Monday, November 16, 2009

Some really good stories about young people ---4 stars or better

Please add yours to this list : LILIES(ABC mondaynights), JIMMY GRIMBLE (more here)

Tuesday, October 06, 2009

Heroes-- find some

Don't be put off by the many who are stuck in the safety of the bottom line. Those whose conversations can't rise to anything above the waistline, or whatever.
To be creative you have to be on the edge - not always in the centre.
Nature is not your natural limit ,,,unless you let it be .

Find a hero in your backyard ........and get to know them ; Here's some Warning : they may only be ordinary people ----right now.
If you pretend we need to be anything else, you may miss seeing a real hero and maybe never find what you are looking for for yourself! Modelling - a good start as long as you remember nobody's perfect .
Good things are hard to find . Once you have struggled to find a few heroes , you won't be as easily distracted by the quick fiz or the colour and movement that distracts so many .

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

Do the impossible!

Remedies for distraught parents with bullied children, according to even our best psychologists last week, were given the name "impossible". The only answer which actually works is, I think ,the impossible one ; The one about "loving your enemies" . Jesus's words .
You don’t believe me? Remember Martin Luther King? It was he who reminded a whole generation of angry Americans, who were provoked to anger on a daily basis, that impossible love actually works. But to actually make it happen, most of us need something a lot stronger than our own best intellectual and wilful efforts ; especially the bit about selling those amazingly impossible options to our children.
Have you tried it?

Friday, June 19, 2009

Pick up some good vibrations

Brian Wilson : I wasn't meant for these times
Watch this incredible video and story of a great rock music legend BRIAN WILSON( author of Good Vibrations by the Beach Boys) More here "BW I just wasn't..."
The music and story is inspirational, dealing in a very honest and helpful way with that dangerous obstinacy that we all share in some way with him. A wonderful piece of work. No wonder The good guys are still doing back flips with his work. The title came from reflecting on an dog barking at his mum ,( "bad vibrations" ,he thought, and in his typical way, he turned it around!) A must see.
Google a link to one of his other great songs "Love and Mercy"

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Dealing with human nastiness

Sometimes it seems that nastiness is everywhere --the thing that everyone is feeding on . It may fill the air at your school, but don't let it get to you. Resist it . It's baby food and baby stuff!
Shakespeare's point in Macbeth ( that great play about all things nasty ) is that the common reaction ie "being nice " is no answer either - infact such comfort food often fuels the risk of more provokation. ( its a Big story too big to deal with here) .
The best way to see Nice VS Nasty in that story is to study the 2 lead characters; the mum and dad elements . Mum is strong, Dad is weak .
She's ( strong) nasty. He's weak (a woose) . And she rightly says about Him that he's filled with the milk of human kindness.(TMOHK)
Sounds cruel, but its true. He's hiding from grown up stuff, and he's weak .Not all "kindness" works for good .Google "the best intentions" for eg . The best way to deal with those who act tough is to be tough yourself ; not in the same way, but tough none the less . Weak reactions are for those who don't want to grow up .
Shakespeare's point about THE OTHER milk - the one that seems so WEAK .( in Macbeth) is that TMOHK "it's not enough" either. Neither is "mettle" A sort of toughness . Mere "toughness"is not enough. Like your DNA the sequences have no final merit one way or other. Enjoy the play by clicking on the above link .
Lady Macbeth is the symbol of toughness. Toughness can be a good thing-- after all... hubby is weak !We need to be smart; If you are provoked and you respond naturally things will escalate ; Mere revenge is meagre , ineffective, inflammmatory and unending .
No, if you want to keep your family and your friendships going, you need to go past the milk of human kindness to kindness itself . Lady Macbeth described a kind of "kindness" thats just not tough enough. She spoke of "kindness" in that play in a way which spoke to her husbands real and woosy weakness (The milky natural kind) . Kindness can be weakness. There is a kind of kindness that needs an "illness" to " fix it". A kindness that kills
Try the kindness that's truly tough - the hard kind. The love genuine kind . Speak the truth in love and take the scouling air and sarcasm and bury it-otherwise you will run the risk of just passing the problem on. The most amazing thing is that by NOT doing what comes naturally , the most impossible things can happen (Impossible Love)
Enjoy this real life , rough and tough play in the same way as they did in the 17century - as ane example of ourselves at our worst!!!! -Behaving like little children Copyright EA