January 25, 2015: “Into the Woods”

What is life?  Why do we live?  What is our purpose?  There are so many existential and unsolvable questions.  The closest I can get to answers is when I run into the woods, when I run from manmade progress.  Progress has created a life easy to live with problems that do not exist. 

We have basic needs like all other animals for survival.  These basic needs for our survival are eating, sleeping and procreation.  We truly need nothing more, anything more is a luxury.  After all there are thousands of homeless.  They search for food and places to sleep.  Those are their only needs.  Those are the only needs I would like to have.  Instead I have a need for money to pay off debt for education, if it were to ever disappear I would walk into the woods and live with nature. 

Nature is beautiful, nature has no currency, nature has no debt, natural laws rule all.  On my walk today I saw an amazingly diverse set of trees some stood tall, some branched out, some were broken down, some were starting grow.  Each was unique, each was surviving a cold winter waiting to bloom in the spring.  Treading lightly is what we need to do, understand each other, understand our environment.  Walking into the woods I was freed from greed, freed from time, freed from rules.  I was free well unless I decided to sleep there or walk into woods someone “owned”.  Then I would be arrested. 

Into the woods there is only beauty.  Into the woods we can all be free.

January 9, 2015: “Windblown”

Watching the wind fiercely blow the snow

12 degrees, 20 mile per hour wind gusts, snow shooting everywhere. I begin to chase beauty, using the wind to my advantage, watching nature exert amazing strength on a wintry day.  Watching I slowly succumb to nature while trying to get an amazing shot.  Holed up trying to make it till sunset.  The wind keeps blowing, stopping with no rhyme or reason.  I am wearing 2 layers of pants, 3 layers of shirts, a facemask, wool socks, boots and gloves with fingertip holes.  I have to have complete control of my camera, the ability to change functions and capture the perfect shot.   After about 5 minutes the feeling is gone in my fingers. I look down the blowing snow is on my fingertips and sharp pain pierces though. 

An occasional break in the wind as the sun goes down

I had gotten a few shots but was unable to make it till sunset another 15 minutes.  I covered my fingers walked to my car.  The pain pierced like needles, I sat there the heat on waiting for the pain to go away.   At some point it did, I felt amazingly alive just the one fool to be outside trying to get something done create something for myself. 

Beautiful snow being blown

Capturing a snowfilled image means more to me than just the picture.  It is about this project and creating something new everyday, moving forward and following through.  I was windblown, cold an to some extent frozen yet it was the happiest I was all day.  Being outside is where I need to be whether cold or warm I need to be me.

Reflections: Success

The sound of silence allows my soul to breather, my mind to clear and my thoughts to manifest.  In my evening meditation as my mind wandered with thoughts passing through.  One thought stuck in my head the word success. 

What is success?  I’ve always been shortsighted in my definition of success as I think the majority of this world focuses on success as money and power.  It’s taught to us from day one more, more, more money and power.  These are just lies and false perceptions.  Worshipping idols is not what we were put on this world for.  We were put on this earth to act us small cogs in a bigger plan being interconnected with each other.  That is how we will be successful.  Acting not as individuals but as a collective group. 

Live, love, think.  These should be the cornerstones to success.  Acting with good intentions to benefit society as a whole this will lead to success for the individual and everyone that is touched.    In defining success as achievement of money and power for the better part of my life I have looked at myself as a failure.  Tonight I realized success is defined the relationships built, those you’ve touched along the way and the special moments that make memories that last forever.  It’s all about the journey in life.  Using this definition I am successful and more than likely you are too. 

My goal for life is to find balance with family, friends, society and nature.  Whether or not I have found it is not what matters.  What matters is that I have built relationships which will last have whether we spent 2 hours together, 2 days or 20 years.  The genuine relationships I have built will pull me through as well pull others through when help is needed.  This is success creating stability building strength in the midst of societies burdens and capitalistic vulturistic culture.

I plan to continue to focus on others remembering the small things and being selfless in the relationships  that have been built.  If I can make a difference in someones life while finding balance in my own then no matter if I were homeless and hungry  or a billionaire shutoff from the world then I would define myself as a success.  Being successful is not a one- time act it is a life of selfless acts  not out of charity or force.  These are acts that come from an inner character a strength and love for others not as a means to an end. 

I will continue to grow and continue to follow my heart and act with love.  That defines success to me.

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It's a beautiful life

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