During the 2025 Trip to Japan, I came up with these incredible ideas about living life and being.
Smile with those who smile and give others a reason to smile
You will know the true presence of a moment when you acknowledge it will be forgotten like tears in the rain
Always be your own hero in your own story. Only you know what you want, what you have been through, and only you know what you are truly capable of.
When you find a greater purpose of life, love, and happiness in life that is common with others, there are no limits to what you can share with others.
One of the greatest gifts you can give and receive is sharing moments together.
Never wait on anyone, or you may never go or find the magic that waits for you.
You can spend an eternity in a single moment and be haunted forever by a smile.
We care and put too much focus on the wrong things, and don’t just lose sight of our hopes and dreams, but abandon them with a profound sense of apathy.
Abandon the idea of getting somewhere when you are always somewhere, find the magic of the moment, acknowledge it, own it, love it, and run with it.
Life is about building small confidences in life and figuring it out one step and one day at a time
Bonus rule: Although life is filled with storms and at times chaotic seas, we grow from all experiences. If we only had smooth sailing all the time, we would never know who we truly are in times when the surf is down.
After returning from Japan, I decided not to let the magic of life end, so I came up with the idea of being a tourist in my own hometown. That is where this next set of rules come from.
The willingness to see the world in a different light allows you to see new opportunities.
The thing we call opportunity is merely the willingness to seize life in the moment.
The ability to seize the moments of life is the ability to take action and not let life escape you.
Know a little bit about everything; everything comes in handy at some point, especially language.
Never get so caught up in trying to be a part of someone else’s story that you compromise you’re own. Always remain true, and know you play a bigger game with different goals and rules in mind.
The biggest desire is to fit in and relate, so much so that we see ourselves in others, not for approval but to know we are not alone in the way we think or feel.
Don’t worry about offending, including, or acknowledging everyone in the moment, as it is impossible. Know you’re intentions are good and heartfelt, and that they can be read as such. Unfortunately, or fortunately, some individuals are just background characters
Always know that the sun is warm on your face and the wind is always willing to fill your sails of adventure. Embrace the day.
Observing is as much about acknowledging as it is about reflection
Put yourself in other people’s shoes. You’re perception of reality isn’t always correct. Your way of thinking and envisioning others might actually be the exact opposite.
Bonus: Life, and life’s adventures, often follow the iconic storyline arc. You arrive just in time to be a part of the main story, only to watch it fade out as you begin to take center stage. Then, as your time comes to make your exit, another group takes your place, and you watch yourself exit, knowing that the whole process is repeating. Most people don’t know or acknowledge that they could be a part of it, that they can join in something great. Like life, most just skate on the surface.
Like Alice in wonderland, the girl who often gave herself good advice but rarely followed it I too tell myself things to make sense of reality and to get though the day. Here are those ideas.
Use art as the blueprint in making reality into what you want it to be. Whether it be a sketch, a drawing, a letter, a poem, the first step is envisioning it and manifesting it in the smallest, simplest steps.
When you take great leaps of faith, or go on the grandest of adventures, and people ask you, How does your work allow you? Why go back so many times? How do you do it? I tell them this.
You only get one time around the solar system, as it takes 230 million years for the sun to complete one galactic orbit to circle the Milky Way galaxy. In this sense life our time alive is 0.00000035 of a galactic year.
Life is meant to have: Meaning, depth, and purpose, as we are not monochromatic nor are we one-dimensional.
Life’s complexity resists a single narrative, suggesting that the meaning may not be fixed.
In the full awareness of the absurdity, we are free to create our own values.
Maybe rather than asking the question “What is the purpose of life,” we instead ask how I can participate beautifully, authentically, and fully in life.
Lack of inherent meaning provides the sense that everything is possible, and life is not bound to serve some external script
The ability to live life well without the need to know why.
Through the art of awareness, we are capable of creating and connecting authentically, even if imperfectly
True connection does not erase our aloneness, but it can illuminate it with warmth
Always be part of the moment if you're capable of doing so, because you don’t know if you will ever be provided the opportunity again.
Always be part of the moment if you’re capable of doing so because life is happening and changing so quickly that by the time you get around to it, either it will no longer be what it was or no longer exist.