All That Remains.

Swans and the Swimming

"Take me again," she said, thinking of him

"To the pond with the swans and the swimming"

Far from his room the familiar perfume

How it left her aware she was naked.

Tornado in Jackson

This video was shot as a tornado formed over Colliers Mills Wildlife Management Area in Jackson Township New Jersey. Towards the end of the video you can see it touch down in the distance as it heads east towards the Cassville section of Jackson Township.

Thanks Joe :)

Skinny Love

Could we just carve our names into a tree somewhere deep in a forest where no one would ever see it again—But at least it would exist and we would be together somewhere forever on something living, something that grows. Because in this world, too many things just don't happen because it's not the right time or age or decade or hurricane of circumstances and I can't bare to watch something so beautiful die. Even worse than death, never fully exist.

But it was real.
I swear it was.
I have the scars.
Even if it was barely more than
a distant day dream.

Go Outside.

I was just messing around last night with some of my favorite summer songs. I love trees. I do.

Go Outside from samanthaleev on 8tracks.

All Your Life.

Sophie Treloar on Flickr.

These balconies are always empty.

Maybe that's because no one ever has time to dream on them.

We'll find time to buy things.

And things.

And things.

But not a moment to enjoy anything that's free.

The trees?

The sunshine?

Your babies?

Did you fill up the hole yet?

With all these things.

What actually makes men happy?

And what just distracts them?

Secret Garden of New Zealand

I've been waiting.

I hate you. I've been waiting to say that for...I think for forever. I hate you. I hate you. I hate you lonely. I hate you ink spill on my arm. I hate you, you stupid hole. Positivity? I hate you too. There's no room or time for you; ugly things, but you still exist don't you? I still feel you, these stupid things called feelings. How ugly, how well you remind me I'm alive. PESSIMISM YOU EXIST. I choose to ignore you.

How funny. That it's a good day. And here you are. All these messy things.

How funny. I moved a sleeping baby off my chest without waking him. The sun is still rising. The birds are still here and I can see the flowers. The day goes on, no matter how ugly or beautiful it appears. I don't hate you at all. No, not really.

I think I rather love you. You're quite beautiful.

The Road Worth Traveling.

Every day I get a little older and farther from the point of start.
With every day there's another step in another direction,
But you can't see where the road leads.
Do you trust who you are today to bring you somewhere that makes you happy tomorrow?
Because the means must justify the ends.
Not just the ends the means.
If this road you're walking is not of happiness;
Then the point is lost.
Because it is not where you arrive.
For you will never get there.
It has to be the steps you take to get further from your start.

The preoccupation of the end will lead you lost.
So just find the road worth traveling.

Better Love

Jackson

I miss Jackson and the trees outside my window. I remember hearing the children playing outside and the birds in the morning. I miss being dirty...all the time, never changing out of clothes that I could ride my bike or tumble through grass while wearing. I miss my friends. I can hear the music in my head and see the roads in my mind. I remember driving and singing and smiling because I'd quite simply, never been happier. These are all my favorite things.

Maybe someday I'll get over it. Or maybe it'll always just be home.

Live with the Animals

Mists of Destiny by renovatio

“I think I could turn and live with the animals, they are so placid and self contained;
I stand and look at them long and long.
They do not sweat and whine about their condition;
They do not lie awake in the dark and weep for their sins;
They do not make me sick discussing their duty to God;
Not one is dissatisfied-not one is demented with the mania of owning things;
Not one kneels to another, nor his kind that lived thousands of years ago;
Not one is responsible or industrious over the whole earth.” 


—Walt Whitman

Floating.

I'm going to miss you so much when I'm gone. Why is that my thought? Which part of the brain thrusts human focus into the inexistent future? Well turn it off. Nostalgia for places isn't the same as for people. Places will be there when you return; that sunset over the hill, with the horses dancing in the grasses? I still see it, I know I have it. Couldn't I feel the same about moments with people? Those moments when your stomach was floating and your whole body feels like it's tingling with life and breath? I KNOW I'M ALIVE. It seems different. I'm not sure why.

Contemplate.

Contemplate The Universe Inside You from cosmicapathy on 8tracks.

This is so beautiful.

Andrew Bird's One-Man Orchestra Of the Imagination

TED.com

Musical innovator Andrew Bird winds together his trademark violin technique with xylophone, vocals and sophisticated electronic looping. Add in his uncanny ability to whistle anything, and he becomes a riveting one-man orchestra.

At least I know I'm alive.

I hurt myself today

To see if I still feel

Are you hurt?

MacKenzie came to bring me my paints from our apartment in Queens today. It was bad timing, and right as A was closing his eyes, the doorbell rang. I ended up stumbling over the bed in the dark and really hurting myself.

The first thing this baby asks me when I walk back into the room is... "Are you hurt, Sam? You fell! Are you hurt?" I think I wanted to cry or something.

I just crawled back into bed saying, "It's okay, I'm okay but thanks for caring..."

I spent most of the day living in my own head letting myself be invaded by peculiar thoughts of loss. So it's remarkable how these tiny moments I have with him, pull me out and make me forget everything but how happy and fulfilled I feel when he does something as simple as remember to say "Thank you," or watching him shut his eyes to see "the colors" when he's swinging on the swings. 

John Burroughs

“To find the universal elements enough; to find the air and the water exhilarating; to be refreshed by a morning walk or an evening saunter… to be thrilled by the stars at night; to be elated over a bird’s nest or a wildflower in spring - these are some of the rewards of the simple life.”

— John Burroughs

Your imagination.

Is life really this hard?

Or is it all in my imagination?

You convince yourself for a 

minute,

day,

year;

of how lovely everything is

and then looming clouds form overhead.

(It can be brief.)

How do you escape the rain?

Find those things you see beauty in?

I found people.

I found protection of closeness.

It appeared to be the highest form of happiness,

but I want happiness from within.

(Not from you, not from things; nothing fleeting.)

Because every other kind disintegrates.

And then you feel hollow.

Do not base your happiness on things you can lose. Right? Then what do you have?

Your imagination.

Morning, Afternoon, & Evening.

Welcome to our day.

Beauty in things exists in the mind which contemplates them.

David Hume

Balmorhea - "Baleen Morning"

Oh my gosh, I love this.

I heard.

I heard the birds. And got inspired.

Deep Breath. from samanthaleev on 8tracks.

May Nothing But Happiness Come Through Your Door

Happy Delusion.

I woke up with all these funny feelings. Thinking about how I paint this picture of what's going on around me and then wondering if it had any place in reality. But then I got to thinking how reality doesn't exist to anything, it must be all subjective. In that case, does it matter if you live in a delusion or does it only matter that you are happy in your delusion? What happens when your happy delusion starts to break apart piece by piece and whatever reality you were living in changes?

I think that just happened. Do what we do best? Adapt and love as much as constantly as you can. I hope. At least in this reality.

Ibiza Lights II

Ibiza Lights II from Jose A. Hervas on Vimeo.

I visited this place in 2010. It's an island off the coast of Spain and it's beautiful. This video reminds me how happy I am to be alive, and to be able to see some of the planet.

Safe and Warm.

The thing is, I really like sleeping. I think of those moments that are frozen in my head and so many are right before I drift to sleep. Right now, I think of all the stories I read to you, and how you reach out your tiny hand to make sure I'm still within reach. I always am. Sometimes when you're sleeping you roll your little body all the way to me just to fit it into mine.

I remember laying in bed with you when I was a child, and fitting my face into your chest and feeling safe. I remember not being able to sleep unless you were lying next to me.

And now I like sleeping best with you. Because that's what you do. Your body makes me feel safe. Your arms make me feel safe. Your breathing makes me feel safe.

The way I watch your tiny arms around your pillow or teddy. I understand.

Safe and warm.

Old Man In Nursing Home Reacts To Hearing Music From His Era

This was a great thing to see first thing in the morning. I'm so happy.

A Wasteland Companion

My sister just brought this new album to my attention. It's worth some of your time. You can listen to it here: M. Ward

Excerpt from a Letter

"I love you. I don't know why I thought of that but everything that's wrong with this is every reason I love you. And my child will know my heartbeat from laying his head on my chest so many times and I will need him to wake with the birds and look out his window from his bed and see the trees and know the sound of morning."


(the sound of your heart beat)

Unrequited or imperfect.

You'll probably never be able to love me right. It'll probably always feel awkward and lonely when you're not in front of me. But it will always make me feel the most when you're there in my gaze and within my reach. You make me feel. Loss, happiness, sadness, the air in my lungs. So what does the rest even matter?

Who will ever love you perfectly? What more is there to do than to be constant in your love? Unrequited or imperfect. Unrequited or imperfect?

Being Actively Calm and Calmy Active

General Secretary of Yogoda Satsanga Society of India, founded by Sri Sri Paramahansa Yogananda in 1917. Involved in various spiritual, humanitarian and charitable activities, and spreading of the 'Kriya Yoga teachings' of Paramahansa Yoganandaji in the Indian sub-continent. A Post-Doctoral fellow from Concordia University, Montreal and a Ph.D. in Electronics and Communication Engineering from IIT Kharagpur. A Gold Medallist in school final and engineering studies. In this talk Swamiji talks about maintaining inner peace and being actively calm while also calmly active.

In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized.* (*Subject to certain rules and regulations)

Traceable To Stars

“The atoms of our bodies are traceable to stars that manufactured them in their cores and exploded these enriched ingredients across our galaxy, billions of years ago. For this reason, we are biologically connected to every other living thing in the world. We are chemically connected to all molecules on Earth. And we are atomically connected to all atoms in the universe. We are not figuratively, but literally stardust.”

—Neil deGrasse Tyson

Not so sure.

I promise I'm almost done with "The Fountainhead" so I can stop quoting it. But this excerpt parallels recent lessons I've learned:

"Once she asked him: 'You're happy, Petey? Aren't you?' He looked at her and saw that she was not laughing at him; her eyes were wide and frightened. And as he could not answer, she cried: 'But you've got to be happy! Petey, you've got to! Else what have I lived for?" He wanted to get up, gather her in his arms and tell her that it was all right–and then he remembered Guy Francon saying to him on his wedding day: 'I want you to feel proud of me, Peter...I want to feel that it had some meaning.' Then he could not move. He felt himself in the presence of something he must not grasp, must never allow into his mind. He turned away from his mother."

Don't waste your life chasing the wrong things, I imagine it will be a grave realization if you ever confront it. What does it really all amount to, besides the people you'll live on through after your gone and the experiences you've had while you were here? Not so sure.

Giggle.

Everyday I try to trick you out of missing mommy in the morning when she leaves for work. Usually if I can distract you for long enough everything's fine. Sometime's I forget you're so little. And everything's so new to you. Sometime's I forget what's going on, and sometimes you stomp your feet and scrunch your little face and I just sigh. But sometimes, sometimes you dig your head into my neck when I'm carrying you home, and sometimes we open our eyes at the same time when we're trying to sleep and giggle. And then I remember, I remember that something magic still lives inside you; and your little eyes speak to me more than your little mouth. 

Wide Eyes

Official music video for Wide Eyes.

Director: Cat Solen
Producer: Dan Ruth

Hands Clasped

"For many weeks, when left alone together, they spoke little and never about each other. But it was not a silence of resentment it was the silence of an understanding too delicate to limit by words. They would be in a room together in the evening, saying nothing, content to feel each other's presence. They would look at each other suddenly–and both would smile, the smile like hands clasped."

—The Fountainhead 

Papa Please Get The Moon For Me

I found the best bedtime video for the munchkin. I remember this one from when I was a kid :)

This story is one of a young girl, Monica who peers out her window and is greeted by the moon, which to her seems close by. Hoping to play with the moon she stretches her arms out, but try as she might she is unable to grab the moon. She asks her father, “Papa, please get the moon for me.” He grabs a very long ladder, and places it atop a very high mountain until he reaches the moon. As the moon gets smaller Monica is eventually able to play with it and she is overjoyed. She dances while the moon continues to shrink. Eventually it becomes only a silver sliver. But then it reappears in the sky, and grows again to its original size.

Lego.

I'm sitting in my room and it's 10:08AM. I usually emerge from my room around 10:30 and start taking care of the little itty bitty one. I'm frantically trying to finish "The Fountainhead" after a 3 month lapse in reading in general. It feels pretty good to finish anything or absorb any kind of information. In the middle of a sentence about Central Park, I hear a little voice from the hallway. I feel this rush to my stomach that I can identify from last Summer, backpacking, and Austin. I know this feeling. It means I'm alive. I'm so excited to go play LEGO's and then go to the park and run around after a little boy. This is the feeling I get when I know I'm living. I feel so happy. I hope you all find this feeling as often as possible. Good morning!

Ego/Eco

"Thought provoking image to start your week with which very effectively lays out how "one" species has assumed a disproportionate influence in nature."