Have you ever paused a video of a person while they are speaking or moving around? I was recently watching a video and was forced to pause while the character was doing a monologue, I laughed at the expression in which he was frozen at, and then it hit me! What we see as fluid and graceful facial movement is a actually a series of distorted pictures put together. Its the same thing with sound. We hear fluidity in noise, but the truth is we just don't notice the pauses that give rise to what we recognize as music, language or nature. Now imagine that you took a multitude of snapshots of a video by Bratt Pitt or Leonardo DiCaprio, and then showed someone the compilation of odd looking facial expressions you've put together. They would likely not recognize them, they would not see them as handsome or healthy but would instead see them as physically deformed or mentally handicapped. We tend to do this with snapshots of people's lives, including our own. We take a single incident or event and extrapolate to "create" a fictional representation or movie which depicts whatever label we're trying to validate. We can do ourselves a huge favor by taking a step back, and working on seeing the whole movie, realizing we all end up making ridiculous faces along the way, but finding the end result being a far cry from that. Its no single note that creates the symphony, and no single rock makes up the mountain. #holistic #ecology

Attachment to identity, or ego, creates dysfunctional behavior, even with the ones we love the most. Perhaps because we lean so strongly on their opinion and reinforcement of how we see ourselves. When we want to define ourselves in a tightly sealed box, we forgo well being and growth. We project this insatiable and chronic need unto all those around us. We keep those who play along, and discard those who don't. Our anger is focused most intensely in those whose actions push us to see past the illusion, to mold out of our shell. We harbor resentment if we are not awake or ready. Looking back I can see how true this has been of all my friends and family. I can see how attached I became not only to the idea, but the emotions of whom I thought I was. I've argued that victim mentality has been one of the most destructive forces in humanity, leading us down a path of regret and horror. If strength is the father of all virtue, then Fear is the mother of sin, for it is fear that keep us from reaching out and growing. It is fear that keep us deep in the darkness of the crevice. We become accustomed to the darkness, and began to fear the light. As a great master once said: "Fear is the path to the dark side."

Don't underestimating the thread in the rope.

Don't underestimate the thread in the rope. Albert Einstein is rumored to have remarked that compound interest was the greatest force in the universe. Unfortunately for us, our brains were not hardwired to think exponentially but linearly. We loose interest in the daily tasks, the mundane because torturous. We seek glory and celebration, and become blind to the links that make the chains. But we must take our most arduous endeavors one step, one day, one ounce of strength at a time, with full faith and hope that we are building precept upon precept, layer upon layer. There's a type of maturity and growth that can be measured by our ability to have certainty, through first hand experience, of what long term commitment to small changes can create. Forsaking that instant gratification for something more. Ironically, or paradoxically, we forgo a lot to experience and have more. To miss out on this, is to miss out on fully experiencing the human condition. To miss this path, whichever shape or direction it might take, is to miss out on a fulfilling and purposeful part of being human.