No fish will ever outweigh an epiphany. The fish will die, but the epiphany will live with you forever. Of course, the fish could be the very thing that caused the epiphany, and there needs to be a great deal of respect for that physical stimuli (and in this case, fish).

Over the past month I’ve battled symptoms similar of carpal tunnel syndrome, highly limiting my ability to work on my computer, play guitar/piano, and surf. These are all things that I love to do.

These symptoms will surely pass overtime, and I am confident that I will be back to a fully functional self soon. In the meantime, I’ve been able to deeply appreciate conversations, walks, and thought.

As an able bodied person, we pass through physical experiences on a millisecond time scale without consciously appreciating what we have. Whether it be our ability to turn our steering wheel in our car, paddle an extra stroke to catch a wave, or simply share our thoughts on a blog, it is easy to forget the physical subtle actions throughout our day that make our day, our day.

This experience has forced me to focus on those subtleties.

The physical stimulus is my inability to perform seemingly trivial activities, and the result is a great deal of respect for those who have physical limitations that live with them for a lifetime.

As a physical barrier is created, there is a momentum of thought that can be derived from that very physical barrier. In my pursuit of understanding the relationship between physical action and the legacy that follows by way of epiphanies, I wonder how we can create epiphanies without any physical action at all.

Many people refer to this as meditation.

Let your thoughts,
be your greatest catch.

Meet Clark, feel good.

He feels good. He smiles. He lives well.

Clark represents positivity. He sees smiles as a universal hand shake.

A simple hello an opportunity to give thanks for sharing the same sidewalk.

He meets the person, not the country. He’s your friend.

Coincidence vs. Destiny. Our unconscious mind and our intuition. A Prosthetic Leg and a Drag Queen.

Some things seem to happen for a seemingly inexplicable reason. We go through life wondering how we met that person, traveled to that place, and ran into someone we know in an unusual setting. There are many tools today that try and help us make sense of our social world (facebook, twitter, etc etc), but there are still many things that seem to be brilliantly inexplicable.

I am personally fascinated by the concepts of coincidence and causality. I often wonder where our experience of ‘reality’ begins.

Could a conversation lead the unconscious brain to an event or place without our conscious understanding of why we ended up at that event or place?

Last week, I (along with my brother Scott and my Mom) experienced something that was very exciting to me.

We went running along the beach (our normal route) and took a break where we have taken breaks before. It was a busy summer beach day. Sun shining, people everywhere.

My mom takes a seat on one of the benches. My brother and I stand as we catch our breath from the run. My mom starts speaking to a friendly elderly man and as that occurs another elderly man in a wheelchair begins to speak to my brother and I.

The man in the wheelchair goes on to share why he’s wearing a ‘Shamu’ (killer whale) stuffed animal on his left leg that had been amputated (he is a veteran). He shares a story of a time he went to SeaWorld and staff told him to remove the ‘Shamu’ from his leg (it covered his ‘stump’ as he described it by placing the ‘Shamu’ mouth over it).

He shared stories about interesting entertainment venues in San Diego. He talked about how one time he went to a wild bar where they were throwing a jello wrestling party and a women’s roller derby team was participating in the event. One of the teammates was a 6’6″ roller derby girl who threw him in the jello (“stump and all” as he put it) and wrestled around.

He then shared his stories of unusual circuses he had been to here in San Diego. He asked us if we’d been to Lips. We told him we hadn’t. He said it’s a great place for great entertainment. He told us there are great Drag Queens that are excellent performers. He said he liked going there because they were accepting of everyone, no matter how you looked.

He talked about how once he had a prosthetic leg, but now uses his wheelchair exclusively. He also told us that he might get a new prosthetic leg.

We enjoyed our conversation and continued our run back to our destination. Upon reaching our destination (30mins later and 2 miles from original conversation), we decided to grab something to eat. We choose Subway.

As we’re making our way walking to Subway my mom stops and points at a drawing on an electrical box on the side of the road. “Hey, look at this.” She calls us over and we take a look.

To my complete shock, the drawing is of a man with a prosthetic leg speaking to what looks like a Drag Queen (original drawing below).

The colored version of the original drawing is a remake that I created. I redrew the original drawing, added color, and changed the message. I then placed the remixed version I created and placed it where the original had been. Hopefully the original artist will continue a dialog.

I think the important message to share is how important it is to accept everyone regardless of how they look and you will end up with great stories and an interesting life.

Johannes Gutenberg invented the Gutenberg printing press, a device that would ultimately lead to the vast dissemination of written works around Europe and the rest of the world. Many people credit Gutenberg’s invention to be one of the primary catalysts for what came to be known as the Renaissance.

Below are photos of a replica I created over 10 years ago with my stepdad (thank you Richard!). Today, we are living in an age where the Internet is influencing education and overall societal structures in a way much like that of Gutenberg’s printing press. Gutenberg’s Wikipedia page.

Replica of Gutenberg’s Printing Press.

Wood replica of Gutenberg’s Printing Press.

Take the time to listen to this TED talk by DON TAPSCOTT about open Internet and what can be learned from nature.

A bee on a milk weed plant in my mom’s garden. Pretty cool what you can capture with technology.

I’ve made my way back to beautiful Costa Rica, visiting friends and working on Autentico Adventures. It is amazing (almost surreal) to be instantly immersed in Spanish and surrounded by rainforest. Autentico Adventures has big plans for the future, I’m excited to see some great things happen this year and the many years to come.

Take a look at some of the photos I recently took on a trip out to Piedras Blancas, the village in which we offer homestays and a number of activities (hiking, waterfall rappelling, cave exploration, sugarcane production, homemade cheese making). Costa Rica is truly a place of ‘pura vida’, or ‘pure life’ in English.

Created with Admarket’s flickrSLiDR.

‘This square is a circle.’

A representation of transition and thought. We box ourselves in to ultimately reach and achieve action and thought ‘flow‘. Sometimes it is a requirement to limit yourself, to ‘box’ yourself in. I like to call it ‘putting your blinders on’. Just as horses need to be able to focus on what is in front of them, we need to do the same at points in our lives, but must ultimately cater to our unique perception and vision as represented by the circle.

This graphic represents the necessity to create boxes, or ‘frameworks’ in which our vision is limited. The successful result of limiting distraction allows for the creation of something new…in this case represented by the circle. The circle demonstrates one’s ability to achieve a goal, to ‘hit the target’. With the right amount of focus, we are able to not only create the target, but achieve success as we define it.

The many linkages behind the circle demonstrate our ability to utilize our past and present successes to other potential successes that we realize. One success leads to another, and so on.

The more successes we create and achieve, the more infinite the opportunity to create, learn, and develop as an individual and visionary. A healthy ‘spider web of vision and success’ requires a certain degree of blindness, and a balance of focus. I imagine the iris of the eye expanding and shrinking on the beautiful canvas of the color of our eyes (our unique perspective).

The squares are the building blocks of our objectives, a paradox when considering if our eyes were square our vision would be limited. If Our Eyes Were Square

Over the past year I’ve been making quite a few songs. Here are two songs that I’ve decided to post online…more will make their way online.

‘My Impact’ – A song I made during my time in Australia. It explores the current fractures and lack of friendly interactions in our modern day cities. I just so happened to create it during my stay in Australia, it does NOT target Aussies specifically, but is an overview of our modern civilization and city life. It is titled ‘My Impact’ because I believe that every individual has the opportunity to change the social environment as a whole by being friendly on a daily basis.

‘Keep it Simple’ – Created in San Diego after traveling. This song is clearly about living simply. Living with fewer things. Fewer purchases. Etc, etc. It can be overwhelming coming back home to a culture where buying things is not only a catalyst for economic growth, but for personal satisfaction and societal acceptance. Although the song may be considered a bit idealistic, it is an attempt for people to think about what they buy, why they buy it, and what they actually need in life.