Almost all modern cultures assume that the future lies in front of us and the past lies behind us. From our modern prospective, we're constantly moving forward into the future. However, the ancient Greeks and Mesopotamians thought of time in the opposite way – that we back into the future and face the past.

It's a subtle difference, but I think it's implications are of immense importance.

The reason we assume we face the future is obvious – because we're moving towards it. Like walking, driving, or any other form of movement, we face the direction we're going.

Yet this concept applied to time doesn't work. Why do we face the direction we're going when we move? We face the direction we're going to perceive what's ahead, plot our next steps, and navigate what's coming. However, time doesn't work this way. We can't look ahead in time obviously – we can't perceive the future.

This life is such an incredible gift. The opportunity to be alive, to be conscious, to feel passion, to feel love, to explore, and to take any number of infinite potential paths though this world... it's mindbogglingly beautiful.

I usually write to convey a message, but I think these three awe-inspiring videos come from a place closer to the source than written word. If only for a moment, they provide clarity and help us realize the opportunity that life implies.

When you have the time, take a deep breath. Sit down, turn the volume up, go full screen, and be inspired.

In every movie, there's an event or decision that alters the course of a character's life. A moment that sets them down a path or jolts the main character from their everyday routine. This moment is referred to by screenwriters as the inciting incident.

The inciting incident in Spiderman is when Peter Parker is bit by a super spider. In the Hunger Games, it's when Katniss volunteers to take her sister's place as tribute. In the Hangover, it's when they realize Doug is missing, and nobody can remember what happened.

The word inciting is derived from incitare, a Latin word which means “to press, drive, or impel to action.” In a movie, the inciting incident is the essential tool that launches the main character into some sort of journey.

Inciting incidents don't just exist in movies though – they spark all endeavors. And though they may be less dramatic than the inciting incidents of blockbuster movies, we can create our own inciting incidents that compel us to do incredible things.

Our most important tasks are often the hardest to accomplish.

They're often undertakings that require focus and active thought. Or maybe wield a paralyzingly large impact on our lives. They're easy to avoid starting in favor of easier, more mindless pursuit and even harder to actually successfully finish.

For me, my focus intensive, important work is writing. I'll have a great idea that I get excited about, but actually producing an article about it is difficult. I have to fully grasp how I want to present it, outline the article, and then write the rough draft which I often proceed to heavily edit and rearrange. It's a difficult process and easy to put off when less important tasks arise.

I've been writing consistently for a bit over four months now. I've come to realize it's important to cultivate the right mindset to do this difficult and focus intensive work. When I'm inspired to work and in a state of mental clarity, what I end up producing often comes out faster and better.

A couple years ago, my brother Reid and I drove down from Phoenix, AZ towards the Mexican border for an overnight backpacking trip. I'd read online somewhere that Mount Wrightson's summit was the best place to stargaze in the contiguous United States. The peak towers nearly 7,000ft above the surrounding desert floor and exists far enough away from any light source to provide an almost completely unobstructed view of the night sky.

We'd planned it out perfectly. The forecast called for a moonless, cloudless night. After toiling for five hours skyward in the heat of a summer desert afternoon, we reached the top.

More than a mile above the surrounding landscape, hundreds of swallows whizzed around us with unbelievable speed, dive bombing their last meal of airborne bugs before nightfall. We cooked a large can of sloppy joes on my backpacking stove as the landscape faded from hues of light orange into dark purples.

We're designed to:

• Procrastinate
• Sleep in
• Take the easy way out
• Skip today's workout
• Value urgency over importance
• Seek comfort
   

Often, it's better to do the opposite:

There exists a gap between the start of an endeavor and perceivable result. Between the beginning of a journey and the first signs of measurable progress. A kind of void. A void people don't often speak of while inside.

A month ago, I received a book in the mail called A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. Someone clearly purchased it on Amazon and had it sent to me. Who that was, I have no clue.

I was deeply intrigued by the mystery of not knowing who sent me the book, so it jumped to the top of my reading list and I read it a couple weeks ago. It was profound and full of parallels to my own life. I'll be adding it to the Bookshelf soon.

One part of the book particularly struck me. The author leaves the shore of a vast inlet in the Canadian wilderness in a kayak at midnight, bound for the opposite shore.

I'm not a big believer in setting rigid and specific goals. The best things often come from unexpected places or in ways we don't foresee until the future we're attempting to plan for has become the present.

However, as 2015 has come to a close and a new year lays unwritten before us, I think it's beneficial to reflect on the year past and consider how we might best use the time ahead of us. Not to chart a path and blindly follow it, rather more of a stopping for a few minutes to study the map, make sure we're heading in the right direction, and boldly continue on in our journey of life.

A couple days ago, I broke out a notebook and made a few lists. Lists of what I did over the past year, what went well, what didn't, and what I want to carry over into 2016.

Life implies death. The very fact that we're alive today means that someday we must die. A hundred years from now nearly every human currently walking this earth will be gone, cleared away for a new generation to come. It's nothing new. This change-over has gone on for billions of years and will continue to do so.

Most people can't stand this thought of death and try to bury it. It's understandable. Nobody wants to die and considering the temporariness of our existence can be mindbogglingly devastating. Pushing all thoughts of death away isn't going to help us live any longer though. Contrarily, we can use the thought of death to our advantage.

We constantly hear how important goals are.

To plan things out is synonymous with ambition and fulfillment in our culture. However, unnoticed by most, our obsession with goals in western society also has it's downfalls. Goals are a valuable tool for achievement, but are also a double-edged sword.

Here's an eye opening discussion of goals, between two of my personal heroes.

Welcome to your life
Time is spent inside
Life between four walls
From the unknown you hide.

No trials or trepidations
All is safe and swell
But life between the walls of your room
Builds you a regretful hell.

There are dozens of credit cards that offer airline mileage bonuses to entice potential customers to sign up. For instance, I just picked up the Capital One Venture Card, which offers a 40,000 airline miles bonus if one spends $3,000 on the card in the first three months.

If you spend $3,000 in three months, you can simply make your purchases on the card, and receive 40,000 free airline miles. Just pay your credit card bills immediately after. The process won't cost you a cent. It's beautiful.

Last week, I went on a run, as I often do. However, this time I did something different.

I took a different route, at night, both aspects unusual for me. The usual warm feel of sunlight pressing on my skin was replaced by a brisk chilliness.

I rounded a street corner, about a mile into the run, and found myself within twenty yards of the freeway. Running, I paralleled the freeway, close enough to the passing traffic that I could really sense the surprising speed of each car.

I had a thought:

Over the summer of 2015, I spent 72 incredible days living on the Big Island of Hawaii. In a work-trade deal through WWOOF (World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms), I worked 20 hours a week on a small lush Hawaiian farm in exchange for room and board.

Here's a list of everything I brought to the Big Island.

*If you don't plan on backpacking to remote sections of the island, you won't need most Backpacking Supplies.

If you play your cards right, Hawaii, and anywhere else really, can be extremely affordable. I spend a grand total of $669 while living it up for two and a half months in paradise. I wasn't living with a strict budge or anything either, I just made a couple of the right moves that made the entire cost of my stay, including flight, less than $10 a day. Simple.

Smart Move #1: The Flight

The first hurdle in economically traveling anywhere is transportation, which in many cases is a flight. The cheapest flight I could find from Phoenix, AZ to the Big Island of Hawaii was $676 round trip (which is more than I spent on the entire trip).

Flights can be one of the most expensive parts of traveling. Plane tickets cost hundreds, even thousands of dollars. Little do most people know, there's a resource to cover the cost of flights – credit card airline mileage bonuses.

For a couple years, I shied away from these bonuses. Credit cards are full of fees if you don't use them right and I prefer not to owe money. Who wants to mess around with a 22.9% interest rate, right?

Then, I ran into a website called The Art of Non-Conformity (now one of my favorite websites). The author, Chris Guillebeau, is a "travel hacking" extraordinare. He's set foot in every country on Earth. After reading about the millions of airline miles he earns each year, I decided to give it a try.

There's a surprisingly large gap between the small difference in prefix of nonconformity and unconformity. Both words suggest an opposition to conforming, which is to comply to the rules, standards, or status quo. The difference though, lies within how those rules, standards, and status quo affect an individual.

Nonconformity is a complete rejection of the norm. It's automatically taking an opposing stance towards rules, regulations, or what's popular. The idea is simple, reject the standard, because it is the standard.

Unconformity, on the other hand, is a refusal to let the norm influence one's decisions. Whether something is normal, popular, or not, has no effect on the decision making process. A weighing of one's options without factoring in what the mentality of the herd.