Adios Costa Rica

*This photo is not of me, I have to wait for a friend of mine to email the pictures of me zip-lining, but you'll still understand the point of the story below better with it, than without, so sorry random white man, I have to use your pic...

Here's the point of this story-

Travel. If you're an artist there's nothing better you can have in your toolkit than to know yourself differently in another place.

Costa Rica felt like a "face every fear possible trip" from the frogs (although I did have a MAJOR meltdown last night when I saw a gigantic brown toad - so that fear wasn't as conquered as I thought), to staying "in the bush" as Jamaicans would say, to zip-lining yesterday (you get hooked up to a cable and skid over the rainforest - they give you a helmet, but let's face it, if something goes wrong you're dead).

And I realize what we do as artists, isn't that much less frightening than zip-lining. In fact, it USUALLY feels like you're skidding across a jungle by a single rope, hoping the whole thing won't come crashing down. All I can say is, it won't.

It's a wonder I didn't go to the bathroom on myself as they rigged me up to the cable and I looked down and saw that drop, but once they pushed me off, I opened my eyes, and felt like a bird. There were several platforms that you travel - so you "zip" (hence the name) from one to another, back and forth until you get to the end. One woman, started crying, and as soon as they rigged her up to start her journey, she decided she couldn't do it, and asked to be unharnessed. I kind of tear up thinking about her today - what she missed out on because she was afraid. So the next time I'm afraid and it shows up - usually in procrastination, I'll remind myself of that woman and remember, until I move past it, I don't get to fly, and you won't either. So get to work.


The above video is of a Shamanic purification ritual I went to. He's just chanting here, but, may you be purified nonetheless!