“If, then, I were asked for the most important advice I could give, that which I considered to be the most useful to the men of our century, I should simply say: in the name of God, stop a moment, cease your work, look around you.”
China Rock, Monterey
Everytime I run Marin Headlands, I explore a different trail. Today, I ran farther than anticipated. I panicked when I realized that an out-and-back would be 20 miles. My only option was to piece together past trail runs and figure out a way to loop back to my car. I was on unfamiliar terrain when I spotted a group of kids and their hike leader.
"How far to Miwok trail?" I gasped.
"Just around the corner," he answered.
The kids gave me a line of high-fives and cheered me on as I ran past them. Once I turned the corner, I recognized where I was. It was my "Aha!" moment of utter exhilaration and relief. It felt like my trail runs were now all scotch-taped together in a way that made perfect sense.
Rodeo Beach, Marin Headlands
Coastal Trail, Marin Headlands
I once heard about a novelist who approaches writing in a non-linear fashion. She doesn't write a book from start to finish. She writes independent scenes instead. Random. Unique. Inspired in that moment. Much later in her writing process, she prints them out and rearranges them like puzzle pieces and physically tapes all those sheets of paper together. The raw material for her storyline is literally held together by scotch tape. What a magical moment for her to sit cross-legged on the floor and witness months of labor come together in a synergistic way.
We go through life as though our experiences are independent events. That job. That relationship. That move. We should take the time to connect the dots, to sit on the floor with scissors and tape and piece together our narrative. Our story. In a way that feels meaningful and makes sense to us.
What we tell ourselves is largely self-constructed. You'll be overwhelmed with delight when you see the beauty in your own story arc for the first time. It's like getting high-fived by a whole line of kids as you run towards the sun.
"How are you?"
"Busy. Really busy."
We all know individuals who repeatedly respond with this answer. Busy feels important. Busy means you have real duties and obligations you must tend to. Busy means you are needed.
I know, because I used to be one of those people. Running from task to task, checking things off "The List" continuously from 5am to 11pm fed the task-oriented hungry wolf inside. Simultaneously, it also starved creativity- the quiet little sheep that needed time to roam in the grass and soak in the sunshine, unhindered by Time and Obligation.
“A broad margin of leisure is as beautiful in a man’s life as in a book.”
Running clears my lungs and my mind. Logging the miles along the Coastal Trail this morning.
Deliberately creating space in your life to play is the catalyst for creativity. Ideas need room to breathe. The jam-packed To-Do list is seductive, but it also leaves little room for serendipity.
Took a break and climbed all the way to Pirates Cove to watch the waves.
I listened to an interview with Adam Grant, the author of Originals: How Non-Conformists Move the World. He mentions how procrastination may be the enemy of productivity, yet it also serves as a resource for creativity. When we are not actively engaged in a specific task, we can enter the flow state more readily and access a wealth of ideas. Build margins into your life. With the extra free time, listen to Adam Grant. Guard that space like your life depends on it. It does. And so does your creativity.
“You are the average of the 5 people you spend the most time with. Surround yourself with the dreamers and the doers, the believers and thinkers. But most of all, surround yourself with those who see greatness within you.”
Saturday's crew.
Every few months I do a self-assessment and one of the questions included in that mix is, "Who are the Top 5 people in my inner circle?" In retrospect, I can clearly see how the company I have kept in my inner circle have inspired me to take creative risks, introduced me to new ideas, and expanded my view of the world. I ask myself a follow-up question, "How am I contributing value to their lives as well?"
True love moves freely in both directions. We do our most generous and meaningful work when we are surrounded by those who share our vision. Be selective. Life is too short to settle for mediocrity.
A huge thank you to everyone who attended our last 1/2 Day Wellness Retreat. Mark your calendars for our next event, REVITALIZE, on April 30! Space is limited. We'd love it if you were there to join in on the fun. CLICK HERE for the exact deets.
Discovering new parts of the Coastal Trail in Marin Headlands...
Growing up, my mom gave us huge tri-fold pieces of paper to draw our dream house on. At age 10, I drew a special 'pet room' and 'music room' since those were the things that I loved. I learned at a young age that anything I could imagine could be created on that paper. It was my own artistic creation and there were no wrong answers. Later on, I drew an entirely new house on a fresh sheet of paper because the old model no longer reflected who I was.
As adults we often hear people say, "Find your passion." I think that's backwards. Passion isn't something we find, it's something we create. I laugh when people ask me my 5-year plan. To know exactly where I'll be and what I'll be doing in 5 years sounds awful. I have no idea. All I know is life is a continuous and beautiful unfolding, and our job is to listen, to be present, and to always stay curious.
“A man practices the art of adventure when he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, traveling to new places, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints.”
Adventuring around Marin Headlands...
At the beginning of the year, I skipped the resolutions and instead chose core desires. Ways that I wanted to feel this year. Two of my core desires are adventure and exploration. Each day I ask myself what I can do to feel those desires. Already in one month, I've been able to inoculate myself to fears I harbored in the past and step outside of my comfort zone. It's been a fun ride, and it's only February...
View above the clouds on East Peak, Mt. Tam.
Finally learned how to skateboard on Thursday!
One of the greatest skills in life is to learn how to learn. Stay curious. Ask questions, Seek help from those around you. What you can imagine, you can create. It doesn't only apply to dream houses drawn on tri-fold pieces of paper.
Exploring new trails this morning at Lake Chabot.
One of my favorite things is reading a used book and stumbling across underlined sentences and notes scribbled in the margins. I try to imagine who the previous reader was before me, and how I know nothing except for the fact that we are moved by the same words, and this strangely connects us in a magical way.
What if trails were like sentences in books that you could underline and write in the margins?
"This was the trail that I ran time and again while grieving the loss of my brother."
"This trail was the only familiar place to me when I first moved to California, and it gave me a sense of belonging for all the times I felt uprooted and disoriented."
"This trail was where I processed through the most painful parts of my divorce. It was long enough for me to sort through the anger and bitterness, until I finally broke through to the other side and found grace and forgiveness."
"This was the trail where I realized she was the woman I wanted to marry."
Revisiting old familiar trails with a friend this afternoon at Redwood Regional Park.
If a trail could be underlined like a sentence in a book, it would be a history of sorts, passed on from runner to runner, making us understand and appreciate the sacredness of the ground we tread upon. It would connect us all together in pleasure and in pain- just as running does.
I'm tempted to leave notebooks and pens at each trailhead from now on.
Every day during lunchtime, I have sex. Idea sex, that is. Just like 'real' sex, idea sex is the mating of two ideas to create a fundamentally new idea that never existed before. The next generation of creative products within business, entertainment, and technology depends on this very act.
What used to be casual conversations about trivial typical lunchtime topics (weekend plans, the weather, work) have transformed into rapid-fire brainstorming sessions. PK and I have come up with some of our best work over lunch by intermingling, exchanging, building upon, and iterating our ideas together. Our personalities, interests and skill sets are unique to each other, so it's fascinating to see how the ideas we create together exceed anything I could've dreamt up alone.
Let your creative juices flow together.... (Fern Creek Train, Mt. Tam)
Groupon is an example of idea sex- it combined couponing with email marketing. The Rolling Stones was the love child of blues and rock and roll. Stan Weston knew that girls liked to play with dolls and boys liked action and guns. So he used the concept of idea sex and created GI Joe. It sold over one billion in merchandise. Hollywood pitches and Silicon Valley start-ups are all based on idea sex. What hasn't been done before? It's the intersection and convergence of two (perhaps fundamentally different) ideas where the magic happens.
“Truly groundbreaking ideas are rare, but you don’t necessarily need one to make a career out of creativity. My definition of creativity is the logical combination of two or more existing elements that result in a new concept. The best way to make a living with your imagination is to develop innovative applications, not imagine completely new concepts.”
Don't be an idea slut. Choose your partners with care. Have idea sex with those who reflect your own values, who you respect, and who you would want to birth something meaningful with into the world together. Our future depends on it. Now it's time to get busy.
“You will learn a lot about yourself if you stretch in the direction of goodness, of bigness, of kindness, of forgiveness, of emotional bravery.”
Sunset miles.
I'm so excited to hear/see/hug (?) one of my favorite authors, Cheryl Strayed in San Francisco next month. Listen HERE if you need some inspiration for your writing, for staying the course, and for using your art to transcend. And thank you PK for the tickets!!
“Even after all this time, the sun never says to the earth, “You owe me.” Look what happens with a love like that. It lights the whole sky.”
Chimney Rock, Point Reyes National Seashore
I'm so excited to invite you to join me and Praveena Kumar for our next 1/2 day wellness retreat on Saturday, 2/6. We'll roll out our mats and open our hearts and bodies with some yoga and lovingkindness meditation, and enjoy some delicious and nourishing plant-based food together. Through art and writing, we'll be exploring the topics of self-care and self-love, so we can love others from a deeper and more authentic place. Full details HERE. Hope to see you there!
I am thinking about expectations.
Bixby Bridge, Big Sur
I'd heard so much about this iconic bridge, so driving here, I admittedly had some high expectations. The view was indeed great, but the loud and obnoxious people clamoring for photo-op space along every inch of the dirt ridge left me feeling annoyed, disappointed and claustrophobic.
How often we think that those 'iconic' moments and things in life will make us happy- securing that ideal job, finding the perfect partner, getting that first book published, buying that dream house, getting that puppy- only to realize that once we've 'arrived' it is not at all what we expected. I've learned that society's definitions of what makes a good life rarely define my own.
I got in my car and kept driving south, enjoying the view and being open to exploring a new adventure on an off-beaten path somewhere else. I needed silence. And space.
It's a funny thing when you have no phone reception and are searching for a trailhead that you've only heard about from social media. Even in my search for solitude, I needed to enlist help. I stopped and asked for directions at the Henry Miller Library where I was met by a friendly man wearing a beanie, who delightfully led me to the back corner of the library. He picked up a book of hiking trails, glanced at the index, and thumbed through the pages until he reached the trail I was inquiring about. He then drew me the clearest, detailed map, including landmarks that would alert me that I had driven too far south, and warned me that is was trail that was "strenuous and not for the faint-hearted." I was grateful for him and his little map, which is now tucked away in my shoebox of special cards and letters. It is a reminder of how complete strangers allow us to discover places and parts of ourselves, and a call to point people in the right direction, regardless if we know their name or not. Such is the power of human kindness. I smiled and went on my way, without any clear expectations, yet excited for the adventure that awaited me.
“I grew up with landscape as a recourse, with the possibility of exiting the horizontal realm of social relations for a vertical alignment with earth and sky, matter and spirit. Vast open spaces speak best to this craving.”
Boronda Ridge Trail, Big Sur
Most of the time, having expectations is helpful and necessary. But I am realizing that a certain beauty emerges when you surrender them. Sometimes having no expectations allows us to show up in the world with an awakened heart and a listening ear- it makes us more open, more present, more amazed.
Gorgeous views along every inch of the single track trail.
The view after the ascent. Timber Top, Big Sur.
Enjoying the amazing view of the coast along every inch of the trail.
I met a man on my descent who was fascinated by mycology; he was carrying a 5-gallon plastic bucket, trudging along in heavy hiking boots, wearing a large backpack, and whistling. The recent weather conditions and fire had left him empty-handed in his hunt for mushrooms that day. He took a twig and uncovered a few mushrooms from underneath some damp leaves, explaining how the type of gill structure underneath their caps and blue-grey hue means they're poisonous.
Spotted this patch of poisonous mushrooms resting underneath an oak tree on my climb to Timber Top.
I marvel at how the power of an unexpected meeting with a stranger acts as a simple reminder of how lovely this world is, with all of its millions of species. We are all trying to gather and collect the good things in life- whether that's clarity, purpose, fungi. It is hard work. It is important work. Even when that strong desire to fill our bucket consumes us, it's knowing and recognizing when something is dangerous and poisonous and still leaving it alone that makes us wiser and stronger. That's where the true power lies.
The rain will come. The mushrooms will eventually grow. But for now, we continue to traverse along the same path with open eyes and hearts, whistling and swinging our empty buckets with a lightness in our steps, enjoying the vastness of the sky and sea.