Pieces in the universe

Nikon F3 | 50mm | Scanned negative

"There are no extra pieces in the universe. Everyone is here because he or she has a place to fill, and every piece must fit itself into the big jigsaw puzzle." Deepak Chopra

Almost every morning I will be walking to my office underneath big trees and looking at all the leaves on the ground, and sometimes flowers, marveling at how so much come from almost nothing. A bit of water, a bit of soil, a bit of sun, and something exists where nothing did before. I wish I can let them finish out their natural cycle of replenishing the soil from which they came but the yard workers will rake and burn them soon enough. I am always blessed with a camera in hand so that I can still imprint these beauties in my memories.

Looking at those leaves, I was reminded of written words, and how they come from almost nothing. We never run out of words. We use the same words over and over again, combining them infinitely into ideas, stories, songs, and lullabies. It definitely has to be a beautiful picture!

LETs get RICH and give everybody nice sweaters and teach them how to dance.

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Riding our ego

Nikon FM2 | 50mm | negative scanned

In today’s world, most of us are working for our ego. As long as we keep doing this, the burden will be heavy for us. Even if we are working 24/7, our ego will say that we are one lazy lot. Ego is a test for human kind. Overriding our ego puts us on high station. Fasting is a way of taking away our ego – to make it weak and die. Don’t be heedless, because then we will be imprisoned by our dirty ego, like a lion in a cage. For every moment that we are heedless, some damage or punishment comes to us. Even a short moment may become a curse on us.

Our physical being cannot reach to the vastness of the world. But our spiritual being - that is something else.

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My intimacy with human - Sorry!

Nikon F3 | 135mm | Scanned negative

Many live their life in fear and warp their actions and behavior on this fear that others will disapprove or belittle them. I have learned that I will always make people uneasy with actions/words that came out from me. I can’t make everyone happy so I realized and thus I created Pictures for No One. I can take criticism and I’m comfortable with that. No one is obligated to enjoy, agree with, or applaud my pictures,writings or actions as they’re entitled to their own opinions. I am accepting that I can’t control what other people think about me and how people feel about my pictures and actions but what I can control though, is what I think about these things myself.

I’ve accepted what makes me happiest and feel confident that I could do this for as long as I want and never get tired of it. I’m very proud of myself for realizing my dream and making changes in my life so that I could pursue it. The truth is, my dream never evolved with an expectation to act that everyone likes. I recognized how I can’t accomplish that, because I understand that nobody can make everyone happy - all the time.

When I put yourself out there for the world to see, there will undoubtedly be people who will disagree with me. I have learned to let go of the idea that I can make everyone happy, and focus on making myself happy. That is something I can control. It’s up to everybody else to decide whether or not they want to be happy along with me.

Then again, I don’t go around hurting people’s feelings – and that’s the reason why I am such a quiet person in life. Sorry if I hurt anyone out there lately – believe me, it was never intended.

LETs get RICH and spoon like no one else:-)

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Song of my childhood

Olympus OM-1 | 50mm | Scanned negative

It's Tuesday - and probably the only time in my life I've been this ecstatic about a Tuesday. For starters I am happy last week is over. The heat, night insects, internet failure and deadlines had me pulling my hair out all week - mostly because I love my job - I also need my job for several reasons but most recently because it is the only thing that still makes me feel like a grown up. This week brings a lot of anticipation with it as well. New tasks are in line, my victims will be making their appearances from tomorrow - which brings me to the fact that there are still spots available.

In a demanding environment such as the one we are working in we tend to focus on winning - we must achieve our goals, deliver on time, and make money. But what about the pleasure of playing? What about the simple satisfaction of doing our work and doing it well? What about the fun of creating something new, wonderful, suitable? Please, don't forget your inner child. Let's play at work, let's have fun and goals will come.

Today comes with a big surprise as well. I was announced as the winner of the contest “Colors of Ramadhan”. RM50 cash and goodies from the Holy Land can only make me very excited. I have never done this but it was really exciting how contest brings people out of the woodwork. I learned there is an entire social media niche out there that enters contests.

Thank you brother EQBALZACK for making my day and Selamat Hari Raya to you and your loved ones. May this Ramadhan leave us with much better blessings from our previous ones and all the best to you too. Keep up the good work !

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e x p l o r e d

Nikon FE2 | Film developed with coffee and vitamin C

I was back in my office after about two weeks away. There is lots of stuff to look at after an early morning meeting that I have to attend. I must say it wasn’t productive but at least I can get myself organized and set my mind to work for this week. My wife’s car was smashed by a motorcyclist and ended up with broken bumper. That happened during the drizzle after she picked my son from school. I just had to let him off and I can see the relief on his worried face.

Our Surau held “majlis berbuka puasa followed by more” after tarawikh. I had a good round table chat with the neighbors before coming here to update my hub. I was surprised to find out that my b+w upload made it to Flickr E X P L O R E.

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Shadow

Olympus OM-2n | 50mm | Scanned negative

Don’t we ever wonder on why we reacted differently on any given situation – what makes us so unpredictable at times? Some people think that we exists in dualistic nature. The shadow exists within all of us. It is a part of us and yet we spend most of our life running from it. But far from being scary, our dark side holds the promise of a better, more fulfilling life. Our shadow makes itself known every day. It is the reason we get furious over a friend showing up ten minutes late, yell at our kids when they have done nothing wrong, and sabotage our own success at the worst possible time. Until we are able to embrace our dualistic nature, we will continue to hurt ourselves and those closest to us and fall short of our potential.

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