Long Text Messages... "The Gap"

I think most people have experienced a transition phase in their lives. Whether it's after a break-up or in between jobs. Even being in a job or a relationship could sometimes feel like a transition, could feel like, a gap. We might even call it a "dry-spell" or being in "a funk". However we see/feel this position in our lives it's often difficult for us to push through it. Sometimes this feeling comes, unexpectedly. So how do we get out of it? What do we do to ourselves to stay in them? What most of us don't realize is that this is the place where growth happens most. 

Often in these phases, we feel like simply giving up. We tell ourselves we're not going to find another job, no one is going to love us again, how are we going to make new friends or how are we going to rebuild this relationship? Netflix children do not know the pain most of us have suffered to have a show build up the tension in a plot then suddenly cut to an informercial of Dr. Ho's pain therapy system. Our vision and a our journey can sometimes look like watching a television program. We don't often see that the commercial break is leading us into the next phase of our story. Often we give up, and often we decide to look for a new channel to surf. We flip back and forth, not focused and lost. Do not give up in this phase, the enemy of growth is giving up in the gap. 

Comparison is one of the biggest downfalls anyone puts upon themselves in any case. No different here.  Sometimes we can be jealous of others peoples miracles. We look at our ex girlfriends and boyfriends and get jealous when we see that they've found someone else to be with, we envy when our coworker who got laid off the same time as you has gotten hired already. We all have different paces. We have a life and a pace that's specifically made for us and we can't go any other way. If we see people passing us or getting opportunities we think we should be getting just know ours is around the corner, we might not just be ready to receive it yet. Embrace our pace. 

Lastly, we sometimes choose to numb the phase. We ignore the phase and ignore our growth. That's how we force ourselves into a different situation but just get stuck in the same cycle.

This gap, it's confusing. It's kinda of mushed up and random like commercial's in-between our television program. It can feel hopeless and discouraging. Although, it's actually one of the most beautiful parts of our lives. It's a time to be introspective, to relearn things, to look back and appreciate what happened before whether good or bad. And to move forward. The gap is the space between our last step and our next one, we're in full stride. - God is Love

I feel like my optimism is working against me these days. I don't want to feel sad or down but I feel like it's the only way I can get all of this out. My mind and my body is so used to lifting itself up and getting over bumps too easy but I'm trying to override by forcing myself to feel sad. I feel like I'm in this limbo, I'm not sad but I'm not happy either. It's a weird, new feeling but I guess I just gotta ride it out. - God is Love

28ighteen... "constant"

You ever feel hungry after you ate a good meal? I mean, everybody gets hungry no matter how good they ate the day before or the meal before. Our body needs that daily sustenance. Life is more subtle. 

Life has it owns hunger pains but too often we respond to them with memories of past meals and expect ourselves to feel fulfilled. This is sometimes what we call 'living in the past'. We think about all the times we've won, all the times we've done something good for someone and expect them to remember it next time they need something from us. Sometimes we live in our past accomplishments to justify the present needs but yesterdays food has already been digested and flushed. We dwell in these past victories that we are blind to todays needs. 

The blessings of love and success are found in their constancy. Not in it's peaks and valleys. We don't measure ourselves by the highs and lows but who we are in between them. - God is Love 

28ighteen... "PDL"

Purpose, is so much higher than occupation, passion, intent and planning. A lot of us are so focused on trying to figure out an occupation rather than our purpose. Occupation is just the vehicle to carry out our purpose. Frankly, it doesn't matter what the vehicle is. God didn't put me on this earth to be a photographer. God put me on this Earth, I believe, to be of service to people, through my art, through thoughts fed in my brain through his heart. Photography and Writing are just my ways to communicate how I've understood to live with Him in the forefront of my life. It's my way of expression. It's my way of catching people to listen to His message. I think I've begun to understand the power that God has instilled in my talent and how I can use these talents to shine His light unto other people. I think I've unknowingly been doing it but I haven't acknowledged that this is my true purpose. Not to take good photos. To use these photos to be able to communicate with people who are yet to find their purpose. - God is Love 

28ighteen... "Hard Work"

"How did you convince your parents that you wanted to be a photographer?" 

This is a question that I've been asked a lot over the years but coincidentally have been asked this a couple times in the recent months. Since it's "Family Day" long weekend in Vancouver I guess this a good time to write about this question.

As a first generation immigrant in Canada from the Philippines, my parents gave me the typical encouragement/speech any immigrant parents gives their child. They encouraged getting a good education (as any parents should) and one word that is indented in my brain forever, "stability". They just wanted me to be, stable. Stability, something my parents worked extremely hard for when coming to this country. So, it's a little bit worrying when their one and only child decides he wants to be an "artist". I don't really have a fancy or elaborate explanation to this question of how I made it manageable for my parents to accept my career choice, but here's my answer: 

Love & Hard Work

My parents didn't understand why I wanted to be a photographer. They didn't understand how I was going to make money, why I did jobs for free, why I took the photos that I took. There's a lot they didn't understand and there's still a lot they don't understand. I could show my parents all my greatest photographs, how many followers I have, how many 'like' and comment on my photos, I could tell them all the awesome projects I've been working on but none of that really matters in terms of making my parents understand that this is what I'm meant to be doing on this earth. What my parents do understand is how much I love it, how hard I work at it, how much I am trying to make a life for myself and for my future. They just want to see that I'm working just as hard to make a life for myself as hard as they worked to make a life for me. That's all. Our parents might not understand all the jargon that goes a long with what we do but they do understand what it is to love something and to work hard. In the end, regardless of our career path, we're all just trying to do what it is we love, what we're meant here to do... we're all really just looking for... stability. - God is Love