eat well

I don't have to talk about the wisdom of eating nourishing food; Anyone that loves feeling and looking good, knows that nutritious food is absolutely critical to our bodies. When we put healthy goodness in our mouths, our bodies function at their optimal levels - creating balanced energy, strength, youthfulness, peace.. In a literal sense, we actually become the food that we consume.
But what about the "other" ways that we eat? What about our other mouths?

Have we considered our eyes and the respect we give with our vision? When we let our eyes feast on an object, or a person, or an image, we are truly inviting that energy into our bodies. Often times, I don't think we realize how much of an effect it has on us.. or how deeply those images sear themselves into the fabric of who we are. I think most of us let our eyes just wander aimlessly; filling our subconscious with images that lack nutritiousness. That can change... We have the choice to genuinely pursue images that really "feed" us deeply - that breathe creativity and sensuality into our reflective imaginations.

What about the sounds we listen to? When we hear words from the mouths of our Friends or from strangers, do we filter out the truth from the trans-fats? We absolutely are affected by the goodness or negativity of sound. People are jaded, afraid, hateful, and defensive.. mostly because they have listened to and believed lies about themselves or about life. When we accept what someone says... it is as if we eat their words - swallow them inside of us, and make them part of who we are. They can either leave us mal-nourished and feeble, or give us strength, confidence, and hope - it all depends on what we listen to.

We are always eating. Our eyes, our mouths, our ears... always feeding ourselves... be it healthy, or destructive. I want to encourage awareness on a small scale.. reminding myself that I can choose to eat well on many levels - and life is more delicious when I do.





Andrew Tipton

She moves. over and above the lake with a graceful. elegance,
the soft and the unearthly.
All that I am not. She is. the muchness of her;
wild before time ever only moved in one direction.
my arms stroking the water, forceful. forced to stare in wonder.
Delicate shimmer alone with me.
Everywhere. darkness slips away beneath her glow.
There is nothing between. Only us.
Legs kicking. Mine beneath the surface.
naked fingers stretching out, holding myself here.
Strokes. Watch me swim beautiful goddess, do you?
see me so far down below?
She is the silent quietness that steals away fears.
Away up high.
Never doubt her beautiful edges, her circle curves. honeydew embers.
Ripples. Smooth silver mirror waves.
She moves. I move. This place moves. All of us in moonlit solitude.
Pleasure measured in the complexity of stillness.
Success - the sincerity of astonishment.

endogenous morphine

Our bodies produce endorphins during exercise, excitement, pain,and orgasm. They resemble opiates in their abilities to produce analgesia and a feeling of well-being.

Sometimes, I think perhaps it is more than a feeling - more like a longing from the depths of our spirit.
For the past week, I have been biking and kayaking in wilderness of Tsali. An amazing thing to be away from humanity for awhile.. to see the raw and untamed side of nature - silent, and yet constantly speaking to your animal side. Makes you feel fresh, wild-eyed, hungry.
I spent the mornings watching blue clouds make their way out of the sky, and wander down into lush mountain valleys; the afternoons embracing the icy splashes of whitewater on my lips (I still have the taste on my tongue); the evenings rushing down narrow, rocky trails - only the sound of our heartbeats, and our tires catching the dirt as we speed along roller coaster slopes.

Sometimes I need to be reminded of the intoxication of the beautifully unpredictable - such a blessing to be shaken by shadows and mystery of the Appalachians.

As we paddle out into the rapids, fear disappears - my ego disappears - everything but the moment vanishes into the cold rushing blueness. Matching smiles make their way across our faces and then the smiles wander down into our hearts; we are alive, we are alive, we are alive.. I can't help but say these words out loud! As the river takes us, I glimpse my own mortality.. and I am glad for the motion of the water, sweeping us along into a dangerous unknown.





Andrew Tipton

Poems to God

Our words and intentions are powerful. If you believe that, I think it can change life.
What if we wrote letters to the day?
We send letters and emails to friends and lovers... we tell our stories, we share our excitement and our energy.
Why not extend that same energy and thought towards the wind, and trees, and our own beautiful bodies? What if we spent a few moments of our day writing to the earth.. being thankful for our existence... or honestly jotting down our prayers and dreams.
Could the intention of pen strokes change the channels of our motion?

These letters would simply be a connection to this one moment in time. Letters of awareness; poems from our vulnerable childish minds, to the earth that we exist inside.
We could light them with a match, and let the breezes take them to god's ears.
Things are possible.

We are blessed to be a part of this place.





Andrew Tipton

breathe in and breathe out

Most purely I think life's motion is most completely realized, when we see it as a circle - a smooth flow of perpetual breathes. Like the sunset that becomes a sunrise, the days seem to mimic the motion of our mouths as we inhale and exhale.
Breathe Once.



On the inhale, we are taking life into our lungs, we are capturing sustenance and wellness, opening ourselves up (literally) to the gift of air. It is the moment we take.. the moment we exert our presence on earth. We cannot live if we don't inhale.

On the exhale, we let go. Feel air slip from your grasp, move freely from your lungs, leaving you empty. The exhale, is when we give back the breath that made us complete. We're giving it back because it was never ours, we just borrowed it for a few seconds. It is as beautiful and necessary as the inhale.
We cannot live if we don't exhale.

Life follows the same rhythm; a balance between what we take into ourselves and what our open mouths release back into the world. When we breathe, we never hold onto a breath very long.. it is simply moving through us. Perhaps a life that follows that principle would do us well.
Days of deep breathes and open mouths - always eager to draw beauty into our souls, yet always free to let it go. Take and give. Breathe in and breathe out.



Andrew Tipton

forget what you came for

Went out to shoot a sunset in the rain today.. a mist moved in as the sun faded and looked absolutely unbelievable through the treetops - weaving mystery through every single leaf. The second I took my camera out of its case to start shooting, my lens fogged up. I sat down for a few moments while I was waiting for it to clear, and out of the corner of my eye this little tree frog caught my attention. I got down on my hands in the horsetail right beside him.. and we both watched each other for about 20 minutes... me and the tree frog.
This guy was so bad ass! He had the coolest tiny fingers, and these beautiful golden bronze eyes that would follow my movements, and he had this mischievous frog smile. I watched his skin move.. frog skin move.. have you ever watched frog skin move? the color of a ripe lime, I would say its the greenest thing I've ever seen.
If you look at a tree frog long enough, it starts change in your mind - it starts to lose its place in your memory.. starts to lose its name.. starts to look crazy insane.
I was mesmerized for 20 minutes today. Looking at a creature that I do not know. I thought I did, I thought I had tree frogs all figured out... for sure. I was wrong.
We call things by made up names.. we let ourselves pretend to fathom what they do.. and why they exist..
but we are just pretending.
We live in a world of make believe


I missed my sunset. Got lost in bewilderment instead.





Andrew Tipton