Love Notes From The Universe: An Interview With Diego "Yung Pueblo" Perez

"Symmetry" By Hannakais Pekkala

 

There are few Instagram accounts that speak directly to our souls with daily insight and often timely Universal words of wisdom. Diego Perez also known as “Yung Pueblo” has one of them. Diego offers beautiful short poems and messages that feel as if they were left behind for you via sticky note by a divine guardian angel.  Diego is a thought provoker, wordsmith, and a conduit of such positive energy that just radiates from his work! We are  thrilled that he just so happens to have a book coming out later this year. In this interview we will discuss life, spirit, and the power of social media.

THW: Hi Diego, Can you tell our readers a bit about the man behind their favorite motivational memes?

YP: Well, I currently live in NYC, I am 29 years old, I was originally born in Guayaquil Ecuador. I write under the name Yung Pueblo for two reasons, one because Pueblo is a word used in Guayaquil in reference to the masses of economically impoverished people, so it always reminds me of my roots and where I come from, two Yung Pueblo literally means young people which always reminds me of something that I believe deeply, which is that humanity as a whole is very young, we have a lot of growing up to do, we are collectively still learning how to be kind to one another, how to clean up after ourselves, how to share, and how to not fight one another – things that I am hoping we will learn how to do well in the next 100 years.

THW: What inspired you to start writing these extremely powerful messages on instagram? Did you use any other media platforms prior to this? How has this changed your writing style, if at all.

 

YP: I started organizing and being a part of the activist world back when I was 15 years old, ever since then I was always obsessed with the idea of liberation, I wanted to know what it meant, how to attain it, and how to maintain it. From nonprofit organizing to radical organizing, I have worked with a few different groups over the years and often we were successful, but still something was missing, greed continued to drive global harm and internally I was still rife with misery, this made me keep searching. When I was 24 I did my first 10 day Vipassana mediation course which shook the foundations of everything I believed in, my experience meditating showed me that liberation needs to be internally realized to a certain extent before we can recreate the world into a place where we can all live materially well without harming one another to do so; it showed me that everyone needs to be liberated, the oppressed and the oppressors. It taught me three particularly important lessons, one is that when we harm another we harm ourselves, that when we heal ourselves we are actually healing the world, and that the chaos in our world stems from the internal chaos and misery that human beings are quietly experiencing inside of themselves every day. We are all in need of healing and that healing can only come from our own efforts, because no one can liberate us but ourselves. Moving forward I continued meditating and organizing simultaneously, and then one day my intuition clearly told me to share what I understand in the form of writing, that even though what I understand may change overtime I need to share it now so that people know that it is possible to come out of misery and deeply heal themselves, because it is the transformation of the individual that holds the secrets to truly transforming the world into something better. I took a break from organizing to focus on writing and pretty quickly I noticed that Instagram was a good fit. I started off by writing short pieces and essays or just simple thoughts as captions under the pictures I would share, but then I saw that I would be better off just taking the main ideas of what I wanted to share and placing them in a clean and readable image, that’s when it all really took off and the words started spreading widely. My writing style is definitely still evolving.

THW: I’ve read that you are currently working on a book, can you share with our readers what it’s about and when we can expect it’s release?

YP: The book is entitled “Inward” and it will be a compilation of my best work over the past 3 years. It will be a mixture of poems, quotes, and essays. I’m currently putting it all together and hope to have it out this year, I don’t want to say exactly when, but it will be out soon. It’s been quite a journey putting this together.

THW: What books are you currently reading? Can you share a few titles that have inspired/changed your life?

YP: I love books so much, thank you for asking, I’m going to go in on this question if you don’t mind. Right now I am currently reading “Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind” by Yuval Noah Harari and “Demanding the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work” by Nick Srnicek and Alex Williams.

Some titles that have profoundly inspired me are:

“Assata: An Autobiography” by Assata Shakur

“What Buddhism is” by Sayagyi U Ba Khin

“Nonzero: The Logic of Human Destiny” by Robert Wright

“Hua Hu Ching: The Unknown Teaching of Lao Tzu” translated by Brian Walker

“Great Disciples of the Buddha” edited by Bhikkhu Bodhi

“Krishnamurti to Himself” by Jiddu Krishnmurti

“The Dhammapada” translated by Ananda Maitreya & Rose Kramer

“The Bhagavad Gita” translated by Eknath Easwaran

“Autobiography of a Yogi” by Paramahansa Yogananda

“The Dispossessed” by Ursula K. Le Guin

“On Disobedience” by Erich Fromm

“The Rebirth of History” by Alain Badiou

“Siddhartha” by Hermann Hesse

I know that’s a lot of titles, but they all really had a deep impact in how I understand myself and the world.

THW: Who/What inspires YOU?

YP: Two ideas really drive my inspiration, one is the possibility of complete freedom from misery as an individual and the second is humanity coming together to recreate the world into the beautiful and loving place that it can be.

The stories and teachings of Gautama the Buddha and his disciples, teachers in my Vipassana meditation tradition like Ledi Sayadaw,  Sayagyi U Ba Khin, and S.N. Goenka, all really inspire me too. My family and friends really inspire me to work hard and be better as well.

THW: What do you hope to accomplish with your messages?

YP: I hope people understand that they can truly heal themselves of their inner burdens and actually build inner peace, that this isn’t something mythical or impossible, that this is real and that many people are doing it all around the world right now using different healing techniques. It is not easy, but it is definitely the most rewarding journey that we can embark on.

More so, I want to help people understand that growing their happiness, building their inner peace, and reclaiming their power are all essential things that not only heal humanity as a whole, but will ultimately help us establish a more peaceful and harmless world. Your inner peace will literally become the foundation for a future global peace. Healing ourselves will not only help us live with less misery, but it will give us a new clarity that we can use to transform the world.

THW: Social media can be a pretty awful place when it comes to plagiarism for writers, especially when sharing your meme-style motivational messages.. How do you tolerate seeing your work copied or stolen and not credited?

YP: It’s a great lesson, I do my best to not worry about it. If I’m too attached to it, it will just continue happening. Some people definitely take my name out from under pieces and then post them on their pages, but what good will it do me to be upset over it? Plus, I doubt that most people have any malicious intention when they do it. Gratefully, the vast majority do give me credit for the work I put out by linking my Instagram page underneath in the caption and tagging me in the picture, I certainly appreciate that.

What matters most is that the message gets out there. If you really think about it, “I” doesn’t exist, so is it really “my” work? Often, when I write, it more so feels like the message is coming through me as opposed to from me. I think plagiarism and copyright laws are a bit odd, no one has ever created anything completely by themselves, we are always building on each other’s work, it is all really a collective effort. Also, since words are just interpretations of how we feel, two people can write similar words but the feeling, meaning, and experience behind them can be completely different. I’m not saying that we should all go and plagiarize, we should try our best to create our own work and credit each other, but if it does happen accidentally we shouldn’t lose our peace over it.

 THW: What are some of words of wisdom that you would share with our readers on how to cultivate more mindfulness in their daily lives?

 

YP: Mindfulness is essentially being aware of the present moment, which is critically important in for our personal development. But what matters is how will you be aware of the present moment, what tool will you use to increase your awareness?

My advice to people is to find a healing technique that gives you real results, one that challenges you, but does not overwhelm you. There is a great variety of techniques out there, different types of meditations, yoga practices, energy healing techniques, and so much more that can really give us tangible benefits in our lives. What matters is that we find one that suits us and that we use it consistently.

THW:  Do you have any other projects that you’re currently working on that you’d like to share with our readers?

YP: I’m planning an event in Los Angeles this summer, which I’m really excited about, the details will be set soon. I will be reading a piece of my manuscript and giving a talk about the patterns in our subconscious that impact our behavior. I did a similar event this past March in NYC at the Alchemist’s Kitchen, so many people came out that we filled the venue, it was really a great time.

I’m currently working on a video with one of the best directors and videographers in NYC, Lindsey TJ Hall, you can find him on Instagram under @guynamedlindsey. We knew that the message was getting out to people who read, but we wanted to make something new to try and reach people who are more musically and visually inclined. The video will be about self love and its growth into unconditional love, it should be out sometime this summer.

Read more of Diego's Work by following him on instagram @Yung_Pueblo

The Hoodwitch: Weekly Horoscopes 5/10-16/2017

Artwork by Victoria Siemer

Written by Jessica Lanyadoo

Witch Tips

It's Full Moon time again, kiddies, and this week is likely to bring hella chaos, so get ready! 

The Moon will be full at 20 degrees of Scorpio on the 10th at 2:42pm PST. Expect feels to be at heightened levels of intensity leading up to this event. It’s is a dangerous time for building up resentments, developing grudges, or obsessing on your ex, so don’t say I didn’t warn you. Scorpio is the sign of death and regeneration, healing and destruction; whatever happens with this Moon, it isn’t likely to be chill. You’re going to want to get deep, and that can be complicated if things do go your way, which I’m sad to say they probably won’t.

On the 10th fierce and combative Mars will form a Square to idealistic and devotional Neptune (in transit astrology you can think of the Square aspect as a bit of a curve ball or sucker punch). While the high point of these vibes will be felt on the 11th, you can expect it to intensify the psychic and messy nature of this Full Moon. The best way to manage this is to rely on your spiritual values and tools for staying in alignment with yourself, both emotionally and in your actions. Mars wants to have its energy be known. It wants power, revenge, and validation. Neptune couldn’t care less about any of that; it’s the planet that governs the interconnectedness of all things, or on the dank side, checking out and giving up. The danger here is that your feelings will be so scattered that you end up more overwhelmed than you can handle. The best advice I can give you for these next few days is to hold yourself accountable to the same standards that you hold others to and vice versa. Don’t be a martyr, and don’t think that you’re owed more than anyone else. Thinking that you’re the worst and thinking you’re the best is kinda the same problem – it’s thinking too much about yourself.

The jittery, restless Mercury conjunction to Uranus is still active until the 12th. This means that we all run the risk of gabbing at the mouth about every paranoid theory and defensive feel we have – so watch out! If you can, wait until after the 15th, when Mercury moves into stabilizing Taurus, to draw your conclusions. From the 11th-13th, activating Mars will give butterfly kisses (that’s a Trine aspect for bb astrologers) to expansive Jupiter. This can be great for getting things done in a major way, or it can just make it easy for you to run with le cray much farther than you otherwise would. Be willing to check your entitlement this week, lovers, or you may end up putting something into motion that you can’t stop.

PRO TIPS for A World Gone Wonky: 

1. Breathe

2. Align yourself with reliable emotional resources

3. Connect to and honor your spirituality

Life is complicated and beautiful; be here for it all.

ARIES

March 21-April 19

If you can accept that you’re not in total control of most things, your work gets a lot clearer, this week. The Full Moon on the 10th is an opportunity for you to release something or someone that you’ve been clinging to that you know is no longer right for you. Sometimes your task is to heal, and others you need to make a call and walk away. If you stop trying to fix things that aren’t broken you can start unpacking what you need to let go of, my love.

­TAURUS

April 20-May 20

Not everything that hurts is bad, and not all dynamics that feel good are healthy for you. Your relationships are an organism – they live and breathe, needing sustenance and care. If you ignore them or mistreat them, they can grow in gnarled directions. Take stock of how you’ve been showing up with the people you’re closest to, Taurus. The first half of this week is an opportunity to have compassion for the people in your life, even if you have to assert some potentially painful boundaries.

GEMINI

May 21-June 21

It’s not enough to know what you are, you’ve got to know what you’re not, Twin Star. This week you’re in for a major lesson in boundaries. The trouble is that it’s hard to know what’s enough, too much, or not enough, when you feel wonky about your own value. Prioritize getting grounded in your worth so that you can make the right calls in love and work. Know your rights and your responsibilities and act in ways that reflect them. There’s so much to be gained from setting sustainable expectations, sweet one.

CANCER

June 22-July 22

Something that’s been bugging you and tugging at your insides is about to come to crisis, Moonchild. If you’re committed to situations that don’t really serve you, you can expect to have stuff come up this week that requires you to deal with them. Be especially careful of being passive aggressive - if you’ve got something to say, spit it out! If you’re asking someone to be humble about their part, lead by example. While you have the right to your feels, you’ve also got to own your part.

LEO

July 23-Aug. 22

Expect the Full Moon on the 10th to kick up some family drama, Leo. You may have some old feels from the past come up with surprising strength, or perhaps a new emotionally intense situation will emerge. The key in either case is for you to show all the way up. If you’ve been acting in ways that aren’t true to you, it’s time for you to own up to them. It’s OK to say you’ve changed your mind, or that you’re wrong. The thing you shouldn’t do is to defensively try to rewrite history. Step up.

VIRGO

Aug. 23-Sept. 22

Be careful what you say, Virgo, because you’re likely to spend the first half of this week brimming with feelings that scramble your brain. It’s important that you honor the yearnings of your heart so that you don’t project them out and make mountains out of molehills. It’s easy to weave a narrative to match your feels, but that doesn’t mean that you’re telling yourself a true story. If you slow down and take the time to investigate your heart, you’ll able to figure out what’s really going on for you.

LIBRA

Sept. 23-Oct. 22

Don’t let your fear of conflict distract you from the central issues in your relationships, Libra. You don’t need to be defensive in order to defend yourself, and things don’t need to be terrible in order for you to stand up. This week your ego is gonna get triggered, and it’s on you to not shut down or act out. Be here for honest conversations, even if they’re super awkward and hard. Place authenticity over accommodation, my love.

SCORPIO

Oct. 23-Nov. 21

The Moon is only full in your sign but once a year, when it’s time for the rest of the zodiac to see what it’s like to live with such intense feels, Scorpio. Take an actual break from the busyness of your life and do a real check-in with yourself. If you’ve been holding it together, it’s OK to fall apart for a minute. Don’t wait for something to trigger your feels before you take care of them. Show yourself a little love this week and place your emotional wellness in high regard as a form of self-care.

 

SAGITTARIUS

Nov. 22-Dec. 21

Things are likely to get a little murky this week, ‘Tarius. Your feelings are likely to be all over the map and while that doesn’t mean that they’re unreliable, it does mean that you need to allow space for things to play out before you jump to conclusions. It’s not just OK to have limits - it’s essential, but it’s also really important to be informed. Breathe through your reactions so you can figure out what you really need to reach towards, and what you need to let go of.

CAPRICORN

Dec. 22-Jan. 19

Where do you belong, Cappy? You’re ready to be more involved with community or group ventures, but you’ve got to be choosy about where and with who. This week’s Full Moon on the 10th is going to bring up all kinds of feelings about your place in the world. This is a fertile time for letting go of past entanglements and attachments, and for seeing things as they really are. This is the first step in a process of feeling more connected to others in a way that gives you life, instead of drains it outta you.

AQUARIUS

Jan. 20-Feb. 18

Where are you going, Aquarius, like really? This week’s Full Moon is an opportunity to get real about the track you’ve set yourself on. If you’re not happy with the choices you’ve made in recent months you’re likely to feel the weight of it now. It may be tempting to check out and lose yourself in daydreams and distractions but that would be a waste of an opportunity. Challenge yourself to make healthy decisions, even when disassociating seems easier. 

 

PISCES

Feb. 19-March 20

You don’t need to take on other people’s dramas as a way of showing support. It’s not on you to know some magic solution that works ideally for everyone; all you need to know is what’s right and healthy for you. This week your mantra gets to be: “those are not my monkeys, and this is not my circus”. Manage your own sweet self, and let others do the work of figuring their own selves out, Pisces. Know your limits and honor them, my love.

Becoming the Earth: Contemplation, Visioning & Aesthesis.

Artist Paige Bradley

Written By Alicia Bello

I wanted to write an erotic love article to you. I wanted to write love to you by saying: May all kinds of milks, honeys, fragrant oils and flowers fill your home, altar, and bath. Let there be Eros possession in which every word rolled off the tongue is a spiced nectar. Let there be every lush nude sensation. Let every body in whatever sensual embrace undulate, hum, shudder and drunk on rhythm and ecstasy … whether crying out or soft sigh of respiration, mouth the genuine expression of ecstatic release (and please do always). Hopefully that article will want to be written soon because, well… what a sensation. Instead this article transformed from body in relationship to body into body in relationship to earth… a different kind of body, of intimacy.. the same and different.. but kind of the same. I have found myself outside significantly more than being inside anywhere. My hands and feet have been constantly investigating and trampling through the tropical landscape of Florida and so the intimacy running through me has been the aesthesis of shoots of new green covered in dew, balmy air scented with salty wet earth, and bees pressed deep into the center of flowers… and all of this is happening in the wide open, no shame, Nature needing no permission to burst with her blatant sensuality.

Connecting to the earth is not a new concept for those who practice the craft (to each and every guardian of the directions, the elementals, Hail and Welcome). It is a foundation of study and also a potent remembering. Within every natural witch lies dark earth, fertile, lush with the protected seedcrets of ancient ways, alive with mystery and kept sacred and untainted from the “normalization” of the status quo. No matter how we practice, each and every expression of the work that we do is beautiful to behold in its own right. Our earnest devotion to our practice is the catalyst to what peels away the layers so we begin to see the world completely differently. The earth is living, breathing, pulsing and we perceive it perhaps as our ancestors have, not in the grandiose Hollywood kind of way, but magic in the very real sense that begins to show itself when we learn(remember) how to look (be in relationship to it).

The Anima Mundi, the spirit of the world at this point is no longer a concept but so much more. It is perceived in the body and felt in the depths of individual experience. We, in turn, interact with our planet instinctually, in which in any given moment we turn on and tune in, and allow the power to course through our very body vessel. We can play the subtle vibrations like an instrument that opens the gates to other perceptions and other realities. The relationship that we cultivate with the spirits of the land is so very vital and just like any important relationship we’ve got to keep in touch, forget the small talk so to speak, and nurture it. We know the state of earth right now and quite obviously to say that it’s not healthy is a gross understatement. Just being with the understanding is like a glacial shower and it’s a beginning. We start right here, right now, with what is right in front of us. Without projecting rage or blame on anything, or fear, for the current state of the earth but to just be in a state of heightened mindfulness about say, the decline of bees or the poisoning of water… The Mother is where she’s at just as we are. Just to be in a heightened kind of mindfulness before any practice in which we evoke the elements, and contemplate their actual current state is incredibly important because we have to start where we are at. That being said, magic works non-linearly. No matter how we are working we can heal through coming into contact with root essence of the elements. What I am offering, however is to maybe initiate any ritual with that kind of present acknowledgment and then move into connection with the spiritus, gennii loci, and/ or Anima Mundi.

Visioning

I practice this visualization outside with meditation and contemplation either at sunrise or sunset, but as I usually instruct: if it feels right to practice it in ritual then do it. If you feel inspired to practice on the spot totally do it….except if your driving…listen to your intuition.

Demeter, just one name for Earth Mother is birthing and dying and birthing for us constantly...

Photo: Alicia Bello 

Vision your body/full self becoming Demeter by dissolving into the earth completely and merging with her creative chaos and order. Lie down on the earth while practicing. If you can, be completely naked or partially naked. See the shape of your body turn into dirt. Watch all of what you were dissolve into the earth completely. You are gone, but now you are also the whole of the earth. You are reborn in spring. See your blooms opening and the bees drinking your nectar. Smell sweetness of the season on the wind. Go through all the seasons of the earth in this way over and over. See the earth, which is you, floating in space. Place the periphery of your attention on the rhythm of the breath of your body. See the earth in your visioning breathing, the rhythms are in synch. Draw the scope of your vision to the place within the earth that you inhabit. See you where you are envisioning yourself as the earth while you are also the earth. Draw this harmonic image into the vision of your heart and let the vision pulse with your breath as you bring your attention back to your physical body. Enjoy your breathing still seeing the earth pulsing with your breath as your beating heart. Start all over again. Do it as many times as you can.

• Take notes on how this practice affects you after two weeks and a month.

 As you move through your day, contemplate aesthesis as drawing in the essence of the world, the Anima Mundi with robust sensory perception. Drink in everything.