DESIDERATA

“Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. As far as possible, without surrender, be on good terms with all persons.

Speak your truth quietly and clearly; and listen to others, even to the dull and the ignorant; they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons; they are vexatious to the spirit. If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter, for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.

Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans. Keep interested in your own career, however humble; it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.

Exercise caution in your business affairs, for the world is full of trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is; many persons strive for high ideals, and everywhere life is full of heroism.

Be yourself. Especially, do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love; for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.

Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth.

Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune. But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings. Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.

Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe no less than the trees and the stars; you have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you, no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should. Therefore be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be.

And whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life, keep peace in your soul. With all its sham, drudgery and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world. Be cheerful. Strive to be happy.”

Max Ehrmann, “Desiderata”

Nick-meek-Chest-Plate-Tattoo

broken-hearted
What becomes of the broken hearted, what comes after the pain, well like a wise man said “isn’t the fact that you’re hurt that counts, But only how did you take it?  What came from it, it is not the falling thats bad what is shame full is to lie there in disgrace doing nothing. We must over come our fears our failings and most important to never forget that more will come.  We must build endurance to tackle what ever comes our way.  Men and women  have done just that and we must learn from them, we must learn not just from their mistakes but from the actions that followed that made them who they are.  It is possible, it can be done and it will be done.

neptune-2

Greater men have struggled in the past, it is some thing normal some more than others but thats just how life is, we must keep an open mind and always remember the old saying “when one door closes a window always opens up”.  I always keep a sliding door open just in case lol.  Is that rainy day bag our parents always talked about.  I love the interaction with nature, I have learned to accept things I cannot change and have come to terms with it, I welcome what ever happens and I know that things are unfolding as they should.  I pay attention to the everyday omens and every person I meet I learn from them and  make them part of my journey, I mind my sheep. “the alchemist”

Xiao-Portrait-of-Grandma-Arm-Tattoo-

Beautiful people from all walks of life they all teach me so much and they remind me about the beauty of this planet that we often ignore.  We all long to exist and to be acknowledged to feel loved and needed to feel we are alive, and pain is the perfect solution for this dilema.

moms

Our loved ones all they have sacrificed should be a reminder that we must sacrifice something our selfs at one point or another.  A good friend of mine once told me “Experience is the greatest teacher but he kills all his pupils.”  So we must thread careful for there is no perfect recipe for success.

Collins-sleeve

I often wonder what motivates people to go through such great lengths only to put them selfs trough so much pain but then again pain is what makes us feel alive.  Sometimes it is  self inflicted in many different ways, and other times it is a by product of our surroundings.  But one thing is certain it creates an amazing reaction in us that helps us in the never ending transformation of one self.

dedication

a-blur

good-deeds

There is so much going in our lives that it often feels like a blur, we only see certain things but we must remember that some one is always watching and taking notes wether it be our good deeds or our wrongs.  Lowrider tattoo has become a staple in the tattooing industry and it has got great recognition from a very diverse audience from all over the world.  It brings me great joy not from what I have accomplish but more from what other people have made of them selfs, and the many more that have come from across the seas to make their dreams come through.  For me to be able to contribute to that is the greatest reward I get.

determination

Some will blame their failings on language barriers others on the distance between them and the opportunities, they blame it on the fact that is too hard and it takes so much work and others will acknowledge all this excuses and simply do the opposite.  They will work hard not mind the language barrier and travel across the world to come face to face with opportunity and seize the moment that will make all difference in  failure and success.

never-forgoten

So go ahead and allow time to write your story and add to the amazing  people that have done just that in the past, a divine comedy a mixture of good and bad the eternal balance we must create in our lives.

aliah

Do it for your self, do it for your loved ones and one day you will stumble upon a reflection and you will see the beautiful structure you have created.

reflections1

just-the-beginning-

DESIDERATA, latin for desired things.   I have all that I need in my life,  the only desire that I have left is not to make every one happy for many have fail in that attempt,  but to contribute to the happiness of everyone else.

With a combine effort happiness and so much more can easily be accomplished and only then you will acquire the character of the happy warrior.

  Who is the happy Warrior? Who is he
That every man in arms should wish to be?
—It is the generous Spirit, who, when brought
Among the tasks of real life, hath wrought
Upon the plan that pleased his boyish thought:
Whose high endeavours are an inward light
That makes the path before him always bright;
Who, with a natural instinct to discern
What knowledge can perform, is diligent to learn;
Abides by this resolve, and stops not there,
But makes his moral being his prime care;
Who, doomed to go in company with Pain,
And Fear, and Bloodshed, miserable train!
Turns his necessity to glorious gain;
In face of these doth exercise a power
Which is our human nature’s highest dower:
Controls them and subdues, transmutes, bereaves
Of their bad influence, and their good receives:
By objects, which might force the soul to abate
Her feeling, rendered more compassionate;
Is placable—because occasions rise
So often that demand such sacrifice;
More skilful in self-knowledge, even more pure,
As tempted more; more able to endure,
As more exposed to suffering and distress;
Thence, also, more alive to tenderness.
—’Tis he whose law is reason; who depends
Upon that law as on the best of friends;
Whence, in a state where men are tempted still
To evil for a guard against worse ill,
And what in quality or act is best
Doth seldom on a right foundation rest,
He labours good on good to fix, and owes
To virtue every triumph that he knows:
—Who, if he rise to station of command,
Rises by open means; and there will stand
On honourable terms, or else retire,
And in himself possess his own desire;
Who comprehends his trust, and to the same
Keeps faithful with a singleness of aim;
And therefore does not stoop, nor lie in wait
For wealth, or honours, or for worldly state;
Whom they must follow; on whose head must fall,
Like showers of manna, if they come at all:
Whose powers shed round him in the common strife,
Or mild concerns of ordinary life,
A constant influence, a peculiar grace;
But who, if he be called upon to face
Some awful moment to which Heaven has joined
Great issues, good or bad for human kind,
Is happy as a Lover; and attired
With sudden brightness, like a Man inspired;
And, through the heat of conflict, keeps the law
In calmness made, and sees what he foresaw;
Or if an unexpected call succeed,
Come when it will, is equal to the need:
—He who, though thus endued as with a sense
And faculty for storm and turbulence,
Is yet a Soul whose master-bias leans
To homefelt pleasures and to gentle scenes;
Sweet images! which, wheresoe’er he be,
Are at his heart; and such fidelity
It is his darling passion to approve;
More brave for this, that he hath much to love:—
‘Tis, finally, the Man, who, lifted high,
Conspicuous object in a Nation’s eye,
Or left unthought-of in obscurity,—
Who, with a toward or untoward lot,
Prosperous or adverse, to his wish or not—
Plays, in the many games of life, that one
Where what he most doth value must be won:
Whom neither shape or danger can dismay,
Nor thought of tender happiness betray;
Who, not content that former worth stand fast,
Looks forward, persevering to the last,
From well to better, daily self-surpast:
Who, whether praise of him must walk the earth
For ever, and to noble deeds give birth,
Or he must fall, to sleep without his fame,
And leave a dead unprofitable name—
Finds comfort in himself and in his cause;
And, while the mortal mist is gathering, draws
His breath in confidence of Heaven’s applause:
This is the happy Warrior; this is he
That every man in arms should wish to be.
Your friend and artist Jose Lopez

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