Why the European civilisation is in great danger

Just contemplating... News comes that the "refugees", who demanded and now reached Germany, refuse everything; food, water and shelter and demand to be transported to Scandinavia.

I am wondering why most of the "refugees are men? Strong, fit, healthy military aged men. Every photo that was published in the Australian media shows a crowd where in the front there are a few kids and women but behind them a SEA of men!

On the Hungarian videos that show riots, aggressive hordes turning against police, crowds throwing away food, drinks, blankets, clothes, toys donated by volunteers, trains packed with "refugees", you hardly see kids or women. One of the videos that show terrible conditions the refugees left behind at the stations just before cleaning it up, one of the refugees has a spine chilling message for Hungarians and the countries they go through.

If you ask me, 90-95% of the "refugees" that are on the photos and videos are men.

My question is, where are the kids and women? How is that these strong men fled instead of fighting and protecting their countries and their own families? If the situation is so horrible that they had to flee, have they left the vulnerable behind under those circumstances? What kind of men would do that? If these are real refugees, why are they tearing their way across five, six countries where there is no war? Why did they throw away their documents, why do they refuse to be registered, their finger prints taken? Why are they so aggressive, demanding, ungrateful? Why do they chant f**k you, Allah Akbar (watch videos from Hungary), why do they turn agains the police if they want refuge? What's more, why did a shipping container of weapons and ammunitions arrive as 'refugee aid' to Greece?

Europe has fought the way for centuries and established Western civilisation. Lead the way in science, achieved religions freedom, freedom of speech, eight hours working days, established the highest standard of education, built our human cultural heritage and achieved some kind of equal rights for women.

It is questionable if the values of most muslim countries are compatible with this. It is truly alarming that in these countries women are subordinate, prevented from education and work, rape and violence against women are accepted and in most cases goes unpunished. The judicial system of muslim counties are very different from the Western system. The rate of uneducated and illiterate amongst migrants is extremely high. Most of them don't speak English. How will they assimilate and find work in their new countries? How will their children fit into the education system and how the host country's living, education and social standard will drop from mass migration of muslims?

One could say, Australians have been doing this for a long time. Yes, but with controlled migration. Not millions flooding into unprepared countries invading their individual, unique and homogenic structure.

Hm.....however, the behaviour and attitude of this horde is threatening and devastating, not to mention what they leave behind.

Why do I think that real refugees behave differently, are grateful for what they get and happy once they are in a place with no war instead of tearing their way through a whole continent behaving like wild animals? 

Maybe because World War II was not that far and still very raw for anyone who lives or coming from Europe. We have seen enough.

Also, a small nation like the Hungarian in the middle of Europe, we have been always between East and West, our borders changing faster and more frequently than you change your underwear. We have been torn apart and dominated for hundreds of years by Turkey and Austria, then for decades by Russian soldiers, just to name the most recent few, sure these even you learnt in History lessons. If someone, we had to learn how to survive and protect our language and culture from extinction. Europe has seen masses put on trains, carried away, put in camps, even being gassed. These memories are all to fresh and raw, although we thought not!

But what is happening now in Europe activates our guards against invaders. Honestly, I am deeply troubled by the recent events. I am very concerned for my dear little home country, Hungary, for its people, troubled economy, its beautiful and ancient culture, language and everything that Hungarians gave their blood during the centuries.

Europe is not based on migration and multiculturalism like USA and Australia. The beauty of Europe is that it has all those ancient, beautiful pockets of different nations, cultures, languages, history, architecture, traditions, food and beauty that makes Europe what it is.

While helping refugees is our duty as humans, what is happening now is out of control and is endangering Europe as it is. By the way, nobody tells the Chinese that they are too Chinese and that they need to take in millions of muslims.

I am still contemplating...there is a massive problem identifying "refugees" as they have no documents. But they have iPhones and phones. Australian border security uses phones, its address book and GPS if necessary to identify locations and origin. How about that? Quickly could figure out who is from Syria, Iraq, etc. Also, a good interview with a few linguistic, origin, local knowledge questions quickly could sort out where people are coming from. I know, it's time consuming but millions will need food, clothing, shelter, documents, jobs, healthcare in a country....just saying...

Check out this great graphics on refugee flows to the EU. Use the graphics above to explore where refugees in Europe live. Select a country of origin to see what EU countries people fled to.

A video called What pisses me off about the European migrant crisis that everyone should watch to understand what's wrong with muslims migrating in great numbers to Western countries. You might not like his performing style but what he says, we must take on board!

The rules of incarnation and your spiritual journey

You believe in incarnation or not, does not change things. You will recognise a lot of patterns that relate to your life that will be listed here. The Universe works in patterns and cycles. 
Regardless of your beliefs it is still happening to you, too. 
Being aware of these rules, cycles and patterns just makes your life easier. 


Once you read it, just find some time and contemplate on your past, present and future, how it all applies to you. 

1. We all get a body. This body is new and single. Nobody else will get the same body as you.
2. You get a brain. It is highly recommended to use it well but it is not a condition. 
3. You get a heart. The best result in life can be achieved if you brain and heart operates in equilibrium. In perfect balance. 
4. You get life lessons. Nobody else gets the same lessons and nobody can take it over from you. 
5. You can do in life whatever you want. Everything you do to others returns to you. Good and bad, resulting from your actions. That's the Karma. 
6. A lesson will return to you until you learnt and understood what you supposed to learn and understand from that lesson. It will return even through reincarnations, too. 
7. This contract is valid to everyone, without exception. There are no privileges, even if some thinks or say so. Changes noted by hand are invalid. 
8. You get a mirror or mirrors to learn. Many of these mirrors look like a body. They exist to show you what you are like and what qualities you possess. 
9. When your body os destroyed or does not work, you get a new one. Occasionally, you have to wait for it. 
10. The contract of your incarnation expires when you have learnt all the lessons and all your results are satisfactory. 
11. What's satisfactory, that's up to you!

About Parenting:

1. Having a child teaches you very special lessons. 
2. Having more children means you have more lessons to learn.
3. Not having a child means that it is not your time in that reincarnation. Possibly, you already went through those life lessons in a previous life so you get a chance to focus on other things. Remember that we get to reincarnate to a higher form of life. 

Useful tips and advice:

1. It is not a goal to accumulate a fortune for the time you leave your body.
2. To be famous and popular do not give you bonus points.
3. Don't compare yourself to the mistakes of others.
4. Rules are to be examined.
5. What other think about goals can deter your attention and focus. 
6. You can't make a mistake or fail. The worst case scenario is that it takes longer. 
7. Your heart gives you access to all answers and solutions. 
8. In your classroom (life) absolutely everything responds to the radiation of your heart. 
9. Destroying your classroom leads to limitations. 
10. Nobody can take over your responsibility. You, and you alone are responsible for you, your actions and your life. 
11. Violence is never a solution.
12. It is useful to take notice of repeated events and lessons. 
13. If you feel you need help, ask for it. Every possible assistance is provided to you if you ask!
14. Drugs, legal and illegal, alter the senses therefor the results of your lessons. 
15. Just because everyone behaves and responds the same way, it does not mean they are right.
16. Rarely there is only one solution.
17. You can request forgiveness. 
18. There is no special closure in your contract. 
19. You are loved. Does not matter you come from or live in Bronx and Somalia. Everything else is an illusion. 
20. The lessons are there to serve your growth, not to punish you. 
21. To put body into someone else's hands has its risks. 
22. To block others in their development has no benefits. 
23. Particularly at late nights you have a chance to leave your body. Out of body experiences are not stored in the body or in your brain. 
24. It is your own right to play with your body. However, if you want to do this with someone else's you need to seek permission. 
25. There is no point cheating. 
26. If someone else offer you life insurance, it's a scam. 
27. It's not a race. There is no reward to be the first. 
28. There is no point to try to look cool. 
29. In your position nobody else would make a better impression than you.

Addition:

1. Interruption or finishing your cycle of incarnation early on purpose attracts tedious bureaucracy and administration. 
2. You are not alone doubting the rules and contract of incarnation.
3. Because you gave your consent to this contact, there is no point of mourning that you are here. 
4. The present contract can not be broken. Get on with it!

Quick! Meditate!

Meditation is the luxury of celebrities or those who have lots of time to waste,   a lot of people think. We know that monks do meditate and have been for centuries. Most people know that it is beneficial but they worry about the time it takes to shut out the world have a little "me" time. Is it really luxury? Is it really selfish to find 15-30 or even 60 minutes a day to meditate? 

Not until something forces you to do, like a serious health challenge. If you are lucky enough to meet someone who teaches you to meditate like I was when I was twenty something and participated in a yoga class or someone inspires you to go on a spiritual journey, you life will change forever.

What are the benefits of a few minutes daily meditation, you could ask.

• It helps you to reduce stress
• Slows down ageing
• Adds more hours to your day. You become more efficient, more organised and focused. 
• Helps you appreciate life and relationships more
• Helps you to be more connected
• Increases your attention span
• Increases immunity and helps you fight diseases
• Improves metabolism and helps you normalise your weight and to keep it like that
• Helps you have a good night sleep
• Improves functioning of the brain
• Ideas, solutions, inspirations and visions might come to you during meditation
• Emotional relief can happen, sometimes in a form of crying during meditation
• Makes you and those around you happier

With meditation, the physiology undergoes a change and every cell in the body is filled with more Prana/Chi (energy). This results in joy, peace, enthusiasm as the level of Prana/Chi in the body increases.

On a physical level meditation

• Lowers blood pressure
• Lowers the levels of blood lactate, reducing anxiety attacks
• Decreases any tension-related pain, such as, tension headaches, ulcers, insomnia, muscle and joint problems
• Increases serotonin production that improves mood and behaviour
• Improves the immune system
• Increases the energy level, as you gain an inner source of energy

Meditation brings the brainwave pattern into an Alpha state that promotes healing. The mind becomes fresh, delicate and beautiful. 

With regular practice of meditation:

• Anxiety decreases
• Emotional stability improves
• Creativity increases
• Happiness increases
• Intuition develops
• Gain clarity and peace of mind
• Problems become smaller
• Meditation sharpens the mind by gaining focus and expands through relaxation
• A sharp mind without expansion causes tension, anger and frustration
• An expanded consciousness without sharpness can lead to lack of action/progress
• The balance of a sharp mind and an expanded consciousness brings perfection

Meditation makes you aware - that your inner attitude determines your happiness.

Here I included a simple, short, 7 minutes morning meditation to put you on the path. 

Enjoy the Morning Meditation to set good intentions for the day!

Improving lower back problems with Toe Tapping

Most abdominal exercises, such as the standard floor crunch, work your abs through an active contraction -- the muscles contract, or shorten, to perform the movement. The toe tapping exercise that is a simple Chinese exercise and is part of Dahn Yoga, is a basic abdominal movement that works your abs isometrically, or statically. Your abdominal muscles are not the primary movers, but they do engage during the toe tap exercise.

Toe tapping is an ancient practice that helps balance the energy between the body and head while it dramatically stimulates energy flow in the legs, allowing you to become connected to the larger energy field of the earth. Because of this, I found this exercise extremely helpful with lower back pain, back tensions and with serious case of stenosis. Don't get disheartened if when you try this simple exercise first time that every healthy person can do hundreds of them right away, you can't even move your feet, your lower back goes into spasm right away and can't move or your legs get so stiff when your try this simple repetitive movement that you only can do 2-3 of the tapping. Even that is just a pathetic effort of what you supposed to do... This is how I started! Just trying it again every other day. This is how I worked my way up to 150 taps within two weeks! So there is hope! Don't give up!

Do not do this exercise if you have had a recent knee or hip replacement or if you are pregnant.

Find a comfortable place on the floor.

The legs rotate from the hips, like windshield wipers on a car. Lie flat on your back. Allow your hips and legs to rest easily, hips loose and feet apart. Rotate or rock your legs and feet, in and out from your hips, leaving your heels in one place on the floor. Roll your legs, first tapping your big toes together and then letting your legs and feet roll back out. Keep your legs straight.

The faster you tap, the easier it will be to do this exercise, because you will be using momentum from the previous tap as well as the rotator muscles in your hips and thighs. Continue the tapping for five minutes at first, then work up to longer periods. The demonstration video I included later is fantastic, the music is great, very rhythmical and easy to work with! Once you stop, rest on your back. Notice how you feel and relax in this position for a moment.

Watch and use this video to develop your daily routine of Toe Tapping

How does Toe Tapping work:
Your abdominal muscles do not actively contract, or shorten, during the toe tap movement. The iliopsoas, or hip flexor muscles, are the primary movers. These muscles connect your hip bone to your thigh bone and are responsible for pulling your thighs toward your hip. The rectus abdominis, your main ab muscle, isometrically contracts to stabilise your torso during the toe tap movement. Your ab muscles contract without a significant change in length.

A variety of factors can impede the flow of energy, such as stress, lack of sleep and dehydration. As you tap your feet together, the Liver Meridian, Gall Bladder Meridian, Bladder Meridian, and Spleen Meridian as well as various acupressure points may be stimulated. These are part of an invisible network of pathways within the body through which Chi energy travels. Toe Tapping helps open these pathways to clear any blockages that may be affecting the balance and flow of energy in the body.

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine we should have cool head, neutral heart, and a warm pelvis. And in our culture, we’re flipped: we often have a cool pelvis, neutral heart, and a hot head. As you tap your toes together, fire energy is drawn downward and your natural state of a cooler head will be restored. This desirable state is known as “Water Up, Fire Down.” This means that any tension and stress induced energy in the head area is directed down into lower parts of the body to help energise the circulation of both blood and energy throughout the whole body as it also strengthens the lower body. The tapping of the toes will stimulate some meridian points to bring energy up, and also it opens the hips.
Dr Chiasson writes that "I can teach it to just about anybody, because people who can’t get out of bed can do it; I’ve even taught it to hospice patients. It also works extraordinarily well for some of the things that we’re not very good at, like restless leg syndrome, peripheral neuropathy. It’s very, very simple. And kids do it naturally. I was teaching it the other day to a group of older people, and they were laughing, some of them were saying, “Oh, I do this sometimes without even thinking about it.”

Toe Tapping for Pain Relief
Toe tapping also comes with a variety of physical benefits. It can relieve headaches and lower back pain in addition to easing irritation in the hip joint. This is particularly useful for people who spend much of their day at a desk and, in effect, suffer from stiffness and soreness in the back, neck, shoulders and other parts of the body.

The exercises helps to relax the entire body and allows energy and blood to flow, thus raising the body temperature for optimal body function and healing, and offer new confidence for creating positive change in your life. Give it a try.

Toe Tapping for prevention
The tapping method was described by Ann Marie Chiasson, MD, of the Arizona Center for Integrative Medicine. For her own patients with high blood pressure, Dr. Chiasson has adapted a tapping technique that is part of the ancient Chinese practice called Qigong.

Qigong involves simple movements, including tapping on the body’s meridians, or “highways” of energy movement. These meridians are the same as those used during acupuncture and acupressure treatments. According to a review of nine studies published in The Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, qigong reduced systolic blood pressure (the top number) by an average of 17 points and diastolic blood pressure (the bottom number) by an average of 10 points. Those are big reductions! In fact, they are comparable to the reductions achieved with drugs—but the qigong had no unwanted side effects.

Though Dr. Chiasson has not conducted a clinical trial on her tapping protocol, she has observed reductions in blood pressure among her patients who practice tapping. The technique she recommends also could conceivably benefit people who do not have high blood pressure if it reduces stress and thus helps lower the risk of developing high blood pressure.

Conducting Toe Tapping Exercises at Work
You can practice toe tapping while sitting at your desk to find relief from stress and pain associated with sitting at a desk. To conduct this Dahn Yoga exercise, follow these steps:
Start in a seated position with your legs extended as much as possible while still keeping your feet on the ground.
Put your heels together and keep them touching throughout the exercise.
Tap the big toes together.
Open your feet by rotating the heels until the little toes touch the ground. The motion should resemble a butterflies wings flapping.
Repeat the movement as fast as you can 100 times. Use music if you prefer!

The more you practice toe tapping, the more you'll notice the benefits of this Dahn Yoga exercise. You can increase the number of motions each time to enhance the benefits slowly. Toe tapping may be low-exertion, but it can help to improve circulation in your legs and relieve tension and soreness throughout the body. It even has the ability to calm your mind and provide a better night's sleep. This wide array of benefits can, in turn, work to improve your job performance, as you find yourself feeling more awake, aware and vibrant throughout the work day and ready to take on new and challenging tasks.

More on Meridian Tapping and Energy Flow Techniques: http://www.holistic-mindbody-healing.com/meridian-tapping.html

Shaking the bones

How do you deal with stress? What do you daily, to get rid of any negative impact that we all get knowing or not knowing it? 

Keeping your home fresh by allowing fresh air to circulate, sun light enter and a Himalayan Salt Lamp to clean the air and allow negative ions to do their cleansing is a common method to keep your home a peaceful, relaxed space. But how do you deal with the stress in your body? One of the daily activity is to have a cleansing shower and remove the impurities that we are exposed all day. However, we all carry tremendous amount of stress in our body. We all carry it in different part of our bodies. Some have clenched jaws, tight butts, shortened hamstrings, painful shoulders, tension in their necks, have frequent migraines and pain behind the eyes. But how do you deal with these issues and get rid of them every day so they don't accumulate and become chronic pain, is the key here. 

Unfortunately, we are so not in touch with simple, ancient methods of getting rid of tensions but instead popping pills, get surgery or just put up with tension, stress and pain as normal part of life that it is ruining people's lives. 

“Shaking the bones” is an ancient Chinese exercise. Watch video demonstration with Dr Chiasson.

It could not be more simple and can be done anywhere. Once you see it done, you probably recall seeing it as part of American Indians, Africans, Aboriginals or other 'primal' tribes' rituals and dances. It even appears in one of my favourite romantic movie starring Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds, The Proposal. Bouncing, shaking and chanting, all leads back to the same roots. 

You just stand in place and bounce up and down at the knees while shaking your whole body like a rag doll.

Let go of the stresses of the day by shaking them out. Release tensions and revive yourself. Shaking seems simple (and is) but is actually a powerful, effective Qigong technique. It relaxes and warms all of the muscles, organs, joints and fascia of the body and even the multitudes of cells of your body. Whole-body shaking is an excellent way to exercise and detoxify every cell of the body. Besides being an effective warm-up, Shaking the Body can make bone marrow strong, strengthen the spine, and support the kidneys and adrenal glands. In fact, every organ and tube in the body is enhanced by Shaking the Body. Lymph flow is enhanced so that more gunk is cleared out and your immune function improved. Blood flow increases and hormonal secretions will benefit your skin. Bouncing up and down like this also adjusts the magnetic field, organising and balancing it. Shaking can strengthen cells through the quick, extra force each shake places on the cells. It adds a sudden dollop of extra-gravitational force, creating a need for all of the cells to buck up. It can help sagging tissues regain or hold their tonicity.

It is highly recommended that you do it daily for at least for 5 minutes. It helps move the physical and mental energy through your body and get it where it needs to be. Put on your favourite music and shake those bones and enjoy!
Watch video demonstration with Dr Chiasson.

That admirable true Aussie spirit

Australian are very well regarded in the world for their good work ethics, easy going nature, friendliness, the "she will be right" attitude and good sense of humour. These qualities, although the way they were delivered many times were new to me, made me feel at home and comfortable when I moved to Australia.

In the last twenty-one years, my love and my admiration just grew for the true Aussie qualities and how Australians approach life. This absolutely does not mean that I am less "Hungarian" than I was or I don't respect and love my birth nation's qualities. Many times I wish, we could mould together the best of these two nations' best but that's a dream. Maybe, some of us will manage to come close to that.

I love working on how our daily mindset influences our view on life, the outcome of our days and activities. I know, how far myself I have come since moving to Down Under. It bothers me to see how even my own countrymen and women behave, talk and treat other people. How pickiness and constant criticism ruins their/our good time. How lack of kindness, lack of smile or lack of gratefulness or appreciation of another person's efforts is present in our contact with people. When I experience this, it makes me embarrassed and makes me apologise after, when I meet those same people again.

Certain individuals behave like they have the right to treat others disrespectfully, like they were born with more privileges and rights but with fewer or no duties. No wonder, people in frustration respond to them with racist-sounding comments and send them back where they or their parents and grandparents came from. I am not defending anyone. However, a whole nation needs to protect the true Aussie values and the true Aussie spirit.

Recent sport events in Wimbledon made me feel embarrassed. The childish and nasty tantrums thrown by our top tennis players like Nick Kyrgios's, bouncing his racket into crowd, picking and commenting on the umpire and displeased with the noise his Aussie supporters made was not Aussie temperament. It rather reminded me of a little boy who absolutely not in charge of his emotions and moods. Swearing and throwing the ball out of court in his frustration shows that he does not have a way of coping with the pressures of a game and he is not in control of his emotions. While his talent is unquestionable, certain aspects of his appearance right at the beginning demonstrated that we are dealing with a unique and strong individual, who needs and wants attention. Unfortunately, he has been attracting lately the wrong type of attention. All those fans, who excitedly followed his every move at the Australian Open, now turned away from him disappointedly. His behaviour even attracted an unfortunate comment from a well-respected olympic star, Dawn Fraser. While that comment came out racist, maybe it was a good thing for our young Kyrgios to realise that he was behaving badly and not making Australians proud. Even the sport is turning away from him.

Similarly, Novak Djokovic was loosing his cool and was yelling for towel at the ball girl in a moment of total destress. Bernard Tomic was not coping better with Wimbledon's pressures either. You could ask, what's going on with our Aussie tennis stars?

While I love sports, always watch the Australian Open, the Olympic Games, especially swimming, I rather do things than watch things on TV. I have a real issue with Australians being so obsessed with sports and with their athletes. I believe their are massively over-paid and elevated to celebrity status. In my opinion they do not contribute to society that much to deserve it, especially when you compare with other areas of our society when it comes to work, pay, respect and contributions.

It bothers me terribly that our TV news and all the newspapers also represent this view. Half the news and the newspapers are sport sections. It would be highly welcome I believe from a big part of our society if sport section would reduce in size and importance, giving way to the Arts, Science and community news.

Normally, I would stay away from expressing my thoughts publicly. However, this incident made me think. I was wondering, why did these incidents upset me so much that I came to write about it on my blog?

I feel that people who have certain privileges in life need to live up to that position. They owe society and the people who elevated them to that position to show a good example. Top athletes enjoy a lot of privileges in life. They are celebrities with elevated social status, lifestyle, connections, access to things the average citizen doesn't (for example a team of experts, top health care and special treatments), renumeration equivalent or more than the Prime Minister's and much more. It also proves that wealth and intelligence, especially emotional intelligence has no relations with each other.

When citizens were asked what professions they respect the most, after doctors and military officers came firefighters, scientists, followed by nurses and engineers. When you consider i,t money has nothing to do with it.

Those people who are constantly in the public's eye and unfortunately, due to media attention and our obsession with sports, our athletes, politicians and our celebrities have become the point of attention. These people have become the example of the younger generation, just because there is no better in the media and on Internet. In a way, it is a little sad world for those who don't have real passions and all consuming pastimes that introduces them to celebrities, away from the media attention. Artists, scientists, researchers, explorers and ordinary people who do extraordinary things in life. People who work hard and stay humble to serve the nation and the world. People, who not always earn a fortune or live their lives in the limelight. But they are around us, we just have to open our eyes and view the world with different eyes from how it is being presented to us by the media.

Work hard and stay humble. She will be right, mate!

Dealing with the Killer Called Stress by Captain Paul Watson

Captain Paul Watson

Founder of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society
Co-Founding Director Greenpeace Foundation

Dealing with the Killer Called Stress

Observations and Advice by Captain Paul Watson

I am often asked how I deal with stress considering I’m wanted by Japan and Costa Rica, I have a price on my head from the shark fin mafia of Costa Rica, we have numerous ships on the sea in dangerous campaigns, I am being sued, threatened and harassed continuously and I have a lot of enemies, critics and people who wish me harm.

The answer to this is simple. I don’t deal with stress, because I do not suffer from stress. And these are ten primary reasons why, and for anyone suffering from anxiety, worry or stress, I would like to offer this advice.

1. It is what it is. Whatever the issue, whatever the threat, whatever the circumstances it simply is what it is. Stressing will not change the situation. All problems can be dealt with or ignored.
2. “It’s always something.” I say this all the time to my crews whenever a problem arises. “It’s always something and if it’s not something, it’s something else, but it is always something.” This means that life comes with obstacles, challenges and problems. Problems should not be unexpected. They are inevitable. All problems can be dealt with by dealing with them, delegating someone else to deal with them, or ignoring them. One thing for sure, on a ship, it is definitely always something.
3. Stay calm. There really is nothing worth getting upset about. For example, if I drop a bottle of wine or tomato sauce and it shatters, my reaction is, “hmmm okay, that needs cleaning up.” If I lose my phone, wallet or keys, my reaction is “I better replace what I lost and take measures to cancel my cards etc. More seriously when my regulator jammed once at 30 meters, I calmly signaled my partner to indicate my situation. Fretting about it will not recover the object. Panicking will not save your life. Anger emanates from stress. Without stress there can be no anger. Without stress there is no panic.
4. Nothing material is permanent and thus objects are not worth stressing about. Your car is damaged, something you own is stolen, or you lost your investments etc. It is really not important. Material objects and comforts are nice but they should not be anchors keeping you attached to stress. Move on.
5. Friends are friends or they are not. A true friend will never betray you and if a “friend” does betray you than he/she is simply not a friend. Always walk away from betrayal and do not stress about it. True and loyal friends are rare treasures and should be treated as such. Loyalty returns loyalty. Compassion returns compassion. Courage returns courage. However you control only your own loyalty, compassion and courage, not that of others. And if they prove disloyal or they betray you, the treasure is no longer a treasure but merely a bauble to be tossed aside. Never stress about betrayal or loss. It is what it is.
6. Loneliness is an opportunity. It is an opportunity to discover yourself. You can’t find someone to love you if you don’t love yourself, and the secret to finding the right person is to not look for that person. Love should blossom from the ground like a lovely wild flower. It cannot be cultivated until after it is realized. Do not seek the seed but let the flower reveal an opportunity to you to grow and learn.
7. Relationships are like streams, constantly flowing and as they flow they meet obstacles. Some are minor and others major but a relationship either flows around the obstacle or it is blocked, and if permanently blocked, it ends. This is not cause for stress or angry, resentment or jealously. It is what it is. Move on with appreciation and without bitterness for the relationship that is no more, and open your heart to other possibilities that life presents. The most important factor in maintaining a meaningful relationship with lovers, family or friends is simply acceptance. You need to accept them for who they are and they need to accept you for who you are. If you cannot accept another person for who they are, you need to stop inflicting stress on that person and to walk away. And if another person does not accept you for who you are, you need to walk away no matter the nature of the relationship. Stress kills and living with a person who does not accept you for who you are, is like living with a person who is slowly killing you.
8. Fear is a poison that seeps into the soul and paralyzes our senses generating paranoia, insecurity and anger. Never let fear enter your life. There is really nothing to fear because things are what they are and will be what they will be. Remember you are the captain of your fate and the master of your soul and body. Who you are and what you wish to be depends on you and you alone. A person free of fear can accomplish far more than a person shackled to fear.
9. Oscar Wilde once said that the only thing worst than being talked about was not being talked about. People talk, they gossip, they make false accusations, some enjoy insulting and belittling others. They are easily dealt with by ignoring them. Responding to them is what they want, so don’t respond. Reacting to them is what they want, so don’t react. Such people are not worthy of causing stress to you. They come from a place of insecurity, jealously and fear. It is their stress, and their stress is their problem. It should not be yours.
10. Hoka Hey. It’s a good day to die. It’s a Lakota saying and it means to not fear death and to stand firm for what you believe in, to fight against all odds and to never surrender. The one absolute of life is death. We all will die. What matters is not dying but living. It is how you live that is important and the only thing important about dying is how you die. It should be a death without fear, with dignity and with acceptance that it is what it is. The person without fear dies but once, the person shackled by fear dies slowly from stress and anxiety. Accept the inevitable, embrace the final reality of life and smile in the face of the infinite. The real secret to happiness is to not fear your own death, to not fear failure or ridicule, and not to fear others.

Stress is an obstacle to mindfulness and an impediment to impeccability. Stress is the cause of migraines, cancer and many other ailments. It is the reason people smoke, take drugs, and drink excessively. When people ask me why I’ve never smoked anything, the reason being is that I have never felt inclined to do so. It never seemed healthy to me and I have always been mindful of the consequences. I think that stress blocks mindfulness of consequences. The same holds true to getting drunk or stoned. Without stress there is no need, nor a desire to do either.

Mindfulness is simply awareness of who you are and what you are doing. A person who is mindful is a person free of stress.

Unfulfilled desire leads to stress. Wanting nothing allows you to appreciate what you have. When you want nothing, you want for nothing. We all have basic needs for food, for warmth and shelter, for clothing and for companionship. Mindfulness allows you to be secure with your basic needs. Everything else is a luxury and although luxuries may be appreciated, you should not depend upon them. Depending upon luxuries leads to stress.

I have never worked a day in my life for the sole purpose of making money. I have never wanted to own anything and although I now do own property and material things, I do not allow those things to own me. I never engage in arguments about money or debts. I tend to avoid debts but when debts occur my position is that they are what they are and certainly not anything to be troubled with.

As far as basic needs, I learned to address this as a teenager when I left home at 15. I had no money, no place to stay, no prospects. I jumped a freight train, rode in the automobiles being transported from Toronto all the way to Vancouver. I arrived and camped in the abandoned gun towers on Wreck Beach and the first thing I did was to go to Vancouver City College to enroll. I found a job, moved out of the gun tower into a single room I rented and went from there. Looking back I see it as an adventure. I had nothing, but there was no stress. I simply replaced the insecurity of my position into an adventurous experience. I treated every job as a learning experience and working as a longshoreman, teamster, tree planter, warehouse man, short order cook, baker, painter, carpet layer, postman, tour guide, landscaper, and seaman all were educational experiences.

The truth is that all of life is an adventure, the good and the bad, the ups and the downs, the experiences, the hardships, the thrills and the times that were lonely, happy or difficult. Even the loss of friends and family is simply dealt with by acknowledging that death is as it is. It is inevitable and although we may sincerely mourn we can do so without being stressed. This may be difficult to understand but it is indeed quite possible. With the passing of every friend, with the passing of my brother I have silently said “Good-bye” with the appreciation of having known them.

I have gone into situations many times where the risks of injury, death or imprisonment were practically a certainty. My approach has always been acceptance. And amazingly I am still alive and still free. When I have had nothing I have had everything I need, and when I have risked all, I have usually been successful. One of the things that concerns me is when I read about, or hear of people, especially young people committing suicide because of bullying. I wish that I could talk to such people before they make such a terminal decision. I would tell them to not let the insecurities and fears of others influence them in any way. I would tell them to accept that all the ridicule, insults, bullying and peer pressure is irrelevant and simply unimportant to who they are. If a parent is unaccepting of who you are, you need to say to them that if you are unacceptable to them they have no right to be your parent and you should walk away from them. Too many people are enslaved to parents, partners and friends who do not accept them Unacceptance and bullying are forms of violence and everyone should walk away from violence with dignity. No one should tell you what to believe, how to think, how to dress, how to behave or to dictate your sexual orientation or condemn you for your compassion, your passion, your imagination and your character. You are who you are and that is what it is, and how it should be, and if others do not tolerate who you are, don’t give them the satisfaction of destroying you. Simply symbolically spit in their eye, walk away and concentrate on being who you are for the benefit of yourself.

And if anyone is inclined to commit suicide my advice is to commit social suicide instead. That is, to drop out of your life as it is and begin another life, in another place with new ideas. Adventure is the antidote for depression. Take a chance, jump into the unknown and you will be amazed at what is awaiting you after you do.

I am not infallible. I have made mistakes in my life, many of them. I have at times in the past responded with anger although never physical and limited to the poison of the pen. I have let some people down, disappointed others and missed opportunities. But the one thing that I have been able to do in my life is to avoid stress.

At 64, I am healthy, happy, optimistic, and as passionate as I ever have been. Even more so because I have had the grace of experience and the satisfaction of achievement in those areas that I chose to address.

The point of this posting is this: Do not let stress ruin your health, your love or your life. Dreadnaught and live the adventure, this adventure that is life. It may well be the only life you will ever have. Even if you believe in the afterlife (oh and don’t stress about that either) the fact is you will never know for sure, so no sense wasting the unique life that you have.

A stress free life is not only possible, it’s also essential for your health and your happiness.

Read more about Captain Paul Watson 

Straight to the last piece of the new piano book!

What do we expect from a first grader? In my 31 years of music teaching I have seen a lot of things. 

Stephanie, a six-year-old Hungarian student of mine, supposed to start her Level 1 new piano book today but she flicked the page to the Certificate, similar to what we filled in for her when she completed her Prep book last lesson. Then she flicked the page to the last piece of her new book. She was not too worried of the look of the hardest piece at the end of her new piano book so I thought, let's just see what happens if we try it instead of going back to the beginning of the book and start with the usual revision.

It was amazing to see how Stephanie applied all the things that she learnt. She recognised the Alberti bass patterns, figured out the rhythms and said the names of the letter names. We identified the two chords that were broken up in the left hand bass then she identified the names of the long, held notes in the right hand. In no time she was putting the hands together in quite a reasonable tempo and with great fluency. In no time, she learnt it! What an amazing achievement!

Watch Stephanie's third attempt to play Sonatina with two hands! Pay attention to the fact how she is reading the notes from her book! What an amazing girl!

How is this music reading from a beginner piano player? This video is a great example of raising the bar when we work with children!

Having a cleaning lady is not a luxury

I grew up in a modern family where housework and upbringing of children was shared between my parents. They were both working. My mum in the hospitality working two different shifts, 7am-2pm or 2pm-10pm and she was working on weekends, too. She loved it and she was well loved  and known in her profession. My dad worked as an engineer designing portable units for chemical companies and experiments and worked 7am-3.30pm on weekdays. I liked that my father was willing to cook, clean, look after us, do anything that was needed to help mum. However, when she was free, she did all the work she was able and let my dad relax and enjoy his hobbies, writing poems, novels, build a radio and later, grow fresh produce in our hobby garden. Our family was doing very well for a working family in Hungary.

I don't think there and that time it would have been conceivable to have a cleaning lady. Probably, we did not even need one. I think my family coped very well with all the daily challenges thanks to mum's changing shifts. I really think, it helped her to be on top of things to be at home in the mornings when dad was working and I was at school, to do the housework and cook fresh food for us, daily.

I remember coming home from school and the freshly cooked, delicious food being left for us on the stove. Always at least two courses, a soup and a main and sometimes salad. Lots of variety but always simple and good food.

Keeping a cleaning lady, in my memories was associated with the aristocrats and a very well to do families. I can't think back that I knew anyone, who had a cleaning lady to help with housework, in my circle of friends in my childhood.

I remember this theory of earning well and making money when I was part of Herbalife and we had personal development sessions as part of our training. I remember the concept taught to us that when you start earning well, give away money and turn back money so it can multiply. Employ, help others earn well too.

Then as I traveled and worked in other countries, I saw that many families had help with housework and that it was a normal thing to do.

As I got more busy lecturing, traveling to other universities, giving workshops and conduct concerts and rehearsals, my schedule started to be really hectic. I always managed things pretty well on the home front but many of my creative works suffered because I could not start my writing or songwriting until my home was not in perfect order. It was simply part of my preparation rituals and procrastination.

I was living in Townsville when I got my first cleaning lady. A friend, who lived on the opposite side of road from me recommended this lady to try. She charged so little that it would have been really ridiculous not to use her services. A few times I was there and we did things together then she has got a key because I was away on the day when she came to do the cleaning. I remember, what an incredible nice feeling it was to get off the plane after a very busy concert period away, arrive with the taxi to my home, enter my house and see a sparklingly clean, tidy home. There was food in the fridge, ironed clothes and sheets in the wardrobe and fresh flowers on the table. It was worth every penny to me! All I needed to do is unpack my suitcase, put my things in the washing machine, eat something, have a shower and go to bed. I had the weekend to recover from my trip instead of cleaning, shopping, ironing, cooking etc.

Then life changed and I had a less stressful lifestyle and I managed things again pretty well.
However, recently things got too hectic again and I found things hard to manage at home when it came to cleaning and being on top of things. I did not even realise, just recently, that this caused me stress! I like to be on top of things and when I am not, I get stressed. You know, all those jobs that you delay or don't do because it is too hard, not that important right now or even too nasty....
It was time to look for a company I could trust and find a good cleaning lady to help with all the houseworks again!

I checked things on the Internet and found Absolute Domestics. I made the phone call and two days later, my lovely Russian helper knocked on my door. Life changed with that moment again for the better. The best $90 spent fortnightly! A few sessions and she felt at home, she knew what and how I like and like a whirlwind she worked in my home. I made the list what had to be done and she did it! Friday afternoons, I have a spotless, tidy, lovely home to enjoy! Crisp sheets, shiny tiles, nice smelling curtains and all in order!

In some ways, I still feel "guilty" for allowing myself to pay someone else to do my housework. This is what I grew up with. But my rational mind reasons that why would I spend my precious tine with cleaning when that time can be better used for my creative activities or even to rest and recharge.

I also help someone else to get a job, earn some income. It is interesting what happens when you put aside the conventional thinking and form your life the way it suits you.

My cleaning lady herself is an artist, too. She is a painter. She does that in her free time, around family. However, while her son is in school and her husband is working, she does house cleaning a few days a week to earn extra income. It suits her well because she decides her own hours. She finishes work for the time her son comes home from school. Strangely, she is a neighbour of one of my lovely students. How small the world is!

Many times we have a little chat with the parents who bring their children for piano lesson. It is great to exchange ideas and to learn from them about things. I love chatting with the kids and their parents. What amazed me lately, how many of the parents are struggling with work, family and housework and that many of them have a home helper to cope with the housework! Once you ask around, having a cleaning lady is actually quite common!

I just recommended to my very good friend to get a cleaning lady because she travels for work all the time and she struggles to cope with everything when on the weekends finally she is back in Melbourne and would be happy to relax before sitting on the next flight.

How did we get to make our lives so busy that we are not coping very well with running a household, raising a family and holding a full-time job? You must be a Superwoman to do this nowadays!

Two weeks ago I committed myself to a 10 week Paleo Program that involves a lot of food preparation and cooking, which I am not used to. The time that is now free from doing housework, can be used to prepare healthy and delicious meals, resting and doing the things that I enjoy doing. Everything has a value. For most of us, time is the most precious after our health. So saving our time for the things we need it the most, is priceless. So I decided that having a cleaning lady is absolutely not a luxury.

Hungarian Easter

Easter (Húsvét) holds great significance to the people of Hungary. This is a special time where celebrations are marked by folk traditions and religious observance.

Elaborately decorated eggs, dousing rituals, church ceremonies, prayers, and special foods are common practices leading up to and during Easter in Hungary.

Here are a few of the most popular customs.

Lent
Hungarians regard “Lent” as the Great Fast for Easter. Since meat is forbidden during Lent, the day before Ash Wednesday is called “Húshagyó Kedd“, which means “meat abandoning Tuesday”. On Holy Saturday, what is known as “Nagyszombat” in Hungary, people take food baskets filled with kalács, red eggs and salt to the church, to be blessed by the clergyman. This blessed food is eaten in the Easter dinner after the resurrection ceremonies are over.

Easter Eggs
The art of decorating Easter eggs in Hungary was originally a Pagan ritual but was carried over with the acceptance of Christianity. Eggs are decorated with simple geometric shapes or ornamented with swirls of plants and flowers. The color red is often used as it symbolizes the blood of Christ. Many eggs also carry the embroidery of Hungarian designs that are a part of the traditional dress. Painted wooden eggs are also displayed in many Hungarian homes.

Flower Sunday
Centuries ago on Palm Sunday it was customary to bless not only branches but also the various flowers of the season. Today, the flowers are still mentioned in the antiphons after the prayer of blessing. Thus, the name Flower Sunday or “Virágvasárnap” is used in Hungary.

Sprinkling
Sprinkling is a very popular Easter custom in Hungary, observed on Easter Monday, which is also known as “Ducking Monday“. On this day, boys playfully sprinkle perfume or perfumed water on girls. Until some time back, young men used to pour buckets of water over young women’s heads. Now it is more common for men to spray perfume, cologne or just plain water, and then ask for a kiss and a red egg. This ritual is associated with fertility, healing, and cleansing rites.

Happy Easter!

Hungarian recipe made healthier

I used to love Hungarian food that my mum and dad made. Then, when I came to Australia, I did not cook any Hungarian food because all the ingredients tasted so different that whatever I cooked, nothing seemed to work or taste the same. I spent a year eating at the Canberrra Shopping Centre Food Court and at the staff canteen at uni in lunch time and I discovered that Chinese, Indian and Thai food are the closest to Hungarian so I was happy.

Now, twenty years later, I just started to cook Hungarian food again, taking the liberty of changing the recipes to suit my taste, diet and needs.

Tonight I cooked something that is very easy, quick and I used to love it! In Hungarian we call is "fasirozott". It is a meatball. Normally we would use pork meat but I must say, can't stomach pork meat here in Australia except made by Asians. This meat ball does not work well with beef,  in my opinion it is too strong meat so this time, I made it with chicken meat mince. However, don't be shy to try this meat ball recipe with beef or even lamb mince! I am sure it is delicious!

I chopped a brown onion, peeled a few cloves of garlic, pulsed them in the food processor, then added 500g chicken mince, added Himalayan Pink Salt, pepper and paprika and an egg. Mixed them well in the food processor and transferred the mix into a glass container with a tight lid and left it stand in the fridge for the night.

Next day, before to prepare my dinner, I peeled three zucchinis. I grated them and sprinkled them with salt and let it stand for 20 mins. I washed the rockets and drained them, put the salad in a bowl, added a few small Roma tomatoes cut into small pieces. Then, squeezed the zucchinis out of the juice and 2/3 of it I mixed with the meat to make it lighter. 1/3 of the zucchini I added to the salad. It has a lovely juicy texture and tastes lovely with the rockets and tomatoes.

Now, that I had the zucchini mixed with the meat, I put some almond meal in a small bowl, shaped a small ball out of the meat mix, rolled and rounded it with my palms and covered the meat ball with the almond meal. Because the meat mix with the zucchini is quite moist, the almond meal sticks to it nicely!

Just that you would not feel disappointed when you see the original recipe of "fasirozott", it supposed to be coated with freshly made breadcrumbs! But because I could not find breadcrumbs as I have not used any for years although I know, it is hiding somewhere there on the top shelf, a genious sudden idea came in my mind to use almond meal instead!

I made 4-5 small balls for dinner and had plenty of mix left for tomorrow! You even could freeze it and use it later! I started my Airfryer which means that without using any oil I can fry the meat balls! However, I am sure they are absolutely delicious fried in oil or baked in the oven! While the meat balls were getting cooked in the Airfryer, I sprinkled the remaining almond meals from the coating ball on the salad, added the juice of half of a lemon and sprinkled some Flax seed oil as a salad dressing. Feel free to use olive oil, avocado or any good quality cold pressed oil you like!

I hope you will like "fasirozott"!

Here I included the original recipe of "fasirozott" for your information! Enjoy!

Hungarian cabbage salad - using food processor

I am not a big cook. Definitely not a big baker. However, this summer, the weather was not hot and we had quite a few overcast and rainy days. This encouraged me to stay home, get on with my book writing and new business set up. Between works, it was really nice to get in the kitchen, cook a great vegetable curry, make a big pot of chicken soup or lately, experiment with some healthier desserts like using coconut flour and making raw vegan delicious slices. 

This tendency is rather funny, because my brother back in Hungary is a chef and makes incredible things. His older sister, cooks very, I mean VERY rarely! But this might be changing...especially, since second time I invested into a food processor. First time when I had one, I was working full time, no, rather in one and a half positions. My new food processor did not even get to that stage that I would have experimented with it and learnt how to use it. But now, my eating habits and my lifestyle was much more suitable to have a food processor and create great recipes with it. I am eating much more fresh produce, so slicing, chopping and mixing with it is helping me eating even better. 

When my food processor has arrived, I checked YouTube for videos to see how others use the processor and what it can be done with it. I was very impressed! It was so versatile that I knew, I will be using my food processor a lot!  

I did not make cabbage salad for ages because I could not bother slicing a whole or half cabbage with knife. But the food processor did this in a second! Wow! So next day, I went shopping for cabbage!

One of my first recipe that I made was a simple, raw Hungarian cabbage salad. It is extremely quick, easy to store in the fridge in a container and goes well with any meat dish, rice and potato dish. I remember, on hot summer days I even used to eat it just itself, it was so refreshing!


This cabbage salad is something my family very frequently made and kept in the fridge. 

Ingredients:

1 medium cabbage, shredded

1 teaspoon good quality sea or rock salt

1 cup water

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tablespoon oil (optional, I don't use oil)

2 tablespoon white vinegar

pinch of caraway seeds, celery or cumin seeds (optional, for me without seeds it just does not work!)

Pink Himalayan Rock Salt and black pepper to taste if you like
Directions:

Slice the white or red cabbage finely with a knife or with your magic food processor, using the slicer. Put shredded cabbage in a large bowl, sprinkle with salt and vinegar and let it stand for a few hours or at least for 20 minutes.. When the cabbage softens, squeeze out the juice by hand and place the cabbage into a large bowl. 
In a mug or bowl add the water, vinegar, sugar and a pinch of salt (be careful adding more salt, cabbage can be already salty enough for many after the 20 mins). Mix until sugar is dissolved and pour it on the cabbage in the salad bowl. Sprinkle with caraway seeds and mix the salad well. 
Taste for seasoning, add pepper and oil if you like and cover the bowl or put the salad in a container to let it mature in the fridge for a few hours before tossing again and serving. 

Note:
You can add more or less vinegar, or more sugar, make your dressing tangy or sweet, add garlic to it, go crazy. Perfect salad to go with meat and mashed potatoes.

Cabbage is a cheap, refreshing, nutritious food, very versatile and can be stored well in the fridge so use it and enjoy it!

Give presence

Christmas is approaching.
As we grow up and get older, things become less and less important and we realise that the most important things are not available in shops.

I teach music and I am lucky because many times the parents are sitting here with us at lessons. Most of them keenly follow every minute of the lesson. Proudly watching their child reading music, decoding the beautiful mystery of a new melody as the black notes are scattered on the staves. Making sense of these dots is like a snake charmer, inviting the melody to come to live note by note. It is one of the most wonderful skills one can have. It opens up a magical world both for the player and the listener. What a wonderful way to spend time and create something out of nothing!

In this technology focused and fast paced world even parents forget to connect with their children. Sitting behind us many times they spend the whole lesson playing on their phone, answering texts and disconnect from what is happening in the room.  Missing an opportunity to catch the magic, the moment when learning takes place, when a piece is played first time with both hands, when a composition finally performed first time without a mistake and when the dots come to live and the piece is not just played correctly but comes to live from feelings and expression, when real music is born.

No Facebook posting or text message can compete with these moments. These moments will never return. Just like the first words and the first steps of a child.

As a teacher, I am very much aware of the change in the energy in the room when we all focus on the player. We are all one, our energy united. There is harmony in the room and the player is supported. But when someone in the room watches his/her phone and is disengaged from the work that takes place, the circle of energy is broken. It is extremely destructive to both of us. It is very hard not to ask the parents to put down the device and focus on the work. To make them realise that they are missing an incredible opportunity to connect with their child on a very different level.

It is an every day problem. We are more connected than ever and at the same time more disconnected from each other, from our friends and families and from society than ever. People are more lonely than ever. The depth of our relationships and connection to other human beings have tragically  changed. Connecting to another person and listening, truly listening to another has always been an Art. The knowledge of the few. Now more than ever. A person, who truly listens and pays attention is very powerful.

What we teach to kids is very important here. How we relate to our loved ones and to our friends carries a very powerful massage about our values. The approaching school holiday and Festive Season is a wonderful opportunity to connect again. To connect and to spend quality time the right way. Having some "no technology" time is scary at first. But if certain days or hours can be limited to quality time without devices, the rewards will be huge and Christmas more wonderful than ever!

When we look into someone's eyes, listen to them and connect on a deeper level, we send a very powerful message. That they are important to us and we want to connect and put them first. Nothing is so precious than your presence. Your true presence. So this Christmas, give presence!