Monthly Archives: December 2011

How to Succeed at Absolutely Everything

by CreatingReciprocity

Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.
– Thomas A. Edison

He worked by day, And toiled by night.

He gave up play and some delight.

Dry books he read, New things to learn.

And forged ahead, Success to earn.

He plodded on with Faith and pluck,

And when he won, Men called it LUCK!


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Out of the Mouths of Babes…

by CreatingReciprocity

In January 2010, after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, a group of children aged between 8 and 23 who live in the slums in Nairobi, Kenya, produced a song to raise funds and give hope to their counterparts in Haiti.

Here is the song – the lyrics are printed below the video and are well worth a read.  Enjoy!

Chico
children of Haiti
together as one
lets unite, lets make a song
doesn’t matter where you’re from
clap for your life and sing along

Chorus
peace love unity power

is the key that we need in life la la la la life

clap clap clap clap for your life

peace love unity power

is the key that we need in life la la la la life

clap clap clap clap for your life

Mary
there’s no limit to how far we can go
a long journey starts with one step
i cant go wrong if i do my best
Doesn’t matter how far you’re from
even beautiful roses grow in the slum
lets share the struggle
lift our heads above the rubble
no more heart aches, no room for doubt
well make it through the earthquakes floods and droughts
no matter how long it takes
lets move now no time to waste

Oyugy
Hard work pays so lets use our talents
more peace in the streets no more violence
we can move mountains
we can fly
and if we don’t give up we will survive
and make the difference

Chorus

peace love unity power

is the key that we need in life la la la la life

clap clap clap clap for your life

peace love unity power

is the key that we need in life la la la la life

clap clap clap clap for your life

Walter
The pain will go, the wounds will heal
its not a dream its very real
i know we will overcome
what is done is done
so let it be
from the smallest seed can grow the biggest tree
and the ones to make that change are you and me
wash the dust from your eyes to see images of love
caring, sharing and joy
its a must we get food, clothing and shelter for every girl and boy
lets play lets grow/lets play lets grow

Chorus

peace love unity power

is the key that we need in life la la la la life

clap clap clap clap for your life

peace love unity power

is the key that we need in life la la la la life

clap clap clap clap for your life

Fode
Want to breath in a world where the air is clean
anything is possible if we work as a team
because it takes a village to raise a child
don’t let the hard times take away your smile
coz your a shinning star just believe i you’re self

Okusi
there comes a time when we all need help
there’s no shame in that
lets play our part
after the tears comes laughter
no need to fear lets open up a new chapter
A better way to live life

Oscar
so we can build stronger foundations
we can find hope even in the worst situation
if we stay strong
must hold on
even when you’ve lost you’re family and home
their people who care you’re not alone/ you’re not alone

Chorus

peace love unity power

is the key that we need in life la la la la life

clap clap clap clap for your life

peace love unity power

is the key that we need in life la la la la life

clap clap clap clap for your life

Anto
better education and health care
the right information so we can all be aware
and be better prepared
so keep your head up/keep your head up/ keep your head up

Chorus

peace love unity power

is the key that we need in life la la la la life

clap clap clap clap for your life

peace love unity power

is the key that we need in life la la la la life

clap clap clap clap for your life

Chichi
message to the world
please don’t forget them
for now and in the future
don’t let them down
help them out
to build a new life

© Wafalme

_______________________________________________

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Learning to Live Together

by CreatingReciprocity

Reciprocity – the practice of exchanging things with others for mutual benefit – is widely recognised as an important feature of successful co-operation but how does reciprocity between ordinary people actually work?

Mary hits Joan.  Joan is angry so she hits Mary back – repaying her in kind.

An eye for an eye.

Tit for tat.

Revenge.

Justice.

Positive and negative, it’s a if there is a hidden balance that must constantly be maintained.  Impulses like revenge solve nothing of course but this striving for reciprocity appears to be deeply rooted within us. It’s naturally occurring and is neither good nor bad in itself – only in its application.

If we look at our instincts as tools to help us survive and develop, rather than tie ourselves up in knots either suppressing or exalting these naturally occurring impulses, then maybe it might be easier to use them properly.

Instincts are simultaneously wonderful and problematic – like any tool. Even a humble hammer is all about application – it is enormously useful and – literally – constructive, if you want to hang a picture or build a cabinet or a wall but in other circumstances it can also be used to destroy or kill.

The solution is not to get rid of hammers but make sure we use them properly.  Just like our instincts.

Shout it Out

by CreatingReciprocity

Two psychologists, Michael McCollough of Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas, and Robert Emmons of the University of California at Davis, conducted an experiment where they split several hundred people into three different groups and then asked them all to keep diaries.

The first group was told to record all events – good and bad.

The second group was told to record only their unpleasant experiences.

The third group was asked to make a daily list of the things for which they were grateful.

At the end of the study the third group – the grateful group – was found to be more alert, enthusiastic, determined, optimistic and energetic.  They also had lower levels of stress and depression, were more likely to help others, took more exercise (!) and made more progress towards attaining personal goals.   In general those who practice gratitude were also found to be more creative, to recover faster from problems, have a stronger immune system and better relationships. Overall, it seems that practicing gratitude can increase our happiness levels by around 25%.

The authors of the study point out that saying we are grateful doesn’t mean we ignore our problems, just that alongside facing our problems we count our blessings.

So, on reflection, for what – or who – are you grateful today?

Watch a great soulpancake video here – Shout Out

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Imagination

by CreatingReciprocity

To see things in the seed, that is genius. Lao-Tzu

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Shine On

by CreatingReciprocity

I wish I could show you when you are lonely or in darkness the astonishing light of your own being.  (Hafíz of Persia)


Who Am I? (And Who Are You?)

by CreatingReciprocity

Antonio Damasio is a neuroscientist who has spent his life researching the functioning of the brain.  His research has led him to offer a number of theories on how neurobiology influences our thoughts, decisions, feelings and actions.

His latest work is centred on our sense of self – that inexplicable feeling we all experience of having a distinct self.  Sometimes this self is clouded, sometimes confused but there is always, within every human being, a strong consciousness of self.

Here he speaks about some of his theories surrounding this fascinating subject –

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Recommended Reading

by CreatingReciprocity

The very wonderful Worrywart’s Guide To… has nominated me for a Versatile Blogger award –

Pretty snazzy and much appreciated.  I have thought a bit about this practice of passing on blogging awards and concluded that it is a useful network-creating practice as it provides opportunities for people to connect with blogs they might otherwise never find.

That’s how it works for me, anyway. So, the real point of this is for anyone reading to check out blogs that they’ve never read before.  These blogs are all pretty different and I’d be sure that herein there’s something to suit everyone – so have a look.

The Versatile Blogger Award carries with it some responsibilities –

1. In a post on your, blog, nominate 15 fellow bloggers for The Versatile Blogger Award.

Here are the 15 blogs I’d like to nominate for the Versatile Blogger – I would have included others but many of my favourite blogs are already the favourite blogs of others and therefore replete with awards – including this one.

These are all great blogs and if you’ve never read them before then read and enjoy –

Today I Think…

The Incredible Lightness of Seeing

Spirit Lights the Way

Create The World You Want

The Living Room

Judah’s Blanket

Purpose and Dream

Viewfromtheside’s Blog

Pocket Perspectives

Radical Amazement

manicplanet

Joanna Castle Miller

Creativeconflictwisom’s Blog

A Tangled Tree

Make Wealth History

2. In the same post, add the Versatile Blogger Award.

See above

3. In the same post, thank the blogger who nominated you in a post with a link back to their blog.

Thank you Worrywart – I look forward to enjoying your future posts as much as the ones I have already read – Worrywart’s Guide To…

4. In the same post, share 7 completely random pieces of information about yourself.

7 random pieces of information about me:

1) I spent a good portion of my childhood terrified that the Virgin Mary would appear to me – from what I could tell she seemed to like to appear to little girls (I was one) and, as the centre of the universe, I was clearly a candidate.

In order to maintain my apparition-free status I used to make sure I was never alone for very long.  My investigations had led me to conclude that apparitions tended not to happen to little girls in crowds.

(I succeeded btw – NAD – No Apparitions Detected)

2) I am a very bad traveller and sometimes immune to anti-nausea medication (homeopathic, allopathic – who knows even psychopathic) this means I have puked in all sorts of places – car parks, ferry landings, motorway emergency areas, out car windows…ok I’ll stop now.

Though this is not personal to me (the travel sickness I mean) I’d like to take this opportunity to complain.  What is travel sickness about? Some of us seem to have brains that go – ‘Oh I’m stationary – no, no I’m moving – hold on – no I’m stationary – no moving – which is it –  Moving?  Stationary?  I don’t know so I’ll just vomit…”

Seriously? That’s the best the marvel that is the human brain can come up with? I’m struggling to find the adaptive (or social) advantage in this reaction.  Design flaw perhaps?

3) I was born in the US

4) I grew up in Ireland

5) I take pictures of my feet

6) I love halva

7) And asparagus

(Any profilers reading this?)

5. In the same post, include this set of rules.

Voilà – (is this a meta section?)

1. In a post on your, blog, nominate 15 fellow bloggers for The Versatile Blogger Award.

2. In the same post, Add the Versatile Blogger Award.

3. In the same post, thank the blogger who nominated you in a post with a link back to their blog.

4. In the same post, share 7 completely random pieces of information about yourself.

5. In the same post, include this set of rules.

6. Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination by posting a comment on each of their blogs.

6. Inform each nominated blogger of their nomination by posting a comment on each of their blogs.

I will do that.  Honest.

Thanks again.

Peace on Earth – Goodwill to Girls

by CreatingReciprocity

Rape is used to destroy not just individuals but entire communities. Rape is so commonly used as a weapon that Major General Patrick Cammaert, a former UN force commander said –

“It has probably become more dangerous to be a woman than a soldier in armed conflict.”

In 2008 the UN declared rape, ‘ a weapon of war’.  In the resolution, the UN Security Council noted that,

“…women and girls are particularly targeted by the use of sexual violence, including as a tactic of war to humiliate, dominate, instil fear in, disperse and/or forcibly relocate civilian members of a community or ethnic group.”

Rape is a heinous crime, acknowledged as torture by the United Nations and yet apart from the physical, emotional and psychological scars that rape inflicts, there is another source of pain for rape victims – social exclusion.  In many countries the shame experienced by the victims after rape is as traumatic as the incident itself.  Many women kill themselves as it is seen as the only way to restore honour to their families.

How can this be true?

Surely the perpetrators of heinous crimes are the ones who should be ashamed?

And who are the people who exclude or look down on these victims?

Do these excluders and condemners include women?

If so – why?

What is it about rape that makes the victims ashamed and not the perpetrators?

When will men – and women – begin to speak out against this violation?

What sort of social conceptual framework exists to support this victimisation of victims?

If we could find it could we dismantle it?

All thoughts appreciated.

_______________________________________________

(1) http://www.ohchr.org/en/newsevents/pages/rapeweaponwar.aspx

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Peace on Earth – War Children

by CreatingReciprocity

Emmanuel Jal was born in Southern Sudan c. 1980. By the time he was seven, his father had left to fight with the Sudanese People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) and his mother had been murdered by government soldiers.

After that he was recruited by the SPLA and trained as a soldier.  For five years he fought with the army, but as the fighting became unbearable Jal and some of the other children ran away.

They wandered for three months, many of them dying on the journey until they reached the town of Waat.  Emma McCune, a British aid worker who was married to a senior SPLA commandant, insisted that at 11, Jal was too young to be a soldier and adopted him and smuggled him to Kenya. There Emmanuel went to school and even though McCune died in a road accident, her friends continued to help him.

Jal began singing to ease the pain of what he had experienced, he also began to work at raising money for street children in Kenya and his first single, “All We Need is Jesus” was a hit in Kenya and received airplay in the UK.

Jal tries to unite young people through his music – he believes that music can help overcome ethnic and religious divisions.  His first album – Gua – is a mix of Arabic, English, Swahili, Dinka and Nuer.  The title – Gua – is a symbol of the unity for which he is striving as it means ‘good’ in Nuer and ‘power’ in Sudanese Arabic.

His second album, Ceasefire, is a collaboration with the well known Sudanese Muslim musician Abd El Gadir Salim.  The collaboration between Jal and Salim demonstrates their vision of unity.  On the album they emphasize their musical differences as a symbol of co-existence.

Jal dedicates his life to the wellbeing of children, believing that music is a vehicle for uplifting the spirit and surviving tragedy.  The commonest theme of his songs is the campaign for peace – particularly in his native Sudan – and his condemnation of using children as soldiers.

A documentary about Emmanuel Jal called War Child was made in 2008 by C. Karim Chrobog. It made its international debut at the Berlin Film Festival and its North American debut at the Tribeca Film Festival, where it won the Cadillac Audience Award. An autobiography under the same name was released in 2009.

Jal’s charity, Gua Africa, builds schools and tries to help children and Sudanese war survivors.

Those of us who are lucky enough to live in relative peace should never underestimate the suffering caused by war or give up working to eliminate it.

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