Walking on this path of the Na’Pali coast a few weeks ago (6 exactly, but who’s counting?), I stopped to take a picture with my iPhone. After looking at it on the screen, I decided it wasn’t doing the scene any justice and decided to take a mental picture too. Ah, what relief and peace that mental pic brings me. When I’ve had it up to here with LA traffic, or the sterile, fluorescent lights of my office, or even the sound of the Marina car wash outside my apartment, I try to remember this exact scene. The most wonderful man next to me, the prettiest views my eyes have ever witnessed in front of me, the sound of the waves crashing into the shore after traveling thousands of miles across the Pacific, all combined to finally give me a feeling of happiness and peace. It was the reason I came to Hawaii, and more specifically to the untamed areas of Kauai, the Garden Isle. I wanted to literally get away; away from my problems, my inadequacies, my laziness, my defeats. In this moment I was doing something that the innermost part of me LOVED. I felt like the happiest version of myself, someone I haven’t seen in quite a while.

I’ve been spending my time for the last year trying to figure out my passion. It has been a difficult time, knowing that I’m unhappy in my career and wanting to make a change, but having no clue where I want to go. If I can use this picture, and the amazing, centered feeling it left me with as a guide, I know I’ll end up in paradise.

Hopefully it looks something like this.