The Curse of Affluence

Here in the west we have this habit of extending our lifestyles to exceed our incomes. Advertising makes you desire more stuff and then you go an buy it, convinced that you are not very well off, that you deserve more luxury. We always seem to believe that our neighbours and friends are somehow further ahead than us.

Good news is you are well off, and you’re going to be fine without that new toaster. Live simpler and give more, then you'll be doing more than getting by, you’ll be living!

Holding Back

Everything we do effects others, we're all connected. Sometimes our aspirations and dreams harm the people who we’re connected to. I think best we stand with people, moving together at an equal pace.

The Smell Factor

As I make personal choices about how to live my live by my values I am wary of the slippery slope I’m on. Whilst I aim to live my life in such a way as to empower the marginalised, promote equality and diversity, love others, protect and sustain the world and it’s peoples; the more hard core I get, the more I smell.

No offence to people like Ghandi, Jesus and Mother Theresa; their contribution to the world was monumental, but we all know that the very acts of changing the world for the better are often opposed to personal grooming.

Here’s an example of some thing that are good, but make you smell: Riding your bike instead of your car, avoiding aluminium deodorants, mulching manure, etc. I put together this sliding scale of ‘normal’ to ‘smelling’ people, I’m still pretty close to the ‘normal’ end, but am heading further down:

note: spelling in this may be ‘near-enough-is-good-enough’, also, the order of events may differ from individual experience.

Anyway, I’d rather smell and live in the world I hope for. You know, that is if I can’t have both. I’ll just take more eco-friendly showers. How far are you down the list?

A different kind of Christmas

I think you should all be empowered by this new video, which has become my favourite clip on the cost of materialism. I think it says very simply what we all know about the price of a consumerist society, and what we can simply do to have a better life and community now.

It was posted by Christine Sine on her blog with a lot of other cool tips and resources on how to do Christmas differently. I highly recommend checking it out. Merry Christmas.

The future that may never come

Jess and I try to live our lives as presently as we can, and prioritise our families and relationships. One thing we often say is that we wont ‘Sacrifice the present for the future’. That may hit your ears oddly, as it still does mine. Aren’t we supposed to work now and play later? Didn’t the ant live through the winter while the lazy grasshopper froze to death outside. This type of living seems odd in our current uncertain times, when many are trying to secure their financial future. But we find we have more than enough, and that the future is even more uncertain than we realise. Perhaps the future we’re trying to save is not the one we want, better to enjoy the present. Just my thoughts…

Support/Bullying

I’m not quite sure what this cartoon is about, I think it’s about how good it feels to have someone back you up in a situation. But then I got thinking about the little guy, I bet he doesn’t feel real great. Maybe the others went to far, and didn’t take care of him. I guess it’s tricky to balance backing our mates and going overboard.

Guest Blogger!

Hey, my exciting news is that I was asked to write a post for the SUNO blog about my exploits with Drama Church. I got to do some drawings and talk about my involvement in trying to make faith make sense in my world. You can check it out by clicking HERE! You may recognise the pictures from an older blog post, but there’s some new doodles in there too.

Thanks for reading,

Sincerely,

Theo

Apparate

Verb -

1. (neologism) To appear (magically)

Hazel has developed the ability to make items appear out of thin air. Yesterday she apparated a plastic jug of water, which she promptly flung to the floor. While this super-skill is exciting, it is a little alarming as she tends to apparate potentially dangerous items (Knives, scissors, shavers, etc.).

I know you’re thinking ‘Well you shouldn’t leave stuff lying around’ but seriously, we don’t even know where the jug came from, or how it got within arm reach of Hazel. So far a very wet floor is the only consequence of this skill. Though she did apparate Jess’ lost watch two days ago (it’s been missing for months!), that was pretty good.

Hazel continues to grow, develop and grow, remaining the tallest baby in her acquaintance. She is also beginning to explore the world as thoroughly as possible.

Saturday for Christ’s Return

I'm a big fan of unity, and so I don't like to take up a negative stance against those who believe much of what I believe as well. Still, I think that we should be able to think independently and disagree on many things, constantly trying to find the truth and broaden each others minds. That said, I find it rather amusing that yet another Christian group has picked the date of Christ’s return. Guess what, it's this Saturday!

More accurately, Jesus' return to earth is Saturday, with the subsequent destruction of the Earth on the 21st of October. My sister is miffed that she'll miss her 25th birthday this year.

Wecanknow.com makes the argument that 'Noah knew, and so can we' but their site is so bulky that the actual details of their reason for believing this, and their reason for picking this Saturday, are well hidden. Never-the-less, they invite you to pour through the data and pray for a revelation of the truth.

focussing on the destruction of the world is dangerous. We begin to live as thought the planet and our lives don't matter. It's like the old hypothetical 'What would you do if you had only a day left to live?' Provocative perhaps, but I think a way more challenging and telling questions is 'What will you do if you don't die tomorrow?' 'What will you do if the earth doesn't burn?' 'What if we have to lie in the bed we made for ourselves?'

Maybe we'll make a better bed. Maybe we'll treat the earth better. Maybe we'll live our lives more like we'd hoped. We have to put in the effort to heal and transform, because there's no reset button. I hope my life can be different because I have hope for the world we have. How about you?

Overstated

I once worked for a power generation museum that educated school groups on how electricity was made and transported to our homes. One of the team working there was quite keen on educating students about the long term effects of burning fossil-fuels, and he used to regularly tell groups, “Every time you turn on a light switch, a little fish like Nemo DIES!” (Finding Nemo was a pretty big deal back then).

This was all good and well for a long time, until one day he said this to a group of students who were maybe a bit to young to cope with his poetic description of everyday pollution. A gasp went throughout the room, some tears were shed, they asked if they could turn off the lights in the museum and, needless to say,  they were more than a little traumatised.

Exaggerating is fun, and enhancing stories with near-facts is a raw and creative poetic licence for our often routine lives.  But in a world where so many causes compete for our attention (global warming, morality, human issues, marketing, relationships, Facebook) it seems that everything is blown out of proportion. My life is so larger than life, that it no longer all fits in: it’s bursting at the seems.

The world will end in 2012! If you eat your crusts your hair will turn curly! Your Ipad is ‘Magical’! Nine out of Ten Nutritionists recommend…! Certain unspeakable acts will make you go blind! If you litter a Kitten will get axed! All of these extreme messages, all of the time.

And do we believe it all? Or do we come to expect that things are less satisfactory than they present. After all, marketing must be based on convincing people that their experience of a product will be completely satisfying, life-alteringly so! And to convince you that those needs are actually met after you do purchase the product, they reduce your expectation of what a satisfying, life-altering experience is.

So here’s my thought, let’s start to talk about the world more accurately. Not the worst, not the best. Just is. And then let’s raise our expectations of what satisfactory is. We’ll strive for more and love even harder and ironically, I think we’ll be more satisfied. Thanks for reading, I love your comments!

Carpe Diem

I made this image in paint when I was a teenager, and I’ve decided to use it (in its incorrectly-spelled glory) here. The intent is “never let an opportunity go by”. What kind of opportunity? Well, I guess the opportunity to push a friend in a hole.
Chances are you’ll enjoy it, and they’ll enjoy it, and everyone will laugh about it later. Just choose your friends and the holes you choose to stand next to wisely.

Out of reach

One of my earliest memories is of trying to reach the door handle, and it being too high. I can remember frustration in that moment, of being unable to attain something so simple. Now days I often feel like I’m not quite there. Stretching for something only just out of my reach but entirely unattainable.
I guess I’m comforted by the fact that I can now reach door handles with ease. Also, there were always those around who could open doors for me. I’m not doing it on my own. I don’t really have the world on my shoulders. I’ll keep stretching till I reach the goal. Keep growing.

Augusta 26/2/11

Here’s some sketches I made while in Augusta recently. I coloured them as well. I like the colours, but I’m not sure it was exactly like that. Thanks for reading. Theo

Animal Magnetism - Strengths based failure…

This week I was thinking about the direction of my career and thinking about my strengths. Jess, my wife, was helping me and writing down the list. Some of my strengths, animal magnetism for example, made the list easily. As I recalled them, however, Jess suggested that a few of my strengths were not actually very helpful to my career. Like always being right. I’m very good at that; people think I’m right all the time even when I’m not. And even when people think I’m wrong, I’m usually sure I’m right. Being defensive was another, it’s like an art form for me, which helps in the ‘always being right’ department.

So then I thought not all of my talents are good ones. I don’t really want my greatest skills to be the ones that tare down my relationships. I could be the all powerful defence man! but I’m sure I’d be a super villain if I was. And I have plenty of strengths that could contribute to society, using my power for good instead of evil. I guess I just have to put as much energy into them as I do into being hard to live with and contributing to myself. Peace to all of you!

Boxing

Bono feels like he still hasn’t found what he’s looking for. I think a lot of us can relate; a feeling like we’re not quite there yet, or there’s something more, a general dis-content. Maybe we are all coming short, or perhaps we’re just hoping for a brighter future. Either way we’d best know what we’re looking for, and then probably where to find it.

I don’t want to get stuck, I want to keep looking. I don’t want to avoid finding what I’m looking for. It may be hard to cope with, but I’d rather die in the right place than avoid it forever. Then I think we’;; have found what we’ve been looking for all along. Just a thought…

Queuing...

One of the conversations I keep having lately is about whether our big goals actually line up with what we want. For example, someone might say that they want to be a police officer, but what they really want is to protect people. These aren't mutually exclusive, but they're not the same thing either. They get so caught up on the idea of becoming a cop that they don't even realize that this isn't what they really want, and when they end up behind a desk they're unsure why they feel unsatisfied. I think we should assess our goals and be aware of what they are and mean, why we want them, and how we'll know when we've achieved them. 

There's plenty of goals placed on us by advertisers, social expectation, parents and peers, goals that we don't even really want; buy this, be the best, look sexy, impress your friends, get a good score, work harder, shut up, etc. 

Are we on track to achieving real and meaningful goals? The goals we want?

Hazel Vs. the World

Hazel has a amazing ability to put things in her mouth. Whilst this seems to be a simple task, most people could not accomplish it with such skill as Hazel. her repertoire is extensive and includes, but is not limited to,:

Toys, cutlery, her feet, a pedestal fan, chair legs, bed sheets, the steering wheel on our car, guests, etc.

If you still think, that’s not that hard, then my challenge to you this week is to put all of the above items in your mouth. let me know if you succeed.

Hazel’s mission about the house seems to be to discover and explore. this got me thinking, that maybe that’s what we humans do. We constantly find new was to engage with the world around us. First we touch then taste, then crawl then walk, then talk and socialise, etc. Maybe that’s what drives us to the exploration extremes of space travel. I think I should find a new way to engage with my world this week. All of you with out pedestal fan’s in their mouths are free to join me.