MIDNIGHT MEDITATION No. 11
THE ADVOCACY FOR MUSCLE
There’s a cycle that comes when you are learning new things. First, you see the thing you want to learn, you’re super inspired by it and you want to know what it would be like if you could do it yourself, and dependent on how much you resonated with that thing, is how much you will sacrifice for it. In the beginning, it’s exciting because you’re still in the dream state of you mastering that thing, but that was a small mountain to climb until you see the 100 miles of flat land with pure uncertainty ahead. Thankfully, the road is not too empty, the destination rarely ever shows itself, but aid shows itself in many different ways, it’s just a matter of surrendering to the task. After a while, slow improvements come and go, more flat land and small mountain peaks follow, and then finally… The muscle is fully formed and activated, and once it’s activated, you are satisfied, but the feeling that you had when you first wanted it vs. having it is different. The satisfaction is pure and stable; not only have you gained muscle in a certain skill or subject, you gained a muscle in self-trust.
MIDNIGHT MEDITATION No. 10
THE ADVOCACY FOR LAUGHTER
Laughing is almost a default state for me; it is my favorite thing to do. No matter what happens in life, you can always find your way back to laughter. It’s a soft orgasm. Often, I laugh without reason, and though I think of reasons why you should laugh, you shouldn’t need a reason, you should just laugh. Everything is funny, all the time.
MIDNIGHT MEDITATION No. 9
THE ADVOCACY FOR D.I.Y
When I first started doing photography, I used to watch a lot of behind-the-scenes videos, and they were incredibly misleading. I felt like I needed the fanciest equipment, the largest teams, and so much more. At one point, especially when I was doing fashion photography, I did get all of that. However, when I worked on my own projects without a team, I appreciated the output a thousand times more.
People are usually shocked to see how minimally I work despite achieving a maximalist output. Everyday, I’m figuring out a system that is tailor-made for me. I look forward to having huge productions, but I am advocating for “D.I.Y” because I used to wonder why I’ve faced so many limitations, but it’s been those limitations that allowed me to create what I am creating now because when you are limited, you have to get creative.
MIDNIGHT MEDITATION No. 8
THE ADVOCACY FOR THE IMPOSSIBLE
I have a theory that if humans collectively decided to start cultivating the belief of “human flight”, we will be levitating or flying within the next few generations. One of my favorite things to do is read out-of-the-ordinary stories about people who go against all odds and heal themselves from life-altering injuries, or people who seamlessly move through life despite being seemingly limited; It’s a reminder that we don’t have to be so dependent on external factors. We yearn for control, but we often misplace our sense of control. To be human is to be a storyteller, and that is where our control lies.
As humans, we understand life from each other, and there’s a very loud group that lead us, but they are not the standard and there are outliers living wildly interesting lives and because of our limited perspective, we view it as “Impossible”. I am advocating for the impossible, but I am really advocating for a wider scope of possibilities.
MIDNIGHT MEDITATION No. 7
THE ADVOCACY FOR PERFORMANCE
In today’s age, there is a need for authenticity and showing your relatability. Now that media is decentralized, performance has taken a new form. While many believe they are rebelling against the idea of “Superficiality” in favor of the “Authentic”, I would argue that while “Authentic” content has it’s space as a means to keep us together as a community and share our various ways of living, it is also detrimental in the sense that whether the performer intends to or not, they are scripting a narrative that will not mirror their “Authentic” stance. This is not only for media, the same goes for real time as well. No matter how close you are to someone, you and that person alone have a special narrative that no one else share and more often than not, not even with each other.
I am advocating for performance because I’ve realized it is the default way of living. For me personally, I aim to be free with my script and narrative and give myself the freedom to be whoever I want at any second. Many of us are stuck in characters scripted by others and invisible societal expectations, but even though we are fated to role play, we also have the power to direct.
MIDNIGHT MEDITATION No. 6
THE ADVOCACY FOR “NEW AGE”
So whenever people use terms such as “Universe” “Manifestation” “Transcendance”, many will immediately dismiss anything else they have to say because they deem it to be “New Age pseudoscience”. I do believe there is a hint of misogyny at play because of the calm, peaceful, light feminine approach the “New Age” movement presents itself as versus the traditional and masculine front many premier religions and science have. No approach is wrong, but we are all living under an invisible force that we keep evolving the translations for as time goes, and many will deny their evolutional approach for the sake of sacredness and tradition, but evolution is forever and the only thing that remains the same is that invisible force.
I am advocating for “The New Age” movement because I enjoy the freedom it brings, it allows free thought, flexibility, and it feels good. It feels good. For me, it feels good. Ultimately that’s all we want, we want to feel good. And this philosophy makes me feel really good. The approach of the “New Age” movement seems “Too good to be true” and “Too easy”, but I think because of the reason that “It’s so easy” is why it’s the most challenging.
MIDNIGHT MEDITATION No. 5
THE ADVOCACY FOR HAPPINESS
I was once told that I would be taken more seriously if I smiled less , people who seem happy often give off the impression that they are naive and delusional. Many people, knowingly and unknowingly hold on to the belief that life is suffering and if they encounter people who contradict that belief, they will categorize them as people who lack depth as they feel anger and sadness holds more weight than happiness. I believe anger and sadness are necessary emotions to be experienced at appropriate times, but I see things differently. I believe if you claim to be intelligent, your number one priority would be to experience the time we have on this earth in the most effective way possible. There are angry intelligent people who channel their anger to create amazing things, but there are countless of angry critics who channel their energy in resentment and suffering, which are inactive states. To be happy is to be brave, to be happy is a willingness to walk alone, to be happy is the skill of consistently embracing and accepting yourself by the second, to be happy is work. Sadness and anger like falling does not take effort, but happiness, the climb, the reach, it takes effort, but it’s worth it.
MIDNIGHT MEDITATION No. 4
THE ADVOCACY FOR SPACE
Closeness is an invitation for our perceptions to distort and our minds to follow suit. Closeness means we form bonds and even though bonds are thought to be positive for the most part, they are attachments. I am not against attachment, humans are born to be attached and be emotional, we have to perform our roles, it’s impossible for us to master indifference unless we isolate, but to be together and to be of this world means we have to have attachments. Thankfully, the greatest gift this world has given us is the gift of nuance, and I believe the universe allows us to be attached, but we can have degrees and levels of attachments, instead of it being black and white. And the key for that is “Space”. I believe space is the God that all religions are worshipping, but because it is so invisible, inward, outward, no where, and everywhere, it gets overlooked and we are more likely to celebrate, worship, and even create lifetime lasting narratives about something more objective and visual like the sun. The sun as God makes a lot of sense as the sun creates life, but the sun is also surrounded by space. So, maybe the Sun is Jesus and Space is God. But, I am advocating for space because space changed my life. From meditation, I’ve flourished in space, I feel a deep sensual connection to space, it is the truest potent substance life has to offer and even though it’s silent, seems intangible, and at times uncomfortable, it is our creator, it is our root, it should have our premier attention.
MIDNIGHT MEDITATION No. 3
THE ADVOCACY FOR SITTING ON A BENCH
Whenever I find a nice bench, at the perfect spot, the weather’s right, and the scenery is balanced, I fall into deep euphoria. Sitting on a bench with the right conditions is the having the pleasure to sit and have real-life happen in front of you with many different perspectives. So many storylines are happening all at once and none of them are true, but the mind yearns for label and context. You get the opportunity to view movement, stillness, flight, nature, industrialism all at once and take it all in. It’s a real-life non-narrative film happening and dependent on where you are, your mind will tell you that it feels the same, but everything’s always changing, we’re evolving by the second, and the power of sitting on a bench to witness our slow, but fast existence is an experience I think we should appreciate and partake in more often.
MIDNIGHT MEDITATION No. 2
THE ADVOCACY FOR TAKING A WALK
Taking a walk is one of my favorite things to do. Taking a walk, especially one without destination is one of the most freeing things you could do. I realize, when I am just sitting at home, I have an urge to be occupied and unless I intentionally meditate, then I’ll feel the need to do something, but if my intention is on taking a walk without destination, I give that restless portion of my awareness to the sensation of walking while experiencing a wide range of different sceneries; my background is stimulated enough to give me space to breathe and think of anything and everything. I would even compare it to driving without destination as well, especially late at night with no other cars on the road, pure meditative. I will advocate for stillness as I believe it to be the foundation for meditation, but taking a walk, I believe does great things to the body-mind.