by Ray Potes
“I’m not saying I’m gonna change the world, but I guarantee that I will spark the brain that will change the world.” – Tupac
This path that we have found ourselves on, this trail that we have unknowingly blazed, happens to be open for others to follow or add on to or just to be sparked by. Sparked to find their own path and do the same for more.
Realize that just being yourself and on your own path is enough to break the matrix.
When we are on a good one, how do we go faster and further and for longer?
When we are on a bad one, how do we wipe-out safely?
Can it be so simple? Yes. Actually it can be even more simple.
There are infinity waves. They are neither good or bad. They are blessin’s or lessons depending on what your cosmic consciousness wants you to drop in on that day.
When I moved to San Francisco it happened to be across the street from a mexican restaurant called, “El Farolito.” Years later I moved down the street like 8 or 10 blocks and guess what, another “El Farolito” across the street. I ate at both locations as if my life depended on it.
It wasn’t till way after the fact that I noticed their logo was a lighthouse, “El Farolito” must translate to “the little lighthouse.”
I was thinking today about how each of our thoughts feelings and behaviors ripple out into the world and bounce back eventually like an echo. (I’m in Echo Park right now, see how my brain works.)
We see the reflection when someone catches even the slightest nugget of a thought feeling or behavior from us. Good or bad. Light or dark.
Might as well be light is what I am trying to say. Might as well be the lighthouse. Might as well be in support of others as sooner or later the reflection will bounce back and be in support of you.
You are El Farolito. For better or for worse. Let’s be for the better.
“The magic is in the work,” another saying I heard on an NBA broadcast. The big time buzzer beaters and big time dunks in the big time moments are a result of practice on a daily basis. Practice counts. Preparation counts. Attention to the details counts.
I tried to convey this idea multiple times on people’s podcasts, but I always screwed it up. I say something like, “It’s not about shooting good or bad photos, it’s just about shooting”. Then it reverts to them asking, “Well how do you choose the cover?” and then I get defensive and flounder and say something like, “The covers don’t matter.” And then I’m the weirdo.
I should’ve said something more about how photographers should be practicing their technique and skill and talent everyday so when those big time moments do come, they/we are ready for them.
Obviously we don’t want everyone to look the same, dress the same, act the same, listen to the same music, etc. We need variety. Yet still we get presented with people places and things that can be overwhelmingly irritating.
At first I thought that maybe we are presented with this crazy contrast simply to make choices and gravitate one way or the other. When we know what we want, then we know where we are going. We need direction.
But now I think that is just the first half of it. The second half is appreciating that we have the choice at all. This appreciation of the entire spectrum of our choices past present and future is the shadow work. From here we can appreciate the choices of others and then appreciate and experience oneness.
I know we live in a reality of duality. Chaos and order, contrast and similarity, wholeness and fragmentation, light and dark, etc. But we can take a time out to appreciate the game, even just for a minute at least.