CLARISSA PINKOLA ESTES (author of Women who run with the wolves) "Within every woman there
is a wild and natural creature, a powerful force, filled with good instincts,
passionate creativity, and ageless knowing. Her name is Wild Woman,
but she is an endangered species. Though the gifts of the wildish
nature come to us at birth, society's attempt to "civilize" us
into rigid roles has plundered this treasure, and muffled the deep, life-giving
messages of our own souls. Without Wild Woman, we become over-domesticated,
fearful, uncreative, trapped." Clarissa Pinkola Estes
RANDOM QUOTES FROM HANK...
Go without a coat when it's cold; find out what cold is. Go hungry;
keep your existence lean. Wear away the fat, get down to the lean
tissue and see what it's all about. The only time you define your
character is when you go without. In times of hardship, you find out
what you're made of and what you're capable of. If you're never tested,
you'll never define your character.
We are hated. We are covered with spit and piss. Life sucks.
You want some art? Come and get it.
I believe that one defines oneself by reinvention. To not be like your parents. To not be like your friends. To be yourself. To cut yourself out of stone.
Keep your blood clean, your body lean, and your mind sharp.
Scar tissue is stronger than regular tissue. Realize the strength, move on.
Don't do anything by half. If you love someone, love them. If you hate someone, hate them until it hurts.
It's hard to get along with people. As much as you try to like them and accept them as individuals, it becomes difficult because they keep getting out of line and wasting your time.
The ones who don't do anything are always the ones who try to put you down Henry Rollins
Peace? excerpted from Arundhati Roy's acceptance speech of the Sydney Peace Prize
It might seem ironic that a person who spends most of her time thinking of
strategies of resistance and plotting to disrupt the putative peace, is given a
peace prize. You must remember that I come from an essentially feudal country -
and there are few things more disquieting than a feudal peace. Sometimes there's
truth in old cliches. There can be no real peace without justice. And without
resistance there will be no justice. Today, it is not merely justice itself, but the idea of justice that is under
attack. The assault on vulnerable, fragile sections of society is at once so
complete, so cruel and so clever - all encompassing and yet specifically
targeted, blatantly brutal and yet unbelievably insidious - that its sheer
audacity has eroded our definition of justice. It has forced us to lower our
sights, and curtail our expectations. Even among the well-intentioned, the
expansive, magnificent concept of justice is gradually being substituted with
the reduced, far more fragile discourse of 'human rights'. read the entire piece here
December 1, 1951 – September 21, 1987
The meteoric rise and fall of a musical giant. Jaco's music makes me weep with joy and sorrow all at once.
Some snippets can be heard on youtube. Do yourself a favour and take a look/listen. click here , here and here
Erickson is famous for pioneering indirect techniques of hypnotherapy, but his shock
therapy tends to get less attention, perhaps because it is
uncomfortable for us to hear such uncharacteristic stories about an
inspirational and gentle healer. Nonetheless, Erickson was prepared to
use psychological shocks and ordeals in order to achieve given results:
- When the old gentleman asked if he could be helped for his fear of riding in an elevator, I told him I could probably scare the pants off him in another direction. He told me that nothing could be worse than his fear of an elevator.
- The elevators in that particular building were operated by young girls, and I made special arrangements with one in advance. She agreed to cooperate and thought it would be fun. I went with the gentleman to the elevator. He wasn't afraid of walking into an elevator, but when it started to move it became an unbearable experience. So I chose an unbusy time and I had him walk in and out of the elevator, back in and out. Then at a point when we walked in, I told the girl to close the door and said, "Let's go up."
- She went up one story and stopped in between floors. The gentleman started to yell, "What's wrong!" I said, "The elevator operator wants to kiss you." Shocked, the gentleman said, "But I'm a married man!" The girl said, "I don't mind that." She walked toward him, and he stepped back and said, "You start the elevator." So she started it. She went up to about the fourth floor and stopped it again between floors. She said, "I just have a craving for a kiss." He said, "You go about your business." He wanted that elevator moving, not standing still. She replied, "Well, let's go down and start all over again," and she began to take the elevator down. He said, "Not down, up!" since he didn't want to go through that all over again.
- She started up and then stopped the elevator between floors and said, "Do you promise you'll ride down in my elevator with me when you're through work?" He said, "I'll promise anything if you promise not to kiss me." He went up in the elevator, relieved and without fear - of the elevator - and could ride one from then on.
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SATISH KUMAR 
In 2007 I was very fortunate to meet the inspiring and most eloquent Satish Kumar during his recent visit to Australia.
The Ethos Foundation hosted some of Satish's lectures, and I was asked to make some videographic clips for their website, whereupon Satish agreed to allow me to interview him about his amazing peace-trek.
The following piece was captured on the hop,... and I was enthralled by Satish's life-long quest to bring common sense and sustainable life practice into our global consciousness.
Satish is the editor for Resurgence magazine and is the founder of Schumacher College in the UK, a place for deep learning and for experiencing an ethical, humane, sustainable and ecologically empowering way of being.
http://www.schumachercollege.org.uk/
you can view the video interview here