THE SECRET TO SLOWING DOWN AGING

There is actually a very real, very natural way to age very slowly, to slow down the life clock. It is so ridiculously easy and do-able, it's a wonder why most people don't do these things... 1-Very basic: Drink 10-12 glasses of water a day. This needs no explanation--just do it! 2-Obvious, another "duh": avoid cigarettes! If you smoke, knock it off, ASAP. Period. 3-Get into the habit of reading--everything intelligent, from the NY Times, to all types of nonfiction material, books. The mind that stays curious, eager to learn, ages very slowly. 4-Stretch your lower back, every day; keep your spinal column limber and long and flexible. Do yoga or any stretching techniques, but lengthen and limber up that lower back! 5-Go out running, three times a week, at minimum. Your lungs will expand; you will take in more air per breath, and your body will feel-and be-years younger than your birthdate says. Work up to five miles or more. Sweating while running is the best natural plastic surgery/botox there is. 6-If there is ANYTHING pressing on your mind-in fact, ANYTHING PERIOD-it is to go into a journal, a notebook for you to "bitch and moan"-or to celebrate your victories. Keep nothing in your head. Think of your head as a computer; do not fill up all the memory in it with excess crap; take it off the ol' hard drive, and send it all to flash drives. Let your journals be the "flash drives" you empty the contents of your head into! Thinking, dwelling on things, remembering, strategizing for life all age people; using mental energy that you cannot see is one of the secret drains of our youthfulness. Write out all your mental stuff, and leave it at home! 7-Make a list of everything you want in life; make a few copies of that list, and carry one with you as you go out in the world. When you are clear about what you want from this world, it becomes a narrow, clear-cut path to it. This makes the whole process of what life's all about very simple for you, and will keep you much younger. Write the list of all your wants! 8-Make, and write a list of, all the plans you can think of, to get each item on your list of wants/goals. Put down every strategy you think of, from the most preposterous to the most conservative. Fill your list with all your ideas for getting everything you want! 9-Exercise every day, even if it's just for 15 minutes; work on your stomach/waist, legs, back, and arms. 10-Learn to breathe properly. Fill your lower ribs with air, on every inhalation. Practice this deep breath when you wake up; do it as needed throughout the day. When you are breathing, send the air to your lower ribs. 11-Avoid fried food. 12-Make it a habit to talk to yourself on paper: "What's wrong with me?"; "Why don't I have what I want yet?"; "What's urgent, on my mind, now?"; ask questions of yourself only you are brave enough to answer to...on paper. Unclutter your mind of stuff; put it all in the journal. I cannot emphasize this enough. Two weeks of doing this will show you all you need to know. 13-Always keep talking about your aspirations to people--whether you've accomplished them or not. Always keep the world knowing that you are still in the fight; someone may know someone who can make your path easier to your goals. As long as you keep talking about it, you will edge closer to what you want. 14-Always, every day, do SOMETHING to get closer to what you goals. Even if it's the "smallest quarter-inch forward", it's still forward movement-closer to them. And write down each "quarter-inch" progress you made that day; celebrate this by putting it in your journals. Self-congratulations boost your spirit; this keeps you younger, and fires you up for your next round of battles with the world on the way to all the things you want. 15-Be touched-a lot! Be around someone, or people, who touch you, as much as you want, in all the ways you like to be touched, and in all the parts of you that you want/need to be touched. Collect all the skin contact you need, to get you through the day. 16-ALWAYS keep pursuing sex and love, whether you've been successful in finding it or not. The pursuit of love and sex keeps you young, regardless of whether you have found it or not. A little-known secret: it's the continued pursuit-through the regular interactions and exchange of human electrical energy with people-that keeps you young. This is because, subconsciously, everyone knows that the pursuit of love and sex entails eventually finding it; if and when your partner is found, sex is a VERY youthful activity. No explanation is needed here. Continue the pursuit; success is a spectacular bonus! Keep hunting! So, reader, you wanna stay young? Well, it takes effort: Do all the above! Period!

CREATIVITY 101 (part 2)

1-Write a list of personal reasons why it is so important for you to be creative, to create. Fill this list with as many reasons as you can possibly think of, that are personally important to you. This will be your regular motivational letter to yourself, in times when your output, spirit, and effort is lagging. 2-The best art is your self revelations. Your interactions with others, expressed, provides material to mine into creative images, ideas. This is the art of humanity. 3-Trust the "crap" you crank out; what looks like "garbage" now could, at the very least, lead to a "big" creative idea later. Never throw out "crap"; store them, and see where they might lead, later. Put ALL your ideas in the notebook!

A LITTLE SPIEL ABOUT LIFE--AND HANDLING IT

1-Dealing with the old workday: Think of it this way: With each passing minute, each half-hour going by, you are that much closer to the end of your workday, and closer to whatever chosen pleasure awaits you afterward.  If you have to, write this as a note to yourself, to remind you of this.     2-Suffer productively. If you must suffer-for whatever reason (relationship breakup, injury, illness, layoff, firing, traumatic life event, crisis, etc.), then suffer productively; pile on lots of minor accomplishments during this troubled time. Read lots of books, do all that writing you always aspired to do, make the calls to people you've always neglected, tie off all unhandled business.  Be productive! "Work away" the tough times, bad moments of your life.       3-You must do the actions that feed your belief in your plan (toward your goals), and feed your belief in your ability to accomplish your goals. Your belief will then fuel your further efforts-and the quality of those subsequent efforts-and boost the results. Each effort, win or lose, will fuel your output-the physical, tangible validation of your striving-and ultimately, your goals! Each effort you do toward your goal is like one more rung on the ladder you grab and climb, to whatever you want, sitting on top of that ladder!       4-Keep doing, talking about, and showing your "thing", until people start talking about you.       5-You wanna accomplish anything? You wanna win any fight? Simple-it's like boxing; in the ring, in the middle of a fight, you don't stop to complain to the referee about the shots you're taking from your opponent. It's the nature of the fight game to take, and dish out punishment.  Life-and pusuing your goals-is the same thing: your opponent is OBSTACLES; it's his "job" to "hit" you, to get in your way, and try to discourage you with his "shots". Your job is to dial up the quality and quantity of your own "punches"-your further efforts and plans toward your goals. You gotta hit "him" (the obstacles) with harder shots (more telling efforts, better plans) and more shots (tries) than "he" is sending. Outpunch him! That's how you win a fight-in the ring, or in pursuing your goal. You gotta outfight the obstacles. The rule of thumb of boxing also applies to life:  It is generally a game of will and skill; the skill normally beating the will, UNLESS the will of one guy is so much bigger than the skill of the other guy.  Remember this rule.  Think about it, whenever facing your opponent, The Obstacle.  The name of the game is always:   Make the Other Guy quit!          6-The only thing that will happen is what you attempt to make happen. Your actions will ultimately decide the results and rewards you get.      7-Apply relentless (nonstop) attempts, visualized focus (on the desired result), and endless repetition (of a verbal message or a physical action) toward a desired result.      8-If you do something noticeably good, productive, noteworthy, and positive to someone's life, jot it down, and look to build on it, with subsequent, follow-up efforts!       9-Try to have some fun, every minute of your day, your month, your year, your life.     10-Are you your own cheerleader-or your own "cockblocker"? Decide which you have been, recently-and which you want to be, from here on out. Then, act accordingly.

CREATIVITY 101

1-Collect situations you experience or witness, to use and express later, in your art.  2-Find your own visual language.   3-Reach into your subconscious, for an image whose full meaning remains partly veiled.   4-Show a new perception of reality.   5-There can be no art without a problem to solve. Search for the problems in your life, and your world.    6-Remain interested in what goes on in the world.   7-Learn to be a great appreciator of this world. Take in, delight, in the many small foibles of this world. Notice and write down the odd stuff you notice around you.    8-Be a biographer of the heart.     9-Be an interpreter of the loins. Express the situation of lust, as you witness it around you.   10-Dissect the aspects of the world, and the society we live in. Examine them through your own personal lens.     11-We carry our own unique, personal issues and obsessions wherever we go. Deal with these, through your artistic expression.       12-Deal with the traumatized soul, as themes.     13-Take risks; accept and work through the discomfort.    14-Explore the depths of the human soul.      15-Use external sources, external objects; see what kind of creative can be extracted from them.     15-Try an honest approach, with no predetermined outcome.          16-Creativity is like a muscle; the more you use it, it stronger it becomes.     17-In choosing creative material, use "whatever is there". Use whatever works; use anything around you to jot down, to be potential creative material, later.

Mina (pt 2)

Mina and Kara are rock stars of the art world!

PURSUING YOUR GOALS

          The best way I could put this is to say: If you haven't found what you're looking for, it's because you simply haven't done enough to get it. What you've been doing isn't good enough; you don't yet deserve that thing you crave.  Solution? 1-Revamp your plan; create a new one.  2-Do more of what that plan is; amp up your efforts.  It's like chopping a tree; if that tree hasn't come down yet, you need to take your little ax back to that tree, and get to choppin', boy!  Chop, till that tree is horizontal, beneath your feet!  Chop, till you're lookin' DOWN on that tree!  That has to be your same approach to seeking anything in your life; apply efforts toward that goal, until all the obstacles fall out, exhausted from defending against you.  This approach gives you the best chance  to eventually obtain what you want!

About Last Night...

This is Emily, a passionate social worker, and yours truly!  I decided to let myself go centerstage, if only for a brief moment...

If you're gonna step out into the limelight, who better with than a beautiful brunette? 

For those who don't know, the schmuck on the right runs this photoblog!

That's me, again, with Ann.

This is Ewa, pronounced:  "Ee-v-aa".  She is an up-and-coming artist.

Here we have the ubiquitous Hideki, and playrights have screaming availble to them...

And his lovely companion is Gabriella.

Hope they had fun.

And, this is Laura, an artist-video producer; she has made a very interesting documentary, to be out soon...