Less Is More

It is great when everything you own is functional, new, crisp and you feel like it is all a nice package.  Let’s be honest though, how long does that last?  Two third’s of a summer and I can say the surf of California enveloped my sunglasses, the pulsing of pedals (and the need to change the beat) claimed my 4s, and tumultuous border travels laid waste to textured leather.  

It’s fine. I still have me, and it’s pretty dam hard to lose or break that.

Wait, wait and wait some more.  When you finally have that perfect couple moment you and her won’t even realize it, but that does not mean it did not happen.  I love to capture these moments, which is hard without seeming like a total creeper.  

The tangled dog in your legs, the spilled coffee, the angry boy friend, the huff & the puff from her, but when they jump into the cab and scold the cute pup they hold hands.   In unison, in conflict, in endured happiness we find that conflict & change sparks a dispensable moment of beauty and wholesome permanence. 

Style is a quirky thing, and it is most admired when you least suspect it.  Yes, when we go to banquets and posh parties everyone is dolled up, but it is that day in between seasons you take notice of the minutia of an outfit otherwise overlooked.   Laying on the bed in your room the outfit feels like a risk, a possible disatser, or just not in your comfort zone. Take notice, take charge and wear how you feel today.

On a hot summer day there are few things many others would do besides the beach, the movies, or the bar.  However, she chose the the Getty museum, no not the one where I would be complaining about a heavy clutch in downtown LA traffic, the one in Malibu.  I had never been to the Getty Villa, and even worse I did not have a proper camera with me.  I agreed not only anxiousness, but also anxiety, what happens if the “it” shot of today happens when I don’t have any gear?    

I have learned since then always to rent a convertible in California, always bring a scarf for a lady, pack a bottle of wine & gas station bottle opener with two mugs, and leave your favorite film camera in your trunk.

Some mornings you wake up with what feels like chains to your bed.  The hurt of yesterday tempts your mind to avoid the pain again.  Then when you least want it, you take a deep breath and throw one leg over another and manage to not roll onto the floor, but stand on your own two feet once again.  It does not matter how fast you get back up, or the way in which you do or how many times you have fallen, the only one who is counting is you.  

Your day will consume you, your friends will need you, you may even find a reverie that is a reality one day and that is reason enough to not get tangled in the web of chains we call your life.

Project Digital Darkness is complete and to those who did not get letters I will still do my best, the requests were overwhelming and I promise I hope to make it a regular engagement moving forward.  30+ days without any digital media was trying, but it gave birth to a large period of self reflection and growth.  My soul was gentrified and repurposed, and over the next couple of weeks I hope to show that.  

Highlights include adopting a new dog, new car, 4 road trips, 3 new clients for my business, 2 amazing new friends, a spinning certification to instruct again , a handful of bike races, my first tattoo, acing my summer MBA courses, funding for my next business venture, a photographer role in Buffalo for a studio and a smile that is legitimately 1 inch wider than it was when I began this sojourn in May.  The one thing I realized is letting go is only as easy as your grip is on reality.

You can plan milestones, not moments. 

Photo credit: Aurora

Every morning for the past one year Aurora does her morning pages. Before she speaks she writes three pages, an outlet she learned from Julia Cameron.

It can be about dreams, illusions, what she wants from today, what she received from yesterday, or just allow her pen to do the talking. The best part though has to be her silence and anxiety while in search of a pen.

Give it a shot, I will be doing my morning pages as voice pages, because talking will always be my therapy.

“Just affirm your disbeliefs”
~Aurora

“Then immortalize them”
~Davaish

“That moment of brilliance will not escape you if you do it now.”

Find a field of flowers today and lay in it. Don’t think twice & pass it, stop the car. That moment will not come back just for you.

Then once laying down, you laugh so hard about where you are it doesn’t even matter when the bugs start crawling all over you. Instead you take a picture of a moment that is burned into your mind as a smile.

When you look at the picture and see the miles on your eyes you realize it doesn’t matter how bad you look. Your eyes are squeezed with joy because your smile is just that big.

It all doesn’t matter.

Just find your smile today.

I remember the days sitting in the quad, under the sun and the cherry blossoms. My alma mater, Bucknell was 168 long miles from the love of life at the time in New York City. Days like this made it seem as though time had no respect for love or emotions. Petals fell off her tiny nose, and tears made it stick to her cheeks. I can still remember the smell of fresh cut grass and her perfume mixed in the air.

Spring skipped most of us this year, but my memories of spring from years ago
still haunt me with each floral scent.

The sun sets on another amazing trip.  When is the next one? Who cares, it is too soon.

Tonight for a few more hours I relish the sun block smell, the taste of coconuts, sand in my shoes, the newly golden hairs, and the oddly placed tan lines.   Was it all too much, too soon, too good?

Maybe, but I earned it.