Zoe from Bonny Doon

this afternoon is a paradox.  wet pages, and your name scrawled across a scrap of paper,   (the wind will catch it and I will lose every trace of you.)   But in this moment, life is magnificent.   
I can't remember being any more naked than right now.  metaphysically, completely, truly.      and for some reason
this is the only way to smile and mean it ..  while you're ultimately, beautifully, unequivocally vulnerable. 
the ocean is a mess, my hair and thoughts are a mess,  the wind keeps tearing pages out of your magazine, and I watched you draw an enormous heart in the sand before the waves washed it away.     this must be where love begins and takes you.  to deserted beaches,  so that you can have conversations with lovely strangers about the philosophies of happiness.
  I am sure we appear strange.  But neither notices our self.   As the tide comes in.  
Me sitting yoga posed, absent of clothes, poetry in my hands,  and you beside me in your rolled-up jeans and braids  We laugh and speak about travelling across California.   About where we've been and where we're going to be.   And it is simple and honest and delicate.     As the tide comes in.  
I am pleased to be here now.    I was pleased to meet you.       



Andrew Tipton

Clarity.

Andrew Tipton

The Opposite of Love is Apathy

Scream out when you feel love,  do not be silent!
If you feel it going,
do not let it go silently!
Make a scene for it.  because there is nothing so uncommon
so rare and enlivening.   
if ever there was a thing worth losing yourself over, 
IT IS LOVE.
if ever there was a thing worth making people uncomfortable over,
IT IS LOVE.  
Do not be polite about love,  do not be quiet or treat it casually
ROAR ABOUT IT.
LAUGH and CRY about it.
let the universe know you are awake.
let the universe know you desire
this
from the depths of your self. 

   -  if you posses love..  cherish it relentlessly.  



-Andrew Tipton

Unthinkable Colors from the Omens of Strangers

The next seven days I have dedicated to soaking in the bliss, waves and warm sunshine of Santa Cruz, CA.     I haven't spent much time simply inhaling the rhythms of a single city, and I already feel so much goodness from sinking into this town for a few days..  exploring my own thickness.   This week is an exploration into releasing my agenda and direction.   Not being idle..  but instead allowing my experience of this place to be shaped and guided solely through my interactions and conversation with complete strangers.  No personal research whatsoever.  No Google, no planning, no inhibitions.    I want to take obscure and fascinating paths..  discovering friends and adventures while simply and completely following the omens of the moment and my own intuition.
 So far, I have been practicing this lifestyle for three days here.. approaching Santa Cruz with this mindset has brought me nothing but goodness!   I am physically and spiritually amazed.   I am certain that this receptiveness.. this listening..  is the root to beautiful and unimaginable experiences; opportunities and gifts from strangers (stories, affection, food, surfboards, sailing, horse rides, tea, joy, wisdom, love,.)  that would not be possible any other way.      
 Increasingly, it is becoming certain to me.. that every single person whose path intersects mine.. is absolutely here for a purpose.   Even though I cannot see "why", I am learning to believe there is always a reason.    This way of thought opens up the potential of every interaction..  it opens up the unthinkable.
   
Last night I spent awake..  considering colors that can only be seen by certain animals.    Bears, for instance, are able to interact with colors that are completely out of our spectrum as human beings..     This thought captivated me.   Perhaps my interactions this week will be close to discovering those colors..   discovering the unthinkable. 



Andrew Tipton