RAY'S REPORTS

“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.

When we can honor and respect everything in our past then we can honor and respect this now moment which then is to honor and respect the potentiality of all possible futures.

Not only on an individual level but planetary wide and galactic levels too. Meaning, we have lots of work to do honoring and respecting all decisions ever made in the past, present, and future by ourselves, other humans, and/or otherwise.

Easier said than done, but it seems mastery of reality really is mastery of self.

These days nothing happens quick enough. If I have to wait in line, I don’t want it. Impatience is at all time high. I need everything and I need it instantly.

We forget we had junior high before we had high school. We forget that there are levels to clear before the next one is available. We forget that the development of this level is what is actually forming the foundations of the next level.

Today’s glass ceiling is tomorrow’s marble floors. Today’s resistance is tomorrow’s support.

Let it be. Let you be. Be free.

Firstly, accepting the world as is leads to you accepting yourself as is. Secondly, accepting yourself as is activates a higher level of awareness which leads to a new sense of freedom and purpose. I think this freedom and purpose leads to responsibility which leads to expansion. This expansion is change and when we change, we change the world.

Another one from the NBA. Can’t help myself.

“If you’re not getting better, you’re getting worse.” – Pat Riley

“Everybody wants to get to heaven but nobody wants to die,” another quote from Charles Barkley. I know I mention the NBA probs too much but I learn a lot from it. Charles is talking about how every player wants to win a championship, but not every player wants to do the hard work like rebounding, playing defense, diving for loose balls, etc.

It resonates because old habits die hard. When trying to level up you find out that you have to release unlock unleash un-useful and un-usable old feelings thoughts beliefs and behaviors. It’s not easy. But it’s not impossible.

These past couple days feels like a Rocky training montage. I didn’t workout but I made a new weekly schedule that includes working out. I moved some furniture. I threw some stuff away. Cool story.

Remember at the end of Rocky 4 he says, “If I can change and he can change, we can all change.” Thinking about how I get into making certain changes and can’t get find people to cruise with. Like getting healthy is one obvious example. No one wants to hear about blue green algae or spirulina.

You can’t change a person, but you can change the world.

And in reverse: change your world, change your life. By “world” I mostly mean environment.

Make a plan for more peace. Make a strategy for more gratitude. Make a goal for more light.