Category: REPORTS

We’re changing. Can’t fight it, can’t hide it. Light it.

Do you feel hurried lately? I do too. Like scrambly like hyper. I had a bunch of ideas of what to do once the world opened back up post pandemic and now that it’s half opened up those ideas dried up or are drying up.

The vibe is all vibes. No more to-do lists, just vibes.

Have patience during installation of new operating system.

“Patience is not passive, on the contrary it is concentrated strength.” – Bruce Lee

Sometimes I catch myself noticing all entries and all exits when I enter a bar or restaurant. I don’t know why. Some mobster movie I remember as a kid, some character saying he always has to face the door when sitting down for food.

In the restaurant of life, are we aware of all possible entries and all possible exits and our current position in relation to these entries and exits?

I think about this when I have already started a project and am not feeling it, like maybe I entered the project too late or too early or came in the side door instead of the front door and I don’t really know how to get out unless I jump out the second floor window. Or not. Just saying.

You ever notice when you are doing awesome everyone wants to participate and party, and then when you are sucking at life no one is around and actually seems like they might be avoiding you?

One concept about it is when they say, “People are your mirror.” I think maybe it’s more specific like people or your entire reality actually is a mirror of your current feelings, both conscious and subconscious.

Sure there are the haters trying to bring you down when your up and vice versa, the comforters trying to bring you up when your down but the theory works there too. Those people could be a particular part of the reflection of your self doubt when you are up or your optimism when you are down.

Those are the easy examples but there are tougher to decipher feelings like confusion or overwhelm or eagerness or accomplishment etc.

This is the idea that the universe is working for you. You experience these reflections or you are shown something to experience the contrast or spectrum of choice and then adjust accordingly.

But, this is reactive. We are reacting to the reflection. We wanna be proactive, we wanna create the reflection.

In summary, your feelings are your reality. I am proposing that it’s worth the time to excavate and sort them out. Easier said then done, I know.

I had dinner with a friend tonight and we were talking about if we will ever know the truth about everything in our lifetime for instance UFOs, Atlantis, Bigfoot, etc. But then we thought maybe we are not supposed to know everything. Like how important to life is curiosity, imagination, mystery, wonder, bewilderment, etc. Reminded me of Rumi..

“Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.” – Rumi

For the past decade or so for me it’s been all about the quest for chill or the quest for more chill or the quest for the most chill. In business and in everything: Is this even chill? How can I make it more chill? What does the most chill version of whatever I am looking at look like?

But you then realize chillness is finite. Especially in relationships you notice that people are either adding to or taking away from your chill. So, you start avoiding non-chill people. But that’s not chill. That’s the paradox.

The evolution or next level of chill is “peace”. Peace is deep and vast and infinite. Because it is infinite you can give it freely, share it, swim in it, etc. There is no worry of any person place or thing interrupting it.

A person with no chill will not understand your chill. A person with no peace will not only understand your peace, they will also be inspired by and will receive any peace you have to offer.

Let us seek peace.

Sometimes we might be expecting too much from others. I am not saying to lower our standards, but I am saying that we are each responsible for our own happiness.

A friend reminded me of this quote today..

“I can do nothing for you but work on myself, you can do nothing for me but work on yourself! ” – Ram Dass

Sometimes there is a call to action, sometimes there is a call to rest. It’s been a busy post pandemic transition summer. I say we rest this week. And next week too. Enjoy the rest, enjoy the weather. Rest and reset.

We’re gonna need it. Can you feel the swelling of a giant wave coming? I can. Sept and Oct are gonna be big. I don’t know how or in which way, but we will need to save up some time and space and energy for then.

“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.

There are infinity waves. Enjoy the rides.

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.

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.