A favorite quote of mine from my teenage years came from a science fiction flick called “Buckaroo Banzai”.
“No matter where you go, there you are“
Little did I know that many years later this quote would help lead me in my journey toward practicing mindfulness and understanding Taoism. It is a reminder that you can’t escape yourself; your thoughts, emotions, and internal struggles follow you, so true change requires addressing them from within, not just changing your location or circumstances. It’s a reminder that you carry your own self, your habits, issues, and self-image, into any new environment, job, or relationship, and you’ll likely recreate similar patterns unless you change internally.
But this also brings a hint of sadness. As silly teenagers, we had a bit of calling the local radio station and one of the evening DJs. Of course, I was Buckaroo, and one of my best friends, Dan West, was Raoul from Jamaica. One of the groups of aliens from the movie was basically all Jamaican. So, somehow Dan became Raoul, with this extremely bad fake Jamaican accent. We lost Dan in a tragic car accident several years ago, and it was a major blow to our entire friend group. I miss you, man…
