What is Happiness?

Jumping up and down

Wonderment

Being at peace

A warm glow

Feeling transported – music

Good friends

Laughter

Good food

Good wine

Immersed – engaged

Nature

Light sunshine

Acceptance – self and others

Fresh strawberry out of the garden

Relaxation

Bad food

My children smiling

Belonging

Feeling stimulated

Feeling a sense of direction

Purpose

Focus

Meaning

In touch with the magic

Back towards the end of last year I and fellow Light Box volunteer Jennifer were asked to take part in the making of a film which could be used to promote what Light Box has been doing through the Happiness Project 2011. It was an opportunity created by Happy City in partnership with Plastic Buddha as part of the Community Voice project which works towards creating a wider resource bank of professional film makers, journalists, photographers and writers to support local people to learn the skills to get their voice heard, and tell their story of positive change to the world.

We were given a day’s training at Hamilton House in Stokes Croft with 3 other pairs from Bristol based organisations where we learnt a variety of techniques and got to grips with using microphones and using the mini Flip video cameras. We did various group and pair exercises which created a great team atmosphere and lots of laughter! Highlights included on person acting as director while everyone else was trying to squeeze as many feet and ears in to one shot while rolling about on the floor and interviewing a woman and her lovely black dog Shadow. By reviewing what we were filming throughout the day we learnt all about composition, set dressing, interview techniques and basic storyboarding. At the end of the session we went off in our pairs equiped with our cameras and our heads full of ideas!

We had 2 weeks to gather footage to be edited in session number two. We had roughly planned out what we were going to try and archive so set about gathering as many exciting shots and interviews as we could (life was made very easy for us by the fact the Light Box shop is such a brightly coloured and inspiring place to be in anyway). Fortunately for us all the workshop participants we spoke to were only too happy to be filmed and interviewed, we explained that we had previously decided not to show participants faces as we felt this was more appropriate due to the personal nature of what might be discussed as well as that fact that people staring down a lens is pretty dull viewing when we can show all the messy creative fun that goes on in the sessions instead.

After the 2 weeks were up we began to pick through all the best shots and Dictaphone interviews and create the final 4 minute video, this was really hard as we had over 2 hour of material – most of which was pure gold! The second Community Voice session showed us how to do this using the Flip Video software which was really useful and enabled the groups to share rough edits of their videos to everyone else – complete with projection screen and popcorn. I spent the next few days cleaning up the film and adding the finishing touches before we submitted the final piece which can be seen on Happy City’s YouTube Channel along side films by FoodCycle, Redcliffe Ladies Swimming Group, East Bristol Food Bank and Life Cycle plus more to come very soon.

I think it’s brilliant that Community Voice has given us the opportunity to both create a wonderful publicity/marketing tool and also given us the skills to make a similar projects in the future as well as being part of a wider resource bank able to lend a hand to anyone who may need us. A BIG thanks to everyone involved at Happy City and Plastic Buddha and especially the participants who gave up their time to answer our questions and talk about their Light Box experiences.

This collage was completed by around 30 different people, each adding a couple of words or letters. Thank you to everyone who took part – we’ve made a very funny and obscure story!

 

And the words went pow. half of a teddy equals ted, she said. but who is he? is he special? and is he smart?

The next bus is home-grown, get your gown Flora. Teapots and treasures everywhere. Karen looked at vinegar.

Reinvented Summer from wearing grass noodles swimming home. quiet spotted box on no stand trapped bacteria – perfect extra time Mr Roberts!

Go save what waves another familiar veg magnet, miracle day!

Longing for the film to start. Art loves you, you are so happy to ask my name.

Depending on my new movie, i will create a big hoof. it will be a vision, the start of a major revolution. The standard of eyewear was great!

I was happy Brad Pitt cooked a magnificent sunday lunch and offered to help with the big hoof. We had a party with recycled cassettes and bananas in the park. Havoc!

We created a volunteer job and a half by asking Rosanna to take off all the gratitude from The Happiness Project 2011, to make way for all the coming Gratitude in 2012. The tree was bursting with Gratitude, and we thought it was time for a fresh start for Gratitude collection. Rosanna also typed up every single piece of gratitude from the tree, and we can’t thank herenough for her patience and dedication!

Here we have all the Gratitude from 2011, what a lovely read!

• The Love of my Bluebell
• Char Kennedy’s ass! Mmmm
• Wonderful loving friends
• All my family and close friends
• Having people who love me
• The most beautiful are the people and things who inspire you to create
• There is no cost for ‘Smile’
• My husband looking after me
• Finding direction in my work life
• Having people to love
• Bank holidays
• Proud of my son
• I’m grateful for my children, my foster daughter and my husband my girlfriend Kerry who has made me very happy!
• Knowing I’m safe and loved
• I am grateful for my mum, dad, sister, nephew and boyfriend
• Justin
• I am so grateful for my Amazing boyfriend who means more to me than anything in the world!
• Health, happiness, smiling, my job, my friends who are beautiful and wonderful, my amazing family (even my brother!) the seasons changing, faith, love the kindness of strangers
• Creative inspiring friends and family – being forgiven when you make a boo boo.  Feeling part of community and close to nature! Yeah
• My confident and funny little boy
• For all the opportunities given to me, the excitement to grow and build a career!
• A lovely family and a fantastic son
• Having him come back again
• Hairdressing trainees – My haircut cost £10
• Support from family
• I’m grateful that I can still jeep going, even when things are really hard
• Thank you life that I have time to do nothing…
• Friends and family
• For my friends and family
• Certain memories
• Weekends and family
• Every Blessing in my life – I’m so looked after
• Coming here today
• Karen my wonderful support worker
• The laughter of good friends
• The shop being ready on time!
• I am grateful for being alive
• Being happy, to try out everything
• My children and grand children
• My family, my health, my education and the wonders of nature
• Friendships – For love, laughter and general good memories and seeing you through those not so good times
• The Earth
• I love you too!
• All my human and animal friends
• I’m happy I made a new friend on the internet J Dating website; hopefully we have lots of fun!!
• Love, live, freedom and happiness
• A fantastic Easter holiday
• Compassion and inspiration
• Each breath and a piping hot pasty!
• Love, laughter, fun and friendship
• All range of emotions
• The Queen
• My cat Misty
• I am grateful for love, for spirituality, beauty, friendship, the gift of learning, and for life
• I’m grateful for this Tree. Thank you tree, you’re awesome!
• I love my mummy and daddy
• I am grateful for the life and love of my true soul mate, Tanya.  Loves ya chick!!
• For the loving qualities I see in my friends
• I am grateful for changes of the heart
• I’m glad that nothing’s permanent
• Friends, health and happiness
• My lovely flat and cat
• I am grateful for Helen and Boomtown!
• Still having friends
• I am grateful for my health, my heart and my family
• My health, family, friends, life…
• Being mostly okay is just lovely!
• I’m grateful for family
• Friendship
• The Doyle
• Health
• Great family, friends and fun
• My friends
• My supportive family
• My family and my girl
• I am grateful for the sweet fragrance of the summer ROSES
• My Pom, friends, family and new house
• My boyfriend and family in heath
• My Tony
• LIVESTRONG and meeting Jennifer today
• My beautiful children
• My lovely friends and family and doing a degree that I love!
• My dogs
• Anytime spent with my kids
• ME! And the gouldy and fairhella!
• Friends that enjoy cooking
• Good health and happiness
• Smiles
• Good health
• My best friends and my mum!
• Plumbing and heating
• Art and culture in the world.
• My little Bro pulling through
• I’m thrilled and incredibly grateful to be happy and healthy in life amongst my loved ones.
• I am grateful for babies
• I am grateful for being Alive. Mavis Davis
• Luke
• The beautiful spring weather
• Bless baby Jacob and heal him lord.
• Praying with my brother
• To my mum and daddy
• Grateful for life, health and wealth of experiences.  Family and friends and to having today and a future
• Light Box
• My wife and son
• Life, Love, My friends and my family
• Danielle and Jade
• I am grateful for Catherine Hopkins
• My family, friends, My health
• Being with Daniel makes me Happy
• Health and true friendship
• Life
• I’m grateful my parents are still well
• The love and friendship of dear Dotty and Bluebell
• Money
• For having my friends and for them being there for me!
• I am grateful for not being one of the suffering
• My wonderful family
• Being encouraged
• I am grateful for modern medicine
• I am grateful for my family and friends
• New Opportunities
• The air that we breathe our feet on the ground…
• Mummy, Daddy and Hannah
• Our beautiful planet!!!
• My lovely Son
• I’m grateful and thankful for everything in my life.  Especially magic moments with Fabian.
• To be alive, Food inside my tummy
• Things can seem really bad but when one person comes around she always makes me smile!  Thanks Lexy
• Being able to walk with my dog
• My wonderful girlfriend, Rose
• For Everyday
• A few people helping me with a few things, their real ways of having a nice little chat with me, Martyn, Sam and Lexy
• I’m grateful for new friends.
• A lovely atmosphere, warm
• The love and support
• My dad came to visit
• I am grateful to be mum to Arlo!
• I am fit, healthy and able to dream and create
• Being thought of and cared for, laughter, loved ones now passed
• My family
• I’m grateful for cheese and Jumpers! They would mean nothing without my family, friends and partner though”
• I’m grateful for playing
• You!
• I’m grateful for developing my art and fun side
• Max Hoelzle Ferreira
• Talesha
• Stella Bloomfield wife to Be
• Sunshine!
• You.
• For my friends and family
• Good health
• Espero que les guste
• The things and stuff you can’t buy
• Today is the first day of the rest of my and your life.  I’m so grateful. – Alive Bridget
• Flowers
• I’m grateful for the strength of my father, the love of my friends and the beauty of the world.
• To be alive!
• I am grateful for modern medicine, the NHS and positive people.
• Making people happy!!
• I’m happy because I’m going to bed. (Evan, age 5)
• For kind strangers giving me directions
• For the joy of life and the opportunity to share
• The dream I had last night
• Having all my friends and family, knowing people are there for me.
• I would like to give thanks for beautiful life giving breath!
• Knitting and my five cats
• I am grateful for all the wonderful people in my life.
• I am grateful for the support and love I get
• The chance of meeting my soul mate
• I’m grateful for the Oxygen!
• I am grateful for a new day to live
• I am grateful for the life I’ve been given
• My bicycle
• All the people who helped and continue to help me fight my mental health problems.  Also to the wonderful campaign ‘Body Gossip’ for helping me to discover myself again
• Health, friends, family, love…
• My mum
• My beautiful daughter
• “Beautiful” Human being My husband
• Peace, understanding and love
• I am so very grateful for my AMAZING boyfriend Sean.  I Love You
• Birds
• I’m grateful to Shane
• All the lovely people I have met on my relatively short time on this earth
• I’m grateful for the summer holidays and free time to spend with my son.
• For good health, great friends and living in this fine city
• My cat Colin
• Life
• Grateful for the gift of life!
• Thanks for every blessing…

Read about Gratitude Journals here in a previous blog entry

More tea and chats, we say!!  It’s a great opportunity to take some time to connect to a someone old, someone new, someone borrowed or someone blue.

Arrange a tea date today.  Why not share a cake too…

Fasting can help protect against brain diseases, scientists say

Claim that giving up almost all food for one or two days a week can counteract impact of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s

A vertical slice through the brain of a patient with Alzheimer’s, left, compared with a normal brain, right. Photograph: Alfred Pasieka/Science Photo Library

Fasting for regular periods could help protect the brain against degenerative illnesses, according to US scientists.

Researchers at the National Institute on Ageing in Baltimore said they had found evidence which shows that periods of stopping virtually all food intake for one or two days a week could protect the brain against some of the worst effects of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other ailments.

“Reducing your calorie intake could help your brain, but doing so by cutting your intake of food is not likely to be the best method of triggering this protection. It is likely to be better to go on intermittent bouts of fasting, in which you eat hardly anything at all, and then have periods when you eat as much as you want,” said Professor Mark Mattson, head of the institute’s laboratory of neurosciences.

“In other words, timing appears to be a crucial element to this process,” Mattson told the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Vancouver.

Cutting daily food intake to around 500 calories – which amounts to little more than a few vegetables and some tea – for two days out of seven had clear beneficial effects in their studies, claimed Mattson, who is also professor of neuroscience at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore.

Scientists have known for some time that a low-calorie diet is a recipe for longer life. Rats and mice reared on restricted amounts of food increase their lifespan by up to 40%. A similar effect has been noted in humans. But Mattson and his team have taken this notion further. They argue that starving yourself occasionally can stave off not just ill-health and early death but delay the onset of conditions affecting the brain, including strokes. “Our animal experiments clearly suggest this,” said Mattson.

He and his colleagues have also worked out a specific mechanism by which the growth of neurones in the brain could be affected by reduced energy intakes. Amounts of two cellular messaging chemicals are boosted when calorie intake is sharply reduced, said Mattson. These chemical messengers play an important role in boosting the growth of neurones in the brain, a process that would counteract the impact of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

“The cells of the brain are put under mild stress that is analogous to the effects of exercise on muscle cells,” said Mattson. “The overall effect is beneficial.”

The link between reductions in energy intake and the boosting of cell growth in the brain might seem an unlikely one, but Mattson insisted that there were sound evolutionary reasons for believing it to be the case. “When resources became scarce, our ancestors would have had to scrounge for food,” said Mattson. “Those whose brains responded best – who remembered where promising sources could be found or recalled how to avoid predators — would have been the ones who got the food. Thus a mechanism linking periods of starvation to neural growth would have evolved.”

This model has been worked out using studies of fasting on humans and the resulting impact on their general health – even sufferers from asthma have shown benefits, said Mattson – and from experiments on the impact on the brains of animals affected by the rodent equivalent of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. Now Mattson’s team is preparing to study the impact of fasting on the brain by using MRI scans and other techniques.

If this final link can be established, Mattson said that a person could optimise his or her brain function by subjecting themselves to bouts of “intermittent energy restriction”. In other words, they could cut their food intake to a bare minimum for two days a week, while indulging for the other five. “We have found that from a psychological point of view that works quite well. You can put up with having hardly any food for a day if you know that for the next five you can eat what you want.”

Bokeh is a work used to describe two things:

1. Photographing something in crisp focus with the background blurred (bit boring)

2. The exciting kind, where you photograph lights using a lens cut into a shape, i.e. hearts, triangles, lightening bolts, arrows and each separate light becomes that shape.

The type of Bokeh I’ve experimented with is the second kind, and I make this the focus of my images. Most bokeh has the focus on an object in the foreground, but I just love the light being in different shapes, and got a bit carried away with this. I’ll call it ‘level 1 bokeh’!

So I made a tutorial of how you make your own Bokeh lens:

Here’s what you need: your camera, masking tape, a scalpel, scissors, thin cardboard (half a cereal box is perfect) and a pencil

1. Draw around the lens of your camera

2. Cut the circle out, leaving 1/2 an inch of extra circumference

3. Then use the cardboard to cut a seperate  2-inch wide strip of cardboard which will fit around the side of your lens, leaving 1/2 an inch spare of length at the end. Tape this to the lens using the masking tape, then slide off

4. Pick up the circle, and cut into that 1/2 an inch of extra circumference, creating a bit of a frill/flap, all the way around, making cuts every half a centimeter or so

5. Bend those frills/flaps down

6. Use a scalpol to cut out a shape of some sort in the centre of the circle (ideally you’d measure where the centre is). My favorite is an arrow

7. Now you attach the strip and the circle together to make your Bokeh lens. Use one bit of tape to start off with, then keep tucking the flaps in and sticking

8. Work your way around the circle, until it’s all tucked in and stuck down with a few pieces of tape

9. Nearly there

10. On the inside, stick some tape there too – to make it more of a rigid structure

11. Finish off the lens by making taping over all the gaps on the outer side

12. Done! Go and photograph some lights

And here are the technical things:

The size of the shaped hole depends on two things: the aperture of your lens and the focal length you’re using.

Try using these calculations, which I copied from DIY Photography.net

Take the focal length that you wish to use (e.g. 100mm)

Divide this by the aperture value that is smallest on your lens (e.g. f/2)

Equals the largest diameter of the cut out shape (shape should be smaller than this) (50mm)

So…

50mm f/2 – shape must be under 25mm

75mm f/2 – shape must be under 37.5mm

100mm f/2 – shape must be under 50mm

50mm f/2.8 – shape must be under 17.5mm

50mm f/3.5 – must be under 14.2mm

Other important things:

1. Make sure the shape you create is in the centre of the circle
2. The lights you shoot need to be really bright (traffic lights, car lights, city lights, amusements, street lights, carnivals, bright bulbs)
3. When you’re focusing, make sure the lights are out of focus, otherwise the shape won’t come through
4. If you’re shooting an object infront of the bokeh lights, focus on that object with distant lights out of focus behind (a shallow depth of field)
5. If the image is coming out too dark, increase the time the aperture is open. This means a longer exposure, letting more light in, and the image will be brighter

Here’s some more of the images I created:

Fairy lights

Car brake lights

Auckland Sky tower & the city

Good luck!

Over those times, and in the years since, one practice I always returned to was meditation.  It has come into my life in many guises; as part of yoga classes, various spiritual practices and through my ever trusty companion – a well written book.  However, it wasn’t until I met Positive Psychology that I truly grasped that the remedying of unrewarding habits, moods and behaviours sits in the actual regular DOING of meditation, not the KNOWING about it.

So after an incredibly busy, rewarding and growth filled year last year, I begin this year with the clear goal of practicing what I preach more fully, in order to really make the most of every day, every relationship and every opportunity.   Low and behold meditation pops it’s head back up as I bring my focus back to my search for balance, awareness and really juicing life for all it has to offer.

Bizarrely, the DOING has proved rather straight forward! This last month I have spent 10 minutes every morning and evening sitting quietly and focusing on either counting my breath in 10s and/or bringing my awareness to my sense as I sit and have even felt compelled to experiment with the wonderful resonance that is chanting “ohm”.

The affects… well! It’s astounding how they have nothing to do with me thinking a single thing, but really feeling a true sense of connection to the moment I find myself within.  As I came out of my house the other morning, after only 2 days of my new practice, I closed the front door and was struck by the clear, quiet, peace of my street.  For a few moments it felt as if it travelled through me, and I mirrored its stillness.  Not induced by cerebral chin scratching, just a pure, connected moment, before I hopped on my bike (Rhonda the Raleigh… for those who haven’t met her) and pootled off to work.

As well as this beautiful moment, I have been talking more to people that I have come into contact with during my day, which has left me feeling particularly warm inside.  I have also found myself noticing small and interesting things about this fair city of Bristol and I am present when with my friends, my family, my work and my partner (who, coincidentally, is currently talking 19 to the dozen to his Mum on the phone right next to me as I work, and it isn’t distracting me half as much as it would have done a fortnight ago!).

As I have taken the focus off of me and my thinking, the analysing, the whys and what ifs, it feels I may have finally found what I have been after for all of these years; joy, engagement, energy, self awareness and inner strength.  Or rather the clarity to recognise that I had these in my life all along but that there has just been an opaque frosting of cranial fluttering that blocked me from seeing them.

So, a few tips for if you wish to try, or improve your meditation practice:

• Check out Headspace for a head start on all things meditation: www.getsomeheadspace.com This resource has an easy to use step by step beginner’s guide and lots of interesting podcasts and information.
• Block out time in your day for that 5, 10, 15, 20 minute meditation. Something Lucy D has taught me – ritualising is the key to making this a truly beneficial habit!
• Give yourself a small space in your home to practice – even if this is just a chair, the floor and a candle.  Having your ritual space is really important.
• Don’t be hard on yourself when your mind doesn’t just switch off on your first go! The mind thinks… that’s just what it does. But with practice these thoughts seem to quieten down.  Andy at Headspace explains this really well in his short animations.
• Keep at it and know that with practice the benefits to well being, focus and self awareness are HUGE!

Back to school at Light Box! We are very excited about starting out 10 week courses again and are looking forward to this Thursday’s Appreciation of Beauty workshops with our groups.  A couple of lovely volunteers have come in to the shop today to help us get things ship shape , so we thought we would take a moment to savour and capture the beauty that is organising and playing with new, shiny stationary!  Here are some photos from our day so far.  A huge thank you to Rosanna and Claudia for all of their help!  We’re looking forward to more of the same over the coming weeks.

Lucy B loves to organise, make lists and put things in neat piles.  Here are some ongoing volunteer jobs! Pinata making, anyone?

Feathers and Claudia.

Rosanna bringing a new lease of life to our Gratitude ribbons.

New, shiny paintbrushes. Oo, super!

Simple beauty.

What is beautiful at your desk right  now?

Happy Wednesday, from Kathryn and The Light Box Team.

To see my family regularly I do a lot of traveling on the train – Bristol to London, Bristol to Devon and across and up and back again. I take these journeys so much I could almost do them with my eyes closed. But I don’t, because then I would miss the endless miles of sky and countryside I get to look at as I am speeding towards my destination. FYI Here’s what the sky’s face looks like above the fields between Taunton and Tiverton:

I love train journeys because they feel so orderly and peaceful. Everyone is sitting together on this little carriage that moves so fast but feels strangely still. All the people on board are going the same way to different places. I find it a very good opportunity for people-watching and often draw fellow passengers surreptitiously. Sometimes I get caught and they ask to see what I’ve drawn. Although this is initially embarrassing it always ends up being a friendly encounter, I don’t think my renderings have offended anyone so far.

Something else I like about all these train journeys is that they FORCE me to stop, and be still and in the moment. I think I am like a lot of people in that I fall into the habit of ricocheting from one task to the next. Days can too easily become a chain of ceaseless action, where I only stop to attend to basic bodily functions like eating and going to the loo. Sometimes I ask myself ‘what’s the rush?’ but once you’ve built up a momentum and you are used to living like that it can be hard to stop, or even slow down.

Unlike a lot of traveling I find train journeys don’t make me tired. The stillness and the time spent staring out at the clouds and fields, reading or doodling or writing down the conversations of other passengers seems to recharge my energy and not deplete it. It’s funny how routine journeys that can end up constituting a significant portion of our lives are often done on auto-pilot, purely a means to and end and something to be got through when they can become a pleasant experience in an of themselves. So long as you’ve got a seat.