Living in the Moment

A few years ago I came across a book called "13 Reasons Why" by Jay Asher. It was one of those books that you pick up and don't put down until you've read every single word. Today, I downloaded a book co-authored by Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler called "The Future of Us". I started reading it and didn't stop until I finished, which was about 15 minutes ago. While I didn't like it as much as "13 Reasons Why", it did get me thinking a lot. "The Future of Us" is basically about a girl and her friend who get an AOL disc and download it onto her computer (before the internet was everywhere and iPods or Facebook were invented) and it has a Facebook account on it with their lives 15 years in the future. They become obsessed with how their current lives affect their future lives and it turns into this huge life changing thing over about a weeks time and don't realize how they are ignoring their current lives. 

As I've written in previous posts, I love Buddhism. Not as a religion or anything, but I think Buddha was very wise and teaches very useful concepts and ways to find happiness within yourself. A big part of Buddhism is something called mindfulness. It's about being aware of yourself and what is going on in the moment, how your body feels, managing your thoughts, and being totally present in the current moment. I have a few buddhist books and they go more in depth about the concept but it is really helpful. Most people don't know this but last year I found out I have Generalized Anxiety Disorder. I'm not ashamed to admit this anymore. Millions of people suffer from it, and it's not something you can just "get over" and stop on a whim. I've found that mindfulness is helps a lot with people who are suffering from extreme stress and use it remain calm in stressful situations. Practicing mindfulness and being in the present moment helps you stop worry so much about the future and enjoy life more. If you just focus on being happy here, right now, then a lot of stress goes away. Your life will turn out how it is supposed to. Everything happens for a reason, and it does no good to put all your time, energy, and emotions into worrying about how one little thing you do now will affect your future 15 years from now. 

If anyone is interested in reading more about mindfulness or Buddhism I love all the books I've read by Thich Nhat Hanh, he is very wise and has changed my life. 

Here is a very artistic rendition of him lol (all his photos were low res). Doesn't he look wise?

China Doesn't Deserve All the Credit

Made in China. That's what's printed, etched, stickered, etc. onto almost EVERYTHING.

While I was peeling off the Made in China sticker off the inside of my Converse I realized something. China isn't as smart as everyone thinks. While everything may be made in China, it doesn't all originate there. Countries all over the world send their ideas and products to China to be manufactured. China has tons of people, which means cheap labor. That means thousands of Chinese people see millions of products and ideas from countries all over the world. They are exposed to ideas from the entire planet. China isn't the smartest or most advanced. They simply have the most resources. They see everyone's great ideas and products, manufacture them, and in turn they know how everything works. Sometimes they use that knowledge to expand on already created products or it leads to new products, but that doesn't make them smarter than all the other countries in the world. It just appears that way. Who woulda thought? Maybe China won't take over the world after all.

A Glimpse of the Past

Guess what. I love black and white photography. Obviously I like color photography as well, but I love old black and white photos. Old photos are like time machines that allow us to see what life was like back then, which I am fascinated by. Removing color turns the attention to the lighting, shapes,and composition which are sometimes overlooked when there are colors involved. Here are some of my favorite photographs in one of my photo books called The Photographers Eye by John Szarkowski. These photos are examples of why I am so passionate about photography. 

JACQUES HENRI LARTIGUE: Beach at Villerville, 1908

(My favorite part about this is the boat on the left)

WILLIAM SMITH: View across Chain Bridge, Washington, D.C., c. 1863. The Library of Congress

CLARENCE JOHN LAUGHLIN: The Fierce-Eyed Building, 1938

HARRY CALLAHAN: Detroit, 1943

MATTHEW B. BRADY or staff: Conspirator Payne, 1865. The Library of Congress

BILL BRANDT: No. 43 from Perspective of Nudes, 1957

MANUEL ALVAREZ BRAVO: Eating Place, c. 1940

GARRY WINOGRAND: Untitled, 1963

"There is a terrible truthfulness about photography. The ordinary academician gets hold of a pretty model, paints her as well as he can, calls her Juliet, and puts a nice verse from Shakespeare underneath, and the picture is admired beyond measure. The photographer finds the same pretty girl, he dresses her up and photographs her, and calls her Juliet, but somehow it is no good--it is still Miss Wilkins, the model. It is too true to be Juliet."

                                                            -George Bernard Shaw

MAX BURCHARTZ: Eye of Lotte, 1930. Otto Steinert, Essen, Germany

RICHARD AVEDON: Ezra Pound, 1958. Made for Harper's Bazaar

ROBERT FRANK: Parade, Hoboken, New Jersey, 1955, from The Americans

CHARLES NEGRE: Henry Le Secq at Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, 1851. Calotype. 

ELLIOT ERWITT: Fontainebleau Hotel, Miami Beach, 1962

HENRI CARTIER-BRESSON: Children Playing in Ruins, Seville, Spain, 1933

JACQUES HENRI LARTIGUE: Glider Constructed by Maurice Lartigue, Chateau Rouzat, 1909

EDWARD STEICHEN: Sunday Papers: West 86th Street, New York, c. 1922

The Golden Rule

Alright. I need to get something off my chest that has been bothering me for a while. I am going to discuss equality. I want to start off by saying that I am completely accepting of all races and all religions. I want to make that very clear before I say what I need to say. I am not racist in the slightest and I feel that everyone has the right to choose what religion, if any, they want to be a part of. If you choose not to have a religion that's great too because that's your choice and I don't judge you in the slightest. You know why? Because I don't want anyone judging me for how I choose to live my life. It's called the Golden Rule people, do unto others as you would have them do. 

I am getting pretty sick of everyone trashing mormons. We are not brainwashed. We are not a cult. We do not practice polygamy. We are, in fact, Christians despite popular belief. We have our own minds and we do what we think is right. We don't simply do things because the church says its right and follow along blindly. We have our agency and we use it to make up our own minds. My sister is living out in Oregon right now and people are constantly asking her why she doesn't smoke and stuff like that. It's not because she thinks she's better than anyone because she doesn't smoke and they do. It's because she has made a personal choice not to, and people should respect that. Those people don't want her telling them not to smoke and openly judge them for it, so they should stop judging her for not doing and continually pressure her to smoke. It's ridiculous how so many people don't see that they are doing to other people exactly what they complain about people doing to them. It infuriates me actually. STOP BEING HYPOCRITES!!!

The second thing I need to vent about is racism. It is getting pretty old how people are racist against Caucasians, yet it isn't seen as racism. There is Black History Month every year. There were Latinos in Action at my high school. And there are constantly movies released that have an all African American cast. Is there a Caucasian History Month? No. Because people would get sued until the day they died for suggesting it. Are there Caucasians in Action groups in schools? No. Because that would be "racist towards all other races" according to society. Are there movies that are purposefully made with an all Caucasian cast? No. Because that would be "discriminatory" and "unacceptable". I don't get why it's okay for people to be racist against Caucasians. We are still a race, and people are discriminatory against us. People talk about wanting equality all the time, but often they are the ones causing the inequality. 

Anyway, that's all. 

Do the Creep

I like to watch people. Don't worry, it's not in a creepy stalker way. Even though my old roommates and I would creep on the guys in the building across from us when they would have their blinds open. If you're walking around shirtless with rock hard abs and your blinds wide open you obviously want people to look at you. We were just obliging :) Lol anyway, I am super fascinated by people. I like to think that I have been blessed with the gift of observation. I feel like I notice more about my surroundings and about people around me than many others do. My mom said even as a kid I would be fine to just sit and watch people. I'm totally cool doing that too, I like watching how other people interact and seeing how they react to different situations. 

In high school I thought about going into sociology once I got into college, but I didn't wanna work for the government (which is basically all you can do) so I decided not to. I love anthropology, psychology, sociology, history, you name it. Anything that deals with people and what they did or currently do. I think that is why I love books, tv, and movies so much is because they are stories. I'm actually really passionate about figuring out why we think and act the way we do. I feel like by watching lots of different kinds of people it helps me figure out myself in the process. For example, sometimes when I see someone react a certain way to a situation, I think about how I would react to the situation and try to figure out why my reaction would be different. What leads me to react my way, and what leads the other person to react their way. Might sound nerdy but I think it's pretty cool. 

People watching has actually helped me become a less judgmental person. Instead of judging why people are doing what they are doing I just think there is an underlying reason (or reasons) to why they act a certain way. Nobody is perfect, and people act a way for a reason. Yes, we can control our actions. No, we shouldn't blame our behavior on our situation. But things that happen to us influence our personalities and behaviors. This world would be a better place if people stopped judging each other and cut each other some slack every once in a while because you never know why people are doing what they are doing. 

I am really into Buddha. 

Laugh all you want but Buddhism contains a lot of really good philosophies on life and has actually helped me become a better person in my opinion. As they say in Sons of Provo, "Mormons can be Buddhist too." Here are some Buddhist quotes I really like that pertain to this subject:

"What is the appropriate behavior for a man or a woman in the midst of this world, where each person is clinging to his piece of debris? What's the proper salutation between people as they pass each other in this flood?"

"Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care for people will hear them and be influenced by them for good or ill."

That's all :)