Whiskey Supernova

Supernovas are the explosions of stars that create extreme amounts of light and energy.

The explosions of stars. Does that not rock your mind?
I can't breathe straight when I think about supernovas. Honestly.
A star, a billion miles away - ending the life that it has lived, and becoming this movement of color, of light, of absolute raw energy and power.
I am laughing out loud; supernovas are real.
I wonder if stars deep down are all really capable of becoming supernovas - but they just don't know it yet?

Did you ever get to a place.. and say enough.
Enough words, enough thought, enough of this.
Did you ever realize what you are? Did you ever find what you want so strong and so furious - that when you see it, you don't want any other life.
You have to drop all that you are, all that you have been, and choose a different existence.
I'm not talking about a "better" or more "successful" life - those don't exist. I'm considering a life that grips you by the heart and won't let go.
What do you want?
Are we moving in a direction that we believe in?
Supernovas are real. The choice to change is real.


When stars become supernovas, they let go.
They actually collapse on themselves and then explode outward. They reach a point of absolute exhaustion, and its as though they too say, "Enough.".
All the gravity, all the forces that keep them contained disappear... and then BOOOM!!!
When a star loses everything, when it entirely abandons containing itself, it is at that moment that it becomes everything incredible. No longer is it a solitary entity in a distant galaxy.. it stretches past itself touching and affecting everything around it. Light. Beauty. Power. Motion. Radiance. In a way, it is the entire loss of self that creates something extraordinary.


We are the same.
Exactly the same.
We are supernovas that just don't know it yet!

Honestly, I am entirely preoccupied with remaining a star. In my own convenient space, with my own gravity holding me down - in perfect undisturbed orbit. Often times, I even love pretending that a "star" is all I was born to be. A star, a spectacle, to be admired and looked at from a distance. What a pathetic, self-absorbed, glamorized existence.
I forget that life doesn't have to end with me! I forget that I am not the center of the universe. Someone should tell us when we are young.. that we can EXPLODE on this earth! They should tell us not to behave so safely, not to consume ourselves with self-preservation or look forward to retirement. Someone should tell us that we can take all of those passions, and those stunning ideas and thoughts and gifts that make us unique - and we can unleash ourselves on humanity. In a blur of fleeting energy.
I have that choice. We have that choice.
On the way to work, I have that choice. In the morning when I wake up, I have that choice. When I am about to say something, I have that choice. When I smile, I have that choice.
All I have to do is let go.
Let go. Say ENOUGH.
Everything beautiful, everything real... all those blues and those crimson reds and neon yellows and those flames of supernova light, they are aching to escape! They are aching for us to just stop being smart and sexy, afraid and predictable. Stop talking, stop moving in circles, stop complaining, stop searching, stop concluding.
Enough.

Look at that photo again.. and imagine if you exploded like that onto this world. What would that look like? Who would you affect? What would you become?
You are a supernova already - just let go.
Choose freedom.



(andrew tipton)

Still, I Need Your Sway

Hammocks rock.
Seriously. Owning a hammock these past 4 months, has been like my own portable piece of paradise, which conveniently stores away in my backpack.
My hammock is made out of parachute material; it is super-strong and when you lay in it, you feel as though you are being cradled in silk. Adventure silk, that should be the name of the fabric.
Two trees, a slight breeze, and some sunshine - perfection.



I spent last night in my hammock deep in the rain forest above Manoa Falls.
An amazing location, totally peaceful and thought provoking.
When you are there, you are surrounded voices of birds, the rush of cool water across stones, and the constant hum of living things. The air is wet, and breathing deep breathes feels great.
There are these huge Banyan trees, like creatures out of a science-fiction novel; their limbs looming out over bamboo groves, their trunks comprised of thousands of smaller vines. They are incredibly wild and intricate - like some sort of abstract nature art. Untamed and beautiful.


I found the perfect place for my hammock at the base of the waterfall, stretched across a small gorge.
Rapids below me, the jungle canopy above.
These huge jungle ferns reaching up from the banks of the stream - like they wanted to climb up into the hammock, and curl up with me.
As I slid in, I felt the silky fabric stretch beneath me; then slowly I started to sway... sway... sway..

Stars came out, and I watched them shimmer between the leaves of high above me. It was a crystal clear sky, nothing between me and god except a few palm leaves and a few thoughts.
Its when I'm lying in places like these, that I can't help but wonder. Not about anything in particular, rather just lay awake in wonder.

Sway... sway... sway..
The rustle of wings,

sway... sway... sway...
Drops of water pattering on rocks,

sway.. sway.. sway..
My chest rising and falling,

sway... sway... sway..


The details of existence wrap themselves around my ears, and climb through the cracks in my cleverness.
The velvet moss growing on a tree branch; listening to a breeze slowly move through the forest, sweep past the waterfall, then move along my body; life is completely in the details.
Lying there in that simple hammock, I felt like the entire Manoa jungle was swaying with me.. sway.. sway ... sway.
We were all wrapped around each other; the moss, the water, the ferns, the trees, the breeze - all of us staring up at into the night sky, lost in wonder.



In the morning, I bathed in the waterfall and watched the sunlight trickle down the mountain slopes. As hikers slowly made their way up the trail; I was waiting, ready to greet them.

"Hey! How's it going?"

I realized yesterday that beauty has to be passed on.
These gorgeous details can't end with me; they can't end with the mornings in the jungle when I wake up. They can't end with a photograph, or a journal entry. I can't just absorb the sway of life, and keep it tucked away in my backpack.
I am out here to feel it, to touch it.. and then to share it.
Sway with me, sway.... sway.. sway..



(Andrew Tipton)

Paradise for Trade

They say... "if you can't be with the one you love, love the one you're with." Bullshit.
I say, "If you can be with the ones you love.. be with them.
Love above all else is precious, love above all else is fleeting, love rocks my mind, it spreads my wings, it washes the dirt out of my tired eyes, it wraps my broken ankles and helps me stand up, it screams in my face, and sings lullabies to my heart.

I want to know what you're willing to trade?
I want to know what you're willing to live for?
I want to know if I'm crazy.
I am crazy.
I watch time drip from my sunglasses; the drops splash on my mid-afternoons and I long for backseat drivers to remind me where to turn. These exits all look the same.
Its not the destination that draws my smile, its the passengers.
(I find myself waking up happy to know you; thrilled that we shared the same moments in the same places; thrilled that we will share more)
We are all packed in my jeep - and the world is ours.
Anywhere - because we have each other - we are not each others' crutches; we are silhouettes of radiance that bring out the best parts of one another.
Shine on sweet chariot. We are fascination, we are instigation. We are the warmest parts of summer when we are together.
Its the music and genuine prayers, and the smiles, and the pain, and the late nights and early mornings, and the hours spent driving across deserts that make me want to be with you again. To roam. To sing. To speak. To challenge. To embrace. To grow.

I would trade paradise.
I would trade all that I am, not because I have a guarantee of something better, or wilder, or more pleasurable.. simply because the idea of a life filled with unknown and you at my side, is most amazing.
I could never dream of anything more potent for this world; I cannot imagine a more exquisite way to die, than living for truth and freedom.
I will see you soon. Live free never be tamed.


(Andrew Tipton)

LICK MY MIND

I met a girl in LaniKai.
She is stunning.. beautiful, sky-blue eyes, ringlets of silky blonde hair, a smile that is entirely kind, and entirely sensual, a body that models dream about.
Ordinarily, I wouldn't give her a second glance. Beauty, it seems - has a way of compensating for a dull-mind.
But this is Hawaii.

I have only met her twice, both times accidentally; which is probably not a coincidence.

She and I spent two nights together, dancing under the stars of Kailua Beach, running along the shoreline chasing waves. We lay in a field under the moonlit shadow of Diamondhead, watching the full moon, as it swum through layers of dark clouds.
We are not lovers, we are not friends - merely human beings existing in the same place at the same time. Enjoying the quite 2am ocean breeze, enjoying the silhouette of islands off the Hawaiian coast, enjoying the beauty of words.


My favorite thing about this blonde, island girl, is that she "SPEAKS". She doesn't talk, or chatter, or make idle use of her mouth.
She uses words like: symphony, watermelonjuice, and vibration; words whose sound tastes like cool water splashing through my ears.
I love those words. I love those exposed, beautiful thoughts about the sensuality of simply enjoying the moment. I love that I can taste her mind, that she takes the time to describe the light flickering around the edges of palmtree leaves, and how the most "average" experience becomes incredible - simply by describing it with truth and emotion.

There are so many things you and I could say to one another.
So many words and phrases, so many delicate intricacies of exposed thoughts.
We could talk about the weather, we could debate politics, we could analyze theories and dictate postulations about planets; I could tell you about the feeling of sunshine on a chilly afternoon, you could speak to me of how a wave travels across the ocean. There is so much we can say.
I forget constantly that my ability to speak is a gift - that the things I am able to communicate are powerful.
The same energy that I use climbing a mountain, or diving through a waterfall, I use in the words that come spilling out of my mouth. The same strength, the same living and breathing.
I am aware that I often waste my breathe on shallow words. Somewhere in the transition of the experience, and the relation of that experience - I forget the potency and the magnificence of description.
Words are stunning.

I want you to lick my mind like an ice cream cone.
I want you to be able to taste my experiences, my thoughts, my dreams - through my words. To feel what I feel, to be where I've been.
When I speak, it shouldn't be brief or rushed, it should be delicious.
Lets savor each others minds.
Lets use our tongues and our lips and our verbs our and nouns and speak for once. Life is worth it.


(Andrew Tipton)

Save Time for Things That Don't Matter

My great aunt used to tell me, that until she was old, she refused be anything but young. She said those words until she died at 86 years young.
I am left with memories that only a few on earth will remember.

My great aunt was wild, unpredictable and one of the most life-filled people I have ever known. Her enthusiasm for existence was infectious.. you couldn't help but smile when she was around; her jokes were raucous, her hugs genuine.
I am better for knowing her.

Fleeting. That is this life.
It is already a memory in the dark recesses of my brain - the flicker of days; like the highlights of a picture book.
I have been battling the notion of success lately.
Like an alligator from a Florida swamp, it grabs me and drags me under sometimes.. its sharp teeth ripping off chunks of my heart and tearing away my passions. Yet, I always struggle my way free! Once I've escaped the gray waters, I can see the beast clearly from the river's bank: for what it is - a demon that steals so many hungry tigers from their mothers.

It is not a coincidence that my aunt passes away while I am here in Hawaii.
It is fate, that brings us to conclusions about the shapes of our minutes.
I believe it had to be here, here in the solitude of paradise, that my great aunt's words finally sink in.
It is the photo taken a few hours before she passed, and then the vision of today's sunset passing from the sky - that perfect contrast between beauty and weakness that breathes thought into my lungs.
It is the memory of my great aunt's laughter, and then the laughter from my own mouth that makes me notice how similar she and I are; she was laughing a few days ago - I am almost 86.
I am reminded everywhere I look.
From here, on this island, I see everything beautiful and glorious and perfect... and yet I still see the helpless state of us all - buried in my aunt's fading eyes.
The end to our lives that comes regardless of success or pursuit or power - In the end, we go back to the earth..
And what did it matter?



And what did it matter?
And what did it matter?
Challenge it all..
I ask myself what matters?
I ask myself if the 9 hrs I spent working today would have been equally as profitable, had I been lying on the beach of Kailua in my hammock? Or swimming in Sacred Falls, or hiking up the Hahaione trail, or sleeping in the grass of Kapioloni park under a Palm tree?
I am having difficulty distinguishing the line between everything that I have always believed is worthwhile.. and everything that I have always assumed doesn't matter.
It is all starting to matter.

I want to remember my aunt. Remember smiles and kind words. Remember to touch.
I want to save time for things that don't matter... days in hammocks, climbing on rocks, walking.. because really, truly, they do.
They always have.
Life is completely about the simplicity of motion - just being, just enjoying, just letting go and embracing every tiny detail of the day.
Success, is being alive; one single undeserved breathe and I have lived an incredibly successful life.

It matters.
Everything matters.



(Andrew Tipton)

lines of days

I have few friends.
I am neither burndened to find more, nor do I feel the need to convince the ones I have to stay. We simply are.
Friendship is unfathomable. It is a relationship far beyond "aquaintances", or "pals", or "lovers". It stretches infinately past mood, or location, or situation.

Life is like a beautiful sheet of music... and we are notes burued in the lines of days - without the notes, the music is not complete - we must be together; its the way life was composed.

You don't chose real friends.. they happen to you.
People whose minds are so closely knit to yours, that you can almost hear them think. A person that drives you to become free; that challenges you to move in ways you haven't yet imagined; a person that does things to you and goes places for you; a person that lends you all the unity and strength and honesty you can handle - just so you can lend it all back.
Like the sand on the beach, you don't know where you begin and the other begins - because your hearts are thumping to the same two beats: "Live free... Live free... Live free.. thump thump... thump thump... thump thump.."

Friendship is powerful, it is rare, and I treasure it greatly.
One of my friends, Joshua, is on a crusade. He is travelling to Camden, MN to pursue music and adventure. By train, through snow and across unfamiliar country, he is forgetting comfort and excuses and instead, pursing life. Although part of me wishes we were travelling together, I know that it is better if we move in seperate ways for awhile - growing stronger on our own, so that when we reunite we will be even wiser, more alive and braver.
Joshua is an amazing human, he says words that I only think, and he says them with such potency that they burn my mind.. yet so delicatly that I am afraid to whisper them - for fear of losing the thought altogether.
I am glad to have someone so much like myself that I can call friend, brother.
Here is a an recent writing from Joshua; it is strong and exactly what our hearts ache for - his words are a shout that shatter the silence of complacency. They remind me of why I'm here and what is good. Thank you Josh for these words.

i'm on a train.
#20 the CRESCENT... and every second has me in a place i have never seen or been to. its a weird feeling and wonder if i really know where i'm going. the less control i have over where i'm giong the better i feel. leaving the land of comfort and plenty i have built up, for the days i have been waiting for - days of barefeet, of doing what i love and am good at, of not doing what i don't want to do, of taking my clothes off and running into the ocean, of living honestly in every moment attached to nothing else and so set free from the learned meantality and ways of the world. no compromise of purity and no sharing my gift of life and time with anything other than the integrity of my heart. forgetting the knowledge i've been taught...learning how to hear all thats always been there since i was created - like i said, the integrity of my heart. the child in me that fellowships with God and the garden rather than mingle with a tree that talks wondering how good the fruit it dangles in front of me tastes...i want to sell all of my cleverness and purchase bewilderment. JOSHUA

(Andrew Tipton)

punching flowers

touch everything.
I'm learning though, all touch, is not equal.
Cross this world, explore it, find yourself among the fireflies of jungle streams, surfing waves at sunset, or hiking beside friends on volcanos. Touch everything, but touch it accordingly.
At times, I feel as though I am punching flowers.
They were touched... but not in the way they could have been.
Sometimes beauty sits right in my face, pressing its nose against my cheek, and instead of kissing, I bite.

How do I touch a boulder? I grab onto it, my fingers clutching and clawing along the edges. It was made to be climbed; made to be explored without boundaries.

How do I touch water? I swim through it, I wrap myself it it until it nearly consumes me. I dive into it, I wash myself with it.

How do I touch a horse? I touch it with respect, I run my hands along its nose and forehead; slowly, I stroke its shoulders and let my fingers rest along its broad back.

How do I touch fire? I touch it quickly, savoring the warmth that moves across my body. I don't linger there, I enjoy it - but only for a few moments.

How do I touch trees?
How do I touch ice?
How do I touch the face of a child?
How do I touch grass.. or air, or a soft blanket?
How do I touch an elderly person? Or a brother? Or a lover?

Touch is everything. It is the motion of life.
Touch with pleasure... to give pleasure, to receive pleasure, to discover pleasure.
Touch with honesty and with sympathy; touch with power, and with fierceness, and control; touch with tenderness and respect. Touch with awareness.
Punch hard in fights. Be gentle with babies. Give strong massages.




(Andrew Tipton)