Catering to the Unkind Mind

This year marks 17 years that I've been working in the beauty industry. 

An industry that I've been in and come to wonder and question so much about more than any other year. 

2018 so far has been such a revelation to me because of how unfair we seem to be within our own selves and how awful us humans seem to be with our own reflection. Let me go out there and say that it has more to do with what the mirrors reflect upon. 

A mirror only has power to reflect what others see on the outside, it's our unkind mind that has us plagued and therefore it takes over like a dark cloud on a rainy day.

Catering to the unkind mind  has been my specialty for so long that its taken me years to understand how people work their way into seeing themselves in a whole aspect than what I'm able to comprehend just from standing behind them.

Anywhere from the aspects of feeling drab, ugly, outdated, bored, sad, broken or even lost, sometimes the soul's sitting in my chair have ALL of these feelings inside them, or maybe just one. Once I'm able to pinpoint their insecurities, its time for me to strap those demons and wrestle with them and hopefully continue to keep them tied up long enough for my clients to be able to see what beauty they can possess without seeing what they feel on a daily basis.

I'm not kidding when I say this:

I take these demons home with me at times knowing well what havoc they'll wreak on me and my mind. Although I can affirm that I am a strong person, I still have vulnerabilities that I myself must wrestle with from time to time. 

I take home anything from heartache, cancer, rejection, depression, domestic violence, substance abuse, etc. You name it, I've wrestled with it. 

The key to rising above it is knowing who you belong to, ACCEPTING your inner demons and trusting that they too have an expiration date. As much as people can be beautiful, they can also destroy the most treasured part of your being. 

Trust me, I too know what it's like to be in complete darkness, its fear and its objectifying sense of static freezing cold nature. It's a wave that has come from time to time, a cloud that will rear its ugly fog to make me believe that it can consume me again like it once did. Yet I know better now, I know where I stand when I look in a mirror, I know where I stand when I face the world and I know where I stand when I pray to the skies.

ACCEPT yourself

DIMINISH the darkness

RELY on your self worth

FIGHT for who you wish to become

Should you need help, you know where I am and I'll fight right alongside you.

Intimate Light

Any source of LIGHT can be bothersome, whether it be the sun, a light in your house, or even a bright person who has that special lit soul inside (you know which one's I'm talking about). 

The one LIGHT source I can personally tell you that isn't bothersome is the one we hid inside. If anything it's uncomfortable. 

Yet the funny thing is that as kids we ALL tend to rely on this source of LIGHT to get us through some of the most awkward times in our lives. Then we grow up and the more that others offer their opinion on it, the more we seem to dim it and not let it become anything more than a small spark of nothing.

Is that all we think of ourselves as?

 A small spark of nothing? 

So that others can accept us as such?

Well here's the reality...

If anyone realizes that you're LIGHT is awkward, bothersome and/or annoying, time to let them go and have them seek shelter elsewhere because ALL they'll ever offer you is the sharp end of their own insecurities, a place NO ONE has the time to be laying around in. 

A LIGHT is to be celebrated, to have appreciation for, to see what it can bring to your own life and what it can offer you if more than a smile and warmth. 

If you already know you're worth and have seen your intimate LIGHT, by all means, please share your brightness with the world for it needs your warmth and stability.

If you haven't found it yet, don't worry, once you recognize the spark that lights it all, capture the moment and start the process of your GROWTH. 

 When its time, 

its TIME.

Pretty Faced Fool

Coming to terms with a "Pretty Faced Fool" is the best solution one can have.

Every opportunity that we get to go through either happens to destroy us or makes us stronger. 

Of course all in due time and with every word said, every feeling felt and every tear drop, something makes us come to terms with it all:

We are the "Pretty Faced Fool".

Take a long hard look at yourself in the mirror and ask yourself, 

"Am I my only option to get better?"

The answer is solely up to you, although I will say, NO option is better than yourself.

Some may say, "I was taken for a ride and a part of me died in the process", while others say, "I don't know how to regain myself, I don't know who I am". 

Losing oneself requires ONE thing, a selfless yet selfish act to put others on top of it all. Even when looking in the mirror, you put yourself aside and see everyone but you. 

Until the time comes when the bubble bursts and you're left with no one in the mirror but your own reflection. 

Should you not recognize yourself, should you feel like a part of you died, and/or should you feel like you're numb to it all, my message to you is this:

Nothing looks better and no one looks better in that reflection more than the person looking right back at you. Sounds corny right? Well it's true simply because you're filled with experiences, you can now learn to appreciate every aspect of pain, and you can tolerate ANY part of your loss and create what we like to call STRENGTH. 

Give it a try, you might feel like a fool, but at least,

you're a 'Pretty Faced Fool'.

'Pretty Faced Fool',  by Jewel talks of a person coming to terms with what they're romantic relationship has come to be and how they'll gather the strength to move on past this troubled patch.

-->B.L.Q. 0 Era Pt.1<--

B.L.Q.0 Era Pt. 1

Its been 2.5 years since I last posted any of my thoughts...

well, this ERA I like to call the

 "B.L.Q. 0 Pt. 1".

It starts from "Where do I Stand?" and goes to "Make It Count". 

Part 2 will come later in the year, for now, 

enjoy these thoughts at your leisure.

Where Do I Stand?

This BASIC question can trigger so many other questions and leave you with NO answers.

Being stuck in the middle of BLACK and WHITE with no comfort zone can be an unconscious decision yet one that we determine for ourselves should we be indecisive. 

One way or the other, there's always a pleasing factor involved to see where we fit in LIFE. 

All these thoughts beg to ask the question:

"Where do I stand?"

The answer is pretty simple...you stand wherever you'd like to stand, as long as you feel a need to be there and you feel comfortable with yourself.

There is such a thing as the "Gray" zone. A zone where many people feel the need to be a part of, not because they don't belong in the black and white comfort zones, more than likely because they WON'T belong in those areas.

Nothing breaks us down more that having the need to belong to someone or something. The more we understand what we want the more we have the need to not call ourselves black or white. Yet there's also a huge population that feel comfortable being in either black or white, and if that fits them, there's nothing wrong with it.

 Case in point, both my parents love the black and white spectrum, that is who they are and who they'll always be.

Knowing you belong is half the battle, while representing who you are is of the utmost important aspect because it is YOU who will showcase to the world that you can be a mix of the LIFE and still live a different perspective than the 'normal' population.

I've always considered myself a little bit of this and a little bit of that with a splash of sparkle. While most can take it as me being wishy washy, it's more of a collection of my past, who I am in my present, and what I want my future to become.

I'm as much part of my rainbow as I'm much part of my cross...

That is where I stand.

The Reality: Faith & Sexuality

It's not getting any easier going on 34...it's getting harder.

My young years and into my teens, there was a lot of hiding...my late teens and young adult years, I had to come out and convince myself of my own exploration. In my late 20's and early 30's, I'm losing people.

Losing people when I was younger wasn't as hard hitting as it is now. In my early 20's I was still discovering myself, yet still abiding by my morals and making sure I didn't push the envelope as much. I remember seeing the whole "LIFE" thing as a game until reality set in. 

I wasn't allowed to be me and express my views. There's always been more to me than just being "Gay" though the fact that I'm a hair/make-up artist doesn't really help my cause much. 

Behind closed doors, I'm a chip eating, blanket wearing, movie watching guy who simply loves to relax and watch the world be it's own entity. I don't live the gay lifestyle, whatever that might mean to any of you out there. I keep guarded to make sure my heart and mind stay afloat from the criticism my own career has of my craft. Most importantly I make sure to keep my communication open with the one and only who has gotten me through my toughest times...GOD.

I'm a rare breed to be Hispanic, Gay, and Faithful. I made this joke years ago that ultimately became my reality:

"I'm too Gay for the straights and I'm too Straight for the gays"

Yet I don't feel alone. I did way back when I was discovering all of my many sides. Though the reality of my sexuality has come at a cost of my faith as well.

Communication with my Mom has become extinct. She's chosen to follow her 'Faith' and refuses to see me as anything  but damaged. She said it herself late last year and I can't tell you how much it STILL stings and hurts. It made me question so much and even those around me. With that, I lost a part of me that I've been unable to regain. 

Inside I became angry and refused to believe that ANY love exists, especially if the love of a mother can be extinguished as fast as she ultimately did it. A friend of mine asked me this question after the incident:

"If GOD offered to make you straight to have your Mom back in your life, would you take him up on the offer?"

I said no, because GOD made me this way for a reason, HE knows that I'll survive, and ultimately, if I was straight, it would all still be a fallacy, because this is my reality and nothing I do differently would make another outcome.

Would I make people look at me differently or pay attention to what else I had to offer if I wasn't gay? 

No. I wouldn't want to change me. 

My 17 year old self would've said yes, yet knowing what I know now, I realize why I made decisions the way I made them. I don't regret ONE BIT who I've become. 

They say it takes sacrifice to be able to reach higher ground, and as it so rightfully says in the Bible in John 14:6

Jesus said to him,

 “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.

 No one comes to the Father except through me."

 

I choose to believe in a just GOD, and I continue to be who I am, someone who GOD made me to be...

The Reality.

The personal choice of letting go

I always thought that usually when it meant to "Let Go", the Universe would take care of it and *POOF*, everything was done and you were left with this void waiting for it to get filled in time.

At least, I've never taken the initiative to do so...until now.

I can't tell you the amount of time its taken me to confirm with myself that what I did, what I chose, what I really felt in my heart was the right thing to do. No loss of sleep, thankfully, if anything its been the ride to work, the ride home, when my mind isn't occupied on formulating the right color or trying to send a politically correct answer text that I'm trying to articulate to a selfish client. 

Honestly, when I sleep, I really get the rest I need. My mind shuts off and drifts into an abyss of clouds that to tell you the truth, 9 times out of 10, I don't remember where I go, and when I do, I try to see where my dreams full of premonitions fit in my current state of mind. 

The first time I chose to let go I actually kept having premonition like dreams. I kept dreaming of darkness, spider webs, sewer like conditions with lots of rain. It was one after the other for almost a week. As much as I kept trying to shake it off, I couldn't.

Then it happened.



There's only so much you can discover about yourself especially when being put in a position where there's nothing left to do but to cut the chord, to put it lightly. For weeks after I kept going over my decision and kept having that guilty feeling and saying to myself,
"Did I really make the right choice?"

I have to be honest and say that it didn't get better with time, and yet it didn't get worse. If anything it was a stagnant feeling, a very numb couple months until I could really say to myself, "O.K. I think, no, I believe this was the right thing to do."

The point overall, was that I CHOSE to let go. I didn't feel free, I felt like I was floating and wasn't seeing an end to my gravity like essence for a while. Therapy definitely helped, praying and talking to GOD was essential, and having to ACCEPT what I had CHOSEN was key. In the end, I grew to respect my own decision and as hard as it was to come to terms with it and turn every tear into a smile, was it worth it?

YES.