Welcome to the ezine produced by SGI Buddhists that prompts the positive, kindles the constructive, highlights the hopeful and leaves you feeling - well, up!
Published on Saturday, 25 April 2009 18:00 | | 
| 
|
With so many climate scientists predicting global meltdown within our life-time, some individuals are taking radical steps to ensure they have the necessary survival skills to cope in the event of a major crisis, writes Julia Stephenson
Neil Strauss, author of best-selling men’s dating manual, The Game, was so shocked by the Lord of the Flies type anarchy that sprung up in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans that he has since reinvented himself as a survivalist and written a timely new book, Emergency - one man’s story of a dangerous world and how to stay alive in it.
'All it would take,' he says, 'is one war, one riot, one dirty bomb, one natural disaster, one economic catastrophe, one vial containing one virus to bring it all smashing down.'
Published on Saturday, 25 April 2009 01:32 | | |
|
'Pure
Evil' is a great headline that sells newspapers but it doesn't help
us, as a society, to move forwards, argues David Hare
It reinforces a misguided and dualistic view of the world, generated mainly by the red-tops, that simplistically divides people into 'villains and victims' or 'goodies and baddies'. Reality is not so black and white.
Published on Friday, 24 April 2009 18:00 | |
|
Sometimes we need advice, other times we’d like to offer it.
Either way we benefit. Horsesmouth is an informal mentoring network where you
can request a mentor or propose to be one.
Advice on offer ranges from learning, law, career and lifestyle to relationships, mental health issues, passions and beliefs. The good news is it’s safe and it’s free.
Published on Monday, 20 April 2009 18:00 | | |
|
We can all think of things we might enjoy in this lifetime but can also feel we don’t really deserve them, or suspect they're beyond us. Result? Feelings of frustration and inadequacy. Phil Becque explains why he practises Nichiren Buddhism
Published on Sunday, 19 April 2009 18:00 | | |
|
Norbert Rosing took these photographs when a wild polar bear came across his tethered sled dogs in the wilds of Canada's Hudson Bay. He thought the end had come for all of them...
Published on Saturday, 18 April 2009 18:00 | | |
|
With iconic 70’s BBC series, The Good Life (pictured) as my inspiration, I am progressing slowly but surely with my ambitious plans to become the first carbon-neutral dwelling in
The wood-burning stove is eating up the neighbourhood's left-over wood (skips are full of the stuff), the solar panels are producing about 30% of our energy needs on cloudy days and a stonking 80% on sunny days. The walls are now super-insulated with a warm fleecy substance made from recycled plastic bottles. So. Now it’s time to think about installing a couple of chickens on the roof and growing some fruit and veg - perhaps even making our own honey. But is this trend towards self-sufficiency more trouble than it’s worth, or will the satisfaction and savings make it worth the effort?
Published on Wednesday, 15 April 2009 18:00 | | |
|
Taking a day off eating once a week or month can have substantial health benefits, and can even add years to your life.
Studies have found that intermittent fasting can reduce the risk of heart disease, and also strengthens the way the body deals with stress, helping to fight major illnesses. Experts think that intermittent fasting for one day per month or fortnight is achievable, when you know that you can go back to normal eating only a few hours later.