I love living in Santa Cruz, the people, the culture, the lifestyles. Everything about Santa Cruz is different. I love it because I enjoy people, I don’t have to go far to find a character, someone interesting to talk to, people who have lived life and want to share. There is so much potential here and that is what I love. Art lingers beneath the surface of everything. This is home.

My question for you today is this; do you believe in dichotomy? Are there really only two sides, two options, black or white. One side or another to choose from. Or is there a third path that is yet undiscovered that you must find before you travel.

I believe it is easier to think of the world in black and white because it makes the world a little less complicated. But that doesn’t mean it is true or right. Nothing is ever as simple as it seems, as I say and it is true. It can be hard though trying to find the third path in life. There is no denying the fact that the third road is the hardest to travel because it is unpaved. Many people believe in a dichotomous world because it is much easier to travel the well beaten path. This is not how I live, this is not how I think anyone should live.

So I say, seek the untraveled path and find a new way. Escape the black and white to live in a new world that you create.

Why is it that right before some plants die they become so beautiful? Like this one, it was so colorful yet so close to its death.

Is it to remind us what we will be missing when it finally is gone? One last bang to always remain in our minds. It is like a person’s final bow as they look at the audience, with a wide grin that speaks miles. It says

It has been a good run, through the ups and downs, the good and the bad, it all turned out. It was a good long run and now it is over. A final goodbye.

Or maybe it is a desperate plea to hold on to life. A denial of the next step. Its beauty blossoms fully, trying to make up for all the time lost and spent on other things.

But my question is, did it work?

Did all your beauty, all your effort change that the end was so near? And if not, then what was the effort for? Was it for yourself? Trying to cling on what you know you will miss forever, or one last laugh at all who laughed at you. Tell me your secrets, I am listening. To the young, the old, the living and the dead. I am listening and waiting for your answer always and forever.

All the things we see around us everyday we start to take for granted after a while. One way I combat this is trying to look at things in a different way. Here is a simple recipe to remind you of the greatness of everyday things (or things you simply become very acquainted with) :

1. Look at it from a different angle. Whether it is standing only centimeters away from it so you can see the dust standing on the tip of a needle, or in this cause a cactus, or looking at it upside down. The world can be viewed through a million different angles. Pick one and use it to change your perspective.
2. Every person sees from a different angle, so maybe just try looking through another persons eyes. Have a friend or just some random person describe the object in great detail while you have your eyes closed. Is it the same as you would have described it? If it isn’t think about it, why would that person see it the way they do rather than the way you do?
3. Think about why you come in contact with this object so often. Just choose a random object you deal with in your everyday life, and think about that object. How different would life be without it? Would you miss it? Or do you need it at all? And if you don’t need it then why are you using it?
4. Look closer, not just physically moving closer but look at what it is. People take things for face value way too often. Everything is made out of smaller things. Understand that what you see is not a single object but many. Look at all the tiny details you always look past and fully appreciate how complex life truly is.

Instead of just accepting things the way they are, question. It is the only true form of living, to seek knowledge and awareness. You can only have this if you make the effort though. So tomorrow look at something right up close or lie on your back and look at it from upside down. Appreciate what you have, appreciate every detail that is put into life around you. Nothing is as simple as it seems.

How do you ensure that the things in your life aren’t taken for ranted, share your methods for appreciating and understanding life that happens everyday all around you?

I am not sure why or how, but I feel like this explains my life right now. Kind of sad….

It steps from the mirror
A barren lake
She grabs me pulling me through
Her eyes empty and black
Lifeless
Hair tattered, a mess
Skin pale and sticky
Blood
She pulls me into the water
Drowning in her arms
Mimic me, mimic this
Take my breath a deadly kiss
Drowning slowly
It laughs at me
Your mine now
She whispers into my ear

She steps from the mirror
I am stuck
I am dead she lives
I watch
Her hair straightens
Her eyes gain color, life
Skin grows warm
She looks back and winks
Mimic me, mimic this bitch
She laughs
I pound against glass as she laughs
Stuck forever drowning
In another world
A boring world
I give up

She walks like me
Talks like me
Breathes like me
She is me in very way
I can only watch sadly
From the other world
She is living my life
Hugging my family
Kissing my boyfriend
Living in my room
I scream at how unfair it is
She looks at me
Every morning and laughs
Mimic me, mimic this stupid bitch
What did I do to deserve this
Nothing bitch just mimic this
I never do
I just watch my life pass me by

Years pass, I wait
A child in her arms
My baby, my husband
She mocks me
Shows me my beautiful life
Well what would have been
Mimic me mimic this stupid dead bitch
So I finally do
I become a mimic
Of what I used to be
Copying me but not really me
I am dead
She lives but I swear
I will get her
Stupid bitch