“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.”

--Joseph Campbell

It’s a hot July Sunday morning here in Portland, and as the whole city could tell you, the farmer’s markets are popping off. And as each summer comes and goes, I can’t help but be impressed with how much bigger, more popular, and ever vibrant these markets become.

But it’s not the variety of produce, meats, cheeses, and local crafts sold here that strikes me—it’s the flurry of human interactions binding a neighborhood together that does. And it gets me thinking about how cultivating the earth continues to build a sense of family both locally and globally.

Most people familiar with TORRAIN know the company was originally inspired by local farmers bartering their goods and services in a Cambodian marketplace. Although halfway around the world, they too understood that by taking care of nature’s resources they were also taking care of each other.

Humankind has been engaging in trade rituals for thousands of years, yet more than objects, trade events provided the foundation for the progression of civilization. Through commerce, relationships across distant places were forged through the exchange of ideas, knowledge, and cultural understanding.

Standing amid the chaos of this modern-day marketplace in SE Portland, I’m filled with wonder as spirited conversations, pleasant smells, and smiling faces bombard my senses with each step. It is at this moment I realize with delight that inspiration is everywhere. It reaches far back into the depths of time, across the vast expanses of the universe, and into our back pockets, begging us to keep it alive.   

And as I slowly walk back to the car, my arms spilling over with today’s newfound treasures, I begin to contemplate all the ways I can become a source of inspiration for the life around me.

How will you inspire the world today?