DO

"Every beauty and greatness in this world is created by a single thought or emotion inside a man. Every thing we see today, made by past generations, was, before its appearance, a thought in the mind of a man or an impulse in the heart of a woman. The revolutions that shed blood and turn men's minds toward liberty were the idea of one man who lived in the midst of thousands of men...
A single thought built the pyramids, founded the glory of Islam, and caused the burning of the library at Alexandria." - Broken Wings

I am becoming seduced by the idea of intentionally and completely acting on my thoughts; throwing myself into the untethered mystery of possibility.
Dare I?

Sometimes it seems that revolutions slip through our fingers.. because we don't allow ourselves the bravery to act on our daydreams.
At times, a thought will enter my mind, and I say to myself, "How incredible that would be!" - and yet I do nothing to consummate the vision... I let it play comfortably and softly in the recesses of my mind - where it cannot be harmed; where it can never bloom. And it suffocates there.

I am a dying man - What is there to fear?
Rejection? Failure? The unknown?
Are you kidding me?? Is that it??? Seriously??
I watch people walk away from the the very places that they long for.. because they can't face the idea of their thought not succeeding.
I believe that we're often so traumatized by the idea of failure... that we rarely even give ourselves a chance. For the sake of safety, we trade away every possibility.

These thoughts. These mental explosions that thunder inside our rib cages.. like tornadoes, trying to rip their way out! Can you imagine what would happen if we stopped walking away from them.. and instead lived them!

I walked up to a stranger on a beach once.. and kissed her without ever saying a word. One of the best thoughts I've ever done.
This life is over so quickly. I cannot find a reason to be silent..






Andrew Tipton

Crimson Skin

Grand is the seen, the light, to me--grand are the sky and stars,
Grand is the earth, and grand are lasting time and space,
And grand their laws, so multiform, puzzling, evolutionary;
But grander far the unseen soul of me, comprehending, endowing all those,
Lighting the light, the sky and stars, delving the earth, sailing
the sea,..
- Whitman

Andrew Tipton

The New Faces of Old Friends

We still have the same beautiful eyes, the same strong hearts beating in our chests, the same lips, the same contagious laughter... our bodies are the same.. yet, so much about us has changed.
I look at us together, and its as if we are familiar strangers... greeting each other with new ideas, new freedoms, new minds..
We are speaking with one another... Chanting the hymn: "We are liberty."
These are the revolutions of our waking souls.
I see new faces.


The evidence of motion... I love how completely comfortable and yet all-together lost I am around these familiar faces. Do I even know you?
Maybe we really should re-name ourselves at some point... just to keep track of who we have become.
The energy, the unpredictability, the peace.. the peace, most of all.
It is a blessing to chase freedom with you... may we continue to see life through childrens' eyes - wide with abandon.









Andrew Tipton

Lioness

"To the one who stares at the sun with glazed eyes and grasps the fire with untrembling fingers and hears the spiritual tune of eternity behind the clamorous shrieking of the blind." - Kahlil Gibran

Left Hand Horizon

(Oct 17th, Longhunter, TN, experiencing a lake sunset with a beautiful woman)

Last month I spent time actually considering some of my routines.
The elements of my days that are consistently repeated without consideration or forethought. There were more than I imagined.
Mostly based on my own traditions - I discovered that I had involuntarily given myself guidelines when it came to decisions.
From where I meditate, to the sort of vegetables I eat, to which route I take when rock climbing... It wasn't that I didn't have other options.. its just that my repetition had resulted in a sort of subconscious conditioning - my view of the possibilities had become narrowed.

Truthfully, we all live lives that are routine in one degree or another.
Ranging from the most basic level (sleep).. all the way to routines that leave little time for anything extraordinary.
We have routines of going to work, routines when it comes to our interaction with other people, routines for what we like, or what we don't like, routines for the way we dress, or the places we go, or the way we respond to situations..
Personal traditions that begin to steal away the mystery and adventure of uncharted experiences.

I want to sink my K9 teeth into the shoulders of motion and let it roll me like an crocodile - underwater, uncomfortable, unfamiliar. To deliberately rebel against our routine natures - those ways of existing that are unemotionally predictable.
Lets take a right hand turn, in the places where we always seem to go left.. and see what happens. Lets challenge the way we speak to familiar friends.. and see what happens. Lets take a single day, and try something we have never done before - and see what happens!

Who knows where we will end up... who knows who we will encounter.


(Oct 14th, Ebenezar Swap, meditating in the silence of falling leaves)




Andrew Tipton

The Burning Embers of Stars.

songs for the creation of supernovas,

Do you remember life as a child?

Losing our thoughts,

Uncovering our perfect skin,

Do you remember fearless?

Climbing up into the arms of Redwood trees;

where the leaves meet the stars,

Shooting across the horizon with firey blue trails,

Vivid.

Untouchable.

We watch with doubtless eyes.

We beathe into ourselves the sex of midnight bewilderment.

Awake for the first time.

Eager to become like them, for the first time.

While the rest of the world sleeps...

We are just being born.





Andrew Tipton

We are children; this world is change

Spending the day underneath clouds with etched dark edges.. watching the breezes come and go, experiencing those breezes as they brush across my lips, over my hands.
My fingers wrapped around a paddle.. strong strokes, propelling our boat through the water.. the feeling of diving into the deep cool darkness.. letting myself be here completely. To experience the blessing of our bodies, of our illustrious skins.. of music from our own mouths.
I feel alive, I feel completely well. Days like these.. slip by most times without a second glance.

We are often so acutely aware of our bodies when we're experiencing pain,.. and yet, neglect awareness on the days when everything is functioning perfectly.
Good things are not noticed until their gone.. as it is said.

Right now I feel perfect. And I know it.






Andrew Tipton

What is the best thing you know?

" I know that I will die! " - Trent

These. Our Stories

All my stories fade.. we fade.. quietly into the circle of motion.
All that we lived for, all that we fought for, and challenged, and obeyed, and loved.. will one day be summerized by the sun-beached words of a tombstone.
Life becomes remarkable because of that truth.
When we finally realize our impermanence, we can begin to live fearlessly.

Today, I want to remember and honor the brilliance of this existence - these stories are only ours for an instant.
What will today's story be?




Andrew Tipton

Rebelious October

Spend. Life.

Strokes, left. Strokes, right.

Across a sea, a lake, an ocean.

Bow of canoe, inside a kite; blue sky, pusuit of motion.

Swim with horses; Off your knees.

Chase golden streaks through bamboo leaves.

Cannot retame an open mind.

Reclaimed; spirit of childhood time.

October blue, rebelious.





Andrew Tipton