Let me Clarify...

I would like to clarify a little about who I am and what do I do. I’m a creative person. Always have been. I started in music as a kid playing guitar and then in bands and recording music. I still play and love it. My active years of playing a lot were 1987 to 2007. In 2008 I became interested in acting shooting numerous films listed on IMDB. I love acting, writing and directing.

Today, I have a media/video company called JAF Project that I started with Frank Rocco Maglio earlier this year and we moved into our office in April. There we create videos for businesses, individual personalities, original narrative films, and music videos. We also provide social media consulting and content development for clients. Our main goal at JAF is to help people by teaching them how to help themselves using the power of video and social media.

In 2016 I got my real estate license and I’m working at Costanza Realtors in Bayonne. I like it there and I’m planning to do bigger things in real estate in the years to come.

Basically, I enjoy posting positive videos, writing articles about life, hosting a podcast, selling real estate and sharing my journey with those that care in the hopes that someone will benefit from the content.

The reason I’m posting this here is for those that are too close-minded to see that life can be an expansion of creativity and be different at every turn. It's not being unsure of what direction you’re going simply because your passions are many. Being creative to me makes life worth living. Living a life that’s creative matters to this planet and it should be supported. Especially by loved ones that might not fully understand it because they are the ones that can easily destroy the purpose of an artist.

Please support your local artists and make them feel like they matter. Giving them anything less is a slow death to emptiness for the artist and the unaware souls. Thank you for reading. John Henry Soto 🎥📷🎸🎹🎶🎵🎼🎨

Chasing Butterflies with Someone Else's Net.

How many epiphanies can one man have before finally getting comfortable with not giving a shit about epiphanies?  Well, apparently a lot!  I for one have had more AH HA moments than I can count but it's always lead me to the next AH HA moment.  But I guess that's part of living a life of purpose and always having to readjust your big boy pants and keep moving.  Purpose!  I'm not really sure how someone goes through life without purpose but believe me, it happens.  I know this to be a fact because it seems to keep happening to me!  I'm not saying I don't have a purpose but I seem to get sidetracked by someone else's purpose and when I've finally had enough, I get the AH HA moment which has become quite famous in my home.  I run around the house yelling, "AH HA!!  I GOT IT!!" My wife just looks at me now and says, "You said that before and I always agree with you so why don't you just keep doing that!"

Well, last week I had another one!  Ok Ok!!  I'm sorry but this time it's different!  I swear!  This time I'm remembering it clearly and documenting it here in this blog so the world can read it and call me out on it next time I try to bring to fruition someone else's dreams.  Now don't get me wrong, I want to help others find their way but not at the expense of my happiness or the risk of losing opportunities.  Those lost opportunities are also people I could've helped and didn't because I was chasing butterflies with someone else's net.

This is my advice.  Wake up in the morning and think about the one thing you would want to do that day.  Now don't get cute and say sleep or coffee.  Really think about it and find out what's the one thing that you would love to do more than anything else.  When you find what it is, write it down on a piece of paper and stare at it.  Really look at it.  What will you feel?  Are you in pain by it or happy because it's what you're getting ready to spend your day doing?  It's at this moment when you will either make the biggest decision in your life or just put it aside and make excuses because you have bills to pay.  The hard fact is that most people won't even write it down.  The thought alone is painful enough.  All I can say is that you're heading towards a life of pain and struggle if you don't at least take a look at it.  You don't have to radically change your life (although it might be a good idea) but you can start making a plan to move towards your goal and passion.  Save the piece of paper and work on it.  Find people who do what you want to do and ask them for help.  You'd be surprised how many are willing to help.  I know I would be flattered if I were asked to help someone find a life living and working in their passion.  I hope the best for all of you.  JHS

Two IMPORTANT Items to apply on your Journey...

If you’re about to venture on an exciting trip, like the one I’m currently on, but you’re terrified, well, join the club! But also remember that it’s not you that’s afraid. It’s the idea that others will know you're afraid and might try to discourage you. This sometimes comes as a playful dig to you by someone that loves you but it still creates the same effect. It creates doubt which leads to fear. Just know that the fear is exterior to you as a spiritual being so that means it’s not part of you. Someone else created that fear and you accepted it as your own. It’s created somewhere else. If you eat some nasty fast food and get a stomach ache then that’s you because you allowed it to enter your body. You have control to NOT let fear enter your body or your mind in this case. Here are two simple tools that I follow every single day. The first thing that I apply is that I’m organized with my daily goals and I keep moving forward no matter what enters my space or like Dory sings in Finding Nemo, Just keep swimming Just keep swimming. If you’re moving forward at all times then someone who's trying to prevent you from succeeding will just have to either move over or you can run them over and they’ll become roadkill and then you can look in your rearview mirror and giggle. Yes, I intended that to be rather cruel and dramatic because it is and you shouldn’t put up with anyone trying to prevent your happiness. Family members and close friends tend to be the biggest culprits in this area. Look for it, stay organize and keep moving! The second thing I apply is to stay focus on your daily goals. You should have at least one item that you want to accomplish every single day towards a goal. That’s right. 7 days a week 365 days a year. It can be as simple as emailing someone with an idea or just studying a book, article or film for an hour. It’s not impossible to do and once you start you’ll be amazed at how much time you have to spend with your true friends and supportive family.  This is not always easy but necessary if you want to have the kind of life that YOU control. Your job as a living breathing spiritual being is to find solutions to problems and not make excuses. You will always have problems but how you confront them will judge how well you do in life. People who make excuses for a living never reach their full potential of ability or happiness and that is tragic. A person’s happiness can be measured by how far they can see into the future and then reach for it. Just standing idle staring at it will not get you there. So move!  Thank you for your time.  JHS
www.johnhenrysoto.com

I Grew up in the Ghetto and I don't use it as an Excuse to not Produce....

I know that's a long title but like I said I have no excuses to NOT produce so I produced a nice long title for you.  You're welcome.  So why am I writing about growing up in the South Bronx during one of the darkest days of that community?  70s 80s and 90s.  Well, because it goes hand in hand with just about anyone who's looking for excuses to not have to work hard to produce and just "Take it easy."  In my case, I could have used the excuse of growing up poor and in a violent neighborhood or not getting a good education etc... and you what, people around me would have supported that viewpoint and never push me to reach for more.  Shame on them!  Accountability was lost when I was growing up.  We just weren't expected to live long enough to achieve anything so they tried to make us feel better by excusing our laziness and lack of effort and candy coat their excuses by calling it "support".  That's so messed up.  So today, when someone throws a line out at me like, "Don't work so hard." or "Take it easy." it drives me a little batty because I remember what it took to get out of the South Bronx and extinguish the ghetto mentality that was instilled by a scared community.  And the sacrifices.  A lot of sacrifices.  Now, don't get me wrong, There's a big part of the South Bronx in my heart and I have a lot of love and admiration for the neighborhood.  I just refuse to use that experience as an excuse to not try to reach for the stars. Ok, maybe that's a little corny but it's heartfelt and really the main reason why I don't let anyone get away with making excuses that sound super lame.  I hear it all the time and I make sure I comment on it because I feel it's my responsibility to help them see what I've worked so hard to see.  And that is, the control you have on your future is based on the actions you decide to take today and not the hand you were dealt.  Take a really close and honest look at the actions you take towards your future.  Are they exactly what you should be doing?  If things don't work out are you using a million excuses to justify those actions?  And lastly, can you see movement towards your goals or are you sitting in your excuses.  You need to seriously look at that.  I want you to have a chance.  A chance to create exactly what you want.  You deserve it and you can do it.  Thank you for your time.  JHS
www.johnhenrysoto.com

The Admiration of it All...

To find happiness, you must admire living.  That means all of it.  The bad and the worst not to mention the so messed up that you want to kick kittens.  (Don't kick kittens)  It's so easy to walk around and love life when things are great.  Admiration of the struggle can feel just as good as loving everything because your lover is loving you lovely.  The present moment is where people fall behind.  They forget that life is based on a series of moments back to back to back and so on.  It never stops.  Not even after you're dead.  A dead corpse is decaying one moment to the next and who knows how long that process goes on a molecular level.  So the key is to always be in this moment and that moment that's about to arrive.  If you're walking into your office, then walk into it as if it's the first time.  Admire that moment.  This is not easy and most of you will roll your eyes when you read this but just admire that you read this, admire the moment and admire your sarcastic rolling eyes.  Because that moment existed whether you were aware of it or not. It happened.  And you know what, I admired the moment you rolled your eyes.  Thank you.  JHS
The photo is a mold of my hand holding my wife's hand.  
www.johnhenrysoto.com