From someone who has been chasing highs for their entire life, it took a long time to figure out which ones were worthwhile and sustainable. From the vast range I’ve all but experimented with, I’ve had to learn to sequester this chronic desire in order to normalize my dopamine and serotonin production and to begin reprogramming this behavior. Experiencing a “high” is tantamount with experiencing pleasure, but is typically short lived. Consequently, false...

Today I cancelled my flight bound for Southern California to the Palm Desert. I’ve stayed there on a number of occassions and have also visited the surrounding area several times for trips to Joshua Tree National Park, the San Bernadino National Forest, the Desert Hot Springs, and other nearby natural attractions to admire the beauty defining Southern California’s deserts.

Let me introduce you to a woman named Amy, one of the thousands of brave souls who accepts the grueling, seemingly impossible challenge of running a 156-mile ultramarathon in southern Morocco. Amy is quite literally running for her life: in a constant battle with extreme heat and dehydration, the desert sand almost threatening to consume her. Not to mention, she is running with only one leg. The Netflix docuseries “Human Playground” is part...

Only ’90s kids will remember the great plethora of shows in the second age of golden entertainment we had to sear our eyes and rot our brains with from the likes of Johnny Bravo, Recess, Batman: The Animated Series, Ed, Edd, n Eddy, Dexter’s Laboratory, and more. For decades prior the American media was producing influential works such as Looney Tunes, Tom and Jerry, Scooby-Doo, and Popeye, who all taught us the...

The number of articles on Solaria Chip has indubitably grown, but recently Carli and I were assessing the quality of the posts as well as the quality of our lives by taking on this self-imposed responsibility of writing every day. Like any shiny new toy, we were eager to play every day and exercise our skills and even face some of our fears with this project.

In one of my recent posts I mentioned that one of my favorite things about the Spring season is being able to garden again. This season I’m starting my garden from seed, which is something I haven’t done before, so I thought it would fun to document the process and turn it into a Solaria Chip post. This weekend I started with an herb kit that my mom picked out (thanks mom) consisting of...

I grew up in the Philippines and moved to California when I was 8 years old. I recall the legends and tales of my culture, but many were frightening and taught children to behave without question or suffer a horrifying fate. Several stories were quite extreme, but this method of instilling fear is pervasive to Filipino customs from the news features they favored airing while I was a child, such as instances of...

”The best part of climbing is when it all clicks and gravity ceases to exist.” -Chris Sharma

I’m almost there. Only a few holds left and then I’m at the top. My forearms are on fire but I must keep going. I pause and take five deep breaths, picturing all the oxygen reinvigorating my sore muscles. “Fear is the mind-killer” is the mantra I tell myself as I make the last few moves....

“‘There is no exquisite beauty… without some strangeness in the proportion.’” - Edgar Allan Poe, in Ligeia

“Cold is merciless. It shows you where you are. What you are.” -Wim Hof

A few years ago, I watched a documentary from my one of my favorite YouTube channels called Yes Theory that introduced me to a man named Wim Hof, aka “The Iceman”. Wim Hof is an extraordinary man from the Netherlands who has spent his whole life developing The Wim Hof Method, which combines deep breathing, cold exposure, and...

By happenstance, your particular configuration of atoms from stardust conceptualized you. Each indivisible thought forming in your mind is a product of your environment and experiences with which you had no control over from the very beginning. You did not choose your genetics just in the same way you did not choose what your favorite color is, what to put on your grocery list, the next show you’ll stay up late to watch, and whether...

Change is part of the unpredictability of life. It is something that everyone must adapt to, yet many of us, including myself, struggle with change on a daily basis. We, as humans, are prone to want to control everything that happens in our lives. Obsessing over details, we plan ahead, only for life to throw something at us that we weren’t prepared for. Even when we do expect these changes, they can still be hard...