Monday, July 31, 2006



... and we think we have problems .....






Y Care International
Humanitarian
crisis in Lebanon


31 July 2006

In the midst of a humanitarian crisis in Lebanon brought on by Israeli military strikes, Y Care International has pledged financial support to its partner, the YMCA of Lebanon, as it works to provide medical care, basic supplies and food to affected communities.

The YMCA is working through its network of medical clinics and dispensaries to give essential medical help, food and basic supplies to those in need.


While we recognise the importance of a multilateral, co-ordinated aid effort, Y Care International is calling on international donors not to overlook local NGOs, like the YMCA, which are in an ideal position to provide timely relief to the affected population.


Read Y Care International's statement
Our long-term civic empowerment work in Lebanon now at risk.

The attacks on Lebanon have also devastated one of Y Care International's long-term projects in the country, unravelling crucial work with disadvantaged young people to rebuild civil society after the civil war.

Since 2004 our civic empowerment project has worked to empower disadvantaged and marginalised rural young people and train them to actively participate in public life. YMCA project staff simply cannot contact the young people they were working with, most of whom are now displaced, and all staff are now working to provide relief to those in need.

However, Y Care International remains committed to working with its partner YMCA to engage young people in the renewed process of rebuilding that will take place after the conflict.
Y Care International
is the international relief
and development agency of the YMCA in the UK and Ireland.
Y Care International
works in partnership with young people worldwide
through the YMCA movement
to help them enrich their lives
and to build a more just world, free from poverty.
Charity no: 1109789 www.ycare.org.uk
I believe and support this authentic - active on the ground group of humans ......... if you are considering giving to help out there ....... please consider Y Care .......




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SOME .. .. .. ..

..... of the beautiful humans at the BBQ tonight ........ have so many good pictures - I will have to blog them all week ........



...... I rejoice at new life ......... becoming ....

Sunday, July 30, 2006





..... spent one evening this last week with a band of talented humans.
Just working with them to look at their situation and facilitating them to consider their reality.
Great stuff
Great humans .........

A band playing great stuff.
As yet unsigned.

Have a click on their site/my space and hear dem tunes.

Anyone got a gig for them .......

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Saturday, July 29, 2006





..... I am always clicking about Level Five communication - see www.blobtree.com
for an simple quick briefing about it.


Self revelation is a big part of authentic communication - it seems to me.
If we are aware that we avoid self revelation, which is being honest about ourselves - sharing our feelings - reality, that will have a diminishing in impact on our self esteem.


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.... here is Sean Long scoring our first try
......... he was
our Captain today - Skully is injured, but we won the semi-final 50-nil.

Was great to see the style and the roaring of a great team and I hope you UK humans managed to watch on BBC and supported the Saints - why not?




So we are in the final. hey hey


The bad news
the final is on Greenbelt week-end so I will miss it - stink!


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Friday, July 28, 2006





... sorry
I have not been in touch with you ........ I have failed in my clicking but - back home now.


Our next door parents have gone on holiday and have left their 18 year old son, and friends, in charge.
Currently I hear death metal music full blast from the back door into our garden - and theirs and the world too I guess!!

It may be a long night ahead.
Don't know how long it may continue ........... what did you do when you were 18 and parents away?


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..... am away at the mo ......... I always pump and love the buzz of being in training context with humans.

Sometimes it is hard ground. Not fertile soil.
Ploughing needed
Seeds sowed
to set up a climate of trust.

Help humans to feel secure

so the will be willing
to become
insecure

by stepping out of their comfort zones
so able to take steps in their own development.























I need to do that too, me too, in this context
step into new areas of stretch as a trainer
the tools I use/try

always 'motion changes emotion'

always maximum participation


I entered new areas with new tools
for the job
felt tough at first
then a light entered the dynamics of the group
and we all twisted the throttle.

This group are all staff members of a Finance Department

A Charity
Director and seven staff

A team managing a 5 million turnover

loadsa staff to pay
regulations to keep.
I know nothing about their skills and tasks

my job is to facilitate their journey

starting with
the reality now
and then moving them
to consider
their areas, within their jobs,
which can be stretched
for their satisfaction
and others
and the systems

team work
relationships

interactions

loveitloveitloveit


So that is where I am at ..........that is something about my activities
exterior

I believe you are interested
also in
interior matters.

To move ahead we need to consider our interior life.

Like and iceberg
we have lots on show - on the surface
Under the surface
more and bigger.
The issues in our life are bigger and more complex below the surface.
Behaviour is seen and heard - on the surface stuff.

Verbal and non-verbal is seen and heard - good or not-so-good.

Beneath the surface
is a mass of feelings and 'luggage'
which influences behaviour

in fact, it feeds the monster called behaviour - unless
the feelings are worked at.

A life journey
.

Feelings - I feel good feel the two days went well.
great humans
great feelings expressed at the end - and all the way through.
Objectives met - freely expressed by numbers of of humans.

A clearer crisper future.


Beautiful ...........



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Wednesday, July 26, 2006




.... just done my first BBQ of the year.
Life has been too busy for this till now.
Needed some practice
famous
me
for burning the chicken
speciality
black chicken.

We have a bigger BBQ at the w/e.
looking fwd to the humans
no the black chicken

Feel ok
bit pumped up
as I always
when I am going away
and leading a training conference

Feeling good about catching up with life
reading too
the sort of stuff which points me to
the reason I am alive

a journey along a road less travelled
don't believe in
sacrificing freedom for security


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..... the question below - it is better talking to someone about this - telling someone ..... makes it more real ........




..... I just asked Joan ......... very interesting answer.



Just asked her.
She sain it was when we sold up our one year old home, we had been married a year, and moved to Mobberley to work in an Approved School for young offenders. She said it mmade her grow up quicker than living in our own community .........


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When did you become an adult?

Sunday, July 23, 2006






..... in the midst of running sessions I often refer to the question
'When did you become an adult'?

The reason is - if change and development is to take place in a persons life
it needs an inside job.
My answer to the question is
- my answer is .......... when I was around 40.
All my life till then
I had been going through life thinking
If only I was good looking .....
If only I was intelligent .....
If only I was educated .....
If only I wasn't fat .....
If only .........

My answer to the question was
40
That is when I accepted myself.
That is when the BHP thing came.
You are a beautiful human person.

I accepted myself as I was
God had
and now
so
I faced reality.
Self acceptance - heard of it?


Later the 'beautiful imperfection' concept came
we are all beautiful
all imperfect
beautiful - all differently
imperfection - all differently.

I mentioned recently
about having a personality test
all that is part of trying to understand myself
understanding myself is part of knowing
and accepting myself - right now - not just what I am potentially.

Acceptance is about love
loving unconditionally
not just about 'I will accept you if you become ........ '

Peanuts, the cartoon character Charlie Brown said ::
"The greatest suffering in life is to have great potential".



I believe that one of the most vital first steps in all this
now
and every step through life
is
to fully and freely accept our feelings
be in close touch with them
name them
"I feel frustrated ......" for instance
" I feel angry ....... " for another instance.

When we are fully and freely in touch with our feelings
we can then use that as a platform to deliver the behaviour appropriate for the situation we are in.

We can then 'become' a more response-able human
adult.


It is said
that you only
know
and
love
five
persons in your life
couldn't one of them be you?



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Saturday, July 22, 2006








It's all gone a bit Pete Tong
.....

................. I tape three hours of him every week and often repeate listen to his dance music several times each week ........... you can catch him on 'listen again' on the BBC site anytime any where in the world ... ... .. ... and Joy is out there, bits of Cafe Mambo here and a Club called Pacha, and ... ... ... ... ... ...she promises to take me one day hey hey ........


..... and she works as well ....... love these shots .. .....



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Richard and Jenika

.......... if you don't know Richard ......... he returned to India last summer with a plan to return to the UK to undertake a degree course to train as a Youth Worker/Informal Educator.

What-a-to-do.

They would not let him out! In fact 'they' were the British who refused him entry and there has been a terrible twist and turning, and some great generous humans helping out, until eventually - following the twists and shouts - they reversed the decision after a full year - Stink ........... but that means he will be here around August 8/9th.


He will be ::
Here for Greenbelt - he has been involved for a few years.

Here for his course.

Here to be employed to earn his course fees.
Here for us all to enjoy.

Here to Zig-Sit ......... he is Zigs favourite Cat Sitter and our home minder!


Now Jenika
......... they met in India, maybe there was a secret plan for him to be there this year, they met and fell in love and ............ she leaves India to go home to the US about the same time as Richard comes here.

She is completing a gap year thing but will be continuing her studies when she gets back home....... BUT she is planning to come to the UK mid-December so you will be able to say Hi and attempt to teach her to speak English!
I have spoken on the telephone and we have exchanges a few clicks.
Such a beuatiful human.
She is special.


So the UK will be delighted to see two bhp's ......... and India and USA - sorry - they will be here before they land on your shores again ..............
So thanx to all who have helped in a wee way - or a substantial way.

It is so wondrous ....



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Friday, July 21, 2006



.... fantastic to get some pix from Joy in Ibiza ......... she dousn't have a laptop so she depends on the photographers and models and make-up mates to to send me stuff ......... but I get the texts and I text her to tell her the places to go ........... and I have never been to that islland ......

..... missed her and we usually meet up a few times a month ..... and when she gets back she works Majorca. In case you don't know - Joy is a stylist in the fashion world .......... I loveherloveher .........


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‘The place God calls you is the place where your deepest gladness and the world’s deepest hunger meet’.

Frederick Buechner, ‘Wishful Thinking’






...... the reason
this is why
the drive to be as open as possible on my keys and on that wee screen in front of you is ......








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........ "We become fully conscious only of what are able to express to someone else.
We may already have had a certain inner intuition about it,
but it must remain vague so long as it is unformulated"

Paul Tournier
from "The Meaning of Persons

Thursday, July 20, 2006




.......because we are no used to it .......... the hot weather in the UK is having a large impact on life .. .. .. .. .. .. .. so here I am at Wilson Mansions avoiding my office because it has stayed so hot so late. Working at home days are ok in the morning but later on in the day - I stinking fry!!

Tell you the truth - I am still recovering from my holiday.
It was turn off time.
Right and propa!!
But I am on catch up with lots of debris around to sort ..........

.......... but I am the sort of person who responds/kicks/lights up when I am with humans. Paperwork and such are such a bore ......... they are only significant when I USE them when planning a session - with humans!

I have just ventured into the hot room to put my hands on my advanced Myers Briggs Personalitty test I did a few months ago.
No - can - find.
I will and will reveal a few of my weaknesses and strengths.
It was about 15 years since I did this sort of thing.
No great shocks.
With this new one.
I did find the reflections given to me good.
The ones which said - because I have such a strength - I need to watch certain areas of my life. All of them raising my awareness that I could be insentitive because of where I am in my life/drive/desires/yearning.

So I have no right to take humans, who I relate to, to Level 5.
I have no right to push another to develop.
Change.
Love.
Get a job.
Stop drugs.
Stop hating.
Seek the uncomfortable zones.
Take the red pill.
Otherwse I will be oppressive.
Maybe with the things I believe in.
Know, in my own experience, that they can change a life.
I must never be oppressive.
Never say 'should'
I never use that word.
Or 'aught'.

Unless a person seeks and finds liberation themselves
it is not liberation at all ..............

Compassion is an unstable emotion.
It needs to be translated into action, or it withers.
The question is what to do with the feelings that have been aroused,
the knowledge that has been communicated.
People don't become inured to what they are shown...
.... because of the quantity of images dumped on them.
It is passivity that dulls feeling.

.
Limp bodies
still bodies
sweaty
motionless faces
damp faces
wordless
smileless
airless
upper range heat
100
or
40
depending
thermometer
inside tube
underground
London

Following Aslan
- A Book of Devotions for Children

Joy working in Ibiza for a few weeks at the moment .......
cartoon from www.weblogcartoons.com

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Wednesday, July 19, 2006




..... heard when I was on holiday that my friend Ken has been diagnosed with cancer and a shock just now that my friend Ian has just lost his Mum - this very evening.




Life .....................



I was going to tell you about my friend who has kept his fur coat on during this hot hot day in London Town.
Zig is suffering more than us all.

Was going to tell you about the pending hottest day in London ever - tomorrow.
And a four hour commute in an oven called the 'tube'.
All rather less than meaningful now.

I will try to dig out a few words to describe my life at the moment - say five ::
stilled
biting-reality
love
shock
deep


How are you then?

I am just getting over the holiday and a bit hit by the holiday weather and it is NOT holidays anymore.
I am yearning for life and want to live it under all circumstances.


ALL THE DIAMONDS

All the diamonds in this world
that mean anything to me
are conjured up by wind and sunlight
sparkling on the sea

I ran aground in a harbour town
lost the taste for being free
thank God He sent some gull-chased ship
to carry me to sea

Two thousand years and half a world away
dying trees still grow greener when you pray

Silver scales flash bright and fade
in reeds along the shore
like a pearl in sea of liquid jade
His ship comes shining
like a crystal swan in a sky of suns
His ship comes shining.




a most beautiful Bruce Cockburn song ........ for you tonight ......... for Ken .......... for Ian ......... for you .....


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Tuesday, July 18, 2006



The rooms of my mind

The rooms of my mind are crowded lonely places
Doors swing on greaseless hinges
And branches rattle against dusty windows.
The unwary visitor steps back in shock.

Cases grimed in dust
The locks destroyed, the secrets shown
Dirty laundry, ill-fitting clothes
The unfashionable remnants of my past.

Photos from long-ago lay strewn
Smiling faces smudged by time and truth
Families ripped apart
Bleached out sepia and hand tinted prints
Which hide the truth.

Books haphazardly tossed in piles.
Fairy stories shredded
“Happy ever after” that never was
The demons escape the covers and devour the feeble faint hearted heroes.

Boxes stacked shoulder high
Their contents bared to cold electric lights
Reality there for those who must see.
A door closes as they turn away.

by Caroline


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Thank you Caroline for sharing this with me and saying I can share with ............


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Monday, July 17, 2006

Sunday, July 16, 2006



The Blob Tree

..... waiting for me when I got home from Greece today.
Great stuff
good holiday
still in the clouds
will recover tomorrow
big catch up
will do
more spring in the step.

Waiting for me at home
Zig - he missed us so much
almost cried when he saw us
as much as a cat can do.

Also two albums I ordered to take with me on holiday ::
India Arie 'Testimony'
Joan as a Policewoman 'Real Life'.

Have got a few others in the last month so I must catch you up with a review or two ........ but for now .......... it is to zedz for me .........

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Friday, July 14, 2006



It is not my Tan It is my best-buy in Greece

Pearls-of-Wilson-MedTours
checking in for the last time from Greece.


Been coming Greece over the last 20/15 years - to hot to contemplate when the first one was.
They are nice people and it has been good to be in an environment where there is no hint of aggression or violence. No loud disruptive voices. No over drinking. It is a place that children can play - as the do - until midnight every-night.
It has been a joy to felt the culture so strong. So many destinations are flooded with tourists. So much that you lose the the way of life of the indigenous peoples.

I am reading a book at the moment which is set just before the falling of the Berlin wall - November 1989.
(Never build walls
until you know
what you are walling in
or - walling out!).


In 1991 I was asked to be an International Trainer at a unique event in a place called Tisadob on the outskirts of Hungary. This place was a castle and I always remember the telephone number. It was '5' !
It was an event pulled together by the YMCA of Europe who had gained a grant to enable the YMCA in the West to assist the re emergence of the YMCA's in the East. Every YMCA in the eastern block, behind the iron curtain, had been closed down for 50 years or more by Communist Governments. I had previously met a number of the 80 year old former members and leaders of these nations. Some had been imprisoned by the state. Some hounded out of their homes. Others lost their lives for their faith.

This Tisadob event was big and had a group from every country possible. Russia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Armenia, Czech, Poland, Latvia and lots of others. The groups were made up of a few 80 year old men plus prospective leaders and young humans too. I always remember the Bulgarian group of about 15. The were all dressed in black. Several with a trilby hat or long coats ........... I heard after the event that there was also a KGB agent amongst them. They seemed glued together with an invisible web.
They had never been out of Bulgaria before. Never flown. Never outside their own town for most of them. The similar applied to other groups.

I was challenged to run training for groups alongside a team from all over the world. We needed the one week long 'culture awareness' training before the event commenced.
What an event.
Massive in terms of challenge.
Most of my words were translated into Russian - a common language.
The games went down well because all of us had the language called 'Body'.
I made life long friends there. Also chose Bulgaria to be the National YMCA to forge partnership links with as I saw it as the hardest nut to crack. It was not fertile ground.

On the last night we asked all the nations to do a song or sketch as part of a concert. Most countries knew of the Beatles songs - not many more had penetrated the iron curtain. When it came to the Bulgarians - two young men started to hum in a very deep sense and then the rest of them started to sing a Bulgarian Orthodox chant. It was weird to hear in that context - but ever so powerful and wondrous. It was them doing their thing.

All this has been triggered by the book - a novel set in a unique point in history.
(We are in one now and we don't see to so much
because it is hard to see it when we are the goldfish
in the goldfish bowl.)


The money for this event and the programmes to help build the Charity/3rd sector/YMCA in these countries - came from the USA Defence budget. Helping to build a civil society which in turn builds a sense of community and togetherness - nationally and across Europe.

I have so many stories to share. So many young and older humans who I have received from. So many who drop me an email telling me how life is.

........... and they used to be behind an iron curtain ..................


...... and so did we ..............



ps :: on my web-site home page, under 'Pearls',
there is an article about the YMCA History in Russia.



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