.t h i r t y t h r e e.

I love the number 3, it's sacred.

10 years ago when I was 23, I made one of my craziest decisions and joined the Peace Corps - leaving everything I'd known to live in South America for 27 months.

3's are a good number for me.

This year with my 33rd birthday on the FULL MOON. The full moon is a time to release intentions - begin again. It feels like a great time RELEASE and FOCUS. I am a triple fire sign (sun - aries, rising - aries and moon - leo) and I love newness, adventure, impulse and that will always be me but I want to follow thru more. I want to make a focal point to make decisions from. I felt lost and confused a few months ago and decided that the answer was in choosing a health education job in a new place, but coming here it wasn't what I thought. This is a part of expectations versus reality of change, but it's deeper than that. It's as if I made a decision based on old wants - I forgot to calibrate my internal focal point before making the decision and post-decision I now realize the discord. It's time to calibrate. It's time to dream B I G and know that I deserve it all that goodness that comes with that. It's time to embrace the truth the when I live B I G people around me/people I love/people in my community live B I G too.

Last year, a dear friend gave me a blank manifesto booklet for my birthday. I've kept it blank for an entire year not knowing what to write. This seems like the perfect time to write a manifesto, my first manifesto.

33 things to do in my 33rd year, a manifesto

1. Sew a quilt.

2. Teach a jewelry class.

3. Bake more bread.

4. Share bread.

5. Go to Scotland

6. Write poems.

7. Cook food for people.

8. Visit Boston and the Cape.

9. Swim in the ocean.

10. Meditate daily.

11. Sleep 8 hours a night.

12. Go to art galleries.

13. Create wellness resource for self + others.

14. Make time to cook.

15. Eat fresh food.

16. Explore Sawtooth Mountains.

17. Soak in many hot springs.

18. Take responsibility.

19. Write more  postcards.

20. Take long walks.

21. Spend time near water.

22. Dance everyday.

23. Practice vulnerability. 

24. Do yoga.

25. Pay attention to the moon.

26. Make jewelry. 

27. Experiment more with metal.

28. Trust my intuition.

29. Build community.

30. Sunbathe.

31. Ride my bike

32. Take a class.

33. Be kind to myself. 

.moments of AWE.

I heard Jason Silva's words, "our environment sets the stage for our experience" a few days ago and I can't stop thinking about that statement and the truth it holds for me. I've been processing SO MUCH in the past 16 days (I can't believe i've been here 16 days!!) but the process has seemed bright - fruitful - the air of potential underlines everything all because - or I believe because I wake up everyday in love with my home - my kitchen - my rooftop - my bedroom - my town - my environment. 

Today I walked down to where the river meets the ocean (my favorite place) and found 5 huge jellyfish on the beach - the fishy salty air - the cadence of the waves all layering to produce a state of AWE inside of me. I starting thinking about Jason's words and my experience the past few weeks and started to wonder...what if we lived in AWE, not all the time but if we experienced regular moments of AWE? How would it influence/affect our abilities to live/process/accept the rest, those sometimes intense/overwhelming/draining elements of life?

I have always found my most intense moments of AWE exploring/being out in nature. I can get lost in the greatness of the mountains. I remember the first time I drove on the North Cascades Highway (HWY 20) in North Central Washington and had this moment where I felt like I lost the boundaries of my body I was so overcome by the sensation of being engulfed by mountains. This past year living in Boston area I've really formed a connected to the power of the ocean. This mysterious/secretive body that changes it's appearance throughout the day - it's ruled by the cycles of the moon - and contains another world of mystical beings/creatures that it sometimes pushes ashore for us to discover/marvel in. The ocean fills me with AWE.

What does living in moments of AWE look like to you? Where do you find your AWE? How do you add it to your life?

I hope you spend sometime thinking about your source(s) of AWE and find ways to incorporate them into your daily/weekly/monthly rituals.