Let’s start there.
One day as a kid, I was suddenly struck with the idea for a glossy, full-color hardback coffee table book.
I would travel the world and collect responses from people — CEOs, fishermen, priests, addicts — asking them, what’s one lesson you would share with the world?
The idea being that everyone has a lesson to teach. In order to succeed as humans, we’ll need perspectives from everywhere.
The book would naturally lean on striking photographs of the subjects in breathtaking locales (this was long before the Humans of New York wave, mind you).
I thought this book idea was a real hit, plus I’d get to travel the world. I shared my concept with friends at a sleepover once. I spoke in hushed tones, after making them promise not to steal it.
Fast forward to now, and I’ve unwittingly been compiling this “book” for years.
A few years back, I had just completed a thesis on Chinese hip hop culture and received my degree. I packed up my life in New York City and moved to Shanghai, where I helped found a company called RADII. We wanted to share a different side of China, against a media environment that was more interested in stoking xenophobia for the sake of clicks.
For years I covered that beat, chasing down masters of energy healing, avant-garde rappers, and award-winning carbon scientists. I trained with the Shaolin monks, made international TV appearances, and was honored to continue a fading lineage of folk opera under its greatest living master.
I cracked jokes with cab drivers, and rubbed shoulders with government officials. I passed through swanky corner offices and remote mountaintops as a storyteller, traveling regularly throughout Asia and Europe.
So years later, we’ve come full circle.
Mind Body Globe is that glossy coffee table book. Informal stories, lessons, and guides to help us understand our world and live better.
Travel the globe. Gather all sorts of wisdom. Hear uncommon stories from one-of-a-kind humans, and share your own.
Everybody on this planet has something to teach. Don’t wait around too long or you’ll miss it.
– Adan
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