Values Shared

One of the worrying aspects of the 21st century is a real corrosion of values. It's an issue which is being aired in many different fields of life, from education, to politics to family.

I had dinner last week with a good friend and this was one of the areas which came up in conversation. He described how, as a young man, he had worked in a mortuary for nine months ...and how well he thought that this experience had served him in life. He said that it had taught him one thing ... that to be alive is everything , and it's a good thing to remember each and every morning when we re-awaken and open our eyes, to value this great gift of living.

I agreed strongly with him on this ...before anything else, even if life gets rough, tough or whatever, simply to be alive is still the greatest of gifts. To be conscious, able to see, move, think, love and feel .....is a precious thing ...and yet how easy to take it for granted?

I thought afterwards how very strengthening it is, in life's ups and downs, to make time to share what we value with others who feels the same importance as ourselves.

Inter Connections...a little bird told me!!

Over the weekend, I was feeling a bit down, ..as one does sometimes !! Out of the blue, two old friends from Australia skyped me .....the conversation was so uplifting ....exactly what I needed to hear at that very moment. Made me wonder about the webs of connection ...and somehow, you just know, yet again, that even when you can feel very alone...you never really are.


This morning, sitting in the office, I had a tap on the window ...a tiny little bluetit clinging on to the window ledge and looking at me, pecking away to get my attention. Having fed the birds for many years, I knew exactly what that meant and looked up to confirm that the birdfeeder with the fatballs was indeed empty!!!! But what a strange thing really, that a tiny ball of fluff with a brain smaller than my fingernail, knew what to do, to get breakfast on the table!!!

Another of life's great mysteries!!

Where is Home?.

Monday morning and reflecting over thoughts from the weekend.....I watched Lark Rise to Candleford last night ... lovely 19th century period drama set in the Oxfordshire neighbouring villages of Lark Rise and Candleford. For the characters there, home was very clearly defined by life in the village. In earlier centuries in the UK, you would need a passport to move from one village to another.


Hard to believe in an age of world travel! Today, more and more people identify themselves as citizens of the planet ...global citizens with a world view of themselves and the people with whom they share their 'home'

Yet turning my mind to the stretch of this comparison from village to global, I wondered if my mind needs to stretch further to encompass the planet as part of the universe.



After all, it is simply factual that Larkrise and Candleford are villages in Oxfordshire, Oxfordshire is part of England , England is part of the planet, our planet is part of the universe.....

It just depends how far one's perception and identity travel....and of course whether this has significance and meaning to us personally....more on that later !

Work calls !!

Do we all make a difference to life ?

I had a great Skype call with a couple of good friends in Australia yesterday.
We were talking about how someone could make a difference in the world .....and the question came up about how much difference could one individual make?

Not the kind of unusual 'stand above the crowd' individual who writes books, introduces new concepts and inventions, makes their mark as a politician, artist, musician or whatever...but just a regular sort of person...who believes in the bright side of life, wants a more humane future and who constantly makes a stand to be the best person they can be.....


I asked the question, do we need a context in which to be effective..whether that is one's family, work or being part of some kind of team or project .....a place to share the best of one's self and be a positive influence ?

The more I thought about it, the less comfortable I became with the question in the first place!!

A different view picture formed up in my mind..... which linked to some other thoughts.

Each person alive is a citizen of life .... lives , breathes and radiates into the air that we all breathe and share. So, whatever any individual does...whether as part of a bright regenerative quality kind of influence, or someone who adds to a degenerative curve of lessening value and humanity .....then of course we all make a difference simply by being alive.

I found that a very cheerful and encouraging thought!


After the call, I went out to do some gardening and the thought process continued....I could be out there just weeding away in my own little world, or go out there, conscious that I am a citizen of the world...and not living in isolation.


It was a great experience....bringing me closer to home with myself on the one hand but with a real feeling of expansion and belonging, being a part of something bigger, on the other!

The Certainty of Uncertainty

Over the last few days, I have been reading various web articles on climate change.

The variety of views about it was , to say the least, somewhat bizarre, in my eyes. As someone who has been following the unfolding facts about climate change over the last couple of decades, including reading a fascinating book recently about the very worrying changing patterns down in the Antarctic, I was amazed to read that in a recent poll, the number of people in the UK who feel the climate issue is being exaggerated has increased, and that only 41% accept that it is largely man made. Even more astonishing, only 31% believe it to be a definite reality.

Then there is the government producing ads to try and increase public awareness....... now a couple of their ads have been banned as not being based on facts but on projections ....one of those ads showed the 'three men in a tub' ( as in rub a dub dub!)to illustrate rising water levels and danger of flooding.... Again I just thought it so odd, that while the government ( and all of us) are being faced with the most serious of crises...that firstly they have to hire advertising people to publicise it, and then secondly they are banned from putting it out, as it would be scare mongering, and too distressing and misleading......

How are the general public to know what 'on earth' to think about it all?


Then there was the BBC 'Earthwatch' reporting that from their World Service Trust survey, that although many Africans are noticing progressive change in their climate, the tendency is to ascribe it to a 'higher authority' One fisherman from Ghana was quoted as saying " When it comes to rainfall, God has changed his calender" MMMM.....That's another way of thinking about it!

Reading the three articles one after the other, made me pause and ponder .....


The one thing all seemed to agree on is that things are changing, we don't know quite how or why, and that the future is full of uncertainty -- is this the only thing that is certain !!??

Stability in unstable time

One of my friends just had a look at this blog and pointed out the blog is about living in times of change - yet the last few articles are about permanence and stability ...Good Point!!

Yet, when one's boat is being rocked, it's sometimes good to have some places to go to in one's mind,where it feels safe and protected. Thats' why the blog has both aspects.

The Unchanging Vibrancy

Hi again,

Well today is another stunning blue skied spring delight! Sitting here at my computer and resisting the pull to the great outdoors, I can hear the most gorgeous and vibrant of birdsong.

Even before the sun came out and the skies cleared, I noticed a few weeks ago the quality of the bird song changing. For bird lovers, it's unmistakeable when spring is 'in the air' Their song levels change and you can almost feel the overspill of that amazing vibrant energy which is transforming the latent winter landscape into the appearance of spring growth.


In a time when there are so many radical changes happening all around us, it is so encouraging to spend time not only considering some of the more permanent aspects of life and living, but experiencing it consciously and deeply. It can be so very refreshing !!

Another permanent line....

Yesterday's blog about fathers and sons got me to thinking about the bond between mothers and their children....about how very powerful that instinct is to nurture, to look after and to see to the survival of the next generation. I am even told that some mother birds will sit on a nest of chicks and allow herself to be eaten, rather than abandon the warm eggs

It seems to be another of those 'permanent line' inbuilt influences that has ensured the survival of life over the millenia. You could say in the world of nature, it is an automatic instinct ...and my mind has to say, WOW, that is some automatic instinct and wonder what intelligence lies behind such a great drive!!

It got me to thinking too about how that plays out in our own human world ....and how much more creative mothers ( and fathers!!) can be in exercising their parental duties.....other qualities start to come to mind like love, warmth, kindness, selflessness, care and the list goes on and on....

What kind of civilisations would we have fallen heir to without that steady, generation upon generation, ongoing love of mothers and fathers to their offspring?And we are not just talking here about survival, but about a real refinement of life in all manner of ways.

Springtime Chat

Well, what a day !!

March 9th and at last we can sit outside in the springtime light and feel the warmth of the sun on our skin


I am pretty lucky to work in a great country environment with people who are good friends. Today was a delight sitting on the 'sun warmed' wooden benches and having a conversation over lunch.

I was really caught by something one of my friends, Lucinda, was saying. She had been reading a book ..a kind of 'post apocalypse' one called 'The Road' ( sounds like a good read!)

She was describing people travelling through a rather bleak America but the aspect which was a shining light in a dark world was a look from father to son which was a beacon of pure humanity. A few of us talking together all agreed that perhaps the most important of all things in our human world, is the preservation and growth of this softer side of life ..the kindness, the warmth and compassion.

It got me to thinking too - just how many generations we could trace back where such a look might have passed from father to son. Each father working to look afer, protect and provide a better opportunity of those they would leave behind them. I've seen it personally in my own father's eyes, in the father of my son, and now my son to his son ....

What a line ...an almost permanent line that would stretch back to distant forebears and ....one hopes far into the future.

GRASS ROOTS


On the way to work this morning, I listened to a program on Radio 4 ….it was talking about a rather unusual new phenomena called the ‘complaints choir’ !!! This is made up of people who are unhappy about aspects of their community or country who get together to sing about it !!! OK…now that is a bit weird …...but apparently a fast growing activity

Well, I ‘m not sure I would fancy spending my creative energy on what I want to complain about (!!) but what really caught me was the conversation afterward where the comment was made that it was yet another example of the phenomena of the 21st century that people want to be participant, want to have an influence, no longer want to take a back seat and are looking for new and different ways to have a voice. One obvious expression of this is the level of interactive possibilities there are on TV and Radio, where audiences become contributors to the shows. In fact a recent experiment, was a play which had three possible endings, in which the audience could phone in and influence which script should be followed!



A growing number of people in the 21st century seem to be looking for new ways to have their say and play their part in shaping society - more as part of a grass roots movement – seeking creative and constructive possibilities to bypass the usual hierarchies of power and influence.

This is a really interesting trend

Forging a fresh relationship with the planet

One of the rather sad features of modern life is how so few people have real time with the healing qualities of the natural worlds. Indeed whole generations are appearing whose life is city based and whose leisure centres around the ‘virtual’ world.

Even for many of us who do love the great outdoors, our lives often run at such a pace, that even when we do have time, it’s not so easy to slow down and really BE WITH the planet

You know the scenario ….you think GREAT, I have time to get out for a gorgeous walk in the countryside, even if it is cold and has been snowing !! Out you go, and drive to your favourite spot. On the way, the journey passes with you haphazardly thinking about the week just gone, things you still have to do at home and stuff absolutely NOT to be forgotten when you get into work on Monday!!! Oh yes, and how much you are looking forward to getting OUT THERE !!!

And so the walk begins. Sun shining, snow melting, trees budding, birds singing …PERFECT!!!! But as you stroll on across the field, down the river path and up into the wooded copse, your mind is still racing around and flotsam and jetsam ideas drop in uninvited…that conversation that hacked you off at work, something your boyfriend said ( or didn’t!!) You notice some snowdrops just coming out ....gorgeous …and is that a woodpecker in the distance? Nice to be out and about!!

Then more thoughts appear about this that and the other. SLOW DOWN!!! You stop, lean against a tree, to enjoy the surrounds …..feels nice …check your watch, an hour to go.. …..need to think about turning back soon …… getting cold, fancy a coffee, stuff to do at home …..and again your mind moves from the beauty around you and back to the busy life waiting for your input !!!

I’ve had that happen so often……and something in me has longed for another type of experience …..but you know what, I’ve discovered it just doesn’t happen on its own accord. And there are ways to slow down, tune in and connect !!

More to follow!!!!

Evolution and Revolution

Fascinating how similar those words really are ..just an R of a difference!!

In the late sixties and seventies, as a student, the big thing was to 'join the revolution' and there was a great sense of rebelling against the status quo. And on hindsight, perhaps that was part of reason for the short lived dream of that era. It was as much focussed on dissing the past, as on building a new future. And the word, revolution also means something going round and round, like the revolution of a wheel.
In truth, revolutions in the past have rarely worked and have often simply been a temporary bloodpath followed by more of the same. For example, Napoleon after the French Revolution declaring himself emperor!!




Evolution on the other hand, has quite a different connotation....the root of the
word means an unrolling or opening or in the case of a gas, a setting free ...the implication being that evolution is unlocking an inherent design possibility into reality. And of course it represents a real development leap into the future, not simply more of what has been.

So maybe the phrase for our time today in 2010, is

Join the Evolution ! .

Question to ponder is what can free that latent genetic potential in us?

PS For some interesting views on evolution, have a look at the John Edge articles on evolution on www.templatesforchange.com website - well worth a read!

Consideration is one of the most fantastic aspects of humanity ....and the root of the word is a fascinating one

Consideration
Con = with Sidera - the stars

So consideration means literally to be with the stars .... wow!!

And let's think for a moment about what is involved when someone is considerate.
It means one person thinks about another's situation ..weighs it up and works out how best to respond in order to help others lives improve. It is not a knee jerk reaction, but something that involves a deliberate creative mental act.

Something totally unique to being human.

More on stability ....

More on Stability ….in a fast moving world

A Small Contemplation

As we sit here today comfortably in our chair, we are perched on planet earth - a sphere spinning around the sun at about 18.5 miles per second or 66,600 miles per hour - the sun is spinning around the galaxy at around 135 miles per second or 486, 000 miles per hour. Yes, that is 460 THOUSAND miles per hour !! And as for the galaxy, well of course the milky way is moving too, at even faster speeds!!

It is quite a journey we are on.

Let’s not be blinded by figures , but let’s face it – that is a lot of movement!!

Yet we can walk around feeling perfectly stable, balance on one leg or place a
delicate glass on a smooth surface and it stays still ….


Now that is stability at a profound level. Doesn’t it make you too feel still and rather safe ?

I heard a radio program last night on why are there so many apocalyptic films being made and why are they so very popular?

That got me thinking …good question!!!

Could it be that there is an unconscious instinct that we are in times of real change …..the end of one kind of civilization and the beginning of a new ? The problem with these kind of films is they tend visually to over emphasize the endings rather than something new ..not surprising as the new as not yet happened and it is hard to imagine life outside of today’s programming ….

It also prompted me to wonder how that affects the psyche of the young ….who live with this kind of ‘end of the world’ scenario both in fiction and also from the climate change and planetary crisis angle from a very early age. No wonder anxiety & depression in the young is on the increase….and worse.

All the more important for those who care to give some mind space on the new possibility and the new proposition…

Take a few moments …. .what kind of world would you want to live in ? …..Picture it….

How would people be with people ?
How would people be with the planet and the little people of the planet, the animals ?
What would you leave behind?