Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts
Showing posts with label social media. Show all posts

Thursday, 26 March 2015

Jeremy Clarkson Sacked: Top Gear Fiasco
May Reveal the Tragedy of Chronic Stress

Collage by PeapodLife: Top Gear with Chronic Stress vs. EcoSystems
"I've always been a fan of his work on Top Gear…"It is with regret we will not be renewing Jeremy's contract."
~ Tony Hall, the Director General of the BBC
With these words, Director General of the BBC, Tony Hall, nailed the lid in the coffin of Jeremy Clarkson’s future hosting the wildly successful Top Gear. The dismissal relates to an alleged altercation between Clarkson and one of the show’s producers, involving a 30-second tirade and physical assault.

An investigation revealed, according to the official statement by the BBC, that the much loved presenter had “crossed a line.” Here is the official statement most fans of the show and casual onlookers alike have likely seen by now:


Video: 'Why sack your biggest global star?' Clarkson row:

All in all, it is safe to say that the entire incident and its predictable outcome have left all concerned with a bitter taste in their mouth.

Image: Jeremy Clarkson Meme – That’s not gone well 

Feelings of bitterness and regret were immediately expressed by fans of the show; not just online—as one might expect—but in person, via a 1-million signature petition, delivered to BBC headquarters in a dramatic fashion in keeping with the spirit and substance of the show itself.

Video: ‘The Stig’ delivers Jeremy Clarkson petition – BBC News 

Cynics and critics of Clarkson’s blokeish antics might argue that the stunt by fans is exactly the kind of aggressive over-reaction which caused the incident in the first place—and not the first time Clarkson got himself into hot water with BBC brass, either.

But we at PeapodLife couldn’t shake the feeling that there’s more going on here this time ‘round. And by all means while this is just speculation on our part, given the nature of this incident versus others the embattled host has been involved in, there was almost certainly something more insidious at work.

And, in the typical way society and the media avoid the topic due to the social stigma around mental health, no one seems to really be asking an important question…

Was Chronic Stress at least Partly to Blame for now Infamous Top Gear Fiasco?

Certainly, while on the surface this seems to be a case of a much beloved television presenter “losing it” in a fit of rage with a co-worker, a little research seems to suggest there’s more to the story than that.

According to fellow TV host Piers Morgan, “just like pretty much every other 50-something in life; angst-ridden from damaged relationships, grieving loved ones, irritated by work-related issues, and battling inner demons.” Source: https://reputationrefinery.com/jeremy_clarkson

Now certainly, this is no excuse for bad behaviour—especially violent behaviour—but there seem to be more mitigating circumstances coming to light.

BBC’s Creative Director Ala Yentob said BBC’s decision to extend the series to 12 shows may have been a mistake. "Whether it would have led to these events is speculative. It's very difficult to say why this happened. Clearly, workload is one thing, the stress of the year, all the rest of it." Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/tv/news/alan-yentob-refuses-to-rule-out-jeremy-clarkson-return-to-bbc-10134860.html

It turns out Clarkson had been dealing with a plethora of personal problems for some time, including a death in the family and a failing marriage. In other words, whatever triggered Clarkson to “cross the line” in professional conduct instead of on the track, was maybe just the straw that broke the camel’s back. Maybe he had been dealing with chronic stress, a condition which among the obvious rage and depression, can lead to all kinds of very real physical problems:

Image: Chronic Stress symptoms

Now, you can probably tell where we’re heading with this. The fact remains that the soothing, stress-reducing, and healing power of nature—especially ecosystems—can be a powerful “ecotherapy” tool in preventative mental and physical healthcare, including the management of chronic stress.

In many ways, then, we head right back into the discussion from Tuesday March 2015: Nature ‘Significantly’ Helps overcoming Disease: PhD Study.

The highlight?

Image: Clinical Studies prove nature sounds reduce stress and activate healing – Dr. Joe Dispenza
Image Credit: Rawforbeauty.com 

Are we saying an ecosystem in Jeremy Clarkson’s home, the Top Gear studio, and/or the pub where the altercation took place could have prevented the incident? Not directly, no.

What we are saying is that if chronic stress and pent up frustration and looming rage were indeed significant factors in Clarkson’s tragic fall, then absolutely: we believe the soothing, calming, relaxing and healing properties of ecosystems could have played a role in preventing this incident from ever occurring. 

Image: Hugs: Everybody needs one now and then.

Forget “Captain Slow,” think MOTHER NATURE! Because there are few hugs more potent than a constant, enduring, balancing and revitalizing hug of a high-order rainforest ecosystem. 

P.S. To Top Gear Fans in Tanks: Life Goes On…

Of course, we must add a post script to all those lamenting the loss of their beloved presenter, now left in limbo wondering what the future has in store.

If all of you had an ecosystem in your home, business and/or school, you would have a deep appreciation for the nature of life and that all things come to an end. And, you’d be completely okay with that. You too would be relaxed, at ease, and ready to accept what could be an even more exciting and promising future.

I mean let’s be honest, Jeremy Clarkson isn’t going to be around forever…sooner or later change is inevitable. Here’s an article which may give you some hope: Clarkson's departure gives Top Gear the chance to reinvent itself.

And whether you’re a fan of Jezza (Clarkson’s nickname) or not, here’s a take on what he represents—at least to some—which might help put things into some much needed 21st Century perspective (or not): Jeremy Clarkson represents the worst of boorish Eighties materialism. You'd hate him if you met him.

As for Jezza? Well, love him or hate him, we have a feeling that all this is just of a setback at the end of the day…a flat tire at the side of the road or an exploding Fiat…just a tumble in a ridiculously rollie-pollie Reliant Robin. We’re pretty sure he’s going to find himself shifting into a whole new gear sometime in the not-too-distant future. After all, it’s what Jeremy Clarkson does best.

Image: Clarkson Top Gear Meme – Fast 

We just hope he also knows (and takes) good advice when he hears it. Our advice to him (and everyone) is this:

If there is chronic stress in your life, ask us about making the shift from the rat race and living la vita loca to the relax lane and living the PeapodLife. After all, we want what’s best for you; for everyone!


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Tuesday, 10 March 2015

Apple Watch: Just another Gadget, or
has Einstein’s Fear Finally Come True?

“I fear the day technology will surpass our human interaction. The world will have a generation of idiots.”


Image Collage by PeapodLife: Einstein’s Fear Come True?

Yesterday Apple began taking orders for the Apple Watch. Today we ask the question: has the day finally arrived that Einstein feared—that technology has surpassed human interaction? Have we become a generation of idiots?

What are we talking about? On some level you probably already know—at least, you do when it hits home in your everyday life. But for the sake brevity, here’s a popular YouTube video as a little reminder…

Video: A generation of idiots, smartphones & dumb people.

Now don’t get us wrong, there’s nothing inherently wrong with technology. There is a very strong case to be made for technology and how it has made humanity’s life easier on a number of levels and in a number of ways throughout our history.

But it’s undeniable that human nature is such that we take things too far. Anything in moderation may be okay, but we tend to indulge; getting “too much of a good thing” seems to be our modus operandi.

So let’s take a look at one of the consequences of this over-abundance, technology:

Video: Humans Need Not Apply

Are we taking technology too far? In the above video, the answer is likely no, not yet. If anything, we (the wealthy west, anyway) are on the cusp of The Leisure Economy. Let’s face it, humans will always busy themselves with something. And many look forward to the day when we don’t have to work to survive anymore; but rather, work on what we are passionate about: art, music, acting, playing, nature…whatever.

The problem arises when we start losing our humanity to technology. There is nothing inherently natural about going to work and making money to make a living. These constructs may as well be replaced by technology. But there is something natural and fundamental to human mind, consciousness, contemplation, comprehension and awareness—of our immediate surroundings and our inner psychology.

Cybernetics challenges this fundamental natural state. And believe it or not, the Apple Watch is a significant step in the wrong direction. Technological augmentation of human beings is the next major step in technology—bridging the gap (the “bottleneck”) between the human-machine interface. In other words, putting on an Apple Watch—and other “wearables” against our skin is getting us one step closer to the day the computers will literally be under our skin.

No longer will you need to be aware of how you feel, your Apple Watch will tell you: your heartrate, blood sugar, and who knows what else? Eventually EEG’s? But these are just numbers. They say very little to your intellect, let alone connect you to how you actually feel. An increasing or decreasing number on a screen doesn’t tell you whether or not your exertion or rest is beneficial for you or not.  And your intellect cannot know this based on a number measured against some arbitrary “statistically significant mean.”

Technology of this kind shifts our consciousness to our head and out of our hearts and bodies. Our attention is shifted away from the moment, the people, places, events and phenomena in the here and now, and we focus instead on what the little mechanical device can show/tell us about that moment…in other words, technology is a hyper-extended version of what our “crazy minds” already do.

Having a photography and video studio / publishing / distribution mechanism in our pocket at all times has robbed countless millions of precious magical moments they will never get back. So what if they have “a record” of it? A photo / video can capture some—but not all—of a precious moment…but trying to capture the moment on photo/video can rob YEARS from your life…a life that you’ve recorded but haven’t actually lived.

This message is made very clear in the snow leopard scene in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, who has lived his whole life in a dream world most of the time, and must go on an actual adventure to track down a missing negative for the final cover of LIFE Magazine.

Video: The Secret Life of Walter Mitty EXTENDED 6 Minutes Trailer

When he finally catches up to Sean Penn’s character, a globetrotting freelance professional photographer who is there to capture a snow leopard on film, he finds him watching the animal at a safe distance…and is baffled when he doesn’t take the picture. He tells Ben Stiller that sometimes if a moment is perfect, he just enjoys it. Taking the picture is secondary. He shoots on film, by the way…not digital.

So this is how Walter Mitty comes to realize what’s important…and how much more rewarding being here and now is than being in our heads all the time. The Apple Watch is a mechanical externalized version of what Walter Mitty does inside his head—and what we all do to a degree. It can only take us further away from the beauty and the wonder and the magic of the moment…the people, places, animals, plants, rocks, and events around us in the here and now. And having these experiences, digesting them fully and completely heart, mind and body, is what it means to be truly human, to be truly alive. And Einstein, I’m afraid, knew this, too…   

“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.”

Image Collage by PeapodLife: Einstein’s Appallingly Obvious Observation: Technology has exceeded Humanity.

The slow steady march of technology in our lives is inevitable. But we can resist it in areas where too much of a good thing crosses lines which should not be crossed, where it impedes our birthright to pure unfiltered experience of life using fully developed natural human capacities and faculties of consciousness.

Where some technologies want to exceed our humanity, and make us more machine-like than we already are, others strive to deepen our experience of what it means to be human. Building EcoSystems and Technologies, for instance.

PeapodLife ecosystems are a balm, an antidote for the machinations of the digital age. To experience the energy, vitality, colours, sounds, scents, harmony and symbiosis of an indoor ecosystem is to reawaken faculties of conscious awareness and natural capabilities of conscious experience. To simply sit in the company of a high-order rainforest ecosystem is an exercise in rejuvenation and renewal of what it truly means to be human…and relaxation, inspiration, imagination, meditation and comprehension are among the benefits.

Living the PeapodLife is about getting out of our heads and back to what matters in life: to be here, now: with ourselves, our surroundings, and the people we love. It’s about establishing and maintaining REAL connections, not some networking definition of “connectivity.” It’s about enjoying REAL experiences, not virtual ones. It’s about how deep we LOVE life…not how many “LIKES” we get.

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Thursday, 16 October 2014

Life After Digital shows Need to bring Balance to the Dark Side

Video: How digital technology and social media impacts our lives
Credit: TVO 
“That Place…is strong with the Dark Side of the Force. A domain of evil it is. In you must go.
[Luke: What’s in there?] Only what you take with you.”
~ George Lucas via Yoda, Star Wars
Image: Social Media Hell 

Everything has a dark side. Unfortunately, there’s only one way to get past it…we have to descend into it, experience it, go through it, so we may discover something about ourselves and emerge into the light on the other side.

Digital technology and social media are having impacts on our lives no one could have ever imagined or predicted.  People are finding themselves descending into depths of darkness and depravity that are beyond disturbing—they are life-altering (in some cases terminally) experiences.

Last night TV Ontario aired a documentary: Life After Digital, which not only looked at the rise of interactive technology in our lives, but the emergence of social media and the impacts they are having on us. Some positive, others anything but.

From the tragic, much-publicized case of online predation and cyber-bullying which led to the suicide of Amanda Todd, to the emergence of “revenge porn,” the documentary obviously looked at some pretty dark extremes.

But it also looked at some of the more subtle yet ubiquitous effects of technology on our lives. For instance, the allure of the Internet as a shortcut to fame and/or fortune. Or the lingering anxiety we feel for the approval of others measured in “friends, followers, and likes.”   

You can watch the documentary online here. Also, be sure to watch The Agenda with Steve Paikin TONIGHT on TVO (Thursday 16th of October, 8pm & 11pm) for an in-depth panel discussion on the issues raised in the documentary.

Image: The Agenda with Steve Paikin 

For our part, we thought we’d get our two cents in ahead of time, by going a bit deeper into this thing called the worldwide web and ask some tough questions.

A Mirror for Humanity

For starters, is it not obvious that the worldwide web is an outward expression of the collective unconscious of the planet? Two glaringly obvious facts support this assertion of truth:
  1. Everything on the Internet came from someone’s mind at some point in time.
  2. Everything that persists on the Internet does so because it appeals to something in people’s minds. Not just one or two people, either…thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands (or more).

This is not an easy fact to swallow. But a fact it is. Wishing it were otherwise or pretending that somehow we are exempt from it does not change it. We are culpable. We are not innocent.

After all, have we not all chuckled at some Internet meme, at a YouTube “fail” video featuring the mishaps and suffering of others? Have we not all sent nasty emails or “flamed” someone in a comment?  Downloaded “free” music, movies, software, etc.? Indulged in fantasies of every kind, from real or simulated violence to real or simulated pornography to…[fill in the blanks]?

And if not, have we congregated online with like-minded individuals to point fingers, condemn all that is wrong with the world and assert our own “holier than thou” positions of being “in the right?”  

All that and more is there, online. And all that and more is here, inside our own psyche. The thing about technology is that it brings our dark side up and out of us.
“He’s more machine now, then man…twisted and evil.”
~ George Lucas via Obi Wan Kenobi, Star Wars
Image: Darth Vader Mosaic 

We are products of our environment, and we are what we eat. The more we interact with each other and the world through the mechanistic medium of digital technology and social media, the more we strengthen the binary, mechanical processes in our own psyche: black or white, yes or no, right or wrong, us or them. Action– reaction. Stimulus – response. Input, output.  Automatic. Unconscious.

There is no middle way in technology. No softness, no kindness, no compassion, nothing gentle. Forget the soothing voice of Apple’s Siri…there is no love there. Just programming. The more we engage in programming, the more programmed we become. It is a fact. It is undeniable.

And what is that programming? What is running on the program of our subconscious mind? We need look no further than the Internet: conspiracy theories, personal professional and philosophical attacks, revenge porn, identity theft, hacking, binge-watching, time-wasting, etc. Fear, anger, pride, lust, greed, laziness, etc. 

The more identified we become with technology, the more it becomes a part of us…the more it becomes us…the more we become it. We lose our humanity in the process. Don’t believe us? Just consider the new wearables and the enthusiastic anticipation—if not outright euphoria—being expressed online for the arrival of these gadgets and devices.

Image (modified): Montage of Wearable Technologies 

What’s even worse is the pseudo-esoteric talk of the “singularity” being promoted by the likes of Raymond Kurzweil and others, who actually see the evolution of humanity taking place through the proliferation of the very technologies that threaten our core values.

Is there an antidote?

There has always been a place of refuge from the monstrosities imposed on humanity which emerge from the depths of human depravity itself: nature.

Many have expounded on the virtues of nature to soothe and invigorate, inspire and insight, relax and rejuvenate, to help one reconnect with one’s true self. And we certainly don’t need to repeat ourselves for the umpteenth time. 

We will mention that in recent years, the natural havens and sanctuaries of the world are becoming an ever-scarcer resource, as multinational corporations and our voracious appetites for consumption have placed a higher valued on “natural resources” via the decimation of pristine environments.

And let’s face it, living our life at the speed of the digital age means we don’t all have the time or energy to spend walking in nature an hour a day (especially not when we have a backlog of hundreds of emails, dozens of IM’s, countless tweets, several episodes of our favourite show on the PVR we need to catch up on…not to mention the vacation pics to post and the latest version of “this or that” software to download and install).

ENOUGH ALREADY! If we can’t get away into nature, how about inviting nature back into our lives?

An indoor ecosystem fills our living space with an electromagnetic field resonating with harmony and symbiosis…the exact opposite of the vibrations we experience in social media hell.

Where social media is all often about everybody expressing their “opinions” in short, reactionary, oftentimes offensive ways, an indoor ecosystem is about experiencing the peace and harmony of who you really are. 

Where the internet is all about bringing out and feeding the darker aspects of our psyche, the ecosystem is about bringing forth and nourishing our better, brighter, Higher Self…the part of us which longs for the end of all suffering for all creatures…for calm, wellness, peace, harmony, joy and happiness.

These are the “killer apps” of an indoor rainforest ecosystem from PeapodLife.  

Image by Peapodlife: Indoor Ecoystem at Fitch Street Retirement Centre, Welland

So our answer to Life after Digital? Live the PeapodLife.

You don’t have to go live in a swamp like Yoda to surround yourself with the life-force of nature. Bring balance to the forces at work in your life. Immerse yourself in lush beautiful nature. It sure beats living on another kind of world…

Image: Death Star



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Thursday, 20 March 2014

“THE SKY IS FALLING! THE SKY IS FALLING!”
Why Sensationalizing Serious Issues does [Chicken] Little for the Cause

Image: Planetary Destruction 

“It is always the novice who exaggerates.”

Take a look at the following 3 headlines:
  1. GMOs will unleash global killer 'ecocide' across the planet, warns prominent scientist

  2. Research reveals the deadly dangers of excess calcium

  3. It's not just the sugar that destroys your teeth: Carbonated beverages are all made with acid
Read more: naturalnews.com: Natural health news


Look, we get it: the world is a noisy place and audiences have ADHD. Every media outlet out there is competing against every other source of distraction: from high-brow artistic documentary to so-called serious mainstream journalism to forthright infotainment.

Then there’s all the noise of the web. Let’s be honest: most of it is just that…noise. Yet many producers of web content will tell you they are far less biased than mainstream media outlets. Really? What that means in their mind is less fettered by editorial oversight and responsibility (FOX News notwithstanding).

Make no mistake: advertising-supported web blogs are no less biased than any other media outlet. Because they have to attract and retain audiences without the benefits of traditional networks, in a world where it is easier for users to click-away even than it is for viewers to change the channel, in many ways they are even more biased.

Web properties tend to gravitate to a certain basket of issues relevant to their target audiences, just like any other media source. And, some might argue, just like most editorial content, web properties tend to champion causes around those issues.

The problem, I find, with how the web—and to some degree mainstream media as well—present stories around issues and causes is getting ridiculous. Forget all sizzle no steak, we’re all just getting whacked in the face by an empty hot fajita pan.

How are we supposed to take seriously the journalistic integrity of new stories when one after the next sound the alarm of some looming apocalyptic scenario?  Calcium? Deadly? Really?

And when you actually read the stories, many are quite boring and straightforward. It was the headline that took hyperbole to new heights (or lows).

I partly blame social media. Facebook, Twitter, etc. The whole goal, it seems, of social media marketing is the precious click-thru, that holy grail of web activities that web properties sell to advertisers and sponsors: eyeballs.

No one is going to click to find out the dangers or health risks of consuming too much calcium…they’d rather watch paint dry. But CALCIUM CAN KILL YOU!? Now there’s a message you haven’t seen in a “Milk: it does a body good” TV ad campaign! Must be something to it! Gotta check it out!

Ridiculous. And sad.

Many of the issues being raised are important. Many of the causes are, indeed, just and worth giving a fair hearing. But a fair hearing demands a fair, measured, honest telling! As the above quotation from C.S. Lewis suggests, it’s no time for amateur hour, but that’s how these media properties come across.

Look, PeapodLife has a blog. We’ve got a non-profit arm called GenesisEcoFund.org which also has its blog. We know what it’s like attracting and keeping eyeballs. We write about contentious and thought-provoking issues. And we’re not even journalists or a bona fide media outlet.

Still, at PeapodLife we turn to nature as our guide. We follow the example of an ecosystem which—sorry to say, techies—is an infinitely more complex network carrying information human beings cannot begin to process. Yet it is simple, dignified, and at times vividly beautiful. There’s an essential truth to it.

Beautiful. And enlightening.

 Maybe we don’t always succeed, but we do our very best to bring nature’s very best to you…in all we do…so you can be at your very best. Anything short of that, we leave to others.


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Tuesday, 25 February 2014

What is Social Media doing to our Kids Brains?

How are teens being affected by social media? Research suggests the impact is an emotional one.

“I don't think digital communication in itself is a bad thing, but if we're losing out on opportunities to connect with people as well as we can, that's a problem."
~ Laureen Sherman, UCLA Graduate Student & Researcher
Source: CBC News - Health: Social media affecting teens' concepts of friendship, intimacy

It’s a valid question: how is the prevalence of social media affecting the still developing minds of adolescents? A recent study by UCLA Developmental Psychologist Patricia Greenfield suggests social media use among teens is having a negative impact on the development of intimate friendships.

Having a large number of followers on Twitter and racking up “likes” one receives on Facebook and Instagram are replacing the support teens used to look for from intimate conversations with their peers.

According to Greenfield:
“The whole idea behind intimacy is self-disclosure. Now they’re doing self-disclosure to an audience of hundreds.”
Source: CBC News - Health: Social media affecting teens' concepts of friendship, intimacy


A CBC report from June of last year suggested social media attracts individuals who need an ego boost. And this latest report seems to corroborate the previous study. Teens in the above video report so much as say so: “who wouldn’t want to be famous?”

As a society, we are inundated with messages and images of idealized ways of living. Lifestyle has displaced all other considerations when it comes to aspirational longing. Success, wealth and fame are the new benchmarks for happiness for an entire generation of young people who have never known a world without the instant gratification and potentially instant global stratification of the Internet.

The lure of “overnight successism” is made all the more dreamy in the eyes of the ego thanks to the instant mass-positive reinforcement tool known as the “Like” button. Where once teens suffered silently at home wondering what “the group” thought about them, now they know “exactly” what the world thinks about them:

Published by Getbloopit


But whereas one might forgive Sally Fields her emotional, Oscar-clutching response to winning an Academy Award after years of blood, sweat and tears in Hollywood, the accumulation of clicks on a button by dozens, maybe hundreds, heaven forbid thousands who completely forget what it was they were clicking in appreciation of the very micro-second Facebook registered their approval is something else.

You may be asking yourself: what does all this have to do with ecosystems?

The point of the CBC piece is this: the egoistic nature of social media are making people less empathetic towards others. Positive reinforcement is fine, but positive reinforcement of self-serving egoistic behaviour will not now nor will ever result in anything resembling empathy or compassion for others.

Ecosystems are in many ways an antidote to “anti-social media” and infinitely more social than any digital technology. Ecosystems encourage awareness—consciousness. When you enter into a space with an ecosystem you become a part of that ecosystem. You just do; it’s simply a biological and energetic reality.

When you embrace that objective reality, and allow your self-awareness to immerse itself into the oneness and the wholeness of a high-level rainforest ecosystem, you begin to develop a kind of appreciation for “others” that defines empathy: you recognize yourself in them, they in you.

It is this conscious individuated experience of wholeness that expands one’s sense of self well beyond the limitations of the paltry ego and expands one’s sense of possibility to include the benefit of the whole: ecosystem, family, peer group, school group, community, nation, the planet.

This is not an intellectual nor mechanical exercise. No, unlike social media which is both those things, being with an ecosystem stimulates raises our awareness of ourselves, our surroundings, and our relationship with those surroundings—exactly those aspects of ourselves (including our brains) which make us sensitive and empathetic.

PeapodLife invites you to invite an ecosystem into your home. Let your family begin experiencing the antidote for technology’s misguided idea of what social means. Lose the mechanical ego in the wonder and awe of an authentic relationship with the very nature of life itself.

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Tuesday, 28 January 2014

Are our Fast-Paced Lives
Making us Deaf, Dumb & Blind?

Image Montage by PeapodLife: Washington Metro commuters miss out on virtuoso performance;
Source: facebook.com: Facebook - Liberty Girl's Photos
Inset: Joshua Bell: one of the world’s great instrumental soloists. Photograph: Linda Nylind; 

Are we so absorbed in rushing around, so busy “doing,” that we could miss one of the world’s great violinists, Joshua Bell, give an impromptu performance in the Washington Metro? Apparently so.

It started off like any other rush hour in Washington DC...

Then a man sat down in the subway and began playing the violin. Not unusual per se. Busking is a common fixture just about wherever you go.

Over a 45-minute period the man played six Bach pieces. During that time it is estimated some 1,100 people went through the station; only six of them stopped and listened for a while. About 20 gave him money.

He seemed to receive the most attention from children, including a three-year-old boy who was dragged away by his mother (like most of the others).

The man was Joshua Bell, one of the world’s great virtuoso violinists. His serenade of Bach was courtesy of a $3.5 million dollar violin. Who knew? No one. Well, no one in the metro station, anyway.

If only they could have known Joshua Bell played a sold-out concert in Boston just two nights before his free subway performance in Washington. Average price of admission? $100.

But they didn’t know. Deaf, dumb and blind to the beauty, artistry right in front of them, hundreds upon hundreds of people missed an opportunity of a lifetime.

Image: Blind, deaf & dumb by Nancy Calef

Modern society is so obsessed with creating opportunity. We think we have to do it. We are bombarded from every angle with every conceivable message of “what it takes” to be successful: win; beat the other guy; long hours and hard work are the earmarks of the linear mathematical equation for happiness.

So we slave away. We stay connected: 24/7...and we freak when we misplace our phone. “Well, I might miss an important call!!!”  Yeah, because your device’s voicemail will fail you the one time you need it to work, right? 

We stress, sweat, binge, suck back coffee like it was oxygen. And let’s not even get into some of the stronger drugs we use to douse the flames of insanity. Look no further than Martin Sorcesse’s The Wolf of Wall Street for a glimpse into just how insanely stressful and manic the world of success can be.

Image: The Wolf of Wall Street (does this look like someone at their best)?

We do all that (to one degree or another), and never ask ourselves what we may be missing as a consequence. But rather than taking our cues from the surreal world of The Wolf, perhaps we’d do better to heed the advice of golfer Walter Hagen, who said:
“You're only here for a short visit. Don't hurry. Don't worry. And be sure to smell the flowers along the way.” 
~ The Walter Hagen Story


It was good advice in 1956, and was never more poignant than now.

Okay, we’re not saying if you slow down, unplug and pay attention you’re going to run into a superstar musician on the street…but you might. Or perhaps you’ll notice something new and wonderful about your spouse, your partner, your friend, your pet, that fills your heart with real joy and bliss.

Perhaps slowing down and taking your time will allow the multi-million-dollar idea you’ve been searching for to just “show up.” Perhaps you’ll discover you had been looking for it in all the wrong places. (Legend has it, E=MC² came to Einstein in the bubble bath).

So go ahead: take a bath. A long shower. A relaxing massage. Meditate. Listen to a WHOLE ALBUM, beginning to end, no interruptions or distractions. Stop trying to make something happen by doing and start being in the middle of what’s already there; experience what’s already happening...within you.

Now imagine what you might discover in the midst of your very own rainforest ecosystem. A living community of collective harmony and symbiosis. Each and every individual in a beautiful dance of perfect balancing, with you as their focus.

Imagine yourself unabsorbed by all the craziness of the world; and instead, completely absorbed into the peace, harmony and lucidity of life in its highest, calmest, most vivid yet peaceful expression.

See. Hear. Be brilliant…like a child in the metro who can recognize the sounds of a virtuoso musician and his multi-million dollar violin…once more.

Youtube Video: Stop and Hear the Music
Uploaded by Washington Post



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Tuesday, 27 August 2013

Introducing Genesis Eco Fund - Our Non-Profit Partner is Now Online with Social Media

Image Collage by PeapodLife: Genesis Eco Fund is on Facebook, Blogger & Twitter Social Media 
Clipart Source: trendreader.net: Social Media Monitoring: Multiple Social Network

Genesis Eco Fund


Today, we are pleased to announce that the not-for-profit division of our PeapodLife Branded Social Enterprise has gone live with its Facebook page, blog, and Twitter feed.

So what is Genesis and what do they do?

Genesis International Fund for Ecological Atmospheric Research is a Toronto, Ontario-based registered not-for-profit corporation. Its mandate is to provide support in furthering PeapodLife’s social mission via fundraising, research, ecosystem relief, education and community building.

The goal of Genesis? To increase humanity’s contributions toward, capability with, accessibility to, awareness of and collective benefit from Advanced Human Habitat.

Simply put, Genesis puts the “social” in our social mission to bring Building EcoSystems & Technology to a world in desperate need of a way to reintroduce the healing powers of nature into our modern-day lives.

The following Visual Summary helps put it all in perspective… 

Image by Genesis: Visual Summary of 5 Primary Activities: Fundraising, R&D, EcoSystem Relief, Education, Community Building
2013 © Genesis International Fund for Ecological Atmospheric Research

As the key not-for-profit vehicle behind the PeapodLife Branded Social Enterprise, Genesis devotes 100% of its time and efforts on activities which benefit: individuals, families, schools, particularly special-needs schools, hospitals and wellness centres, retirement homes, businesses, communities.

GenesisEcoFund.org is still under construction, and we are hard at work getting our fundraising and crowd funding efforts underway. Like Genesis on Facebook and follow them on Twitter to learn when they’re up and running full-steam.


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