Ready to get paid

Yes, I am...
It already the end of the month and I have bills to fulfil.

Facilitation training

We will be holding our next Footpaths facilitation training on the 12th and 13th Jan, possibly in Leicester, maybe elsewhere. If you know anyone in some other part of the country who would be interested in finding the people for and facilitating a Footpaths group, please do give them my phone number (0116 2899074) or direct them to our website ( http://www.leicesterfootpaths.org.uk ).

Horrid Airbnb Experience - Getting in touch with Airbnb

After our adventure with B., the recovering alcoholic, I decided to look through Airbnb for some cues on B.
The profile of B. appeared OK. the people on the page did not complain of any issue with him whatsoever. Only one person said that ''he could not stay anymore in their property'' - does that mean that he could stay because he wrecked the place? or because they had a change of plan?

Who knows.

I could not even bring myself to put my dirty laundry out on Airbnb.
B. has mental health issues. Am I the one who needs to make this personal matter public on a social media platform?  So I wrote '' B. cannot stay in my property anymore and I hope that he will find a group of people who will be able to support him''. Is it the appropriate language to use?

I contacted Airbnb to let them know about B. - they gave me a call and kind of told me that I need to be careful with the people I am bringing to my home. I told them, yes but there was no indication that this person was poorly. Furthermore, don't you have a policy against discrimination on the basis of someone health?

Airbnb is a fabulous tool for people to share their spaces with others and learn from them. Yet, we have to be prepared to deal with some of darker side of what it means to be a human. I can not even imagine the number of people with no family and who are maybe sick who use Airbnb to have somewhere to sleep and have some sort of social support. Yet, if left alone, they go to annihilation. If I knew about B. situation, I would not have left B. alone in my property. But I did not know...

Mental health matters and within the use of the digital platforms, we need to discuss how people who may poorly use them to meet some of their needs and with this knowledge figure out how services providers could possibly support them better. Let's think

The Wedding

Year prior to the due date

Groom: I want to marry you.

Bride: I want to marry you too

Parents: You can only marry if you convert.

Groom: I will.

Bride: He will

Parents: We shall see

Months prior to the due date

He does

She is pleased

They are pleased yet suspicious of its intentions

Two weeks before the wedding

The groom gets a piercing

Two days before the wedding

The groom arrives at the house of the bride's parents to bring the dowry with a piercing in his nose

The family horrified do not say a thing but passes the message to the wedding organisers so they can speak to the bride. The bride is tasked to talk to her future husband to not wear the piercing at the wedding.

Wedding day

The groom arrives at the reception hall with the piercing in his nose. 

The lead organisers are boiling inside.

They talk to the bride, she is boiling inside. 

She has not talked to her husband.

The lead organisers take the courage to take him on a side.

He is told that if he does not take off his piercing, the ceremony cannot happen.

He takes off the piece of jewellery with resistance.

The ceremony happens.

The ceremony finishes

he puts back the piercing on.

All is well.

I am because we are full of conflicts

The Ultimate Project - Answering Why I do what I do?

She had for a long time been thinking that the skills that she wanted for the most part to develop was Project Management. So she could in her professional life, coordinate projects and achieve the ultimate goal of completing one.
We quickly realise that what she actually needs is to develop the skills and abilities to focus her energy in accomplishing her personal goals.
She had so many different interests that every time she set herself up with one goal, she found herself distracted with more interesting things to pursue.
Her creative energy was so powerful that she could not indeed build upon it to create lasting impression on herself and others.

Why?

This is the main question to answer until then, any other attempt to develop project management skills will be lost in the vacuum of distraction. Answering the question is a project in itself.
Good luck with it we said to her, you may be able soon to control your mind.

Dear Councillors of Leicester, Please Say NO to a new Road at the Full Council Debate on the 4th October

Dear Councillors of Leicester,

I am contacting you as one of your constituents to ask you to speak in favour of the removal of the Evesham Road/Aylestone Road link road from the Leicester Local Plan at the council debate to be held on 4th October 2018.

I go to Eversham Road every Tuesday for my violin lesson on Heyworth Road from Braunstone Frith. From there, I go to a community of repairers: The Leicester Hackspace in the Faircharm Industrial Estate to work on various projects to help people in Leicester to engage further with trying to repair items in their home. Over the summer, I went to the pebble pool on Aylestone Meadows with my nephews and greatly enjoyed it.

Recently, I was made aware that there is a plan to make a link between Evesham Road and Aylestone Road.  I was disappointed to hear so. The road will erase some of the historical and social fabric of the space people have been living in for decades. It will also impact tremendously on the natural environment surrounding it. I am thinking about Aylestone Meadows and the river corridor, but not only. What about air pollution which is recognised to kill people as they ingest fumes from cars? Did you know that there is St Mary Fields Primary school not far from where they are planning to build a road? What a poor example for children living in the area to see that their city favour cars over their health?

My main concern with this road stems from my experience living in Braunstone Frith where I can see the impact of social and economic deprivation. I believe that building a road does not solve this particular issue, it will induce more traffic for sure but will it really enhance the lives of people living where those cars are passing through?

Seeing cars every day before your eyes make one believe that having a car is the only way to make it in this life. It just increases the feeling of unworthiness when actually if we had better transport links and cycling routes around Leicester, people could feel more empowered to direct their lives. It will save them money and they will pay more attention to their direct environment. 

We shall also inspire them to create cultural, sport and artistic events in their local areas and/or create local businesses that benefit people living directly in their area. Instead of encouraging them to travel further and farther from where they live to create connections with work colleagues who have no clue about their living situation.

It is sad for me to think that some citizen in Leicester who tend to travel by car to go from their home to work do not realise the richness of their town (natural, historical, social and economic environment) as they are so siloed by their own personal goals. It is also sad that the council is perpetuating such a false concept by planning more roads. It is believed that building a road may improve citizen personal situation. Yet, it is not! because they become more isolated since they have no or little connection with people they work with and little connection with people they live with. 

For example, my husband travels by car every morning for 30minutes from our home to get to work. When he comes back, he has no energy to get involved in our local area. He has no connection with the people living here in Braunstone Frith and no connection with the people he works with. I am lucky to be able to work in Leicester for most of the week. I only go to Loughborough to work with the university there. Otherwise, I cycle, take the bus, walk and only when I need to transport big items do I use the car. I am richer because of it. I meet people in the local area, they recognise me, sometimes they approach me to ask me questions. I recently learnt about Braunstone Park Run. My husband lived in Braunstone Frith for the last 15 years, he had no idea. 

I can also see the opportunities that there is in the local area to create events or businesses. You would not have those ideas if you are always on the road and obviously if you do not have the time to educate yourself. Having to travel less definitely provide ones with more time to think about what they want and how to get there by collecting all the information they need. A road ultimately does not pass knowledge from one area to another if people have no connection with the people living next to them. In other words, it has very little economic value for people living there. Please read p.6. of the End of the Road Briefing on the Economics of New Road for more information.

I believe that we share a concern for people's health but also recognise the extent to which community events participate in strengthening the cultural and social fabric between the members of a community and this has economic value. It increases their loyalty to the area. And so I hope you will support my views by speaking out at the upcoming debate and help to get this plan off the map once and for all with a firm commitment by the council to consult with Leicester residents on what should be done with the land and property protected for possible road development.

Why do we want a firm commitment by the council to remove this plan from the map? It is because building this road has been a recurring plan in the past two decades. In the early 90s, The council tried to build in this area and was countered by a strong opposition. Last year 2017, the plan came up again.

You would argue that there is currently no official and formal plan by the council to build a road. However, I think that they do have an intention to build a road and this is considering that Cllr Adam Clarke signed of the funding bid for the opening of Putney Road and I will quote the council p.8 of the same document: "Leicester City Council is considering a future scheme whereby Evesham Road would be extended to provide a direct link (new vehicular bridge over River Soar and canal) between the A426 Aylestone Road and the A5460 Narborough Road and M1/J21. There are very few river crossings in the south of the city (namely Upperton Road and Middleton Street) and providing this link would free up those congested routes across the river. The Putney Road link would greatly enhance the viability of building the Evesham Road link."

Can you see where my concern is? There may be no official plan yet. But for me the ''intention'' is alarming and so everytime a consultation will be put forward, this recurring plan will come back to haunt Leicester constituents.

What I would really love to see is for the council to share and make the same commitment of its constituents in Aylestone and across its various wards and areas to promote and protect their green environment, considering them as lungs of the city.

Lungs are the most important part of the human body and we say that smoking kills, remember cars' moke do kill people too and so the Lungs of Leicester - its Green areas - are worth protecting from harm.

It is with this official commitment by the council to protect this area that our efforts in reaching out to you and other councillors will be rewarded.

We should work to encourage people to use their car less and not the contrary.

I will appreciate that you take my concern into considerations and share with your fellow councillors the opportunities that can be created in protecting what we have so dear.

x

Failed to quit smoking, Learn to Breathe Instead

I thought I'll share my experience in trying to stop smoking and what was the trigger to completely stop.

I have been up and down in regard to trying to stop smoking completely in the past two years or so. I'll stop sometimes for a month, then start again, then stop again for another month. I'll smoke sometimes only over the weekend, then stop again for few days. 

My body was so confused that I caught some chest infection and got pretty sick.

Nevertheless, I kept going on the smoky ride.

I was fed up and wanted to really know what was going on.

Time for reflection. Is it because of others? Is it because I am depressed? Is it just the addiction?

Then I came across a video about breathing and how beneficial it is for the brain to breathe properly.

I read around the topic of breathing from a medical and spiritual perspective taking into account studies made on yogic breathing techniques in tackling depression and other health issues. 

I reflected on how I breathe when I smoke. The truth is it is when I inhale and exhale the smoke that I fully pay attention to my breathing. I like the feeling of my lung getting filled with air and I stop there and then paying attention to my list of things to do. But wow, smoking is horrible for my health.

So I decided to stop focusing on ''stopping to smoke'' but instead focusing my energy into learning to breathe properly.

Right now, It has been not even a week, I stopped. I am giving myself a lot of fresh air by inhaling and exhaling deeply in order to get calmer. 

I am taking some honey to heal my lungs, I am going for long walk in the forest to breath some fresh air. I try to stand up more to breathe with my belly and not with my chest.

We will see how I can keep going.

I'll share in a month or so how learning to breathe again is helping me leaving behind one of the biggest compromise I have made to calm myself down i.e. > to wreck my health through smoking.

Compromise is living with I

There is nothing worse than to compromise your sleep for the sake of relationships.
Yet, we do it all the time.
Look at the baby crying, the baby snoring, the baby wetting their bed.
Look at the phone flashing light, beeping and ringing in the morning light
The other, baby child or adult, the other, machine or gadget,  can be a monster in our life.
Well, get over it.
To live full stop is a compromise to make with I.

Phone addiction - No Solution for that - Only a discussion

Phone addiction is real and can wreck relationships

Google - My spouse can't get off of his phone onto google. You will be surprised by the number of hits for that particular sentence. Men and Women are complaining about their spouses spending more time with lovey Iphone, Sexy Samsung and Cheeky Sony than them.

So what is the solution to that particular problem?

Well, there is no magic pill to end an addiction to a phone.

The conversation around phone addiction shall not be about looking for a solution. 

It should be about humanity and its relationship with technology and other human beings. 

We have to find a consensus on what is the role of technology in our lives and if they are detrimental to our progress, we should question their existence and/or their features. Personally, if technology incites division, isolation, addiction, argument, dispute and possibly hatred, well bin it.

Gift economy trail of discussion

The conversation between two strangers arguing that a group offering a service shall organise themselves to make it possible for those who cannot pay to not have to pay.

M: I am not talking about individual offering a service. I am talking about group offering a service and charging for it. They have to organise themselves so not everyone pays by using a collection plate so people can remain anonymous. this is the way forward for a gift economy.

M: being an individual or a group does not change the fact that we have currently an incurrent charge to live in the current market economy and this includes paying rent, taxes and expenses. If as a group, we are delivering a service, we are already contributing in term of energy, money, time, the cost of the place, etc. As much as not being judgemental with what we receive in return, how many time do we have to send the collection plate around to make people feel that they have to share their gifts too and please note their gift does not have to be only monetary.

M: well there is another way to collect the gift, you have to be more creative in your collection mean by using the rainbow kit, a gift circle, donations at the entrance etc..

M: Do not get me wrong, it is what is happening already. What you are putting forward as solutions for collection is adopted by many communities. it does not change the fact that by design the cost incurred to pay for capital cost means that some will choose to contribute and some other will decide that they won't. Either way, there will be always someone who will feel that they are taken advantage of. to tame them down, we will say to them ''well this is part of the gift economy, this is because we are a compassionate community who give freely and please be grateful for all that is given to you and hush already''...

M: there will be always distrusting exchangers who are present, you have to educate them on what the gift economy is., the real issue is with the people who charge for events where the unemployed cannot come...they are cold and cruel.

M: the issue is not with the distrusting exchangers or the person who set prices, they are not cold or cruel, the issue is not with those who haven't got money or unemployed. the issue is that the buildings in which we are, the tools that we used, all the infrastructures that allow us to drink, eat, take a shower are all bound to go to entropy if not maintained. and unfortunately, in the market economy, a lot of it has a price tag. People care about their safety and being able to live in a stable world, they will engage with others to increase their resilience by exchanging gifts - skills knowledge products money etc. However, they always do mental accounting on the extent to which a relationship is fair, care of their physical and mental being and maintain their current environment...any signs of unfairness does create some politics for which a consensus need to be found.

You feel that there is enough to get around - well there is a treasure in your house

Have you ever heard about the girl who had a messy house and used to complain all the time because she did not have enough money, she did not have love, she did not have anything to go about. She fights with everyone to let them know how horrible life is and that we all have to fight to get what we want.
Victim mentality at its best.

She meets a woman with clairvoyant abilities. The woman tells her: ''there is a treasure in your house''.
To get it, the girl got to clean her act and deal with the messy house.
Before she knows it, she sells all the clutter and in her pocket find the treasure...

The moral to the story is : You know what the solution is to your problem,
maybe it is time to see it, if you can't, clean the stage and your act.

People & Money : A Workshop about Money

I have been involved with Positive Money since my master thesis where my focus was at the time on ''What are the Design skills for the transition towards the Circular Economy?''.

Whilst interviewing the various stakeholders during the thesis, one was particularly keen on discussing economics, how money works,  how people are blinded by its meaning?

How did I come from discussing design to having a long discussion about money?

Well, it appears that the creation of money and the way it is applied to motivate people to stay on the treadmill seems to be like water nourishing poor design and systemic issues at its roots.

It cannot be ignored.

After the master thesis, I studied money, how is created and how it impacts people wellbeing.

I ran a number of workshops in Leicester to raise awareness.

The Leicester Positive Money Group emerged and as of today still, exists.

Yet, we have an idea.

Let's start again to share the word.

My friend, Danielle Teixeira and I have designed a two hours workshop on Money - what is money, how it is created - what actions you can take to be run in Leicestershire for both classes of teens and group of adults. We are only at the initiation stage of our project where we want to get some feedback from people on whether they want to take part or not.

Do you want to take part or have it run in your community? Click here to let us know or Join the Positive Money Leicestershire discussion here

10 reasons why Gumtree is Good for the Local Economy

Most of you know Gumtree the local ads website where there is approximately 1,772 573 as we speak in the UK.

For me, it is one of the best local ads website one can find and I love it because I believe it is actually good for the Local Economy. 10 Reasons why:

Because it gets good, money, ideas, knowledge, contacts circulating at a fast rate at a local level.

There is nothing better than increasing the velocity of exchange to improve a city economy.

There is no fee attached to posting an item on gumtree. It makes Ebay look so bad.

Items that may be discarded and put in a bin because broken can be purchased by someone who is looking for a spare part.

There are plenty more reason to actually be on Gumtree.

If Gumtree was to giving me a job, I'll be there ambassadorhttps://www.shopkeep.com/blog/10-ways-small-businesses-benefit-the-local-community#step-1

Freedom Time - We heard you.

My father is both its state of consciousness and unconsciousness.
He has Lewy Body Dementia.
He has wisdom though in his cloud.
I pay very close attention to what he says before he goes.

I had my mother on the phone. She narrated her last encounter with him.

He said: ''Why do you stay at home? You and Marle Toto. You have to come out of the house sometimes if you want to start collaborating with people.''

She replied: how do you know that your daughter and I stay at home?

He disappeared.

As my mum narrated what happened, I heard him.

Yes, I enjoy working from home.

I can be the whole me.

No need to engage in the war of the minds, be dominated by any isms in the form of community cohesion or for some the doctrine of religion,  no need to conform to any vision or listen to the tell-a-vision. Drink and eat to please when you already full of aspirations.

Yet, I heard him.

It is Freedom time now.

Time to free ourselves from the shackles of convention and shout out loud what we truly believe in so together we can all progress.

To do so, achieving freedom comes with a cost, you have to be as organised as the people in war and come out of your shell.

I have listened to you, father, and will go out there more for my voice to be heard.

So we should all.

Listen Lauryn Hill, Freedom Time

Responsibilities are Detachable so Start Cutting them off

Take a pen and paper. 

Breathe and

Ask yourself.

What are all the responsibilities am I holding at the moment?

Write it all down.

Pause

Order them into categories

Breathe

Ask yourself,

Do I have too many stuff

Too many possessionss

too many projects

too many commitments...

Time to detach yourself from most of them

Some you may not be able too.

Other may appear unimportant and non urgent.

Some may take time to get rid of but yet appear as priorities.

Tag them and Simplify. 

You will be better for it and a model for your peers to follow.

Mustard Seed Gathering - Are you a gardener or a litterer

I went to the beach with approximately 500 people who were all part of the same community of church goers from the Mustard Seed Chapel International

It was my first time witnessing how church communities organise themselves and I was well impressed by the community feel, the love and support they give to one another.
I found myself with people coming from different corners of England to meet on Bridlington Beach in North Yorkshire.

The beach was beautiful and calm as we arrived. Before we knew it, music was blasting, children were laughing, waste was everywhere to be found, barbecues were smoking.

Pure process of destruction before my eyes.

At the day drew to an end and the fellows left the beach. Their presence was still felt as we could find plastic bags, food, children toys everywhere.

I was disappointed and groaned: ''How unthoughtful?''

I liaised back the information to my friend and her leader.

I was met with the questions '' Are you an environmentalist? ''

I paused...

''Most people do not think environmentally..''

 I answered

''Most people thought that church goers were the most thoughtful and wise individuals respecting the planet on which they are on and their fellow humans...Aren't you the gardeners of the eden park growing and harvesting the souls?... dear friend, it is becoming dry, hell on earth is coming!''

Largest Fearless Life Goal - To Enjoy Life

One of the most ranked life goal on ranker.com is to Enjoy Life.

It refers to Being playful, carefree, lighthearted, enjoying life; being spontaneous; exploring, being adventurous; having an exciting, stimulating life; to live for today; devoting time to amusements, recreation, entertainment, hobbies.

In other words, live with the flow and take what comes with a light heart.

To achieve such a state, there is something to work on on the daily basis.
This is to be fearless or more appropriately to transform what we fear into a source of excitement. 

Did you know that we release the same chemical in our body when we are scared or excited?

Remember the feeling when you are on a rollercoaster! You know this moment when you sit on a ride and it starts moving up the slide... all your body is alert, full of fear and excitement for what to come and then it goes down, relief and release of the emotions in a BIG SCREAM or LAUGH!

As new things come into your life, do not jump with fear, jump with excitement. 
It is something new to make you grow and teach you how to enjoy life as it comes

So here it

Enjoy lifeBe fearlessLive with excitement
and when the spark goes, appreciate the moment

Breakwaters Sound

The temptation to build walls at sea to protect beaches to be eroded seems to be a perfect plan.
However, can one really breaks water from its natural course? The sound of the waves crashing onto the walls are a good reminder that the force is still there and this is only a temporary solution.

It is not that different from trying to build a shell around oneself to deal with difficult emotions. The sounds of words outside the shell can easily break in and tear apart the walls we have constructed. Before we know it, we are consumed and annihilate from the inside out.

What to do?

Plant some seeds of wonder. Water them with your emotions. They may grow into trees so you can keep yourself grounded. Soon, there will be a forest, the bird will come, admire the chef d'oeuvre and sing altogether the tales of the one who stopped fighting water.

Hacking Adulthood or maybe not

Here are some lifehacks that will change your life if you follow them through thoroughly so you can achieve the life you always dream of... Lots of Money and a nice retirement pot:

1. Wake up every morning at 5.30

 > So you can do your yoga, read a book, take a shower, have breakfast, do your meditation and write on a piece of paper what you are grateful for (i.e. you have a 40hjob, that pays you £20000 and house not completely paid yet but still) 

2. Smile at work

> Because people like people who smile

3. Overload with stuff to do, you are so lucky, use an app to help you manage it all, or get an IPAD

> it will make your life easier. you will have just one more thing to manage.

4. Cook up your food on Sunday for the week so you do not have to cook at all and have more time for yourself > ...

5. Read 2min long story to your child, they will be happy and you will be quicker in bed

6. Put an alarm on your phone so you can remember to go to bed and to wake up

7. Do some sports cos your body is the most important thing particularly if you are sitting all day

8. Go out and have fun over the weekend, avoid doing it during the week, you will be wrecked

9. Remember to clean after something get dirty or get a cleaner

10. Start again.

11. there is more... please refer to the zillions of self-help books which remind you that you are not perfect and you need fixing.

Well for the more brave, ditch the list above, ask your company to reduce your hours of work, get people together to start pestering that they want a change within their workplace, take a sabbatical and go to the seaside. start living life as an adult not as...

Part 1 : No Water to Draw with or the Colours of Water

While relatively small quantities of water appear to be colourless, pure water has a slight blue colour that becomes a deeper blue as the thickness of the observed sample increases. The blue hue of water is an intrinsic property and is caused by selective absorption and scattering of white light.

When there is no water to draw, one can see blood. 
The world turns upside down.

It is exactly what happened when upon getting into the shower, he realises that there is no water. He goes down to the kitchen, no water. He goes up to the sink tap, no water.


M: ''I love my water''
W: ''Do you?''
M:''Yes, I like the feel on my skin, I like my big shower, It is like being in Africa right now.''
W: ''We have a bottle of water downstairs, you can brush your teeth with''
M: ''Thanks. Did I take a shower last night? Yes I did!''
W: ''Moving forward, let's buy some water bottles, so we are ok when there is no supply''
M: ''Good idea''
W: ''This gives me one more reason to collect water from our roof plus our greywater, I'll call the plumber today''
M: ''Good idea''
W: ''So the garden stays green when it dries up and your eyes do not turn red when there is no more''
M: ''I like my big shower, the transparent droplet of water on my skin, it gets me calm like the deep blue at sea''.



When there was no water in Braunstone Frith Leicester on 30th July 2015