Why I'm Happy - ERIC KIM

Why I’m happy: I create my own reality.

“Happiness” just means “human flourishing” in Greek. I’m happy, because I feel I am creatively flourishing everyday, sweeping the dusty past away.

I feel that I no longer have brakes on my matted out Lamborghini. Creatively, I’m on the German Autobahn freeway, driving everyday at 500 miles per hour.

Every hour, I try to pour out new creative insights.

I read a lot of poetry, which helps me know that anything I want to be, I can make it be.

I’ve found the secret of wealth: hustle hard, and make the best use of the opportunities that life gives you.

I’ve found the secret to fix all the world’s problems: tolerance. Tolerance is often created through commerce, aka business. For example, in Ancient times, it didn’t matter if you were Jewish, Christian, or practiced Islam. As long as you were a trustworthy business person or merchants everyone respected one another.

The secret to never ending creativity: be a kid. Avoid boredom without having to be addicted to a phone or iPad. To be a creative kid, being poor helps. You make your own spaceships with old tv boxes, and as an adult, you can be more creative by creating your own toys– through computer programming, by sketching on a piece of paper or your phone or iPad, or by blogging and writing some ideas.

You can write poems. There is no such thing as a good or bad poem. Only poems that excite you, or poems that don’t excite you. So make poems that you like and share them online.

Cindy making linocuts at home. Berkeley, 2016

To output more art, the secret is reducing your consumption of information. For example, the best advice on being more productive: uninstall Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat from your phone. Just do all that on your laptop. And instead, use your dead time when you’re bored to write rhymes in your notepad, to make street photos on your iPhone in airplane mode, or making small talk with a barista or waiter.

My mom and Cindy’s mom having fun in Paris, 2015

Also the best way to be more prolific: uninstall email from your phone. Or after work hours, just don’t use email. Use your time before and after work to make more street photographs of your everyday life. Or shoot artistic selfies. Or learn art by going on the “Every painter paints himself” website.

To be inspired, watch cool shit on YouTube. I love watching Kanye West music videos, or “8 bit philosophy” for inspiration.

Conclusion

I’m happy because the internet has made the world an awesome place. You have access to all the information of humanity. You can create stuff on the internet, and share it openly and freely.

I’m happy because I have access to the internet and have the access to share stuff.

Practical homework assignment: make your own blog. Use bluehost.com and make a wordpress.org blog. Publish however much or little you want. The only rule:

Have fun.

Be strong,
Eric

—

Philosophy

Philosophy: love of wisdom.

2020:

November 7th, 2020: ERIC KIM BLOGGING MASTER CLASS (Online, via Zoom). [Register Intent Here]

2021:

April 10-11th, 2021: BOSTON / Discover Your Unique Voice in Photography Workshop [Register Intent Here]
May 1-2nd, 2021: CHICAGO / Street Photography Composition Masterclass [Register Intent Here]
May 22-22nd, 2021: NEW YORK CITY / STREET PHOTOGRAPHY MASTERCLASS by ERIC KIM [Register Intent Here]