High-Tech Shanty Towns

THIS IS WHY I ASK.
Because:
I'm a Community development activist (promoting timebanking in particular as part of a transition economy). I'm a mediator, a Social Media Consultant (eg for Timebanking UK and the Centre for Peaceful Solutions), and an artist via over forty blogs & a thriving YouTube Channel. I'm also an Ambedkarite Buddhist who is in good communication with my teacher, Urgyen Sangharakshita and who has asked for ordination in the Triratna movement.
Where I am a Community Development activist is in Hastings & (especially) St Leonards, in Nagpur (central city of Nagpur -http://nagaloka-dream-cycle.blogspot.com/) & aspiringly in an area around Bodh Gaya and for the citizenship rights of the Chakma people in India. I'm also a carer for my terminally ill mum & for my dad.)

http://additionalinfo.blogspot.com/2012/02/themes-of-my-work.html

Tuesday, 6 March 2012

Because I spread my work across a number of fields and confuse people (not least of all, myself), let me recapitulate the roles I fulfil through the two companies I direct: Mediation Support Ltd & Restorative Technology Ltd, as well as through the Community Interest Company which I co-direct: Freelending CIC.

Because I spread my work across a number of fields and confuse people (not least of all, myself), let me recapitulate the roles I fulfil through the two companies I direct: Mediation Support Ltd & Restorative Technology Ltd, as well as through the Community Interest Company which I co-direct: Freelending CIC.

I'm a Community development activist (promoting timebanking in particular as part of a transition economy). I'm a mediator, a Social Media Consultant (eg for Timebanking UK and the Centre for Peaceful Solutions), and an artist via over forty blogs & a thriving YouTube Channel. I'm also an Ambedkarite Buddhist who is in good communication with my teacher, Urgyen Sangharakshita and who has asked for ordination in the Triratna movement.
Where I am a Community Development activist is in Hastings & (especially) St Leonards, in Nagpur (central city of Nagpur - http://nagaloka-dream-cycle.blogspot.com) & aspiringly in an area around Bodh Gaya and for the citizenship rights of the Chakma people in India. I'm also a carer for my terminally ill mum & for my dad.

See http://southwatercentre.blogspot.com/2012/02/st-leonards-community-planning-event-on.html?m=1

[Default email template:]

Cheers
Paul

http://additionalinfo. blogspot.com/2012/02/themes-of-my-work.html
How does this strike you?
Or if you want to go deeper:
1) What's new?
2) What's left unresolved from the past?
and/or 3) What's most important now?

Do let me know please if this email has been clear/helpful or not & what you would really like. Is that OK with you?

Tel 0780 70 66 202 for more connection than an e-mail; I'll probably have the spare minutes to call back.

Community Engagement and Community Development in Hastings and St Leonards:
http://additionalinfo.blogspot.com/2012/01/ community-engagement-and-community.html
& http://ethicaloutings.blogspot.com/p/links.html

Thank you for your time reading the whole email and following up what you were moved to do.

Saturday, 3 March 2012

Wednesday, 29 February 2012

Time Banking Explained

TimeBanking Explained in 53 seconds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GpyQNsoipE&feature=youtube_gdata_player

More information and support for timebanking at:
http://stleonardssharing.info

& http://additionalinfo.blogspot.com

Tuesday, 28 February 2012

The Walking Buddhas of SE England, #Hastings

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZoAURxQK9dw

See http://southwatercentre.blogspot.com/2012/02/st-leonards-community-planning-event-on.html?m=1

[Default email template:]

Cheers
Paul

Do let me know please if this email has been clear/helpful or not & what you would really like. Is that OK with you?

Tel 0780 70 66 202 for more connection than an e-mail; I'll probably have the spare minutes to call back.

Thank you for your time reading the whole email and following up what you were moved to do.

Thursday, 23 February 2012

What have I learned from this relationship?

1) That I wish I'd spent more of the period of us having significant time for each other establishing how we'd want to process the conflicts ahead.

2) That I took much for granted & built some fantasies for the future without establishing enough of a shared bedrock.

3) That I pressed some buttons that set off alarms.

4) That I could do better.

5) That I know more clearly what I'd be looking for in any future relationship in terms of acceptance in particular.

6) That I find it hard to give affection, acceptance, appreciation in the way that it is perhaps most wanted by people of this era and that I crave too.

[Default email template:]

Do let me know please if this email has been clear/helpful or not & what you would really like. Is that OK with you?

http://www.actionforhappiness.org/take-action/understand-each-other's-needs

With love from
Paul

On interacting with others:
1) "Many people like Paul exist; who do things we don't like"
http://ethicaloutings.blogspot.com/p/many-people-like-paul-exist-who-do.html

2) Your Needs are Equal to Mine: http://yourneedsequaltomine.wordpress.com/

3) Gateway to harmonising with others (eg through an ApologyPlus!) http://communicatingneeds.org.uk

On Cancer: http://bit.ly/yOm4Qk

On the phone: 0780 70 66 202

Community Engagement and Community Development in Hastings and St Leonards:
http://additionalinfo.blogspot.com/2012/01/community-engagement-and-community.html
& http://ethicaloutings.blogspot.com/p/links.html

Paul is AKA "The Imperfect Idealist" & AKA Lend-It-All Man:
Anything I own you can borrow, & much you can keep as I'm de-cluttering, aledgedly!

(A) I hear that you have found my behaviour and/or communication with me problematic for you in some way. Is that right?

(A) I hear that you have found my behaviour and/or communication with me problematic for you in some way. Is that right?
-
(B) I recognise how likely it is that people will get upset by the actions of others eg me & I'd like to address the harm you experienced. The truth for me is that I want harmony and I regrettably wasn't as mindful of your preferences (& how to get beyond win-win to 'systemic win') as I would like to have been in my doing what I did at that time.
Can we please work towards agreeing the way in which I address the harm caused as I believe there's something much more than an apology that I could do for you?

(D) Thank you for clarifying that...
I find it difficult to give up a deep seated belief & yet I experience your words -and, on request, I'll clarify which words these are- as implying that you want me to give up one of my beliefs in order to fit in with your perspective on right and wrong.
HOW DOES THAT LAND WITH YOU?

(E) My deep belief is that there is a much richer way for us to have the conversation about the dispute between us & that either of us bringing in a perspective on right and wrong risks losing the winning outcome that I want for you, for me and for all i.e. systemic win.
CAN I CHECK THAT YOU'VE TAKEN THIS MUCH OF MY HOPES FOR OUR COMMUNICATION ON BOARD?

(F) Thank you for letting me know what you took from my words. Just as most people want to be understood, in my experience that is, I'd like to have been heard a little differently. I'm confident that we're making progress towards a place of mutual understanding/comprehension, and the more I satisfy you with letting you know what I've understood your concerns to be, the more chance I reckon you'll have the space to get my concerns. What would you like me to understand of your concerns before I explain further about how I reckon we get to a place of "systemic win" that includes your concerns being addressed?

(G) I'd really like it if you could hear my deep-seated belief that "Everyone's always doing the best they can to meet needs & that I reckon there's always a better way we can meet needs." Could you let me know what you heard my belief to be?

(H) Perhaps you would like to discuss my belief about human motivation further, or could we go onto the way this belief impacts on addressing your upset?

(I) To help me address your harm could we please start by de-toxifying your account of what I did so that however repulsive to your values my action was, you're no longer making me "wrong". Making someone wrong is often the biggest obstacle to sorting out any situation. The situation is not a clash of needs so much as a clash of strategies to meet needs. How would it be for you to experiment with trying to meet "in a place beyond right and wrong" to mourn together what happened?

(J) Perhaps you find the word 'mourning' strange? I find that mourning is so much richer than the world of apology, which to me seems to require either self-hatred or a departure from the truth of human behaviour as I understand it. The truth for me is that I was doing my best to meet needs and yet I regrettably wasn't as mindful of your preferences (& what 'systemic win' looks like) as I would like to have been in my trying to meet those needs.

[Default email template:]

Do let me know please if this email has been clear/helpful or not & what you would really like. Is that OK with you?

http://www.actionforhappiness.org/take-action/understand-each-other's-needs

With love from
Paul

On interacting with others:
1) "Many people like Paul exist; who do things we don't like"
http://ethicaloutings.blogspot.com/p/many-people-like-paul-exist-who-do.html

2) Your Needs are Equal to Mine: http://yourneedsequaltomine.wordpress.com/

3) Gateway to harmonising with others (eg through an ApologyPlus!) http://communicatingneeds.org.uk

On Cancer: http://bit.ly/yOm4Qk

On the phone: 0780 70 66 202

Community Engagement and Community Development in Hastings and St Leonards:
http://additionalinfo.blogspot.com/2012/01/community-engagement-and-community.html
& http://ethicaloutings.blogspot.com/p/links.html

Paul is AKA "The Imperfect Idealist" & AKA Lend-It-All Man:
Anything I own you can borrow, & much you can keep as I'm de-cluttering, aledgedly!

Tuesday, 7 February 2012

With Sangharakshita today; I gave Bhante your photo & some of your story, Maitriratna

Wednesday, 11 January 2012

St Leonards Sharing TIMEBANK , "Ethical Outings in Hastings" & the 2nd anniversary of the pier fire.

PRESS RELEASE (On the first day of demolition of another UK Pier - Great Yarmouth)

St Leonards Sharing Timebank now enables you to earn credits to go to the local theatre.

Before securing the Timebank deal with The Stables, The Odeon & The Electric Palace, a performance is taking place at Southwater Area Community Centre, followed by a weekend dedicated to establishing & training the Hastings Community Justice Panel. (Being head-hunted for these posts on the Panel are those most concerned about a just outcome for those who were on the pier on 5th October 2010).

So here's the story line for the 5th October 2012 performance of the drama "Ethical Outings in Hastings":

'In Hastings, the town that is the last bastion against the invasion, the pier burns down and, though two individuals who jumped off the burning pier are apprehended, no one is charged. In storms Paul Crosland (like a bull in a china shop) and his angel friends with some wacky ideas about how justice could be done; not to mention his gaggle of blogs like http://sussexcommunity.blogspot.com & http://additionalinfo.blogspot.com

This play is all talk (& some action) about the ethics of "outing" people and making life more wonderful for all.'

Put the second anniversary of the pier fire in your diary now!

In February 2012 a booking form will be in place on http://ethicaloutings.blogspot.com

Admission price of the play is 2 hours timebanked - or equivalent.
http://timebanking.co.uk & http://stleonardssharing.blogspot.com
Cast vacancies continually available as I seem to teeter people over their edges!

Earn more St Leonards Sharing Timebank credits by acting for justice!
http://www.hastingsobserver.co.uk/news/letters/we_need_to_act_if_we_want_justice_1_2756987

**********
With love from
Paul

Tel 0780 70 66 202 for more connection than an e-mail; I'll probably have the spare minutes to call back.

Saturday, 24 December 2011

Part of Back-Up plan against loss of data

Links <code>

<a href="http://twitter.com/paulcrosland">On Twitter

<a href="http://RoughandSmoothPaul.blogspot.com">Rough & Smooth Paul</a>

<a href="http://Nagaloka-Dream-Cycle.blogspot.com">Nagaloka Dream Cycle</a>

<a href="http://hastingssangha.blogspot.com">Hastings Sangha Blog - the start of an attempt to
link Buddhists</a>

<a href="http://iwantyouradvice.blogspot.com"></a>I want your advice - the Lands End to John O'Groats 'outing'</a>

<a href="http://hastingsjustice.blogspot.com">Hastings Justice (NB IF YOU WANT BETTER JUSTICE, please JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP OF THE SAME NAME</a>'

<a href="http://stleonardssharing.info">"St Leonards Sharing" Timebank (with outreach work in the name - Brighton (Triratna) Timebank</a>

The '<a href="http://sussexcommunity.blogspot.com">Man of Many Shirts</a>' (on the Sussex Community Blog)

<a href="http://imperfectidealist.blogspot.com">The 'Imperfect Idealist'</a>

'Lend It All Man'

<a href="http://freelenders.blogspot.com">The Freelenders Blog</a>

<a href="http://freelend.pbworks.com">The Freelender Community</a>

<a href="http://restorativejustice.pbworks.com">Restorative Justice</a>

<a href="http://restorativetechnology.blogspot.com">Restorative Technology Ltd</a>

<a href="http://mediationsupport.info">Mediation Support Ltd</a>

<a href="http://centreforpeacefulsolutions.org">The Centre for Peaceful
Solutions</a>

<a href="http://actionforhappiness.org">Action for Happiness</a>

<a href="http://actionforhastingshappiness.blogspot.com">Hastings & St Leonard's Action for Happiness</a>

<a href="http://whatkindofwater.blogspot.com">The "What Kind of Water are You?" Blog</a>

In preparation for the Paul Crosland 'Obituary'
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vherNA3Qq1Y" width="480"></iframe>

Hastings Observer pieces:
June 2011 -"We need to act if we want justice"
June 2011 -"Group aims to get Hastings smiling again"
September 30th 2011 -"Talks to mark the anniversary of pier fire"

First National TV interview - for the 200th anniversary of the abolition of slavery (1807)

A legacy website where you can handle <a href="http://apologyplus.org.uk">your wish to receive an apology, or give one</a>.

<a href="http://www.telephonemediation.org.uk/needslist.html">Interactive Needs List</a> (which works better in some web browsers than others)

The blog that took just 20 (timebanked) hours to make for the Centre for Peaceful Solutions: <a href="http://ps-shop.org">PS-Shop</a>

<a href="http://KensalGreenCemetery.blogspot.com">Kensal Green Cemetery Photos</a> - the seriously playful work of photography & uploading for an hour.

<a href="http://www.flaggedforfollowup.com/2009/07/the-ethics-of-outing-an-anonymous-commenter.html"> The-ethics-of-outing-an-anonymous-commenter</a>

<a href="http://igfculturewatch.com/2007/09/15/mike-rogers-and-the-ethics-of-outing/">An evaluation of the ethics of 'outing' homosexuals</a>

<a href="http://AdditionalInfo.blogspot.com">Additional Info</a> - Paul Crosland's hub blog, CV etc

<a href="http://youtube.com/user/Toothpaste007">Paul's main YouTube channel - Toothaste007</a>

And, if you must, some more of the main blogs....

With love from
Paul
-Ethical Outings in Hastings:
Auditions on Weds 4th Jan 2012:
http://ethicaloutings.blogspot.com/2011/12/first-three-cast-members-january.html

Preparing a dossier for the MP & Leader of the Council:
http://ethicaloutings.blogspot.com/p/reporting-back-to-amber-rudd-and-jeremy.html

Paul Crosland is currently:
1) Inspired by http://doctorambedkar.blogspot.com
& http://nagaloka-dream-cycle.blogspot.com I have become a playwright & tour guide.
Please also note http://ethicaloutings.blogspot.com/p/sangharakshitas-hand-in-writing-this.html
Find the next performance or tour (Brighton, Hastings, London etc) at: http://ethicaloutings.blogspot.com
2) In the process, co-directing the community interest company that is setting up St Leonards Sharing Timebank: http://stleonardssharing.info
3) Requesting you to please explore timebanking & register your interest in doing more of the things you like to do in your life. (The request is that you do that this week.)

Or tel 0780 70 66 202 for more connection than an e-mail; I'll probably have some minutes (2,000 a month) to call back.

Sunday, 18 December 2011

Dear Band of Brothers; I share some correspondence (via Facebook) with Sangharakshita;

Hi Guys
I was gobsmacked to find in Bhante's memoires that Hastings was the first place he took meditation teaching outside London. I asked him where exactly and was gobsmacked by the reply.
This morning, I wrote this to him (again via Facebook).
I urge you all to write quality stuff on his wall as it sometimes otherwise gets junk posted there.
Jai Bhim
Paul

Dear Bhante, I am fondly remembering cooking cheese on toast for you a few years ago (when the spicy food offered in our Bristol Buddhist Community was not what you wanted for your well-being then). I have had my strongest visualisation in bed this morning, I definitely was awake, with my eyes open when the Buddha winked at me. I was aware it was the Buddha from Aloka's triptych in the basement of the LBC, where for 6months I meditated daily with the http://karuna.org door-knocking team. The Buddha winked at me. (& many thanks for your 'Warrior Square' wink to me -someone relevant has just pooped up there.) much gratitude, particularly for your account of your friendship with Terry in 'Against the Stream'; my warmth to you as an individual grew 10 fold in reading that.

With love from
Paul
(Ethical Outings in Hastings
- who would you shop? How will you act to get justice in Hastings? What does 'social justice' in relation to the pier look like to you:
http://sussexcommunity.blogspot.com)

Also:
The 'Man of Many T-shirts'
(looking out in 2012 for a sponsorship deal from a T-shirt printers)

http://additionalinfo.blogspot.com
& YouTube Channel Toothpaste007

Tel 0780 70 66 202 - please consider calling for more connection than an e-mail; I'll probably have some minutes (2,000 a month) to call back.

Buddhist Tools for Living,p33:
"Most of us talk to ourselves; there is an internal voice providing us with a running commentary on our day. What is the emotional tone of this voice? Are we talking to ourselves in a way in which we wouldn't dare talk to others? Is the voice harsh, moaning, or over-critical? If so, can we soften the voice, and let it be kinder and more forgiving?

Or is it a voice of self-pity, feeling let down by other people and blaming the world for our misery? Such self-pity is corrosive. Even if we HAVE been let down by others, it is no use wallowing in these feelings. Eventually we need to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves down, and start again. In order to be able to do this, we need to acknowledge our pain, admit to ourselves that we were hurt, and bring to this hurt a sense of kindness.

P34 We can remind ourselves of our positive qualities. ...I often work by imagining qualities that I would like to develop. ...I see how I could be different. Then I actually start to FEEL different.

Wednesday, 30 November 2011

Director of (inter)national Action for Happiness sends his blessings

Date: 30 November 2011 11:36:21 GMT
To: Paul Crosland
Subject: Re: CLARITY ABOUT MY MOVING-ON PLANS whilst keeping a strong-link to Hastings -wanting to return when the conditions are right again, & NatWest CommunityForce

Hi Paul - thanks for the update. Sorry to hear the NatWest thing didn't work out - I'm sure there was some very strong competition for the funds. Best of luck with the move to Brighton - really hope that all works out for the best. Love the idea of "lend it all man" and great to hear that you're connecting with the #occupy folks. Thanks for all the positive things you've done in the name of Action for Happiness. Stay in touch! Mark

--
Mark Williamson
Director, Action for Happiness
www.actionforhappiness.org
www.facebook.com/actionforhappiness

www.twitter.com/actionhappiness

On 30 November 2011 11:19, Paul Crosland <paul.crosland@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear All (copied to Mark Williamson, Action for Happiness director)

Thank you all for the NATWEST COMMUNITY FORCE VOTES YOU GAVE AND ENCOURAGED OTHERS TO GIVE.

For me this unsuccessful attempt at raising timebank finance was a litmus test of Hastings/St Leonards neither being ready for what I'm offering or the way in which I'm offering it.

The controversy of my bringing the pier into the issue is well highlighted by this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCYpzKyhyP8

I thought that some of you might like to see the results -as offered below. Can I also ask a favour? Has anyone got time to research how many votes it took to win in 'Ashford & hastings' area & how many it will took to win in Brighton?

I ask because I will be moving to Brighton (and commuting back to St Leonards for two nights a week-ideally WEDS & THURS) if:
1) I can set up the better conditions I seek in Brighton (This basically consists of a supermarket shelf-stacking job through FRIDAY, SATURDAY & SUNDAY nights & living in a Buddhist household committed to the Bodhisattva Ideal)

2) I get offers of accommodation in Hastings/St Leonards to enable me to visit as planned.

Meanwhile, I've moved into a smaller and much neater office upstairs at the southwater centre that has all the vibe of the healings that were done there during "AGoodWeek".

Sue Coates is a keyholder and I would like Graham to accept back a set of keys so that he can use the office (when Sue and I aren't) in order to do the work of The Hastings Happy Crew.
I imagine that others of you can create some value by using the resources of the Mediation Support office, with its computer (just sign in as 'guest'), printer, comfy (orange) chair, display on the board and door of some achievements over 6 months, and streetbank library.

I'm in negotiation with the co-director of Freeelending CIC, Edmund Johnson, about the changed name and direction of the Community Interest Company; perhaps shortly to be called:
Timebanking & Freelending CIC.

Cheers
it's been a pleasure to have your company on this leg of a journey that reaches another crescendo this afternoon by the pier, where a poignant gravestone is being laid by a group of us.

(Don't worry, you'll be able to catch it all on http://www.youtube.com/user/Toothpaste007)
Paul

P.S. On Tuesday 13th December I'm giving the following talk (6-7pm) at the Occupy Brighton Camp:

Lend-It-All Man on increasing the role of the sharing & gift economy
-it would be great to see you there!

More on 'Lend It All Man' is here:

http://imperfectidealist.blogspot.com/p/paul-aka-lend-it-all-man.html

and my latest facebook update:
Excited by the prospect of the BBC Interview I did yesterday at the Occupy Brighton Camp leading to the recruitment of a team to knock on doors in Brighton and offer to do an hour's work for everyone we meet. (It's a bit like 'bob-a-job' from my youth). http://brightontimebank.info/

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: CommunityForce
Date: Tue, Nov 29, 2011 at 10:40 AM
Subject: NatWest CommunityForce - The results are in
To:

If you are having trouble viewing this email, click here | Your partial post code: 6LA
Click here to add this email to your safe list.

Dear Paul,

As you will know, in July this year we launched CommunityForce and asked local charities and projects to take part and apply. In September, we invited members of the public to get involved and vote for the projects and charities they felt were making a big difference in their communities. In total more than 360,000 votes were cast for over 5,000 projects across England and Wales.

We are delighted to tell you that the winners have now been announced. Visit natwest.com/communityforce to find out if the projects you voted for have won a £6,000 CommunityForce award.

What will happen next?
You can continue to support CommunityForce by volunteering for many of the charities and projects that applied this year. If you would like to volunteer it's easy to get involved. Explore the full range of projects and see who is looking for help near you here.

We're also delighted to announce that CommunityForce is working with Localgiving.com to help provide a sustainable future for local charities and community groups, by making it possible for you to find and give to these projects. To find out more about Localgiving.com click here.

Thank you for continuing to support CommunityForce.

Yours sincerely,
Fraser Kennedy
Senior Manager, Community

This email is a service message designed to keep you informed about CommunityForce. If you do not want to receive this type of message by email in the future please click here or contact the CommunityForce Helpdesk on 0800 2100 246 or minicom - 0800 0155 545.

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--
Dear friend,
How are you? Is there anything that I can do to make things (even) better for you?

Kind regards
Paul
0780 70 66 202 - if a call will work better for you than an email?

Asking you about your interest in happiness & sharing:
http://stleonardssharing.info

"St Leonards Sharing" Timebank videos & press release at:
http://actionforhastingshappiness.blogspot.com/p/ideas-bubbling-out-of-happiness.html

Thank you for your time reading the whole email and following up what you were moved to do.

Sunday, 27 November 2011

Brighton (Triratna) Timebank - your feedback please on this synthesis of ideas please

This email is sent to fellow friendly (& challenging :-) members of the Triratna Buddhist Community & copied to others whose opinion matters most and whose support sustains.
*************************

Brighton (Triratna) Timebank
- sparking new ways to help each other in the new economy

(underneath a logo of a Catherine wheel comprised of 3 Jewels, an arrow to the nail that holds the Catherine Wheel.)

What most firmly keeps the Catherine Wheel safely sparking into the world is a firm shared valuing of the values of the Timebank; the word 'Triratna' meaning 'three jewels'.

These values transcend many philiosophies and religions & are expressed in this Brighton (& South Coast) based Timebank as:

('Triangle Illustration' here)
Apex -Compassion
Left base - Learning
Right base - Team-building

1) Compassion (led by the example of the Buddha, who his closest friend described on his passing as "he who is so kind")

2) Learning (informed by the Buddha's teaching, which included a team-based generosity economics)

3) Team-Building (With our development of wisdom and compassion through working together and mutual generosity we become a stronger "Sangha"; setting a collective lead in troubled times, where ego-leading & greed have led to the un-economy.)

The un-economy was described on Radio 4's Sunday programme (27th November 2011) in the following terms:
Unfair
Unstable
Unsustainable
(& making lots of people) Unhappy.

Have you considered shifting your economic activity so that:
1) No more than one third of your economic activity is in the monetary economy?
2) As much as one third of your economic activity is traded through Timebank credits (free from money & yet able to pay for food, rent etc)? With creativity and good connections Timebank credits are even more potent and flexible than monetary credit in obtaining a wide range of the the things that matter.
3) All the rest of your economic activity becomes generosity- the "sharing and gift economy", whereby things flow freely without expectation of reciprocation.

People have the capacity to support each other meet not just their basic needs. A guy called Maslow wrote of our highest needs as our need for 'self-actualisation'. The more we go beyond 'self and other' & see "your needs (as) equal to mine", the healthier our communities become.

For all the benefits granted by late-modern society and competitive, debt-based economics, we can do better still.

If you want something better than what we've had to date, spend time finding out how the creative and socially-just application of timebanking (founded by Edgar Cahn) transcends the limits of money, the limits of barter & the limits of those local exchange schemes that have no brokerage-team to make wonderful things happen with no money.

The Moneyless Man, Mark Boyle, in his book of the same name celebrated with us at Buddhafield festival 2009 what could be done to lift the human spirit and re-connect us outside our monetary relationships.

Now in 2011/2012 the same organisation that founded freelender.org*, is coming of age, renaming itself Freelending & Timebanking CIC and seeking to build a strong team that makes a difference to many. Start by registering your interest via http://brightontimebank.info

(*Celebrated by Forum for the Future -alongside Landshare & Hospitality Club- as ahead of it's time in generating the low carbon economy)

Dear friend,
How are you?

Kind regards
Paul
Thank you to so many people in Hastings & St Leonards; most recently Patrick Glass, for his searing critique of the 6 months work I did here in setting up this 1st Happiness Group in Hastings;
http://actionforhastingshappiness.blogspot.com/p/those-who-have-made-good-week-happen.html

Tel 0780 70 66 202 - if a call will work better for you than an email?

P.S. I hope you have time to arrange a time to pop into the Hastings & SL AfH & Mediation Support Centre for tea & chat this week? Ideal for me would be
Thurs or Fri.
And, cheesy though it sounds, is there anything that I can do to make things (even) better for you?

And do let us (at the Timebank etc) know of your interest in happiness & sharing, if any:
http://stleonardssharing.info

"St Leonards Sharing" Timebank videos & press release at:
http://actionforhastingshappiness.blogspot.com/p/ideas-bubbling-out-of-happiness.html

Monthly updates on Paul's juggling of so much (seriously playful) stuff at: http://additionalinfo.blogspot.com

Thank you for your time reading the whole email and following up what you were moved to do.

Thursday, 25 November 2010

The cross-fertilisation of cultures (esp UK-India) to increase the quality of human life

Some of my favourite things that I have a sense we could do as well to embrace here (in the UK/West) like they have embraced in India, to a significant degree, at some stage in history:

Efficent use of resources
Communitarian spirit
Buddhism
Love of railways
Vasectomies

Some of my favourite things in the UK/West that I'd like to share, to a significant degree, with India:

Upholding the dignity and rights of all individuals, regardless of birth;
Restorative Justice
iPhones
Individualised Psychological Insights as a basis for identifying (and living to the full) the central myth of your life.
Average salaries which leave enough diposably income to easily be able to afford to support a kindergarten for 30 children in India, such that those at the bottom of the caste system get a chance of a decent education, as advocated by their leader, Dr Ambedkar.

(Jai Bhim !; your free online copy of this book is here!)

My iPhone is not coming to the Shanty Towns; instead it's going to a 6 year old so he can walk amongst the stars

I have decided not to expose those I meet in India to my iPhone, not to take YouTube clips and not to be endlessly blogging, tweeting and facebooking whilst taking in this vast country that is coming towards me at a rate of 2,000 miles a week at present!
(To quote the Hitch Hickers Guide to the Galaxy and the Whale that fell to Earth: "I hope it's friendly").
It's hard for me to part from my iPhone, like this woman below:

The Freelending CIC iphone; which surprisingly no-one has yet borrowed from www.freelender.org is now going to a 6 year old in the UK (assisted by his mum). I'm not sure, out of these, who will be showing who how to use it.
Anyhow, it will help the 6 year old learn about the stars he loves, thanks to the jaw-dropping Star-Walk (GPS enabled planetarium in your pocket) app.

If you've never heard about freelender.org before, here is what the leading(?) sustainability think-tank in the UK (?) had to say about us earlier this year:

"Local sharing schemes like Landshare, Hospitality Club and Freelender.org mean you don't need to own your allotment, car or drill, and you can sofa-surf your way around the world without ever having to book a hotel. Such schemes were predicted only two years ago in Forum for the Future's project 'Low Carbon Living 2022; but are already proliferating on the web." (Editorial from Forum for the Future; probably the leading UK environmental think-tank).

In contrast to the iPhone YouTube video, here is a film of some of the work I'm going to see in India with www.karuna.org

Wednesday, 10 February 2010

Inspired by Kevin McCloud's Slumming It

Mumbai is a city which achieves 80% recycling, thanks to places like the Dharavi slum.
“Disease is rife, water is contaminated, and sanitation is rudimentary but architects, planners and even prince Charles are convinced that this slum has something to teach us.”

“Societies which whilst poorer in material terms are much poorer are infinitely richer in the way they live and organise themselves” (Prince Charles)
http://www.channel4.com/programmes/kevin-mccloud-slumming-it/4od

That's what I got from Kevin Mccloud's programmes. It raises for me the question:
Can we get a community with as low a crime rate and as high a level of connection and support between people? As 'Shanty towns are the cities of the future' according to (at least) one influential thinker, I'm working on what we can keep from high-tech society in creating the high-tech shanty-towns of the future.
I'm on an adventure as a freelender in trying to see what connections are built from my position that 'anything I own can be borrowed' -see the freelenders blog or even borrow the freelending cic iPhone from freelender.org

Click on Jai Bhim picture for a free copy of this Anglo-Indian Inspiring Book

Sunday, 1 April 2012

Monday, 26 March 2012

Saturday, 24 March 2012

Saturday, 10 March 2012

Tuesday, 6 March 2012

Saturday, 3 March 2012

Wednesday, 29 February 2012

Tuesday, 28 February 2012

Thursday, 23 February 2012

Tuesday, 7 February 2012

Wednesday, 11 January 2012

Saturday, 24 December 2011

Sunday, 18 December 2011

Wednesday, 30 November 2011

Sunday, 27 November 2011

Thursday, 25 November 2010

Wednesday, 10 February 2010