People Need People – A Poem by Benjamin Zephaniah

Culture, Featured

People need people, To walk to To talk to To cry and rely on, People will always need people. To love and to miss To hug and to kiss, It’s useful to have other people. To whom to moan If you’re all alone, It’s so hard to share When no one is there. There’s not much to do When there’s no one but you. People will always need people. To please To tease To put you at ease, People will always need people. To make life appealing And give life some meaning, It’s useful to have other people. It you need a change To whom will you turn. If you need a lesson From whom will you learn. If you need to play You’ll know why I say People will always need people. As girlfriends As boyfriends From Bombay To Ostend, People will always need people- To have friendly fights with And share tasty bites with, It’s useful to have other people. People live in families Gangs, posses and packs, Its seems we need company Before we relax, So stop making enemies And let’s face the facts, People will always need people, Yes People will always need people. –Benjamin Zephaniah Poem by Benjamin Zephaniah, illustration by Phil Hankinson, direction and animation by Jonnie Lyle, production and development by Joanna Brown. Created by Goosepimple...

Who Else Wants Long Lasting Happiness, to Use Any Dissatisfaction Optimally for the Best Change, and to Know How to Use What Most Affects Happiness?

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What Does Lasting Happiness Depend On? Neither Rising Prosperity nor Severe Misfortune Permanently Affect Happiness Research implies that neither rising prosperity nor severe misfortune permanently affect happiness. After a period of adjustment, individuals return to their baseline levels of well-being, leaving humanity on a ‘‘hedonic treadmill’’ (Brickman & Campbell, 1981; Diener, Suh, Lucas, & Smith, 1999; Kahneman, Krueger, Schkade, Schwartz, & Stone, 2004). Similarly, as entire countries become richer, relative gains and losses neutralize each other across populations, bringing no overall increase in the happiness of their citizens (Easterlin, 1974; Kenny, 2004).   Neither Individual Efforts nor Social Policy Can Bring Lasting Changes in Happiness Insofar as this set point is biologically determined, neither individual efforts nor social policy can bring lasting changes in happiness.   Happiness Depends on Popularly Accepted Social Norms Another explanation for the apparent stability of the aggregate happiness of nations is social comparison theory (Easterlin, 1974, 2003). According to this account, happiness stays the same in the face of rising income because of a shift in reference. If happiness is shaped by one’s relative position in a society, then even if a nation’s overall economy grows, only those with above-average gains will experience rising happiness, and these increases will be offset by decreases among those with below-average gains. –Ronald Inglehart, Roberto Foa, Christopher Peterson, and Christian Welzel,  “Development, Freedom, and Rising Happiness A Global Perspective” (1981–2007).     The Functions of Happiness and Dissatisfaction Happiness Is Functional and Generally Leads to Success Recent research indicates that happiness is functional and generally leads to success.   All Organisms are Motivated to Approach Things that Bring...

You’d Never Expect to Get THIS Kind of Response for Honking at the Car in Front of You

Culture, Featured

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Four Quotes from the Four Horsemen Documentary to Inspire Support, Love, Assistance & Cooperation

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1. We Can Be the Best Source of Support, Love, Assistance & Cooperation In any species, in almost any animal, there is always the potential for huge conflict, because with any species, all members of that species have the same needs. So they might fight each other for food, shelter, nest sites, territory, sexual partners, all those kinds of things. But human beings have always had the other possibility. We have the possibility to be the best source of support, love, assistance and cooperation, much more so than any other animal… and so other people can be the best or the worst. You can be my worst rival, or my best source of support. “Four Horsemen – Feature Documentary – Official Version.” 1:07:27 – 1:08:10 2. What Really Makes Us Happy? What’s really suffered is human relationships, family life, the things that really matter to us. In the end, the only thing that makes human beings happy isn’t money, it’s very clear that you only get marginal gains from wealth. What really makes us happy is other people. It’s our relationships with other people that are really being damaged by the last thirty years. We trust them less; we have less interaction with them; we bond less than ever before; we marry less and marriages are under more threat than ever before, and all the associations that represent permanent unconditional human affection are being eroded or damaged. That’s the real legacy of the last thirty years. In some sense, we’ve got to recover and rehumanize our lives, otherwise not only will they be nasty, brutish and short, but they’ll be...

Mountain Spring Music – Family Tree [Music]

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Mountain Spring Music describe themselves as, … explorers searching for that new culture. On a mission from somewhere far away to remember what is going to be.” On their newest single [available for free download], Family Tree, they sing of this new culture as a place where love is ubiquitous and humanity is united as one. ‘Family Tree’ Lyrics I have seen the future and you’ll love me  Like you love yourself Not through ethics and not from guns because  Love cannot be compelled   And, I have seen the future And I have felt the light on my face And unity is so natural We’re one big family And after all, we’re all brothers If you trace back your family tree   History’s not repeating it just It just rhymes so well Empires rise and Empires Fell   And, I have seen the future And I have felt the light on my face And unity is so natural We’re one big family And after all, we’re all brothers If you trace back your family tree   I know you’ve heard about it 2012 This is your official invitation and I’m I’m here to tell you that   I have seen the future And I have felt the light on my face And unity is so natural We’re one big family And after all, we’re all brothers If you trace back your family tree Nothing’s coincidental Now it’s up to you and me It’s a whole new world  Where one and one is three   And unity is so natural We’re one big family And after all, we’re all brothers...

Poem: Simple Truth

Culture, Featured

The truth is usually simple – Why is it difficult to live? If love is infinite to give, Then why is unity unreal? Why can’t we move beyond the words And sharing on Facebook pages? Why does this finite round world Get packed in shopping square cages? Hate, finger-pointing and spite Rule over every good intention Instead of change and self-correction, We look for being “good” and right. Is there sapience in us, Or are we fear-driven primates? We sing of peace, dream happy days, While driving somebody bananas… We’ve come a very lengthy way, We’ve walked the round world TOGETHER, We’ve played and learned from every game, We outgrew our furs and feathers. Now we are due to calculate And draw some sapient conclusions: To be recycled as primates Or drop the “you ain’t me” illusion… by Irene...