Thank you

If the only prayer you said in your whole life was, "thank you,"
that would suffice. ~ eckhart ~

In today's world with the hysteria of swine flu, depression of the economy, terrorist threats and multiple natural disasters, wars and famine our systems have become so heightened with anxiety and fears that its quite simply too hard to "switch off". Worries all around us on top of everyday family and work related stresses are like an onslaught of disaster upon the biochemical makeup of our bodies and minds. We are strangled by fear, hopelessness and worry.

It is well known by scientists and physicians that fear creates an inate "flight or fight" response in the body, increasing levels of Cortisol and Adrenaline, leaving us weakened, exhausted and irritable. The amygdala is the portion of our brains where fear resides and this forms 90% of our response pattern, such that we are often in "hunter" or "survival" mode 24/7. The triggering of the response is automatic and in times of prolonged stress can lead to overload, making the body susceptible to increased risk of physical and mental illnesses. Despite this, our brain can be programmed to overcome this. Allowing space for the mind to unwind and recharge, along with increasing happiness. Also allowing the body to rest in a place where the brain is functioning in a much rarer state, using the neocortex, where we can train it to let go of fear and instead find an inner peace and stability.

According to medical psychologist Dan Baker, Ph. D., author of What Happy People Know, it is neurologically impossible for the brain to react to fear when one exhibits a state of gratitude and thankfulness. Being grateful for what you have rather than what you don't have increases your positive feelings about life and reduces anxiety levels. When you practice appreciation, according to Baker, you'll improve your mood, as your brain focuses on the elements that produce Serotonin (the Happy Hormone) rather than Adrenaline (which increases heart rate and prepares the body for a "fight/flight" response). You can simply learn to "channel" your nerve pathways to an alterior route!

The habit of each day writing down or concentrating on five things that you are grateful for, or showing appreciation to others around you is not a quick fix. It has to become a regular habit over months of practice for the brain to adjust its responses and serotonin levels.

Similarly according to research Professor Robert Emmons, of the University Of California, the quality of "being grateful" boosts the immune system and increases mental health. Grateful people are generally more optimistic, happier , suffer less depression and are more resilient in the face of stress.


Sharing with others and appreciating others around you, seeing good, genuinely valuing their worth and ignoring their faults, gives you a deeper feeling of satisfaction in your life.

To be happy we should "learn" to be grateful for the small blessings we do have, the simple beauties around us and most of all to share.

Our Media Is the Wall

Alt Artist™ - video series coming soon from Alt Artist on Vimeo.

"Here in Beirut we have more freedom than anywhere else"

The AltArtist is a forum for artists that aims to reveal the innovative spirit of artists who live in areas renowned for conflict, and in communities under-represented by the world's media by providing a 60 second documentary of their work.

One of the first artists represented is street artist Oras from Beirut

"I had this idea to bring fun stuff to the streets of Beirut - which can make people smile..."

You can follow The AltArtist on twitter @altartist

Intended Consequences

"I am slowly beginning to appreciate that the younger daughter is innocent"

Screenshot from Exposures site © J. Torgovnik

Israeli Photographer Johnathan Torgovnik has made repeated visits to war torn Rwanda after being moved by the stories of women who were raped at the hands of Hutu militia during the 1994 genocide. Using photographs of the women with their children he has documented their heart-wrenching stories. It is believed that some twenty thousand children were born of these rapes, many of whom have contracted HIV and AIDS. Not only that, their mothers live each day in their communities with the complexities of the stigma attached to having borne a child to the enemy.

Photographs may be viewed at Aperture Foundation Gallery

View the documentary of their narratives Intended Consequences at the clickable link below

Jonathan Torgovnik’s photographs have been widely exhibited and published in numerous international publications, including Newsweek, Aperture, GEO, Sunday Times Magazine, and Stern, among others. He has been a contract photographer for Newsweek magazine since 2005, and is on the faculty of the International Center of Photography School in New York. In 2007, Torgovnik won the National Portrait Gallery’s Photographic Portrait Prize for an image from Intended Consequences. He is co-founder of the non-profit organization Foundation Rwanda.

Women are Heroes

The Women are Heroes project aims to show the pivotal role of women in society by photographing them going about their daily lives and posting them on huge posters on the walls around their country. They serve to highlight the struggles and importance of women in desperate & traumatic communities around the world.

Photos are taken by a French photographer by the name of JR.

"The expressiveness of their faces testifies to their strength, their courage, and their will to fight, which keeps them going, keeps them alive."

Paix Tshirts support peace in the Congo

the PAIX Shirt [VIDEO] from Discover The Journey on Vimeo.

"qui veut la mort prepare la guerre mais qui veut la paix offre le pardon" ~who wants death prepares for war, but who wants peace offers forgiveness" ~ Francois~.

Discover the Journey

[ALL proceeds from the sale of these shirts will fuel Discover The Journey’s quest to tell the story of child soldiers in the Congo.]

Baskets and Beads of Marrakesh

Photographs via my favorite blogger from the land of Sooth sayers and Souks Marrayam in Marrakesh

Emily Haines ~ Help I'm Alive

Also watched this video yesterday with Emily Haines discussing her move to Buenos Aires for inspiration to write & likewise thought ~ we really need to slow down, get away from the hysteria and competition. Live life alittle more, with passion, freedom simplicity and gentleness.

"If you’re still alive
My regrets are few
If my life is mine
what shouldn’t I do?
I get wherever I’m going
I get whatever I need
While my blood’s still flowing
And my heart still beating like a hammer
Beating like a hammer

Help, I’m alive, my heart keeps beating like a hammer
Hard to be soft, tough to be tender
Come take my pulse, the pace is on a runaway train
Help, I’m alive, my heart keeps beating like a hammer
Beating like a hammer " ~ Help I'm alive

Emily on her new Album "Fantasies" ~ released this month

France Fights Sex Traffic

ECPAT France and Air France have launched an advertising campaign to raise awareness involved in child pornography and sex trafficking. The campaign uses video (television, Air France ticket offices and on-flight), spot radio, posters, brochures, inserts and internet banners.

“Pornographie enfantine” and “Le tourisme sexuel” tell the story of young girls sold by their families to abusive photographers and pimps. At every step in the chains of abuse, masks replace the faces of people abusing the children, those who will become clients or those who look at photographs of the girls being ill-treated."

credits:

The ECPAT campaign was developed at BETC Euro RSCG, Paris, by creative director Florence Bellisson, art director Eric Astorgue, copywriter Jean-Christophe Royer, agency proucer David Green, account managers Valérie Albou, Muriel Kerommes, Magali Heberard, Timoti Auscher, advertising managers Carole Bartoli, Hélène Paillard, François Brousse, Christine Micouleau, Patricia Manent, Catherine Masson.

Filming was shot by director Asger Leth via Partizan Midi Minuit, Paris, known for his direction of “Ghost of Cite Soleil”, a documentary about the slums in Haiti called “Ghosts of Cite Soleil“.

Photography for the print campaign was by Marc Da Cumba.

ECPAT, (End Child Pornography and Trafficking) is an international organisation whose mission is to fight against commercial sexual exploitation of children - all forms of child prostitution, child pornography, sale and trafficking of children for sexual purposes.

You deserve more ~

"Hey little girl would you like some candy Your momma said that its ok The door is open come on outside No I can't come out today It's not the wind that cracked your shoulder And threw you to the ground Whos there that makes you so afraid You're shaken to the bone And I don't understand You deserve so much more than this " ~ Sarah McLachlan ~Good Enough

Every ten days in England and Wales one child is killed at the hands of their parent. In half of all cases of children killed at the hands of another person, the parent is the principal suspect.

Six per cent of children experience frequent and severe emotional maltreatment during childhood

Three-quarters of sexually abused children did not tell anyone about the abuse at the time. 27 per cent told someone later. Around a third still had not told anyone about their experience by early adulthood.

A quarter of children experience one or more forms of physical violence during childhood. This includes being hit with an implement, being hit with a fist or kicked, shaken, thrown or knocked down, beaten up, choked, burned or scalded on purpose, or threatened with a knife or gun.

Homeless Centre for Los Angeles ~ Prado Day Centre

Also reading about the fanstastic work by Hardly Normal highlighting the work of the Prado Day Centre Los Angeles

Every day, between 90 to 120 people seek refuge and assistance at the Center. Over 30 percent of the Center’s participants are now women and children. One of the many services the shelter provides is laundry. Clean clothes are so very important to a persons self esteem

Nathaniel Ayers & Steve Lopez

Jamie Fox And Robert Downey jr in The movie "The Soloist"

Nathaniel Ayers, a mentally ill musical virtuoso, was discovered living on the streets by Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez. Morley Safer reports on the unbreakable bond between them. On 60 minutes

"How far you go in life depends on your being tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of the weak and strong. Because someday in life you will have been all of these. " George Washington Carver

"Half Life" ~ remnants of Chernobyl by Nadav Kander

Classroom, Secondary School

Shoes in Dust

Hospital Assembly Room

Room 206, Hotel Polyssia

View from Central Square Apt to Reactors 3 and 4

"Reactor No.4 at Chernobyl's Nuclear Power Station exploded in 1986 leaving the surrounding area uninhabitable for many hundreds of years. I visited Chernobyl to mark its 20th anniversary, photographing the deserted spaces in what was once a model Soviet City.

Home to more than 40,000 people, the apartments, schools and hospitals that were hastily left following the controversial evacuation are stark reminders of past lives, leaving a disturbing sense of quite. An uneasiness that I had never previously experienced." —Nadav Kander

You can view the rest of these chilling photographs by Kander on his webpage Nadav Kander

As a young person living in Northern Ireland at the time of this disaster, it was holds for me my most terrifying memories. I recall running to stay indoors, fearing to go out, to breathe. The news told us of "the clouds" that were to rain toxic & deadly water upon us. Cattle and sheep were slaughtered. Everyone felt helpless. A silent, invisbile death wrapped around us. Online this week Swedish photographer Vahid Cullsberg introduced me to these powerful works by Kander, taken for the twentieth anniversary of the event. I was moved to tears, as not only have I experienced the fear of this invisible radaioactive destructor but I have met the victims, children and adults, who have visited Northern Ireland from the region, to gain some respite and fresh air from their contaminated legacy.

Kander has recently published in the New York Times "Obama's People", 52 photographic portraits of the leading men and women in Obama's Government, shot on the eve of the presidential inaugeration. The venue is the Birmingham Museum and Art gallery and the event will run from 18th April 2009 - 30th August 2009

He was born in Israel in 1961, brought up in South Africa and today lives in London with his family.

Lyubov Sirota on Chernobyl

To Vasily Deomidovich Dubodel, who passed away in August 1988, and to all past and future victims of Chernobyl.

They did not register us
and our deaths
were not linked to the accident.
No processions laid wreaths,
no brass bands melted with grief.
They wrote us off as
lingering stress,
cunning genetic disorders . . .
But we--we are the payment for rapid progress,
mere victim (of someone else's sated afternoons.
It wouldn't have been so annoying for us to die
had we known
our death would help
to avoid more "fatal mistakes"
and halt replication of "reckless deeds"!
But thousands of "competent" functionaries
count our "souls" in percentages,
their own honesty, souls, long gone--
so we suffocate with despair.
They wrote us off.
They keep trying to write off
our ailing truths
with their sanctimonious lies.
But nothing will silence us!
Even after death,
from our graves
we will appeal to your Conscience
not to transform the Earth
into a sarcophagus!

Translated from the Russian by Leonid Levin and Elisavietta Ritchie

"Lyubov Sirota and her little son lived in the neighborhood of Pripyat closest to the nuclear plant. The night of the April 25th was very warm and clear. Lyubov couldn't sleep. She went outside to breathe the fresh, fragrant spring air. She was one of the first--one of the few--people in Pripyat to see above the Chernobyl plant the evil flash of light, the star Wormwood (in Russian, Chernobyl ), which two thousand years ago was prophesied in the Book of Revelation, and which that night abruptly incinerated people's hopes and plans. If she had only known then that she should have closed her eyes and run, not looking back, away from this dawn glow, from this air rich with spring blossoms."

"Nobody knew anything."

From " A voice from Dead Pripyat" by Adolph Kharash

Heavy Water

Based on Mario Petrucci's award-winning book-length poem, "Half Life: a Journey to Chernobyl" tells the story of the people who dealt with the disaster at ground-level: the fire-fighters, the soldiers, the 'liquidators', and their families. Poetry read by David Bickerstaff, Francine Brody, Juliet Stevenson, David Threlfall and Samuel West. www.heavy-water.co.uk

Emar Music

I first heard of Emar through a mutual Canadian friend & blogger Chung

Emar (Melissa Rebronja) was born in Belgrade in the former Yugoslavia, now Serbia. Shortly after her birth she and her family moved to Toronto where she spent her early childhood, moving back to Belgrade when she was six for almost a decade. Her music exhibits poignant influences from these early memories. Just before the country's collapse she moved back to Toronto. Some months after I met Emar online, I discovered she was to release her latest album Sacred Soul in October '08. Myself and another friend from Belfast were priviledged to be invited to the launch party in Toronto, where we enjoyed a covetted live performance. Emar's music breathes life, spirituality, peace, love and mysticism. Songs are in English, Serbian, Hindi, Persian, Arabic and Church Slavonic.Through world music instrumentation it encompasses a unqiue fusion of influences from East meeting West, Islam meeting Christianity.

Emar herself is a phenomenal person who is full of light & positive energy, a priviledge to know and share with.

For the album she worked with three world renowned producers, Genie Award-nominated Sean Eyre, Canadian Music Awards winner for Best World Music Group & 2009 JUNO Awards Nominee, Andrew McPherson of Eccodek and noted film composer Igor Vrabac. Also playing on five of the album’s tracks is World Music multi instrumentalist Boris Sichon. For me my favorite track is the Serbian "Sutra" (for we are love) featured here.

April 6th Egypt

Bloggers suffer for Freedom of speech

in Egypt

Violence Against women

By Walter Astrada

winning photographer of the Alexia Foundation award for Professional Photojournalism 2009



"Violence against women is not only the most widespread example of a human rights violation, but probably the least evident, going largely unpunished. This is shown by the reports published and research conducted by the United Nations, international human rights agencies and the global women's and feminist movements which have been denouncing this situation for decades.

It takes many forms, from domestic abuse to rape, sexual abuse and harmful cultural practices ranging from genital mutilation and honour crimes to premature marriage. In the context of wars in which most of the refugees and displaced population are women and children, women are raped, kidnapped, mutilated and used as sex slaves; the systematic rape of women and girls has been used as a weapon in numerous armed conflicts."

Walter Astrada

on Violence against Women

I found all of Walter's photos deeply moving & provocative

Today listening to Weary by Amel Larrieux

This woman is growing weary
Of having to be so strong
Of having to pretend I’m made of stone
So I won’t end up with no broken bones
I can’t fight every battle alone

I want someone to lift me
Heal my wounds and give me kisses on my head
Say words that should be said
Fear is not the matter
I would so much rather open up my heart
And lay down my guard

Blood into Gold

"Over 12 million people worldwide are trafficked for forced labor or sexual exploitation" ~ United Nations



Blood into Gold is the compelling new song from Peter Buffett featuring Akon, pinpointing the issue of human trafficking and slavery. The poignant video, produced by UNICEF, is a powerful visual representation of the songs message, utilizing moving images and video from around the world that depict the severity of this issue. As a complementary advocacy tool to the song, the hope of the video is to call attention to the issue and inspire others to help bring an end to the atrocities associated with human trafficking.
(press release)

Visit Is there something I can do
for more information on Human Trafficking

"Justice at its best is love correcting all that stands against love."
- Martin Luther King, Jr.