mindfulness

Coming of Age: The Flavor of Travels Over Time

by Keith Savage on January 17, 2011 · 23 comments

Stills and Barrels at Glenfiddich

Making the decision to quit my steady job and reach for a passion was hard.

Very hard.

It required me to believe – not kinda-sorta-think-I-can-do-it, but really believe – in my abilities and to hang consequences on any failure to achieve my goals. It’s so much easier to avoid crossing that line, to continue on in a comfortable life with the mushy half-belief you might have what it takes to capture a dream. But the decision is only the first difficult obstacle; even when you’re walking the walk, there’s always a shadow of doubt trailing behind. Read more...

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The Mind Is a Butcher, or To Savor Travel’s Scraps

by Keith Savage on November 8, 2010 · 15 comments

Cutting Board and Cleaver

THWACK! THWACK!

A cleaver sinks into a wooden block stained with a spectrum of red. Bits of gristle and flesh shoot out from the impact in tiny arcs.

THWACK!

A rough hand rotates, adjusts, and flips the carcass as the blade flashes down, an arbiter of division.

THWACK!

The bird dissolves into quarters. Seconds later the cutting board is fringed by cast-off slivers of meat marbled with fat. A stringy bit of skin dangles off the corner.

THWACK! Read more...

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Enriching Travel Through Mindfulness

by Keith Savage on October 21, 2010 · 28 comments

Mindfulness

…since my earliest memories, I have always yielded to the clock. Punctuality is the implacable force guiding my daily life. Any deviation – any lateness – and my cortisol levels shoot up in sync with my ire. And all around me everything is a ghost, unnoticed and unseen. The only experience is one of expectation, a continuous yearning for the future. What a horrible affliction for a traveler… Read more...

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Hope Is for the Future

by Keith Savage on October 15, 2010 · 30 comments

The sun setting on hope

“…when I think deeply about the nature of hope, I see something tragic. Since we cling to our hope in the future, we do not focus our energies and capabilities on the present moment… Hope becomes a kind of obstacle. If you can refrain from hoping, you can bring yourself entirely into the present moment…” Read more...

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