Uncovering Meaning

From a young musician to a Spanish teacher, from a driven artist to a meditation guide, five distinct individuals have been guided throughout their life by their passions. What central lessons can be learned from a group of unique people who have discovered their place in the universe?

Meeting Through Music

Nadav Skloot is a soft-spoken man whose casual demeanor doesn’t betray his secret identity as a one-man orchestra, “I play [the] violin, piano, ukulele, guitar, and some drums.”

The Macalester sophomore used his craft to pay for his travels throughout Europe, busking in major cities, “One great aspect [of busking] is meeting people.” Bonding through music is hardly unique to his European tour, as he’s found lifelong success in the camaraderie brought by music. “It’s what connects me to people and how I express myself.” Nadav finds his music is universally unifying, “I’ve learned that I have the capacity to bring people together around music, my friends and my family.” Nadav ties his very being to his art. “It’s what makes me who I am. It’s a tradition I’ve inherited from my parents.”

Furthermore, Nadav’s love for music reflects internally, “Practice [is] the time for me to self-reflect. It’s an inward thing to do.” Nadav radiates through performing. “It’s a means of emotional vulnerability I don’t get in touch with except for when I play [music]. A way to think about things. More emotionally rather than logically.”

Philosophically regarding passion, Nadav remarks that one’s aspirations define one’s purpose. “If you have a goal and you dedicate yourself, that’s what gives your life importance.” Ultimately, he remarked that inspiration brings cohesion, “It’s what brings people to rally behind you, brings your friends and brings people together. Interesting people like to follow someone who’s dedicated and [have] a dream.”

All The Colors of the Ocean

Tjasa Owen is an impressionist artist, a mother, and a daily beach walker. Beyond her stunning artwork, who is the creative genius beneath so many hues of blue?

Bayard: How was your childhood?

Tjasa: I was exposed to a lot of culture in New York, and [my parents] took me to the galleries every weekend. They knew a lot of big artists in the city, like Christo and my dad went out with Andy Warhol.

B: What role [did] international travel have in your artistic development?

T: I think [comfort] with the unknown. Going to places that are different, you have to be open-minded. [My family and I] went to India five times before I was 18, so I was exposed to a sense of color. The color from the travels came back with me.

B: What role does variety have in your technique?

T: I paint on canvas and found wood on the beaches. I walk the beach every day, find these pieces and paint directly on [them]. I’ll go to antique fairs, find old cigar boxes and paint landscapes on [them].

B: Why is the ocean important to your art?

T: I’m an ocean person and I’m drawn to it. Everything I paint is an extension of who I am and how I see the world.

B: What do you think is your purpose in life?

T: My purpose is to create work that brings other people joy, to lead by example in stay[ing] true to [myself].

Unexpected Aspects of Anayansi

Anayansi is far more than a unique Spanish 1 teacher. What lies beneath the surface of the distinctive Panamanian educator?

She’s a mix of identities

Anayansi comes from a large and diverse household. “I was born in Panama. I grew up in a house where there were 17 people.” While raised in Panama, her ethnic roots come from Asia. “My grandmother of Chinese descent brought [her] culture to Panama. She was Buddhist.” Anayansi’s education is the third aspect of her identity. “The Catholic part of the family functions when you go to school, and we all went to Catholic school.” Her triple faceted nature lent to her unique upbringing.

She wakes up at 2 AM every morning to paint

“I almost lost my right eye [last] January, and it taught me how to value detail.” Anayansi uses her brush with an aptitude to augment another passion. “I get up at two or three o’clock in the morning and I paint the leaf. That to me is passion.” The serenity of twilight painting is her motivation now, but her passions remain dynamic. “It depends on what I’m doing at [the] moment. Right now I’m painting a lot. Maybe when my other eye is better, I’ll be able to go back and do quilting, which is painting with fabric.”

She follows her dreams, literally

“When I mean I am a dreamer, I can pick a lot of information while I’m asleep.” Anayansi’s mysticism branches from her subconscious state, and have since her birth. “I had to learn to interpret my dreams and make [a] connection to life.” Like dreaming, her passion for tarot cards is rooted in her spiritual side developed from childhood, where she served tea to ladies who crossed over to connect with ‘the other side’. “Many women will read cards.” Whether it’s cards or dreaming, there’s a clear sense of otherworldly energy emanating from Anayansi.

Her passions are internally uncovered

“I love plants. Herbs, photography, and painting.” Her diversification of interests leads to a more meaningful lifestyle. “All those little things that might not look connected are connected.” Anayansi’s interconnected mindset leads her to discover the enjoyable little things. “Everything [are] just things that you pull from somewhere, from [your] inner self or imagination.” Her repose has led her to countless passions, but self-reflection is her key driver. Regarding discovering passion, “Most of the time you get to it through meditation.”

She’s more than your run-of-the-mill Headspace user

Anayansi is a routine mediator. “Every day just once, sometimes two or three times a day. If we’re on [a] break, I sit there for a little while.” However, her peaceful thoughts aren’t restricted to deep cross-legged concentration. “What is it that you call meditation? You can do meditation when you’re doing the dishes.”

Ultimately, Anayansi’s passions come from a central sense of peace, an unshakable outcome caused by a Buddhist upbringing and her vibrant dedication to enjoying the pleasurable features of life.

Son of a Politician, Grandson of a Farmer, Citizen of the World.

Raised in Venezuela, but very much a citizen of the international community, Simon Olavarria always had a broader sense of the world. “I always knew that something else existed. I always knew that there were other cultures, languages, peoples and that the rest of the world did not look like my country.” His infatuation with international affairs was further augmented under his politician father’s guidance. “My father and I liked to discuss current events from a very early age. He recognized the interest in me and fostered it.”

In a pre-internet era, Simon’s father’s library provided the tools for Simon’s investigation. “My father used to collect newspapers, international sections. One of my chores in middle school was to organize all of [the articles].” Moreover, his disillusionment with Venezuela propelled him abroad. “[I] had grown up knowing that the country was getting worse every year.”

Spurned by Venezuelan constitution reform and a passion for the law, Simon became a practicing attorney, then disaster struck. “My grandfather on my mother’s side, a ranch owner, had been murdered when I was 21. He was killed right outside his farm.” Simon was faced with an unforeseen career change but accepted it in stride. “I hung up my lawyer suit and put on my cowboy hat and went to work in agriculture for the next three years.” A few years later, his venture with agriculture ended as abruptly as it started, “It became clear that what had happened to my grandfather was probably going to happen to me and I didn’t want that.” The threat to his life ultimately propelled him to a residence in America.

While Simon’s passions have manifested themselves in a plethora of manners, he found teaching to be the best medium for him to spread his knowledge outwardly. “I teach because I have a passion for it because I have [an] impulse towards it because I feel there’s so much that I can transmit.” Simon’s outlook on life motivates him to support others through teaching. “I think of [myself] as connected to everyone else. In that frame of mind, there are a lot of purposes that we can serve. Justice, fairness, happiness, beauty, joy, knowledge, discovery.”

Through unconventional travels across the globe, Simon has discovered a sense of shared interconnection. “The world has a unity, as a single factor we are all a part of it.” From Venezuela to America, from the farm to the law office, Simon has concluded that our human experience is relevant because of our connections to others, “our importance matters because we are part of it, not because we exist alone.”

The Buddha In a Sweatshirt

James Brown is not your typical zen master. He swears. He wears a hoodie. And his initial infatuation with meditation wasn’t especially sincere. “I thought, wow, I bet more women would be more interested in me if I meditated. I could drop it on a date.”

James was an advertising account manager, and never considered himself to be enlightened material. “Nothing about who I had ever been in life had suggested that I would be a teacher of anything. I had never been a very spiritual person. I was pretty much a militant asshole atheist for most of my adult life.”

James always found himself to be “really good at like the very surface level of life”, however eventually his inner chaos overcame him. “I used to think that I was just a mess, that at my core that I was this flawed individual.”

James certainly didn’t find himself to be a zen master from the start. “I would bite the inside of my cheek to distract myself with pain from the feelings of anxiety I had when I started meditating.”

James eventually learned to relax through resolute practice. “It was the third day of the course and the big epiphany to me was I’m not biting my cheek.”

James’s transformation from student to teacher became his next obstacle, “I spent the first year [teaching] pouring so much information into people because I wanted to prove to myself that I knew my shit.”

James found a sense of conformation through over teaching. “I think what I was doing [was] trying to prove to myself through them that I was a teacher.”

James began to experience a deeper realization of his nature through enough self-reflection. “There were things that I was doing to compensate for the fact that I stopped this hole within me. All that extra trying to fill a hole… The only way you can fill a hole is to realize that it’s not there. That there isn’t some deep, fundamental flaw within you.”

James sees his travels in his mind as more meaningful than his worldwide adventures. Regarding the most chaotic and peaceful places he has visited, he remarked, “The answer is the same. My mind.”

James isn’t exactly bogged down by existentialism. After weathering the storm of a chaotic life, at this point he’s merrily nihilistic. With a smile, he remarked, “No one has a purpose. I don’t think life has [a] purpose. I don’t think life has meaning. I think meaning is something we give it.”

“James, what makes you happy?”

“Everything.”

Ultimately, passion and meaning seem to be entirely subjective, and unique to the individual. There isn’t a strict formula to enjoying an afternoon, happiness, existential understanding, or the question ‘why?’. Five voices originating from different corners of my life all taught the same message.

You define meaning yourself.