Go Roam Earth

Hippies and Free Spirits

            “You’re a hippie!  Why are you such a free spirit?”  This weekend I had a close family member call me a hippie and asked why I was such a free spirit.  This particular family member said and asked this in the most negative tone.  

            Now that I’ve had a few days to dwell on it in my hippie mind I came to a realization, yep I sure am.  Yes, I do blow in the wind, I’m amazed by everything, so much excites me, I’m willing to try most things, I’m comfortable in my own skin, I love who I am, I wear me out-loud with confidence, I love who I am, and I really enjoy being with me.  I have so much fun with myself and by myself sometimes, I can’t even believe it.  Lol  

            I don’t believe in violence, I wish there was no such thing as military, I wear exactly what makes me feel like me, I dance my heart out and I can dance all night long!  I’m so comfortable in my own skin that I love me naked.  After-all weren’t we all brought into this world naked, I’m comfortable nude in front of people, I play the guitar, all of my tattoos are about love, I like freedom.  Does all this me-ness make me a hippie?

            The same person who I still love no matter what although they told me they hate me, criticized me for being a free spirit.  What’s wrong with my spirit being free?  What’s wrong with me loving me for who I am and being comfortable in whichever room I’m in.  Is it my dreadlocks which I don’t keep tightly maintained, perhaps my tattoos on my neck, my back, my arms, my body?  Is it the way in which I can’t stop smiling that possibly offends?  I wish everyone smiled more, I wish everyone felt comfortable in their own skin, I wish everyone didn’t rush into relationships and first discovered the relationship with self.    

            I was homeless for five months and wandered and made some of the best friendships, met the most amazing people, fell deeper in love with myself, gave up everything I owned, walked away from my Camaro that was used against me, left a city where people wanted me dead and gone, sat on beaches for hours and watched the sunrise and sunset, stood in awe of nature’s beauty, slept outside, on buses, at church, on the floor of friends rooms and homes, slept on trains, yet I was so content.  Does this make me a hippie or a free spirit?  Or does this make me, ME and not you?

            I stand in amazement as people stand by and judge one another and talk about what people don’t have.  It’s as if some individuals think their way of living and their opinions mean everything.  Why do humans have such a need to give their opinions about other people’s lives or what someone else should be doing with their time or money.  PEOPLE OF EARTH, WE ARE NOT ALL ALIKE AND WE DON’T WANT THE SAME THINGS.  We are all in different places in our lives although we are one, we have different minds, values, and beliefs. 

            Yes, I am “hip” and “aware” of what is going on around me, however it doesn’t mean I have to conform to societal views nor yours.  Yes, I’ve done sit-ins and refused to leave public places, yes I believe in no borders, and I don’t prefer Donald Trump’s views.  Do I hate Mr. Trump?  Nope, I do not.  I simply see him as a man who may need more love and awareness to spread more love and awareness.  We are all in this world we call Earth, yet we as humans created boundaries and borders to separate one another.  I don’t believe in boundaries and borders, I love every person I meet whether they show love for me or not.

            If all this means I’m a hippie and a free spirit, then so be it.  All I know is I have a strong desire to spread love and compassion.  I have a strong desire to live in a world in which all beings feel and display unconditional love and unconditional positive regard for each other and self.  I love you and I love me.  Most important I hope you love you more to love each other more and more!  My free spirited, hippie heart loves you so much!

Why I Love Photography

Why do I love photography?

There’s something special and amazing to me about capturing a moment that will never again be.  No matter how you attempt to alter a scene or whatever-ness, you can’t recreate the same exact capture and have it be an exact duplicate.  The elements of nature make it impossible, don’t even try.  This is why I love photography!  There a specialness about something that will never happen again in life, that uniqueness you can look back upon and reminisce while it takes you to that special moment back in time.  The ability to remember and reflect is beauty.  It’s love.  Its life.

Photography has been an interest of mine my entire life.  Since I can remember I loved taking photos.  The first camera I came across was the black polaroid my parents owned.  To capture a moment and then have it instantly reflected back to you in your hands is magical.  I remember shaking the pictures and watching forms and shapes appear as if a wizard was behind me working up the perfect potion of memorable moments.

To this day I can look at a photograph and have it touch my heart, whether it be in sadness, happiness, frustration, or confusion.  Regardless, it touches me in a way that reminds me how important it is to feel.  Feeling, the sister of empathy and sympathy with each other as a whole, as one.  Were all so different yet the same, which you can see in photographs.  Watching a son grow up and pose just as his father, a daughter have the same love in her heart as her mother, a landscape stop me in my tracks are all feelings I wish and hope all feel.

I love the way nature photography reminds me we to are nature.  The way nature coexists with each other as one teaches me to stay simple, stay love.  We are nature and nature is us, there’s so much we can learn from just stopping and watching without speaking.  To immerse myself in a moment or be completely lost in what I’m seeing is why I love photography. 

I don’t know if I can accurately convey the exact feelings I go through and why I love photography, in short; it’s as if I see in pictures and still scenes.  I can walk by something or someone and it’s as if my eyes take a quick snap shot and then I think OMG, what the, did you see, what, that’s dope, that’s, beautiful, that’s crazy, that sucks, that’s love, that’s us.

I love so much, and photography is definitely on my list.  Do what you love and love what you do as it forms the true you that makes you, YOU!