Wednesday, September 30, 2015

The best place for Blob Tree Materials - discover / view / download






ISIS -"What do you think of them Pip"






I was facilitating a training course 
for psychotherapists and counsellors,
and someone asked me a question in the coffee break.
‘What do you think about ISIS?’

I said 'they are beautiful humans'
every one
but their behaviour is atrocious.

'We can see a persons behaviour
but we can't see their journey'

I believe they are mainly young men
fighting for purpose/excitement/thrill/belonging/cause
(a bit like 'gang life' in the UK and beyond.)
led by a small number of older men 
who see the eradication of others 
as an answer to their ideology.

Beautiful Humans too - but their values????

I believe they desperately need love in their lives.
Love beyond boundaries.
To love those who differ
Love those who commit crimes against them
Those who hate them ………..
Love WINS.




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Pixar TEARS





In a central London cinema, 
a group of adults old enough to know better 
watched the latest 
Pixar film 'Inside Out' 
and they cried.

At first they attempted to sob silently, 
but it soon became too much. 
The sound of weeping competed with the noise of 
rustling in handbags for spare tissues. 
Rivers of mascara ran down the aisles. 
After the movie ended, a large queue formed in the ladies' loos,
where women tried to reapply faces that had crumpled under the sheer poignancy of the film. 

"Why 
do they always do this to us? 
Why?” 
wailed one Mother. 

"I've only just got over the sight of Woody and Buzz almost being incinerated in Toy Story 3

Now this!"



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NEVER APOLOGISE - Lil Wayne


Tuesday, September 29, 2015

What is 'beautiful'




What do children "need" 
when bored, 
sleepy, 
sad 
or 
hungry? 

How about when 
angry, 
confused, 
excited? 

They don’t know.
Do you?



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Level- Five Communication with a small group - group work is never predictable




I have feelings and want to share ........

Did level five with the group .............

Had five to start with, humans that is.
Then it grew in number as we went through the level five from bottom to top.
It is really tough on the leader and also the members 

when a climate of self revelation is kicking in 
and then comes the invasion of others 
who are synchronized with the feelings of others.


I always go on about the level five stuff. 
If you are new to it all it is about the five levels of communication. 
I have Blob drawings so people can say where they are and stuff. 
I will click through them again:-
Please start reading from level one and climb up NOW


level five;- total openness
level four;- feelings
level three;- opinions
level two;- facts
level one;- cliché



the idea is to stretch ourselves to build relationships 
by being authentic in communication.
If we stay down the bottom end, communication and life itself - is boring. 
( of course we are all at the facts and 
opinions level sometimes - but to stay there bbbbrrrrrrrrr so cold)


Feelings, sharing them, is the start of level five communication.
I believe we get more and give more in that very place.



We, the group, walked through the levels from top to bottom 
and everyone shared about themselves;-
a cliché about me and my communication
a fact about myself
an opinion I hold about myself
a feeling I have about myself
a new, not yet shared with this group, openness statement about self.


wow we did it and fab fab wonder ………………………….



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Monday, September 28, 2015

MrsBeautiful - Me and the Cavern Club Liverpool



This little membership card is framed in my home office. 
I had been a member for a few years.
Beatles and all the 'beat groups' used to play there.
All were warm up acts for the Jazz bands at the top of the bill.

Tomorrow in 1961 was my first date with Mrs Beautiful-to-be.
The first date was me taking her to the Cavern Club 
in my little grey Morris Minor van.
We didn't see much of the bands 
as we were kissing all the time at the back.

You can tell is wasn't a lasting relationship!
Next week we will have been married for 51 years.
You know what that means?

It's not going to last - 
it's just one of those fleeting relationships ........



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Saturday, September 26, 2015

GLOBAL STUDY SAYS MORE MUMS CARE ABOUT EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE




FISHER-PRICE GLOBAL STUDY SAYS MORE MOMS CARE ABOUT EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE

Rather than dream of 
success, leadership qualities, or intelligence for their new children, 
today’s parents around the world 
hope their kids will grow up to be happy, kind, honest, respectful and polite. 

I tweeted today::
Because these things are vital to me - to my work - to my becoming ......
I am especially interested in the social emotional spiritual aspects in a child's development - how much do parents consider these amongst the many development needs/targets.

This research feeds my thinking and my work.
Here are my TWEETS and research reflections from the the leaders.




According to the Moms’ Hopes & Wishes Study, 
a survey of 3,500 new and soon-to-be moms from seven countries 

Dr. Michael Shore, Vice President and Head of Future Play at Mattel, 
who conducted the research, 
says that these findings were particularly interesting 
because it illustrates how parents view their child’s future. 
"To see [this shift] universally was interesting because 
there’s a lot of talk about 21st century learning and what skills are needed for the future, 
such as the ability to communicate and collaborate, 
and that begs those emotional, social development characteristics,” 
says Shore. 
"So it was interesting to see those traits rise to the top, 
globally. 

It’s almost as if moms are attuned to what kids are going to need to thrive in the new world.”

"If education is important, it begs the hypothesis that moms want their children to be really smart, so it was interesting when the trait that emerged at the top for most countries was happiness."

Still certain countries did tend to value traits related to success more than others. 
Mexico ranked intelligence highest out of all countries surveyed, while tenacity and perseverance was most valued in China. 
In Brazil (95%) and Mexico (97%) moms were also more likely to feel that it was important to push their children to their full potential.

Views of when childhood development actually begins also differed around the world, with moms in Brazil, 
Mexico and China perceiving development to come later in early life whereas in the 
UK, U.S. and France, development was viewed as beginning around the time of birth. 

"When we dove into those perceptions, we think that the view that development begins later is rooted in the view that development is characterized by those abilities children have when they start exploring and learning how the works—so a bit more advanced developmental capability," says Shore. 
"So not until that point do those parents really view development beginning."

Fisher-Price commissioned the study as a means to better understand how first-time moms viewed various aspects of parenthood, specifically: their perception of what development even means and when it begins; perceptions around the parent’s role in the development process; wishes and dreams of parents for their children; and of course how play relates to all of it. 
It builds off the Best Possible Start platform that launched in early 2015 with the Wishes for Baby campaign.

The company will now take those findings and work to apply them to its marketing and product development efforts. 
But more interestingly, the company is sharing the results publicly.

"This is the fist time we’ve done a research project of this magnitude that we’re willing to share with the world. 
We’ve been a little insular with our research. 
We see it as IP and we keep it close to the vest. 
But we want to bring in other thought leaders," says Mancuso. 
"We see this as another way of doing business; 
talking to not only to consumers, 
but great minds in the realm of childhood development."

Shore adds, "The study was designed to create a body of knowledge that could be a catalyst for conversation about how parenting is viewed around the world.”

In fact, the first thing Fisher-Price is doing with this research is starting a social campaign that invites parents to share their opinions on what they hope most for their children with the hashtag #FPHappyFactor. 
The company is also sharing some highlight from its early childhood development event, The Happy Factor Forum, at which the study’s findings were released. 
Then, in the following weeks, Fisher-Price will launch Grow, a parenting app created in conjunction with Shakira’s Barefoot Foundation, which will feature over 2000 developmental tests and a milestone tracker.

And what of play? Shore says that was another area of consensus, with all countries ranking play as one of the most important and natural ways for a child to learn. 
"In all regions, there was this perspective that childhood is an important time and that it’s important to let children be children," says Shore. 
"As a company involved in play, 
it was great to see that universally."






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It can be never Child PORN - it is always Child Abuse = ABUSE


Friday, September 25, 2015

Music for you - 47 minutes of BEATS with Culture MIX






Rugby Union: How the 15-man code tried (and failed) to kill Rugby League

Rugby Union: How the 15-man code tried (and failed) to kill Rugby League


By Dave Hadfield
September 21, 2015 

LEST ANYONE should be labouring under the misconception that recent events in the UAE and Italy are isolated or even unusual, RLW has been asked by readers to nominate its Hall of Shame.

Membership is restricted to countries in which rugby union has tried to stamp out league, but that still gives us far too many to choose from.
So, with apologies to those who have suffered at the hands of sport’s biggest and most active dirty tricks department but have not made the cut, here are the 10 most memorable knives in the back…

FRANCE, 1941
You can’t really look beyond this in the annals of infamy.
The French Rugby Union made common cause with the Vichy collaborators – and through them, Hitler’s Nazis – to close down all league activity and transfer its assets to the FRU.
Not only that, but after the end of the War, they did their best to prevent its reinstatement.

The whole, disgraceful story is brilliantly told in Mike Rylance’s ‘The Forbidden Game’. It explains why some of us still choke on our baguettes when we hear anyone in league express any admiration for the way the French play rugby union. There is a sort of happy ending. A mere ten years after their compulsory absorption, the French won a series in Australia – surely the greatest team achievement in the history of the game.

ITALY, 1964
The Italian Rugby League was founded in 1950 and later that year organised a tour of GB.
They played an international against France the following year and, at their height, had 24 clubs playing Rugby League.
It folded in the 1960s when the Italian Rugby Union threatened all players with life bans.

MOROCCO, 2013
League had already been established in Morocco for 18 years, largely thanks to the energy of Hussain M’Barki.
A national side appeared in the World Sevens, Nines, Emerging Nations World Cup and Mediterranean Cup.
The Moroccan RU could not do a lot to prevent all that, but they drew a line in the sand for the in-coming tour of the Student Rugby League Pioneers. They managed to get a four-match tour reduced to a single match, by locking the league players out of the municipal stadia.


VENICE, 1983
The game in Italy never quite laid down and died and in the early 80s it found an articulate advocate in Mario Majone.
He got Great Britain and France to play in one of the world’s most magical cities in 1982. The next step was meant to be a high-profile international Sevens the following year, but it was cancelled at

short notice, with the city authorities bowing to union pressure to make the pitches unavailable. Two British clubs, Oulton Rangers and Hemel Stags, made the trip regardless and played each other in an exhibition match as part of the annual Pea Festival at Mestre on the mainland.
I achieved the rare feat of playing for both sides, by being free-transferred at half-time.
Not a format for ageing props full of peas.

SERBIA, 1964
Back in 1953, in the days when Greater Yugoslavia was still a viable state, the French brought Rugby League to Serbia.
The visit of a Student side and a Provence Selection for a game in Belgrade stirred enough interest for the establishment of a Serbian League.
The trouble was that in Bosnia, they played rugby union and in 1964, after lobbying from that code, the national sports authorities ordered the Serbs to amalgamate.
That wasn’t the end of it, by any means, but it took Serbian Rugby League almost 40 years to rise again. Today, their domestic game continues to go from strength to strength, with Dorcol winning the Serbian Rugby League Federation Cup for an eleventh consecutive time
last month. It makes you wonder where they could and would be now if they hadn’t been so rudely interrupted.

SOUTH AFRICA
Given the hand-in-hand relationship between the SARU and the apartheid regime, either code of rugby is a hard sell to the majority population of South Africa.
The closest league has ever got to making a breakthrough was in the late 50s and early 60s, starting with England and France playing exhibition matches in 1957 and ending with a tour by Wakefield Trinity in 1962.
The game did itself no good by having two rival leagues (not unlike the USA recently) which made it even harder than it would have been to hold together in the face of implacable union hostility.
I saw at first-hand in the 90s, though, the way they stole ideas and initiative from us.
The tiny, impoverished league set-up would go to places like Alexandra and coach kids. At the end, the union guys would arrive with t-shirts for the press pictures.

WALES, 1895-1995
When it came to Wales, the union authorities adopted a different approach, which amounted to turning a blind eye to ‘shamateurism’.
Everyone knew that Welsh clubs were paying players long before the Northern Union came on the scene.
It was not a case of ‘going north’ from Wales, but of ‘coming north’ from the
West Country.
Any rigorous interpretation of the rules on amateurism would have almost certainly driven the leading Welsh clubs into the waiting arms of the NU.
So, with a nod and a wink, they were given tacit permission to carry on as before — and they did so for very nearly 100 years, until the advent of open professionalism.
For all their posturing to insist that they were occupying the moral high ground, there were plenty of devious deeds in The Valleys.
Players who had crossed the rugby divide were chucked out of clubhouses, scouts from the North were chased out of town — and all this while money from the turnstiles or car parks was going into selected boots.

JAPAN, 1994
With its large pool of players and all its potential sponsors, Japan has been the Promised Land of the Rising Sun for rugby union for decades.
The trouble is that they would be better suited physically to playing league, but that is one thing that the RU has always been determined will not happen.
Rugby League has been played in Japan since 1993.
The barriers it has encountered are typified by the threats of life bans for players who took part in the 1994 Student World Cup.
Japan brought a weakened squad to England for the tournament.

CAMBRIDGE
UNIVERSITY, 1994
Mention of the student game brings us to the cause célèbre that was Ady Spencer.
It created national controversy and led to questions in parliament when the Rugby Union banned him from playing in their Varsity match, because he had played league — as an amateur — for the London Crusaders.
It was an own-goal for the union authorities, exposing their archaic practices to many who had previously been sceptical about whether league had anything to complain about.
The Warrington-born utility back went on to have a very decent professional career with the London Broncos.

UNITED ARAB
EMIRATES, 2015
At last, the Holy Grail! The UAE RU makes the thrilling discovery that you can actually have someone thrown in jail for organising a Rugby League competition.
The president of the rival RL body, Sol Mokdad, found himself incarcerated when the RU alleged that his use of the word ‘rugby’ amounted to fraud. We await further developments on that one, but it shows that 120 years after The Big Split, one side still has an active dirty tricks department. None of it is the fault of lads who just like to play rugby union, although if I were one of them I might have died of embarrassment by now.



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Group Work - Hostel - Teenagers - late night - food and Blob Tree Materials




A YMCA.
People.
So many people.
Beautiful people.
Caring people. Warm.
Welcoming.
Accepting.

It is strange for me as a 18 years Community Leader 
veteran of one YMCA community – 
as I step into another YMCA without Leadership responsibilities. 
Strange to be entering into an existing community 
and stepping onto the moving train of life intertwined and relationships.

"people get ready there's a train a comin' "
sing the Blind Boys of Alabama.
It is strange for me in a new community 
but also fantastic as I practice the strategy of 
listening, learning, lingering.

So I meet new people both staff and residents. 
Also children who were also part of the YMCA mission 
in terms of development experiences. 
Live music ended my first day, in the bar and talking in a climate of trust 
with humans with special needs, 
like me, 
who feel secure in that wondrous environment.

-live-in-wonder-

So I launched myself into a new world 
but now not with a ‘community leader’ hat on. 
I was back on the front line as a Youth Worker – 
Group Worker – Informal Educator …… 
or a better word is:- 
“Lover”.

I started a new style of work. 
Each module of work in context 
with the my several new venues. 
New and different humans. 
New and different starting places

A note slipping under the bedroom doors in this 100+ bed Hostel ……
I post the notes so that each individual receives and reads when alone. 
Better than all receiving their note at the reception area 
and immediately sparking off some wise cracks with others.

This is a note pushed under every door of a Special Needs Hostel:-

YOU ARE A BEAUTIFUL HUMAN PERSON:
Hope from now on I will be running a little group at 
10a.m. and 9.30pm.
The idea is for us, as many who can make it, 
to come and hang out together and discuss things. 
I think we benefit much when we talk together, 
especially when we listen as well as talk.

It is right that God gave us two ears and one mouth 
and that tells us something about communication. 
So we will have an hour or so with each other 
just chilling and chatting. 
I have feelings, passions and opinions. 
I don't have an opinion about everything 
so your view can influence mine.

I am a broken offering to life.

My life I carry around experiences which have damaged. 
At the same time they, the same hurts, are the things 
which have made me grow and develop. 
It is only when we talk together 
that we find out about what is going on inside.

See you soon eh?

Pip Wilson BHP



What do I do with groups of strangers who drift in to meet a stranger – and strangers who are also hostel residents too
Here is something I do …. 
a snapshot noted in detail when it was all over.

A group gathered around a pile of sandwiches.
After the consumption washed down with mugs of tea - 
always quick when breakfast has been missed - 
I kicked the group off from the informal chat 
into a leader led process which they can easily get used to.

I handed out a paper which said:-
‘a child from birth to age five gets 478 negative messages a day.’
"Don't."
"Stop that."
"You little ..........!"

The paper had a list.
I spent very little time with that but moved on quickly to -
I asked everyone if they saw their glass half empty or half full.
I went around the group and everyone commented. 
All gave sincere reflection to the question 
and a large percentage of the eleven present spoke in the negative.

Introducing the session very informally - 
I suggested we look at the issue of 'positives and negatives'.
The next step was a try with something never attempted with this community before.
Everyone was given a slip and asked to write their own name on it 
and into the hat it went. 
Mine too.

The draw resulted in all having a name 
which was not their own. 
My plea then was for each to say something positive 
about that person. 
Even if they had never met before – 
this was a reality for most of us.

It was fantastic. 
Everyone did it. 
Some struggled and had to be helped/encouraged 
by the group members. 
The brother to his sister 
was the slowest response. 
A real struggle.

Also a 'first time' member of the group 
with a total strangers name in his hand. 
He did it. 
It was an affirmation communicated well - 
about her clothing.

He did it.
I felt good to see and hear the words stumble out.
Real.

Then I moved in with some other questions;
1 Do you remember positives or negatives mostly from you life experiences?
2 Do you normally speak mostly positive or negative?
3 Do you think positive or negative?
4 What are the feelings when you get a positive or negative?
They did it.
We did it!

Now we are talking about humans in the group who have met some pretty harsh experiences of;
- being rejected as a child
- seeing a friend stabbed to death
- abuse
- mental health issues
- alcoholism
- drug misuse
- and multiple issues for some.

Not only did they say that the negatives in their lives have an impact now, 
they said what they were - owned them 
and not pretending and hiding behind a mask.

Faces stilled.
(You know, in your own experience, 
how sometimes our skin becomes drawn and passive. 
It is because the interior human is being disturbed. 
In this case also comforted at the same time.

Disturbed through the recall of life experiences.

Comforted by the support of the group - 
the realisation that they are not alone - 
and the first time facing of reality as it was, 
and maybe still is.
It was fantastic and powerful.

The session moved to close with 
a reaffirming of the objective which had been floated at the start.
1 Thinking and practising being positive.
2 Considering our reality in our daily lives. What do we do by habit?
3 Choosing to go down the positive route - a strategy for a new life.

I floated, lastly - these four life positions - soul positions - psychological positions;
1 I am not ok ................ you are not ok
2 I am not ok ................ you are ok
3 I am ok ...................... you are not ok
4 I'm ok ........................ you're ok

..... and they said which they were .....
because they had become aware of themselves …….
......... and to tell it .....
'how they were'
was important .

Here is a little more detail of these life positions, 
attitudes towards self and another.
I am not ok ...... you are not ok
I am not ok........you are ok
I am ok..............you are not ok
I am ok..............you are ok

1 The first is not feeling good about self or others
2 The second is not feeling good about self, or good about valuing self
and , at the same time disliking others for the 'smart' we see and
the qualities we see in them.
3 The third is feeling that I have something special and the others
are less, = selfishness
4 The fourth is .......I am a beautiful human person (bhp),
you are bhp, all different, 
all unique, ......ONE

...... do you remember as a child …… 
or have seen it happen in a crowded superstore 
or shopping centre?

A small child reaches out for the big person hand and it is not there ….
.... panic …
.. a fear of being lost forever …
.. alone …
.. no hand - 
no security - 
panic ........

Disorder I guess - means little order, 
in-balance due to a loss of certainty, 
a loss of security. 
We all have small snatches of disorder 
when we step off the gym jogger 
and the floor does not move - 
or we step out of a car after a long drive 
and find the scenery is not moving at 
80 mph any more.

Some people suffer from a disorder 
which is a disability or an illness.
The mind of a child must be stretched 
when the big person hand is not there ....

When I have to design and run a session with certain objectives - 
it usually includes a time of fun or interaction which I call a starter.

One method I use amongst other things is non threatening touch. 
A beautiful way is to have all present to hold out to another a unique finger tip - 
unique finger print pressed against another. 
Great to see seven thousand people doing this 
with both hands outstretched at the
Greenbelt Festival 
YMCA European Prague Festival - and more. 
Wonder-full 
Wondrous
in a small group. 
The largest ever 'group' was thirty thousand. 
A network of human touch ......

Something wondrous is to reach out a hand 
in the dark and know that God 
the big person in our life is waiting 
with arm outstretched and hand open ready ….




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