David Smart

I’ve been trying to chain together two of these handstand presses for who knows how long. Just wanted to share. :) it’s still unrefined in many ways but a win is a win.

Skill acquisition is useful to me. Skills show me what I’m not. They teach the importance of sticking to something for a long time even if it seems like nothing’s happening. Non-linear development is real.

Trusting a process works. Exploring and tinkering works too. Both when combined are a deadly force.

Much keeps unfolding at

Letting you in on the process. From first draft to second draft, many changes need to occur. Working on descriptive writing and sentence structure. What do you guys think?
The Legend of Taro is an epic fantasy novel inspired by stories like The Alchemist, thinkers like Carl Jung, and films like Spirited Away. Samurai, demons, good vs. evil, following your dreams, all settled against a background of Japanese-folklore.

There is no map for who you are and what your path holds.

There instead exist many conceptual maps we try to layer on top of ourselves in an attempt to understand. But they will never be exact and can never tell you where to go.

I have tried and love many maps. Christianity. Buddhism. Vipassana. Spiral dynamics. Positive psychology. The five pillars of movement. They can help direct attention but a map is not to be confused with reality. The Dao that can be spoken is not the Dao. And yet, if we want to live and love in this world, we must adopt maps, wear masks, and embrace these necessary layers. Only in brief, fleeting moments can we connect to the mapless map. The vast majority of our lives are built on preexisting maps, which are nothing special to you as an individual but incredibly potent for accessing the illusion of change and growth. Once you see the maps you hold onto and default to, you can now choose where you want to go. Or at least attempt to choose.

Find a map or two and embrace it with a loose, effortless grip. Identify with it. Dive all in and see what it has in store for you. Play, build, and create… but do not mistake anything that comes of it for your essence. Even the sensorial map of the body, which can be experienced directly and helps guide the ex*****on of conceptual maps, is still only a piece of the path. Know which one you’re missing… connection to body, senses, and sensation or connection to thoughts, concepts, and maps. Integrate the two and watch as something new emerges.

I filmed this video “Maps of Movement” a few days ago, which you can watch fully on YouTube, but I wanted to add something else in writing.

thanks y’all 🙏