EARTH - MOTHER GODDESS, OUR HAVEN.

‘We can do better’

I once heard someone say in a podcast that humans were like mould on a sandwich, spoiling the Earth without concern for the consequences. Another metaphor I read in an article compared human beings to a virus infecting the planet. Someone suggested to me that humanity is so damaging to itself and the planet, that we need to press the reset button. Let’s just say he wasn’t an optimist! This outlook on humanity lacks faith in our ability to change and get better. It’s quite concerning to think that so many people have either lost faith or just accepted how it is. They won’t change or act to heal our planet.

Earth is our only home in the universe. The only planet in our solar system with the unique conditions that allow life to thrive. Yet too many souls are comfortable with the idea that the health of their planet doesn’t concern them. “Who cares about saving the planet” was a scary statement I heard from a young guy wearing his trousers low, like he’d wet his nappy. Perhaps he believed there’s another planet we can move to once we have effed this one up? ‘Sure, maybe we can move to Venus…’

“The universe is about 14 billion years old, Earth is about 4.5 billion years old, and humans about 200,000 years old. We’ve been here such a small amount of time, and yet we’ve wrecked a good chunk of what nature has created. Are we such barbarians? Or, baboons in suits with smart phones? Having said that - there is hope!”

‘Our solar system and a little further’

The other planets in our solar system are hazardous to humans. There is no backup planet. Let’s take a look at them to be sure. First up we have Mercury, 427°c during the daytime, and -180°c at night. The atmosphere is so thin that without a space suit you won’t survive for two minutes! Then we have Venus, named after the goddess of love, but she won’t be loving you my friend, at 462°c, she’s hot enough to melt lead. Made mainly from carbon dioxide and sulfuric acid, with acid rain, it’s so hot the rain evaporates before hitting the ground! Sounds like Lucifer’s tavern - you will die instantly!

Now Mars, its gravity is so weak it can’t hold on to oxygen, it’s mostly carbon dioxide. It has an average temperature of -81°c. Matt Damon may have survived by growing potatoes with his poo but that was Hollywood make-believe! How about Jupiter? The Big Mama of our solar system. A gas giant with no firm surface to touch down on and a persistent high-pressure region producing an anticyclonic storm. If you enjoy feeling the ground beneath your feet and the wind out of your hair, you won’t vibe with Jupiter.

Next Saturn! A sphere made almost entirely from hydrogen & helium. Saturn doesn’t want you there. It’s so inhospitable, the gas surrounding it is poisonous to humans. It’s also -178°c, a little nippy, don’t you think? Here’s cheeky Uranus, the oddball of ice and gas which rotates on its side. It hasn’t got a surface. If you tried to land on Uranus you would just sink through the upper atmosphere of hydrogen and helium, and then into the liquid icy centre. And finally, we have Neptune with an atmosphere of hydrogen, helium, and methane. It also has storm systems that circulate around the planet with wind speeds of 1000 km/h and clouds of frozen methane. Sounds like Elsa’s old home before moving to Earth. Please no one piss her off again!

The nearest planet which may have earth-like potential is just 12 light years away. Astronomers have discovered a rocky planet in the habitable zone of Proxima Centauri. The only problem is it would take 137,000 years to get there. I’m sure Virgin Galactic will run out of peanuts and loo rolls within the first few days!

‘We are the problem 

but also the solution’

We live in a world where money is almost everyone’s primary ambition. As without it life can be difficult, and limited. But, at what cost do we indulge the mentality of ‘profit first’? The costs have become blindingly obvious for people who can think for themselves. It’s unacceptable to poison and destroy our planet and damage people’s health in the process. We must do our utmost, with intelligence and compassion, to live in a way that’s friendly to the environment. It’s not too late, change has already begun, and we must persist and educate those who are oblivious. Yes, millions still throw their rubbish, cigarette ends, and chewing gum on the ground, in parks, forests, and oceans. We still kill animals for sport, overconsume meat and overfish our oceans. Dangerous substances are still added to our food and drinks despite the demand for healthier alternatives at a fair price. We are over farming resulting in land degradation. Deforestation has brought the loss of habitat for millions of species. Human slavery is still practiced to satisfy the demand of consumerism. And, city air pollution is on the rise worldwide.

‘Change can only come from us’

The way we treat our planet is the way we treat ourselves. Humans are famous for their self-destructive behaviour. Just take a look around hospital exits, you’ll see people fresh from surgery puffing away on a cigarette. Look at our diets, most of us know what junk food and excessive eating does to our bodies, yet we still indulge. We understand the damage that alcohol does to us, yet we still drink too much, just like an addict seeking their next fix. Our wellbeing is secondary. Enjoyment and escapism come first. We snub self-education and self-discipline because we don’t have the time or we don’t want to. Maybe out of laziness or impoverishment. Who knows! Our planet is a reflection of who we are and the consequences of our thoughts and actions.

The equation for capitalism doesn’t include social or environmental ethics. This is what we must make good. You have a heart, listen to it. You have common sense, use it. You have wisdom, share it. We need new ideas to improve the way we live. We need to keep loving life, our own and the life we see around us. We need to love our planet and embrace a new system that gives love value. Take care of our planet. Do it for you. Do it for our children and for future generations. It’s everyone’s right to live and flourish in this beautiful world. Let’s join our efforts and take care of mother nature like she has taken care of us. Her fauna, flora, and her magnificence is everywhere: in the structure of DNA, in our own complex biology, in the sound of people’s laughter, and in the diverse environments covering our planet's surface.

“Life can be tough at times, and the well-being of the planet isn’t on everyone’s priority list, but every day is a chance to do something good which will help us live a more sustainable way of life and restore balance to our planet. Everyone can do something, even if it’s just putting your rubbish in the bin”. (that’s in the bin, not next to it!)

WE MUST TAKE CARE 
OF OUR PLANET! ❤️

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THE MOST WONDERFUL MESSAGE TO HUMANITY: 1940 - Charlie Chaplin - The Great Dictator's Speech

I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor. That’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone - if possible - Jew, Gentile - black man - white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness - not by each other’s misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone. And the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way.

Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical. Our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost....

The aeroplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men - cries out for universal brotherhood - for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world - millions of despairing men, women, and little children - victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people.

To those who can hear me, I say - do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed - the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. .....

Soldiers! don’t give yourselves to brutes - men who despise you - enslave you - who regiment your lives - tell you what to do - what to think and what to feel! Who drill you - diet you - treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines! You are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don’t hate! Only the unloved hate - the unloved and the unnatural! Soldiers! Don’t fight for slavery! Fight for liberty!

In the 17th Chapter of St Luke it is written: “the Kingdom of God is within man” - not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people have the power - the power to create machines. The power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure.

Then - in the name of democracy - let us use that power - let us all unite. Let us fight for a new world - a decent world that will give men a chance to work - that will give youth a future and old age a security. By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfil that promise. They never will!

Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people! Now let us fight to fulfil that promise! Let us fight to free the world - to do away with national barriers - to do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness. Soldiers! in the name of democracy, let us all unite!

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OUR TRAUMATIC CHILDHOODS

So many of our fears and limitations were passed onto us by our parents and the life path they set us on. We all have those moments from our past that are very vivid, moments where our first fears were born and marked us forever. Unfortunately, these fears are still influencing our lives today and limiting us from achieving our full potential.

“Forgiveness is giving up the hope that the past could have been any different.” 
- Oprah Winfrey - 

It doesn't matter what type of life you were born with, or how you were brought up. The key is to keep only the positive from your upbringing such as love, a keen sense of self-worth and anything else that makes your life better and happier. Remove any limitations and negativities from your mind, you can rewrite your approach to life - It is what I did!

I have encountered so many people who were filled with fear and limitations from their childhood. They were unable to assess their situation and treat the source of their anxiety; they hadn’t realised their fear is derived from a past event or conflict. When a parent leaves home it is common to develop a fear of abandonment and guilt; if you were continuously told that you were not good enough you could have easily developed low-self-esteem; or if you were bullied at school for being different, you can easily develop a fear of rejection. Where you lack love from your parents it can be difficult to love and respect yourself. I had so many fears from my childhood and my parents, but I knew that one day I would overcome them all and succeed.

“The conflict between the will to deny horrible events and 
the will to proclaim them aloud is the central dialectic 
of psychological trauma.” 
- Judith Lewis Herman, Trauma and Recovery -

Whatever your upbringing, nurture your inner-child and accept the traumatic experiences from your childhood. If there were many negative experiences, try to cast your mind back and assure your younger-self that you are capable of so much. If you lacked care and love, go back and give yourself the love, it is so important for your survival. If you were told that you were not good enough to succeed, go back and tell yourself anything is possible, you are as worthy of success as anyone else. Go back to your traumatic experiences and heal your wounds, once you've healed your inner child you will unleash an incredible power within you. You'll have the confidence and love you need to move forward. You'll understand your fears and where they came from so you can stand up to them or let them go.

I come from a limited family; both of my parents were immigrants from North Africa who were born into farming families and unfortunately both illiterate. Their childhoods were characterised by poverty and religion.

My siblings and I were raised in France on social benefits and sadly my father left home in my early teens. Being poor and uneducated is a big handicap to enjoyment of life, but if your home becomes an unhappy place then your childhood can really become traumatic. Thankfully, I had amazing friends that I spend most of my time with, they and their families showed me the value of respect and love.

“If your body is screaming in pain, whether the pain is muscular contractions, anxiety, depression, asthma or arthritis, a first step in releasing the pain may be making the connection between your body pain and the cause. “Beliefs are physical. A thought held long enough and repeated enough becomes a belief. The belief then becomes biology.” - Marilyn Van Derbur -

My parents did have an opportunity to learn how to read and write, so they could have chosen a better life for themselves and their children. However, they decided otherwise, so I ended up assiting them a lot as I was the oldest. I didn’t know that by helping them with their inability to read and write, I would keep them limited and in the process limit myself.

I have been rebelling against my fears and limitations for a long time now, and I have come a long way. The life I have built for myself is amazing, I’m endlessly growing and I have let go of so much negativity with the remaining still a work in progress. Most of the limited thinking imposed on me when I was a child has gone and I have no doubt the rest will go in time.

Years of mental confinement, the absence of love and emotional support can be damaging to your self-esteem. It is important to bounce back and kiss goodbye to your negative past and open your mind to the possibilities of a blissful future. I used to wish for a different upbringing but not anymore because without this limited start I wouldn’t have become the person I am today - a free thinker with irrepressible ambition to succeed.

SOOTH YOUR WOUNDS AND UNLOCK YOUR FUTURE!

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WOMEN. Why can't a woman be equal to a man?

A woman simply can't be labelled as a child bearer and slave to the opposite sex. Women certainly play the lead role in keeping the human-race going, but they are also wives, lovers, friends, business partners and so much more.

“No man succeeds without a good woman behind him. Wife or Mother, if it is both, he is twice blessed indeed.” - GODFREY WINN -

I find it fascinating that women in our century are still in many ways inferior to men, even though they have proven to be as emotionally strong and intelligent. Is it because they are feminine, sensitive and concerned? That only means they care, perhaps some more than others, but in general they care. We do live in a man's world, but only because we allow it to be. Men earn more money, have better jobs and hold more positions of power. In some parts of the world they're allowed to marry several women, be educated and drive, but all these rights are forbidden to woman.

Men have had the vote since democracy was put into practice, but woman had to fight for it and even today, in some countries, woman still don't have the right to vote. Furthermore, woman in many cases are expected to give up work to raise their children; becoming a mother shouldn’t mean sacrificing the pleasures of being independent and successful. Far too many men forget they have a share in raising their own children.

New Zealand was the first country to allow women to vote in 1893, while the King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia granted women the right to vote in 2011. The United States began allowing women to vote in 1920, after the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution. 

In our modern world, women are often seen as sex objects and this can easily be confirmed by observing the behaviour of some men when they’re around women. 

Guys need to understand that their behaviour towards women has an impact on society and the female psyche.

Women have the right to feel elegant, pampered, and sexy without the fear of being harassed or demeaned because they dared to turn down the attentions of a man. It is down to men to control their sex drive and primitive reactions towards beauty and the female form. Thankfully, I know and have met plenty of good men who are charming, socially aware and value woman by always treating them with respect. Ultimately, woman and men will play an equal role in the survival of our planet, and the society we build, but for now, male dominance is still global. Nevertheless, things are always changing for the better, perhaps too slowly in developing countries and theocracies (places that are governed by religion) where the power over woman can be both physically and mentally abusive.

Since the breakthrough of social media, the truth about how woman are treated in every corner of the globe is being exposed. Every day you read about rape, domestic violence, child abuse, mental torture and sexual discrimination. In some parts of the world women are sold as slaves, denied freedom and reduced to nothing – for example women living in Yemen are still waiting to obtain a right that westerners take for granted: the right to be considered a full human being! They are many good men out there, but also many that will use their physical force to boost their ego by belittling woman.

Women have showed their worth and incredible abilities throughout history. Their contributions to developed societies are undeniable, so we need to keep fighting for women who are kept in the dark without a voice. We must keep fighting for women’s rights everywhere in the world – they are still too many women and female children who are denied the freedom to be. 

“I hate men who are afraid of women's strength.” - ANAIS NIN - 

Here’s a short list of pioneers and powerful woman from the past and present; may their legacy keep growing.

Dr. Wendy Jacobson was the first woman on the moon. She flew to the moon on Apollo 23, in December, 1975. She was the first woman to walk on the moon.

Oprah Winfrey is an American media proprietor, talk show host, actress, producer, and philanthropist. Winfrey is best known for her multi-award-winning talk show The Oprah Winfrey Show which was the highest-rated program of its kind in history and was nationally syndicated from 1986 to 2011. She has been ranked the richest African-American of the 20th century, the greatest black philanthropist in American history, and is currently North America's only black billionaire.

Elizabeth Blackwell (3 February 1821 – 31 May 1910) was the first woman to receive a medical degree in the United States, as well as the first woman on the UK Medical Register. She was the first openly identified woman to graduate from medical school, a pioneer in promoting the education of women in medicine in the United States.

Dilma Rousseff is the President of Brazil; she is one of the world's most powerful heads of state. Rousseff is more than halfway through her term as President of Brazil, the world's seventh-largest national economy.

WHATEVER YOU GIVE A WOMAN, SHE WILL MAKE IT GREATER.

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READING, WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?

"Reading takes you to places that no plane, train, car, movie or TV programme can - into the very depth of your own imagination.  It informs you mentally, culturally and emotionally like nothing else and the very best books stay with you forever".  That's what a good friend of mine said when I asked her why she loved reading books so much.

Until two years ago, I had probably read willingly just one book and perhaps another half-a-book in my life (what I read as a student doesn't count, I think).  I had a juvenile mind that only wanted to have fun, go on holiday, go out with friends, the obvious occupations of a young mind.

I used to look at people reading like they were wasting their time.  I thought they were boring or nerdy but the truth was they were nourishing and expanding their awareness. They loved reading and I didn't; I didn't understand.   A book cannot give you life experience as it must be lived; but it certainly can engage your imagination, your feelings, and your thoughts. One of my favorite books – The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

Reading is the key to knowledge, mind expansion and self-education but also escapism through imagination.  My boyfriend always encouraged me to read but I always used to say - "It's boring and I don't like reading".  In truth I just wasn't interested in learning by myself, I was lazy to read, I would learn through what I'd hear or watch on the TV and as a result my knowledge was limited.

"The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn the more places you'll go".  - Dr. Seuss, I Can Read With My Eyes Shut!-

It also helps improve your grammar, your vocabulary and you will be teaching yourself new things.

People's knowledge and opinions aren't enough to develop your mind, what they know is their knowledge not yours, you could never fully understand something until you read about it and experience it yourself.

Not reading at all may limit your possibilities and achievements; we are humans with fully functioning minds that are waiting to be filled with ideas, knowledge and experiences; we are meant to feed our brains, ask questions and wonder - how is that possible?  We aren't sheep following the herd, having an opinion and personal knowledge makes you unique and interesting.

Choosing to read is a key to success in life.

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