PROMPT: Principles

What principles define how you live?

Before traveling, empty my cup. Before returning home, empty my cup.

Collect experiences, not geegaws.

Wishing for the world to be some other way is a grand waste of time.

If there is a river flowing toward where I want to be, surrender to it.

See humor everywhere, especially in myself.

Be content with who I am at the moment, while struggling to be a better version in future editions.

Strive to find the non-adversarial path.

Keep looking until I see what is beautiful in all things and creatures.

Don’t attempt to construct anyone else’s list of principles to live by.

Feel the sensations that arise without letting the mind amplify them out of proportion.

Seek only simple pleasures, enjoy them fully, and then move on.

PROMPT: Lost All Possessions

What would you do if you lost all your possessions?

I’d like to think that I’d keep on keeping on, and I try to cultivate the mindset to do so, but –having never experienced it — I can’t honestly say.

PROMPT: Skill

What skill would you like to learn?

FREEDIVING.

PROMPT: Lesson

Daily writing prompt
Share a lesson you wish you had learned earlier in life.

Few things in life matter as much as they feel they do. Almost nothing is perilous, while many things feel as though they are. Don’t let illusory feelings keep one from living boldly.

Or, as the Epicureans liked to say, “What is painful is easy to endure.”

PROMPT: Foods

Daily writing prompt
What are your favorite types of foods?

Those that are authentic to wherever I am at the moment. [Nothing fancy, but with nutritional value.]

PROMPT: Traveled from Home

Daily writing prompt
Share a story about the furthest you’ve ever traveled from home.

”Home” and “away” lost all meaning long ago, becoming a false dichotomy. “Furthest” is likely presumed to mean the most distant in space, but that is not always the greatest mental distance. Sometimes a place changes while you were away, and that shift through time becomes the most jarring distance.

PROMPT: Motivates

Daily writing prompt
What motivates you?

When tigers chase, I run. When sunsets glow, I sit and watch.

PROMPT: Sell

Daily writing prompt
If you were going to open up a shop, what would you sell?

Experiences and lessons.

PROMPT: Change

Daily writing prompt
What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world?

If I can spark the occasional smile of amusement or trigger a line of thought once in a while, that’s enough. In the long run, it’s all dust. (That latter commentary was more on the thought-provoking than the amusing side of the equation.)

PROMPT: Expensive Meal

Daily writing prompt
What’s the most money you’ve ever spent on a meal? Was it worth it?

I can’t remember, but it’s never been worth it. Seems like the more one pays for a meal, the hungrier one leaves it. Enjoy your “foam reductions” if you like, but it’s not for me. I’ll take street food any day — cheap, filling, flavorful street food. It’s got character and doesn’t try too hard.

My palate may be unrefined, but — also — I’m no sucker.