The Power of Yes: A Simple Way to Get More Out of Life

"For much of my adult life I’ve been shackled by fear. I’ve been afraid to try new things, afraid to meet new people, afraid of doing anything that might lead to failure. This fear confined me to a narrow comfort zone. Recently, however, I made a single small change that has helped me to overcome my fear, and allowed me to get more out of life." from http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2007/06/13/the-power-of-yes-a-simple-way-to-get-more-out-of-life/


I can relate to the writer of the words above for I too have been fearful much of my young life. For me it wasn't so much the fear a failure but simply a bad illusion of who i was. I thought I was damaged and bad but lately have come to realize that the one who were damaged were those that put me down for being me. So I'm learning a bit to be me, to accept myself as lame, dumb, unfunny, incompetent as I am and still be okay. For this is simply a lie I've been living about myself and I'm starting to see the real me..

There is a new energy in life though many may not feel it or may not even be aware of it. For most of my life I would always say No to many opportunities. Sometimes it was a good thing but sometimes it simply lead to regret of not having tried something.

A few months back my manager asked me if I wanted to be a trainer at work. I had often wanted to be one and share my knowledge after all being in Aquarius, having information and sharing it, it is right up my alley. But I thought about it and never got back to her, really I just didn't want to tell her No to her face but I was just thinking about how i didn't really want to deal with too much responsibility.

A week or two later they asked me if I wanted to work in another location and I told them No again. Though I don't really regret saying No to these opportunities for at that time I was busy with too much and dealing with family matters, I sometimes think that I'm missing out by having said No.

So today I was given several opportunities and each time my first reaction was to say No, but I changed it up and said Yes. I usually walk back to my work location but this time I said yes to a ride. I took advantage of a ride and I missed getting soaked by the rain.

On the way to my car I was going to put on my rain coat but my manager walked out and offered me a ride to my car. Normally I would say no, but then i figured I might as well say yes. Again I got to my destination without getting soaked. Was this luck, or destiny, or what ever...who knows but just goes to show that saying yes can have a positive impact on your life.

Another opportunity that came to me was doing a photo shoot for a model I know. At first I was a bit hesitant as I have plenty of shots of this person but then I figured it would be a great opportunity to work with my new lenses and lighting and camera. So I said yes to another opportunity.

Opportunity seems to knock on our doors all the time but most of time we don't even hear it. Or if we do we pretend not to hear it and we hide as if we are not home. Yeah it will go away if we just stay quiet and it will go and knock on your neighbor's door...Oh no and guess what it was the guy from the Publisher's Clearning House sweepstakes and he had a check for you but since they couldn't find you, well your neighbor is not a filthy millionaire. Aren't you glad you didn't open the door now. Wouldn't want your life to change, eh.

I'm sure not every opportunity in life will lead somewhere good but then again it doens' have to. There is much to learning in the opportunity itself and that way we are better prepared for future events.

Rest quietly in what you know is true. Then act.

"Rest quietly in what you know is true. Then act."


We all have something to offer. We all have something that we can do better than anyone else. I think many times we forget this and we simply stare and admires others for their abilities, over valuing other people and undervaluing ourselves. Why rely on others to tell you how things are suppose to be, use what you know, use your abilities, despite what others are doing. You maybe win out in the end.

Currently I am into photography. Its a very involved hobby and well at times it can be a lot of fun and at times it can be a lot of stress keeping it all together. It is also a very competitive field. There is always someone out there with better equipment, better skills, and better creative talent. But in the end what I see is that I have something to offer that no one else has. I see it in my pictures and maybe I'm deluding myself but its okay. In the end it all comes down to what we like anyway.

I see is a lot of homogenization in photography. Everyone using the same equipment, doing the same style of photography, doing the same poses, etc. Look at wedding photographers, they almost all look the same. Being different comes at a cost that you might be over looked. You might be the best chef in the world but if you are too different people will eat else where.

I watch a lot of cooking competition on TV like Hells Kitchen, Iron chef and now Top Chef. What I see is sometimes the person you least expect comes out the winner because of their differences. For examples chef Garces won Iron Chef and his cuisine is heavily South American influenced. Chef Rick Bayless won and his cuisine is purely Mexican. Chef Morimoto is probably one of the best Iron Chefs and his is strictly Japanese food. So as I see it just like these Chefs, photographers, writers, musicians, and everyone has that spark that makes them unique but the trick is finding it. How do we get there.

It comes from knowing our authentic selves. The real us, the one that isn't tainted by all the outside stuff, all the fads, and hype of what things are suppose to be like. It's a Sam Adams lager instead of a Budweiser. It's the RC Cola instead of Coke or Pepsi. It's the Pentax instead of the Nikon or Canon. Its embracing our differences instead of simply following the same rules of who thing should be done. By being or real, unique selves we put a spin on it and it becomes different, new, something never seen or tired before. Its the real self that takes account its past, present and future and really discovers what they are about. For many it can be hard.

THE TRUTH of ART

Pentax ist D, FA 28-80, processed in QTPFSGUI HDR

"As an artist, you are a representative human being—you have to believe that in order to give your life over to that effort to create something of value. You're not doing it only to satisfy your own impulses or needs; there is social imperative. If you solve your problems and speak of them truly, you are of help to others, that's all. And it becomes a moral obligation."— Stanley Kunitz, The Wild Braid, p. 103

I got that quote from a blog entry of a blog i'm following of a person who went a year without the internet. Really cool and if you'd like to check it out you can do so here...http://internetfree2009.blogspot.com/

One of the reason we as creative people, whether it be photography, writing, painting, etc..do what we do is because we enjoy it. But there is also a higher calling. Its to find truth in life, sort things out, express the pangs of the human condition. For as the quote says, if you have been through some problem and solved it and you showcase it in you creatives then you can help others.

Sharing is the end product of creativity. Everyone who creates wants someone to see what they have created. Some will be adored in their lifetime for being the best. But best is just a standard set by somebody else. In the end there is no good or bad, better or worse... its all the same.

This picture to me is so life like. I processed a single image in QTPFSGUI, a freeware HDR program. It really does have a 3D feel to it. When I see it I remember the day, I feel like I am there. Its not a solution to anything but simply a moment in time where a few people gathered to look at their city. There is life going on all over the place. I have recently been asking myself what is the purpose I have for writing. And well I guess the answer is there to share solutions and insights to the human condition. So that somewhere out there someone can feel they are not alone.

These days everyone has a camera and everyone is a photographer, but not everyone's skill level is the same. Being new, a beginning photographer can make up for lack of technical skill by being creative. Its like a child at play having fun, exploring infinite possibilities. Taoist call it, PU, the uncared block. It means having infinite potential. The only problem with infinite potential is that it never gets anywhere since its only potential.


I think the further you go along with any ART you gain better technical skills but begin to lose the ability to simply enjoy a picture, a song, or a painting for what it is in it awesomeness. Instead the experienced artist wants to analyzing the style, the lighting, the composition, and everything else, to the point that they miss the point. The truth of it. The Joy of it. A little sad really to get all serious and replace the ability to admire art with the ability to criticize it. We no longer use art to for its purpose. We lose that childlike ability to enjoy things and replace it with the master's ability of scrutinize. And we wonder why the masters' never laugh.

Winning is losing...losing is Winning.

"Everybody knows the pain of getting what we don't want: saints, sinners, winners, losers. I feel gratitude that someone saw the truth and pointed out that we don't suffer this kind of pain because of our personal inability to get things right."
— Pema Chodron, The Places That Scare You, p. 18

Most of us will never be able to see the goodness of losing and loss. As we are constantly told and reminded that winning is everything. But in Taoism fortune and misfortune are considered two sides of the same coin. Usually when someone loses they also win but what they win is not always apparent as its not what they are looking at they are stuck looking at the loss. And every winner is also a loser but they are so consumed with thier spoils that they don't see what they have lost.

For example lets say a person wins American Idol.

sure they win but they also lose in their creative freedom as American Idol wants a specific sound and look for its winners. Where if a person comes in second they can option to get a contract with another company and have more creative freedom such as Chris Daugherty did.

Another example was about a man who won the lottery. A few months later he was found penniless and dead and it was later determined that his girlfriend killed him and ran off with the money and her lover.

Who you are? Who am I? I am I...

"Give up defining yourself — to yourself and others. You won't die. You will come to life. And don't be concerned with how others define you. When they define you, they are limiting themselves, so it's their problem." — Eckhart Tolle, A New Earth, p.

Found this quote on another blog and well it really hit the spot of how i have been feeling lately. A more personal identity crisis between who i am and who others think i am and what they want me to be.

I have always been myself but lately i find that people don't see who I am but rather a version of who i am that comes from who they are. A sinner will see others as sinners. A saint will only see the good in people. An outcast will see the out cast in others. I am not the face of the hero though I have might have the conviction of one. I am not the face of the romantic lover though I might have the heart of one. I am not the face of the genius inventor though my brain just happens to work that way.

We are who we are if others don't see it its their loss. For I AM I...