Swinging’ through Saturday ✨. 1 more day to get my e-book FREE on Amazon! (Link in bio.) Excerpt from Chapter 5- “Have you ever had one of those moments where you knew you were supposed to do something, go somewhere, meet someone? Like most things, trusting ourselves is a practice. To know thy self is a constant inquiry in self-realization & introspection. We know the right course for our own lives, yet we get trained out of alignment w/ who we truly are by parents & people who were trained out of who they were. Streams of generations acting in fear. There is no other creature that is trained to be misled by the people who raised, who loved them most. We, as a human whole, are breaking that cycle.
Intuition is a misleading term. I’m coming to realize that intuition is human instinct. Predator, prey, or observer we all have it. Nature causes you to trust yourself because that’s all you have out there.
I began listening to my intuition, really hearing and trusting it, in my 20’s. Despite disavowing my Christian upbringing- I found resonance in the archetypal journeys from the Tolkein Universe. I always felt kindred to Frodo. The great ring- a heavy burden to carry & bury alone. I traveled 7,449 miles from TX to China w/ my own kind of burden.
The times I didn’t trust my intuition were when I probably had the worst screw-ups. And oh man, have I fucked up. I’ve lost cars, relationships, wallets, opportunities because I was hungover or procrastinated, forgot to pay a bill, be somewhere, or someone on a certain day. It always works out, but did I make this part of my journey harder or were losing those things part of the process?
The detours in our lives are part of our destination. Sometimes we circle back around our home planet and a star for a few rotations- until we’re ready to be our own star. It is okay that we’re not manifesting everything we will become because we find out what we really want- out in the darkness.”
#writer #ocean #goodvibes #gay #swing #nature #bookstagram #transformationtuesday #travelgram #motivation #inspire
#travel #backpacking #igers #instagay #life #selfcare #book #weekend #sea #intuition #writersofinstagram #author #universe
True love gaits. “Happy Valentine’s Day!” -straight from the horse’s mouth. 😆💞 Just a Little Horse on the prairie. He’s really Hot to trot. Okay, I’m done foaling around.🐴😘🤷🏻♀️ #tbt #horse #valentines #foreversingle #kiss . . . . . #wildhorses #nature #pun #texas #love #wildlife #nature #gay #single #instagay #field #horses #instagood #goodvibes #sky #photooftheday #igers #thursday #lindo #travel #synchronicity #life #love #singleawarenessday
Future reflections/Valentine sky. Rooftop reminisces. 💞🍬🍭🏝 #playadelcarmen #backpacking #latergram #nofilter . . . . #selfie #photography #mexico #instagay #gay #instagood #mirror #sky #sunset #beach #arielpink #pink #travel #travelgram #gayfit #backpacker #instagood #lindo #candy #goodvibes #transformationtuesday #rooftop #igers #sky #valentines
New post! “Halfway Home.” I’m halfway into writing my 2nd book 🤠, re-planning my move, & waiting for 2nd interviews. The words flow more freely this go round. Will they see the light of day? It’s been difficult to get out of bed, but I’ve been getting up. Looking forward w/ tempered optimism. I wish I could be a plastic. That I could fake it. That I didn’t have a deep heart. Call me Blondie. She breaks like crystal glass these days. Sometimes I think, "if I could just be a corporate sellout & make a shit ton of money, I'd live happily ever after w/ an easy-bake oven life." But then I wouldn't be me & life is more than what we own and do. (full post at Joshovaswitness.com- link in bio.) . . The only thing worse than not pursuing your dreams is to achieve them & realize it may have been for nothing. This wasn't part of the plan. Neither was “MAGA 🇺🇸.” Many unplanned things have occurred in the world that weren't supposed to. I wish each could be rectified. Why did y’all lead me to believe you wanted to hear my words? Or was it intriguing to watch from the sidelines hidden in sheep’s clothing? The wolves are out for blood most nights. To quote the Talking Heads, “and here am I the biggest fool of them all,” & the only one to hold responsible. There’s power in surrender. Control is illusory. We are at the helm of our ship but no amount of skill can steady the ocean’s waves. After all, “the best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” I looked into the abyss & found the abyss. I toppled over the edge & plunged downwards. What happened to finding mountains instead? Cloud cover isn’t limited to sky. I have to trust this will turn into something grand, & if not, at least I tried my hardest. A mountain is still a mountain. That’s got to count for something- even if the haze won't let me see it now. . . . . #blog #blogger #mountain #philosophy #journey #travel #travelgram #nature #mountain #forest #tree #writer #writersofinstagram #mondaymotivation #gay #hope #instagood #earth #life #depression #universe #glaciernationalpark #wanderlust #photooftheday #igers #waterfall #explore #clouds #photography #awesome
2 years cigarette free. 30 days without drinking in excess or getting drunk once. Life has a way of throwing you curve balls. Sometimes you have to step back to see it all more clearly. I’ve been laying low but keeping goals and promises to myself intact. Meditation and fam have been my biggest blessings. Setbacks are another way back to the drawing board. Getting ready to make a new start in the PNW soon. Here’s to moving onwards and forward!🏔🌲🙌 #goals #smokefree #life #health #selfcare #gay . . . . . . . #photooftheday #skincare #instagay #motivation #forward #instagay #queer #instagood #fit #gayfit #cigarette #sober #tattoo #meditation #inspire #healthy #igers #living #transformationtuesday #follow #selfie #february #goodvibes #holistic
My sister and best friend, Jessy, is going to be the best mom ever!! Congrats you two! So excited to meet baby, Ethan. Thanks for letting me photograph y’all’s special day. Can’t wait to be an uncle. Love you both. Jessy you’re the best!! ✨💙🎉 #baby #genderreveal #family #sister #latergram . . . . . #confetti #canon #fam #celebrate #goodvibes #instagood #life #love #babyshower #new #best #momtobe #photographer #texas #bonds #sunday
Starfish to stardust/starzaddy. 🤠💓 10 years was a lifetime- a wholly different person ago. That kid in the Beijing night market had just embraced his sexuality a few days before. Ten years later I’m owning all of who I am; flaws, virtues, and the casual garden flex, or two. 😅👋. It’s not always easier. There have been big mistakes and so much joy along the way. But above all I promise it really does and truly will get so much better than you think it will right now! Your life has so much room to spread out and expand once you let it- even in the darkest moments. I still have dark days too, but it is the good in this life that takes us forward. 🙌🇨🇳🇺🇸🏳️🌈 #motivation #10yearchallenge #travel #gay #free #itgetsbetter . . . . . . . #china #starfish #fbf #journey #instagay #writersofinstagram #glowup #travelgram #beijing #travelgram #backpacking #weekend #gayfit #hope #meditation #inspire #adventure #grow #fitness #flex #discover #instagood #photooftheday #igers
Pink sky. 😍 3 noches más en Méxcico! #tbt Mazatlan May 2018. It was here I began panning this amazing life-changing journey for better or worse. I'm looking forward to coming home and until we meet again, Mazatlan! 💗🌇🌞 #mazatlan #ocean #backpacking #canon #photography #nofilter #travel . . . . . . . #travelgram #adventure #beauty #weekend #beach #journey #travelblogger #sky #sunset #sea #goodvibes #explore #mexico #igers #backpacker #pacific #gratitude #awesome #hope #color #sinaloa #globetrotter
Time takes a cigarette. Oh no, you're not alone. Miss you like always, Starman. Jan 10, 2016⚡💓 #davidbowie #bowie #starman #legend . . . . . . #remember #tbt #rocknroll #rip #hero #rockstar #inspiration #icon #rock #leather #cigarette
2 days and 5000 words into writing my third book and first fiction novel/novella! It all came in a flash and partly inspired because of stupid mistakes, losses, gains, and amazing interesting people I met in my recent travel life. It's a romance of sorts, between a man and a woman, told within an attempt to attain homeostasis, existential self-discovery, roaring misadventures, and transmutations due to those experiences, because of love found within loss. Fiction was always tough, rote, and an underwhelming written endeavour. Now this text is pouring out easily. Each pen stroke gliding with purpose and creativity. A lot easier when it's not your !ife in the bookseller's gauntlet, yet each character and their journey couldn't have happened without first the telling of my own. Excited to see where this progresses! Posting makes this newest tale more real than keeping it and its cast of complicated characters to myself. "The light can only ever be dimmed and cannot be fully extinguished. The light is with us always until the day it is not.” . . . . . . . #writer #goodvibes #gay #city #book #travelgram #fiction #discover #novel #goodreads #travel #instagay #backpacking #kindle #creation #campeche #enlightenment #igers #instagay #life #trust #new #empowerment #inspire #lawofattraction #mexico #writing #writersofinstagram #free #adventure
The rain lifted after two soakers in Campeche. Busted out my Canon for some street strutting, and then paid reverence to the Black Christ (carved out of ebony) at the 550 year old San Juan Cathedral. This city was subject to pirate attacks for years back in the day! A couple days left in Mexico and still finding these sopresas. 💫💙👏⛪🏢🌇 #campeche #church #backpacking #canon #photography #nofilter #travel #wednesday #street . . . . . #travelgram #adventure #city #architecture #mexico #postcard #travelblogger #expat #goodvibes #ciudad #christ #goodvibes #explore #mexico #igers #backpacker #pirates #gratitude #awesome #wanderlust #color #yucatan #globetrotter
My FREE Amazon E-book sale ends today! (Link in bio) ✨❤️ Chapter 5- Sorry I’m Not Sorry (Totally Sorry) continued- “Thoughts on First Communion: My bronze heart melted into gold, yolk split open onto stone and gravel. my core gushed forth, brazen in its alchemy Like jars of wine spilling outward inside the ecstasy of wind scattering sunlight across your face; bursting over the dams we had both erected. Violent fetters could never Imprison love for long. I’m always stacking bookends onto false ledges of the Universe. And She keeps leaping forward with boundless expectation of the glorious new. Just now I remembered We are dreaming Creation into existence. This moment is a monument dedicated to the eternity of expansion. Like one kiss upon your mouth It would be enough to know that I would want to kiss you brightly and for forever. Love is water carving blood into our veins. I have inner canyons that showed me. Truly, We are the psalms of life. . . . Light shone onto the dark recesses of your mind means you are no longer unaware and can change your behaviors to ones that serve us more effectively. Most of us have spent our lives looking at shadows cast on to the back of Platonic caves- thinking the illuminated shapes are in fact the answer. The light can only ever be dimmed and cannot be fully extinguished. The light is with us always until the day it is not.” . . . . . . . #writer #goodvibes #gay #city #bookstagram #weekend #poetry #travelgram #poem #discover #shadow #gayfit #travel #instagay #backpacking #kindle #amazon #beach #enlightenment #igers #instagay #life #selfcare #book #empowerment #inspire #lawofattraction #mexico #intuition #writersofinstagram #free
Last day of my Amazon book sale! Chapter 5 excerpt continued- “I will probably always apologize for other peoples’ inconveniences to me. But I will never again apologize for who I am- consciously or otherwise. To do so would imply imperfection, & simply put, none of us need chain ourselves to false belief systems. WE ARE TO BREAK THE VIOLENT FETTERS like newly freed captives! We were often unknowingly complicit in these bonds of useless oppression. We begin our #selfsabotage as children because we were taught to not trust ourselves as soon as we began to walk. "Take of your bed and leave." Go forward to the glorious new life that you will create. Life is intended FOR you. You are so much more worthy than you even know. We are miracles! We are consciousness wrapped in flesh. You are deserving of the richness that Life has provided for every creature on this Earth. There are answers in the shadow aspects of our inner selves. Our first tendency is to run from pain- a common trait among all peoples of the human race & all species. The pleasure principle is at work in most every known cellular molecule. We want to feel good in our bodies, minds, & relationships. Yet we do things we don’t want to do to make other people happy. We go to jobs we don’t want to do because we need to keep the lights on, food in our bellies, lovers in our beds. Integration of the shadow in oneself is key to our continual development. It is imperative we see our faults, insecurities, & fears as part of ourselves- instead of pushing them away. In doing so we deflate the negative power associated w/ the shadow. You are able to stand on your true worth & ground when you know thyself more fully. Having a shadow or looking at our flaws does not negate the goodness within ourselves. Discovering the tough places in yourself leads to growth & great revelations. We just don’t need to stay in the shadow.” . . . #writer #goodvibes #gay #city #bookstagram #motivation #travelgram #fortune #discover #shadow #jung #travel #backpacking #kindle #goodreads #enlightenment #igers #life #selfcare #book #empowerment #knowledge #weekend #mexico #intuition #writersofinstagram #free #skyline
When a $3 haircut makes you feel like a million bucks. 💇🏻♂️😀💸 Gracias inglourius Barbers. Even w/ a language barrier, y’all made it werk! #haircut #travel #backpacking #mexico #instagay #motivation . . . . . . #travelgram #gay #photooftheday #globetrotter #merida #lindo #mexico #queer #hair #style #sexy #city #transformationtuesday #gayfit #gayhot #pink #inspire #gratitude #adventure #lawofattraction #barber #selfie #goodvibes #instagood #mondaymotivation
Back to the city, back in postcard mode! 🤠💫💙 Mérida is a really chill, architectural gem in the middle of the Yucatan. If you need a beach break but still want to stay in the area- Mérida is a great pitstop between Cancun and San Cristobal in Chiapas. ¡Ten a buen viaje! #merida #church #backpacking #photography #nofilter #travel #weekend . . . . #travelgram #blogger #city #architecture #night #postcard #travelblogger #expat #saturday #noche #goodvibes #vacation #mexico #igers #backpacker #selfcare #earth #gratitude #awesome #wanderlust #blue #yucatan #globetrotter
Swinging’ through Saturday ✨. 1 more day to get my e-book FREE on Amazon! (Link in bio.) Excerpt from Chapter 5- “Have you ever had one of those moments where you knew you were supposed to do something, go somewhere, meet someone? Like most things, trusting ourselves is a practice. To know thy self is a constant inquiry in self-realization & introspection. We know the right course for our own lives, yet we get trained out of alignment w/ who we truly are by parents & people who were trained out of who they were. Streams of generations acting in fear. There is no other creature that is trained to be misled by the people who raised, who loved them most. We, as a human whole, are breaking that cycle. Intuition is a misleading term. I’m coming to realize that intuition is human instinct. Predator, prey, or observer we all have it. Nature causes you to trust yourself because that’s all you have out there. I began listening to my intuition, really hearing and trusting it, in my 20’s. Despite disavowing my Christian upbringing- I found resonance in the archetypal journeys from the Tolkein Universe. I always felt kindred to Frodo. The great ring- a heavy burden to carry & bury alone. I traveled 7,449 miles from TX to China w/ my own kind of burden. The times I didn’t trust my intuition were when I probably had the worst screw-ups. And oh man, have I fucked up. I’ve lost cars, relationships, wallets, opportunities because I was hungover or procrastinated, forgot to pay a bill, be somewhere, or someone on a certain day. It always works out, but did I make this part of my journey harder or were losing those things part of the process? The detours in our lives are part of our destination. Sometimes we circle back around our home planet and a star for a few rotations- until we’re ready to be our own star. It is okay that we’re not manifesting everything we will become because we find out what we really want- out in the darkness.” #writer #ocean #goodvibes #gay #swing #nature #bookstagram #transformationtuesday #travelgram #motivation #inspire #travel #backpacking #igers #instagay #life #selfcare #book #weekend #sea #intuition #writersofinstagram #author #universe
It’s Baca-clock somewhere! Bacalar, it does a body good 🙌💙🏝🌅😍 #bacalar #backpacking #tuesday #instagay #travel #paradise . . . . . . . #travelgram #blogger #photography #gay #travelblogger #gayfit #queer #beach #sea #goodvibes #mexico #ocean #sign #transformationtuesday #vacation #lindo #backpacker #selfcare #gratitude #awesome #wanderlust #life #globetrotter #expat
If you find yourself down Mèxico way, Do Not pass up this little lagoon paradise. It has been a therapeutic, relaxing, beautiful, delicious (and affordable!) 5 days. 💙✨a tí Bacalar. #nofilter #bacalar #backpacking #weekend #travel #paradise #nature . . . . . . #travelgram #blogger #naturephotography #clarity #travelblogger #beach #sea #goodvibes #vacation #mexico #igers #water #backpacker #selfcare #earth #gratitude #awesome #wanderlust #blue #water #life #expat #globetrotter
The new year’s as queer as this lagoon is clear! 😆🦄 Amazon’s allowing “Break the Violent Fetters” e-book to be sold for FREE starting midnight until, 1/7!! Hope this book inspires you on your journeys! (Link in bio) Excerpted from Chapter 11- “It was through the beauty of nature & clarity of meditation that I came back to believing in a great union of connectedness between all beings. Emptying the egoic self in mindfulness even for a few seconds is the clearest I’ve ever felt. Meditation is like a prayer lit by the Universe sparking your mind into a blissful presence of being aware of consciousness and confounded by simultaneously forgetting that awareness. This is what a light year must feel like coursing 756,000 miles an hour through space. It's like where all the drugs, booze, or dancing is trying to bring us into. We booze the lover into our beds just to spill them out by morning. This is the pulse that the Universe is beating to, as if I’m thrusting my hips to a multidimensional rhythm. The enjoyment of living must be why we are here, or why else would humans keep coming? For those who understand & live the wonder of our lives, it is our responsibility to shine a light on the paths of those who are still struggling- just as so many have lit our paths before us. Birth is a beautifully painful event, & we don’t remember it. We are plants bursting through soil. That initial thrust into the earth must have been excruciating, but so deeply satisfying. If suffering was the true nature of life then why does Life continue to perpetuate? It is of profound detriment to all- for one not to tell their story before it is completed. To doubt that you do not have a specific work is a profound detriment to the entire Universe. Through natural disasters & loss of entire species- Life still abounds in the most unlikely places. Have you ever heard of Earth?” . . . #writer #lawofattraction #ocean #goodvibes #gay #motivation #nature #bookstagram #kindle #travel #saturday #igers #instagay #writersofinstagram #photooftheday #gayfit #backpacking #instagood #earth #water #sea #lawofattraction #travelgram #synchronicity #life #mexico #goodreads #flex #book #monday