Flying Bento Box

When someone think about a bento, they may picture a adorably cute lunch box with a million side dishes, full of colorful rainbows and sunshines, and rice shaped into characters of your favorite animal or cartoon. To be quite frank, it actually does not have to be like that. In fact, it shouldn't unless the bento is specifically made for a loved one (or loved ones) on a special occasion. That being said, if you're like me who is a fairly average person, then you do not need to put so much effort into your lunch. You actually do not need a fancy box to put it in either. The key here is to make "bento" with the intention of your (or your loved one's) health behind it. It should be full of home-cooked, nutritious, and easy to make side dishes.  Efficiency is Key Here is a recent photo of one of my bento lunches on a vegetarian weekday. Now, you may be thinking that it looks time consuming for the average busy person's home cooked lunch, but it is actu...

Since the end of last year, I have been going through a sort of inner spiritual development. I began to reflect upon and reassess my priorities in life with matters regarding career, finances, and relationships. One thing that has continually been in the back of my mind for a long time now was the amount of stuff that I have accumulated over the years. Material possessions such as excessive clothing, shoes, toys (including one too many stuffed animals), decorative pieces, and massive amounts of decade-old school work. In the past, I have attempted to remove them to the best of my abilities; yet, despite my efforts, they continue to build up in large quantities. I also felt incapable of parting with many items because there was either some emotional attachment to them or I thought perhaps they would potentially be useful one day. Well, let me tell you, those stuff remained pretty much useless to this day. However, since late last year, I felt as though my life had been imploding from...

Despite everything, you are a worthy person.  You are meant for so much more.  If you can dream it, you can almost certainly achieve it.  Don't be afraid of taking risks.  There is no harm in asking for help or asking for anything; Because the person who does not ask at all, will never know what the answer can be. And the person who does not pursue at all, will never know what the outcome can be. In the words of the beloved Mark Twain (and my all time favorite motivational quote): "Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

There are two pathways in life: action and inaction.  There are three outcomes in life: success, failure, and stagnancy.  With action, you can either succeed or fail.  Success is ideal. Failure can be difficult.  However, failure is not without benefits and significant learning lessons. But inaction is worse than failure. Without even trying, you can neither succeed nor experience growth.  With inaction, all that remains is stagnancy. So I ask, which path should you take? Which outcomes do you want to achieve? When you are between two crossroads in life and is unable to decide on what to do, look back at these notes and remember that in the end, with any action, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. It is almost always better to start than to have never started at all. So, brush off those ugly fears, doubts, and uncertainties. Gently close your eyes and breathe deeply. For in this once of a kind lifetime, there may be no other cha...

Breaking down every now and then isn't necessarily a bad thing;  at least, that's what I've been told and what I like to tell myself.  All those times I held back tears and all those moments of suppressed unconscious emotions and thoughts pouring out in one setting is not exactly a pretty sight,  but I'm a firm believer that in those moments  (the lowest of the lowest),  our mind clears up and our soul breaks free.  At that point, there are always two paths one can take:  give up and remain stagnant  or  change your perspective with appropriate actions.  I've never been one to give up.  Never have,  never will.

What is intuitive eating? Essentially, it is eating for your health, along with following your natural internal hunger and fullness cues, and appreciating all the hard work that has been put into your meal. Ask yourself, what are your eating habits? Do you scarf down everything in sight? Do you watch T.V. or YouTube or distract yourself with homework or reading while you eat? Do you view food as an inconvenience to your busy lifestyle? Now think about when was the last time you've sat down and thoroughly, consciously examined your meal, looking at all its textures, colors, smells, tastes? When was the last time, if ever, you've chewed each bite through, appreciating all the effort that it took by the farmers, packers, shippers, businessmen, and grocers that made it possible for you to eat buy and consume a single tomato? Now imagine a sandwich and you've multiplied the number of people by the number of ingredients in your sandwich! That's a lot of effort to make ...

Calm at heart when all stands still; day by day, hour by hour, second by second, I wonder of life, of love, of happiness, of understanding between two minds, two souls, two worlds; but that cannot be so. the warm sensation in my cheeks the timid smile I gave; for a split second you were about to say something... but... I was already gone. I'm sorry...

From March 2nd to March 31, 2012, I volunteered for Peace Boat in Ishinomaki, Miyagi, Japan to help with the relief effort after the 3/11 earthquake and tsunami. One of Peace Boat's projects is in Funakoshi, a small seaside village in the Ogatsu peninsula, north of Ishinomaki.There, volunteers support and help the "Funakoshi ladies" make pendant necklaces and paint pictures on the Ogatsu stones while sitting on the third floor within a partially destroyed school building. These stones hold special meaning as they used to be part of roof tiles of houses that were washed away by the March 11th tsunami. This is a piece of writing from my dream book. It tells of my renewed love for art and painting as a result of the volunteer experiences I encountered in Funakoshi. Additionally, it offers a small window into understanding the human condition, in particular, the Japanese effort to rebuild their lives after the earthquake/tsunami natural disaster. ~~~~~  Frozen in Tim...

06/30/2017 Hello my friend! How are you? I hope you are doing well. I am doing pretty good myself here in Vietnam. Today was my last day volunteering at the Orthopedics and Rehab Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City and I just wanted share with you about what I’ve seen and learned here.             If I were to describe my experience here in one or two words, I would say it is eye-opening. I suppose I’ll need to talk a little about my daily life here in Vietnam you can get a sense of why it was eye-opening. Every day, my alarm rings at 600 in the morning. I get up quiets and tip toe to the bathroom so as not to wake up the other volunteers that shared the room with me. I put on my blue scrubs and dark brown Birkenstock sandals. They aren’t as pretty and feminine as the sandals the nurses at the hospitals wear, but they will do. I grab my bag with about 40,000 Vietnamese Dong—$1.75 in US dollars—more than enough to spend for the da...