Boys don’t cry? Well maybe it’s good for boys to cry every now and then. This video brought tears to my eyes because of how sincere and deep the message is by Severn Suzuki. In 1992, at the age of 12, Suzuki raised money with members of ECO, the Environmental Childrens Organization (a group she founded) to attend the Earth Summit in Rio De Janeiro. How long has it been that I sat down in nature or hugged a tree? How long has it been since I rolled around on grass or walked bare foot in a stream? How long will it take for us to realise that we and the environment are one - and if we continue to poison it, we only poison ourselves?
The more we love the environment the more we love ourselves and vice versa. Do not wait for someone else to do something about it. You go and do something about it in your yard or your neighbourhood.
It’s been months since I’ve been to my Tai Chi class and I’m starting to feel really itchy about it. So even though I’ve been doing my Tai Chi Chuan at home its not the same as doing in a group. One of the things I’ve done to console myself is to go back to re-read the Chinese classic Tao Te Ching.
On another note as I’m approaching my 10th Toastmasters speech, to complete my Compitant Communicator, the first manual. I’ve decided to start with a quote from Bruce Lee, which he repeated in the famous Lost Interview with Pierre Burton. However, watching the entire interview I cam across a reference to Tai Chi Chuan. Pierre Burton asks him to explain all the fancy moves he sees people doing on the roof tops of buildings. Bruce goes into an explanation of Tai Chi Chuan and the philosophy behind it. And this quote from Bruce just struck me as applicable to relationships as well, “I mean to them the idea is ‘running water never grows stale.’ so you’ve got to just ‘keep on flowing.’”
When you realise a relationship has run its course its very likely because you’ve stopped flowing. When things become to predictable, when you become bored or tired all the time time. The passion you may have had and the physical attraction dies down. Now of course you can resurrect it with some effort. But you’re missing the point. The whole idea behind Taoism is effortlessness. Many people seem to think of an end-goal to relationships being marriage. I believe this is a fundamentally flawed presupposition. And therefore you’re setting yourself up for failure. Again most self-help books on relationships will persuade that relationships or marriage is hard work. It shouldn’t be hard work it should just flow.
Ever heard of Mitch Hedberg? My friend Chris van Wyk recently brought him to my attention. What an awesome comedic talent. He’s jokes are so arb you cannot help yourself laughing your ass off. In fact he comes across as someone who’s permanently high because his delivery is so laid back. It’s refreshing to have clean humour where no vulgarity is used while still being hilarious. From watching so much comedy it just seems that most stand-up comedians or movies rely on toiler humour or sex talk to get a laugh. Mitch Hedberg was something else. Sadly he passed away in 2005 just before his first HBO special.
Who is Mr Deity? Your friendly neighborhood omnipotent, omnipresent God or as Dr John Demartini says, Grand Organised Designer. This hilarious send-up was created by Brian Keith Dalton.
This is one of those shows popping up on Youtube along with the likes of Chad Vader, that has the potential for mainstream success. In fact Brian’s goal is to turn this into a weekly sitcom and is currently negotiating with some tv networks. I really find it amazing how much wit and intelligence these 5 minute webisodes contain. Without explaining more about Mr Deity I include a clip of the very first one to get you started…
