It’s funny how quickly we replace old routines with new ones. Things to fill the void, nourish the soul and soothe the spirit. And only in doing so are we able to provoke new thoughts and expand our ideals to an elevated state of awareness.

Once a week now I sit at the local sushi bar where the chef’s are friendly and the food is not only an artistic endeavor but an oral explosion of scrumptious delights. Each time I order my favorites because let's face it, when a girl finds something she really likes it serves her well to stick with it.

• One avocado sesame seed salad
• 4 pieces of salmon sashimi cut into 8 small slices
• One spicy tuna roll also in 8 pieces

The presentation is so splendid that I almost don’t want to eat for fear of destroying the artists work. It would be akin to smearing soiled hands on a wet oil painting. But alas after admiring the sublime attention to detail I let myself give in to the juicy temptations, getting my weeks worth of omega 3’s all in one delectable sitting.

The sashimi is served in a lit martini glass (today the color is blue) over a bed of ice and a heaping mound of shredded white radish (daikon) and a purple orchid for me to take home or wear in my hair should an exotic mood strike me. I no longer have to voice my special request for a side of eel sauce and crunchy tempura flakes for my dipping and dripping pleasure. They just arrive on their own now, like magic.

I often stop eating for a few seconds to scribble down loose thoughts and ideas on any available paper because the words come so freely here where everything feels colorful and inspired.

The waitress is overly attentive, hovering over my shoulder waiting to fulfill my every need. Filling up my water glass when it’s still 3/4 full and swooping in to scoop up plates and sauces that I’m not anywhere near ready to part with. I think it annoys her that I like to hold onto my salad throughout the meal, picking at it and adding things along the way.

She keeps coming over to check if the bowl is empty yet, but each time she looks it becomes more full. I am not a salad / appetizer / dinner type girl, in that order. I want it all at once so I can take my time alternating bites and mixing different combinations of texture and taste. She starts talking in Japanese to one of the other waiters in a tone that suggests she is poking fun at my eating habits, simply because they do not conform with the structure that she has grown accustomed to.

And then it hits me like an Oprah Winfrey “light bulb moment,” that I am a much happier person operating this way. Not having a set day to day routine or structured environment to go to. Where everything is so plotted out and planned that you forget to want and live in the moment. To think and dream, to touch and taste, to get to this place where your head is actually clear enough to sort out the dramas of the day and focus on the things that really matter.

I realize that I am someone who feels more alive, useful, and productive in the world while living outside of the box and writing outside of the lines. Like now on a paper napkin or an a la carte menu when everything is unplanned, unscripted, and raw like sushi.