Hello my lovely people! I wanted to share with you this video project called Fifty People, One Question. The title of the project really speaks for itself. Fifty people are all asked the same question in different locations around the world. In these two videos, each person is asked, “Where would you like to wake up tomorrow?” I first watched these videos a couple of years ago, but was recently reminded of them and still feel as attracted as I originally did to the concept.

London:

Brooklyn:

I feel drawn to these videos for a couple of reasons. The first is because I like to ask people A LOT of questions myself. But most importantly, the real human emotion involved in these videos makes me choke up. Even when the answers are simple or boring, I still appreciate everyone’s face when they answer. I think it is interesting that some people use their imagination or answer with a fantasy place. Yet, I’m even more fascinated that most people say they would like to wake up in their own bedrooms. It is a nice reminder that we all like to feel safe, loved and comfortable. What can I say? I LOVE people. This video project is really beautiful to me.

Palindrome
by Lisel Mueller

There is a positivity blog I read from time to time that consists of different articles about happiness, balance and achievement. One of those articles was Mark Twain’s Top 9 Tips For Living  A Kick Ass Life.  Sure, I have always known that Mark Twain was cool, but I never knew he was awesome.

Here are some of my favorite Mark Twain quotes and ridiculous things that remind me of them:

“Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

“Time cools, time clarifies; no mood can be maintained quite unaltered through the course of hours.”

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear – not absence of fear.”

“The human race has one really effective weapon, and that is laughter.”

“When your friends begin to flatter you on how young you look, it’s a sure sign you’re getting old.”

After coming across these quotes, I fell in love with Mark Twain’s combined humor and wisdom. I was reminded to believe in myself and not to take things too seriously. I have decided that the next book I read will be one of Mark Twain’s. Does anyone have any suggestions as to where to start?

“If the whole universe can be found in our own body and mind,

this is where we need to make our inquires.

We all have the answers within ourselves, we just have not got in touch with them yet.

The potential of finding the truth within requires faith in ourselves.”

― Ayya Khema

Click through images for source info.

I was given Patti Smith’s memoir, Just Kids, by one of my best friends over Christmas.  Months before Christmas, I had heard a Fresh Air interview with Patti and felt interested in her story.  Though I probably would never have bought the book myself, the beauty of receiving a book as a gift is that sometimes, one you would never buy yourself, turns out to shape your life in all sorts of unexpected ways. I am not saying that Just Kids has changed my life, but there are a couple themes and lessons that I have carried with me since I started reading it.

Other people’s relationships are not for you to figure out – The main focus of Just Kids is Patti Smith’s lifelong bond with her homosexual boyfriend/soulmate/best friend/mentor/idol artist, Robert Mapplethorpe. There are countless occasions in which people judge them and try to understand their relationship. Yet they keep their relationship sacred, and for no one else.  It is one of the most beautiful bonds I have ever read about.

(Robert Mapplethorpe, Untitled, 1968)

Art is awesome – I have always had an affinity for poetry and photography.  Reading this book has  my renewed admiration for creative expression. It’s made me want to take more pictures and write more often. And I’m reminded that I need no point other than to express myself. Creating (bring something into existence) will never be a regret and it is one of the most beautiful things you can do.

When you are in the midst of a revolution, you don’t always realize it – Patti moved to New York City in the late 60’s.  She partied with Andy Warhol, lived across the street from John Lennon and sat with Jimi Hendrix. When Patti describes herself sitting with Janis Joplin in a room at the Hotel Chelsea singing songs, she says, “I was there for these moments, but so young and preoccupied with my own thoughts that I recognized them as moments.” It is true, and I can relate to the fact, that sometimes we are so self involved that we don’t notice the changes happening.

The hard times can sometimes be summed up in just a couple of sentences – There are time periods in Patti’s life which she describes by saying things like, “that was a dark time, but I left it with a deeper sense of myself.” As a struggling young adult in New York City, who at times feels undeniably lost and stuck, I feel reasured that sometimes the darker times don’t need more explaination than the lessons you learn from them.

Just Kids is a dark book in some ways, but it has brought light to some meaningful things in my life. I intend to enjoy and make more art, continue to foster the relationships in which I believe,  and make it through the hard times knowing there are important lessons to learn. Thank you Patti; what I’ve learned most from you is to love what is love and that art is art.  That is all there is to it. You dig?

Suzanne has been one of our mother’s best friends since graduate school and is basically our third parent. She moved into our home the day Lauren (the oldest of the four of us) was born and lived with us for thirteen years.  She was there for every birthday, knee scratch and first day of school. Just like any other parent, she helped mold me into the person I am today.  What can I say, she is the best.  When we were growing up, every time we said goodbye to Suz, she would tell us, “Trust in yourself.  Do what’s right.”   I asked Suz about her biggest life lessons; this is what she had to say:

Suzanne’s Biggest Lessons

Do what’s right – While it can be hard, you’ll never regret doing the right thing. Part of doing what’s right is to try to live without clocking up regrets.  It’s being true to yourself.  It’s way easier to do the right thing the first time, than it is to go back and apologize. If you do things right the first time, you will live with less regret.

I asked Suz how you know what the right this is.  She said, “You think about it. Nobody can say what is right for you.”

Don’t treat people with different levels of respect because of their station in life – I learned this lesson when I began to work and realized that people are just people. For example, whether you do or don’t have a degree does not mean you are more or less special. Often, if you exclude people from your life, you are the one missing out. Don’t be quick to judge people. You are only cheating yourself.

Live below your means – Living below your means is a way for you to protect your future, and the future of your health and family. If you live at the edge of exactly what you are making, you have no room to grow financially.  You cannot build your life by living above your means.  By living below your means, saving for retirement and/or a catastrophic event, you are taking responsibility for your whole life. 

In case you missed it, check out Biggest Lessons: Part 1 here.

I made a quick trip home to Cleveland over the weekend.  It is a short flight and an easy, familiar journey.  While I was waiting for my mom to pick me up, I was thinking how much I enjoy watching people being dropped off and picked up at the airport.

The emotional welcomes and farewells are of course heartwarming and heartbreaking, respectively.  They are like glimpses into a story whose context you don’t know, yet simultaneously offer so much information.  You see the many ways in which people express themselves, or otherwise hold feelings tightly within.  The overt displays of love stand among the whole spectrum of human emotion and relatedness, marking mundane to monumental moments.

These interactions serve almost as book ends to the beginnings or conclusions of chapters of one’s life.  It’s this mix of first time fliers, final farewells, casual business travelers and epic beginnings that appeals to me.  The coming together and separating that illustrates life’s perpetual motion.  The visual confirmation that every goodbye is followed by a hello down the line.

This past November, I had a love affair with Oprah’s Lifeclass. I had never really been very interested in Oprah, so a lot of the footage was new to me. I thought that her series was so wonderfully put together and gracefully summed up Oprah’s biggest life lessons. If you haven’t watched the series, you must because it is so powerful.

In light of my new interest, I started to find myself curious of other people’s life lessons. I decided to ask each of my parents what their biggest life lessons were. My mother was the first to respond, although her response may not be considered a lesson.  I told her that, “the lesson is a challenge and the challenge is a lesson.” Here is what she wrote:

Biggest challenge: Mom

My biggest challenge is to live through my heart and not my head. One might think this is easy, but it is really tricky – (tricky trick as my mother would say).  It may just be the trickiest trick of all. Living with my heart guiding me means disregarding things that the mind throws in front of me, things that often seem so reasonable but feel off. That is the key I think, to knowing when you are in your head and not your heart- how you feel.

People don’t necessarily like it when you’re operating from your heart because your actions or responses often don’t make sense in a logical way – so they see you as not thinking straight. This is exactly what happens. The brain sees things in a straight line – if that, so this. The heart however “considers” and somehow comes down on the side of love, however messy and unclear that seems. I want to live here. This is my biggest and most consistent challenge.

Stay tuned for part 2 and 3.

Did you guys see 60 Minutes this week? They re-aired an incredible story from October about Alex Honnold, a mountain climber who uses no rope or equipment on his climbs of over 1,500-feet high and up to 90 degree angles.  He keeps a pocket full of chalk around his waist to dry off his hands, so they can securely support him on the climbs.  It is amazing.  And I guess a little insane.

While I am not especially prone to thrill seeking myself, just watching the story of Alex’s climbs is enough to raise your heart rate.  Though, counter to what you might expect, Alex says he doesn’t experience adrenaline rushes.  In fact he characterizes his climbs as “slow”, “controlled” and “mellow”. Yowzah!

If you have a chance, I’d highly recommend checking out the full story.  You can watch it here.

And speaking of heights, the 60 Minutes story reminded me of this video I stumbled upon a couple of years ago.  It documents two fearless female highliners on their trip to France’s Ritson Gap.  Wow, some people are brave!  Enjoy and set your sights high!

Send it sistah ! from sebastien montaz-rosset on Vimeo.