Lifts are interesting things. Love in an elevator, but then I see Trump and Farage in a golden lift and it takes on new meaning. There was Roald Dahl, the Great Glass Elevator that knew no boundaries and had no boundaries, it was made of glass, but got Charlie and co in to trouble. I remember the drawing in that book where the monsters were in lifts and with their bodies (you've got to read the book) marked out the words 'SCRAM. There was that film where the devil was inside the elevator and they were trapped. Evelator to hell, they seem to go up or down. You get stuck in them. They are claustrophobic. No one speaks. They can have sex (Fatal Attraction) or just flirt (New Years Eve), or get killed (Dressed to Kill), in one. Confined spaces make people horny or suicidal. Or in the case of Trump and Farage, you wish going down all the way. Just making sure they do not take the rest of us with them.
Saturday, 19 November 2016
Wednesday, 9 November 2016
TAKE A DEEP BREATH IN
What a year. Anything could happen and it has!!!
I was at World Travel Market last week, where all the countries and peoples of the world were on a central stage all under the same roof and although there was a lot of noise, they got on. Or seemed to get on. I spent the morning in the Inspire Theatre, listening to people talk about the wellness tourism, and how it has grown incredibly, outstripping any other form of travel. This is mainly happening, as some of the 'experts' mentioned because people, for want of a better phrase 'mentally exhausted, and sick'. Yoga has led the way, a system which moves people to a place of calm (emotionally) to listen to their breath, and clear their mind of the internal dialogue that persists in creating imbalance. Thats the idea. Yoga itself has become a form of exercise when it is a meditation. Kick boxing yoga, pilates yoga, spinning yoga? Yer what? Any way, I digress, because I taught yoga this morning, and my usual class of 6 turned into 26 because of the US elections and worry about the world. We did twenty vinyasas, saluted the sun and stretched and twisted. Thats all the posturing you need. Forget the political posturing which does you no good at all.
Don't worry, be happy. Politics like the financial markets is foogazzy. Guess work. What really matters is that you are there for your children and you love them unconditionally. I teach yoga in schools. I know that's what matters. Thats it. And you are in good health. That's it. Simple really. Everything else is puff.
And everyone is going on about the 'elite'. I must admit, I have never met someone who is 'elite'. I've met people who think they are. Everyone talks about the 'elite' as though they are a 'race'. The 'elite' is not a type of person. It is a social construct. People may feel they are better than someone else, but they are the ones who are insecure and feel less than everyone else. Elitism is pomposity. Pomposity is like a balloon. It is meant to be popped.
And I'm taking part in research to see how I cope with stress, my cortisol levels are being checked to see how my brain copes with everything. I went to a fascinating talk by Tara Swart today @corinthiahotellondon at the Corinthia Hotel in London. She will be the neuroscientist in residence there for a year and helping out with brain power day spa packages and brain power residential packages on how make the most of your brain. And yes, yoga is part of it.
Take a deep breath in, close your eyes, listen to your breath and realise what is important. Your health and your children. And breathe out.
I was at World Travel Market last week, where all the countries and peoples of the world were on a central stage all under the same roof and although there was a lot of noise, they got on. Or seemed to get on. I spent the morning in the Inspire Theatre, listening to people talk about the wellness tourism, and how it has grown incredibly, outstripping any other form of travel. This is mainly happening, as some of the 'experts' mentioned because people, for want of a better phrase 'mentally exhausted, and sick'. Yoga has led the way, a system which moves people to a place of calm (emotionally) to listen to their breath, and clear their mind of the internal dialogue that persists in creating imbalance. Thats the idea. Yoga itself has become a form of exercise when it is a meditation. Kick boxing yoga, pilates yoga, spinning yoga? Yer what? Any way, I digress, because I taught yoga this morning, and my usual class of 6 turned into 26 because of the US elections and worry about the world. We did twenty vinyasas, saluted the sun and stretched and twisted. Thats all the posturing you need. Forget the political posturing which does you no good at all.
Don't worry, be happy. Politics like the financial markets is foogazzy. Guess work. What really matters is that you are there for your children and you love them unconditionally. I teach yoga in schools. I know that's what matters. Thats it. And you are in good health. That's it. Simple really. Everything else is puff.
And everyone is going on about the 'elite'. I must admit, I have never met someone who is 'elite'. I've met people who think they are. Everyone talks about the 'elite' as though they are a 'race'. The 'elite' is not a type of person. It is a social construct. People may feel they are better than someone else, but they are the ones who are insecure and feel less than everyone else. Elitism is pomposity. Pomposity is like a balloon. It is meant to be popped.
And I'm taking part in research to see how I cope with stress, my cortisol levels are being checked to see how my brain copes with everything. I went to a fascinating talk by Tara Swart today @corinthiahotellondon at the Corinthia Hotel in London. She will be the neuroscientist in residence there for a year and helping out with brain power day spa packages and brain power residential packages on how make the most of your brain. And yes, yoga is part of it.
Take a deep breath in, close your eyes, listen to your breath and realise what is important. Your health and your children. And breathe out.
Wednesday, 2 November 2016
THE HEIGHT OF UN-WELLNESS
Did a BBC Radio Interview today and as per usual in November I loose my voice. Change in season, I always use to blame the dry air and continual shouting of the experience that is World Travel Market, but this has happened before WTM, so perhaps I'll explain it on a course I went on at the weekend. Visited Greenwich. Lovely place and the Cutty Sark. A ship I visited last when I was ten. I like Greenwich village. It has a bohemian edge which Richmond has lost.
The radio interview was about Stress Awareness Day. I chatted in my husky voice which occasionally verged on Minnie Mouse about stress in the work place and how they are offering employees ways to deal with stress. Surely the best way to deal with stress is to change the working systems, change the management and identify that the people who work in the business aren't hard, tough, sociopathic enough to deal with what is expected of them. It would make things much easier.
Of course, there are things you can't change. The people around you may cause you stress. Family and friends who cause you stress should be deleted. It is possible and yes you might feel lonely initially but it is amazing how quickly white space makes you appreciate those you really miss, and those who were just, well, filling space.
So tomorrow yoga-ing all day and to radio show and then to a meeting and full day on Friday. Hope the voice will hold out. Radio is a bit of a bummer without a voice.
As for how to deal with stress, and basic unwellness - I go for sleep. Sleep should be made statutory in the afternoon for two hours - 2 - 4. That would deal with stress. We don't need a day to make us aware of it.
The radio interview was about Stress Awareness Day. I chatted in my husky voice which occasionally verged on Minnie Mouse about stress in the work place and how they are offering employees ways to deal with stress. Surely the best way to deal with stress is to change the working systems, change the management and identify that the people who work in the business aren't hard, tough, sociopathic enough to deal with what is expected of them. It would make things much easier.
Of course, there are things you can't change. The people around you may cause you stress. Family and friends who cause you stress should be deleted. It is possible and yes you might feel lonely initially but it is amazing how quickly white space makes you appreciate those you really miss, and those who were just, well, filling space.
So tomorrow yoga-ing all day and to radio show and then to a meeting and full day on Friday. Hope the voice will hold out. Radio is a bit of a bummer without a voice.
As for how to deal with stress, and basic unwellness - I go for sleep. Sleep should be made statutory in the afternoon for two hours - 2 - 4. That would deal with stress. We don't need a day to make us aware of it.
Sunday, 16 October 2016
LOST IN ACADEMIA..
Lost in academia for the past four years, with little distraction I have observed more than I usually do. Culled friends rather than the other way round, and started to say no. I don't usually do no. I do, can we work this out, which means I have to re work my thoughts completely, or perspective completely.
Academia is safe. Its a bit like being in an intellectual monastery. You feel safe bound in by rules and regulations and you are irrelevant to the outside world although you think you are. Our education system is irrelevant. We have forgotten what we want. We are told what we want but actually, when we listen to ourselves, we don't want that at all. I learnt from the degree how little we teach our young, and how what we do teach them is largely irrelevant to what is valuable and of worth.
Academia is safe. Its a bit like being in an intellectual monastery. You feel safe bound in by rules and regulations and you are irrelevant to the outside world although you think you are. Our education system is irrelevant. We have forgotten what we want. We are told what we want but actually, when we listen to ourselves, we don't want that at all. I learnt from the degree how little we teach our young, and how what we do teach them is largely irrelevant to what is valuable and of worth.
Saturday, 1 October 2016
RAINY SATURDAYS WITH SPOONFULS OF SUGAR... (AND COFFEE).
Here I am on a Saturday evening, grey, wet and windy (the
weather not me), playing Mary Poppins, a spoonful of sugar, trying to find the
fun in cognitive psychology. Categories
and concepts, working memory (of which mine is limited, that’s why I write) and
the issues with cognitive psychology (with which there are many). Perception,
recognition and cognition and emotion, which is a very short chapter because we (or they did) know naff all about it.
So I went out to the cinema for a quick break to see the
first Monday in May. Vogue and the Met
Ball and the Chinese connection. V interesting. Couture is art. Back
for more revision and pacing up and down. Exam on Thursday. I feel for Tom. He has years of this to
come. Ouch.
Sunday, 10 July 2016
LOST VALUES
Each morning I wake up and have a brief look at Facebook and twitter. Twitter has a lot of rubbish on it I'm not interested in.
Facebook is a bit more selective, a mixture of happy silly things animals do although I didn't like the one about cats knocking over small children. No didn't get that one. And then there is the rant about Brexit and about how everyone who voted out is stupid, ignorant, bigoted, selfish and racist, unaware of the greater good and the darker evil that lurks in all the media to manipulate hearts and minds. And how all those who chose to Remain are elitist evangelistic intellectuals who are untrustworthy, arrogant, deceitful, sociopathic liars, who are emotionally dysfunctional with bullying mothers and are fearful of losing all their money because that is the only thing that holds them together.
We have politicians who have shown themselves to be self absorbed cowards (although we knew that already, didn't we?), and probably into the dark net more than those they monitor, and who are arguing against each other and vindictive, irresponsible media who are mis quoting, misrepresenting and turning every positive into a negative and trying to find a lot more of their own.
Combined with this, you have baby boomers who are wondering what their life is all about, trying to find their inner child when they should be finding their inner grown up, and if they have wasted their life so far on the accumulation of money and stuff (short answer - you have). And haven't focused on what is really important and have valued that are completely screwed (short answer - if you focused on accumulation of money and stuff - you have).
Counsellors, psychologists, healer, yoga classes have waiting lists because everyone is stressed and stressed people are easy to manipulate and they desperately feel out of control because they never had it in the first place.
Then you have the woo woos, who are the other group of evangelists, you tell us we have to be kind to each other and kindness is catching (there's a survey out today saying that is true. Really, you needed a survey to show that did you?). But they have a sanctimonious air about them as though they are full of the holy spirit and despite preaching rising above ego, are all high church. And they tell us to stop doing something which has been ingrained since childhood through social conditioning which is extremely difficult to get rid of. It is not that easy. And then they tell us they know its not that easy but its a bit like being told how to give birth by someone who has never given birth. Every experience is different.
Stop.
Stand back and realise that everyone has a point. Both sides have a right side and that the good from both sides should be addressed. There is good and bad in everything. The remain side had a point and the leaver side had a point. EU was a bad marriage. It was a bad marriage. Both sides need to work on themselves and both sides weren't prepared to. There was a striking lack of maturity in how all this has been dealt with. I know the media dumb down things so that the masses are able to understand things, but by simplifying things to such an extent they made a very complicated relationship seem one of black and white 'economy vs immigration' right and wrongs, and like every relationship, its not that simple. Culture and nature and values and use of language are complex and can not be decided on with a 'yes and a no'. A bit like friends only getting one side of the story on which to base their advice, and not getting the whole story. No side told the whole story and the one who could (the media) was the last person one should trust.
Then there was petulant behaviour from politicians who are unworthy of the people they serve. I don't know if it is just how its being reported by the media but my analogy to playground politics is really quite accurate. One boy doesn't like another boy so he won't play with him. One politician doesn't like another politician so he won't vote for him.
We tried to make the marriage work. We went to counselling and it couldn't be worked out because both sides have to make it want to work and if they don't, it won't.
One side won't give up - the remainers. The leavers would not either if they had lost. But rather than just being constructive about it, and realising we have to think long term (as in two years which is a forever in this short sighted, must have world), we are panicking.
There are a lot of voices of doom and gloom. There are very few voices of balanced reason out there, who are not resorting to emotional rhetoric. I can't hear many of them. Even those names in journalism I have long respected are sounding armageddon. As though the end of the world is nigh.
It is not. Just this warped world of warped values is crumbling and that is a good thing. The dead wood has been too long held up by the fresh wood and the dead wood has to go. It is only held together by the systems that have long been broken. Of course, it will want to take the rest of us with it, and it won't go without a fight, but go it will. And that makes them even more afraid and needy. Hence the aggression and anger and fighting and rubbish that is being printed in the media that passes for balanced commentary.
What it has shown me is to what extent people are afraid and greedy. People I know who I thought would have more substance. This is the only thing I have found shocking. I don't care about the people I don't know. Who are mere names in a paper. They are PR constructs and I don't have a clue who they are. I'm not sure they do. I'm shocked by those I know. I thought people would have more courage and more compassion. When we change our values we change our perspective. We tell our children kindness is paramount but we do not show it in how we behave or how we are communicating with one another now.
I think we will be fine. Because in divorce, you find out who your real friends are and you go as low as you can go. And then, you rebuild your self and find out what you are really made of. Just that those who lack substance are finding out just that. That they lack substance. I do not believe we have hit rock bottom yet. It is only then we will identify what is of value. Because most of us have forgotten.
Facebook is a bit more selective, a mixture of happy silly things animals do although I didn't like the one about cats knocking over small children. No didn't get that one. And then there is the rant about Brexit and about how everyone who voted out is stupid, ignorant, bigoted, selfish and racist, unaware of the greater good and the darker evil that lurks in all the media to manipulate hearts and minds. And how all those who chose to Remain are elitist evangelistic intellectuals who are untrustworthy, arrogant, deceitful, sociopathic liars, who are emotionally dysfunctional with bullying mothers and are fearful of losing all their money because that is the only thing that holds them together.
We have politicians who have shown themselves to be self absorbed cowards (although we knew that already, didn't we?), and probably into the dark net more than those they monitor, and who are arguing against each other and vindictive, irresponsible media who are mis quoting, misrepresenting and turning every positive into a negative and trying to find a lot more of their own.
Combined with this, you have baby boomers who are wondering what their life is all about, trying to find their inner child when they should be finding their inner grown up, and if they have wasted their life so far on the accumulation of money and stuff (short answer - you have). And haven't focused on what is really important and have valued that are completely screwed (short answer - if you focused on accumulation of money and stuff - you have).
Counsellors, psychologists, healer, yoga classes have waiting lists because everyone is stressed and stressed people are easy to manipulate and they desperately feel out of control because they never had it in the first place.
Then you have the woo woos, who are the other group of evangelists, you tell us we have to be kind to each other and kindness is catching (there's a survey out today saying that is true. Really, you needed a survey to show that did you?). But they have a sanctimonious air about them as though they are full of the holy spirit and despite preaching rising above ego, are all high church. And they tell us to stop doing something which has been ingrained since childhood through social conditioning which is extremely difficult to get rid of. It is not that easy. And then they tell us they know its not that easy but its a bit like being told how to give birth by someone who has never given birth. Every experience is different.
Stop.
Stand back and realise that everyone has a point. Both sides have a right side and that the good from both sides should be addressed. There is good and bad in everything. The remain side had a point and the leaver side had a point. EU was a bad marriage. It was a bad marriage. Both sides need to work on themselves and both sides weren't prepared to. There was a striking lack of maturity in how all this has been dealt with. I know the media dumb down things so that the masses are able to understand things, but by simplifying things to such an extent they made a very complicated relationship seem one of black and white 'economy vs immigration' right and wrongs, and like every relationship, its not that simple. Culture and nature and values and use of language are complex and can not be decided on with a 'yes and a no'. A bit like friends only getting one side of the story on which to base their advice, and not getting the whole story. No side told the whole story and the one who could (the media) was the last person one should trust.
Then there was petulant behaviour from politicians who are unworthy of the people they serve. I don't know if it is just how its being reported by the media but my analogy to playground politics is really quite accurate. One boy doesn't like another boy so he won't play with him. One politician doesn't like another politician so he won't vote for him.
We tried to make the marriage work. We went to counselling and it couldn't be worked out because both sides have to make it want to work and if they don't, it won't.
One side won't give up - the remainers. The leavers would not either if they had lost. But rather than just being constructive about it, and realising we have to think long term (as in two years which is a forever in this short sighted, must have world), we are panicking.
There are a lot of voices of doom and gloom. There are very few voices of balanced reason out there, who are not resorting to emotional rhetoric. I can't hear many of them. Even those names in journalism I have long respected are sounding armageddon. As though the end of the world is nigh.
It is not. Just this warped world of warped values is crumbling and that is a good thing. The dead wood has been too long held up by the fresh wood and the dead wood has to go. It is only held together by the systems that have long been broken. Of course, it will want to take the rest of us with it, and it won't go without a fight, but go it will. And that makes them even more afraid and needy. Hence the aggression and anger and fighting and rubbish that is being printed in the media that passes for balanced commentary.
What it has shown me is to what extent people are afraid and greedy. People I know who I thought would have more substance. This is the only thing I have found shocking. I don't care about the people I don't know. Who are mere names in a paper. They are PR constructs and I don't have a clue who they are. I'm not sure they do. I'm shocked by those I know. I thought people would have more courage and more compassion. When we change our values we change our perspective. We tell our children kindness is paramount but we do not show it in how we behave or how we are communicating with one another now.
I think we will be fine. Because in divorce, you find out who your real friends are and you go as low as you can go. And then, you rebuild your self and find out what you are really made of. Just that those who lack substance are finding out just that. That they lack substance. I do not believe we have hit rock bottom yet. It is only then we will identify what is of value. Because most of us have forgotten.
Sunday, 26 June 2016
WHERE ARE THE GROWN UPS?
This is playground politics. We have voted out of the EU and those who 'lost' are throwing the toys out of the pram because they didn't win. This is the so called political class, who are also becoming very much the sneering class, classifying those who voted leave as imbeciles because they didn't understand what they were doing. That is extremely arrogant and ignorant of those who voted to remain. Those who chose remain felt they benefited from being in the EU and the economy is going well. Actually they said they 'knew' it. And that staying would mean we would have better negotiating skills inside Europe. Those who voted leave felt they weren't benefiting from being in the EU and although they were told the economy was going well, they didn't feel it. If they did, they would have voted remain.
Under the banner of immigration and economy the two sides have fought but actually neither are the real issues. Yes immigration was increasing dramatically, but the economy is also doing well. But neither are as dramatic as they say. There was exaggeration. As soon as you exaggerate, you lose credibility. Both sides had a point. Rather than saying 'both sides have a point and are valid', both sides chose to bash the shit out of each other and say this is a black and white. An immigration vs economy issue. And its not that simple. The media were irresponsible but then they always are when they are given such obtuse hypothetical information in the first place. They also make stuff up.
Furthermore both sides offered such weak and convoluted 'hypothetical' evidence for their cause, often spouted by people who lacked credibility despite being headlined as 'experts' that I am amazed the turn out was so high. The 'people' thought everyone was lying to them. These people had before.
Meanwhile there are parents apologising to their children for ruining their future. Really? Well, that won't scare the shit out of them will it. They may feel the vote was irresponsible but not as irresponsible as telling their children that the end of the world is nigh. Creating a generation that will be stunted by fear, just as in many ways our own parents were.
Shit has happened. perhaps. We don't know yet. Not even the ones who think they know, know yet. The markets are depressed, in turmoil, unhappy, as though they are living breathing human beings. They are not. They are run by gamblers who care more about their wine than they do about other peoples money. They guess. Everything is hypothetical. Its like screaming at a river for flowing the wrong way. Like screaming at water. And hey, the shit may fertilise some new idea thats better. The river may take us to a better place. We don't know. There may be grown ups somewhere who will realise there was value in both sides of the arguments and come to a balanced compromise so that every one wins. Just like a divorce which this is being compared to, no one should go away with everything. No one wins in a divorce. The man will always give more than he wants and the wife will always get less than she wants. Or the other way round depending who earns most of the money in the first place. And the one that earns it doesn't mean they deserve it or are worth it either. Its a fifty fifty thing, just like this vote was really. That is how it should be. So with this.
This proves we could see both sides of the argument. Because both sides made a valid point. Now go back and tell your children that. YOU are scaring them.
Under the banner of immigration and economy the two sides have fought but actually neither are the real issues. Yes immigration was increasing dramatically, but the economy is also doing well. But neither are as dramatic as they say. There was exaggeration. As soon as you exaggerate, you lose credibility. Both sides had a point. Rather than saying 'both sides have a point and are valid', both sides chose to bash the shit out of each other and say this is a black and white. An immigration vs economy issue. And its not that simple. The media were irresponsible but then they always are when they are given such obtuse hypothetical information in the first place. They also make stuff up.
Furthermore both sides offered such weak and convoluted 'hypothetical' evidence for their cause, often spouted by people who lacked credibility despite being headlined as 'experts' that I am amazed the turn out was so high. The 'people' thought everyone was lying to them. These people had before.
Meanwhile there are parents apologising to their children for ruining their future. Really? Well, that won't scare the shit out of them will it. They may feel the vote was irresponsible but not as irresponsible as telling their children that the end of the world is nigh. Creating a generation that will be stunted by fear, just as in many ways our own parents were.
Shit has happened. perhaps. We don't know yet. Not even the ones who think they know, know yet. The markets are depressed, in turmoil, unhappy, as though they are living breathing human beings. They are not. They are run by gamblers who care more about their wine than they do about other peoples money. They guess. Everything is hypothetical. Its like screaming at a river for flowing the wrong way. Like screaming at water. And hey, the shit may fertilise some new idea thats better. The river may take us to a better place. We don't know. There may be grown ups somewhere who will realise there was value in both sides of the arguments and come to a balanced compromise so that every one wins. Just like a divorce which this is being compared to, no one should go away with everything. No one wins in a divorce. The man will always give more than he wants and the wife will always get less than she wants. Or the other way round depending who earns most of the money in the first place. And the one that earns it doesn't mean they deserve it or are worth it either. Its a fifty fifty thing, just like this vote was really. That is how it should be. So with this.
This proves we could see both sides of the argument. Because both sides made a valid point. Now go back and tell your children that. YOU are scaring them.
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