motivation

Join Me

2010-02-28: Worshipping the Sun
I know you have the capacity
To treat your own self with animosity
Not afraid to attack who you’re trying to be
Whether or not it’s consciously
You seem to battle constantly
Between competing desires
Of both motivation and apathy

Look back over the past few years
Though change has been plenty
We still share the same hopes and same fears
Unable to shake these same tears
Mistakes aplenty like one too many beers

My friend, I need you to listen close
And close your eyes
Open them to this surprise
That here you are, so alive
Take a breath and recognize
Your heart’s still pumping
Soul still thumping
With a brain whose memories remain intact
In fact, already aware that this moment won’t last

Hear my words and let me ask
What if you decided to pass
Pass on the things that you know will hurt you
Skip over the part when you feel Love desert you
Instead join me here in this moment
A renewed chance to continue to grow yet
The road ahead that no one can know yet
Your life is now, it’s time to just own it

—

Photo: 2004-02-28: Worshipping the Sun  by  Will Green

The 250 Followership Milestone Post

This number is evidence of fighting through laziness.

250

I started this blog 3 years ago (11/17/2011). Only recently I’ve been able to feel people’s responses to my writing. Until 6 months ago I had 30 followers. Heck, I even had a ZERO-view month once.

Today, we have Two-Hundred and Fifty awesome people who have opted in to join the (no longer) internal conversation of my mind.

To those that have liked posts or commented, I do recognize your profiles. And every time I see one return for the second, third, fourth, or tenth time, I feel this insanely happy feeling.

Like a

WOW, that person cares about what I’m writing 🙂

Linguistical resonation had just taken place
In this moment, this single space
Someone else in the World could trace my trajectory
My mental imagery, trying to view life from a new perspective
Looking through our Universe, searching for directive

To the first 250 and beyond:

Thank you

Thank you for reading
Thank you for writing
Thank you for liking

Cheers!

Josh

The Next Snowflake

Every poem feels as if I’m saying the same thing
Though if by magic they each have their own ring
Like the multitude of designs in every single snowflake
Each new rhyme is an opportunity to create
A chance to fall into Love and away from my hate
As self-pity inducing mistakes keep piling up
But when I’m rhyming, I’m filling my cup
With them good vibes
No need for lies
When the truth begins to reveal itself
A life of heaven and a life of hell
Start to make a little more sense
Remembering about the present tense
As the past and future only exist imaginarily
Now is the moment to grasp my identity
Now is the moment to grow and become me
Even if in the end, its only momentarily

—

Photographer: Alexey Kljatov

Linguistic Dance

Welcome to my blog tonotmissthebliss
What’s this?
I’m glad you ask, stay for a moment, I truly insist
Share with me your heart so that you can assist
To impact the world with your words instead of fists

Because you see I’ve come across this realization
I can use my own emotions for artistic creations
Generating linguistic sensations
Propelling you down a single block of text
With rhymes so real that you’re ready for the next
String of words to read
As if writing itself can also breathe

This blog is my playground
Where I get to play around with these words that aim to
Invoke my emotions in a brand new moment
To capture my heart and begin to show it
Let the music flow in streams of thought and consciousness
Crafted into rhymes that hint at this single bliss
That absorbing oneself always seems to bring within it

During time of play
The concept of time merely fades away
No recipe required or steps to achieve
Just dream, create, and you’ll forget to breathe
As it already happens involuntarily
When focused on something else
Putting worries up on the shelf

Figuring out the better half of the same coin
Bringing lightness to the dark while attempting to join
The world into sanity of knowing
Exposing my attempts to understand myself while consistently showing
The fun of it all, merely just playing, having the time of my life
Following this Slip-N-Slide of magical rhymes
Gliding through these rides and tides of emotions
Just motions of words against the silence
Hoping to be part of a world of lesser violence
Where we live with our hearts
Letting love run free
This is where I want to be
The world of love, with you and with me

 

Responsibility of Life

OSASuBX1SGu4kb3ozvne_IMG_1088

Use more than imagination
You have a body
To put life in action
Demonstrate your words
Through creating ever lasting
Moments of inspiration
Bring the change we’ve all been asking for
Wishing for
Prove that you can rise up off this sullen floor
Life’s too short to live it like a bore
Become the hero of your heart and more
People will follow once they see that you’ve sworn
To grow and encourage others
Moving forward, but without the scorn

As if you were born to be a conduit of Love
Remember there is no defined purpose
Only choices that resurface
In the ever continuing moments of time and space
Enter your mind and look to replace
A moment of regret with a moment of choice
A life of fret is an injustice to those without a voice
Taken by death, unable to read these words
Forever gone to the existing world
But not in our hearts

For we sing for those who lived

Those who died
We remember because WE ARE ALIVE
So don’t just cry
Match those tears with laughter beside
Let gratitude overwhelm you
For the ground below a stunning sky
Appreciate our lows along with the ecstatic highs
Take this moment to recognize
The responsibility of being alive
Is to appreciate the world
While it’s your turn to wake and rise

—
For EDM lovers, I wrote part of this song while listening to Galantis – Runaway (U & I)
Photographer: Jake Hills

Ticket?

Ferris

Overflowing with lies
Excuses building walls to hide behind insincere intentions
On the wrong side of life’s fences
Too busy dreaming of grass on the other side
Without even attempting to water
The green in front of eyes aged with years of growth

There’s no excuse for giving up hope
So don’t try to make the case
For a mind stuck in that painful place
There are others too, who need to embrace
The honest truth that Love is shared
So long as we share it
Our fate can be changed
So long as we bear it
Together hand in hand weathering the storms that pass
Taking a moment to mourn the past
And look forward to the future
Knowing what we want most in life
Won’t simply arrive in an Amazon box, neatly tied in a bow
Self-respect and pride in tow
No it’s not that easy
But this you already know!

The problem is the doubt
That infects and clouds
Visionary ideals
Converting dreams into topics to never again be revealed
As if the love was locked away,  and then forever sealed
Without any armor or even a shield
We numb the pain but continue to yield
And refrain from following that which resonates
With the heart and the brain
Hesitating to jump onto life’s train
When already given the ticket
I’m here to remind you
That there’s still time to miss it

—

I found this poem in my notebook — the date was 7/28/2014. Had I not come across it while flipping pages, I may have forgotten about it completely. By chance it caught my eye and has now become a new post. This is a perfect example as to why I love this blog. I recently reached a point where I was writing so many rhymes that If I didn’t start sharing them, then they’d simply be lost in my notes. This way I get to share them with you and for this, I am grateful.

Photographer: José Martín Ramírez Carrasco

Symphonies Against the Silence

I want to be Eminem but high on inspiration
To lead this generation to create a better nation
Become a hit sensation
Just by telling people to believe
Look in deeply to see you can achieve your wildest dreams
All that’s stopping you is effort and a whole lot of time
Don’t let up and a world you will find
Of impossible creativity
One to share
Between the next you and me
No longer rocking to those old CDs
But feeling it all online
Your voice is growing
It’s more than ready to shine

And the world will spin on by
Regardless of whether or not
You make the choice to try
So why not let go
Of the pain you used to know
Instead see it differently
Almost as if impossibly
New perspectives start entering
Changing the outlook on what’s always been the same scene
Now strong enough to face the pain
Embracing weakness without disdain
Blessed with the Love to still feel sane

Making the choice not to escape
Upon understanding the importance
Of a future left to shape
It’s too soon to give up on your heart
Not when music like this is in the air
Symphonies against the silence invoking feelings to share
When we’re all rocking to the same beat
We can feel that we care
No longer alone
Among those here and those there
Together we can mutually bare
What our future has in store
No matter what — no matter where

—

Photographer: Björn Simon

 

Break the Apathy

There we go
Almost lost the show ya know
Couldn’t find the Evernote
Writing stories just to say I wrote
Cause you’ll never know
When you’re gonna grow
Next challenge on the corner
Now you’re stronger and can afford to
Take a hit or two from life
Standing tall like a human being
Supported by a wall
Of friendship and family
Altogether just breathing
The same shared air
On a planet numbered one
Whose story still unsung
A moment to be aware
Of how far we’ve been flung
In a universe both here and there
Polarity undiscovered
Between whats wrong and whats fair
People living separately
Hatred and animosity
With a sense of such ferocity
In difference of another
Take on a heartbeat
Organs still the same
Just the visuals and culture differing
What if we thought differently
Somehow, just magically
Ideal didn’t have to be
So damn far from reality
This is why I’m writing here
An attempt to guide you much more near
A sense of understanding
That questions remain outstanding
And change will only come after the moment we all demand it

—

For those wondering, Evernote is the application I use to record my fleeting thoughts as I go about my days. I’ve been using it pretty consistently for a few months now and it’s beginning to pay off. Here’s one example: My recent post, Blip, was a fleeting thought from last month on August 13th, 9:07 AM. Must have been during my commute into work. That little thought — that fleeting idea — I probably hadn’t thought about since. Upon revisiting the idea during some time spent browsing notes, it struck me as something powerful and worth sharing. And thus, a moment later, a new post was born.

—

NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center – Sunrise/Sunset Over Earth (NASA, International Space Station, 07/31/14) (Woah, they took this photo on my birthday. Sweet!)

Dreams in the Mirror: Part 2

Take this inner conflict
See it as a sign that you shouldn’t miss
For in life there is only time with emptiness
It’s in your hands now to create this bliss
Your soul is frustrated
To grow, it cries out

Finite creatures living in an infinite world
Contingent possibilities make knowing the future absurd
But we can make our choices today
We can be the hands that mold this clay
This malleable sense of personal identity
Discover the truth in what it means to be free
Embrace the peak of humanity’s decree
To let me be me
Become the person that I want to be

I’m not where I am by working alone
Only with the help of the other has my life flown
In the direction that I want it to
Look in the mirror and choose you
This is your cue
To break through your inner feud
Using your pain as your strongest fuel
To propel you forward
Even when you’re not sure
That you can face your inner monster
Cause if you sit and let it stir
It’ll grow faster and faster
And the second you slip up
Mistakes resurface into personal disaster

Yet the struggle is shared more than you know
In everybody’s hearts exist the capacity to grow
But pain becomes the norm and then becomes dulled
Before you know it your dreams are in the past
And you’ve grown too old
So NOW is the time to live and be bold
Become the fire that pushes back the cold

Next: Part 3 – 7/30/2014

 

—

Dreams in the Mirror is a 10 part series. It began as a short bit I wrote while venting about self-directed frustrations. During my recent Spring semester, I had gotten lazy with my studies and personal projects. Feeling extremely dissatisfied, I processed my feelings through writing what is now Part 1. Several months later, after the semester had ended, I now find myself commuting to my dream job. During my work-bound train-rides I have downtime to think and to write. I came across Part 1 and began writing responses. The subsequent 9 parts are all focused on answering the frustrations of my past and building hope for the future. This piece has been fundamental in my recent mindset toward life and I’m very happy that I have the ability to share it with the world.

Dreams in the Mirror: Part 1 – 7/26/2014
Dreams in the Mirror: Part 2 – 7/28/2014
Dreams in the Mirror: Part 3 – 7/30/2014
Dreams in the Mirror: Part 4 – 8/1/2014
Dreams in the Mirror: Part 5 – 8/3/2014
Dreams in the Mirror: Part 6 – 8/5/2014
Dreams in the Mirror: Part 7 – 8/7/2014
Dreams in the Mirror: Part 8 – 8/9/2014
Dreams in the Mirror: Part 9 – 8/11/2014
Dreams in the Mirror: Part 10 – 8/13/2014

Find a Passion

Find a passion and let it grow
Let it lead you on a path to find your soul.
For me, rhymed insults in high school
Became the poems I’d write for girls I barely knew.
But after a suggestion from a friend
I gave this talent a direction,
A new focus on self reflection,
Not concerned about perfection,
Not to mention
Inspired by others
With lyrical prowess
Who progress
An artistic arrangement of words
With such a finesse
Where people call em the best
Cause instead of choosing to rest
They put to their mind to the test
And use their creativity
Affecting souls productively
While building art for all to see
Living life alongside their dreams