gdp's Comments

elephant journal: Yoga, Sustainability, Politics, Spirituality. : Going Against the Current: Dreamwork As Spiritual Practice. ~ Jean Raffa

Thu, 17 Oct 2013 15:33:00 +0000

Alas, I have only the readers' edition, without pictures. The *proper* edition is on my wish list because at over a £100 a copy (I saw some for a little less) it's probably something to save up for. I've mostly been dreaming about getting on trains, then discovering that the group I am meant to be supervising are no longer with me and I may be on the wrong train!

elephant journal: Yoga, Sustainability, Politics, Spirituality. : Going Against the Current: Dreamwork As Spiritual Practice. ~ Jean Raffa

Thu, 17 Oct 2013 14:45:27 +0000

I'm working my way through The Red Book at present so this article is very helpful. As I am doing so, my own dreams are taking on some very interesting colours. Bravo, Jean. Lovely and more than that, helpful;

The Masquerade Crew : Has Amazon taken down any of your reviews? If so, I\'d love to hear from you.

Tue, 6 Nov 2012 14:45:29 +0000

I'm now very wary of writing another review ever again for Amazon. As far as I know, none I have written have vanished, nor have any of my books' reviews. THis all seems insane overkill for what was a probably self regulating problem at least longer term. Lots of reviews on Amazon read like school book reports, detailing the plot etc and going over what the synopsis and blurb actually said. I find reading these ones miserable going because they don't tell me anything useful. Author reviews tend to be much more interesting than this sort. I do wonder if this will just die down or escalate. Watching this space.

The Masquerade Crew : Have your book sales plummeted?

Tue, 16 Oct 2012 14:08:40 +0000

Hmmm. I've never made a book free (though I have said on my blog I'm happy to send a copy pdf to someone who genuinely cannot afford to buy one) and don't intend to. It's counter intuitive to me and I do very much wonder if people are currently buying less because they have so much free already. But for myself, the odd thing I pick up free, unless it's something I urgently wanted to read anyway, tends to wait along while till I've gone through the things I paid money for.

http://www.prdaily.com/ : 3 groups of people who should ignore the grammar police | Articles

Mon, 9 Apr 2012 19:33:49 +0000

I find grammar nazis a little alarming because they often seem to focus on the bit of lint they feel is spoiling your $1000 suit. It often seems a disproportionately intense reaction, especially when it's for a tweet or something essentially ephemeral. I teach English to overseas students, and when I mark written work I often see students lose confidence because of the amount of red ink and have to explain that I am correcting everything but that I feel the body of their work is excellent, that I am interested in their ideas more than their spelling but I would not be doing my job if I did not correct errors of grammar etc. A refreshing take, thank you.

Beyond Growth : Overdosing on Awesome

Tue, 17 May 2011 18:23:55 +0000

I've never liked the word awesome; it's a lazy teenage word. My evil ex-boss used to pepper her conversations with it. I rest my case. My recent post Guesting elsewhere today the grit at the heart of the pearl

The Daily Awe : I'm an empath...so now what?

Sun, 16 Jan 2011 19:34:33 +0000

That's a good question. Off hand I am not aware of having dreamed about good stuff at all. I do have good dreams, sometimes, and I have dreamed of future things that have been effectively neutral. I have a problem with sleep anyway, so maybe there is a limit to what can come through.

The Daily Awe : I'm an empath...so now what?

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 20:24:42 +0000

The really frustrating dreams are the ones where you see something you know is both significant and important but have no means of actually using it in a practical manner; this sort drive me mad because I KNOW something but can take no action to take it further. I've dreamed of murders, even, but when you wake knowing you have seen something you cannot possibly explain, you are left with the fact that even the most open police officer will not be open to it. And the other harsh thing is seeing things "remotely" that you are not trained or prepared to deal with. Many years ago during the Bosnian conflict, a friend of mine served as ambulance crew dealing with atrocities: for several months, even though I didn't know that's where he was and what he was doing, I saw snippets of what he saw during his days during my nightmares. It was only when he came home on leave I discovered what had been going on. At the time, I genuinely thought I might have been going insane. That's where prayer comes in to help deal with this stuff. I probably would be in a mental institution otherwise by now.

The Daily Awe : I'm an empath...so now what?

Fri, 14 Jan 2011 15:49:54 +0000

personal rituals can also help; setting up a "shield" when you feel you need it, as well as regular state of being checks so you can spot when you need to withdraw and recharge. Knowing yourself too; to be able to distinguish when an emotion is not your own and belongs to someone else. Not saying it's easy, because it isn't. I am still working on surviving it. The hardest aspects now are the ones when insights come at a distance, or via dreams or visions and it's essential to work out how much needs action taking and how much just needs accepting.

Heresy Corner : Sympathy for Stephen

Wed, 3 Nov 2010 09:54:06 +0000

....my take on that, Sue, is~ quality versus quantity!

Beyond Growth : What Should We Do With Inner Critics?

Tue, 2 Nov 2010 21:43:07 +0000

I discovered that in understanding why my mother hated the concept of one person standing out from another(in terms of excellence etc)(down to her being one of 8 kids, amid a family best termed a tribe, and resources including attention being limited) was the best way for that voice to slowly become stilled on its own accord. And also a kind of ancestral pattern of people being thwarted in their desires/ambitions by parents/guardians, going back possibly centuries is something I am trying to work through in my own life. The family tree is full of people who nearly made it(whatever IT might be) but turned back/were turned back because of family pressure of one sort or another. This little twig has gone a lot further than expected! Native Americans have a saying when they are in ceremony: For all my relations. It bears thought. My recent post Warning!

Beyond Growth : What Should We Do With Inner Critics?

Tue, 2 Nov 2010 21:13:11 +0000

If you wait till the still small voice becomes a roar, then the chances are its message is so urgent it may well be too late. My recent post Warning!

Beyond Growth : What Should We Do With Inner Critics?

Tue, 2 Nov 2010 21:12:55 +0000

True enough about the voices. The one that actually upsets me the most is the one that closely resembles my mother's, and in some ways, this is the one that I feel quite strongly has the least authenticity for my life. This voice is the one that is always telling me to not put myself forward, to be a shrinking violet, to always let others go first(I don't mean through doorways) and is generally the one that tells me how little real value I am. But as I have grown as a person and stepped forward with care and compassion into a world that actually has a place for me, I have noticed that this voice scarcely speaks any more. It's function was to make sure that I avoid acting from purely selfish motives. Most people avoid silence and stilness; one colleague I work with occasionally is one of those Christians whose choice of worship style avoids any silence and a lot of noise and movement and activity and has been horrified by the concept of Quaker worship(more my choice) where one sits for an hour in silence and waits to hear what comes forth. My recent post Warning!

Beyond Growth : What Should We Do With Inner Critics?

Tue, 2 Nov 2010 20:15:39 +0000

I think for me it is important to distinguish between the voices(yeah, I know) in my head. There are ones like the inner critic you speak of that are quite reasonable and they speak sense. There are also ones that are full of hate and bile and self destructive semi-truths. I listen to them all but if the voice takes on a mean tone, it's not something I think its healthy for me to listen to, let alone obey. Deep in my psyche are many layers, many voices. Not all of them are mine; some are imposters, drawn from trauma. As you say integrating the critic before it becomes abrasive and vitriolic is key but also allowing ourselves the time to seek silence so that it is possible to listen to what is actually being said. We miss so much through the noise and incessant busy-ness of life. Good thoughts here. My recent post Warning!

Heresy Corner : Sympathy for Stephen

Tue, 2 Nov 2010 13:19:15 +0000

There's a world of difference between liking something and being driven by it.

Beyond Growth : How to Take the Plunge into Complete Narcissism: on Steve Pavlina's Subjective Reality

Fri, 22 Oct 2010 21:33:33 +0000

Am I a butterfly dreaming I am a woman or a woman dreaming I am a butterfly? Hell, I don't really care, just give me the nectar* anyway (* whatever sweet and intoxicating substance you care to substute will do) Sorry, brain virtually dead right now, long week at work. I shall try to write a sensible response if I manage to reboot my mind. My recent post Paris again!

Beyond Growth : The Logic of Evil in Personal Development

Sat, 16 Oct 2010 09:48:28 +0000

There's also Pride and Prejudice and Zombies but the Fight Club one is my favourite. My recent post Woodland Stream

Beyond Growth : The Herd Mentality of Individualism & Lifestyle Design

Fri, 15 Oct 2010 20:29:41 +0000

We need to be Wild Sheep and escape the herd....and make sure we never end up as shepherd's pie. Seriously. That's where sheep end up. They might start out as fluffy white lambs bouncing around a field in the spring sunshine but they end up somewhere quite different. Leaving aside the whole Hannibal Lecter possibilities, there are analogies: we cease to be individuals and we become...a hunk of walking meat, fodder for the profitteers who sell us what they have convinced us we need. Give Jack Daniels my regards and tell him he and I have a date sometime real soon. My recent post Woodland Stream

Beyond Growth : The Logic of Evil in Personal Development

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 15:55:05 +0000

Hey have you seen Jane Austen's Fight Club yet? I like both the films it draws on. Put it into youtube and prepare for giggles. My recent post Monday Meditation- Narcissus

Beyond Growth : The Logic of Evil in Personal Development

Wed, 13 Oct 2010 07:26:17 +0000

You got it, Chris. The worst thing is you are at that stage usually too naive to realise that people don't thank you for telling them the truth. I learned that the hard way. Alternatively, a decent pair of running shoes and good reactions to crowd dynamics might come in handy; fighting alone without someone to watch your back is a bigger risk than people'd imagine. My recent post Monday Meditation- Narcissus