YOU WANT TO BE HAPPY?

I have always been inspired by the Dalai Lama - his compassion, kindness, caring and teachings are an inspiration to everyone who listens. I saw the above quote and photo and I was struck by the words "do you want to be happy'.

The question is DO YOU WANT TO BE HAPPY? The answer of course is yes, but how to be happy that is the question.

The Dalai Lama says "Practice Compassion" but what does that really mean in day to day terms?

Those of you who have been kind enough to read my blogs will know that time and again I write about our MIND and how we are dictated by this busy mind of ours.  Is your MIND TOO BUSY? How many times have I heard this said - hundreds of times - ""I cannot sleep because my mind is too busy" - "I can't think straight because my mind is too busy" - "I just want some peace from my problems - my mind won't let me rest" etc, etc.

You may wonder why "practicing compassion" has anything to do with your problems and your busy mind - but it has a lot to do with it and this is why! The bottom line is that we are what we think - and we do what we think - and basically our mind tells  us what to do - Why? Because we are not in control of our minds - it controls us. If we develop COMPASSION & KINDNESS for everyone not only our close family and loved ones - you will begin the path of achieving great HAPPINESS

Every human being has the right to find HAPPINESS in their lives but sad to say, unfortunately all people SUFFER - we become ill; we get hurt both physically and mentally; we get depressed, we get stressed, at times we will experience tragedies; lose our friends and families; lose the pets we love; and eventually we will die - I know none of you will want to think about that, but all of us will successfully die! 

If we have lived a life that has brought joy and happiness to people and everyone and everything around you - you will have enjoyed a life of happiness and can die peacefully and with your mind at rest - if you have caused suffering, pain and misery it will be too late for you as you lie dying to change and do anything about it - THINK ABOUT THIS PLEASE - its never too late to change whilst you are healthy and have a good mind - if sadly, dementia or other similar ailments come into your life it will be too late -  so you must start the process of changing your life - do it NOW. Is it really too much to ask for HAPPINESS in your life?

As I said earlier, we are what we think and if we begin to change the way we think we can achieve a level of happiness that you probably can't imagine. They say the greatest love is that of a mother's love for her child. If you can start to imagine feeling that love for everyone even the neighbour who is so annoying or the Police Officer who has just given you a speeding ticket - you will begin to see life in a very different way.

Of course, its not easy - but stop to think about this - none of us are better than anyone else - maybe you think you are better than someone else or your beliefs are the only ones that matter and everyone else is wrong - maybe you are jealous of another family or person - possibly you hate someone - but these feelings and statements makes no actual sense - why? Simply because we are all the same and basically one organism - If there were no trees and plants we couldn't breathe - we wouldn't be on this earth. If there was no moon, sun, rain, atmosphere for us to breathe properly there wouldn't be any people - there wouldn't be any food grown - we wouldn't be able to eat anything and survive.

Everyone hurts and bleeds - everyone of us relies entirely on others - where would you be without other people from all over the world? There wouldn't be any food if people didn't plant the crops and harvest the fruit, grains, rice, wheat and so forth. Think of the people who collect the food and package it and all the people who enable this food to reach your plate. If people from all over the world weren't doing any of this you would be alive.

Do you think that an American family is any different to a Zulu family or an Ethiopian family or a Japanese family or a Muslim family or a Christian family or a Hindu family or an Eskimo family or any any other kind of family? Don't they want happiness, good health, good food, and roof over their head, the same as YOU?  Basically we ALL WANT HAPPINESS IN OUR LIVES and once you begin to build COMPASSION for all living creatures you will be on the path to achieving true happiness for yourself, your family and everyone you meet.

Remember the great human mantra - hate, jealousy, ignorance, overt desire, greed all bring SUFFERING

Compassion, kindness, caring, healing all bring HAPPINESS

There are many ways to help build your compassion - I recommend meditating and gently bringing your mind to a peaceful and quiet state which is such a relief - I have written a number of blogs on meditation if you would like to learn more - you will find that this is the first step to building compassion and kindness - and this will change your life and all those you meet for ever - bringing great happiness and joy into your life and others too.

Can't be bad - can it?

Thanks for reading

Peter

MICHAEL JACKSON & THE FIESTA CLUB, SHEFFIELD

I worked twice with Michael Jackson, during the period when he was billed as "MICHAEL JACKSON and the JACKSONS" One of the concerts was in Brighton at the Brighton Centre and the second at the famous Fiesta Club in Sheffield - this would have been in 1977 or 1978.

Michael was young and it was obvious that he was already becoming a Superstar. He had been part of the JACKSON 5 but was now billed as lead singer under his own name plus his brothers. The album "DESTINY" had been released and this was the DESTINY TOUR.

At that time I had secured a contract to book many of the Northern theatre/nightclubs in England including the prestigious Sheffield Fiesta in Yorkshire.

These theatre clubs were a major part of the entertainment scene in the UK at that time (the late 1960's through to the late 70's). The Sheffield Fiesta, which opened in 1970 had been owned by the Lipthorpe Brothers (Keith and Jim) but they had been brought out and was then owned by the Rank Organisation. I had secured the exclusive entertainment booking rights, which was a major coup for me personally - I can't remember the seating capacity now but it must have been around 2,000 seats. The Fiesta was known as the Premier Nightclub in Europe - it was a very exciting place and I loved it - every minute of it.

It was my job to book the artists and everyone performer from the dancing girls, compere's and of course the stars. I was 29 years old and you can imagine not only the fun of booking this place, but it was a very big responsibility too. Rank Leisure the company that was operating this club wanted it to be a success so I had to contract the finest artists and those that will sell out the tickets. 

There was fierce rivalry between the clubs - there was the Batley Variety Club, the Wakefield Theatre Club, the Golden Garter in Wythenshawe, The Night Out Birmingham, Caesar's Palace and many others - all of them fighting to book the top stars. I had a real fight on my hands.

I booked the Fiesta Club in Sheffield from around 1976, 77 and 78 - I am not sure of these exact dates - so much of this fades in the memory, but it was an incredible time and what a way to learn the entertainment industry - this held me in good stead later when we promoted major concerts in London and throughout the UK and eventually when we opened offices in New York and other countries - From the Sheffield Fiesta to the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, the London Palladium, Royal Albert Hall to the Metropolitan Opera House, Carnegie Hall in New York - it was a long walk and an exciting one - but nothing was more exciting that the Fiesta!

I have so many memories of booking artists into the Fiesta - including The Walker Brothers, Roy Orbison, Joe Cocker, Shirley Bassey, Diana Ross, Dionne Warwick, The Hollies, Gerry and the Pacemakers, The Searchers, Freddie and the Dreamers, Cilla Black, The Temptations, The Drifters, Suzi Quatro, local boy Tony Christie, Showaddywaddy, Matt Monroe, Jack Jones, Johnny Mathis plus UK comedians like Freddy Starr, Bruce Forsythe, Tommy Cooper, Bob Monkhouse and a host of others - but the big coup was contracting MICHAEL JACKSON.

I remember the excitement this announcement caused. Lines around the block to the booking office - huge media interest from local and national newspapers, television news and so forth. The word was out Michael Jackson and the Jacksons were coming to Sheffield.

Michael, his brothers, the musicians, the technical crew and Joe Jackson the father arrived - Michael was lovely to speak with - he was a gentle soul and I liked him immediately - in some ways he was very accessible although it appeared to me that his father was keeping a very close control over him - almost obsessively, but that is only my personal opinion. 

The tickets had been sold out for weeks and the anticipation was running high. The venue was packed to the rafters and when Michael and his brothers hit the stage the atmosphere was electric. I will remember that performance for ever - the excitement, the dancing, the energy generated, the incredible atmosphere in that room - the music pounding and throbbing as Michael and his Brothers stored through their show. Hit after hit - the audience was in a frenzy. 

                                        Back stage with Michael

Happy memories - days that are long gone but forever enshrined in all of our memories 

Here are some of the online comments of the Fiesta and Michael's appearance:

Chrissy Clarke saw Michael Jackson and The Jackson Five at the Fiesta in 1977 or 1978:

"I met Michael Jackson at the Sheffield Fiesta - it was The Jackson Five - the place was packed. They were absolutely brilliant. They'd just performed Destiny.

"He was the most amazing dancer - he had this presence about him. He was 17 or 18 - my age. He smiled at me, I was on the front row and he came and sat with me. He kissed me and held my hand, he was just a really, really nice guy. He gave me a flower. I was just mute!"

Anyone who knows Sheffield will know the big building on Arundel Gate, which is now the Odeon cinema. Next door was the Top Rank nightclub (later known as the Roxy Disco and now is the O2 Academy.)

Bob at the Fiesta

The Fiesta was full of good old fashioned entertainment - stage, tinselly curtains, musical heroes, cabaret acts and hypnotists, chicken-in-a-basket served to your dimly-lit table, dancing girls and a compère.

Lesley

I remember it well, it was thick in snow and i took my clothes to work just in case i could not get home to get changed. I was just about to see the best group in the world, the Jackson 5 and not even the weather was going to stop me. It was one of the BEST NIGHTS of my life and i feel honoured and privileged to have seen Michael Jackson live.

Ros Winsor

I saw Michael Jackson there in the 70s after queuing in the snow outside to get in. He was mind blowing and I have always remembered that night with great fondness. We went to the Fiesta almost every week for a few years and had some great times, cut my "nightclubbing" teeth there. Also, saw the Four Tops in '75 when I was heavily pregnant and there was a heat wave. They turned all the fans on the stage round for the fans that night, another fantastic memory. Wish it was still here!

Bernie Johnson, Örebro in Sweden

I saw the Jackson 5 (Destiny Tour) at the Fiesta. Chicken in a basket meal included. Also saw The 4 Tops, Gladys Knight & the Pips, The 3 Degrees, The Drifters, and if I remember correctly The Barron Knights, but we'll keep that between ourselves.

MICHAEL JACKSON was a joy to work with - as were his brothers - The Brighton Concert at the Brighton Centre was also a complete sell out. Michael was and is a superstar - sadly missed and such a sad ending to an amazing career.

Thanks for reading and thanks for the memories
Peter

THE KILLING HAS TO STOP - NOW!

Killings in Kenya, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Somalia, Nigeria, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Egypt, Sudan, the Ukraine, a co-pilot flying his plane into a mountain and killing 140 people - it doesn't stop does it? Killing and more killing and IT HAS TO STOP NOW!

When will the human race understand that KILLING IS THE GREATEST POSSIBLE SIN?




It is an incredible sadness that there are killings reported daily everywhere in the world - The human race it seems never learns anything does it? - lessons are soon forgotten - the misery & suffering rises again and again - power grabbing, ideology, indoctrination (we are right - you are wrong - you will do what we say -  killing in the name of God, etc) ego, pride, ignorance causing hatred, jealousy, greed - the poisons that lead to all suffering. What's more we are not only killing one another - we kill millions (possibly billions) of fish and animals each year - basically the human race is the greatest killer the world has every known.

However, we also have to face the fact that today we are having to deal with an intense wave of Islamic killings especially by the terrorist groups of ISIS, Al-Queda, Boko Haram, Al-Shabab and all those other violent groups that abound around the globe. Of course, we should not assume thatnot all deaths are caused by Muslims but we have to face the fact that there is undoubtedly a massive shift in the Islamic world and in particular the Wahhabi teachings where we are seeing levels of violence rising at a frightening rate.

One of the key problems is that these violent groups believe that life after death is more important than this life and in the doctrine of a holy war or jihad.




What these sadly deluded people don't understand is that IT IS A TERRIBLE SIN TO KILL ANYONE and when they go, as they believe they will, in front of Allah when they die - do they really believe that when confessing to killing innocent people, God will say "well done here's your reward"? - No my friends - if you believe in God - God is NOT going to be saying "Well done you successfully killed 40 unbelievers or whatever! Sadly, these people are going to go to the deepest Hell - the Hell you create in this life is assuredly carried forward into the next - None of us can escape the results of our actions. How do we know this – simply because this is the most basic principle of our lives.

Ultimately, it is a simple case of "cause and effect" - we are what we think and what we do - We are responsible for every thought and therefore every action and these rebound back to us - we cannot escape this - it is like throwing a pebble into the water - the ripples go out and then slowly come back to the centre - this is exactly the same with our thoughts and our actions. We are responsible for our actions and if you kill you will pay the price.




What I can never understand is why are people so easily led? - Why are people so incredibly stupid to believe that killing will bring them happiness and rewards after death?

I read in an article in the London Times recently and wrote a blog about this, which some of you may have read. This article is written by Will Pavia regarding an interview with Ayaan Hirsi Ali concerning her new book “Heretic: Why Islam needs a reformation now!” It is a fascinating but sad insight into why so many young people are joining ISIS something, which I am sure most of us cannot begin to understand.




Ayaan Hirsi thinks the true crux of the problem lies with precepts that are fundamental to Islam. Among them, she argues, is the idea that life after death is more important than the travails of this life on Earth, the doctrine of jihad or holy war, the divine status of the Prophet Mohammed and the literal reading of the Koran.

While governments have sought to bolster moderate preachers against the radicals, Ali argue that if these preachers and task forces are still “preaching life after death as more important than life before death, and Mohammed’s infallibility, and that the Koran can’t be questioned”, then they are a very big part of the problem. People are so easily led - the need to believe I can understand, but to follow blindly, without questioning these beliefs, is breathtaking. 

In Ayaan Hirsi's latest book, Heretic: Why Islam Needs a Reformation Now, Ali argues that the young men and women who fully absorb these precepts struggle to square them with life in the West. “Embracing violent jihad has become an all too common means for young Muslims to resolve the cognitive pressures of trying to lead an ‘authentic’ Muslim life within a permissive and pluralistic Western society,” she writes.

She quotes the Egyptian author Tawfik Hamid, a former member of a radical Islamist group and now “one of a new generation of Islamic reformers” who points to specific verses in the Koran that “can easily be used to justify what the Islamic State is doing”, verses which cite the obligation to fight unbelievers, the imposition of a humiliating tax on Jews and Christians and violent punishments for blasphemy, apostasy and so forth.

The principle that "we are the only true Muslims" is simply not true but you can see where this all leads to - violence, killing and more killing - when in reality they are building a horrific karmic result for themselves both in this life and after death.

How do we (the rest of the world) deal with this? It is very difficult to come up with quick answers - of course education and serious debate about Islam (and indeed any other ideology that results in killings) is the answer but this will take generations to take effect. However, we have to start and quickly - the message has to get across by people who care deeply about our planet, the world we live in and the SANCTITY OF LIFE.

WE ARE ALL EQUAL - we all hurt, we all suffer, we all cry, we all bleed, we all lose our loved ones, our parents and grandparents - we lose friends, we become sick - we all die - without the trees and plants we can't breath - without the efforts of millions of people there would be no food, without the sun and the moon and the rain there would be no trees or crops, without this earth we wouldn't be here. How can these Muslims treat women as third rate people - they are our mothers and grandmothers - without them there is no life - THERE WOULDN'T BE YOU?

Halal or Kosher killed meat is also seriously wrong – the suffering of these animals is appalling – Can’t humans get it into their heads that killing anyone including animals is a terrible thing to do - any killing is wrong - of course, we are never going to convert the world to vegetarianism - but killing and causing suffering for animals is a crime by any standards - Animals breath the same air, they hurt, they bleed, they love, they have babies, they suffer too!!! Why is the human race so hugely arrogant to believe that animals are there simply for our pleasure and to eat? There has to be a major shift in the way we think - all of us not just these violent Islamic groups. Only then will the world become a happier and peaceful place.

Since the Second World War ended in 1945 there have been something like 250 major wars with an estimated 50 million deaths, tens of millions made homeless and countless millions wounded and bereaved. These statistics do not include the myriad of smaller wars and conflicts that continue to cause untold misery and suffering.

However, despite this appalling picture there is HOPE

We don't need all this ideology and frankly false man made teachings - we only need our MIND and KINDNESS to live a fruitful, compassionate and fulfilled life. Your church, your mosque, your synagogue, your temple should be in your MIND. It is your mind that dictates everything you do. I have written many blogs on this subject - but it is so obvious isn't it? We are what our mind thinks and dictates? If you wake up each morning and practice compassion - saying to yourself "I pray for all living people and creatures that they may be happy and free from suffering" - you are making an important step to controlling your mind instead of it controlling you and bringing peace and happiness!




As the Dalai Lama states in his very simple but wonderfully truthful statement - "your brain or mind & heart is your temple and your philosophy should be kindness" - you don't need anything else in this life - train your mind to think loving, kind, compassionate thoughts and your life will change beyond measure - make your spiritual path and philosophy in life one of "kindness". Don't cause suffering - don't make people miserable - don't harm others - bring happiness into peoples lives - bring compassion to people and animals alike - we all bleed - we all hurt - we all suffer - nobody is better than anyone else - its only ego, cruel ambition, jealousy, desire, hatred, ignorance that causes suffering - kindness, love, compassion and caring brings happiness. Its pretty damn simple isn't it?




Just because your next door neighbour has a bigger car - so what? Just because your Imam tells you to kill in the name of Allah - Just because the Priest tells you to hate someone from another religion does that make it right? THINK, USE YOUR MIND and realise that killing and hatred will only come back to cause you misery and suffering -




All those people who are fighting in Syria, Iraq, Africa, Asia, Libya, Afghanistan, wherever - what are you fighting for? Land; Power; Religious beliefs that state “my beliefs are better than yours”? Imposing your beliefs on all others and in doing so bringing misery and death to millions - How many people must die and suffer the most terrible harm, homelessness, bereavement before sanity and peace reigns?

Unless the human race begins to rethink itself and its motives and its position on this planet - there won't be a human race!! FACT.


Its time to WAKE UP - there won't be any fish to eat because we will have emptied the oceans through mega fishing, pollution and poisoning - its estimated we already kill around 150 billion animals each year just to satisfy the taste buds of the rampant human race - 50 million humans killed in wars since 1945 - not to mention the hundreds of millions suffering, wounded or homeless! For God's sake or more important for YOUR SAKE - stop this now and begin the path of KINDNESS, COMPASSION and LOVE - is it really so difficult?




At the end of your life will you look back and say to yourself - I brought some happiness to people and animals in my life - or will you look back in horror at the misery and suffering you caused - it will be too late to undo that pain as you go into your last illness and prepare to die. Most people never think of dying and death - its something you don't talk about - something to put at the very back of your mind - I can hear you say "that won't happen yet"? Won't it? How do you know? How do any of us know?

Isn't it better to live a life of positivity, of compassion, of love, of caring - so at the end of your days you can say in all honesty to yourself - I am at peace now and (if you believe in God) I can meet my God in peace and with the knowledge that I tried my best to make people happy - if you don't believe in God - isn't it still good to end your life at peace and having brought happiness and love to those you met and lived with? If you have killed in the name of God or some religious ideology be prepared to face the hell and consequences of your actions. I am serious - think about it!




It all begins in your MIND - you have a brain - use it!




Thank you for reading

Peter