Hairy men

Is it just me or didn’t beards used to be few and far between? Chin growth seemed to be solely cultivated by stoners, science teachers and Santa. Then one day you wake up and bam! It’s beardy heaven. You can’t nip out for a pint of milk without tripping over the facial hair of some 20-something young gun. From overgrown stubble to full-on grizzly bear-wear, there’s something mightily attractive about a chap who abandons his Bic. Three cheers for beards.

Learner

A friend at work nudged me in the direction of the Things I Have Learned In My Life site. It grew out of a book by the graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister. This is the premise: “What have you learned in your life so far? What is it that you are fairly sure about? What is it that you believe in by now? Please do write it down beautifully. Design it digitally, photograph it, draw it, scan it and upload it. Use any media that works for you, paint, sculpture, film….” Lots of inspiring, engaging and exciting contributions to explore. I especially love this one.

The sun is shining

And that means today is all about fun. We all need a bit of fun in our lives. Here is some fun. 

Getting lost

Our sense of self is developed through our relationships and our actions. Repeated actions become patterns of behaviour and before you know it what you do is who you are. I’m not talking about professions here, rather traits, characteristics, responses. But things change and sometimes what you thought you knew about yourself proves hollow. Then there’s trying something new on for size and finding it fits. What I’m trying to say is that our selves are not fixed but fluid and evolve over time. Relationships – beginnings, togetherness, endings – help us to learn more about ourselves through challenge, compromise and, yes, love. But still I often don’t understand my own behaviour. I’ve been busily finding new ways to be happy, to be me. But then I push the self-destruct button and end up in a world of confusion. I’m not into regret and I don’t want to dwell, I just want to understand. And in understanding, move on. 

Dancing…

…makes me feel like a whole person, every part of me connected, every muscle, every joint, every atom of my being in flow, in rhythm, making sense, in control and losing it all at once. ‘Scuse me while I let my hair down…

See through someone else’s eyes…

I’ll definitely be attending the London event on May 10th. Not sure of the location details yet but keep checking the Pangea Day website for info and updates. In the meantime, watch the trailer below. “In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference and conflict, it’s easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that – to help people see themselves in others – through the power of film. On May 10th, 2008, Pangea Day sites in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro will be linked live to produce a program of powerful films, visionary speakers and uplifting music.” 

A thought

Living your life in 30-minute segments isn’t living. 

Pretentious musings, part 2

She could easily get lost inside her head. Maybe she already was. There were too many wrong turns, too many self-indulgent holes to fall into. Who needs religion when you have your own messed up mind to study, to pick through for meaning.

Meet TED…

Go here. Choose a video by speaker, talk or theme. Tune in. Turn on. Drop out. Okay, maybe not the last one. But do be prepared to have your mind well and truly blown. Some incredible talks on all manner of subjects spanning technology, entertainment, design (TED, geddit?) and everything in-between that never fail to jolt me out of self-inflicted misery/ennui/apathy. I particularly recommend Ken Robinson asking if schools kill creativity, Ben Dunlop talking about life, passion and justice and Jill Bolte Taylor sharing the incredible story of her stroke. Check the blog section of the site for updates on newly added footage and related items. 

Wwwinspiration

Funnily enough (in a smiley way, not ha ha ha) after yesterdays post I read this today:  ”I believe a desirable future depends on our deliberately choosing a life of action over a life of consumption, on our engendering a lifestyle which will enable us to be spontaneous, independent, yet related to each other, rather than maintaining a lifestyle which only enables us to produce and consume.” Spontaneous and independent. Yes. It’s a quote from Ivan Illich that I found when reading a book called We Think (the first three chapters of which can be downloaded from here in true share-ware fashion). It’s a very interesting exploration of the evolution of the web. What I liked most was discovering that all the things I’d thought were new ideas actually had their beginnings firmly rooted in our shared social history. That makes me feel alive.