I promised in a post a few weeks back that I’d be inviting more guest bloggers to join me on my blog and I’m happy to welcome Dr Jill Flint-Taylor.  Jill is a Director at my University spin off company Robertson Cooper and heads up the London office.  Jill has a wealth of experience to share with you and specialises in the areas of leadership development, employee engagement and well‐being, as well as helping organisations to attract, retain and develop the best talent.  I hope you enjoy her post and as always please comment if you find it interesting.

Thanks for joining me Jill!

Dr Jill Flint-Talyor

Social networks

I know what you’re thinking – yet another article on the proliferation of social networking sites on the internet!  Well, I guess I do want to talk about the effect of sites like Facebook, MySpace and Bebo – but as part of the bigger picture of what social contacts can do for our personal well-being.  Establishing and maintaining strong social relationships is one of the ways we can increase our ability to cope with stressful situations in a resilient way.  This makes perfect sense – we know that “a problem shared is a problem halved”, and we also know that socialising with our friends can help us to take our minds off our worries.

But this raises a number of questions.  Is it the case, for example, that people who are more extraverted are more resilient, because they have a larger social network?  Does online social networking bring the same kind of benefits for our well-being as meeting up with our friends in person?  What happens to our social networking – online and in person – when we’re under pressure?  These apparently simple questions are really quite complex and I won’t claim to be able to do them justice here.  But let’s have a quick look at each of them in turn.

Taking the question of extraversion and resilience, over the years a number of studies have found that people who are more outgoing, energetic and assertive tend to be more resilient.  However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the size of your social network that counts.  The key to this aspect of resilience is more likely to lie in two important factors.  Firstly, the strength of the relationships from which you draw your social support and secondly, how good you are at keeping contact when you are very busy or stressed.

The last point relates directly to the question of what happens to our social networks when we’re under pressure.  The research on depression shows clearly that many people withdraw and focus inwards when severely depressed, even if they are normally friendly and sociable.  In terms of resilience, this creates a circular problem – being depressed causes us to withdraw, which in turn has a detrimental effect on our ability to draw on the social support that could help us to come out of our depression.  Something similar happens if we are stressed, and this effect is compounded if the stress is caused by overload at home or work, because time constraints make it even more difficult to keep up with our friends and colleagues.

So what about social networking online?  Does it help that it’s easier to fit this into a busy day – making it possible for us to stay in touch with our close friends?  Or do we become too reliant on “relationships” where most of our contact is with people we hardly know and where contact with our close friends becomes so superficial that they’re not there when we need them?  This is a fascinating new area of research and I’d like to come back to it in more detail in a future blog.  For now, I’d say that the use of social networking sites must be a good thing if it helps us keep in touch and make new friends in an increasingly busy and fragmented world.  But as with all things, the key is a strong dose of common sense, and we need to make a conscious effort to keep the right balance between online contact and meeting up with our friends in person.  There’s no question that a few very strong friendships are worth more in terms of meeting our needs for social support than a large number of “friends” who don’t know us well and have no reason to really care about us.

John & Edward (I know, I’m a day late but I was busy yesterday so chill!)continued (and extended) their reign as the UK’s favorite *telly* stars this past weekend by playfully-though not quite as genius as it should have been-living up their nickname.  As you know, “double scoop” comes from their resemblance to Vanilla Ice; they are like mini-me’s, at least look-wise.

Doing a mash-up of “Under Pressure” and “Ice Ice Baby” they jumped right into their now standard routine of cockiness and come-hither looks while working the stage, catwalks, the judges, the audience and (more importantly) the camera.  Though with the exception of Dannii Minogue, all the judges ate it up, even Simon (though he didn’t eat as much as sampled) I have to say this was the first time I wasn’t completely taken by their performance. Something was missing, it felt too safe, there wasn’t enough of that “WTF is this?! Terrible! No! Awesome!” reaction to the proceedings.

Anyhow, they are safe once again.  Hopefully they won’t keep going down but go back to up-ing the ante.

The remaining X Factor finalists had to make sure that they were on their game this week, as they were joined by rock royalty.  Yes, this week was all about Queen (that’s the band, not the monarch, as Jedward correctly pointed out!) and it was time to find out whether the remaining acts would rock our socks off.

Jamie Archer took to the stage first, with his rendition of ‘Radio Gaga’.  Once again, I thought he made the whole thing look effortless, Dannii thought that although he rocked the crowd – he didn’t perform to his full potential.

Lloyd Daniels was next, singing ‘Crazy Little Thing Called Love’.  I wasn’t that blown away by Lloyd’s performance, but Simon felt that he was starting to lighten up and thought he was better than last week.

Next up was Olly Murs, who sang ‘Don’t Stop Me Now’.  Despite breaking his finger this week, Olly didn’t seem to be phased by it and I enjoyed his performance.  Louis compared him to Robbie Williams, Gary Barlow and Will Young, adding: “I think you’ve got it all”. 

After his rather musical-like performance last week, Joe McElderry sang ‘Somebody To Love’, which I think is one of the hardest Queen songs to sing.  He made a great job of it though, but Louis felt that the choir in Joe’s performance ‘helped’ him.  This caused Simon to mock Louis, which was highly entertaining.

Then it was time for the return of John and Edward, who sang ‘Under Pressure/Ice Ice Baby’.  I thought they did alright with this song, although their rapping seemed to be a tad out of time in certain parts.  However, Cheryl congratulated them on making the most of this opportunity (in other words, enjoy it while it lasts!)  Calvin Harris also stormed the stage during their performance – only on X Factor eh?!

Stacey Solomon was next up, singing ‘Who Wants To Live Forever’.  I must confess, I’d never heard this song before Saturday, but thought that Stacey hit all the right notes.  Simon said: “That was, by a mile, the best performance of the night so far”.

Danyl Johnson closed this week’s show with ‘We Are The Champions’.  In his VT, Danyl worried about being perceived as cocky or arrogant during his performance.  Louis reassured him by saying: “There’s nothing wrong with being arrogant and confident at all, if you’ve got the talent to back it up, and tonight – you proved that you’ve got it all”.

The Results

On Sunday, we were treated to great performances from Shakira…

…and the 12 X Factor finalists who are releasing ‘You Are Not Alone’ to raise funds for Great Ormond Street Hospital.

After that, the results were in.  We saw Lloyd and Jamie in the bottom two this week, and the result of that was another shocker – Jamie was gone.

And, as if that wasn’t enough, next week we will be in the presence of two divas – Mariah Carey and Susan Boyle!  Can’t wait!

Ciao for now!

VOCÊS DEVEM CONCORDAR COMIGO que uma das coisas mais justas desse mundo é o TEMPO. Não importa se você é famoso ou anônimo; se você é rico ou pobre; se você é bonito ou feio. O TEMPO sempre passa por nós deixando marcas indeléveis. Sobretudo naqueles que, inutilmente, lutam contra ele. Não importa o quanto seu cirurgião plástico é bom ou bem pago. O TEMPO imprime suas marcas e é isso. Se não, vejamos:

Qual garoto dos anos 80 não queria ser o Ralph Macchio do Karatê kid, hein, Sr. Miyagi…

A Lynda Carter era uma Helen Ganzarolli dos nossos tempos, e ainda continua uma Maravilha…

A Dama de Vermelho Kelly LeBrock ainda é deslumbrante, mas já não pode mais mostrar aquelas perninhas pro Gene Wilder.

Vanilla Ice (Ice, Ice Baby). O destino dos rebeldes sempre é virar um tiozão meio estranho…

Não queira processar a Lux Luxo se o resultado em você não foi o mesmo da Cheryl Ladd…

O Paulo Ricardo definitivamente teria uma chance hoje com a Princesa Stephanie de Mônaco (aqui estou/ inteiro ao seu dispor… Princesa!!!)

Sean Young é uma daquelas razões pra assistir Blade Runner 347 vezes. E vale a pena ver de novo…  Sempre!

Ursula Andress é uma prova viva que a beleza é atemporal. Algumas enganam até o tempo…

É impressão minha ou o Tempo (e os dólares!!!) é mais gentil com as celebridades internacionais??? Comentem aí!!!

El 24 de noviembre se cumplirán 18 años de la muerte de Freddy Mercury y adelantándonos a tal efemérides vamos a enfrentar a una de las grandes canciones de Queen con dos de las múltiples versiones que se han hecho de ella. He escogido aquella fabulosa grabación realizada junto a David Bowie en 1981 titulada Under Pressure. Vaya suma de estrellas para una sola canción, Freddy Mercury y “el camaleón del rock”. La línea de bajo de la canción la hace tan característica que hoy en día sigue siendo una de las más recordadas del grupo.  En 1990 incluso un amago de rapero apodado Vanilla Ice quiso sacar tajada fusilándola torpemente en su Ice Ice Baby sin pedir permiso a sus autores. Tras la pertinente acusación, alegó en su descargo que él le añadió una nota más por lo que podía considerarse como una canción suya. La treta no coló, le cayó un buen puro y su carrera quedó arruinada para siempre. Menos mal, por otra parte.

Un año después de la desaparición de Mercury en 1991, se hizo un concierto tributo en el estadio de Wembley cantándola a dúo Bowie y Annie Lennox (ver video). Aquí tenéis la original como la grabaron en el estudio suizo del “duque blanco”.

La primera de las versiones es la de los británicos Keane. La publicaron como cara-b del single The Night Sky y los beneficios se destinaron para la ONG War Child. Sin separarse mucho de la genuina, los autores de Is It Any Wonder? (la que más me gusta de su repertorio y que anima a cualquiera) hacen una buena réplica, destacando las notas altas que alcanza Tom Chaplin.

La otra versión es la de la joven promesa Joss Stone, que ha pasado de ser la niña consentida  a ser marginada por su discográfica EMI. Sus abrumadoras ventas de su disco debut, del que colocó 4 millones de copias, no le han servido para ganarse cierta libertad e independencia. Su último larga duración lo grabó sin decir nada a su casa de discos y se lo entregó después ya terminado. Algo que no les hizo mucha gracia a sus jerifaltes, que no permiten que los artistas hagan y deshagan a su antojo. Finalmente, tras un amago de espantada a la competencia, ha visto la luz y su adelanto Free Me ya se puede escuchar por la radio.

Su aportación a la de Queen se debe principalmente al toque soul y a su inconfundible voz, más propia de una cantante negra, algo que contrasta con su juventud y sobre todo con su piel blanca.

This sums up the way I am feeling – think the women screaming – it is absolutely perfect.  Gonna go for a run after this I think.

Aca van un par de videitos que encontré por la web de gente haciendo temas de otras gentes, espero les gusten

In order to further our goal of world domination, we were asked to MC the Quiet Company video release show for “On Modern Men” at The Parish in Austin on Friday. It was quite a blast and we thank the guys from Quiet Company for asking us to do this and for rocking our faces off!

Song in video: Quiet Company “On Modern Men”

When we stepped on stage to introduce ourselves and the first band, the audience seemed to think our usual “we’re kind of awkward and make fun of each other” schtick from our radio show was REAL. We definitely got a few of those “Shit, they’ve got stage-fright, I can’t watch!” looks. But then after a couple of lame jokes and a demand that the audience begin clapping and cheering (which they did), things began to take off. We were totally rock stars. Bono can suck it!

The show was fantastic! The two openers (Telegraph Canyon & The Morakestra) were great, and Quiet Company brought out the big guns, using The Parish’s rockin’ lighting rig to really compliment their indie sound.

The show was sponsored by our buddies at Do512 and Under Pressure.

Following on from part 1 below:

So, step one: ASKING. It is not as simple as it seems!

When I am teaching this Taoist principle of ‘attraction’ and ‘alignment’ people can often misunderstand its fundamental message; they will say to me “I have not got enough money, yet I am always asking for and wanting more…so it does not work, if fact it seems to get worse!” (Money always seems to be one of the key subjects of interest when teaching the law of attraction!)

There are two key things to understand here.

Firstly, the Universe it does not respond to, or analyse and translate just ‘words’ or verbal requests. It is attracted, and then aligns to all the Qi, energy or vibrations you are transmitting.  Remember (from a previous post) Qi and the Universe is in a state of abundance but has not got an intelligence! It cannot translate, second guess, understand or fill in the missing gaps of your verbal statements or wishes. It is not a supreme ‘brain’ who knows better than you what you want!

Accepting that our words are often supported by feelings and intentions, i.e. the Qi, energy or vibrations behind our words, brings me to the second and more fundamental point.

When you send ‘negative’ or ‘needy’ statements like “I have not got enough money and I really need more”, you are effectively sending out low vibration energy.  The Universe can only align itself with the energy/vibration/Qi of your statements; it is a misunderstanding to believe that it can somehow interpret and correct, counteract, rebalance or overcompensate for ‘negatives’ or any low vibration messages you transmit. We cannot expect the Universe to act with a supreme ‘brain’ and to somehow receive, understand, translate and deliver our personal desires if they are in conflict with the energy we are transmitting!

On a similar note, if you are not precise with your intentions and requests (for example, “my life [my job/family/partner/appearance etc.] really gets me down, I want things to be better!”), you cannot expect the Universe to second guess and deliver perfection to you without any effort on your part to clarify what it is you want to align yourself with or move towards. In the same way that life coaches today teach, to create ‘S.M.A.R.T.’ goals to help us work constructively towards what we want in life, we also need to be positive, explicit and realistic in our requests and intentions.

The issue of ‘wanting’ is very powerful and worth exploring further.

The Universe cannot align itself with the negative concept of ‘wanting’, or ‘not having enough’ or ‘wanting more’. The Universe is in abundance and it’s nature (the way or Tao) is to solely align itself with your vibrations (your inner voice or Qi). It would be like telephoning the music radio station and asking for the football results to be broadcast immediately…as the station is unlikely to have this resource the best they could do would be to play a football song to try and please you. This would be totally unsuitable, but the closest alignment they have at their disposal to meet your request.

The Universe acts in a similar way. For example, when receiving the vibration of ‘not having enough money and wanting more’ as a state of needing, it will simply align with this state of needing by sending you more needing, or making its closest alignment. That’s why you are never satisfied and it feels like you are not getting what you desire, when actually your vibration request is being answered and aligned too after all!

[Anyway, what does wanting ‘more money’ mean to the Universe? Remember the Universe has no intelligence to translate, it just wants to align. How would it translate that, if it could…More than what or whom? How much is more? Double, treble? Perhaps more importantly, what is money to the Universe? Money is not a currency of the Universe. ]

What can make things worse is, if we then feel like we are not getting what we want or indeed are in fact getting more of what we don’t want, our Ego’s can jump in and translate these unbalanced feelings into a statements such as: ‘your desires and wishes are not being met’, ‘you are not good enough’, ‘you never get what you want’. These feelings of inadequacy and unfairness will in turn begin to send out more negative and low frequency vibrations. The Universe will then continue to align to and send you more of the same, and so the Ego circle is formed and the negative momentum continues.

So it follows that the next big question is – ‘how do we break out of, or change, this Ego circle and attract positive vibrations or Qi into your life?’

Meditate and consider:

Do you find yourself always wanting and needing?

Does it seem like your never get want you want?

Do you compare yourself negatively with others?

Do you feel that the Universe treats you unfairly?

Are you always left feeling unfulfilled?

Are you reaching your true potential?

Please read part 3

The phenomenon of the ‘law of attraction’ (also referred to as ‘The Secret’) swept through the States about 5 or 6 years ago and now seems to be having the same affect in the UK. I have had many emails and questions in my classes and workshops about what it actually means and how it works.

I also notice there are now expensive workshops taking place at the moment to pass on ‘The Secret’. I’m not sure how it can be a secret if it’s being sold and passed around (?!), nevertheless, my interpretation of the law of attraction or ‘The Secret’ is that it is based on the ancient Taoist principle of alignment of ‘Qi’.

This principle is not a secret, in fact quite the opposite – everyone knows of this Universal law and uses it daily in their lives, perhaps without realising or understanding they are doing so or that it is even a ‘law’.

So what is the law of attraction, ‘The Secret’ or principle of Taoist alignment?

First I would like you to consider the principle of alignment and attraction in broad terms and to understand that is not a ‘mysterious’ secret only to be understood and practiced by a few. To illustrate my point I will use some analogies…see if these work for you!

[You already know of my reluctance to use analogies from previous posts as, because they cannot be perfect or 100% accurate as a way of explaining things, they will always give our ‘Ego’ an opportunity to jump in and undermine or discredit the point being made. Despite the disadvantages of using analogies, in this post I think a couple of them would help to set up the explanation before I go into more detail.]

…Imagine you were a successful music promoter wanting to attract a young teenage audience to your venue and make it a success, what music would you present?

Well I guess it would be a more difficult to fill your venue with teenagers if you were promoting a classical organ recycle, not impossible as I’m sure there are several young people who love organ music, but logically the best chance of successfully attracting and aligning your venue to a large young audience would be by presenting what the majority enjoyed. Something like the latest chart band or the most creative music in a modern young atmosphere that would be exciting to your particular target group.

You would then design appropriate eye catching and modern posters and distribute and display them in places you knew your target audience would see them; perhaps on radio stations playing the music that corresponds with your promotion, or posting some details on websites with a large teenage following. Basically you would raise awareness amongst your target teenage audience to attracting as many as you could to your event.

Conversely, it would follow that if you wanted to attract a more mature audience the choice of music and atmosphere would be different (perhaps the classic organ music would be better suited here). Not better or worse, but just different, more appropriate or aligned with those individuals you are trying to attract and excite. Therefore if follows that your marketing strategy would also be totally different, attracting a different target group.

Another analogy would be if you loved sport, you wouldn’t tune your radio to a music channel to catch up with the football results or listen to a match. If you did you would be sorely disappointed at not getting what you wanted and desired!

All these examples serve to illustrate the simple basic principle of law of ‘alignment’ and ‘attraction’:

By first understanding what we want to attract, and then making a conscious effort to align ourselves to this through our thinking and actions, we are more likely to attract and receive what we desire.

This is common sense stuff and instinctively we all know and understand that the Universe works in exactly the same way!

The Universe, and all it has to offer us, is a constant flowing force. It doesn’t go away or turn its back on us or make judgements against us, good or bad – as with all nature, it just ‘is’. It simply waits for us to move towards, tune in, connect and align our energy, vibration or Qi, and for us open up and receive, through our authentic thoughts, intentions and actions.

So how can we attract what we authentically want into our lives?

All we need to do is align ourselves (our thoughts, words and actions) appropriately and authentically, with this Universal flow and energy to attract what we seek.

I believe that quite simply…

We should Authentically Ask for it

We should Authentically Believe it

We should Authentically Act like we already have it and Live It!

I consider that each of these three steps are essential components of the principle of alignment and attraction, and all need to harmonise together to allow for positive change and results to flow.

My future posts will focus on and discuss each of these steps in turn and my next post will discuss the first step – ‘asking’ for change and what we seek.

Meditate and consider the following:

Do you live your life authentically, being grateful for what you already have?

Do you send out authentic vibrations that are a true reflection of you?

Are what you say and what you think in alignment?

Do you know what you really want?

Would you prefer someone or something to sort it all out for you?

Would you say your authentic self is in harmony and balance?

Please read part 2

Bienvenido al mundo real ¿acaso no es lo que has venido a buscar?  Mi vigésimo día en esta ciudad se merece brindaros una nueva entrada de blog con nuevas sensaciones vividas estas dos últimas semanas.

Haré un esfuerzo por narrarlas de la manera más positiva posible a pesar de que mi cuenta bancaria no gozara de muchas alegrías últimamente. Es cierto que me encuentro más adaptado e integrado, sin renunciar a nuevas roles ni objetivos en esta ciudad.

Me considero afortunado al ya poder disfrutar de mi propia habitación y aun más reseñable; que ha sido el primer sitio que me he dignado a visitar. Desde un primer momento ya me había convencido su anuncio; las fotos, su precio y la zona, por lo que me he acercado a echar un vistazo… Al día siguiente ya era mi casa.

24 Stirling Road, East Ham. London E13 0BJ (UK)

Algunos de vosotros habéis tenido la oportunidad de verla en exclusiva a través de un rápido movimiento de cámara; para aquellos que se quedaron con las ganas decirles que dispongo de wi-fi, cama doble, salón con ordenador de 19″, cocina bien equipada, terracita para fumadores y todo esto en una zona bien comunicada a 20 mins. de la City; compartiendo casa con un irlandés, un asturiano y un lisboeta. Sí, ya sé. Ya podía haber escogido un sitio con alguna chica, pero no se puede tener todo en esta vida. Ahora bien, la cara “B” del asunto; llevo dos semanas y no solo la cosa consiste en pagar 90gbp cada Jueves, sino que también son los 30bgp de la Oyster Card cada Martes; con lo cual ¿Qué me queda? Encontrar trabajo inmediatamente, de ahí el título de esta nueva entrega.

Si no he enviado/entregado durante esta semana más de 50 CVs a lo largo y ancho de Londres que baje Dios y me lo diga. Mi búsqueda durante esta semana la he comenzado en un Pull&Bear de Oxford Street y la he finalizado desde casita buscando por Internet. Una gran parte de las empresas que he visitado, sean cuales sean sus servicios, te piden que te busques la vida a través de sus propias páginas web; Te encontrarás con formularios de 8 páginas preguntándote, entre otras muchas cosas, si has atentado alguna vez contra la sociedad ¿alguien respondería que sí aunque lo hubiera hecho?.

En esta situación de tener que esforzarte por una sonrisa de oreja a oreja y de tienda en tienda cada día y no recibir ni una respuesta ni siquiera equivocada, es bastante frustrante. Sin embargo, en un momento de lucidez, he decidido subir un anuncio personal ofreciendo mis servicios como Diseñador Gráfico en una de las webs más populares en UK (GumTree.com). Cual fue mi sorpresa al día siguiente de recibir una llamada de un tipo proponiéndome una web para una Agencia de Modelos. Cual fue también mi sorpresa al recibir un correo de una chica interesada también en un portafolio personal. En fin, que mi último esfuerzo deseperante por encontrar algo a corto plazo había funcionado! Ahora tocará analizar cada proyecto, demostrar la experiencia como creativo en cada caso y mostrar la máxima seguridad a los clientes potenciales para así llegar a sólidos acuerdos. Incluso ahora veo viable la posibilidad de poder trabajar aquí de lo que realmente siempre más me ha motivado; la publicidad.

Dejando a un margen mi trabajo, deciros que aun hay cosas que se escapan de mi entendimiento. ¿Una mujer de ojos claros y de apariencia caucásica vistiendo con burka? (…) ¿Convencimiento propio?¿Moda? Whatever…

Un gran consejo podría ir dirigido a los españoles que llegan aquí con su camiseta de Torres o Fábregas. Cuidadito con esas prendas en zonas como en las que yo vivo (West Ham), especialmente los días de partido. Pensaba que los hooligans tan sólo eran los que venían a España a emborracharse y a quedarse fuera del estadio. Iluso de mí.

Se me quedan cosas en el tintero; como que mañana me dan el National Insurance Number, como que el Martes será un día algo atípico para mí en estas coordenadas, como que el Miércoles se va a liar parda con el partido del Atlético de Madrid – Chelsea… ¿Respecto a lo de salir por la noche? Cuando haya algo que celebrar, que no será dentro de mucho. En fin, estaremos en contacto.

Un utópico caluroso saludo desde UK para mi familia, amigos y no tan amigos. Os echo de menos tanto o incluso más que a mi VW Golf que está aburrido en el garage.

PD: Mami!! Gracias por ese jamón serrano, el tomate Solís, las sopas Knor, el arroz Gallina Blanca!! Delicious…

Happy Friday to everyone.  Last night I got to see Skyzoo rock live for the first time.  He performed at The Darkroom in Chicago for Ruby Hornet’s event Return of the Real.  Skyzoo took the stage for about 45 minutes or so and killed it.  He came out to Return of the Real produced by Just Blaze and that set the tone for the whole show.  He had everyone in the crowd rocking with him the whole set.  He was up there by himself rapping every last word of the verses, hooks and bridges.  It was a really good show and I encourage any and everyone to check him live.  This morning it was only right that I put back in The Salvation and gave it another listen.  I definitely like it even more after seeing him rock live.  Make sure you go out and purchase your copy of The Salvation ASAP.  Shout out to Skyzoo and Ruby Hornet for throwing a dope show.  My favorite joint today is Under Pressure.  The beat is incredible and it’s one of those songs a lot of people can relate too. 

Regardless of race or gender, something I think all of us deal with is pressure. If it is not from others, then it is most certainly from ourselves to achieve a certain end. Uncontrolled, it can cause a collapse, but under under control it makes much more possible in our pursuits. The key to this is what and who we let influence how important something is to us. In the end it can only amount to whatever we throw in the pot, so why not maintain it to perfection instead of letting it bubble over into ruin?

http://www.discogs.com/Showbiz-AG-Under-Pressure-EP/release/765710

LAbEL..: White Label DATE RELEaSEd: 00-00-2001
ENCOdER: LAME RELEaSE SiZE.: 26,9 MB
BiTrAtE: 192 kbps TRACkS…….: 06
MOdE…: Joint-Stereo SoURCe…….: Vinyl

RELeASE NoTES

Look for this soon.

#Track NameTime
-
01 Under Pressure03:01
02 Stand Strong02:57
03 Ain’t No Fun04:08
04 Under Pressure (Instrumental)02:57
05 Stand Strong (Instrumental)03:00
06 Ain’t No Fun (Instrumental)03:29

Total19:32

http://www.mediafire.com/?nymzym0jjgm

Here’s the first episode of Selena’s new Webshow ‘Under Pressure’.

A few years ago I had a telephone enquiry from a gentleman who had strained his back whilst working on his allotment.

It sounded a straightforward case, so after a brief chat on the telephone we made an appointment for an acupuncture treatment. Precisely on time the door bell rang, opening the door I was greeted by a well presented, tall, distinguished man in his late sixties with grey/white hair wearing a black blazer, light trousers and highly polished shoes.

But the most striking image about him was the rows of medals and ribbons he was wearing across his chest!

As I started the diagnosing interview I had to mention the impressive array of medals, which gave him the opportunity to explain each one in turn and the story and significance behind them.

As the stories continued the gentleman became more animated and creative in his descriptions of his acts of bravery and the memories of his friends and colleagues involved on the battlefields of the Second World War.

After hearing these wonderful stories and experiences we continued with the appointment as normal. The treatment proved to be very successful, he gained immediate relief from his pain discomfort and I have never seen or heard from him since. But my military gentleman did leave a very deep and lasting impression with me on many levels.

The opportunity to speak with someone who could bring to life the horror and bravery of those young men that fought with honour and pride for their country was very moving. He spoke many times about how they had to face their ‘feeling of fear’ minute by minute both on a group and personal level, and confronting the greatest fear of all human beings: dying.

The horror of friends and colleagues falling around him was a constant reminder of the fragility of life and strangely, by recounting the stories, it became a very inspirational message.

As I think of that experience on other deeper levels, I wondered why he felt it was necessary to wear his medals on such a mundane medical appointment. It was very noticeable that, as he recited his obviously well rehearsed stories, he became more relaxed, animated perhaps authentic, even joking about the grossly horrific scenes, as if that was the way he dealt with his fear of dying – was this avoidance, or acceptance?

The levels of understanding and insight continue for me from that single meeting as I recall the privilege of meeting my military gentleman in my meditations.

One of the insights I have considered since that appointment also applies and aligns to my day to day work with clients who sometimes find it difficult to align and re-balance themselves and their emotions because of powerful experiences in their past. So many of them recall horrific ‘battlefield’ experiences from their childhood and adolescence. As we both work hard to find the ‘core’ that needs re-balancing and alignment there sometimes seems to be a resistance or difficultly to want to change perceptions of their own personal horrors, and sometimes a reluctance to ‘let go’ of those old powerful memories and negative experiences.

I sometimes wonder if, for them, this constant reminder of the pain of their own imbalances and misalignments, is in fact are their own personal medals and ribbons. Whether the self harming, negative, perverse and sometimes harmful thinking and behaviour, are the medals and ribbons that remind them, and are a personal testimony to, the immense horrors that they have had to endure and the proof that they came through it.

Could it also provide a powerful reason or justification for their continued negative patterns of thinking and actions and something that they use to justify to themselves or provide a rationale for their negative or perverse behaviour?

If they were able to let go of those memories, it would be like my gentleman taking off his medals perhaps making him more ‘ordinary’ (in his eyes) with no ‘back story’ to fill. Do they consider it to be valuable ‘PROOF’ of what they have endured?

I am also very fortunate to work with people with weight issues, highly intelligent, loving, kind, caring people, who have been on countless slimming regimes and diets without success. Going round and round yo-yoing through different body shapes and emotions, avoiding the ‘Feeling of fear’ and grasping any opportunity to justify their emotional avoidance. Is their weight their medal of honour?

If they released the weight for good, I wonder if, on a subconscious level, they may think that no one could ever appreciate the horror that they have gone through in their lives and the pain it has given them?

Meditate on and consider:

Do you have your own medal of honour?

What would you have to do to release it?

How would that affect your thinking and way of life?

How do you present your medals?

What benefit are they to you?

How powerful are your memories?

Do your medals of honour align you with the Universal source of love, giving, kindness and energy?

Is there a better way to deal with your memories?

Kudos to any frontman who tries to tackle a tune made famous by Freddie Mercury. Here’s Tom Chaplin putting in his best effort for Keane with “Under Pressure.” Queen and David Bowie composed the song as a group in a studio in Switzerland, frustrated with the lack of progress being made on another track.  That’s called musical genius, which I don’t possess.