, there alone in the middle of the sea. The ocean had swallowed all his clothes the night before. Sea monsters came and went and there he remained naked and amused, the boat was all he owned, and the sail was all he knew. Though aimless at times, from a bird’s eye view he was just another traveler. He relished in the depth of things and that’s all that mattered to him. In a world where nothing is permanent, he cherishes the moment with a savory detachment.
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27Mar 2018 by aryask@gmail.com

Letting go from the mountain top

purpose, self-awareness, storytelling, uncertainty
He was hanging on the edge of the mountain peak. An eagle with flappy ears was standing at the very tip. It leaped around and perched on a stone just above him. It was leaping and perching, leaping and perching. Finally, it perched just over his head and its butthole was hanging just over him. He was terrified this bird would soon shit on him. He zoomed into its butthole which had feathers around it. He feared for his life and had to make a choice: either get shit on by this inappropriate bird or let go and die off the mountain. He looked down and there was a sea of clouds. He rapidly looked back up at the eagle, down, up again.  Somehow he decided it’s better to just…
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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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19Sep 2017 by aryask@gmail.com

Dreams of an Octopus

storytelling
Once there was an Octopus with a vision to travel on land. All day he would pretend what it’s like to be a land animal. All his friends teased him because he didn’t have the proper legs and it was dangerous and silly to even consider that quest. But Octopus was determined and he had an idea. One day he floated to the surface of the sea and lured a nearby hawk to catch him. The hawk’s eyes locked in and flung into the water, snatched the octopus with her claws and flew back towards the land. Octopus could feel the breeze for the very first time. He saw the ocean from overhead, the horizon and the sunset blazing in orange and red. Octopus swiveled his eyes and saw the…
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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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