Fortunate

It is not impossible, to get into the mindset of being one with the nature that surrounds us.

I had the honor and pleasure of joining a very special family on a beautiful hike this morning. I can't decide if the hike itself, or watching this loving family spend time together was more special.

Today, I am truly and purely grateful for this spectacularly breathtaking part of the globe that I live in and for the people who make it so beautiful.

A combination of the sun, the clear water, the foliage, and the people have made me experience emotions that words cannot describe. A sense of tranquility and passion for these aspects of this experience now overcome me as the day winds down. I look forward to many days like this in the future.

I wish to harness this overwhelming sense of joy and peace, and apply it to my everyday lifestyle, though I know that will be difficult without all the help I received today. I know that I can always return to this memory when I am feeling sorry for myself. It will be a reminder of all that I have, and of all there is to be a part of.

I feel great love and peace and joy for the earth and for the family I had the pleasure to be with today. The combination of it all has quite overwhelmed me. I feel in a way I haven't felt since I was a young child and it is beautiful.

Coffee. Is sensual.

So usually I use this blog to spew thoughts and opinions I am passionate about. That's because, understandably and justifiably, people don't necessarily want to hear me bitch and moan about my strong views on factory farming, war and religion. Totally understandable. But the truth is, I am FULL of these opinions and I am constantly bursting to get them out. So, dear readers, bare with me, if you choose.

Today, I want to talk about coffee. Coffee. My one and only vice... well, that may not be exactly true... however...

I love coffee.

Coffee, to me is the equivalent of butterbeer. The effects of warm, pure, raw comfort are the same. Its sensual qualities are more than just taste. Coffee, with its rich history, runs deeper than momentary satisfaction. A drink's effects can last one all day.

Coffee is said to have been discovered in the early ninth century. However, it wasn't documented or highly popular until around the fifteenth century. That's not to say it wasn't being used before that. Since the dawn of time (another embellishment), coffee has been used in societies as a ritual in both religious, sociological and personal manners. It has been unifying humans for centuries and centuries. The coffee bean has created a revolution of rituals for a great percentage of our world's population.

Coffee can be prepared in so many ways. Next to alcohol, it is one of the most versatile ingredients a beverage can offer. Latte, mocha, caffe americano, macchiato, frappe, iced, hot, drip-brewed, cappuccino. Coffee can have rich, deep flavor. It can be light and frothy. It can be saccharine, bitter, or right in between. It's variety and adaptability is almost unfathomable.

Coffee, like many other indulgent things in our lives, has its health pros and cons. Caffeine, as we all know, is a stimulant and while it has a few good properties, like helping relieve menstrual cramps, it also has a few negative affects. We all know these, for instance, it is a quite an expensive habit to have. It isn't cocaine... but it does add up. This note is about the wonderful aspects of coffee, however, so we aren't going to go any further in to the negative qualities. I just wanted to acknowledge them before moving on.

Sipping on one of these delicious beverages always gives me such a sense of comfort. Especially when I indulge with a friend. The unifying sense of companionship and love that accompanies a trip to the coffeehouse with a friend is... incomprehensible. Nothing can compare.

My Indulgent espresso drinks of choice:

-Iced soy chai tea latte

-Iced soy toffee mocha

-Iced soy pumpkin spice latte

-Soy green tea latte

Yes.

Thank you coffee, for uniting our society, for bringing comfort to our type A lives, and for warming us with your sweet, rich aromas from the inside out.

War.

Hello darkness, my old friend
I've come to talk with you again
Because a vision softly creeping
Left its seeds while I was sleeping
And the vision that was planted in my brain
Still remains
Within the sound of silence

In restless dreams I walked alone
Narrow streets of cobblestone
'Neath the halo of a street lamp
I turned my collar to the cold and damp
When my eyes were stabbed by the flash of a neon light
That split the night
And touched the sound of silence

And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence

"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence

And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence

Composition Numero Uno

One think I noticed quite recently. Not noticed, rediscovered, is that human interaction is the single most vital and necessary aspect of life. It effects everything we feel. Everything we do. It effects who we are.

Human interaction can build a life the size of the Pyramids, or crumble it in to a ruin greater than those of Pompeii. Although I often feel weary of the ruining aspect, I love those small, building moments that can honestly and truly carry on with you for the rest of your life. I have been blessed with many of these.

There are, a special brand of these building moments that have proven to be the most powerful of all. Those involving an unwavering, never failing thing called love. They can happen with a stranger or a best friend, but those are the kind I have found to last forever. The kind that stick with you until the day of passing.

Life is just a compilation of all these interactions. The building and the ruining. The making and the breaking. We, however are the ones who get to choose how they affect us. Every interaction can be a building one. We are humans, though, and we feel pain and sorrow, so it is only inevitable that we will take interactions as ruin. Even ones that were meant to build us up.

It's so incredible how the exchange with a complete stranger can change the course of your life, or the way that you think. This has happened to me a few times in the past twelve months. It even seems that the horrible communications I have had with people have led to the most brilliant up lifting moments with others.

I feel blessed. Blessed to know you, whoever you are, dear reader. I hope your interaction with what I have had to say will build you up.