IF LIFE is stale and unchanging, the days will bleed together, time will fall away. But right now, life is full of uncertainty, passion, doubt and revelations.

This is the realm of richness, highs and lows, color and depth which I want to exist in.

Every day matters.

Each morning counts.

A single call with a friend or family member that puts a smile on our face is worth a thousand days of mindless work.

In the lows, we go deeper.

In the highs, we may simply appreciate how beautiful life can be.

There’s so much more to learn, and while I can’t always understand the story, my purpose in life is simply to tell it.

At times my soul has felt opaque, as if I don’t know the real me, living my young life in pain.

Do I know yet what it means to just live?

How can I know who I am if I can’t see clearly through this storm and into my heart?

This week it hit me — I know what it means to live because of pain.

I didn’t choose this battle. It’s chosen me, and I determine my response.

I respond as the warrior poet, prepared to fight for a life I love, free in this body beneath the sun.

By making space, we’ll find clarity in any storm; with determination, compassion and faith, we’ll pierce the storm of any battle like a soaring arrow, able to go further and deeper in life than if we didn’t have to fight.

It’s all for a reason.

Whatever you’re dealing with, however you’re hurting, however lost you might feel — it’s for a reason. But the reason is ours to discover.

This life is so, so beautiful.

We can’t explain it or control it, but we can live in it and smile; we can find a way to flow downstream with the tide, in whatever way it’s moving.

If this challenge of chronic pain causes me to stray from what I believe is my path, then so be it. It’s meant to be, because in writing these words, I’m always home.

The only way we can stray from our path is if we quit walking for good. That I’ll never do. Yet this week, I felt the need to rest.

To surrender.

To surrender doesn’t mean we quit. We surrender in the moment, with full faith that we will continue on our mission soon.

My life has been up in the air for the last couple of months. Moving from Osaka to Tokyo, finding a new day job, and going through the ups and downs of chronic pain.

There are a lot of things in my life that I do not have the answers to right now. That’s okay.

To ultimately get to where we’re meant to go, we may need to surrender to what we can’t control, and pause.

Take a breath.

A day or week or month to just be.

I’m not saying we have to take a vacation or find ourselves a mountaintop to roost on for a while. While that sounds lovely, it isn’t always practical.

Surrender is a mindset. It’s a shift from our daily thoughts which so often drain us, or make us feel pressure and angst.

We can have the same exterior experience, going to work, the gym, whatever. Yet on the inside, our spirit and our mind are recharging.

Just stop looking for answers right now. Let whatever happens happen, while telling yourself right now, my spirit is resting. 

You’ll be amazed at what opens up both on the inside, and in your exterior circumstances, too.

After a few days, I’m already seeing clearly again. It’s awesome how quickly life can change.

Feeling at peace after long walks, sunshine and rest, talks with friends who are seeking, too.

We might feel lost; we may feel alone; but on some deeper level we’re all the same, dealing with the highs and lows of life, trying to find our place in the world and in our modern day, striving to just see clearly.

Well my friend you’re not alone, and everything’s gonna be just fine.

This is my path, and maybe right now I need to pull off, look up at the mountains, and smile. Maybe we just need to pause, breathe, and look back at how far we’ve come, before we start walkin’ again.