Sunday, April 30, 2006





Fab
blog
here .....




Give
me
five?






Bex
Hopeful
Calmer
Motivated
Pressured
Loved


.



My Friends
Volker
and
Uli
......... they live in Germany and regularly click this way.


Often they tell me five words (or more) to describe their lives at the moment ........... so I feel each bend - hill - mountain stream - traffic lights ........... as they journey .....

thanx you beautiful two ......



West Bank: Islamic clerics want to close YMCA

By Tim Butcher in Jerusalem

An attempt by Muslim clerics to close a YMCA branch office in the West Bank has exposed growing tensions between the Holy Land's dwindling Christian community and the new Palestinian government led by Hamas.

Firebombs were recently thrown into the office of the YMCA in Qalqilya, a Hamas stronghold, forcing the group to move to new premises.

Islamic leaders have written to the local council demanding that the YMCA branch office close. Their letter concludes: "The presence of this office will lead to negative consequences.''

While the religious leaders were not members of Hamas, the failure of the local Hamas-run council to protect the YMCA is concerning local Christians.

Hashem al Masri, the deputy mayor and a Hamas member, admitted that the YMCA's name alone was a "challenge to the city''.

"I know it is not civilized to attack it, but it is a challenge to the feeling of our people,'' he said.

The YMCA has offices across the West Bank giving work for 140 Palestinians, of whom 84 are Muslim.

In Qalgilya, it provides wheelchairs and prosthetics for children. This year's budget is £50,000 and if the office closes the money will be spent elsewhere.

For decades, Christians have felt squeezed and persecuted and have seen their numbers dwindle from about 10 per cent of the population to less than two per cent in Israel and the Palestinian territories. They have been overtaken by Jewish migrants and large Muslim families and have moved on to friendly countries in the West.

The election of the Hamas government adds further pressure on the community. So sensitive is the issue that YMCA leadership in the West Bank declined to speak to The Daily Telegraph.

Instead, Norris Lineweaver, the director-general of the YMCA in West Jerusalem, explained that the problem arose simply because the word Christian appears in the group's name.

"It is true that we have a long and proud Christian heritage but it is strictly against our policy to proselytise,'' he said.

"The problems arise because of an unfortunate misunderstanding about our role. We are there simply to help the local councils, whether they are Muslim or Christian, with any youth development programmes they might have.''

Marouf Zahran, the town's former mayor who was ousted by Hamas last year, blamed the new council for not doing enough to protect the office. "The council and other organisations did nothing to stop incitement against the YMCA."

A local YMCA worker said Muslims and Christians should work together.

"We belong to two different religions but we are Palestinian nationalists,'' he said. "We live together - Muslims and Christians.''

Saturday, April 29, 2006




..... feelings right now .....

James
Scaired,
Alone,
Tired,
Numb,
and yet Loved.




.... today an historic location.

A Church very close to Liverpool Street Station.

In the heart of the great city of London ..

................ so photogenic ...

.......





...... I love posting my photos from my days .........


Greenbelt ABM today and as expected - gggreat.

Then in the afternoon we held a Trustees meeting ............ we work at major decisions which will release Staff and Management Group to get on and deliver a most fab festival ........ if you have never been ....... I ask that you consider being there and add it to your list of presents to yourself.

We need to
breathe in

and
breathe out

This will be a deep breath
deep
for the
whole
of
you



www.greenbelt.org.uk





.


..... a few pix from the day .....

Friday, April 28, 2006



MTV2 is on.
Zig still out playing with d boys.
Joan in bed.
Cigar.
Cointreau.
Just about relaxing from the week.
Yes I am.

Greenbelt meeting all day tomorrow.
ABM then the Trustees meeting.
Always stimulating as hell.
Being with humans who are living
becoming
stretching
thirsty souls
always good.

Big John will knock me up out of bed in the morning.
He on the road from the North East of England.
Sleepless.
Will be great to see him.
Wish
Oh wish I had his brains.

Then it is a long w/e.
Note non- UK humans - it is a Bank Holiday w/e here
Monday is an extra day off.
Will be able to catch up some ....
Must.

I feel OK.
Was a bit of a zombie earlier.
Are you sometimes emotionally flat and need to recover?

On Monday - hope to be seeing both the Sheilas.
Joy-Sheila back from Paris Sunday.
Missed her.
Ann Sheila got some job news but will need to check the permissions .....

I still have mac G4 issues.
I get on line here with my wireless - all ok
but
When I try to do a download for software update
It tells me I am not connected to the internet.
Whats that all about.

Also - when I go into another ethernet cable away from home
I can send emails but not receive.
So damn ............ - what a pain.
Sip the Cointreau

The new Gotan album - so good.

I must catch up on the depths of my inbox
reply to you
or someone as beautiful as you ............ as beautifuly imperfect .......

Have learned so much this week
Need to reflect
Evaluate
re-position.

Over Easter
at bedtime
I sat in the dark for a while
thinking
revisiting my life
Then I turned the light on and conducted a SWOT on me.
may take the risk to share the spider notes/mind map.

did the dark sit again last night
Then I sat in the light and read.
The first lines I read were ::
"Life may be brimming over with experiences, but somewhere, deep inside, all of us carry a vast fruitful loneliness wherever we go. And sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths, or the turning inward in prayer for five short minutes."


My pencil note just says 'WOW'.

It is the book of diaries from Etty Hillesum ................. she was killed by the Nazis in a concentration camp in 1943.........................


.

www.ycare.org.uk
URGENT APPEAL
Please support Y Care International's East Africa Emergency Appeal


Y Care International has launched an emergency appeal for communities affected by the worsening food crisis in East Africa.

Over 10 million people are in urgent need of aid and their lives are at risk if food and water do not arrive soon.

Many are supporting the relief efforts of YMCAs in the region, and the work of members of the global alliance ACT International in Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Malawi.

Donations to the appeal will go towards urgent food aid and other relief work. This will help save lives where malnutrition is becoming severe and will help people survive day-to-day.

As well as emergency food distribution, YMCAs in the region are providing a health centre and income generating activities, as well as planning education to give people the skills to cope with drought in the future.

How you can help
Please forward this email to your friends and colleagues

Find out more and donate online at www.ycare.org.uk





.

Thursday, April 27, 2006

I am thinking -
tired -
thinking -
how words tend to place stuff into a module.

Life is not like that.
We are all part of the whole person
World.
All inter-connected.
We need to keep working at getting to the whole
Keep moving
Turning - trying
Rubric
Keeping on
Going for
The whole picture
The whole human
The Road less Travelled.

"One of the most pervasive emotions in the atmosphere around us is fear.
People are afraid –
afraid of inner feelings,
afraid of other people,
and also
afraid of the future.
And fearful people
have a hard time waiting."


Henri Nouwen

Fatality ......

... .. .. took me three and a half hours to get home from work tonight.
From West to East.
London that is - not the UK!
I could fly to Belfast x 4 in that time.

Fatality at Romford.
On the line.
So every single train on all the lines running out from London going East - everyone shut down.
Thousands caught coming out of Liverpool Street station.
Me at Stratford.

I walked - two extra tube trains and walked.
Good exercise .........

Thinking all the time.
As I walked.
About the beautiful human who died.
Family/friends.
Lost-bhp.

My journey
NO Problem



.



.... a shattered human now .....

Wednesday, April 26, 2006








Hey - how are you feeling right now?
"OK" is not ok.
as an answer
A real feeling word - or five, is the desired - but who am I to ask you .......
....... I am an intimate friend - as much as an Internet connection can be.
Let's try to stretch the 'means'.
Do what is the best.
Arms wide open.
Hands wide open.
Vulnerability is a strength not a weakness after-all!

I have no permission to ask you - but I feel I want to.
esc
you can always 'esc'

I am feeling drained and tired now
but buzzing
feeling good
other than
a head like cotton wool

I have given all I can
but loveitloveit
I love it

I am clicking my little G4 Mac
it is still not back to normal
in the International Airport called
Belfast

waiting long
but it has become normal
gives me reflection time

the cocktail of tired and buzzing is good
my internal
more alive
than
my external

Have spent a day with some fab humans becoming
beautiful humans being with me
becoming
growing
buds opening up to the sun
and them too!

It is great working with a team in the longer term
unit training
Team Work in everything we do together
process from Mission at the core
to whole person development
and for them too

This time it was Management
Leadership and Management
That rubric cube
Line Management
Time Management
Strategic thinking
Strategic Presenting
Analysis
Self
Work
Humans becoming - the product
we grow humans we do

It really does give me a kick to see humans operating at stretch
first ever presentation
first ever strategic planning
specific measurable achievable realistic targets.
And it was not boring and sleepy eyes after lunch.
I love it because of the humans

...... If we are anything as a beautiful human, it is what we .................

feel
think
value
esteem
weep
respect
observe
believe
relationships
skills
awareness
and love



I have blogged before midnight hey hey



.


Big-Up sorry I have not been attending to the
BLOGFLOCK

these past days ...... I seem to be running to stand still (U2 Song) but I don't want to stand still ....... do you?


Maybe sometimes you do?
This w/e I will have some space and I will get to churn out some of the stuff which is keen to get out of me and 'blush' ............

Now I am awake again and blogging again and it is late and need to be up at 5.30 am .......... and I don't like mornings ....... stink .....

I feel good but a bit to wired for this zzzz time.

If I have not responded to your email or seem ignorant that way - will get back to you soon ....



I breathe deep and feel the cooler air as I breathe in
and warmer air in my nostrils as I breath out
and it reminds me to say ..............
Breathe on me breath of God ........


........... fill me with life brand new ...........



.
................ if you say it ................ someone is listening ..............


.




  1. To inhale and exhale air, especially when naturally and freely.
  2. To be alive; live: A nicer person has never breathed.
  3. To pause to rest or regain breath: Give me a moment to breathe.
  4. To move or blow gently, as air.
  5. To allow air to pass through: a natural fabric that breathes.
  6. To be exhaled or emanated, as a fragrance.
  7. To be manifested or suggested, as an idea or feeling: A sense of calm breathed from the landscape.
  8. To reach fullness of flavor and aroma through exposure to air. Used chiefly of wine.


hmmmmmmzzzzzzzzzz


.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006






Some great news contained in the stuff here ...... it goes out to 2k humans but thought you needed to see it if you don't subscribe - please do ........



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Greenbelt 2006 : Redemption Songs : 25 - 28 August
(124 days until the festival)

----------------------------------------------------
News, offers, dates, plugs, people, campaigns, ideas
at the speed of your modem .... from Greenbelt Festivals
----------------------------------------------------


=============
Greenbelt news
=============

=============================================
April ticket discount deadline – only a few days to go to 30 April deadline
=============================================

Go to http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/tickets to get your tickets at the April discount prices – no booking fee online. Or call 020 7374 2760. And tell your vicars about the Free Church Leader deal we do – offer available until the end of June!

=============================================
Lineup gets stronger all the time
=============================================

We're very excited to announce that Michael Franti and Spearhead will headline Mainstage on the Monday night of this year's festival. Go here – http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/?a=724&pr=77 – to read more about why this is such a coup.

We're also delighted that Poet Laureate Andrew Motion will be joining us at Greenbelt this year.
See http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/?a=727&pr=83 for more.

Things are looking better and better at http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/lineup – keep checking back or subscribe to feeds from the various lineup pages (see http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/index.php?p=576).

=============================================
What's new for youth?
=============================================

There's loads of great stuff going on at Greenbelt this year for youth, too.

For the 14-18s there's a souped up 'humanic' programme, including a Battle of the Bands, a new youth Theatre Prize and much, much more besides (all listed at http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/humanic). While for the 11-14s there's 'The Mix' – see http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/?s=101 for listings.

And with a Saturday Mainstage bill headlined by Daniel Bedingfield – supported by Blindside, Kevin Max (DC Talk) and Yfriday – it promises to be a great year for youth at Greenbelt. Make sure word gets out.

=============================================
Volunteer
=============================================

For information on all our volunteer opportunities at Greenbelt this year, go to
http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/volunteer

We especially need qualified first aiders, paramedics and ambulance technicians.
See http://www.greenbelt.org.uk/index.php?p=589


=============
Campaigning
=============

=============================================
The beat goes on
=============================================

This summer, Christian Aid are encouraging us to beat the trade justice message home to Gordon Brown and Hillary Benn. On Saturday 8 July, a year on from the G8 summit in Edinburgh, join them in holding the UK government to account for their promises. Be part of a 'world first' – a campaign drumming petition. Then join with them at Greenbelt! And then bring that beat to the Treasury by joining thousands in London on Thursday 14 September to tell Brown and Benn it’s time for action before they head off to the IMF and World Bank annual meetings.

See http://www.pressureworks.org/dosomething/act/beat.html for more.

=============
Events in May
=============

=============================================
Duke Special on tour
Throughout the UK in May
=============================================

Check out http://www.dukespecial.com for details of his May 2006 dates and for all the latest news, audio, video clips and interactive stuff from the maestro.

=============================================
Saga Arpino exhibition
Westbourne Grove Church, London W11 until 19th May
=============================================

Greenbelter Saga Arpino is exhibiting a wall painting and a series of collages and prints at Westbourne Grove Church, on the corner of Ledbury Road, London W11 until 19th May.

The exhibition spaces are open 9-5, Monday to Friday, and 10-3 on Sundays.

=============================================
'Dignity’ – Sing Out Against Slavery
By Ali Bullivent
=============================================

‘Dignity’ is a selection of traditional and new songs, music and words to challenge present day slavery. Its focus is on women and their fight for freedom from the transatlantic slave trade to the present day. It aims to raise awareness about the situation of women who are trafficked to this country under the promise of legitimate work, and then forced into sexual exploitation.

Original music is written by Ali Bullivent with lyrics by Ali and Linda Currin. The first full performance will be on 20th May at St Helen’s Church, Wakefield. A song book and CD will be available from June, and Ali will be available to run singing workshops for interested groups (male and female voices) leading up to the anniversary of the abolition in March 2007.

For further details email St Helen’s Church on office@sandalmagna.fsnet.co.uk or Ali Bullivent on bullivent@hotmail.com

===================================================

Festival dispatches is edited by Paul Northup, getting by with a bit
of help from his friends Martin Wroe and Paul Bennett.

All ideas considered. Email paul@greenbelt.org.uk with 'for
Dispatches' in the subject bar

There are now more than two thousand GB souls receiving this. Please
forward this issue to anyone who might be interested in receiving it.



.




Love this pic


Not so much the movie


But I love this pic




Joan and me .....

.... went to see Jose Gonzalez at Hammersmith Odean - now called 'Apollo' ............ it is years since I went there.

Think I saw Bruce Cockburn there years ago and loads big names over the years.

Jose has a few hit singles and a few of his are used on TV adverts so if you have never heard of this Swedish man ......... his album is good and he is a remarkable guitar player - but lost in a large venue like this and found it a bit boring.

I have not sat down for a gig for years, it seats about 2.5k, and felt all closed in. Was really packed....... but I felt I wanted to escape - or stay in the bar. I like a gig where you can move around - dance around - up the front - or at the back .......

Shame ....... but glad we did it.

The Sheilas are missing from my life ::
Ann is 'pimping' someones ride.
Joy is still in Paris but we hope to be meeting up, all of us, on Bank Holiday Monday - May 1st, for a special bita Greek nosh at our favourite cheap eats

Until then ........ I am flying .....






you are a unique human



.




To laugh .. ..



To laugh is to risk appearing a fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental
To reach out is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self.
To place your ideas and dreams before the crowd is to risk their love.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair.
To try is to risk failure.
But the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The one who risks nothing does nothing and has nothing – and finally is nothing.
She may avoid sufferings and sorrow.
But he simply cannot learn, feel, change, grow or love.
Chained by his certitude, he is a slave, he has forfeited freedom.
Only one who risks is free!


.

Monday, April 24, 2006




Here and Now


"Before, I always lived in anticipation...
that it was all a preparation for something else,
something “greater,” more “genuine.”


But that feeling has dropped away from me completely.
I live here and now, this minute,
this day,
to the full,
and the life is worth living."

Etty Hillesum







This from her diaries which I have been reading through Lent and Easter and beyond ......... she was gassed by the Nazis ..........

Sunday, April 23, 2006


A Bit ......

.... have been a bit concerned about Joyce.

'A bit' not giving it due credit.
She has not been well and it is not physical.

I think - but who knows - she has not been eating and THAT -with medication- is not a good thing. She has caused us much concern in the past few weeks.
This week-end we go and she seemed fine.

hmmm.
I am pleased but the concern remains when we are not there and she is of deep concern to others and ourselves.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We took her to Southport which is North from Liverpool on the West coast. I have many childhood and teenage memories of this place.Not much has changed. It was a good feeling to walk around a bit.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Watched my team on the TV on Friday night when we got there after a five hour heavy drive .. ...
It was tough tired tense and troubled game. (bit like me!)
We won having not played well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Listened to five hours music of course.
Had the iPod on a shuffle.
Not done that for ages.
5108 songs on shuffle - so I heard stuff I had not heard for a long time::
Rage against the machine
Frank
Beatles
Morcheeba
Leftfield ...........

Indoors I had my little player which takes my iPod.
It runs for 10 hours on a recharge battery.
I use it most for training session vibes but here, in this context, a great companion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Returned tonight drained.
Maybe refreshed due to the different agenda.
Will tell tomorrow.
Busy week.

Read some stuff when I was away.
Read a sentence and think for 15 minutes - that sort of stuff.

It is a book for Trainers - all about Transactional Analysis. Loveitloveit .......


I appreciate you clicking this way ...... with all your other priorities ........ I wish you wonder as you pause to click this way and as you ponder that next step you will take when your eyes move away from this screen .............. and how you will communicate to the next human you interact with ............ that eye contact - that facial expression ......... may it be love-giving ....... because ...



..... you are beautiful ...........




.



Toffee Shop

..... like the old days ......... I have been away in my home town of St Helens Lancashire and I have not blogged since Friday and missing is unusual .......... sorry

......... I know you may have clicked and seen no change from the enthusiastic blog below.


Such is life ...... we all have to tend to the domestic and Joan's Mother has one of these alarms which hang around her neck and if I unplug the phone to do a dial up blog .............. the SAS comes around ..............

............... missed ya





you are beautiful



.

Friday, April 21, 2006





..... I was walking up the road ......... earbuds full in
- heading home
- iPod screaming the 'Yeah Yeah Yeahs' ....
......... and I was called to by a man stepping out of a BMW.

"Do you not recognise me Pip?"
As I got to within six feet of him I slightly did - but did.
"I am Rob Hogg" he said ........ and the face clicked back in time and I did recognise him.

He was 13 when he first came to the project I was leading some 32 years ago in London's East End.
This 45 year old before me, as bubbly and as enthusiastic as I remember - started to sing to me, there in the street, ::
"I had a baby out of wedlock
Her old man got me in a headlock
I'm an unwed father ............. " **

He said he remembered me singing this as we travelled to Gwynfydd in the Club Mini-bus "banging on the dashboard-drum". He rolled in to quick-fire memories of going to Gwynfydd, an extremely remote deserted farm in North Wales.

It was a farm which had lost its water table and became impossible to work. I first went there thirty five/forty years ago when I ran a club for Rockers in the North West. It became a place of adventure and most beautiful Youth Work. The first few years it had no water and we had to light it with paraffin lamps. The walls were five foot thick - you had to drive through a ford to get there and it was impossible to walk to a pub or a shop. It was great as a place to take the toughest. Rob recalled how the young east end villains started to feel scared because when you turned the light off it was pitch black. Living in inner city London means that the streets and bedrooms are always illuminated. I remember them going to bed and coming downstairs again because it was too dark to sleep!
"Who has nicked the mars bars" Rob shouted out in the middle of the street. He remembers me 'going into one' because we had been robbed and I was making a point about it - loudly.
I was mad in those days. Must have taken 5 hours to drive there from London - and back again on Sunday!
But wow - what experiences we had - and some of them came gushing back on a pavement in Romford.

He had recently re-read my first book called 'Gutter Feelings', now 20 years old. he said that he never clocked his environment, and the scene he was in, because everything was normal to him growing up there. We talked about a few of his peers who are now famous armed robbers. Ageing robbers now 45-ish!

He recalled the '10-o-clock news' when I used to shut down all the normal activities once a week at 10 pm.
This was a 10 minute gospel slot where I talked and did the most outlandish things to draw attention and drip and drop a positive message midst a packed club. Rob mimicked me in the street - remembering my phrases from 30 years or more. I did that for 10 years in that place. Expended my very soul out to them. Loved em. Told them they were beautiful................... believe me - it got noisy. Then we used to open up the club again until 11pm!

We had a great chat - me and Rob. He is a successful business man now with five kids and grandchildren too.
He told me some great experiences - spiritual moments in his life. The toughest of times and the miraculous times. I asked him to write a reflection about those past times and his journey - for these pages. Hope he will.

One thing.
One last thing.
I noticed, crisp and clear, - his body language!
It was the way he swung his body back and forth as he spoke - I remember those very movements from 30 years ago hmmmm ..............

thank you Rob for making my day - you beautiful human.



** This is an old Larry Norman song, not very well known, I used to sing it all the time.

(The photo is about 1981)



.



THIS was the Youth Work scene in around 1976!!

...... and I rember some of the names too!

Thursday, April 20, 2006


The Sheilas

(second and fourth from d left)
with some friends .......




BIG GAME TOMORROW

.....we will have to spark ....... come on the SAINTS.
~~~~~~~~~
... just got some junk mail to 'being and becoming -at- pip wilson dot com' ....... how do they do that?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just been stopped in the Street by BMW driver who I first met when he was 13 in the project I was leading some 30 years ago in the depths of East London .... more coming at you about this one ...... Youth Workers - be encouraged ........
~~~~~~~~~~
Got to be up North this w/e with Joyce Joan's Mother. We have some concerns.
~~~~~~~
Please see MTV Pimp my Ride on Sunday at 10pm ....... if you can or want or ....... whatever ........ it is the start of the new series with the Big Dawg presenting ...............
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Makes me think .......

What part of your life needs 'pimping' .....................................?


.




I was in a coffee bar sipping a fair-trade latte. A man was standing by the roadside. He was facing across the road and glancing up and down the road also. All casual.
Over the road another man walked too slowly towards a woman who was walking too slowly ......
There was only a few words but a quick movement of both hands ........ and the man did an about-turn and strolled over the road to his lookout........ and away.
I seem to see these sort of interactions too often and also damage done to many eyes slurred minds and lives .......
~~~~~~~~~~~
The Saints are on TV again this Friday. We are unbeaten in ten games so Sky is bringing us to the screen because we are playing a team who are coming up strong at third place.
They all want to turn -over the one at the top.
~~~~~~~~
I have been in the same Starbucks only twice.
Both times the staff interacted with warmth.
I like that.
It helps me feel like a human.
Must remember to always ask for 'Fair-trade'.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Joy Sheila - spoke to her in Paris tonight. She has only spent one night in her own bed during the past month ............ I love her and miss .........
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I once had lunch with the Queen and she is 80 this week I understand.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Group - not used to each other - not used to talking - not used to being facilitated.
It stretches me to design the most gentle methods to ease them into interaction. Relaxation. Listening, wow what a job is this one, and then gently moving them on to a deeply satisfying time with each other - and even me.
The start is so vital.
That is the time when they are all so uneasy and cautious.
That is the time when I am - too.
When it moves to being an experience of safety and freedom to verbally reflect, and others listen, it is such a wondrous privilege.
It is like watching a beautiful bud of a flower opening up to the sun .............



.

Wednesday, April 19, 2006




.... WELL HERE COMES THE SECOND SERIES OF
PIMP MY RIDE UK


..... and you can see 5 little video clips of five cars that need a pimp-make-over .......... just like my website ........ needs pimping ......

See the clips ans chose which one is pimped here.


.

Ann Wilson
Producer/Director
Pimp My Ride UK

Tuesday, April 18, 2006




Hello you most beautiful human ............ I have not much to offer at the moment ........ had a 13.5 hour out day today and I am leaning on a Czech beer to relax and maybe a blog in an hour or more ........

Just thinking of you from the beauty room here.
I want to say you are beautiful in your uniqueness and that is eternal.

This journey into wholeness/beauty ..............
We never get there on this side of eternity .......... it is a road long travelled ...... but the eternal restlesness demands we refresh the irritation and journey on.

......... it is ok to believe ........


.

Monday, April 17, 2006






The Beauty Room


......... I am captivated by an album of music which is only released in July 2006.
It is called 'The Beauty Room'.

All references to ' the beauty room' seem to be about beauty parlors.
Facial beauty. Skin care. Body improvements.

I am captivated by the beauty - how music opens us up ........ how we can be opened by the presence of beauty.

I am captivated by having a beauty makeover.
Not the exterior.
But the interior.

I think it is good if we can make the best of our external beauty.
Better if we can make the best, and reach out to the potential of internal beauty.

A place - a space, can be a place of beauty.
Wouldn't it be great if we made the room we were in - a beauty room?
Wouldn't it be great to be able to add something special to a space to make it a space of beauty?

Today I have been in preparation for a session I am leading tomorrow.
I always look at the 'context' first.
Then the 'objectives'.
Always is the challenge to facilitate a climate of trust (beauty room) where those present can be taken on a journey ......... from a group of strangers ......... to be eased in to activities which captivate them and draw them in to a relaxed, non-self conscious state.
Then to be able to interact with others - recognizing their own beauty and - the same in others.

I am on a journey to discover more about our 'beautiful imperfection'.
I am on a journey into the 'beauty room'.
I am on a journey into the music which can open the door into the 'beauty experience'.
Do you fancy joining me?



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Sunday, April 16, 2006


I am into the
TANGO ......



We have to remember that during the early part of the nineteenth century social dancing was done standing opposite to each other. These types of dances were generically called "Contradanza" . The progression of the dancers was somewhat lineal around the dancing floor. The contact among the partners was limited to touching the hands at certain moments. There were also "Round dances" in which there was a circular movement.

Minue (mee-nueh with accent in the final eh) was a very popular social dance during colonial times in Argentina. The habanera one of Tango's ancestors is also a contradanza.

The word 'Contradanza' might have originated from English Country Dance transformed into the French Contredanse and the Italian Contradanza. Mozart and Beethoven wrote Kontretanze. The Viennese Waltz and the Quadrille drove the contradanza out of the ballrooms.

The Viennese Waltz was the world's first popular dance to use the actual closed hold, the Polka was the second dance in Europe to use this scandalous new hold. European society had an ambivalent feeling about this somewhat immoral way of dancing which was taken with them as they moved to Argentina.

It was, if I remember correctly, that around 1850 when the Opera of Paris going through bad economical times it's director had the audacious idea of including V.Waltz in some of the performances on a trial basis. It was a great success, the curious public filled the theater again. Paris being the center of arts and refinement slowly made this dancing in 'Close hold' acceptable to the rest of the world.

It is then in this historical context that we have to judge the situation of tango at its beginnings and during the period 1880-1910 and the reason men had to dance with each other.

Viennese Waltz was the first social dance that used a "close hold" . This is the way we dance today...we think of it as the most logical hold for a couple to dance... but at the beginning ...during the second part of the 19th.century this proximity of the bodies in public was considered to be scandalous. It took many years for people slowly accepting it.

We arrive now at the period in which tango originated before or around 1880. The periphery of Buenos Aires, bars, gambling houses, brothels... lonely men spend time socializing, drinking, gambling, looking for some 'romance' in the company of women of ill repute, trying the steps of the new dance...the milonga and the tango. We can imagine that in those places, under those circumstances every experimentation as to dancing steps was possible irrelevant of good, bad taste, lewdness or even obscenity.


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The Sheilas



iloveemloveemloveemloveem .....

Albums so far this year ......... I suppose they give me away ...... what I really like ........



1 Jose Gonzalez 'Veneer'
.... beautiful - lyrical and so beautiful are the songs ..... I cannot guess anyone in the world would not like this.
Joy had it on her iPod when we swept through France in February - in the Primera!
'A supreme talent' said the Guardian.

2 King Britt 'This is ... King Britt'
..... a DJ mix of artistes which move my soul. Also an extra cd in the pack with great grooves.


My third was a download from iTunes ::
3 'King Britt presents Sister Gertrude Morgan'
..... with such songs as 'live my Jesus' and 'Precious Lord lead me On'
wowee

4 Sergio Mendes
'Timeless'. Out of Brazil drawing Stars to play on his album. Stevie Wonder/Black Eyed Peas/India Irie/Jill Scott/Erycah Badu/Q-Tip/ John Legand


5 Gotan
............ 'Lunatico' First track I downloaded from a free CD from inside French Vogue which Joy bought in February when we were in Reims - Champagneland.
'Diferente' was that single was beautiful then - now it is here on the full album. I blogged about it back then - do you remember?

This came Easter Saturday from CD-WOW who seem to be the cheapest internet buy at the moment. It is Tango with a dance/moody/modern twist. Loveitloveit.

Saw them live on the South Bank some three/four years ago with one of the Sheilas and cannot remember which one.
So beautiful to see them live too.



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Beautiful

Imperfection


... today will always be special to me.
I will always recall one special event.
One life lived.
ONE

Beautiful Imperfection ................

I will redo the the Blog I did on Easter Day last year - and if you stay with me - you will view it again each year ..............




..... it was someone I know - loved - worked with ....

...... she was 21 ........

... she was found dead with a cocktail of drugs within her .......

.... I sat down and clicked these words .....


PIPSPOEM
=========
alcoholic at birth
mothers addiction
father loss disaster later
fateful crack overdose
and years of homes
sometimes called 'care'

mother herself
all too young
very young
without parental models
inadequate
sometimes called 'it's the parents fault'

raped and abused
abused and robbed
fragmented like hell
sometimes called 'tormented'

drugs and crime
crime and drugs
suck the life
drain the soul
shred the person
sometimes called 'deprivation'

ymca hostel
mission to care
mission to support
mission to develop
sometimes called 'hope'

as thin as a rake
loud and screaming
tearful and down
always a name call
always my name
sometimes called 'erratic'

drugs on
off drugs
relationships on
chemical relationship on
struggle to sustain
loved and hated
sometimes called 'dependent'

alone on her own
found on her own
died on her own
lay still on her own
only chemical friends
sometimes called 'overdose'

tears of the crowd
loss in community
death lurks us all
quiet at last
tears run silent
sobs rack deep
world loses a character
sometimes called 'bereavement'

how do I feel
the feelings are deep
she was driving blind
foot on disaster
hard as nails
fragile and bruised
beautifully broken
sometimes called 'love'

creator loved
creator loves
precious child
valuable life
loss loss loss
sometimes called 'a waste'

never lived
only survived
we need to care
in life
before death
we need to love
more-so the broken
more-so the damaged
more-so when it's impossible
more-so before it is too late
sometimes called 'reflective learning'

let these little ones
come to me
of such
is
the kingdom of heaven
the master said
the master repeats
now
when it matters
he retains the loving
continues the loving
the creator of love
keeps showing us
teaching us
demonstrating to us
sometimes called
'eternal love
everlasting love
to a person
for a person
we will remember eternally and everlasting'
pip wilson 14.04.04

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.... this day, today, 2004 -was EASTER DAY .....




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Saturday, April 15, 2006





Romford has the third largest town shopping centre in the UK - I am led to believe.
There are three major Malls - and also a traditional open market.
Alongside that open market is our Church - 'St Edward's in the Market Place'.
Very Old.
Spire - the lot.
That is the venue for Joan and me on Good Friday.

The market Place and the whole town was packed with shoppers. The market traders shouting out their special offers to the passing throng. Children held by the hand. Older humans pushing four wheeled trolleys which give support. Some counting their change to see if they have enough.
And we walked through and into a reflective small group of humans in a large church - to remember the dying .....

After a funeral I don't feel like speaking to anyone. I won't - if I can help it.
Good Friday is like a Funeral for me.
The best service of the year is the 3 hour service - 12 - 3pm.
It is a series of meditations. Each with a ten minute reflection on the cross followed by music and then a prayer. Each conducted by a different Minister.
You know - can you remember being at a funeral and becoming distressed because you see others distressed?
Do you sometimes feel a welling of emotion that seems to burst upwards into the chest and seems to fill the head with emotions uncontrollable?
Do you sometimes have a deep weep?
Emotions that just sob inside?
Do you sometimes have tears beneath the surface and they seem to stop at the eyes - and they become full and glazed?

"I am thirsty" ......... as a little child would say - dependent on parents.
Jesus said this from the Cross.
Expressing a feeling.
He could have expressed lots of feelings like
"this pain is unbearable"
"I feel lonely" "
"I feel hurt because my friends left me and I need friends right now".

Jesus - so fully human.
Yet God himself - yet so fully human and therefore feeling it all as we would.

I have thirsty ears.
I have thirsty emotions as I kneel there - sit there - stand there.
Funny how kneeling for some time is a struggle.
So much for personal pain from me.

The faint noises from the market penetrate the silence in Church.
A market shopper shuffles into church and heads for the front and lights a candle.
The noise of the coins dropping touch my feelings too.
Maybe these are the mites of a widow?

Jesus says
"It is finished".

It is accomplished .............. job done -
I have fulfilled my life mission.

My my goes to that very issue.
Will I ever reach my mission in life.

I must revisit and ask that question of myself.

"We proclaim Christ Crucified"
What's that all about?
We proclaim that the person who we base our life on ......... who we follow in terms of example, in terms of principle .............. we shout about this?
About him being executed?
A good life ending with failure .......
This is strange -
so upside down -
such a position of extreme poverty -
deprivation ...........


The funeral is over ................. it is the best service of the year - so uncomfortable - so gut retching - so reaching into my soul - so helpless the feelings - so painful to remember my intimate close friend dying in such a way .........

"It costs so much to be a full human being .......... "




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Friday, April 14, 2006




































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Blob Easter
========

Which one is you today?

Which one would be you if you thought deeper and did/become/lived/related as you really wanted?

Which one will you be on Sunday?

Which one will you be on Easter Tuesday ........ when life returnes to normal?


This is half of the Blob Easter
from the BIG BOOK OF BLOBS
which has many different tools to use with self or others.



Disturb the comfortable
Comfort the disturbed.

I want that for myself ............


you are beautiful



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Thursday, April 13, 2006



Imagine




So I'm just thinking to myself, right..
I'm thinking that John Lennon said, 'Imagine there's no heaven..' But I'm thinking,
'Get lost John-think I might imagine there is'..



A place where the buses run on time, and women walk safe after dark. Where eating chocolate reduces cholesterol, smoking is relaxing but doesn't cause cancer, and you can't get headaches or hangovers.



I'm thinking of a place where nurses earn as much as company chairmen, policemen are liked but not really necessary and teachers don't want to be anything else. Where children run multinationals for fun and grown-ups are sent to bed every time they're rude.



A place where you can be busy if you want to be, but you can buy extra time when you need it (from an Extra Time Shop).



A place where you can go to sleep when you're tired, deep, deep sleep so you wake up feeling like you've had a life transfusion like your life has been heated up.



I'm thinking of a place where nobody notices their nakedness and species aren't endangered. Where you've got all shapes and sizes... but no one great or small. Where people meet you and don't even notice your bone structure or your colour because they're so struck by your soul. Where they hear your spirit not your accent and everyone knows that everyone's only a mere immortal.



Of course this heaven is not a religious place. I mean there'll be no Jehovah's Witnesses at your door (who needs a witness when Jehovah's down the road?) and God won't be a rumour because he'll have a front door.

You won't have to pray because you can talk.

There is no need for churches,

Mosques or temples.

No one tells you how to live your life

Because no one needs to.

There'll be no streets of gold

Or pearly gates or harps,

No big dad god and little boy god

on matching thrones.

No regrets

But a place where every time you bump into a why

You can feel a because.



There will still be bad language.

Words like bomb and bullet and rape.

There will even be the odd four-letter word..hate,

For example.

But some words will not be able to be spelled at all

...fear,

poverty,

pain,

death,

because these words will come from

an ancient language

no longer understood

occasionally studied but never spoken.



I'm imagining a place called heaven.

A place where you can eat chocolate

And fight heart disease,

Take a long, slow drag on a fag

To cure someone of cancer,

Climb through the air on wings like eagles,

Run but never get tired ....


....... by Martin Wroe.
===============

Wednesday, April 12, 2006






... finished work now for Easter - in terms of working out.
I am free until my next gig on Tuesday.
Another challenge.

Spent the whole of the morning doing my office filing.
When I am giging I tend to drop one file and pick up another. Time in-between is the prep time.

So I have a plan for the next few days including sorting out my Games bag - my Training bag and loads of other stuff including the domestic.

Easter figures.
Large.
deep.
I will be there.
Always a bit scared of the Easter time.
Good Friday is a big one.
I will be there.

Could do with a holiday but with having a home office - it never seems the same.
I need to go away to take a break and I am not sure when that will be.
I would like to sneak a break in France in the near future.


Joy is flying home from S Africa overnight. Wondrous to get a text saying she misses me.
Ann is shooting now - and will come over to us on Friday. We have a meal out in the evening.
Will be seeing friends too over the week-end and watching some TV - only the Rugby league ............ the only TV that turns me on.

So ............
FIVE WORDS TO DESCRIBE MY LIFE AT THE MOMENT ::

And a couple more from BHP-soul searchers ::

Pip
scary
un-chilled
passion
loveitloveit
yearning

Derek
gut-punched
loved (saviour's love for me)
moved
encouraged
enjoined

Jude
Longing,
grateful,
sleepy,
hopeful,
frustrated

.... thanx you two ........ and I need to say

"...... and ....... and your five words .................... you?"





You are beautiful




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