Joy Generation

Predators

2011-10-05T08:22:00.001+01:00

If thoughts create our world, whose thoughts make predators kill? You cannot say that the young zebra has brought about its own demise in the jaws of a pride of lions, through its thoughts. Well, I suppose you can say it, but the idea doesn't quite stick! So whose thoughts are causing the violent death and suffering of billions of animals preyed upon by others?

Could it be our thoughts, collectively?

When we truly shift, enough of us, will the predatory system change? Will there be a new way to receive and give energy, not involving one creature devouring another? Could it, in effect, cause an evolutionary leap for all Earth's creatures, not just us humans? Might we, at some point, indeed have the lion lying down with the lamb - in gentle companionship? Because we think only thoughts of peace? Because we are peace.

Wouldn't that be cool? What do you think?

Free Your Mind and Your Ass Will Follow

2011-07-13T12:32:00.000+01:00

I would love to look into the eye of a whale. In the wild seas. Unafraid.

What mystery there? What depth of wordless thinking?

Given that they cannot hug or speak, I'm certain they use other ways to connect. I'm certain that they feel connected in spite of their seeming aloneness. Inseparable from each other. Inseparable from the ocean.

We do not know, but we can imagine. It is gross arrogance to assume that other creatures are lesser, that they are biological automatons, without any Knowing.

http://www.wdcs.org.uk/

I would love to gaze, long and open, into the eye of a whale. To see its being. To understand its essence. And to allow that eye to see me. Allow that eye to reflect me back to me, filtered by the whale's dream.

Would I like to look into the eye of an orca? Sea-wolf; huntress? See the bloodlust, the thrill of the kill? Not so much. For I fear to awaken those urges in me.

We have the power to imagine anything. To call up and create anything. We are conjurers, magicians, mini-gods creating.

Let's not be small. Let's be towering in our creative benevolence. Let's put it all right, because we have the capacity to imagine it put right. To imagine it all good.

Where first we imagine, the planners follow, then the builders, then everyone can come to inhabit these new places.

That's how a new world is made.

"...The infinite intelligence within you knows the answers.
Its nature is to respond to your thoughts…"

You gravitate to that which you secretly love most
You meet in life the exact reproduction of your own thoughts
There is no chance, coincidence or accident
In a world ruled by law and divine order
You rise as high as your dominant aspiration
You descend to the level of your lowest concept of your self
Free your mind and your ass will follow
The infinite intelligence within you knows the answers
Its nature is to respond to your thoughts
Be careful of the thought-seeds you plant in the garden of your mind
For seeds grow after their kind

Dr Funkenstein / Funkadelic

Conscious Evolution and Evolutionary Spirituality

2011-03-11T16:04:00.000+00:00

This is the spiritual concept that most captures my enthusiasm. So what is it?

I have this impulse inside me that drives me to seek more out of life, particularly to find a way to give more. To give something of meaning to the planet, to humanity. To do something for the greater good.

Where does that impulse come from? I know I'm not the only one feeling it. Not everyone is feeling it, but many, many people are feeling it. And often it begins as a dissatisfaction with the way life is turning out. A questioning. Is this really all there is? Is this really as good as it gets?

The universe began from a single, unimaginably tiny, point. Something caused that point to expand, and keep expanding. Something set in motion a process that drove the tiny particles from that initial explosion to form the simplest atoms. They coalesced into suns which produced enough energy to form heavier atoms, more explosions, a new generation of suns, planets, and all the space debris we're now familiar with. And no doubt, plenty we don't yet know.

Something caused our planet to generate life. And that life, over billions of years, increased in complexity until there was an astonishing array of life-forms interwoven together, constantly developing, constantly changing. That "something" can be called the evolutionary impulse, an impulse towards ever greater complexity.

So now we come along. Humanity. Very recently, in history-of-the-universe terms, as we are so often hearing. But my, how quickly we have grown! We became self-conscious. We became thinkers. Problem-solvers. Innovators. Masters of our environment. Conquerors. Amazing, wonderful, inventive. Can we say, the most successful species on the planet? We are, after all, everywhere (as that fantastic TV series Human Planet beautifully illustrates).

But of course, it's not all good. We're polluting our environment. We're killing, torturing and enslaving our own kind. We're destroying habitats at an unsustainable rate. Something is very off-course. We all know it. But we're not sure that there's anything we can do about it.

Well, yes there is. We can evolve. The big damage has happened, mainly, in the last couple of hundred years. Which is also the time that we've been coming to terms with the concept of evolution, rather than a sudden, complete creation. Many people have come to accept that this evolution has been taking place. They've let go of the classic beliefs, that all is either static or cyclical. Things change, states the new paradigm, endlessly.

Even the pace of change, changes.

Now, we are becoming conscious of the evolutionary process within us, not just across those eons past, but within an individual, in one lifetime, right now. Humanity has not stopped evolving. Even human nature itself is evolving. There is a long way for us to go. In fact, we are only just beginning, and we cannot fathom where we will be in a few more centuries.

We are the universe becoming conscious of itself. We are the consciousness of the evolutionary impulse, embodied. We are its physical form.

Barbara Marx Hubbard believes we are birthing a new species of human, dubbed Homo universalis (sometimes Homo progressivus or Homo noeticus), who will have a very different orientation to Homo sapiens.

The new universal human will be in touch with the evolutionary impulse inside them, tapping into that divine source of love, joy, wisdom and inspiration, at will. They will be motivated by the impulse within to find meaningful "work" which contributes to the greater good, while providing a safe and self-nurturing platform to perform that work from. Relationships will be the coming together of people already fulfilled and happy, who are not seeking fulfilment and love FROM each other, but who are bringing those gifts TO each other.

Understanding that is a major key. To have the best, happiest, liberating, committed relationships, we do not demand love or happiness from each other. We unlock the love and joy that is available to each and every one of us INSIDE, thereby automatically bringing love and happiness to our partners, family and friends. We become love. We are joy.

Reading books is a great way to increase understanding but it is very important to activate your heart and not just your mind when grappling with these ideas. Read with an open mind and an open heart. For a good grounding in the concepts you can't beat:

Conscious Evolution (UK)
Conscious Evolution: Awakening Our Social Potential

Conscious Evolution (US)
Conscious Evolution: Awakening Our Social Potential

and for my personal evolution, I'm well into and thoroughly enjoying:

Love for No Reason (UK)
Love For No Reason: 7 Steps to Creating a Life of Unconditional Love

Love for No Reason (US)
Love For No Reason: 7 Steps to Creating a Life of Unconditional Love

Listening, I find, is even better, because you can hear so much more in a voice, the nuances convey so many extra clues, and you can feel like you are part of a group of like-minded seekers. Anything where Barbara Marx Hubbard speaks is well worth listening to. Another favourite is Jean Houston, she is awesome. Craig Hamilton is very much into exploring the conscious evolution concept and two others I've enjoyed listening to recently are James O'Dea and Terry Patten. And another favourite is Bruce Lipton (The Biology of Belief).

The whole audio series led by Claire Zammit and Katherine Woodward Thomas, called Women on the Edge of Evolution, is well worth exploring.

And all these audio series are available to download for free - hundreds of hours of stimulating, heart-expanding, mind-broadening conversations between people who are doing extraordinary good in the world.

So, why not dive in and let your evolutionary impulse guide you to just one, to listen to today? I guarantee there'll be at least one lovely "aha!" moment just for you.

LINKS TO FREE AUDIO SERIES:

The Shift In Action

The Shift Network

The Great Integral Awakening

Women on the Edge of Evolution

Past and Future Me's

2011-02-20T17:49:00.000+00:00

Ferreting through my box of old writings today (such a lovely rainy-Sunday activity) I unearthed this. I must have written it twenty-five years ago, as I refer to 'my children' as if I might have some - I never did. I remember even as a teenager having this strong feeling of connection with future "me's", that my life was all happening all at once, but I forgot it in my thirties, to be re-awakened to it in my mid-forties. It was partly this reconnection between past and future "me's" that helped to heal me of my depression. I have a "family of me's" all ready to support each other.

I'm glad I kept everything I ever wrote. Ink is more durable than memory.

Now I know what Sam Clements meant. [Who? Did I mean Samuel Clemens - Mark Twain? If I did, I can only have read a little of his stuff - he put forward so many viewpoints across his life.] Everything is ordained, he insisted, mapped out, planned; our lives stretching before us as well as behind; the book has been written, read, and closed long before we take our first breath.

Sometimes it can seem so. But still, I have the choice to lay down my pen and walk out of the room, I could scream, put out my cigarette, cry for lost lovers - I don't, but I have the feeling that I could. Perhaps the feeling is just part of the detailed passage about my life, my thoughts.

Certainly it seems that we cannot choose who we love. We fall, always the word used, in love with this person or that - by chance? Or does some superpower, some force, some cosmic intelligence, cause a shift in the infrastructure of space and time which presents us with this person to love? Here she is, here he is. Here I am. I stand before you, it is ordained that you love me. You cannot resist. Indeed, trying to resist is only part of the play, written, edited and finalised long ago.

I am young, but I feel old. There is no difference. Age is a definition with no meaning. I am thirteen, twenty, thirty-two, sixty, all at once. I am unborn, I am dead. This moment is one viewpoint in my life, I remember all that has happened, from being born to dying. Lovers in succession, marching, trampling over me, trampling each other, feeling my hard boot on their faces. Yes, all is love and beauty, all is heartache, apathy, grey.

Yes, my children are all dead. Their children are dead. That is the only certainty. If ever they lived at all.

Who sees fit to control me in this way? What huge game is this? Why am I not aware of what is in store for me? Where is the cosmic library holding life-stories about each of us? Could I not read the passage about me, and thus relieve myself of painful decision-making, if the decision is already made?

I don't believe it! I can and will take control. I will rule me, no-one else can get near.

Why do I hear such a peal of cosmic laughter?

.

Healthy Money

2011-01-27T17:28:00.002+00:00

Money isn't real. It's what I've always instinctively felt and have insisted for years. And now I'm hearing it confirmed by unassailable sources.

Not only is money not real, but it's being used in a highly effective con which concentrates more and more money (power) in the hands of a few, effectively enslaving the rest of us. This money system, built on scarcity, creates suffering and starvation. How many times have we heard that we have the resources to feed everyone on the planet? Why can't we? Because if there's no profit in it, the current monetary paradigm won't allow it to happen.

Now, I believe that without the distortion of this monetary system, people would prove themselves to be fundamentally cooperative and collaborative, and the hungry would soon be fed. And I'm delighted to say that there are great minds at work on just how we can move from this current, seemingly hopeless, pathological system into one where that will be possible. Not only will it be possible, but people all around the world are already putting many of the new ideas into practice. Just don't expect to hear about it from the conventional media.

A fantastic introduction to all this and an inspiration to us all is provided (yet again) from the fabulous Shift Network. They are running a Healthy Money Summit and it has really got me excited. If you want to know a bit more about how you can make a difference to your own life and how what you do can slot into the bigger picture, I really recommend this free audio series.

In fact, I urge everyone to listen in to at least some of it. This is about how we CAN make the changes, starting right now.

Jumping up and down in glee ...!

Six Heart Virtues

2010-12-31T12:30:00.001+00:00

The reason we have a physical existence, it seems to me, is to bring intention into form: to act. Beautiful thoughts are only a start, a spark in the dark, until we create something from them.

In 2011 I am going to be thinking about the six heart virtues, reflecting on their meanings for me personally, and aiming to bring them into form through my everyday actions.

This, I believe, is the purpose we all share, over and above any specific and unique life purpose.

The six heart virtues as described by James of the Wingmakers are:

compassion
forgiveness
humility
valour
understanding
appreciation

Here's to a splendid, sparkling 2011. I see you, you shining light, and you are magnificent.

Shine on.

Throw away your TV!

2010-11-29T16:08:00.000+00:00

This is more or less the speech I gave at Toastmasters last week.

I'd rather go online than watch TV.

It's nearly two years since I moved into a flat on my own without a television. I can honestly say there has not been one minute when I missed it.

What I've loved is the extra time it's given me to pursue my own interests, especially online. I love the immediacy of the internet - I think of a question and within minutes I have an array of answers. They don't always agree with each other, but that's OK, I can read them all, I can make up my own mind. I'm constantly amazed by the scope too. Think of a subject and someone, somewhere will have put something about it online.

I've discovered a vast treasure of information on subjects that interest me, like sustainability and self-development, cellular biology, natural health and even honey bees.

Permaculture

One line of research will often spark another. Something will be mentioned in passing, and I'll think, 'oh, I'd like to know more about that …' and I can, because I'm online. So I open another window, and another row of tabs; I can have several windows waiting to be read and yes - hours can pass that way! But they're really interesting hours, and I'm learning all the time.

Compassion in World Farming

To me, the internet stimulates thought and enquiry that way.

TV, however, deadens the mind.

Television dulls the senses, mesmerises, anaesthetises.

Have you ever caught yourself, in the middle of an advert break, wondering why you're still sitting there while they shout at you? I always used to mute the ads, they'd drive me crazy.

Of course, these are fairly sweeping generalisations. With all these things, it totally depends on how you use them. One person may be very selective about what they watch on TV, while another may be a lot less discriminating about what they look at online.

But it seems to me that the internet offers almost infinite choice. You can 'veg out' and just view things on YouTube or on the TV channels' websites if you want to. I've watched the odd nature documentary like that, and I confess I am re-watching that fab satire of the 90s, 'Drop the Dead Donkey', via 4OD. The internet offers more though: you can interact, you can read other people's views following articles, you can put your own view, you can meet people.

TV merely comes at you and makes profit for corporations.

A few weeks ago I took a step further and put myself on Facebook. I admit to start with I was a bit scared of it, so I put myself on with a false name and a false moustache. Joking aside, as I began to find out what it was really all about, I've been blown away by the possibilities. It's not just a way of connecting people, it seems to me it is a great facility to escalate change and good in the world. I have found out about even more campaigns, charities, communities, ethical businesses and individuals who are actively creating a new way of being in the world since I've been on Facebook. And wow am I feeling connected! It's so lovely to 'meet' people on forums, feeling you already have so much in common. I have already made some friends from around the world that way.

We can all be heroes

Contrary to what people believe before they go on Facebook (me included!) you are also totally in control of what others can see, and there are layers to that control, it's very sophisticated.

So - I'd rather go online than watch TV.

When I watch TV, the news is fed to me, homogenised, filtered. Online I can find news websites I trust, I can contrast several different sites, I can read the comments that people post after the news.

On TV the news is almost entirely negative. I have found so much to be positive about online. So many people and organisations daring to do differently, to operate from the heart instead of for profit. So much you just don't hear about via conventional media.

On TV entertainment is fed to me. On the internet I can search for things that specifically interest me.

Women Waking the World

In front of the TV I'm passive (unless you call dialling in to keep Ann Widdecombe dancing for another week 'getting actively involved'). Online I can interact, I can feel involved, I can participate. I can make contacts.

Online I can feel connected.

Yes Group Norwich

Allowing Emotions

2010-11-20T14:19:00.002+00:00

This morning I woke in the pale grey with an idea I believed to be an inspiration. I propped myself on one elbow, switched on the light and made quick notes. I felt happy because I believed I was in the flow, allowing inspiration to flow through me. I felt good, sure that I was being inspired along the lines of my life purpose. I had the intention of acting on that inspiration today and putting my idea into practice.

A little later an innocent comment from someone triggered a reaction in me, a constriction and painful surge of emotions that felt like my big happy bubble had just burst. I suddenly thought that my idea would be seen as silly, ridiculous even. I felt in advance feelings of humiliation and shame. I imagined others' judgements of me, being associated with such a silly idea. I started to think that no-one else would want to be associated with my idea. My whole core felt hurt and diminished.

I tried very hard not to let the person who made the remark know what was happening inside me (we were on the phone, but even so, you can hear a lot in tone, or silence), because I knew immediately that this huge reaction was all about my own stuff, and not about his. After the phone call I allowed the emotions to wash over me, feeling awful, but trying at the same time to observe and learn.

Eventually, after a stream of gloomy thoughts, I began to pick myself up again. I thought, 'OK, perhaps I have to change the idea a little. But I don't have to abandon it altogether.'

Then I checked into Facebook. I've heard a lot about synchronicity. It's amazing, and funny, once this stuff starts to flow. Now I'm really getting it! I love the way Facebook allows the Universe to make seemingly random events happen right on the button.

This quote came up from Tao of the Giraffe, one of my favourite Facebook feeds:

"What other people think of you is none of your business."

And a little later, this video popped up from We Can All Be Heroes :

I very much enjoyed the whole scene, and the commentary, but especially the narrator's summing up at the end.

I'm beginning to access a detachment that allows me to feel the emotions as they occur, but not to be swamped by them or act on them in a way that will just cause more pain. It's not easy, but I'm motivated because it's better than being a slave to my painful emotions. I was helped very much in this regard by listening to Gary Zukav and Linda Francis yesterday evening in an interview in the Healing with the Masters series, and watching little videos on their website Seat of the Soul Institute. Another case of good timing? It would certainly seem so.

I'm laughing at myself now. I hope soon I'll be able to laugh even as I observe myself going through another bubble-bursting episode, sure that it will give me the opportunity to reduce the power that the painful emotions have over me. Or will that make people think I'm crazy? Ha ha, I don't care!

And the idea … ? Well, I'm still feeling a little shy about it, but I'm definitely working on it.

Music and Connecting

2010-11-09T16:23:00.000+00:00

Music has an infinite capacity to move us, to tears as well as to joy. Connecting with others to create something stimulates hope, strengthening a belief in our ability to affect the world around us: it's easier and more things are possible when we work together.

So connecting to make music is one of the most fundamental, soul-enhancing, life-affirming activities we have available. My lack of natural ability in this area is an occasional source of disappointment to me, but I love seeing others doing it (and I have a little plan hatching which may change my relationship to music, too).

Playing For Change are an inspiration. They've brought together artists from all around the world. Now they are building music schools. Just listening to their music and watching their videos is a joy-generating experience, which is why I'm offering one of my favourites here, and I've created a music page to present more.

Enjoy!

Magic

2010-10-19T13:54:00.000+01:00

Now I understand why I cried so much as a teenager: I mourned the terrible loss of my belief in a deep magic inherent in life.

I didn't know it, but I was letting go, under a constant bombardment from the prevailing world view, of my connection to everything else. To the wild things, to my inner self, to the magic of infinite possibilities.

I'm so very happy to have found it again.

I got here, step by tiny step, by beginning to entertain the notion first that I could overcome my limiting beliefs, then that I could change my circumstances. As it turned out, the one followed on from the other.

One of the major landmarks along the road is when you give yourself permission to please yourself - not to the detriment of others, but in a self-nurturing way. Prepare to think differently to everyone else. Learn to ask yourself what you really want and "follow your excitement". Life takes on new flavours, new colours, scents, sensualities, all run through with eagerness and joy.

I followed my excitement to study biology with the Open University. So fascinating, so amazing, the extent of the activity in each tiny cell of my body, at a speed that defies comprehension. Learning the science of life hasn't lessened my awe in the mystery, it's heightened it.

Three books which have helped renew my belief in magic* - a sort of marriage of science and mystery - are:

The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles (UK) - how our beliefs shape our biology, right down to the cellular level. You don't need any knowledge of biology or science to read it, it's really easy to read and explained very well.

Biology of Belief - US

Biocentrism(UK) - the notion that everything (yes, everything) exists because life exists, not the other way around. A bit of a mind bender, again beautifully written.

Biocentrism - US

Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge(UK) - joining the dots between shamanic experiences and modern science. I defy any biologist to read this and remain closed to the concept that we are so much more than co-ordinated chemical reactions.

The Cosmic Serpent - US

*By magic I mean, that there is still a deep and beautiful mystery to life, the universe and everything; that so much more is possible than we have been led to believe by the rigid lines of this current collapsing paradigm. One day these inexplicable phenomena will have everyday names and they won't be thought of as magic at all, because it will be totally accepted as normal! I suspect, though, that there will always be some deeper mystery to go on chasing. Hope so. Let's keep it juicy.

Chocolate porridge

2010-10-01T12:49:00.001+01:00

I am definitely going to listen more to my Higher Self. Chocolate porridge is truly awesome.

recipe

I made it myself from porridge oats, a good quality hot chocolate mix (basically cocoa and sugar) and yes, I topped it off with a little cream.

Not one for every day, but such a treat! Yum!

I am a Woman Healing Myself

2010-09-29T09:37:00.002+01:00

This is an excerpt from "I am a Woman Finding My Voice", my new favourite beautiful book, by Janet F Quinn. Each short section tackles an area of life like "Believing in Myself" or "Allowing Others to Be Right" or "Having a Daring Adventure". The language is gorgeous, urging self-acceptance while motivating gentle self-improvement.

Janet writes:

The word heal comes from the Anglo-Saxon haelan, which means to be or to become whole. To be a woman healing myself is to be a woman becoming whole; giving myself the time and the space I need for the journey. No one grows up without wounds - emotional wounds; spiritual wounds; psychological wounds. I may want to forget how I have been hurt, bury it and just move on, but sometimes my wounds keep me from becoming all that I want to be, and so I need to pay attention to them.
[…]
Healing is discovering all the secret places inside of me, especially the ones I feel ashamed of or frightened by, and befriending them. Healing is the process I am engaged in and not a specific outcome. I fill my life with people and things that nourish and feed me and I try to avoid anything that is not healing for me and anyone who does violence to my unfolding. I do not know what the outcome of this process will be, what my healing will look like, or feel like, even to myself, because healing is always creative. Yet I have come to trust that, no matter what it looks like, feels like, or sounds like, no matter how long it is taking, or how foreign the territory, I am a woman healing myself.

Janet F Quinn

I came across Janet Quinn on the Shift In Action website, a treasure house of interviews with fascinating individuals. You can listen online or download the recording, or read the transcript. "The Way of the Healer: You are the medicine and you are enough" is a great introduction to Janet's philosophy and wealth of practical experience.

She also has a website: Haelan Works

and her book is available from Amazon

in the UK: I Am a Woman Finding My Voice: Celebrating the Extraordinary Blessings of Being a Woman

and in the US via Janet's website.

Inspirational women

2010-09-24T15:48:00.002+01:00

I have spent a wonderfully cloistered summer in my little flat, listening to some incredibly inspiring women. I am profoundly grateful to Katherine Woodward Thomas and Claire Zammit for their Women on the Edge of Evolution teleseminar series.

Katherine Woodward Thomas

Claire Zammit

They're based in the US but people can dial in from anywhere in the world, or download the recorded conversations afterwards. That's what I do, as I live in the UK. I listen to them when I'm driving, or washing up, or when I just want to make myself relax for a while.

Two favourite new heroines for me are Diane Hamilton, who expresses a delicious feminine strength and loving acceptance, and Barbara Marx Hubbard, a leading light on conscious evolution with a fabulous sense of humour and extraordinary vitality at eighty.

Diane Hamilton

Barbara Marx Hubbard

There are many, many more marvellous women in conversation with Katherine and Claire. By sharing their stories with us, they're demonstrating that we can all step into a new way of being. Rather than feeling trapped, frustrated and helpless, by nurturing ourselves first and then operating from a position of inner strength, we can begin a joyful engagement with our modern problems. They're demonstrating just how much demand there is now for feminine strength, feminine ways of thinking, even nurturing ways of doing business. They're demonstrating that by stepping into her beautiful individuality, a woman is capable of incredible things. They're saying: "I am you. Any of us can do this. Start with a new kind of special care for yourself." I feel very much more optimistic about the next few years for people and planet since I've been listening to these dialogues.

They're also saying: "We are the ones we've been waiting for." That's exciting!

Women on the Edge of Evolution is easy to register for and it's totally free.

Becoming the new you

2010-09-01T18:03:00.000+01:00

My butterfly friend has posted a chant on her blog very like one I used to great effect a year or so ago when I needed to make a big change in my life. It's very simple and it may even seem a little silly at first glance, but the nursery rhyme rhythms get you nicely into your free child; you can imagine skipping along in the sunshine while you half sing it. You can play it through your head if it's not safe to say it, but I recommend saying it out loud whenever you can.

Once you accept that you can change and that it's beneficial to expect always to be changing, it's much easier to let go of patterns of thought and behaviour that are not serving you. Accept how you were before and let it go. "That's how I was yesterday, but that's not how I am today." You can be endlessly, excitedly, becoming the new you.

And once this new way of thinking about yourself as eternally renewing becomes your belief about yourself, you also start to see that you are not trapped by your life's circumstances. Once you change yourself, your circumstances change.

Begin and see. So exciting!
.

Blogging and the dawn chorus

2010-08-16T13:31:00.000+01:00

One bird singing can be fascinating and sound quite pretty. If it's a wren or a robin, so sweet it might bring tears. If a blackbird or a nightingale, inspirational.

Not everyone can be a nightingale. Most birds make a simple tune which they keep repeating. Some, like the sparrow, produce just a single note.

BUT when you hear all of the different birds at once - hundreds singing together - it's beautiful, uplifting, superb.

It doesn't matter if the separate songs are not great requiems. It doesn't matter if they're endlessly repeated. And it doesn't matter if the singers are motivated by self-interest.

What matters is that together they sound glorious, like nature's hymn of praise for life itself.

Well, it strikes me that we bloggers, between us, are celebrating all that it means to be unique human beings. Our individual experiences, and our particular thoughts about them, are endlessly repeating and reshaping the creative expression of humanity. Individuality, expressed en masse.

So blog away fellow songbirds. I sing the song of my life and you sing yours. Our songs, added together, are giving form to a fresh kind of music. We are singing at the dawn of a new and astonishing age.

Yay!

yippee

2010-08-12T20:22:00.001+01:00

Free as air

2010-08-12T20:11:00.002+01:00

Joy is as freely available to us as air. It is all around us and in us, just like air.

Once we dissolve the mental and emotional blocks constructed since childhood, we are able to feel joy flow through us, inhabit us.

Let go of fear, let go of anger, jealousy, self-hate. These are all veils hiding how easily accessible the joy is. Cut them down, let them fall, let the wind blow the veils away. We don't need that stuff, we can choose to be without all those fear-based emotions.

Try it. Don't be surprised if you fly.

Win, win, win scenario

2010-07-27T21:51:00.010+01:00

I love the notion that we could foil the plans of Big Pharma to keep us all dependent on drugs - by taking control of our health, individually, from the inside. Let's do it. It seems to me that many “miracle” recovery stories are beautiful examples of how the power of belief works.

A few weeks ago I went to a talk by a defector from Big Pharma who now writes and talks about a very different route to well-being: Dr David Hamilton. He became more interested in the placebo effect than the effects of the pharmaceuticals, which is great for us, because from him we get to hear both sides of the story.

Dr David Hamilton

Although he has certainly talked about the role of belief in self-healing, this particular talk was about the power of love and kindness; not as you might expect, about the good this does in the world, but about the amazing health benefits for the giver.

Wo! I'm glad to say, he made it quite clear he wasn't advocating kindness for selfish reasons, but he did want us to appreciate just how well adapted our bodies are for it. When we are showing love or compassion all kinds of fabulous natural healing processes kick in. We aren't just happier, we are physically healthier too.

When you hug someone, or even if you just pause to help a stranger pick up some things they dropped, you get a rush of the hormone oxytocin into your system. This hormone has been shown to improve people's responses to others. People tend to be more generous, more trusting, find it easier to connect with others and like people more when their system is flooded with oxytocin. (Apparently, it is not unheard of for business people to spray a room with an oxytocin substitute just before potential clients enter, in the hope of closing that crucial deal. Shocking behaviour, but that's the profit-driven world for you. I suppose at least everyone would be happy – until it wore off!)

The splendid point is, the more you practice compassion, the more disposed to showing compassion you become, in a beautiful ever-expanding spiral. (This news makes a welcome change from downward, ever-tightening spirals.) This leads to an expansion in the area of the brain disposed to compassion. And more oxytocin, a powerful anti-oxidant, which means that it's good for our bodies in myriad ways. It expands the arteries, reducing blood pressure. It reduces inflammation, decreasing the risk of heart disease and colon cancer, and the effects of ageing.

David also talked about stimulation of the vagus nerve and its role in reducing inflammation in the body. Inflammation is the number one cause of ageing, which is linked to deteriorating health, so anything we can do to hold it at bay is a good thing. He taught us a simple version of the Buddhist 'loving-kindness” meditation. He reckons meditation impacts on 1,500 genes, turning off inflammation triggers. And counting your blessings also improves your health – keeping a gratitude diary for just 3 weeks improved the health of participants in a study. People would pay a lot of money for any drug (or dietary supplement, for that matter) which brought health improvements that rapidly – this is free!

Just before the halfway break, he got us all to stand up and hug the person next to us. I had come alone, and so had a woman just in front of me, so we hugged each other. It was lovely, it definitely felt good, there was a momentary connection.

David, who trained as an organic chemist, made his explanations clear and simple without talking down to the audience. I particularly enjoyed the way he dotted his talk with illustrative stories about real people and real situations, often with a smile and a joke. He wasn't afraid to repeat important points. I should add, he has the most gorgeous Scottish accent. His voice carried well to the back of the room, but still, somehow, he maintained a conversational style. He was great to listen to, great to watch. And very inspirational.

So let's take control of our health from the inside. Starting with kindness to ourselves. Then our loved ones. Acquaintances. Strangers. Let's set great waves of kindness and compassion rippling out into the world. Why hold back? It's a win, win, win scenario.

Bon Courage!

2010-07-12T13:59:00.004+01:00

One of the things I have to keep reminding myself - but is well worth the effort! - is the importance of being me. Of digging deep and finding the courage to celebrate what is particular about me, with all my faults and flaws. What is the point of wasting this precious life trying to be someone else?

Photo by David Cappaert, Michigan State University, (Bugwood.org), www.insectimages.org

We each have a unique make-up, beautifully formed from our DNA to our most influential relationships, and from all our life experiences in-between. I firmly believe we are here to explore that to the full, not to try to conform to any imposed norm.

I draw courage and inspiration from those who meet much greater challenges than me, and yet seem to approach life as a joyous adventure. When someone with physical or mental challenges above the average is filled with gratitude at being alive, at having this fabulous opportunity, it is both humbling and motivational.

I'd like to share some of my favourites here:

Peggy O'Neill

Peggy O'Neill - the tiny speaker who empowers you to walk tall! Peggy is 3'8", vibrant, amazing.
http://yopeggy.com/index.php?page=bio&family=meetpeggy

"Get back up" - Nick Vujicic. Born with no limbs, now inspiring others never to give up. What a guiding light.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MslbhDZoniY
http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/

Robert Pio Hajjar, a man who does not let his Down syndrome hold him back. He founded IDEAL-WAY.ca to help all of us see ability rather than disability in others.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROWbyKVLYr8&feature=player_embedded
http://www.ideal-way.ca/Ideal/Default.aspx

Jill Bolte Taylor "got a research opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: She had a massive stroke, and watched as her brain functions -- motion, speech, self-awareness -- shut down one by one. An astonishing story." Now she shares her story with everyone.
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/jill_bolte_taylor_s_powerful_stroke_of_insight.html
http://drjilltaylor.com/

Dr Jill Bolte Taylor (photo Kip May)

There is a wonderful book, by Art Berg, called "The Impossible Just Takes a Little Longer". He says: "Dreams are never destroyed by circumstances. They are born in the heart and the mind and only there can they ever die. For while the difficult takes time, the impossible just takes a little longer."
http://www.artberg.com/

He also says: "Your vision for yourself is what you know you need to make your life significant."

I'm thinking: just by being you, your life is significant. You don't have to do something that hits the headlines. But the more 'you' that you allow yourself to be, the happier and more fulfilled you're going to feel.

So, are you ready to jump into this joyous adventure, being you?

If we all jump at once, we'll make a mighty big splash in Space-Time. Fantastic!

Bon Voyage!

2010-07-08T14:31:00.003+01:00

IMAGINE you're going to go on a 6000 mile journey. You'll be away for eight months. You'll be on the move most of the time.

What preparations will you make? What will you take?

I know I'd want to find out a lot about where I was going. About the terrain; the climate; will they have Costa Coffee? At the very least I'd want a map. But a good satellite navigation system would be better.

Well, if you're a bird, there's not a lot by way of preparation you can do, except to eat well and keep those wing muscles exercised. There's no way for you to do any research. There's nothing you can take. You just have to trust that your inbuilt sat nav is going to get you to where you need to be - and back - at the right time.

5 billion small songbirds - from swallows to willow warblers - engage in an exodus from Europe into Africa each Autumn. Tagging with leg rings has told us something about their movements in Europe, but where they go in Africa is still largely a mystery.

That's why, in Thetford (Norfolk, England), right now, there are some very excited conservationists. Because electronics has got ever smaller, for the first time they have been able to track the migration of a songbird. Not just any songbird, but possibly the most written about, sung about, celebrated songbird of all time.

(Photo by Edmund Fellowes/BTO)

They have tracked the amazing journey of a nightingale, code named "OAD", all the way from Norfolk to Guinea-Bissau in North Africa. That's a hell of a long way for a bird about the size of a robin. The tiny geolocator is too small to 'send' information, so they had to re-catch the birds they'd tagged. They caught OAD just 50 yards from where they tagged him last year. Information from the logger has shown his incredible journey from July until February.

here's a map of the route

The English Channel and France were really just a warm up for what was ahead.

OAD had to negotiate the Pyrenees, like a great wall dividing France from Spain, prone to sudden, heavy thunderstorms.

In August Spain is hot and arid. Songbirds tend to migrate in the dark to avoid the heat and evade predators. But an unexpected horror waits for them in the Spanish night. One that they can't see or hear. The greater noctule bat, with its 45cm wingspan, has recently been proven to catch and eat songbirds, on the wing, during migration, especially in the Autumn.

Once he had escaped the bats, OAD probably had to run the gauntlet of the Strait of Gibraltar, where many birds of prey would also be heading south.

In Morocco he had a three week rest to refuel. The satellite pictures show that there's a bit of green in the North and if he hugged the coastline he could avoid the mountains, but further south it looks grimly brown. Then he would be into Western Sahara, Mauritania and northern Senegal, which all look equally barren.

All down that west coast there is the risk of vast, swirling dust storms being blown across from the Sahara - so furious they can strike as far out as the Canary Islands.

OAD had just six weeks or so in Guinea-Bissau before beginning that awesome endeavour in reverse. The logger stopped recording in February so we don't know his route back, but the scientists hope to log more birds next year.

The nightingale is a sleek little bird a bit longer than a robin, with huge beautiful eyes. It's brown down the back and pale in front and has an upright stance reminiscent of a thrush.

more pix like this

Like other songbirds, the males sing during the day, especially at dawn. Of course, what has placed the nightingale into legend, poetry and song is the pure, passionate, haunting beauty of its singing at night, when all else is still.

a nightingale singing
3 nightingales competing

I formed my early impressions of how beautiful a nightingale must sound from Nat King Cole's rendition of 'A Nightingale Sang In Berkeley Square'. I almost imagined that the bird would sound like him.

I wish I'd thought to seek one out as a child. There were 10 times as many nightingales in the 60s as there are today.

Sadly, nightingale numbers in England are in free-fall. They're increasingly rare, but are clinging on in East Anglia and the South East.

I started out wanting to convey the awesome nature of a songbird's migration, but in the process I've uncovered yet another conservation emergency. I guess these days that's almost inevitable. If anyone is inspired to find out more, I recommend the website of the British Trust for Ornithology. They are the guys in Thetford carrying out the research into songbird migration.

These lightweight little creatures spend more than half of their time travelling between their summer and winter destinations. They only live for two or three years. What an immense effort in a short life.

I feel humbled to think that, after all that, they still are able to gift such beauty into the world through their songs.

Let's get going

2010-07-08T14:14:00.000+01:00

I'm an optimist. I know there are dreadful things going on in the world, we all know, I'm not going to give a list. I still believe the human spirit is fundamentally good. I believe that truth, love and joy will prevail.

This is a great time to be alive. Despite what we are facing, or perhaps because of it, these are wonderful, interesting times. Now is a great opportunity to discover our magnificent capabilities, shake off fear and break free; to expand fully into all it can mean to be a human being. This will be the joy generation.

What a ride!