The question

Someone close to me recently ask me “with all these questions I ask, does the answers I get change my mind” well ultimately yes, but before forming an opinion I like to hear many points of view and with the comes better understanding both of the question and the answer.

You see it’s not just the answer that’s important but the question too, the right question can give you the right answer however I’m getting ahead of myself.
When asking a question I keep in mind that I don’t know the other person's point of view and remain open to what they have to say while humming “counting blue cars” in the back of my mind so that I remind myself to be open and not stop them too quickly… after all, I have my option of the world too.

Why am I humming “counting blue cars” I can all most hear you say it from here… well really the answer is simple like most things it has a meaning to each person and to me the line in the lyrics “Tell me all your thoughts on god” acts as a reminder that we all have a point of view, I also find the view that god could be a woman a refreshing point of view since so many religions seem to have it as a man.

"Counting Blue Cars" by Dishwalla
Must of been mid afternoon
I could tell by how far the child's shadow stretched out and
He walked with a purpose
In his sneakers, down the street
He had, many questions
Like children often do
He said,
Tell me all your thoughts on God
Tell me am I very far?

Must of been late afternoon
On our way, the sun broke free of the clouds
We count only blue cars
Skip the cracks, in the street
And ask many questions
Like children often do
We said,
Tell me all your thoughts on God
'Cause I would really like to meet her.
And ask her why we're who we are.
Tell me all your thoughts on God,
Cause I am on my way to see her.
So tell me am I very far -
Am I very far now?

It's getting cold picked up the pace
How our shoes make hard noises in this place
Our clothes are stained
We pass many, cross-eyed people
And ask many questions
Like children often do

Tell me all your thoughts on God
'Cause I would really like to meet her.
And ask her why we're who we are.
Tell me all your thoughts on God?
'Cause I am on my way to see her.
So tell me am I very far?
Am I very far now
Am I very far now
Am I very far now

Art

Art means something different to everyone, from music and paintings to sculpting and play’s

But the general idea of it is to express and idea or feeling, sometimes to go as far as inspire a feeling. Yet in most art it is merely mimicking reality, so the question I ask is why do we go to a museum looking for beauty and emotion when clearly it is all around us, artist have proven this to us time and time again in their work.

So try to see the beauty in the world around you and take the time to view it, this planet is a truly wonderful place so take the time to see it, and find the beauty in it.

Life is out there?

One of the questions that people often ask is “are we alone?” Is there intelligent life out there in space?

I’m just going to say YES because the odds are that there is.

To date more than 50 billion galaxies been found so far and that’s just the ones we can see from here, each one of those has more than 5 million planets capable of supporting the kind of life we know, that’s not even counting other kinds of life.

However, this shouldn’t worry you since in the last 70 years of space race we are no closer to leaving our solar system than we were back at the start.

So to cut a long story short it’s unlikely this will change your life in some big way, as unless they come to us we sure as hell aren’t getting to them anytime soon.

Healthy living

It seems that something always dies in order for us to live, here is an example does a living plant have any less rights then a living animal, it feels pain and it’s a living so with this in mind is being a vegetarian really any better than being a carnivore.

Answer no, however I’m not going to get into the deep questions about taking a life to continue ours, instead I’d like to talk about the balance between meat and vegetables in the human diet.
After spending sometime looking into the life style around the world I see a common paten of health and life length, natural food meaning home cooked without artificial flavoring or sweeteners is healthier.

Fat is not bad?
Believe it or not your body can handle natural fatty foods without a problem it’s the pure sugar you find in drinks and sweets that it can’t. However the full fat milk and fat on fresh lamb or pork is not bad for you.

Balance
It’s important not too over do any one thing as everything can be bad for you in excise, the best balance of food is 30% meat to 70% vegetables this means that every meet meal should have vegetables with it and that some days you have meals that don’t have meat at all.

Pancakes
Are pancakes unhealthy no they are not, the things you place on them such as maple syrup and ice cream and other high sugar enriched food.
Salads are not bad for you but after you put all the toppings on them they are just as bad because the level of flavorings and sugar in that source is bad, not all are and most of the home made ones are in fact very good.

what should eat?
Answer anything you like but if you want to live long and healthy think of making the meal yourself and not just buying it, hell going to a good restaurant and not a fast food store is better than nothing, yes that’s right just changing where you eat could help you.
And lastly when to eat… don’t eat late eating before bed is the quickest way to put some extra kilos on as your body is not using it right away it will convert it to fat, another good tip have a short walk or tidy the house after eating as this will help to metabolize the food, obviously don’t overdo it.

Next step

Commitment ? what is it about commitment that strikes such fear into peoples hearts ?

Just because I want to take the next step it doesn't mean I want to climb all the stairs.

All of the fears people encountered on this subject come from one simple and basic place, fear of change... fear of not knowing what will happen next.

But there is a better way to look at this... think of the excitement it brings, after all there is no fun in a surprise if you know what it is... so treat it like a surprise birthday and go into it with a smile and happy heart and there will be cake and gifts waiting for you at the end of it.

You know want I mean ?

Since all things are a matter of perspective and built into any form of perspective must be a common experiences in order to understand the deep structure of that meaning.
However since we all have unique lives almost 99.9% of us will never understand those around us fully because we lack the root experience needed to under the deep structure of that persons mind.

However in this world there are two way over come this... first is an easy, if you're one of the few empathic you can feel the intent of the person and you don't need to know the deep structure to understand them... the second is the more common one and this is to tell stories of our lives... this is the most commonly use one to build common understanding between people.

Story telling for want of a better expression is the way most of us explain our points of view, however for this to work we need to tell all the stories good and bad and this is where most of us fail, as we don't want to admit our failings.

Serious game

Its strange to me how we all ways seem to end up trying to create rules for things, the most recent was for computer games designers, I recently read how not enough of them have degrees in physics.

But let’s think about this for a moment, what do they need it for they are trying to portray fantasy not reality so who cares if in their virtual world doesn’t resemble the real one that’s why it’s call fantasy, after all you don’t turn to a fantasy book writer and say I’m sorry you can write about dragons because it doesn’t resemble reality.

I’m sure the next thing we’ll hear is we don’t know enough about the history of computer games and they will start teaching that as well.

I stop to ask the question where is the fun gone, I think it is no wonder people in our world are becoming stressed and unhappy when you need a education to do what we used to drop out and have fun to do, I think everything is being taken too seriously and the fun is being lost.

It wasn’t that long ago they were telling us computer games are a waste of our time yet now they are telling us how to do it?

It’s amazing how you need qualifications in everything except in the once place, and those are the people that run things. Maybe they should play civilization for awhile before taking jobs in government.

I can see if these rule for everything are not stopped won’t be long before you need a sports history lesson and theory before you can go for a run, now this might seem extreme but think about how many thing now need some paper qualification.

And for those of you who are employers I ask you do these degrees help or are you training new staff just as much as before only now they think they know better because they have a piece of paper telling them they know it already.

Bring bad the apprenticeships I say where you told someone that had the willingness to learn a skill and show them how it’s done. After all even Jesus led by example.
Now I’ve had my say have a good day.

Time enough

We often say not enough time, no time now, sometime later, but in the real world the reality is that time isn't limited and there for can't run out.

So what we really mean is that we just don't want to spend time with you now or we are busy in some other way.

Why are we not more honest and say things like let me finish this and I'll be able to talk to you.

But by far the most worrying is who we often say these things to, its almost always family and loved ones, the very people that we should spend the most time with.

So I ask you to think about this and take a moment to be with your family today.

Is education limiting us

Let us consider for a moment the great inventors and figures in history; for instance Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison, Abraham Lincoln, Albert Einstein, William Shakespeare to name but a few. All of them had considerably less education than the average student today yet they all left great marks in history with their works. (Edison boasted a whole three months of education)

The current population is more than three times larger than it was when these men where alive but we are not progressing at more than three times the level they where. In fact we are not even keeping up with the inventions of their times.

I offer you this as a possibility, being told every thing as a cold hard fact and that there is only the one answer stops people from thinking. Students should be asked to 'imagine' that there is another answer/point of view and to explore that possibility however remote or daft. This is both a more rewarding and expansive way of teaching and gets students into the habit of questioning everything and, horror of horrors, looking at history and facts from a different perspective. This can only be to the good. Only enquiring minds invent.

By limiting the imagination of the growing youth of today we have reduced our speed of invention. Bring back 'day dreaming' and mediation, guided imagery and story telling. These promote free thought. Presenting the world as a place of scientific fact with all knowledge substantiated is a dry and meaningless pursuit. Set free the imagination and let their spirits sore.

Science fiction vs. science fact

There are two things I'd like to bring to the table, the chicken and egg of science, and the view of science.

The chicken and egg of science is just like the old question, which one came first? Sadly I'm not going to answer that; but the same problem exists in science where science-fiction becomes science fact over time so who is in the driving seat? Well lots of science-fiction becomes science fact when authors who use their imagination and take science a few steps further along the path of discovery thereby provoking scientists to develop the technology to turn fiction into fact. Without the underlying theory of science the authors would not have, in most cases, have thought of their ideas in the first place.This is why I call it the chicken and egg of science.

I was going to call the next part the facts of science but it became the views of science for a reason.

You see science facts are really just points of view, a 'working hypothesis' that a scientist fits into the current facts, but as we explorer the facts they are rewritten. So, to call it a science fact is really a fallacy; it is more accurate to call it a view point from which to develop a strand of enquiry in the laboratory. New knowledge brings new facts. Without knowing everything in the universe we can never know that all the facts. Even Einstein's work is now under question. He also stated that you have to first imagine then go about proving or disproving any new theory.

Lost

I have observed over the past few year more people around me say that they are unhappy with their life, and when I ask them what do you need to make you happy they don't know.

Maybe what is making people so unhappy is not knowing what makes you happy any more, there are two ways that I can look at this first is that you have forgotten what you want from life.

For most of us a simple life with a family and peaceful existence is all we really desire and everything else just serves to get in the way of that.

The other way to look at it is the people are becoming lost because the world we live in tells you the exact opposite to what you need. The world tells you "you must have good education so that you can have good job" this fly's in the face of facts that most self made millionaires had little or no education and the same goes for historical figures.

Second point why do we need all this money ? other than to feed out selves i can't find one reason to work, and to be honest maybe the work i should be doing is in my back garden growing that well needed food.

Bad feeling

Why when we begin to enjoy ourselves do we always stop and start to look around for bad things.

Well apart from the fact that this is when something bad always happens in the moves the other reason seems to be that somewhere deep in the human mind we know that if we are enjoying ourselves something must be coming to get us….
Frankly this is only as true as you want it to be... and if you start to look for bad things I'm sure you'll find them.

However this feeling is not without a reason, the truth is that this feeling is like the one you have when you leave home and start thinking did I leave the windows open? is there as a reminder to you that you've over looked something, so if you have this feeling stop and review what is happening around you.

This is like a warning that you need to do something after this you can continue, if you choice to do nothing the problem will become larger until it does effect you in more ways than one.

So the lesson you must learn is to know where your feeling comes from and find the best way to deal with this.

River

Life flows like a river, like all rivers we must all pass over some rough stones to make them smooth.

Remember that you do not become tangled on the rock you simply pass over it, on your way to the ocean.

We come from the ocean of life, we are gathered up by the sun and fall from the sky, passing slowly over the plants and into the river, travelling far over the land to our home once more taking with us inner richness as we collect. The minerals we collect on our way is so that life in the ocean may continue. Your path is long and rich with minerals that you will take back with you. Although there are many every drop is important.

Together we can move the land and sculpt mountains.

Changing yourself

I will be honest and give you the words that are true about change.

You’ll find that people do not change you. They talk to you and tell you their view; change comes from within you… you have what you need within you to be what you want. Finding the place to make the change in yourself is all you need to achieve it.

Peace comes from within not from without.

Natural Resources

One of the greatest natural resource is inspiration; it runs deep within us all and all it needs is but a thought to tap its power.

Most often this comes in the form of a muse, one person that taps your inspiration by bringing you great satisfaction and glee, this give you the opportunity to explore the inner light and peace in your soul.

When this person comes along you will understand what freedom of thought really is as you find ideas flowing to you like a mounting stream.

Answer is

I like to start the day with a mellow thought. Today's one is questions, we all have them and we all feel the need to ask them... but if you know the answer why ask ?

Well the answer is simple no mater how many time you hear some answers you just want to hear it again, these example like when someone tells you "your great" or "your beautiful" these are things we almost never get bored of hearing.
However isn't it also great sometime that you want to ask the really important questions and the answer you already know, and its the answer you wanted this makes you feel good to know that your right.

So here is my thought for the day... Ask questions you know the answers too and you'll get the answer you want.

Power of thought

Positive thought can change the shape of ice crystals what can it do to the world over all if we are all more positive for just one day, remember that ice might not be the only thing you can change with just a nice thought, it has been proven we meet some of our best friends when one of you was in a positive mood.

More than half of couples meet when one or more of them was in a good mood and generally we are all much happier in the environment when others around us are happy too.

So next time you are walking out the door to face the day hold a happy thought and you never know what good might happen to you that day.

Happy day don't worry

A day any day is a blessing if you are fit and well. however a far better blessing is to be happy.

It has always been better to be happy then to be rich, for being happy is the best kind of richness you can ever have. With this in mind I hope that you set out today to spread your inner peace to those around you and help make the world a more present place to live.

And remember do not worry in this world for worrying is as affective as trying to put out a fire with petrol on a hot summers day, simply react and leave the worrying for someone with nothing better to do.

No new ideas

What if there are no new ideas in the world, and all ideas come from a pool of already defined thoughts.

Sounds very strange doesn’t it, however it’s not as unlikely as it sounds, Leonardo da Vinci's between the 14^th and 15^th century had many ideas that would not be realized for another four century’s

Many inverters also fine themselves up against others sometime as far way as the other side of the global inventing a nearly identical device at the same time, this can’t be just chance can it?

If you take into account that many people have ideas that they never act on them so how many have really got the idea to develop the next big thing in our century.

Maybe everything we ever will have and ever can have has already been thought of and we are just placing our hands in to the hat of idea and pulling one out.

Can’t follow the rules of faith

Street corners, Knocking on the door and even at the bus stops they pester us!!! New age or old they bombard us with their views.

Why is it that everyone seems so instant that their way is the right way? I am of course talking about preachers, no matter where you go on the planet they are there waiting to catch you, now if you read carefully you will find some common elements in all faiths and one of them is to respect other faiths, something that they don’t seem to be able to do as the moment I tell them I’m an atheist they treat me in one of two ways you ether a heathen or must be converted right way but personally I’ve found that being agnostic has never hurt anyone.

In fact in history there are only two groups that have never started a war atheists and Buddhists so personally I’m happy to say my belief never hurt anyone, and I don’t spend my spare time converting others.

So just for once can they please follow their own guide lines and not tell us how great their faith is and just let us be.

Happiness and money

Happiness is defined by misery
To know what true happiness is you have to first have to have been unhappy, one cannot exist without the other as its needed to define it.

Maybe this is why the biggest smile can be found on those that have had awful times before as they know how bad it could be so everything for them is better.

Most of us don’t know what it’s like to live in a life of worry knowing that you’re live can be changed in a second, on the contrast we have those that just complain we are not happy with our cars oh I don’t have a 72in TV and lots of money and life’s not the best… do you really need to have the best of everything to make you happy?

Well after asking many joyful people the answer is no all you need to be happy is love and hope, belief in a future with your loved ones. Sorry but all the things like TV’s Cars clothes even new houses are just quick fixes like eating chocolate makes you feel better for a while and it’s not long before you’re looking for the next quick fix.

If you want to really be happy get some good friends, a man or woman that loves you the way you want to be loved.

You’ll find that the time you spend watching TV is better spent talking to people you like and love, taking public transport lets you see, meet and help more people.
And lastly take up mediation if you can, see the world thought blissful eyes.

Act of nature Vs Acts of man

When something bad happens with weather or other unforeseen event we call it an act of god! but is that fair on god (personal I don't believe in god) but he does seem to get allot of bad press so for once I'll ask a question on his behalf if man can cause changes in the environment can we really blame god for this...

A strange thought crossed my mind the other day, global warming is a very popular subject at the moment but the thing that crossed my mind is they say that we are changing the environment if that is true can we blame god for freak weather?

Is it not also possible that we created this weather patten and if so would we ever admit to it knowing what that would mean to both insurance companies that its not an act of god and to us as a global people would have to say that OK maybe that tornado that ripped my house apart is just something I should expect for driving a car that has low fuel economy, or live with the fact that this means we might have kill all those around us by our actions, as it just as dangers as walking down the street and firing a gun with a blindfold on, I might hit no one or I might kill every one on the street you just can be sure.

So I looked up what an act of god is; Act of God or act of nature is a legal term for events outside of human control, such as sudden floods or other natural disasters, for which no one can be held responsible. This does not protect those who put others in danger of acts of God through negligence, such as an adult who instructs a group of children to stand under a tree to escape a lightning storm.

So if we can say that global warming can change a class one tornado into a class five or can be held responsible for sudden rain fall are we liable ?

Some weekend thoughts

All our desires come from what’s within mankind’s hearts and although I cannot speak for others I know what’s in mine, do you know what's in yours.

The soul is like music unique to each of us, its flows in us like the river back to the sea on its path of enlightenment before returning home.

Envy is laziness

Envy is a state of mind that I have offend found hard to understand mostly because I’ve never felt it.

To envy is something you do not have however someone else has... but in most if not all case the thing that people are envying is something they can have too just they find it easy to sit there and talk about it, but they never really do anything about it.

It’s a form of laziness really I want to talk about how bad off I am but I don't want to do anything about it.

But to be fair to these people some of them really don't know where to start to get what they want.

The worst thing I’ve seen with envy is how it’s ended friendships... this is by far the silliest thing, to lose a friend because you don't have what they have? Can you only be friends with someone that is the same as you? That will lead me on to another talk later I’m sure but for now can we agree that envy is nothing more than a way of telling you that you want something.

So you know if you want something you have to work for it that can mean many things you will have to do.
If you work hard you will get it there are many people in the world that are examples of this.

Right To Education

When does a right to education become and enforced prison.

The right to education was designed that someone that with no opportunity to learn before be able to learn, but for those of us that have access to education we do not have the right to not learn, as its now enforced that from an early age to teenage you can not leave the education system.

But a right is the legal or moral entitlement, an option a choice something that children have been denied as they have no right to not learn, they also are not able to set what they learn.

So as adults are we not destroying what it is to be a child to have freedom to learn what you have an interest in.

In away as adults we are not repressing our kids and forcing them to work... if we think about this is it any less cruel than making them work in sweat shop? think about it for 8 hours a day we force them to attend and in the evening we give them home work... at least in the sweat shop once you leave you are free to rest.

And then there is the social pressure that if you don't get good marks you will never be given a good job, so at an early age we start to place stress on them, and after all this people question why teenage suicide rate is on the rise.

This right to education is no longer a right it has become a prison for children, that for some has become a death row.

I most likely sound extreme but its not till you look at it this way that you will take any notice, because it is all to easy for us to blame it on something or someone else for the children's problems.

Maybe we should give them the right back.

Stress or challenge

We all no that we don't like stress but sometimes it not what is put on us but how we deal with it.

Keep a level head... don't worry about things that you can't change, just deal with it the best you can.
Like when your flight gets delayed as an example and you know your going to miss that business meeting... don't stress it not your fault take a deep breath and say to yourself plan B phone ahead explain the problem calmly and ask them if you can reschedule, after all it is beyond your control.

When someone say it can not be done in a project! do you go oh sugar or do you use that's the opening for a challenge not a problem, there is always away the key is to keep this in mind and keep trying.

If your stress in life comes from one person like your manager remind him that there are rules of business conduct, do not be intimidated by them I know its harder than it sounds because you worry about losing your job but losing your mind is far worse and remember one thing you are better than these people.

Approach problems as a challenge and care about your mental health and you'll be happier than you can imagine, your new relaxed nature will attract people and jobs to you like you never could have imagined.

Green Eyed Monster

Is jealousy bad? Well in truth no it’s not its how you act on it that makes it bad, jealousy is there to make you notice that you care… and if you care then maybe you can find a positive way to handle it.

Honest friend

If you want an honest friend pick a child, however remember they see things in simple ways, but despite this sometimes the best way to see things is in a simple way.

In their simple way they can be quite upsetting but they tell it as it is.

Unspoken promise

The unspoken promise of a kiss or smile it seems to say so much yet is say nothing at all.

A smile can tell you someone is happy or that someone loves you how this simple action can be so many things and have so many meanings I can not tell you but I know how people look at one another and it’s an amazing thing sometimes.

See what others do

When looking at the person you love it often possible to say I love them because…. But equally you find it hard to see how that wonderful person you love so much how they love you… this is because you see your faults and failings but sometimes you have to agree its not because they don’t see them its because they also see the better side of you that is within you to be.

Prove them right be that better person, and don’t stress yourself out being a better person is just little things everyday.

Change

When we stand on the edge of a change we often don’t know what is before us and worry about the change and what it will mean to us… sometimes this change is something like changing job, sometimes its like buying a house and other times is something you just don’t understand because its not something you need but its something you want.

The question that we are trying to answer without success is how will this change my life and if I should do it, well I offer you this advice… unless the thing you are thinking about is killing yourself don’t worry so much because life can be changed and can put right even some of the biggest mistakes so just take you future by the hand and make that change and if it all ends up so bad then make another change.