Oh well, the time in Queenstown ahead looks like it'll be something different to what I hoped. My good friend Chris has had to head home early so can't be there to share my 3 weeks of riding and hiking. I hope things are good for ya when you get home bud. Bit of a downer for him and definitely for me, was really looking forward to seeing him out there, getting some pics of him riding and vice versa. Gonna miss ya bud, for many reasons - Take care and see ya back in England. Will still be great to see the locals but really won't be the same without ya!
Saturday, 10 March 2012
Tuesday, 6 March 2012
Thursday, 16 February 2012
Tuesday, 24 January 2012
Monday, 9 January 2012
Thinking about dying
Point number 1 is, I am not being morbid here.
For me thinking about dying is something everyone who is alive and has any health and life left in them should take some time out to do, probably on a regular basis.
Meditating on death is a classic Buddhist teaching, but you need neither to be a Buddhist nor someone who can mediate to simply think about dying.
The second point to make is there is only one absolutely certain thing that will happen to you in your life; that you will die, so therefore by process of elimination, your death is very important to you, so you should definitely consider it.
With the help of my 100 days Hard Qigong training in 2010, which is the most grounding process I have probably every undertook, I found myself without any real reason, reflecting on dying, or more specifically, thinking about what it will be like to be lying on my death bed and reflecting on my life. This can produce some rather interesting emotions, but I guess, that in the same way as when you are actually on your death bed, there is only one person to answer to and satisfy....and that is of course yourself!! So, if you can actually think about it, despite it being rather overwhelming at first, it can quickly highlight the elements of your life that you are not happy with.
Point three is, you never know when death will come to you. You may not wake up tomorrow, you make wake up tomorrow but get hit by a bus, or you may live until 108.
I found if you can focus on the main individual elements, you then have only a few options; give in to the feeling that you can't do anything about it and let things carry on as they are, or get up and make changes to your life that will improve the things about the situation or element of your life that you are not entirely happy with. Admittedly some things are not easy to improve, often because of finances, and may take a long time to make headway, but everyone has only one person who can help, and the same one person to rely on...yes it'
s you again!
It is very easy to be caught up in the modern society we live in, and if you can open your eyes enough you will see it is more and more geared to filling your life with meaningless crap to make you work harder to consume more and more things you don't need, with any ever increasing distraction factor. I have been blessed with the opportunity to step back and make moves toward changes which already mean I know if it all ends tomorrow, I can lye there smiling. Just ask yourself a simple question, how can someone with next to nothing other than food and shelter be so happy, and yet someone with huge material wealth be unhappy.
The above came to surface after reading this following article today from someone who has spent a fair bit of time caring for the dying. An admiral and enlightening job it seems
http://www.inspirationandchai.com/Regrets-of-the-Dying.html
People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt never to underestimate someone's capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.
When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:
1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.
It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.
2. I wish I didn't work so hard.
This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.
By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.
We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.
It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.
When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.
Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.
Based on this article, Bronnie has now released a full-length book, titled The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. It is a memoir of her own life and how it was transformed by the regrets of dying people. It may be ordered through bookstores worldwide or from Balboa Press.
It is also available via the link on this page.
Details for wholesale orders may be found on Bronnie's official website.
For me thinking about dying is something everyone who is alive and has any health and life left in them should take some time out to do, probably on a regular basis.
Meditating on death is a classic Buddhist teaching, but you need neither to be a Buddhist nor someone who can mediate to simply think about dying.
The second point to make is there is only one absolutely certain thing that will happen to you in your life; that you will die, so therefore by process of elimination, your death is very important to you, so you should definitely consider it.
With the help of my 100 days Hard Qigong training in 2010, which is the most grounding process I have probably every undertook, I found myself without any real reason, reflecting on dying, or more specifically, thinking about what it will be like to be lying on my death bed and reflecting on my life. This can produce some rather interesting emotions, but I guess, that in the same way as when you are actually on your death bed, there is only one person to answer to and satisfy....and that is of course yourself!! So, if you can actually think about it, despite it being rather overwhelming at first, it can quickly highlight the elements of your life that you are not happy with.
Point three is, you never know when death will come to you. You may not wake up tomorrow, you make wake up tomorrow but get hit by a bus, or you may live until 108.
I found if you can focus on the main individual elements, you then have only a few options; give in to the feeling that you can't do anything about it and let things carry on as they are, or get up and make changes to your life that will improve the things about the situation or element of your life that you are not entirely happy with. Admittedly some things are not easy to improve, often because of finances, and may take a long time to make headway, but everyone has only one person who can help, and the same one person to rely on...yes it'
s you again!It is very easy to be caught up in the modern society we live in, and if you can open your eyes enough you will see it is more and more geared to filling your life with meaningless crap to make you work harder to consume more and more things you don't need, with any ever increasing distraction factor. I have been blessed with the opportunity to step back and make moves toward changes which already mean I know if it all ends tomorrow, I can lye there smiling. Just ask yourself a simple question, how can someone with next to nothing other than food and shelter be so happy, and yet someone with huge material wealth be unhappy.
The above came to surface after reading this following article today from someone who has spent a fair bit of time caring for the dying. An admiral and enlightening job it seems
http://www.inspirationandchai.com/Regrets-of-the-Dying.html
REGRETS OF THE DYING
People grow a lot when they are faced with their own mortality. I learnt never to underestimate someone's capacity for growth. Some changes were phenomenal. Each experienced a variety of emotions, as expected, denial, fear, anger, remorse, more denial and eventually acceptance. Every single patient found their peace before they departed though, every one of them.
When questioned about any regrets they had or anything they would do differently, common themes surfaced again and again. Here are the most common five:
1. I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.
This was the most common regret of all. When people realise that their life is almost over and look back clearly on it, it is easy to see how many dreams have gone unfulfilled. Most people had not honoured even a half of their dreams and had to die knowing that it was due to choices they had made, or not made.
It is very important to try and honour at least some of your dreams along the way. From the moment that you lose your health, it is too late. Health brings a freedom very few realise, until they no longer have it.
2. I wish I didn't work so hard.
This came from every male patient that I nursed. They missed their children's youth and their partner's companionship. Women also spoke of this regret. But as most were from an older generation, many of the female patients had not been breadwinners. All of the men I nursed deeply regretted spending so much of their lives on the treadmill of a work existence.
By simplifying your lifestyle and making conscious choices along the way, it is possible to not need the income that you think you do. And by creating more space in your life, you become happier and more open to new opportunities, ones more suited to your new lifestyle.
3. I wish I'd had the courage to express my feelings.
Many people suppressed their feelings in order to keep peace with others. As a result, they settled for a mediocre existence and never became who they were truly capable of becoming. Many developed illnesses relating to the bitterness and resentment they carried as a result.
We cannot control the reactions of others. However, although people may initially react when you change the way you are by speaking honestly, in the end it raises the relationship to a whole new and healthier level. Either that or it releases the unhealthy relationship from your life. Either way, you win.
4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.
Often they would not truly realise the full benefits of old friends until their dying weeks and it was not always possible to track them down. Many had become so caught up in their own lives that they had let golden friendships slip by over the years. There were many deep regrets about not giving friendships the time and effort that they deserved. Everyone misses their friends when they are dying.
It is common for anyone in a busy lifestyle to let friendships slip. But when you are faced with your approaching death, the physical details of life fall away. People do want to get their financial affairs in order if possible. But it is not money or status that holds the true importance for them. They want to get things in order more for the benefit of those they love. Usually though, they are too ill and weary to ever manage this task. It is all comes down to love and relationships in the end. That is all that remains in the final weeks, love and relationships.
5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.
This is a surprisingly common one. Many did not realise until the end that happiness is a choice. They had stayed stuck in old patterns and habits. The so-called 'comfort' of familiarity overflowed into their emotions, as well as their physical lives. Fear of change had them pretending to others, and to their selves, that they were content. When deep within, they longed to laugh properly and have silliness in their life again.
When you are on your deathbed, what others think of you is a long way from your mind. How wonderful to be able to let go and smile again, long before you are dying.
Life is a choice. It is YOUR life. Choose consciously, choose wisely, choose honestly. Choose happiness.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Based on this article, Bronnie has now released a full-length book, titled The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. It is a memoir of her own life and how it was transformed by the regrets of dying people. It may be ordered through bookstores worldwide or from Balboa Press.
It is also available via the link on this page.
Details for wholesale orders may be found on Bronnie's official website.
Saturday, 7 January 2012
Thursday, 5 January 2012
Help
I like people, meeting new ones and seeing ones I've known for a good while....
Even though I do like people, it seems here in England currently, I can see and feel how things are (in my opinion) just going downhill for so many, by the day, as they get dragged more and more into the inane crap that surrounds us.
Well that's my thought for the day anyway, as I sit here at work listening to people whine about what others are updating their facebook with and asking if Jordan is really getting back together with god knows who
On a different note - I watched Charlie Brookers 2011 wipe last night, will be catching up on his how tv ruined your life over the next week or two and the final installment of Black Mirror asap....it's good to know there is at least one other person who sees this backward and devolving world with similar eyes to mine...Ha - Brooker for Prime Minister I say!!!
Even though I do like people, it seems here in England currently, I can see and feel how things are (in my opinion) just going downhill for so many, by the day, as they get dragged more and more into the inane crap that surrounds us.
Well that's my thought for the day anyway, as I sit here at work listening to people whine about what others are updating their facebook with and asking if Jordan is really getting back together with god knows who
On a different note - I watched Charlie Brookers 2011 wipe last night, will be catching up on his how tv ruined your life over the next week or two and the final installment of Black Mirror asap....it's good to know there is at least one other person who sees this backward and devolving world with similar eyes to mine...Ha - Brooker for Prime Minister I say!!!
Monday, 26 December 2011
Monday, 12 December 2011
Black Mirror
I don't see much tv and as didn't know about it I missed part 1 but while not really watching tv heard only the name Charlie Brooker, and that was good enough for me - promise of some treacherous watching ...hence I've only just caught the first episode on 4onD but one of the better things I've seen put on tv for a while....interested to see what part 2 has in although I've heard its more depressing!
Saturday, 10 December 2011
Hair Is An Extension Of The Nervous System
- Why Indians Keep Their Hair Long
By C. Young - 9.12.11
This information about hair has been hidden from the public since the Viet Nam War .
Our culture leads people to believe that hair style is a matter of personal preference, that hair style is a matter of fashion and/or convenience, and that how people wear their hair is simply a cosmetic issue. Back in the Viet Nam war however, an entirely different picture emerged, one that has been carefully covered up and hidden from public view.
In the early nineties, Sally [name changed to protect privacy] was married to a licensed psychologist who worked at a VA Medical hospital. He worked with combat veterans with PTSD, post traumatic stress disorder. Most of them had served in Viet Nam.
Sally said, "I remember clearly an evening when my husband came back to our apartment on Doctor\'s Circle carrying a thick official looking folder in his hands. Inside were hundreds of pages of certain studies commissioned by the government. He was in shock from the contents. What he read in those documents completely changed his life. From that moment on my conservative middle of the road husband grew his hair and beard and never cut them again. What is more, the VA Medical center let him do it, and other very conservative men in the staff followed his example. As I read the documents, I learned why.
It seems that during the Viet Nam War special forces in the war department had sent undercover experts to comb American Indian Reservations looking for talented scouts, for tough young men trained to move stealthily through rough terrain. They were especially looking for men with outstanding, almost supernatural, tracking abilities. Before being approached, these carefully selected men were extensively documented as experts in tracking and survival.
With the usual enticements, the well proven smooth phrases used to enroll new recruits, some of these indian trackers were then enlisted. Once enlisted, an amazing thing happened. Whatever talents and skills they had possessed on the reservation seemed to mysteriously disappear, as recruit after recruit failed to perform as expected in the field.
Serious casualities and failures of performance led the government to contract expensive testing of these recruits, and this is what was found.
When questioned about their failure to perform as expected, the older recruits replied consistantly that when they received their required military haircuts, they could no longer \'sense\' the enemy, they could no longer access a \'sixth sense\' , their \'intuition\' no longer was reliable, they couldn\'t \'read\' subtle signs as well or access subtle extrasensory information.
So the testing institute recruited more indian trackers, let them keep their long hair, and tested them in multiple areas. Then they would pair two men together who had received the same scores on all the tests. They would let one man in the pair keep his hair long, and gave the other man a military haircut. Then the two men retook the tests.
Time after time the man with long hair kept making high scores. Time after time, the man with the short hair failed the tests in which he had previously scored high scores.
Here is a typical test:
The recruit is sleeping out in the woods. An armed \'enemy\' approaches the sleeping man. The long haired man is awakened out of his sleep by a strong sense of danger and gets away long before the enemy is close, long before any sounds from the approaching enemy are audible.
In another version of this test the long haired man senses an approach and somehow intuits that the enemy will perform a physical attack. He follows his \'sixth sense\' and stays still, pretending to be sleeping, but quickly grabs the attacker and \'kills\' him as the attacker reaches down to strangle him.
This same man, after having passed these and other tests, then received a military haircut and consistantly failed these tests, and many other tests that he had previously passed.
So, the document recommended that all Indian trackers be exempt from military haircuts. In fact, it required that trackers keep their hair long."
Comment
The mammalian body has evolved over millions of years. Survival skills of human and animal at times seem almost supernatural. Science is constantly coming up with more discoveries about the amazing abilities of man and animal to survive. Each part of the body has highly sensitive work to perform for the survival and well being of the body as a whole. The body has a reason for every part of itself.
Hair is an extension of the nervous system, it can be correctly seen as exteriorized nerves, a type of highly-evolved 'feelers' or 'antennae' that transmit vast amounts of important information to the brainstem, the limbic system, and the neocortex.
Not only does hair in people, including facial hair in men, provide an information highway reaching the brain, hair also emits energy, the electromagnetic energy emitted by the brain into the outer environment. This has been seen in Kirlian photography when a person is photographed with long hair and then rephotographed after the hair is cut.
When hair is cut, receiving and sending transmissions to and from the environment are greatly hampered. This results in 'numbing-out'.
Cutting of hair is a contributing factor to unawareness of environmental distress in local ecosystems. It is also a contributing factor to insensitivity in relationships of all kinds. It contributes to sexual frustration.
Conclusion
In searching for solutions for the distress in our world, it may be time for us to consider that many of our most basic assumptions about reality are in error. It may be that a major part of the solution is looking at us in the face each morning when we see ourselves in the mirror.
The story of Sampson and Delilah in the Bible has a lot of encoded truth to tell us. When Delilah cut Sampson\'s hair, the once undefeatable Sampson was defeated.
Thursday, 8 December 2011
Saturday, 26 November 2011
Bush and Blair = war criminals
not my words....but funny how things like this go on in the world and yet you wont find any mention of it on the BBC, or most other places in the wonders of the unquestioning UK media
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/211590.html
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/211590.html
Thursday, 24 November 2011
Tuesday, 22 November 2011
Gorge Road Opening Jam
Part of me does of course wish I was joining Chris in the early migration to Queenstown NZ for the Gorge Road Opening Jam....but work calls (hopefully) and there is plenty to keep me busy for a few months up at ALV Woods anyways....
If you are anywhere near Qtown, NZ, get over for the opening Jam up at Gorge!!
Thursday, 3 November 2011
Wednesday, 2 November 2011
end of riding season?
coukd be here, I hear....don't get me wrong I like digging but a couple more good sessions would be nice
Tuesday, 1 November 2011
Sunday, 30 October 2011
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