corimagua

“All the harbingers of collapse are visible: crumbling infrastructure; chronic underemployment and unemployment; the indiscriminate use of lethal force by police; political paralysis and stagnation; an economy built on the scaffolding of debt; nihilistic mass shootings in schools, universities, workplaces, malls, concert venues and movie theaters; opioid overdoses that kill some 64,000 people a year; an epidemic of suicides; unsustainable military expansion; gambling as a desperate tool of economic development and government revenue; the capture of power by a tiny, corrupt clique; censorship; the physical diminishing of public institutions ranging from schools and libraries to courts and medical facilities; the incessant bombardment by electronic hallucinations to divert us from the depressing sight that has become America and keep us trapped in illusions. We suffer the usual pathologies of impending death. I would be happy to be wrong. But I have seen this before. I know the warning signs. All I can say is get ready.”

-Chris Hedges

The following are true stories.

May 26th 2003 Aron Ralston was hiking, a boulder fell on his right hand. He waited four days, then amputated his arm with a pocket knife.

On New Year’s Eve, a woman was bungee jumping in Zimbabwe. The cord broke, she then fell into a river and had to swim back to land in crocodile infested waters with a broken collarbone.

Claire Champlin was smashed in the face by a five pound watermelon being propelled by a slingshot.

Matthew Brobst was hit by a javelin.

David Striegl was punched in the mouth. By a kangaroo.

The most amazing part about these stories is when asked about the experience they all smiled, shrugged, and said “I guess things could have been worse.”

So go ahead.

Tell me that you’re having a bad day.

Tell me about the traffic. Tell me about your boss. Tell me about the job you’ve been trying to quit for the past four years. Tell me the morning is just a town house burning to the ground and the snooze button is a fire extinguisher. Tell me the alarm clock stole the keys to your smile, drove it into 7:00 AM, and the crash totaled your happiness.

Tell me! Tell me!

Tell me, how blessed are we to have tragedies so small it can fit on the tips of our tongues?

You see, when Evan lost his legs he was speechless. When my cousin was assaulted, she didn’t speak for forty eight hours. When my uncle was murdered, we had to send out a search party to find my father’s voice.

Most people have no idea that tragedy and silence have the exact same address.

When your day is a museum of disappointments hanging from events that were outside of your control, when you find yourself flailing in an ocean of “Why is this happening to me?”, when it feels like your guardian angel put in his two week notice two months ago and just decided not to tell you, when it feels like God is just a babysitter that’s always on the phone, when you get punched in the esophagus by a fistful of life, remember that every year two million people die of dehydration so it doesn’t matter if the glass is half full or half empty, there’s water in the cup.

Drink it, and stop complaining.

Muscle is created by repeatedly lifting things that have been designed to weigh us down. So when your shoulders feel heavy, stand up straight and lift your chin – call it exercise. When the world crumbles around you, you have to look at the wreckage and then build a new one out of the pieces that are still here.

Remember, you are still here.

The human heart beats approximately four thousand times per hour.

Each pulse, each throb, each palpitation is a trophy engraved with the words “You are still alive”.

You are still alive.

Act like it.

I, like Jason have always looked forward to a time when I could be a father. I was lucky to have been blessed with a great father and understand the importance of good father figure in your life. I want to be a great role model for my own kids, make them proud, and help them to grow stronger and better than myself. I am thankful for my father and I know someday I will return life this great gift and become a great father myself. Jason Momoa, thanks for being a real man. They world needs more real.

Keep growing in the light direction.

“I found balance and i found my passion. I wanted to see the world climbing. I craved the road, the wild, i wanted to get out and explore it all. Camping, fires, playing music, telling stories, living in the dirt, eating crackers and sardines. I packed up my life and i put it on my back, free to wander, everywhere. From Tibet to France, Italy, Japan… Everywhere USA. My travels made me a student of life.”

“I found my path, i’m a craftsman, my craft is story telling.”

“I’m a father. I found my place, my home. Like any father we want our children to see us doing what we love.”

“I decided to surround my children with who I am. With music, Painting, all my art forms. Cause if I teach them to skate, then they can surf or snowboard. Ultimate balance, bold and brave in any terrain. And if I teach them to climb, then they can push themselves to the limits, gracefully move through fear and doubt. To learn respect for our natural resources, cause if they can admire natures truest colors, they can begin to see the beauty in all things, to be aware of those inconspicuous and overlooked details of life. I want to give them my eyes. They will know art. They’ll paint, sculpt, they’ll understand light and darkness, the composition, to find their soul. And that’s where the music lies, the soul. Teach them to play because if they can play they can sing, if they can sing then they can dance and when you dance you celebrate. It is all connected. These lessons will tech them expression of self and if I build it I can teach them hard work, and dedication, integrity, the moral code. Now every time my children play they can feel like their papa is always with them.”

Short Poem by 25 year old Poet Cesar Brandon. Cesar is from guinea but lived in Spain for most of his life. He rose to notoriety after wining Spain’s got talent, delivering his wonderful prose to the astonishment of the crowds. The world needs more poets! We need more creativity and more beauty !

Me enamore de una canción y era de carne y hueso

Me enamore de una chica que no solo era carne,

sino que también era seso.

Me Enamore…..

Me enamore de su cuerpo, de su beso y de su sexo

Si!…. Si!…. Si! … Me enamore.

Me enamore de su verso….

Me enamore de su peso,

de su cielo y de su infierno

de su vuelo y de su suelo.

de su ME VOY!, y pues claro, yo también me vengo.

Me enamore, joder que si me enamore.

Me enamore, pero, creo que me enamore a destiempo.

Por que…. cuando desperte…. todo era un sueño.

Me volvi a enamorar pero ….. 

Tu habías Muerto.

(English)

I fell in love with a song and it was of flesh and bones

I fell in love with a girl who was not only flesh, 

but also brains.

I fell in love….. 

I fell in love with her body, her kiss and her sex.

Yes!…. Yes!… Yes!… I fell in love.

I fell in love with her verse

I fell in love with her weight,

of her heaven and hell.

of her flight and her ground.

Of her ‘I’m leaving’, and of course i come also. 

I fell in love, fuck i fell hard.

I fell in love, but i think at the wrong time

because…. when i awoke…. everything was a dream.

I fell in love again….. 

but you had died. 

I like the people who are sincere

who shake your hand and look at you in the eyes.

who are amazed and emotional

who smile at life

who love animals

who respect elders

who don’t make fun of others

and who always show face, no matter how hard the adversity.

“Happiness isn’t just a word. It is a World.

When I listen to music, it clears my head of all the worries & troubles this world brings. For those five to six minutes I go to a place where the sun always shines, and they don’t even have the word cloud because they’ve never seen one.

When I’m in love with someone and there is that hint of hope that they too might love me, I go to this place. When i’m having a great time with my friends, cracking each other up, I also visit this wonderful place.

That look in my dogs eyes when i return home whether i’ve been gone for ten minutes or three days, I know by that look that he’s in that spectacular place.

Enjoying food that is good for me also takes me to this other realm.

Happiness isn’t jus a word. It is a World. A world I try to live in as much as possible. I can understand the misconception between world and word, but if more people realize it’s more a world that a word; then this world would be a much better place.

It is and always will be about your perception; not about how other people’s world appears.

-Lisa has Heart

S.O.J.A (Soldiers of the Jah Army), Michael Franti & Nahko

I believe, I believe
I believe, I believe
No matter what you do
I believe, I believe
I believe, I believe
It will all come back to you
Stand up and find your own way
Or sit down and wait for your turn
Follow you vision blindly
Or just become the vision of someone
Remove the shackles right now
You never really fit into ‘em at all
Or keeping running with that metal
On your feet until you fall
Everything that you say
Become the things that you do
Remember what you put out there is building you
Remember everything is everything
I believe, I believe

I kinda been struggling
The fire on my tongue’s been challenging
But even the wise ones be stumbling
So pick your heart up here and walk tall
Bright eyed deliverance
Everything you say’s significant
So speak your truth, be spirited
You’re beautiful and bold, so carry one

Everything is everything, every single day
Remember this in everything you do everything you say
In everything you eat and all the people that you meet
There is life, there is light, that’s reflected back on me.

I believe, I believe

Turn your speakers down
And listen to the silence down below
That’s the messenger
And that’s the only one that really knows
Turn my music down
‘Cause it’s your turn now

Remember all that you say
It becomes all that you do
Everything that you put out there is building you up
Or it’s breaking you down to the ground
Well it’s your choice now
Yeah it’s your voice now
It’s that same sound

“Power….. a blizzard is power, an earthquake is power, a tornado is power. These are all things of power that no oppressor, no machine age can put these things of power in a prison. No machine can make these things of power submit to the machine age. That is natural power. And just as it takes millions of billions of elements to make a blizzard to happen, or to the make an earthquake make the earth move; then it is going take millions and billions of us. We are Power. We have that same power. We have the potential for that power. I remember in the 60’s and 70’s and all I heard all these things about power to the people, and I never really understood that, because everyone was saying power to the people and they were taking about demonstrations, talking about voting. They were dealing on the terms of the oppressor. Our power will come back to us, our sense of balance will come back to us, when we go back to natural way of honoring and protecting the earth. If we have forgotten how to do it, and if we think the task is too overwhelming and we can never accomplish it. Then all we have to do as an individual, we can go out and find some spot on the earth we can relate to, feel that energy, feel that power. That’s were our safety will come from, the earth will take care of us.”