Focusing -

Great free resource online. Focusing was a technique discovered by Geldin who found that during therapy sessions clients would often experience a shift, this shift was connected to a felt sense. Focusing teaches people to "be in presence" with themselves ie learn to listen to the body and see how it feels. I would liken it to learning how to hold the different parts of your personality when often they are in tension in a non-judgemental way. 

They say humor is good for health. This makes me laugh

Robert Web performing Flashdance

Poem videos

Exhibition of Japanese artists work

Me and my old friend Lorna Crabbe who shared a house for a bit at Uni have put together this show of Japanese artists in Hastings as Part of the Coastal Currents Festival she has co-organised. Titled Omiyage:an Exchange project, we plan to bring some British artists to Tokyo next year. The show includes the work of 11 eleven emerging and established artists and designers. 

2009

I forgot about this page. Or rather I got busy with other things, as an ENFP this can happen a lot.

Myers Briggs personality tests in my case feels quite right. Suggested career paths include

• Consultant
• Psychologist
• Entrepreneur
• Actor
• Teacher
• Counselor
• Politician / Diplomat
• Writer / Journalist
• Television Reporter
• Computer Programmer, Systems Analyst, or Computer Specialist
• Scientist
• Engineer
  

Thats ok, I am in the right area, kind of. Except that I need to FOCUS. This feels as if I am letting all those exciting things I notice go to waste. On this site comparisons with ADHD were made. Interesting though the idea of tribes.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Other news is that I have started a blog specifically to highlight Anti Trafficking campaigns. I would like to look at Arts and Social Justice but I think I will do that here (stay focused!).Check it out FightSlavery.

autumn

The summer was sweltering, hitting the 40s here. So summer came and went and we have a new prime minister here.

One of the highlights of my summer was the opportunity to attend the Sado Island Earth Festival in August - home of the community of Kodo drummers. Tap dancing with Taiko, jazz piano with hand drumbs and tabla.  

`

The Japanese characters for "Kodo" covey two meanings: Firstly, "heartbeat" - the sound of the mother`s heartbeat as felt in the womb. Secondly, read in a different way, the word can mean "children of the drum". `

Watching the Kodo drummers you could see their love for their drumming manifest in all the muscles that they had to use just to play, all the discipline and hard work that must be required in the training was so worth it in the performances, perhaps the same is true of having a small daily discipline and focus on things.

FUJI ROCKED

It came , it went, the wonderful and glorious festival that is FUJI ROCK. Fast becoming a hip destination this year I met people who had headed over for that alone - a couple from Finland, a film student from Leeds, not to mention a Japanese David Bowie who was celebrating his birthday and had been to the last 11 festivals. We chatted for about an hour and I left feeling very optimistic about marriage - so nice to hear how happily married people are instead of about divorce and difficulty.

•  I am now a BIG G-Love fan how good was that band???!!!! 
•  Clap your hands say yeah
• Deerhood
•  Aikainu
• Peter Bjorn and John
• Gov't Mule
• The Pigeon Detectives
• Yoleyole, Surkin
•  Boom boom satelites 

 My favorite place was the field of heaven which maintained and was slightly less commercialised.