I love life!

I am a passionate and endlessly curious lover of life, tender of beauty, wanting to respect the sacredness inside every living thing. I have dedicated my life in service to awakening, to truth, to de-fogging my eyes to learn more and more the miracles and stories inside everything inside and around me, that I may contribute one small thread into the vast tapestry of change happening on this planet, in hopes of bringing abundant and thriving life to a time beyond our own.

ABOUT ME

Who I am changes and develops, yet is always fed by my passion for living. I often catch myself in moments of profound joy and peace, pausing, smiling at trees and city lights and children, and the motion of all that is around me. Somehow, I've landed on this planet, from a prior state of nothingness, and have fallen in love with everything. What I feel evades words. My eyes have become the lens to this ongoing film I wish to express and share with the world--perpetual glimpses of art, absurdity, interconnectedness. I am a listener. I seek to open myself to the realm of non-judgment and acceptance; to expand my awareness; to practice ahimsa (nonviolence); wisdom. My life project is to study and be love. I am intrigued by the idea of the life artist, and wish to explore the world of performance art. I love connecting, eye contact, and talking about what matters (this doesn't have to be 'the meaning of life;' it can be the weather--it is the intention behind the conversation and the color of the conversation I allude to). I take life playfully and seriously. Sometimes my LA side comes out...Like all people though, my identity is dynamic and multi-faceted. I would say I am an integration of the philosophical and silly...

PHILOSOPHY

My message to the world:

I.

I walked.
Bag slung over my shoulder,
journals full of collected and invented proverbs,
I walked
from my home onwards,
outwards into the sunshine,
onto a field of grass twinkled with dew,
twinkled with yellows and greens.
In my bag were notebooks of wisdoms and lessons learned, and a single empty notebook
to write my message to the world.

I lay on my stomach,
drank sunshine,
contemplated poetry. Poems on love
on dreams
listening
interconnectedness
on abstractions that mean something different to all of us.
Poems that tell stories and build bridges
between the You and the I;
Poems that sound grandiose,
universal,
that sum up the world in fifteen lines and three stanzas;
Poems with the lessons of my life:
dream big but dream well,
love what you do and do what you love,
live each day as a work of art,
be love, be here now, harm no one.

Ideas and shapes of poems formed, but not the words themselves.
How could I possibly communicate my message to the world in words?
Words,
the unreliable tellers of truth;
symbols and cymbals
a single instrument when a hundred thousand are necessary
for a symphony.
Words
that attempt to communicate
ideas, expressions, sentiments,
over and under tones that evade
transcend
the words themselves.

I contemplated a message to the world in other media
a song, a dance, a painting, a performance.
But those I could not copy or fit in a box.
I wondered how I could make this message distinguished from others,
for every action, breath, and utterance is a message to the world.
I turned these thoughts over;
I turned my body over to face the faces passing me by.
And I observed.
Observed, and all was in motion:
eyes fixed on destinations,
legs pedaling forward with mechanical precision,
the occasional smile from a stranger.
I observed
for a long time until,
like a clock,
I was struck
with absurdity.
The absurdity of clothes, of social construction,
of structure weave created out of fluidity and nothingness.
Wheel machines called bicycles,
intentional stone straightedges called buildings,
locomotive feet we take for granted.
I observed absurdity
and I smiled at it,
returning to my empty notebook, speechless.

In the midst of contemplation
she sat down next to me,
having borrowed a pen from me earlier.
Julia.
Strands of glimmer in her hair: sun-mirrors.
We had met before.
She sat next to me, and we talked about the only story that stories ever tell: live.
In the moment.
Breathe.
Not just with your lungs, but with your body, taking in all that is around you.
Focus on the breath,
on what you are doing in this moment: breathing.
And reading this string of letters.
Appreciate what you have: now.
And be in love with it.
Be in love with every moment.

II. On Being in Love with the Moment

We tend to fall in love
with this moment,
but not this one.
This one,
where I am with all my friends,
dancing in the moonlight.
But not this one,
where I am reading a paper on the neuroethics of resonance imaging,
where I am on the floor crying over a broken bone.
Whatever the moment,
be with it,
be present.
Embrace
the pain
the pleasure
the beauty of art that is your life
that is the story you are writing right now with your body.
Slow down your wandering mind,
and think about now,
Now,
Now,
Now.
Now
bring your compassion to the moment
that's the being in love part
and be here now.

Eat an apple
really eat it.
Close your eyes.
Savor the texture of the flesh,
the tough,
smooth skin.
Feel it
get stuck in your teeth,
wedged between molars.
Listen to the crunch
chomp
swish.
Concentrate
on each bite,
this one
and this one;
pay attention
to the way your tongue moves the apple,
to what you're feeling
and where you're feeling it,
to the sweetness of sugar,
the sourness of the underripe,
the bitterness of the overripe.
Don't think about the next bite
or the bite that came before.
Only this one.
It will be the tastiest apple you ever eat.
Now
live life as you ate the apple:
each moment a bite.

Today we watch the sunrise.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I'm all for building and forming communities. Living in a co-op at school, I've realized just how important, how essential they are to living a sustainable life. So I would love to take part in building and strengthening the CS community, participate/volunteer at events, etc.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I am new to couch surfing and foresee many experiences and journeys ahead! I would love to offer a couch, as soon as I have one (I travel often, though my home base is in Nevada City)!

Interests

Life, Love, Beauty, music, deep listening to nature, honoring the feminine in all of life and in the earth, self-marriage, meditation, yoga, acupuncture, bodywork, buddhist wisdom, any wisdom, rumi, being in my body breathing, bright orange nail polish, women's and goddess circles, ecstatic dancing, running, playing violin, dresses, shower-singing, hugging, tea, eastern philosophy, people-watching, the sky (sunsets, sunrises, stars, the moon), the ocean and beach (sunbathing), fiction, poetry, journaling, progressive education, children (I love their natural curiosity and simplistic joy). I have little experience but much love for the outdoors, and also enjoy collecting quotes, swimming, snowboarding, meditating, WWOOFing, traveling (sometimes without going anywhere), crocheting, coconuts, almonds, ginger, rosewater, desserts...

• arts
• writing
• poetry
• singing
• performing arts
• beauty
• dancing
• education
• cooking
• desserts
• yoga
• running
• meditation
• gardening
• reading
• traveling
• music
• outdoor activities
• hiking
• nature

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Waking Life, Harold and Maude, Pay it Forward, Spanglish, The Pebble and the Penguin, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Across the Universe, The Wall, My Dinner with Andre, Anything Pedro Almodovar

Music: Anything and everything beautiful....my favorite artists include Trevor Hall, Rising Appalachia, and Climbing Poetree.

Books: Usually my favorite is whatever I'm reading at the time. All of Martin Prechtel's books, The History of Love, Catch-22, Man's Search for Meaning, The Fountainhead, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, Improv Wisdom, True Love, The Kite Runner, Harry Potter, anything by Haruki Murakami, Vagina by Naomi Wolf.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I did nothing for 10 days at a vipassana course, and saw my non-self, this entire existence contained in every breath that brings us nearer to death (and life)

Teach, Learn, Share

offering and learning about self-marriage, massage, holistic counseling, and holding safe spaces for women.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Belgium, Canada, England, France, Germany, Greece, India, Israel, Morocco, Norway, Spain, Sweden

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States