harmonica

harmonica
Originally uploaded by ianapplegate.co.uk

What I love about the internet is the how we share.

It always brings a smile to my face to see people being people and being happy!

My heart sings for the beautiful connections we have with our families and the people around us.

You are not your emotions

A fire reflected in a lake cannot burn the water. Neither can emotions disturb the mind when you don’t get involved in them. Don’t identify an emotion as your self. The fear or anger is not you, only and impersonal phenomenon. Mentally pull back from the emotion and turn your awareness around to observe it. When in the grip of negative emotion we tend to believe it will never end. But emotions are no more permanent than thoughts. With continued practice you’ll find that you only have to wait and any emotion, whether pleasant or unpleasant, is bound to change.

summer's bird

summer's bird
Originally uploaded by kansunkea

Take these broken wings and learn to fly.

i believe in god only i spell it nature - quote by frank lloyd wright | Things I have learned in my life so far

i believe in god only i spell it nature - quote by frank lloyd wright | Things I have learned in my life so far

Boy Meets Girl

Boy Meets Girl
Originally uploaded by aqui-ali

Oh what is this life. If full of care, we have no time to stop and stare!

What is this life if full of woe, we have no time to show sorrow!

Hold on to me dear brother, because I will show you how it is done.

Facebook and Bebo risk 'infantilising' the human mind

Greenfield warns social networking sites are changing children's brains, resulting in selfish and attention deficient young people

Social network sites risk infantilising the mid-21st century mind, leaving it characterised by short attention spans, sensationalism, inability to empathise and a shaky sense of identity, according to a leading neuroscientist.

The startling warning from Lady Greenfield, professor of synaptic pharmacology at Lincoln college, Oxford, and director of the Royal Institution, has led members of the government to admit their work on internet regulation has not extended to broader issues such as the psychological impact on children.

Greenfield believes ministers have not yet looked at the broad cultural and psychological effect of on-screen friendships via Facebook, Bebo and Twitter.

She told the House of Lords that children's experiences on social networking sites "are devoid of cohesive narrative and long-term significance. As a consequence, the mid-21st century mind might almost be infantilised, characterised by short attention spans, sensationalism, inability to empathise and a shaky sense of identity.

Arguing that social network sites are putting attention span in jeopardy, she said: "If the young brain is exposed from the outset to a world of fast action and reaction, of instant new screen images flashing up with the press of a key, such rapid interchange might accustom the brain to operate over such timescales. Perhaps when in the real world such responses are not immediately forthcoming, we will see such behaviours and call them attention-deficit disorder.

"It might be helpful to investigate whether the near total submersion of our culture in screen technologies over the last decade might in some way be linked to the threefold increase over this period in prescriptions for methylphenidate, the drug prescribed for [attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder]."

She also warned against "a much more marked preference for the here-and-now, where the immediacy of an experience trumps any regard for the consequences. After all, whenever you play a computer game, you can always just play it again; everything you do is reversible. The emphasis is on the thrill of the moment, the buzz of rescuing the princess in the game. No care is given for the princess herself, for the content or for any long-term significance, because there is none. This type of activity, a disregard for consequence, can be compared with the thrill of compulsive gambling or compulsive eating.

"The sheer compulsion of reliable and almost immediate reward is being linked to similar chemical systems in the brain that may also play a part in drug addiction. So we should not underestimate the 'pleasure' of interacting with a screen when we puzzle over why it seems so appealing to young people."

Greenfield also warned there was a risk of loss of empathy as children read novels less. "Unlike the game to rescue the princess, where the goal is to feel rewarded, the aim of reading a book is, after all, to find out more about the princess herself."

She said she found it strange we are "enthusiastically embracing" the possible erosion of our identity through social networking sites, since those that use such site can lose a sense of where they themselves "finish and the outside world begins".

She claimed that sense of identity can be eroded by "fast-paced, instant screen reactions, perhaps the next generation will define themselves by the responses of others".

Social networking sites can provide a "constant reassurance – that you are listened to, recognised, and important". Greenfield continued. This was coupled with a distancing from the stress of face-to-face, real-life conversation, which were "far more perilous … occur in real time, with no opportunity to think up clever or witty responses" and "require a sensitivity to voice tone, body language and perhaps even to pheromones, those sneaky molecules that we release and which others smell subconsciously".

She said she feared "real conversation in real time may eventually give way to these sanitised and easier screen dialogues, in much the same way as killing, skinning and butchering an animal to eat has been replaced by the convenience of packages of meat on the supermarket shelf. Perhaps future generations will recoil with similar horror at the messiness, unpredictability and immediate personal involvement of a three-dimensional, real-time interaction."

The solutions, however, lay less in regulation as in education, culture and society.

Greenfield argued that the appeal of Facebook lay in the fact that "a child confined to the home every evening may find at the keyboard the kind of freedom of interaction and communication that earlier generations took for granted in the three-dimensional world of the street. But even given a choice, screen life can still be more appealing."

She quoted one user saying they had 900 friends another saying "that you can't see or hear other people makes it easier to reveal yourself in a way that you might not be comfortable with. You become less conscious of the individuals involved [including yourself], less inhibited, less embarrassed and less concerned about how you will be evaluated."

But Greenfield warned: " It is hard to see how living this way on a daily basis will not result in brains, or rather minds, different from those of previous generations. We know that the human brain is exquisitely sensitive to the outside world."

by Patrick Wintour, Political editor

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/feb/24/social-networking-site-changing-childrens-brains

Lost in the city.....

Dear Friend,

Where to begin? There is so much to deal with today, I guess what I should do is begin at the beginning.

I feel confused, lost and mixed up.

Last night I cried, I felt so alone and confused in my self, so unsure about where I am going, what I am doing.

My life in London seems to consist of a constant fire fighting exercise, where I run as fast as I can on a treadmill in a desperate attempt not to fall off.

I really understand why they call living in this city the rat race, your in a stream and all the rats tightly packed are all running up stream, if you stop, you will be crushed. So the idea is to keep moving forward as quickly as you can, so as to avoid the crush!

I have been feeling this emptiness for such a long time, I have actually forgotten what its like to be really happy. But all is not lost. I have a new weapon in the battle with this emptiness.

Nam myoho renge kyo, is a Buddhist mantra that reveals your buddahood, which is an innate quality in all human beings. This quality allows us to manifest great courage, strength and resolve, for even the darkest of situations. There is a buddhist saying; "turn poison to medicine" and that is what I realise I must do to figure my self out.

Living in London for the last ten years has been quite an experience; I have worked in many different places and met so many wonderful and interesting people. I have grown as a person quite a bit, but I have also felt completely trapped and alone most of the time.

Yesterday I met someone that I have liked for such a long time, but when every I am around them I feel totally invisible, like they dont even see me. I since realised that this is due to the fact that this person is highly self absorbed and wouldnt notice a metorite landing in their back garden.

So Sunday was a day where all the feelings of hurt and lonliness popped out, I had had a Buddhist meeting in my area in the morning, which was followed by a fun few hours with my wonderful grandmother, who I have also been trying to get to chant.

I went and met up with my friend who I have feelings for, but after I left I told them I cant see them any more, due to my feelings. I dont think the comments acctually went in or were really registered.

You know when you are talking to someone and telling them something and they constantly change the subject to talk about stuff they want to talk about, that is what it was like the whole night and it became infuriating.

I since learnt that I am attracting men that are emotional voids, and that due to the fact that I feel so much, I am like a moth to the flame. I am drawn in by their lack of emotion.

Its quite good to have realised this I think, I just now have to take action and attempt to back out of this never ending pattern of hell state!