Mapping Your World
About ten years ago the Library of Congress in the USA bought a map of the world dated 1507 for $10 million. This map is significant because it is the earliest known map that bears the name ‘America’ on it. The map is dated between the “discovery” of the Americas, from a western perspective, by Columbus in 1492 and the assertion of the heliocentric model for what we now call the solar system by Nicolaus Copernicus in 1543. Put yourself back into those times for a moment. Despite Greek mathematicians asserting that the Earth was indeed a sphere as far back as 300 BCE it was still widely believed by educated people of the 16th Century that the planet was flat and Continue Reading »
Now You Tell Me
Welcome to this moment it is yours always has been and always will be, enjoy.
There is a Zen teaching tale, a metaphor if you like. I will summarise it for you shortly, it has traced itself across my consciousness from time to time. Sometimes I have found it silly, sometimes I have found it annoying, sometimes it has sat in my mind teasing me for meaning. Now I understand it, today its many layers lie exposed before me.
There was a Zen Master who was walking one day along a cliff edge enjoying the view. Suddenly Continue Reading »
Restoring The Faith
So the pope resigns today, the first time that such a thing has happened for six hundred years. A significant event for Catholics but one that will doubtless pass most of us by fairly well unnoticed. Christianity has been on the decline for many years in Europe, and there are many factors causing this, maybe the new pope will seek to reverse this trend and restore faith to his lost flock. I was raised as a Christian, though not a Catholic, and faith was often talked about as necessary and desirable. Those people who had a strong faith were Continue Reading »
Everything Is Connected
I saw a Reiki therapist friend of mine recently who told me a story about a holiday she had with her family in Ibiza. One evening she attended an event with her family, there was a meal, some entertainment and a competition. As soon as she was given the short question paper for the competition she knew she was going to win. She answered the four questions and told her husband that she was going to win. Continue Reading »
Love is…..
There are many things we as humans with grapple throughout our lives; the success that we can enjoy in our careers; the satisfaction of a job well done; being creative or innovative; improving our financial position; improving our health; or developing our skills and abilities. One of the things that seems to pervade all of our journeys is Continue Reading »
Lucky Thirteen
Many of you may well be setting up goals, plans, outcomes or even resolutions for the year ahead. You can do this at any time of year, and you should, nevertheless now is as good a time as any to do this. So how are you going to make 2013 a lucky year for you?
So how superstitious are you? When you were little did you ever try to avoid walking on the cracks in the pavement, do you avoid black cats, passing other people on the stairs, or walking under ladders; do you have a lucky shirt or pair of shoes and how many of you have lucky or unlucky numbers? If you suffer from Triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13) then this year Continue Reading »
Skyfall
Chicken Licken sat under an oak tree thinking about all of what he needed to do before Christmas, there was so much and there seemed to be so little time. Chicken Licken felt quite stressed. Suddenly out of nowhere an acorn fell on Chicken Licken’s head “Oh my, oh mercy me what on earth could that be?” thought Chicken Licken. Something falling from the sky onto his head, Chicken Licken ran one of his thought processes outside of his conscious awareness and came up with the obvious inescapable truth “The sky is falling in! On no oh disaster the sky is falling in!” Some of Chicken Licken’s thought programmes didn’t run very well, but he didn’t know that, consciously. The thought of the sky falling Continue Reading »
Education, Education, Education
A report was published this week that says that the UK’s education system ranks as 6th in the World. In Europe only Finland, which was ranked number 1, was higher. One of the biggest factors that the report found for high standards in education was society’s attitude towards education. Finland and South Korea, ranked number 2, both shared a social belief in the importance of education and its “underlying moral purpose”. Parents who highly valued education and who had high expectations from the education system contributed towards this concept of societal belief. I think that most people Continue Reading »
Truth or Consequences
There is a small town in New Mexico USA called Truth or Consequences, it use to be called Hot Springs but changed its name to match that of a popular 1950s radio show called Truth or Consequences. The show was not unlike “Truth or Dare” that you may have played as a teenager, just maybe not as personal.
The “Truth” is an interesting concept, people often seek Continue Reading »
Mirror Mirror
There is a story I once heard about Sigmund Freud giving a lecture to students at a university about addiction. Throughout the whole lecture Freud stood smoking a cigar, which was pointed out to him as a little bit odd by one of his students considering the lecture was about addiction. If someone else cuts you up on the road do you curse and swear at them or do you realise Continue Reading »