Welcome to my blog. If you're interested enough to read along, great! What I hope follows is a small window into my soul. Keeping stuff inside has never been my strong suit, and really, is keeping stuff inside really good for you anyway? The more you get off your chest, the less weight you carry around with you every day. My life has seen a myriad of changes over the past 15 years - High school 'all american kid', college frat boy drunkard, hopelessly depressed nomad, reclusive gym rat, awakening outdoorsman, promising graduate student, disillusioned political spectator, and content pedal pusher. Each experience has helped shape my continually evolving person. Many people will run from their past, try to bury their ghosts or lock the skeletons in the closet. I believe that a balance exists in everything. The bad that I have experienced is what truly allows me to appreciate the good that now permeates my life. After all, the Buddha says "In the sky, there is no distinction of east and west; people create distinctions out of their own minds and then beleive them to be true." What is really good or bad? Are they not just creations of our own mind based on societal influences? For example, the alcoholism I lived with for a time is often seen as a sickness, a weakness on the part of the afflicted. But that implies that the alcoholism is the root of the problem. I say it was not the problem, but a symptom of a larger problem. Life sucked, alcohol was my escape. So what was the real problem? Take away the alcohol and life still sucked, right? Anyhow, to make my point - maybe the alcoholism was a good thing overall. It may have caused some not so good outcomes at the time, but it made me look back and examine what was really going on with my life. Why was I feeling the need to drink? Why were things so out of control? What was causing me to be so depressed? So like the Buddha said, good and bad (east and west) are creations of our own mind. Sure the drinking was not good for my life at the time, but perhaps it was good for my life in general, as it helped 'wake me up' and see what I was really all about. What's my point? Live your life in the present. Don't dwell on what you or others perceive to be negatives, especially if they are in the past. Examine your life with an outside eye, objectively. Learn to see you life for what it is - not good or bad, but indicative of where you are. Most importantly, remember that there is a balance in life. When the 'bad' stuff happens, use it as a springboard, a lesson, a reminder - that the 'good' stuff is waiting for you to let it happen. Thanks for reading, have a great day!

- J