#the dream beyond

[chloesimaginationthings]

FNAF movie Mike and Michael compare nightmares,,

[goryhorroor]

“1950s horror movies contrast radically with their 1940s predecessors. understandably – they were reflecting a whole new world. audiences wanted stories that connected directly to their lives, to the ever-expanding technology in their homes and workplaces. they also wanted horror movies that played to their fears – stoked by politicians – of the shadows that lay beyond their immediate, personal experience of the shiny american dream (applies to some of these movies).”

[the-dream-beyond]

Episode 16 - Ayurveda and Balanced Living: Nurturing the Mind, Body, and Spirit with Divya Alter

Divya alter 

There's certain vibrations that also lead to the mind. So somebody who has very active mind a lot of anxiety, panic attacks, it definitely shows in the pulse. But the other thing that vitamins should taught us with pulse reading is also level of toxicity. Well, in a general sense, you know, what, for example, if somebody has accumulated a lot of hot, acidic toxins, it's very easy to feel that in the pulse.

Nik Tarascio 

I'm sure you've heard you are what you eat. And today we're going to be talking to someone who is helping people really understand that relationship to food and to self into that interconnection. She's a master in a modality of health that is considered to be the oldest on record. And if you've never heard of Ayurveda, you're going to be learning a bunch about it today. Hope you really enjoy.

Welcome to the dream beyond. I'm your host, Nik Tarascio. I'm a co musician and overall seeker of Truth, inspiration and simply put, how to live the most fulfilling life possible. Growing up surrounded by extremely wealthy and successful people gave me unique and unfiltered perspectives of those who have seemingly made it through on the dream beyond, we're letting you in on what it really takes to achieve your dreams. What happens when it turns out your destination isn't the promised land you are expecting and how to process the lessons from your past while mapping of course to true fulfillment. Let's get started.

Hey, everybody, excited to be with you. Today. We have an amazing guest who is a Certified Nutritional Consultant, educator, author of two cookbooks, and a chef with over 30 years of experience in the shock of Ayurveda tradition. She's also the founder of Divya's kitchen, a plant based restaurant in New York City. One of my favorites to be honest, I go there for the the lasagna is to die for. She's also the creator of Divya as a line of good for you packaged foods. And because she doesn't do enough, she's also the co founder of Bhagavat life, a nonprofit culinary school that offers cooking classes in North America's first Ayurvedic chef certification program, making her a leading authority on our Vedic cooking and nutrition. So please welcome Divya altar. Thank you for being here with us today, Divya.

Divya alter 

Thank you. Thank you, Nick for having me. I don't know if I'm a leading authority on anything. But I'm definitely enjoy doing everything we do right now. And I'm definitely my foot. My whole world revolves around food, especially food that's used for healing. So it's so nice to be with you. Thank you for having me.

Nik Tarascio 

Yeah. And even if you're not a leading authority for the whole world, you are for me, because again, I really enjoy your restaurant. I've taken many of my family members there. My fiance and I have done your masterclasses. And again, we just wait, we even have the seasonal food box here that we're trying to do like kind of the whole Ayurvedic cleanse. So, again, I appreciate what you do. And I would love to kind of dive in with probably a little bit of a nonstandard question, but when you were a child, what did you dream you'd be when you grew up.

Divya alter 

I dream to be a doctor. But the doctor in the sense that helping people improve their health. And then even as a child, like with my friends, we would play doctors, you know, we use like, fake IVs and do things like that. And I really enjoyed them. Yes, so now and I and that and now I see that I'm very interested in healing. That's my passion, especially healing with food. And, and also, all of this stems through my own healing, right? Like, my own struggles with health, not just physically but also mentally, really going deeper into connecting with who I am and what I'm meant to do in the world. So, so yes, I'm very, somehow never became a doctor. But I am in the healing circle for sure.

Nik Tarascio 

So I would love to hear about for people that don't know what Ayurveda is, because I imagine it's a word that like I brought it up thinking everyone would know what I was talking about. And most people go I have no idea what any of that is. So for people that have no concept of what it is, what is it? What are the core principles of it?

Divya alter 

Ayurveda is the traditional medical science of India. So it's one of the oldest healing systems recorded in the world. Actually, if in some people say it's the oldest, it's actually older than Chinese medicine. So before 150 years ago, or even few 100 years ago, when there were no pharmaceuticals, you know, there were we didn't use medicine the way we know it today. How did people heal? What did the doctors use? So they use all these traditional methods, also using local herbs and local even food ingredients? that would support a particular illness or imbalance. And Ayurveda has been recorded. People say I mean exactly how old it is. That's debatable.

Some people say it's 5000 years old. It's kind of easy to say that but many historians that's much older than that. It's very old. And what I love about Ayurveda, it has many goals. But Ayurveda doesn't just treat the patient, it doesn't treat the disease, it treats the whole person, physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually, so are you ready really helps us integrate our health on every level, because our mental health affects our physical health. spiritual health can affect our mental health, they're all related. And what I love about Ayurveda is that it's a very personalized science. There are, there's a discussion on different body types. So depending on what your body type is, then and what your imbalance is what's going on in your body, then there will be specific personal protocols for food or exercise or cleansing, or anything, Mac lifestyle, all that. So I love it, because it's a very personalized approach to health rather than just one treatment. Oh, you have a headache, take a pill, you know, it's not like that. It's like, where's the headache coming from? Let's find the cause first, and then we'll address the symptoms and the treatment protocols.

Nik Tarascio 

So it looks like of all the different sides of Ayurveda because again, I appreciate the way you describe it as it is a complete look at a person from every angle, it's the physical, the emotional, the mental, all those things. It looks like you really found a connection towards Ayurveda as it relates to food and the way you bring it to the world. And I'm just wondering how that intersected with your life path. Exactly.

Divya alter 

So I, okay, so I came into food I started, I realized that I love to cook when I was 18 years old. And I was I was frustrated with life at that age. I was like, this life doesn't make sense. There must be a deeper meaning to life. So the communist, I'm from Bulgaria, so the communism was just breaking down in 1990. And I got I really became very curious about yoga. And I was like I, I really connected with the, the way the yogic texts explain the meaning of life, the soul, we're not the body and all that. And I'm like, Oh, this makes total sense to me. So I started looking for a yoga studio. And there were there weren't any those days, it was forbidden, because everything spiritual was forbidden back then. And then I met a person who was running an underground yoga ashram in my hometown. And I absolutely loved everything. And I became an intern because I was also trying to be a vegetarian, and I didn't know how to be a healthy vegetarian, and how to make it tasty also. So I became an intern, and I started learning how to cook just helping in the kitchen. And then in exchange, I was learning yoga. And I really fell in love with food. So years later, I went to India, to connect with the roots of yoga and to continue with my education as well. And then I started feeling very sick.

So I went through a period of time and I was really, my digestion was almost zero. And that's how I started the local doctor was an Ayurveda doctor and really amazing one. And, and he didn't, and I thought, oh, yeah, he would just give me some herbs. I think I thought that I have as a treatment is like allopathic treatment, but with herbs instead of medication. So so it's like, oh, you have digestive problems. Take this herb, you have a headache, they take this herb, but no, it's not like that. So it's like, he was like, Okay, it's not just the herbs, you have to change your diet has to change how you when you sleep, how you sleep, how you exercise, to align with your body type with with your constitution, so that you can experience your best health.

So he gave me a list of foods. And then I started learning how to cook like this with food combinations with spices that really support digestion, and it's not just tasty, but it's actually digestible as well. And I was like, wow, this is amazing. I started feeling like I've never felt like that before. Wow. So and then later on, when I came to the United States, I became very sick this time it was serious I had an autoimmune disease, a lot of inflammation, a lot of digestive issues. And when I met my main I remember the teacher His name is Vida Mishra, then I, this is when I really started studying in depth. And it changed my life just changing my diet and applying the Ayurvedic principles to a vegetarian healthy diet, I was already in eating healthy, but I read it takes healthy to 2.0 to a different level.

And I was I don't have autoimmune anymore as healthy and I have more energy now and I'm 51 years old, then 10 or 15 years ago, it's amazing how the body can reset itself and come back to where it's supposed to be. So I'm very grateful. And I started teaching cooking classes. And, and people who just would do simple recipes or follow just a few simple principles they learned from me, and they will be like, Wow, I feel so much better. And not only physically but my mind is more peaceful. And I'm like, yeah, it's working. So, so then I decided with my husband as apprentice, we were like, Let's just make this our life mission. Let's help people connect, truly connect with the healing benefits and experience the healing benefits of food by cooking it learning how to prepare it by coming to a restaurant by providing products so they can easily prepare something at home. So yeah, so I've been doing this for the past many years here in New York City.

Nik Tarascio 

That's incredible. And I think what's what I find interesting about what you're doing, and the restaurant specifically is that I imagine that you're the first interface for a lot of people into either Vedic principles or AI or Vedic food. And so I am wondering as someone and again, I saw it in the masterclass which I've tried to study Ayurveda. I've tried to make sense of it. And even watching your masterclass and like the first, I think it was the first segment, I was amazed by stuff I'd never heard before. I was like, even that I've not found that stuff online. I've not found these principles explained in a way that was simple. But what are some of the common misconceptions or resistance that you find when you start to tell people about this? And it's the first time they're hearing about it? What do people push back on?

Divya alter 

Oh, that's a really good question that, you know, I meet so many people, one of the first thing may be that it may sound very complicated at first, because it's so much, okay, so I have to think about my doshas about my body type, about the season, about my digestion, about the properties of the ingredients, it's so much to think about. But, and also because we're not trained, our mind is not trained to think that way. We just think, Oh, I'm hungry, I'm going to eat. It's not we're not trying to connect, the food we eat with the way we feel. And the foods we eat completely affects the way we feel, by the way.

But we're not just we, our perspective on food is different. So, and I felt overwhelmed as well, when I first started studying, but it's actually very simple and it makes a lot the principles of Ayurveda make a lot of sense, because they align us with nature. So there's one of the main goals of Ayurveda is to help us flow with nature. And we are part of nature, we get sick when we separate ourselves from nature. It's either our own nature, or the nature around us when you kind of cut that connection.

But but because I read it's not like rules that the other misconception is like, there are too many rules. And I'm like, you guys, it's not rules. These are just, this is just how nature works. It just telling you, okay, so have you, for example, have your main meal, the biggest quantity of food, especially if you have digestive issues, have it for lunch, when the sun is at the highest point in the sky, around lunchtime, then you digestive fire digestion is strongest at that time. So Have more food and heavier food then don't eat too heavy foods at night, or early in the morning when your digestion is either going to sleep or waking up. So and I'm like yeah, this makes total sense. Right.

So work how to align ourselves with the circadian rhythms. And then and then and then when you start flowing with nature and not go against the current of nature, all of a sudden you feel so much more balanced. And, and that's the goal. That's what good health is that you feel balanced mentally, spiritually, emotionally, physically. So, yeah, just and I always tell people just take it one thing at a time, you don't have to study the whole Ayurveda into the AC, just try something, try some, try waking up earlier and see how you feel, try going to bed earlier, see how you feel. And then all of a sudden you have more energy, your skin is clearer, your your mind is more peaceful, your digestion is working better. And this is, again, you're aligning with nature, you're allowing the body to heal itself and work the way it's supposed to work. So that's, that's some points on that.

Nik Tarascio 

Yeah, I mean, as you say that it's like so obvious when it's like, yeah, of course, when I'm waking up, my digestive fire might not be as strong. And of course, when I'm tired, it might not be that strong. When you said it, I was like waiting to be like, Wait, does the sun's alignment have something to do with the fire? But then it's like, No, that just, it's obvious that the body is using energy to come to life and using energy go to sleep or given up his energy. So when you say that, I'm like, yeah, that like that seems practical. But I imagine that the fact that it's an ancient system, and the fact that it does require some understanding of principles is like, so again, my listening audience is a lot of high achievers that are going a million miles an hour, and it's like, just tell me the answer. I just want to know the answer to what I'm supposed to do. We're looking for prescription, not so much like learning a whole new modality. But I really was, you know, I've dealt with a lot of autoimmune issues myself, I've had a lot of a lot of digestive issues. And when I was younger, we tried everything.

We tried everything we could imagine it was like infusions, and this and that and these medications. And it was funny to find out that the thing that made the biggest difference was just changing my diet that no one told me, No doctor ever told me, Hey, why don't you just try eating different foods and see what upsets your stomach and doesn't, it was like so ridiculously obvious. So I appreciate that aspect of it does seem overwhelming, I Aveda just seems like such a wealth of knowledge. Again, you can set it 1000s and 1000s of years old. But you know, kind of continuing down that road is what or if someone came to you, and you were like, again, I want to win them over with Ayurveda, I'm gonna give them just a couple of small principles, a couple of small practices, just to dip their toe. So they're going to get a result. And once they get that result, I know that they're going to be invested in wanting to know more other other kind of simple tips or simple concepts that you generally will share with people to get them excited about it and see some basic result.

Divya alter 

Yeah, definitely. I mean, I will share a couple of things first, but I think also it's, it's not just doing it's also adjusting our perspective on who we are in our life. Because our event is not about fixing a problem. Are you ready is about complete healing. And through the, through the process of healing, are you aware that helps us to clear personal obstacles, like it could be a bad habit of just being angry all the time, or it could be a resentment that we've been holding, or a person that we didn't forgive, or an emotional trauma that we're still holding from our early childhood or whatever it is. So again, I evade the helps heal the whole person. So when somebody comes to me and says, I just need a quick fix, I would say, Well, I can offer, I can offer advice on what can help you relieve the symptom if you just come to that. But you can go so much deeper, and you can experience a beautiful, exciting, liberating transformation. And even your perception of suffering will change when you go once you go through this.

And it doesn't mean that you really have to suffer and take cold showers and perform all these austerities to achieve you know, enlightenment or something. But, but it means that you participate in your own healing. So when somebody comes to me for help, and I offer nutritional consultations when I have time, that's not I'm busy with other things. But sometimes people ask me for help and somebody comes to me I don't really treat them I which I wouldn't do anyway. But I help them first of all align with themselves who they are and then understand what what they need to do to help the body heal itself. So I see myself as support supporting their own healing instead of just fixing problems. You know what I mean? Yeah, so so it's like, yeah, you can you can just like brushed through life. And by when you go very quickly through through life, and you don't take the time to digest your experiences and to reflect and to gain the wisdom from what you just went through, we need to have those times when you go through life so quickly, in your old age, when you kind of decide, okay, you retire, and you look back, and you may feel unfulfilled, because, because if you don't do your inner work, you may feel frustrated and unfulfilled.

So, I always tell people, you know, you can still be a high achiever, but find moments during the day, or during the week where you can slow down and, and develop those habits of connecting. How are you feeling? What what do you meant? Who are you really, what do you meant to do in this life? What what just happened? Yeah, correctly, how could you have done it better, like really take time to reflect, and this will, this will help you digest, not just physically, that just food, but also digest life, and gain the wisdom that you can then transmit you, children or those people that you lead. But in terms of simple self care? Let's see. Well, one very simple thing that you can do first thing in the morning, if you're not doing it yet, is scrape your tongue. So you can get a Thai tongue scraper, it's a simple metal thing can be stainless steel, I use a silver one, I like the silver one better. I don't recommend the copper one. Because if you saliva is very acidic, the copper will oxidize from the acidity of the saliva.

So stainless steel is silver. And after you brush your teeth, you can just scrape your tongue, you know, it's very easy. There are a lot of videos on YouTube about to do that it takes few seconds. But this will this will refresh your breath, it also diminishes bad bacteria in the mouth diminishes acidity, it helps you to stay better. And yeah, it's just a cleanse a daily cleansing procedure, something very simple you can do. Another simple thing you can do is, let's say, let's see, with food. So don't eat fresh fruits with anything else. So eat them alone.

And sometimes people eat them as dessert, simply because they digest differently. I have a friend and she, she would sit down. And sometimes we go to events or something. And there is a buffet with so many foods and you don't want to take a little bit of everything. And there's usually fruit also like a fresh fruit. And so you take little fruit and then take oatmeal or pancake or whatever else. And you eat all this together the same time. Fresh fruit digest differently than cooked food. And when you eat them together, it can cause a lot of bloating and gas. And I told her why don't you just eat the fruit, either as a snack between meals or maybe eat it 30 Min 30 minutes before your meal, start with that and then wait a little bit and then eat the rest. And she did and she's like, Oh my God, my Bloating is gone. I thought this was a chronic illness with so just it's called Food compatibility in Ayurveda, like kind of like a food combining so. So I teach this in the master classes and I write I give you the charts in my books what to combine. What's good combination was bad combination, because just by avoiding the bad combinations, you have so much digestion will be so much better.

Nik Tarascio 

Amazing. Yeah, I think I'm guilty of what your friend is guilty of when I go to buffets. I try to win at the buffet, I want to try everything. So I imagine that's also put a bit of a toll on my body. But you also said something else in there that I'm really curious about, especially because I come from Italian heritage very passionate, very charged. And I'm wondering about you were talking about anger as it relates to Ayurveda are there foods that can reduce anger? And is it possible that Italian foods are the opposite of that?

Divya alter 

Yes. So you come from a very temperamental culture, right. So yes, so their food definitely affects affects us mine mentally which can translate in our relationships also. So there are foods that are very stimulating. They usually pungent foods like spicy. It's not just I mean, you go to other cultures that you eat a lot of spicy foods, and sometimes they're just talking and they look like they're quarreling. I just haven't. Right, but it's just the nature, so usually very pungent spicy foods can lead to having more temperament. The other one is onions and garlic. So these two very pungent, right, and they're very stimulating, I always recommend either use less of them insert in summer, you should definitely use less of them because otherwise you sweat too much.

And you sweat will stink too. So, but I mean, it's the connection, right? Connecting what you eat the words coming out of the body, so but also, like don't eat a lot of those very stimuli. It could be also like kimchi, or something that's really sour, really salty, really spicy. If you eat that at night, it's so stimulating, it may affect your sleep, you may not be able to fall asleep. So eat it for lunch. Yeah, so. So these are some stimulating foods, especially in Italian cooking, I would say the garlic and maybe some onions, especially if it's a raw and cooked. So that's when they're strongest. So they're very medicinal. But again, we have different body types. If you have a very fiery body type, the kind of person who is always feels hot and you walk in tea in a T shirt in the middle of the winter and you don't feel hot and so and you sweat a lot.

So that's a fiery body type. Then then you need less of those spicy foods because they will they're very heating they will increase your heat you'll sweat more your skin will be red. Alcohol does the same thing. It's very fiery substance. So what was cool it down. I think Basil is Nik basil in Italian cuisine is a saver because especially the fresh sweet basil, it has a cooling effect. It also helps you digest the heavy cheeses and pass the and all that. But zucchini zucchini is a great cooling vegetable. very calming so zucchini produces calmness in the body. artichokes, asparagus, you know these are all coming vegetables, fruits like fresh, juicy fruits. What you like artichokes?

Nik Tarascio 

I do? Yeah. I love artichokes I used to my family would do that like the fried artichoke with all the breading on it, which is probably less artichoke and more bread. But that was delicious. And I do like artichoke hearts.

Divya alter 

Yeah, yeah, they're great. They're really good for your liver. So they're very calming for the liver. So a lot of that angry energy can also come when your liver is too challenged like either too sluggish or in Ayurveda. We speak about how to liver when the liver has way too much toxicity accumulated or, you know, whatever it may be the liver is kind of challenged. So yeah, so artichokes are amazing for the liver. Incredible. They very Pelion.

Nik Tarascio 

I don't know if you know the answer to this, or I don't know if this is known in all of Ayurvedic practice, but I just started going to an ayurvedic doctor. And the first time I met her, she took my wrist, and in about 30 seconds told me what my constitution was, anyway, how does that work? Like I've had tons of doctors that have done tons of tests on me. And this woman grabbed my wrist and 30 seconds basically told me my entire medical history. How's that even possible?

Divya alter 

Yeah, so that's part of the science right? Pulse reading is fascinating. Ayurvedic I'm trained in this as well. So the are you ready pulse rating is different than a modern Doctor reading their, you know, your pulse rate or something like that. So there are three, we use three fingers for reading the pulse. So the fourth finger, the middle finger, and the ring finger, and you put your fourth finger by the wrist joint. So this is I don't know if I can show but this like this. So this is vata, this is the Air and Space elements in your body, the middle finger is better, that's the fire element in your body, and the ring finger is Kapha the water and earth element. So depending on So, in Ayurveda, we describe like the strength of the pulse, how strong it is, this this determines if, like, if you have weak strength, it to me to say that you probably have chronic fatigue, for example, like you don't have a robust energy you have less energy.

So and then depending on how you pulse there's also a particular way of pressing and the depth into in which you press and it will tell me which dosha dosh the doshas are the and bio energies that govern all the functions in the body. So vata governs circulation governs the heart, it governs the Colin, it governs overall movement and overall health. It got there's about three in the stomach. So if I feel that specific sensations you have to learn these sensations in, in, in my in this thing my bath the finger, then it tells me that I connect that to a function in that particular part of your body. And then I ask you, are you constipated? And they're like, how could you tell? You know, or, or with the pitha? Like, sometimes they check the pulse, and it's like, Oh, my God, do you have acid reflux?

And they're like, oh, yeah, it's really bad. So. And then with the kapha, I could also like, for example, he could tell me that you have water retention, without even looking at you. If even if I close my eyes without looking at you. I can feel inside. Oh, wow, do you have water retention? So that's the water element, right, then it's vibrating particularly. And then also every though she's connected to different organs. So maybe she asked you about certain organs that you might have history with. So yeah, it takes a long time to learn this. And it's actually it's a lifetime process. It's like you always learn something from it.

Nik Tarascio 

Well, you just ruined my dream, because I was like, I just want to learn this over the weekend. But it sounds like it sounds like it's quite a bit of work to be able to do this just seems like an amazing skill to be able to take someone and immediately get a sense of what their inner system is.

Divya alter 

Yes, yeah, it's very helpful. And it also so you can also there are certain vibrations that also lead to the mind. So somebody who has very active mind, a lot of anxiety, panic attacks, it definitely shows in the pulse. But the other thing that vitamins should taught us with pulse reading is also level of toxicity. Well, in a general sense, you know, but for example, if somebody has accumulated a lot of hot acidic toxins, it's very easy to feel that in the pulse. So when I feel this for somebody, I would always just the diet because don't have those hot hot foods, they will only make you more fat, right? So the policy is very helpful for me to help people guide them through exactly what they need to eat right now, what they need to avoid in order to bring themselves back to balance.

And it's also fun to like that, like there is a way if somebody can also show if your channels like like digestive tract and other channels in the body is are more clogged, you know, like your pipes are clogged, you know, in a sense. And by the Misha tell us how to he called it tofu pals. So tofu is a very hard to digest food. And it can cause a lot of blockages in the body, especially if your digestion is not strong. So I it's like it that particular sensation, whenever I feel it, and I asked the person, do you eat a lot of tuffeau? And they're like, there's no way you know that I eat a lot of stuff. There's no way you could know that. And I like it. The balls never, never, never realize.

Nik Tarascio 

So is it the kind of thing where if someone did want to go down the road of saying I would love to have an Ayurvedic practitioner helped me make sense of what a protocol would even look like? Or what what my path might look like? Do you generally recommend that people do meet someone in person so they can do the pulse reading on their body instead of doing a zoom call or something like that?

Divya alter 

Is that is definitely helpful. But the pulse reading is only one way of assessing your condition right? Looking at you so there's ways to look just at your whole body, your face. Some people just read the face. There is also a way to like use real wrinkles. And they can tell Oh, you have liver and kidney problem you have there is also a town so assessing your tongue can be another way of asking questions. So another way so if you wanted to do it on Zoom, it's usually the doctor or practitioner will ask you many questions. Very specific questions, and they can be very personal questions. So how is your poop? What does it look like? Does it smell you? How often do you have it? You know, like, it may seem like rude, this is gross, but it's actually very important symptom of good or bad health. So So yeah, usually if you do it virtually and many really good doctors do it virtually. I mean during the pandemic, you know, we had no choice. Yeah, but, but even a good doctor can help you virtually. But seeing being in person is definitely, you had get a lot more bonuses with that as well.

Nik Tarascio  

So kind of zooming out from all of this stuff if you took the entire practice of Ayurveda, and apply it to the question of, you know, how does Ayurveda relate to living a more fulfilling life, because that's really at the heart of what this show is about. It's, we're all trying a million different things to try to bring joy or have these moments of happiness or try to get, you know, win at life, whatever that means. What does Ayurveda tell us about what fulfillment really is or how to achieve it?

Divya alter 

It's all about connection. So, you know, in the beginning, we spoke about how help diminishes when we disconnect ourselves, from who we are and from nature around this. So are you ready helps us to really understand our our, first of all, how a body works your individual body, how it works, what are the strengths, what are the weaknesses, and how to balance that, and knowing what your stress points are. And when you're in a stressful situation, offering suggestions of how you can minimize the reactions to stress. But and then and then on a deeper level, seeing yourself as more the body more than the body because the body we know we grow, we grow up we grow old, this illness is part of life, we nobody has perfect health. But I already can minimize can help us maintain it's a preventative health is big part of Ayurveda. So by practicing Ayurvedic diet, lifestyle, we kind of avoid a lot of the lifestyle related illnesses, lifestyle and diet related illnesses that are so common today.

Nik Tarascio 

So example of that.

Divya alter 

With diabetes, you know, it's such a big one, or even heart disease, high blood pressure, you know, these are, all of these can be reversed and prevented with you have lifestyle and diet that are more aligned with your own body constitution and also with nature. So not going against nature's laws and really acting as we're part of nature, and not some implant. So, so finding that connection for yourself, when you feel centered and connected with who you are, what your life's purpose is, I think this is such a strong foundation for fulfillment, and happiness.

And the other thing that I, for me, it's so important is that you don't do this just for yourself, you're not you're not trying to be healthy, just for the sake of being healthy. Right? You do this so that you can be of service to others. And happiness really comes I mean, you can just make a comfortable life for yourself. But real happiness comes when you're able to serve others and help others and have beautiful relationships with with others. So that's, that's a big part of health as well. So again, it's again, connection, right? Connecting with other living entities, not just not just on mental satisfaction, but really hard to heart. Like really feeling that heart to heart connection with everybody around you. It's very powerful.

Nik Tarascio 

Yeah, I mean, I'm, I'm on that path right now, I think I've been chasing, you know, the show is obviously for a particular reason that it's most of my life has been chasing the external successes. And now coming to the space of, I recognize that that game never ends, like that can just go on for all of time. So what does it mean to go within my spells, you know, within myself, especially knowing that I live in my head, not as much in my body. So really trying to reconnect to the body and trying to get some of that wisdom of what does my body crave? What does it need? And instead of having everyone outside of me telling me what the answers to the questions are, can I create that connection to self, that my body's like, well, I want to eat that and I don't want to eat that. And this doesn't work for me, and this is what does. So I very much appreciate that. And you know, beyond the masterclass which I hope with my crazy work schedule to get through the whole thing soon because I just find it so interesting. And I just learned about your, you know, again, your cooking school, which is also really interesting that, you know, that might be a path for me to go down as well. For someone who really feels like this is such an interesting area. What are some additional ways people can get involved in understanding what this is and learning it beyond? Like I said, the masterclass in the cooking class and things like that.

Divya alter 

Well, I mean, There are many workshops and you don't have to become an ayurvedic doctor or practitioner to learn how to take care of yourself, most people, I mean, if it's your calling to be a healer, and to help people with their health and and guide them that way, then yes, but a big part of it is just taking self care. And these are all preventative medicine, little things that you can do. And again, it's like, you try something, oh, it works for me great. We also have to make adjustments with the seasons.

So scraping a time is something you can do daily to the rest of your life. But I don't know. Maybe you cannot bathe in the ocean all the time, we cannot walk barefoot all the time, you know, which is can be very grounding practice. But so there are little practices that you just have to see oh, yeah, this works for me right now, I find it very helpful, like, apply simple things. Are you very good recommendations, especially when you travel a lot. Like, you have a jet company, Nik. The airplane, traveling by airplane creates so much havoc in our body, and some people are more used to it than others.

But still, it's like, it's very unnatural condition for our body to be in when we are in the airplane. So. So for example, when before you fly, there are certain things you can do. Like even if you go for a massage with a nice oil, or you do sell oil massage, or just put a little bit of oil on your feet before you put on your socks, this will this will really make it will it will add more groundedness when you're up in the air, I like to put a little oil in my nostrils because it gets so dry on the airplane, little things and as soon as you land, try to walk barefoot summery, could be the beach or grass or something like that to land your body also, fully.

So they and there's so many little practices like that, that. And it's not you don't even have to memorize them, you just follow the main principle of balance that you're always balanced with the opposite energy of what you're experiencing right now. So when you're very cold, you need warm foods, you need warm drinks, right to bring more warmth as you you need warm clothes. When you're very hot, you need something cooling, when you're running in very high speed, like in an aeroplane, when you're traveling, then you need when as soon as you arrive, slow down. You know I love little bit of time to your body to slow down and adjust. Don't just start rushing and running and going to conference just plan a day to just rest first. And then and then it's like we will not overusing our body because a lot of health problems also come. And that's one of the causes that I evangelists is disease is overusing our senses. We just abused our bodies too much. You know, we use the it's like, like you run your car without taking care of it. And then one day it just breaks. So yeah, so I always tell people just slow down.

Nik Tarascio 

Yeah, no, I mean, that's, that's hard. For me running a jet company is very much. It is about going a million miles an hour. And I appreciate that, you know, finding those moments of grounding, finding those moments of just pausing taking a breath slowing it down, I think you know, I just think of landing at JFK. It is a circus, right? It's like rush to the car, get in the car, rush home, get home rush to do the next thing. So I can see that. You know, again, I when I was first introduced to pyruvate, I just knew it as food. So it is interesting to hear kind of how these practices really as an entire way to live your life an entire way to find connection to self. So I appreciate that very much. And I have to ask kind of our our big final question as you've done so much. And again, I just reading your bio, it's like the amount of things you've achieved. It's really impressive. And you've, you've helped, I'm assuming a lot of people through this work. I know again, you've helped me personally. When you dream, what do you dream about now?

Divya alter 

Oh, well, I always my prayer and my dream is to always be of service of loving service to people. I don't I don't have like for me, you know, I'm a poor poor girl from Bulgaria. I didn't even speak English but like, like, what, 30 years ago, but and then I wrote books and English books in English and it's like, wow. But like for me the main the main lesson in my life is that when my mindset is that I'm here to serve people. And yeah, for me to grow personally, that's my personal task.

But I'm, I'm here to be of service to people. I don't live my life just for myself. I live to help others as well. And, and then whatever my service is, whatever service presents itself at the time, like, if you asked me 20 years ago that I will have restaurant, I will be like, Are you crazy, I never really, that wasn't my dream. So I know, some people are meant to do very specific tasks, and they dream about it, and I achieve it. And that's beautiful for me, is more like, I'm here to serve. And I will do wherever I'm at you I'm taking us to do I'll take the opportunity for service, because it makes me really happy. So it, if I, if there are moments, of course, I go into just thinking about myself, and I'm the center of the universe. And it's like, I get so depressed.

And I'm like, No, I'm just a tiny speck in this creation. I'm part of this universal machine. And, and by through service, I spirit, I experienced connection with everybody and everything around me. And that makes me very happy and fulfilled. So and grateful.

Nik Tarascio 

Yeah, that's beautiful. And I have to ask, because, I mean, were you always this humble.

Divya alter 

Um, no. That's, that's still work in progress. But, you know, the school of hard knocks, I've been through, I've been through very humbling experiences in my life. And, and I, I definitely am not very humble at all. But, but it's, I find humility to be a beautiful thing. It's, it has nothing to do with low self esteem. If I had low self esteem, I wouldn't be talking to you, right?

But, but humility is, again, connecting with who you are, and knowing that you're more than this body that you're to me, I'm eternal soul. I'm a beautiful divine spiritual being. And that goes through different cycles of life. And like that, then there are lessons to be learned and service to be done. But but without, without humility, we cannot we can never experience through gratitude. And without gratitude, we can never experience fulfillment, we will always be dissatisfied with something.

So, to me, humility and gratitude go hand in hand, and this leads to lasting satisfaction in life. And you may, it may seem that you haven't achieved anything externally. But still, you're completely satisfied and happy. And when you go to India, you see a lot of sourdoughs, a lot of saintly persons that are so accomplished spiritually. They don't have big companies or anything like that. And they completely free from false identification, you know, big ego. They don't have they don't aspire for material things, but they're just so happy and satisfied. And it's like, how come? Where is this coming from?

Nik Tarascio 

Yeah, I struggle with that, too. I'm like, What have you done lately? Right? Like, how do you have such self satisfaction when your life is so simple? And again, I'm sure that's more of my conditioning of I've measured my own success by being goal oriented. You know, it's like, it's not about who I am. It's about what I've done. And I tried to transition more to that. And I'm curious to like, dive a little bit deeper into that question. You just said, your self esteem you you have self esteem. And that humility is not the same as self esteem. How do you separate those two in your head?

Divya alter 

Well, who is the self right? What do I identify myself with? So if I identify myself, with just the body and the mind, then it's like, I'm always thinking are, how am I looking? What if they think about my eyes or my glasses, I just focus on body types and I lose my confidence, you know, like, like body parts and it's like, so that a lot of people get stuck in that. They, they think that the way they look, I mean, Appearance is important, but it's not. It's not. It's just one piece of who we are. So I'm also again, when I when I think of myself, as a servant of others. It's not like serving like a slave but I'm here to be a service to you.

Then And then my ego is like, you know, I'm here to serve. And I'm very happy to do that. Rather than and we're all servants. I mean, even if you're leader of a big company, you're serving your employees, you're guiding them, you're leading them. If you have a family, you're serving the servant, you're also we're all serving somebody it's not, it's actually a very elevated position. So, rather than thinking, Oh, you're supposed to serve me, you're supposed to work for me. And, you know, and then this is when we cut connections, right? The heart to heart connection gets cut, when we only speak for ourselves without giving to others.

Nik Tarascio 

Yeah, well, I think that's a beautiful place to wrap this up. It's what an interesting conversation that really, for me started around food, and how to eat well how to get connected to your food, but really, it's about getting connected to yourself and others. And I really liked that heart to heart connection with really an invitation and all of this just to be of service to others. And I think that's, you know, that following that path, of take care of your body, take care of yourself, so you can be able to take care of others. And again, in aviation, when we say put on your own oxygen mask before you don anybody else's.

And I think in many ways, our Aveda can be seen as the same thing as take care of yourself so you can take care of others and be of service. And again, it's such an inspirational story to talk to someone who talks about defying the odds, it sounds like you've just had such an incredible journey from Communism, to building these amazing things that serve so many people here in New York. And all over the world I imagined to

Divya alter 

Oh, thank you. So kind. I'm always like, even though we're going through expansion of our company, and I'm like, we're going against all against all odds, but somehow it's working. It's like, it's not, it's not an easy process, I have to tell you, like, because before so just last thing, we, my husband and I, we were both monks before we got married, and I was a monk for 15 years, he was a monk for about the same time. And, and in, you know, and I was kind of like puffed up a little bit. I'm so spiritual, oh, I'm sorry, the hands didn't. I can recite Sanskrit by memory, and, you know, all these things and chanting and meditating.

And I kind of became puffed up. And I was looking down on people in business, because I thought, Oh, they're just materialists and doing material things. And like, they're greedy. So it was such an unhealthy state of mind for some time. And then boom, Oh, you think you're so advanced that I got really sick. And literally everything that I was borrowing strength from was taken away. And you're like, you know, so right now running our business is, to us is really we're just talking about this yesterday how running a business, which may seem like a very material activity can be a perfect path for spiritual upliftment and elevation and awakening. Because it's always about the inner disposition of what's your inner disposition, your intention, where's your heart when you do all these external things. And this can make such a big difference in your perception, but also, also your contribution.

But also, yes, it's important to have goals, it's very important to lead a goal oriented life, but honor the journey, the path itself, because that's where the real growth happens. It's not the achievement itself, is getting there. When, when we when we grow the most.

Nik Tarascio 

Well, I have to say, You're the first entrepreneur that I've spoken to, maybe ever, who when I asked kind of what your future path was, you were like, I don't know, whatever presents itself, I will give myself fully to that. And I think that that is true agility. When you think about it, it's like the most agile way to build something, it's just to say, I'll know it when I see it. And I will give myself fully to it. So you're absolutely right. Entrepreneurship is a spiritual path, whether people realize it or not. And I think you're living proof of the fact that you can break all the rules and you can do it all different ways. And if you just trust your heart connection, and you trust that, that gut instinct, you can do some amazing, amazing stuff.

Divya alter 

I think this is your blessing, Nik. Thank you. I keep that in mind because I need motivation to but thank you so much for your kind words. It's it's very, very humbling for me.

Nik Tarascio 

My pleasure. And again, for those you that are listening, if you're interested to learn more about what Divya is up to, you could go to Divyas.com. She has an incredible seasonal food box on there that you could check out if you want to experience Ayurveda cooking.

Also, again, this really is something we don't do any sponsorships on here and we don't take any money for this. This is art for me not commerce. I truly love her masterclass. So when I say that if you're curious, learn just to learn more about this and find it maybe there is some curiosity or connection there. You could check out her masterclass on the same website. And she was kind enough to give us a discount code of dream 100. And if you put that in, you'll save $100 off the class. So if you want to check that out, we'll put some other stuff in the show notes. But again, this was something that is just so near and dear to my curiosity and I hope some of you were inspired by this as well. And Divya, thank you again so much for giving your your entire heart to the conversation.

Divya alter 

Thank you. Thank you so much for having such a pleasure. I can't wait to see you in the restaurant again. Thank you.

Nik Tarascio 

Absolutely Take care. Bye bye. Thank you for listening to the dream beyond. I hope that you received whatever message or inspiration you were meant to get from today's episode. I had a great time recording it for you. If you love the show, please take 30 seconds to subscribe rate and review it. That really helps get the word out. And if you want to connect with me, you can find me at

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[assassin1513]

✨💙💜Infinity Travel💜💙✨

[blueskittlesart]

in the nicest and most non-confrontational way possible. i feel like some of you think that anything that isn't directly openly spelled out for you within a story is "missed potential" or "unexplored." like. sometimes there are implied narratives. sometimes the point is that you as the reader are supposed to think and draw your own conclusions and participate in the story. the writers not directly spelling every little detail out for you doesn't mean that the story is poorly written or missed its own plot details somehow. PLEASE.

[soyalexnajera]

I'M GLAD WE DIDN'T HAD COMMERCIAL BREAKS BUT IMAGINE IF WE DID

[landwriter]

Hi! I hope you feel better soon!

This is a great prompt by @academicblorbo about Hob Gadling being the landlord of the Dead Boys. It has a wonderful fill already by @omgcinnamoncakes but I��d love to see what you come up with for it!

Alternative prompt from me if that doesn’t work for your brain: remember the date between Jenny and Maxine? How about one between Jenny and Esther? Poor Jenny is going to really question her taste in beautiful blonde women 😭

Thank you! I saw ‘landlord’ and ‘decades’ and blacked out. I love Hob having them as tenants. Maybe even before the modern day meeting in Sandman.

The Sandman/Dead Boy Detectives, 2.4k, G Dream/Hob, pre-slash, alternating/outsider POV, found family, a reunion and revelations etc.

---

Hob did not, strictly speaking, have tenants. It was more of a minor haunting. Pun intended.

The small room above the pub and below his flat wasn’t worth charging anyone rent for; when he first bought the building he had put a handsome oak desk in there and some bookshelves before wondering who he was possibly keeping up appearances for. Who was he going to take back upstairs that would stop and say, Wait, can I see your office? So he’d left it as more or less an abandoned room.

When he realized a pair of boys were using it as their clubhouse, he didn’t do anything at first. He saw them quietly coming and going a couple times, disappearing around the corner of the first landing. Brazen things. He meant to call after them, but the shout had died in his throat. He’d been young once. He still remembered the need to get away from it all. It was only when he went to check if they’d been making a mess of the room that he discovered it was still locked.

He’d crouched down and inspected the latch and found no marks at all. Huh, he’d said, and jiggled it again, and been a little more interested in whatever clever way they were getting into it after they disappeared up his stairs. Then he didn’t see them for weeks, and assumed they had gotten bored and stopped.

Until they came back. In the middle of an argument, striding through the pub like they owned it. Hob straightened up as they passed him.

“I cannot believe you broke the mirror.”

“I was in a rush! It’s not my fault you forgot you needed Arcana Incantatum after we arrived at the church. And found the demon.”

“I hardly forgot, I only made the mistake of assuming you would know to pack it by now.”

Hob raised his eyebrows. The boys disappeared into the back hallway. He followed them as they went upstairs, too preoccupied with their drama to notice Hob. They turned onto the landing, still carrying on. Even as they walked through the door. The locked, closed door.

Hob blinked. Then he drew his keys from his pocket and opened the door. The boys were still inside. One of them was pulling a mirror out of a backpack that was several times too small for it. They didn’t even look up, and Hob wondered how he couldn’t possibly have put it together earlier. He cleared his throat.

“Hello, boys.” That caught their attention. Hob grinned. “Seems we’re neighbours.”

---

Edwin abhorred getting involved with the living. He and Charles got along perfectly well on their own. They were a duo. An intrepid pair. Best mates, like Charles often stressed whenever he was about to ask something particularly ridiculous of Edwin. They were solid together. As solid as two ghost boys could be. The living, though, were messy and unpredictable.

Perhaps the most salient fact at present: Charles invariably became attached to them.

“He’s sad, mate. I can see it in his eyes.”

“You said those exact words in ‘94 about a dog. At least ask Hob himself.”

Before you decide to adopt him too.

Hob Gadling, irritatingly, was unobjectionable on every ground Edwin could think of. He had made no imposition upon them. When he found them, he only asked them their business, and then told them he was usually downstairs, or upstairs, if they needed anything they couldn’t procure themselves. He had an interest in rare and old books, as it happened. In explaining this, he had also hinted at being far older than his looks would suggest, which vexed Edwin twice over. He knew his curiosity would not be slaked until he talked to Hob, but then he would be the one getting involved with the living, and Charles would hardly let him forget it.

“Do you think he’s really immortal? Mate’s far too calm. Last week I saw him stop a fight downstairs by stepping right between these huge blokes. He just said something and smiled and they backed right off.” Charles lit up. “Do you reckon he’d teach me how to do that? Conflict de-escalation, innit? I could show him some moves with the cricket bat, I bet. Oh, do you think he’s a cricket fan?”

It was obviously a hopeless case, and since the Dead Boy Detectives never took on hopeless cases, there was only one course of action that remained. Edwin had long since disabused himself of the notion he needed to breathe. He had no beating heart, yet when he was startled, he would find himself clutching his chest. Now, he exhaled slowly through his nose in an entirely superfluous sigh of resignation. “Well, Charles, shall we go talk to him?”

---

When the millennium came around, Hob found himself celebrating it with his accidental tenants. There was something gloriously satisfying about being able to make a toast to the next one and have it taken seriously. He’d asked them if they had something better to do - spectral trouble to get into et cetera - and they both looked at him with almost identical put-upon and incredulous expressions.

Hob had a terrible suspicion they thought they were taking care of him as much as he thought he was taking care of them.

Edwin, with his insatiable curiosity and, deep underneath it, something Hob thought he recognized from himself: a sharp animal ferocity and a refusal to go until he’s good and done, natural laws be damned. Charles, still brightly, painfully alive for a ghost - who should be alive still, by all rights, but nothing of this life was fair - who joked to cover up hurt in a way Hob knew too, and glowed any time Hob turned so much as a kind word to him.

He wondered what they saw when they looked at him.

The year ticked over, and technology kept working. Charles grinned innocently and said he could probably possess the telly and break it that way if Hob wanted?

Hob’s heart twinged. He knew they weren’t his, not to keep, but it seemed that teenagers didn’t change at all over the centuries, even if the boys were only sort of teenagers in the way Hob was only sort of in his thirties. It didn’t change that they’d been punted from the mortal coil before having a chance to grow up, and figure out the kind of men they were, and make their own choices and fuck up and try to be better than their fathers, and everything everyone deserved. Hob had made more than his share of mistakes. They hadn’t been given the chance to make nearly any at all.

So they made toasts to the new millennium, to the detective agency, to themselves, all stuck out of time in different ways and refusing to move on for different reasons, and Hob allowed himself to think of Robyn and privately pretend that they were his all the same.

---

A week later, Hob was reminded of the other universal traits of teenagers when he mentioned his stranger and both boys began to grill him with terrifying alacrity. Before turning to his dating life, like ravening bloody wolves. When Edwin had asked, in a specifically nineteenth century manner that Hob remembered all too well, if Hob had always been unmarried, he’d nearly put his head in his hands.

“It can be hard for me to associate with the living too, you know. For obvious reasons.”

Charles had turned to Edwin and hissed “See? I told you.”

Right in front of him. Nobody had taught them manners.

“Manners, Charles,” replied Edwin loftily. “We will, of course, respect your privacy. A man is entitled to his secrets.”

“You’ll go upstairs and rifle through my personal things, is what you’ll do,” said Hob.

Charles coughed to hide his laugh. Edwin flushed and looked away. Hob snorted, and told them about Eleanor and Robyn. Properly. It was a strange relief. He’d told the story wrong for plausibility’s sake so many times he had been worried he’d forget the truth of it one day.

They had listened, and been remarkably quiet until Charles piped up and offered to set him up with a ‘really fit’ ghost. Hob had roundly shut that down. Woefully, not all explanations were satisfying enough. Charles cornered him again the next morning while he was cleaning the bar.

“No, mate, I still don’t get it.” Hob was about to say he no more wanted to be with someone who couldn’t feel pleasure from his touch than someone who would grow old and be taken from him while he stayed the same, when Charles went on, bafflingly, to ask, “Why don’t you meet your mysterious friend more often than once a century?”

Hob sighed. “Adults are often busy, Charles.” Nevermind that he had begun to wonder the same since the eighteenth century. He’d always just assumed time passed differently for his stranger.

Charles just laughed and perched himself on the bar top. “Ooh, low blow. We’re busy too, you know. Plenty of cases to solve.”

“Really,” said Hob. “You’re busy. Right now.”

Charles waggled his eyebrows.

“Charles, I am not a case,” said Hob, sternly as possible. “I’m not even a ghost. He’s not a ghost. No ghosts.”

“We could investigate. Maybe ghosts are involved. What even is he? Why every hundred years? Is it some sort of Persephone situation?”

Hob bit his lip against shouting I don’t know! I don’t know anything about him! Instead, he tried to smile, and felt it come out as a wince instead. “He’s very private.”

Charles scowled. “Yeah, obviously. You don’t even know his name. He can’t be that good of a friend if he’s too busy to see you more than once a century.”

Hob couldn’t see the expression on his own face, but he saw Charles’ shocked reaction well enough. It was so long ago for him, and still Hob knew at once what Charles saw now: that first time you manage to visibly hurt a grown-up’s feelings, people who seemed too old and too stern to actually feel pain, when you’d been going around kicking at them like a new foal, just to stretch your legs.

“Sorry,” said Charles, instant regret chasing his surprise. He was a good kid.

“It’s alright,” said Hob. He meant it. He looked down at the shining bartop. His hands were restless with the urge to light a cigarette. He gave in. It wasn’t like Charles would be dying of lung cancer any time soon if he decided to follow Hob’s example. “I don’t think he would say he’s very good at being a friend either. Truth is, I’d love to see him more often. But we had an awful fight the last time we met. If he forgives me, I’ll have to ask.”

“Mates always make up,” said Charles earnestly. He was such a good kid.

“I suppose they do.” Charles still looked sorry, and Hob clapped him on the shoulder. “Hey. Thanks for looking out for me, Charles.”

Charles beamed at him. “Always. We’ve got your back, me and Edwin.”

---

Charles couldn’t bloody believe it. Hob’s friend was here. There was nobody else it could be. He and Edwin were watching from a nearby table, pretending to be absorbed in their own conversation. Neither man noticed them. They were too busy looking at each other.

He couldn’t imagine spending more than a century apart from Edwin. The way Hob had talked about him and his stranger over the years, it sometimes seemed like they were best mates too, no matter how little they saw each other. He was dead sure that’s what had Hob looking so gutted when he thought nobody was looking. He had known they would make up, though. Maybe now Hob would be happier.

“Charles, we really ought not eavesdrop,” hissed Edwin. Right as he scooted his chair closer, the cheeky hypocrite. Hob and his friend were talking too quietly to properly hear, their heads bent together. Lots to catch up on, Charles reckoned. A hundred years. He couldn’t stop thinking about the number. It seemed impossible. Funny, he couldn’t imagine that long away from Edwin, but he could imagine spending that long being best mates. There was nobody he’d rather hide from Death with.

Hob’s face was doing something strange as his long-lost friend talked. Then Hob moved and grasped him by the shoulders, so tight that his knuckles stood out in relief. The man said something in low tones and Hob shook his head, and then pulled him in for a hug. The man stiffened and then relaxed, and his arms came up around Hob’s.

Their cheeks both looked wet.

Charles swallowed and it felt suddenly a little like he was choking. He should look away, only he couldn’t.

“They must be great friends,” said Edwin softly.

“Yeah,” he managed to croak. We won’t ever need to have a reunion like this because I’m never going to lose you, mate. I won’t let them take you. It was stuck behind the phantom lump in his phantom throat. His hand, without him telling it to, reached out and grabbed hold of Edwin’s. Edwin squeezed it hard, and Charles knew he didn’t have to make his voice work after all.

Then the man pushed Hob away, but only far enough to grab his face and pull him back again, thumbing over Hob’s cheeks, and beside him, Edwin honest-to-god gasped, and then Charles momentarily forgot how thoughts worked too.

---

It happens thus: in the New Inn, just next door to the White Horse, some 639 years after they first met, Hob Gadling and Dream of the Endless share their first kiss. Neither, if they had bothered to think about it, would have intended to have an audience, but it’s a well-known fact that some kisses cannot wait, and theirs was chief among them, being that it had so much to say, and was so very long overdue.

I missed you, it said, and I came back, it said, and Please don’t go away from me again, and I could not.

And atop them, like blankets, were laid invisible the daydreams of those who saw them, including two long-dead boys, whose dreams were woven from the fresh and unaccounted-for possibilities of Hob kissing his mysterious stranger. Another man, thought Edwin. His best friend, thought Charles. Dream was the only one who could have heeded this, but he did not, because Hob Gadling was holding him tight and daydreaming loudly of this kiss and more, of this today and tonight and tomorrow, ever greedy and ever easily pleased, and Dream could hear nothing at all over their clamouring and comingled joy; the bright gold daydream between the scant space of their bodies that sounded so much like at last.

[eluminium]

Impulse: talking about how cool it was to reach 1 mil subs Someone in chat: Skizz is gonna overtake you soon

Impulse, no hesitation, with his entire impussy:

G O O D.

I can't wait. I can't wait! Honestly I would LOVE- I would ABSOLUTELY love to see Skizz pass me in everything. Subs, views, everything. Dude deserves it. I've been dreaming about that since I started. Him coming along and making his way up and overtaking me and me riding- I'll ride his coattails for a while, you know!

[lil-vibes]

Day 30: Discintegrate

Previous/Next

(prompt list here!)

[one-time-i-dreamt]

Jonny Sims had designed the new Bed Bath & Beyond logo. it was a low quality png of a worm on a light pink background. Everyone was going crazy over it. I emailed him and asked how he came up with the design, and he sent me a png of a cinnamon stick and blocked me.

[webonchin]

Had a little baby fever so better idea to give my favorite pair a baby, but ,me being me and taking advantage of the interesting things, I decided that the baby would be a little (literal) nightmare, yes

Bonus

Baby's name is Dusk, I use any pronouns to refer to them.

[essektheylyss]

I do keep coming back to the thought that there is no reason to have stopped to see Astrid before going to Aeor if the point wasn't to try to recruit her for chaperone duties. It doesn't exactly seem like she's with the Vanguard or she wouldn't be hiding in a smut shop in Zadash.

Please, Astrid, come to Aeor with us. You can take potshots at your ex's new boyfriend the whole time. And he can't even say shit about it, because he's the one who invited you.

[fatedroses]

More than just the Demon.

[assassin1513]

🤎⚜️🤎Force Places🤎⚜️🤎

[hdmiports]

karina drawfee, god bless you for giving me a new personality trait by drawing my blorbos

[canisalbus]

the anon saying they wish vaschete were plushies inspired me

.