My Top Ten Instagram Accounts To Follow

If you're on Instagram, you'll know that some people have really run with it to show us many beautiful things. These are my top 10 accounts.

1. @usinterior

What do they say about themselves? U.S. Department of the Interior Protecting America’s Great Outdoors and Powering Our Future. This is the official account for the Department. http://www.doi.gov

What do I like about it? The range of beauty that is offered on our planet. America is very lucky to be the host of a lot of this beauty.





2. @mpsasu

What do they say about themselves? Welcome to the new Instagram Account of @MPSinthesky. We will hopefully bring you photos of #London while we police the capital. Pic use must credited https://twitter.com/MPSinthesky

What do I like about it? I love London, I live in London and I love aerial photography. So, this is a perfect account for me.





3. @missunderground

What do they say about themselves? @MissUnderground In love with the London Underground. iPhone 5 only. @Miss_Jess http://www.missunderground.com

What do I like about it? I couldn't say I'm a huge fan of riding on the London Underground, or tube as the locals call it. However, I am in awe of the feats of engineering it has achieved over the years, its scale and what it offers millions of people every day.





4. @petesouza

What do they say about themselves? Chief Official White House Photographer. Comments posted on White House pages may be archived. Learn more at wh.gov/privacy. http://flickr.com/whitehouse

What do I like about it? Pete is an extremely talented photographer. Well, I supposed you'd have to be to become the official White House Photographer. His behind the scenes view of the US Presidency is a joy to see.





5. @alexstrohl

What do they say about themselves? Photographer — Vancouver, BC alex@stayandwander.com http://stayandwander.com

What do I like about it? I've only just discovered this guy, but I love his scenic photographs, mainly of British Columbia in Canada - one of the world's most beautiful regions.





6. @jethromullen

What do they say about themselves? Hong Kong, and occasionally elsewhere. Journalist at CNN

What do I like about it? Also just discovered this guy. I love how it shows us amazing views of the urban sprawl of Hong Kong. His artistic perspectives of the tower blocks works really well too!





7. @alanisko

What do they say about themselves? World around me in squares - 3k iPhone Only Shots, now also with help of QX100 - Thanks for and - Meet me in London, UK http://about.me/alanisko

What do I like about it? So many beautiful shots of this great city of London, ranging from the obvious landmarks to the pretty little riverside walkways. This account will help to appreciate London's diversity.





8. @davidangell

What do they say about themselves? Tech, pixels, ☮, ❤. @Miss_Jess Appreciation Society http://www.davidangell.org

What do I like about it? Using the background of a bird in flight (I've no idea how long it's taken him to collect all these), an inspirational quote by a famous scientist, author or philosopher will get you thinking for the day.





9. @nasakennedy

What do they say about themselves? The official Instagram account for NASA's Kennedy Space Center. http://www.nasa.gov/kennedy

What do I like about it? There is something about the Kennedy Space Centre that provokes a sense of wanting to discover our universe. These photos are likely to trigger this basic human response to understand all that we can.

10. I know of another one that is going to be launched soon, so I'm keeping this space for that!

Grateful for

I have had a horrible day today - well a fair bit of it was horrible.

So here are a bunch of things (totally at random) that I am thankful for. I've heard that when you're feeling really rubbish, it helps to list things you're grateful for. There are two reasons for this. 1. It helps shift the focus to the positive. 2. It engages the pre-frontal cortex part of the brain, which when more active gives less room for the amygdala (the part that lights up during times of anxiety/anger/fear) to reign freely.

So, here goes. I am going to time myself (because I am a geek)....in no specific order Phil, your 3 minutes begins now, and you have to keep typing. Are you ready? Yes Phil, you are ready. OK. Go!

OK.....I am thankful for lovely Twitter people that have tried to keep me relatively sane. I am thankful for the SatNav that helped us find where we were going today. I'm thankful for my lovely parents (who really should've had me adopted years ago!). I'm thankful for whatssnapchatapp, or whatever it's called. I'm thankful fooooorrrrrrrrrrr ahhhhh, I can't think....I'm thankful for Mark Knopfler (woah that was random). I'm thankful for the internet. I am thankful for my fingers which allow me to type this. I'm thankful for my knowledge about the pre-frontal cortex, which I learned at work (I think that's where I learned it). I'm thankful forrrrr, come on surely my time is nearly up, it's gotta be 3 mins. OK, it pretty much is....I am thankful fooorrrrrrrrrrrrr, ok one last one, I'm thankful for baby meerkats.

OK. Publish!

(I still feel crappy, but that was a good thing to do)

Food Aid Packages.....for my neighbours

I read a blog post the other day, which described how the British Red Cross has launched a campaign to help those in the UK with food aid -- essentially those that are struggling so much with money that they are no longer able to find the funds to purchase food for themselves and their families. This got me thinking. Why don't I donate some? So, today I did.

I don't really want to get into the reasons behind this current poverty situation in this post, or whether it's the current government's policies that have caused this. My overall, personal view is that money was probably mankind's worst invention, or at least that we invented something that we applied to *everything*, including health. I'm fine with money relating to who has the nicest car, or who has a conservatory or stayed in a 5 star hotel, but I am not fine with money being the key factor in whether a person can be healthy in life. Anyway, that's all I'm prepared to rant about.

The reality is that at the moment, there are people in my own country -- a developed country that are going hungry. Regardless of the reasons, I would like to do something about it, even if it's a small gesture. I would like to invite you to do the same, if you're in the fortunate position to do so. I'm not a rich man. I highly doubt I ever will be. However, at the moment, I'm in the very lucky position where it doesn't affect my own abilities to eat/clothe/warm myself if I give a little back. Maybe one day (though I hope to God not!), that won't be the case, but for now, as I can, I plan to follow my belief that a lot can be achieved by those that can give, giving, even if it's just a little (obviously the ideal situation is that a lot of people can do this simultaneously).

As someone that has experienced battles with mental health issues (in my case anxiety and depression) that caused me to eat very poorly for unhealthily long periods of time, I appreciate that access to basic nourishment is vital for good health. So, on the basis that I want everyone to be happy and well in their lives, I wanted to give something. My plan, while ever I can (which I hope will be for the rest of my time on this Earth!), is that each week when I do my weekly shop, I will order £2-3 worth of extra tinned food, and at the end of the month, go up to the local food bank. I hope it helps. Maybe you could do the same?

Was that good for you?

So ladies and gentlemen (plural?....really Phil?), I have discovered something. My brain has a G-Spot, and I know how to activate it.

What?! I hear you say! (in fact, I hear that a lot!). Well what I have discovered is that I am susceptible to autonomous sensory meridian response, or ASMR for short (because any other letter acronym would just be stupid). "What on earth is that" I hear you say! (I get that a lot too!). It's a relatively new thing as far as I can tell, which, according to Wikipedia, is defined as:

"a neologism for a recently described perceptual phenomenon characterized as a distinct, pleasurable tingling sensation in the head, scalp, back, or peripheral regions of the body in response to visual, auditory, olfactory, and/or cognitive stimuli."

But! It seems not everyone gets them. I only get them with one of the commonly known stimuli. For me, it's listening to the sound of whispering. It's hard to explain it, but my brain feels all tingly, excited and filled with pleasure. In no way though does it feel sexual (although there is often a strong association with pleasure and sexual activity....you're welcome ladies). Whatever it is, it's very nice. Here's the interesting thing though. It's not just something that happens when I listen to someone else whispering - I can do it to myself (story of my life!), although having someone else do it gives a greater kick (yes, I'm still talking about whispering....I think!).

The ever wonderful, Buzzfeed, has a short video to describe what this is. I don't find any of the other stimuli mentioned does it for me at all. It's very specific to whispering, but it's definitely there.



If you find that whispering does it for you, you'll get a massive kick out of this video



Phew! That was good. Anyone got a cigarette?

They made their instruments sing...

A few years ago, I wrote about my discovery of a hugely talented musician, Ludovico Einaudi (pronounced Ludoviko Ine (like in wine or dine) Audi (like the cars) ). Since then, my interest in him and admiration for his composing skills have continued to grow. Last Friday, I had the privilege of seeing him perform live.

It was one of the best concerts I have ever been to in my whole life. Spellbinding is the word I would use. He is primarily a pianist/composer and usually sticks to solo piano work. For this concert however, he had an orchestra with him to carry and emphasise his beautiful melodies. I went with my fab Mum to see this, and she described the experience as being in a place where together, Ludovico and his orchestra "made their instruments sing".

Earlier this year, he performed a warm up concert in London for this tour and a sample of this concert is available to watch online here. Obviously, it doesn't capture the full atmosphere of being there live, but perhaps if you watch it in full screen, switch off the lights and turn the volume up, it'll go some way.

Here's my favourite one, available on the video, "Waterways" is below. I hope you can spare a few minutes to watch it.

My all time favourite song of his is I Giorni, which he did play at the concert I saw, but it's not available in the video linked to above).

Thank you Ludovico for a magical night out. I won't forget it.

I want this person to be happy

My name is Phil, and I was born in 1982. I was brought into this world naked, kicking and screaming. I had no background to me (OK, perhaps I caused my Mum 9 months of discomfort and if asked, she'll tell you that this is still the case 31 years later!).

I didn't really want anything. I just needed to be kept warm, fed and watered. Other than that, I was just this little thing (some would say I still am!) who had the deepest of desires to be happy, content and not suffer as my life developed. You were the same. Everyone started like this.

No-one sets out to hurt people (I know there are some mental illnesses than mean people have certain thoughts/visions about hurting people, but they're still born with the desire to not suffer in life. In fact, if anything, I would suggest these people's desire to not suffer is greater than the average person's.). We just want to get on with our lives and wish for them to go pretty well so that we can smile lots, and enjoy our existences.

“When I was 5 years old, my mother always told me that happiness was the key to life. When I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote down ‘happy’. They told me I didn’t understand the assignment, and I told them they didn’t understand life.” 

 -- John Lennon

As we get older, there are things that can make us feel happy/sad. Jobs, relationships, health concerns. Emotions, especially the experience of anger play a significant role in the levels of happiness we can experience, especially when in conflict with other people. So, I've been trying something for a while. You know what? It's working (oh, and it didn't cost me anything, or have any negative side effects). 

It's called "random intentions of kindness", and if you're the sort of person that likes to understand something's background, it traces its routes back to Buddhist meditation. I'm not a Buddhist, or aligned to any other religion. However, I do have an interest in the westernised/scientifically studied (I need my science, people!) practice of "Mindfulness". I think I just find it useful to have my interest hooked onto something, but, if you're not of this personality type, that's fine, you can read on and give this a try if you like.

So this "random intention of kindness thing then...It's quite simple really. It's based on reminding yourself of specific human similarities when dealing with any other human. Reminding yourself of these helps to reduce feelings of anger, which invariably lead to conflict and reduce your likelihood of experiencing happiness. I've already touched on these three key similarities above, but to go over them again, they are:

Each person is a human being, just like me. (if you're already angry with them, you may be finding it hard to think of them as human, so if that's the case, perhaps start off physically....they have a head, eyes, cells, skin, toe nails etc etc)

Each people wants to be happy, just like me.

Each person wants to be free from suffering, just like me.

Therefore, I want this person to be happy.

My experiences have taught me that by practicing this regularly (this is very important), I am able to feel less frustration with people, remain calmer in a greater number of situations, and have healthier interactions with my fellow species.

My preferable way in which to practice this, is to go out for a short walk each day, and randomly glance at a few people, pay attention to them and say to myself that "I want this person to be happy, reminding myself of those three key human similarities". 

Practicing with different types of people helps too. So, for example, I may include a homeless person, a person getting out of a Rolls Royce, a different sex, or age. If I'm finding it hard to bring about a sense of compassion for this person, I can refer back to the purely physical components of being human, and then, I may say to myself "I am sure this person does have something causing them unhappiness. Perhaps they're unhappy with their job, perhaps there's a family member they're worried about, maybe they're having money issues". Hopefully, none of these people will have those concerns, and my wishing them happiness is wishing them even more happiness than they already have in their already happy lives. Wouldn't that be nice? (Yes Phil)

It does feel a little strange at first to do this, and probably during the beginning, the habit of thinking "chav/snob/down and out" will feel like it's reigning freely. But, like anything you want to become more skilled at, you just need to repeat it over and over again. It will become easier, and crucially, your ability to switch on this "ahhhh, woaaaah, wait a minute....this person is a person like me etc etc" behaviour, will assist you in conflicting scenarios.

I would recommend that you watch this video (all of it if you have the time), but for the purposes of this blog post, the bit between 30.10 and 33.00 minutes is relevant.

I wouldn't say that I've become an expert in this yet. I still get pi**ed off with people sometimes. I still find myself having a bit of a rant. I still find myself engaging in prejudice thinking. But, less so. I feel that I have a kinder outlook to people, even those that have done bad things and I've found this part very interesting and sometimes a little confusing to be honest. It's not that I think what they've done is good. I will still be of the opinion that what they did (let's take the example of a convicted criminal) was completely wrong, but I am able to view them as someone who has suffered, and their horrible actions were probably the result of some suffering they experienced. I may retain the position that they shouldn't be allowed to walk the streets freely because their experiences and suffering have led them to become people who are now a danger to others, but I allow myself, albeit with restrictions placed up on them, to wish and end to their suffering. So, I suppose in that sense, it allows me to accept an ambivalence. 

Give it a go maybe? Next time you're in Tesco buying your horse, pick a few people out and wish them happiness (probably not out loud though), based on your basic human similarities, and just see how it makes you feel. 

Perhaps together, we can change the first auto suggest here (maybe the third too...).

Oh, and I want you to be happy.

Everyone on Twitter is good

"No they're not" (or "no there not!" for Facebook only users) I hear you say!

Well of course, as with most things I say, it shouldn't be taken too literally...

The impetus for this topic is the whole furore surrounding the "Report Twitter abuse" story currently in the press (and social media of course!). The short version to this story as I understand it, is that a couple of female British members of Parliament received threats of rape via someone on Twitter. This has highlighted the behaviour of online "Trolls" (individuals who spend a great deal of time harassing and insulting others for no apparent reason) and whether they've become too dominant and, well, maybe Twitter has just become not a very nice place.

Now, before I go any further, I need to make the following point very very clear. I absolutely condemn to the highest degree possible any behaviour that causes anyone any distress. To do what this person is alleged to have done is abhorrent. OK? Right, well that's that out of the way.

But, I still haven't addressed my original statement have I? That everyone on Twitter is good. OK, now, I don't really want to get into the debate of what Twitter should or shouldn't do in response to some people's requests for a "Report abuse" button. That's for the company to decide and for the users to decide whether they like the decision. After all, it's a free platform they have created for us. They are free to do with it as they wish, and we are free to go elsewhere if we don't like what they're doing with it.

What I want to focus on is the user : not a user, but the collect force of tweeters. There are two ways that I have come to my conclusion that everyone on Twitter is good. The first one is my own evidence. This, as you might expect comes from my own interaction with people : those I follow/tweet to/receive tweets from. This part is easy. Overwhelmingly, my interactions have been extremely positive. I've met some fabulously hilariously, wonderfully brave people via Twitter. People I say with honour are my friends. I've interacted with celebrities, learned things from people, had many many people make me laugh to the point where I have spat out my drink. In my view, under no circumstances should the actions of a few be allowed for one moment to detract from all that this extremely powerful tool (and tools like it) can, has, and will continue to do. So, yeah, that part of evidence was easy. I've always got on with people and found the vast majority to be all round lovely people!

The second part of my argument may never make sense, but I'll give it a go! Yes, I agree that some users' actions have been very wrong . They should not have said the things that they did and I strongly disagree with their action to do so. But, they are these users' actions. They are actions that are the result of each of these people's experiences in life. So, I suppose the essence of what I'm saying, is, by all means say that you disagree with their behaviour, but don't forget that even behind "bad" people, there is a person. Let me put it this way.....When (and lets take the example of the person alleged to have tweeted this horrible threats to these MP's), this person was born however many years ago, they were born naked, kicking and screaming. They were not born bad, or evil. They had their first birthday, sitting on the floor in front of a cake with a single candle in it, with the hopes, dreams and aspirations all people have. Probably he or she grew up with the idea of wanting to be an astronaut, or a football player (or maybe a Doctor like I did....but I discovered that I don't like sick people, so I had to drop that one sharpish!). They were born with the ability to do so much good. They may appear to have lost this, but I don't believe they have. It's still in there somewhere. So, if we go back to their origins as a person. They are good.

Anyway, you get my drift (possibly!). Still to this day, each morning, this person will wake with a deep seated desire to be happy, to not suffer. They are a human being (even if you find it hard to view them as a human, then at least could you acknowledge the starting point of anatomically they are a human?). They want to be happy. They do not want to suffer. They have their own worries causing them upset and distress. Because everyone is born (I believe) with a default setting of wanting happiness, this means they must also understand what unhappiness is, and that that is not something anyone wants to feel no?

So, when a person creates the conditions for UNhappiness, there must have been/be suffering in the mindset of the accused. Yes, I still agree that the actions they take are inappropriate, but they are as the result of suffering. In case that didn't make sense. My statement on this is as follows. Only a person who has suffered on some level commits an act of cruelty. (oh and I'm not saying if you've suffered you should go out and mug an old lady!). So, based on this statement my solution to nasty people is to offer them your thoughts of "wait, hang on a minute. I can never agree with what you've done, but you must have suffered and for that I offer you my wishes of contentment". I would like this to be the new food of the trolls and that if this is the new food for them, from now on, we should "FEED THE TROLLS!".

Wow! That was very wordy wasn't it! In summary. I like Twitter (and other social media). I've had so many fantastic experiences on it. I find it helpful to allow myself to disagree, sometimes very strongly with the actions of so-called "trolls", but I also choose (and recommend this be a choice you consider) that whilst retaining the disdain for such troll-like behaviour, we stop and consider what circumstances may have lead a person to think this is OK, act as if this was caused by suffering, remind ourselves of their status as a human, and basically....get on with everyone.

Right, best go sort out that little dispute between the Israelis and Palestinians! I think a game of Twister is probably all that's needed.