Earlier this summer, on a Saturday we took our Dad to the races. The next day we went to Palm Springs for my brother’s bday.
Category: REPORTS
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Catch Up
I been doing this dumb thing lately of posting random solo pics not in any chronological order. I gotta go back to posting everything and in order because it helps my brain and my work flow. Anyways, here’s a few posts to get me caught up.
Also if anyone has noticed, I have been cropping my verticals to 4×5. Yes, that is because that is the IG vertical image ratio. It actually works better for the blog too. The horizontals are at 5×7, probs my fave ratio.
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The Chase
In the last post I was writing about the journey vs the destination. The thrill of the chase is a phrase that comes to mind. In our case, the chase of freedom.
Years ago I read a book by Grant Cardone called “The 10X Rule”. He is basically saying 10x everything you are doing and it will get you to where you want to go faster. It’s a good book for motivation. He says 10x-ing everything will build a fire so big that they (the world) will be forced to notice.
I am mostly thinking about that fire. We all have a fire within, it’s what gets us out of bed. I’m thinking we get too busy and too stressed chasing what we want. Yet when we ignite the gigantic fire within, the success, romance, etc will start chasing us.
I forget that I experience this already in my work life. All the highest paying photo gigs I have gotten were also the easiest and funnest, the ones where they said, “Do whatever you want.” And all the awkward and least paying jobs were the ones I had to pitch, bid, compete, change my style, obey the art director, etc.
I think the lesson is quit chasing, fire it up, and let them chase you. Not just in work, but in life. Let’s try it.
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The Way
“The way is the goal.” I think Confucious or Buddha said it. Also heard it as, “The path is the goal.”
Seems like a paradox. The usual lesson is that the journey itself is filled with lessons, so enjoy it. But let’s break it down.
Jim Rohn, who is a business coach type person, who is really a self development coach type person, says you attract what you are becoming.
Same kind of brain game where the means to an end is really just the means. Like you can say the journey is equal to the destination, therefore the journey is the destination, therefore the path is the goal.
We presume now that we have 2 goals. First goal, destination. Second goal, the path there. They are presuming that once you have that path, it is a given you will hit the destination no matter what. At least I think that is what “they” are saying.
But guess what, we are already on a path. We have been since day one. Maybe that’s just it, while we are on “a” path maybe we aren’t on “the” path. What and where is “the” path?
I am overthinking it. I just googled it and this other quote swooped in to sum it all up, “There is no path to happiness. Happiness is the path.”
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Golden
Sometimes you gotta go back to the beginning. Out of all the lessons you learn in life, I’m thinking how the first lessons have come back, to me anyways, as the most crucial ones.
Mama, Papa. I love you. Please. Thank you. These are the first words for most people. While I may have lost track of these over the years, not sure I would be alive right now if I didn’t have them. Yes parents, but I am mostly talking about manners and being cordial. Hello, Good bye, Please, and Thank You.
To take it further, at my Grandparents house they had a sign that said, “Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.”
Many religions and spiritual teachings echo this phrasing and in my mind this should be re-titled as the Golden Law because it is seemingly the foundation when searching for deeper wisdom and knowledge and truth. It’s trippy how things from childhood re-enter your adult life. Probably because it’s what is needed now more than ever these days.
When I was growing up “earning respect” was a real thing. And if YOU had to earn respect, you start to think that EVERYONE should be working on earning respect. You soon find out that while honorable as it is, the world just doesn’t work this way. As you get older you get confused and frustrated and look for short cuts.
Judgement, gossip, envy, power trips, ego trips, etc are side effects of capitalism that I think maybe can be softened with the Golden Law. That is if we are try real hard. We’ll see. Worth a try.
My friend who is a counselor at a high school was telling me about some recent training. His job is to, “interrupt a negative life outcome.” This means that he has to purposely influence these bad kids in a positive way. He has a great job and he is good at it. That’s all I am trying to do. Not for you but for my own inner bad kid.
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10000 Kicks
“I fear not the man who has practiced 10,000 kicks once, but I fear the man who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.” – Bruce Lee
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Focus
Hi Gang. Not a lot of messages coming through lately. Though I still have ambitions of writing on here every day. Could it just be a simple focus adjustment? Not sure.
What I do know is that what you focus on expands. If you focus on problems, you have more problems. If you focus on answers, you have more answers.
This is why taking action is crucial. Action pinpoints your focus and will always give you results, for better or for worse. Results lead to expansion.
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Light
Ok go into your imagination right now. You are a being of light. You were re-born here on Earth to participate in a free will experiment. You knew going in you would have complete amnesia. The hope is that you would eventually remember or at least acknowledge the light and then influence the planet in a positive way for the betterment and evolution of the human species.
What happens as you are developing from infant to adult is you get draped in layers and layers of programming. Sometimes this programming is detrimental and it’s not that your light is fading, but it is getting covered up. It still exists there beneath it all.
They say we spend the first half of our lives building up our egos and the second half of our lives tearing them down. This is a similar analogy to releasing all that dims this light. We need our egos to protect us for sure, but the walls that have been built may be drowning out our voice. Sometimes it is time for a more modern design and re-build.
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Sparks
Not sure about you guys but I’m pretty sure my purpose in life comes in 2 parts. That is to be free and help others be free. I’m talking about financial freedom, creative freedom, societal freedom, etc etc. Every sense of the word.
My studies have led me to the fact that optimization of mind, body, and spirit will get me there the quickest. And this blog here is documentation of that journey.
People have been asking what this site is all about and it might not be that obvious so this is my public statement. Lol.
“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
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Greatness
There’s a new flow in town. Actually it’s been there but we might not have noticed it. Let’s ride it.
“Becoming the greatest” has just been shortened to “being great”. To competitive people this might sound soft. Like not striving to be the greatest is settling or not trying your best. But I think that is just it, “trying” or “striving” instead of just “being.”
It’s about enjoying yourself. Give yourself permission to have fun with it. I bring this up because I work with people trying to make their product or service “the greatest” and if they don’t become the next Steve Jobs or Steven Spielberg then their life is a failure. It’s especially noticeable here in LA actually.
I appreciate ambition but not at the cost of fun. This chapter of misery is over and out dated. Ambition is not competition. I think this era of follower counts, likes, and comments etc has faded.
I said in a recent video interview that there are no more good photos or bad photos, just photography. I was stumbling with it and will probably look real dumb when it comes out. The interviewer didn’t get what I was trying to say and I actually didn’t either until just now.
That is that the action itself is great. Mix the action with passion and purpose and that’s more than enough to change your life, in turn the lives of those around you, and in turn the world. What more can you ask for.
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Blocks
Sometimes I get cosmic on here and sometimes I get quantum. But “as above, so below”. This means our external reality is a reflection of our internal reality, so we study both.
But usually if we are looking for something externally, most likely we have to find it somewhere internally first.
A while ago when I first moved to LA I said to my sister something like, “When I get rich I wanna go to the beach all the time.” She said, “The beach is free, dude.”
I had some dumb belief that only people with lots of money can go to the beach.
A simple example but you can see how ridiculous our minds can be. These beliefs can be blocking the flow of what it is we really want. Once the belief was gone, I could see how I could make the beach happen and instantly it became a part of my external reality.
Beliefs, stories, attachments, entanglements, etc can all be blocking, clogging, and anchoring us internally. You already know all this. Happy journeys on your path to self mastery.