My Email footer is here instead of on emails

FAQs
1) How quickly can I expect to hear back from you?
- Within a week
2) Why not sooner?
-I'm sometimes keep away from my email for that long or take that long to gestate a reply.
3) Would you prefer a phonecall?
- usually; reach me on 0780 70 66202
4) Would you ring me back to save my phone bill?
-usually I have many spare minutes that I'm happy to use
5) If I'm having difficulty tracking you down or planning a future event in which I'd like to include you, do you have an online calendar?
- funny you should ask that; the link to it is on this page of this website http://additionalinfo.blogspot.co.uk/p/paul-croslands-calendar.html
6) What is your agenda for the current year? -it's here http://additionalinfo.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/what-do-you-wish-for-from-coming-year.html
7) What have you been doing recently?
-see my facebook, YouTube and Twitter outputs for news; links again on the left side of http://additionalinfo.blogspot.co.uk & my latest 100 YouTube uploads (starting with the most recent) is here: The full set of public videos (which started in January 2008 with Mark Boyle's departure for India on foot with no money) is here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UUUqx0gIWHhZZ7iMzSQQ5FeA&feature=plcp ******************************* And this playlist, entitled "My Buddhafield", begins with Jayaraja, one of a few main spiritual mentors to me: *******************************

I try my hardest to appreciate all feedback given and this is the feedback received on the footer that was at the bottom of all emails on 13th November 2012:

My review of 'Les Miserables' (2012, starring Hugh Jackman, Russel Crowe et al):
Take one of the greatest novels about a convict-saint, distill it into a musical about social justice, film it in filth and the full width & depth of France's heritage and you have a film capable of igniting a social revolution of compassionate wisdom; if only we remembered that the best films are not just for watching - they are for living (& dying for)
http://iwantyouradvice.blogspot.co.uk & '2066 -the movie' - join in by uploading your life plan onto YouTube so that your peers can support you 1) encouraging you and 2) holding you to account.

Dear Paul,

As you know, I find these convoluted email footers deeply irritating and pretentious, and, as an attempt to shove your views down the throat of anyone who says 'come round for a cup of tea', the very antithesis of non-violent communication.

All you need is a standard 'yours' type sign off, as used by everyone, with a telephone number and email link. 'Nuff said.

Yours, in the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost, the Holy and Undivided Trinity,

Chris

[default email footer]

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,

'Better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.'

In the Grim Darkness of the far future, there is only war

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RdlCr7nENV8

Justice has a price. The price is freedom.

http://dreddthemovie.com/main.html

Forward to Mars!

http://mars-one.com/en/

The Church of England, A Christian Presence in every community

http://www.churchofengland.org/

'Everything is for the best in this, the best of all possible worlds.'

********************************** So this now is the information that I still wish you to be able to read if you want what I consider to be the basic contextual information and further linking information for working with me:
Yours in peace (through nonviolent struggle; much of it with myself)
Much metta (kindfulness) /mindfulness
Paul
(AKA Toothpaste007 on YouTube)
My new catch phrase to avoid getting into deep water without a mediator to support:

"That sounds mediable; let's mediate it, or can we get mutual understanding and win-win-win without needing another bloody mediator?" 

If it's a really important email that you sent me, please expect a reply within a week and then check that "message sent was message received." 

If your email is more urgent than that please can we begin talks about how we might "stress each other out" less.
 For better quality connection/ mutual understanding, please phone/text 0780 70 66 202. I usually prefer calls & will call back

P.S. Have you commented yet on anything on http://youtube.com/toothpaste007 - the latest video is here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=UUUqx0gIWHhZZ7iMzSQQ5FeA&feature=plcp

Post 2nd Anniversary -time to Up the Ante!

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've reached the (provisional) conclusion that most people don't want to hear about collective responsibility for crimes & misdemeanours such as Hastings Pier Fire?
I guess this makes it time to up the ante and inform everyone who is interested in de-escalating the conflict that the script is in a book called "Inside the No" by Myrna Lewis.


This story continues on http://facebook.com/groups/hastingsjustice

Adieu Hastings & St Leonards

Having been "flooded out of my flat" in the week leading up to the 2nd anniversary of the Hastings pier fire, I'm postponing (long-term) the plans for http://hastingstube.com and scaling down the 2nd anniversary event (ie leaving others to lead on the petition). 

PLEASE NOTE THAT THE 7pm - 9.30pm EVENT IS STILL GOING AHEAD ON FRIDAY 5th October; it will draw together some threads and hand on the baton.

And here's the last voicemail I received from a stranger who didn't leave his name:

In the short term I plan to live in Kent, but will be looking for openings in Cambridge or Sheffield in particular, where I am drawn to Triratna Buddhist Community activities, (including (innovative & timely?) team-based right livelihoods and households with (if you can bear a concept-full set of bullet points from me now):

• shared meditation sits
• shared meals 
• articulated/reflected values
• appreciation of diversity in how we deepen our Buddhist practice, seeking integration, positive emotion, letting go & generating a simpler wholesome and wholehearted (post-capitalist?) lifestyle (as an ark for a sinking society?) on a journey towards.... enlightenment?

(NB For those asking about India, I'm also doing some fresh questioning of when is the "right time" for 6 months in India developing project support for certain students I know from disadvantaged backgrounds and following how they fulfill their 10 year personal plans -made with me in December 2010- as on http://nagaloka-dream-cycle.blogspot.co.uk/p/dreams.html )

And, if you are into social exclusion or want to change the way I live, I'm interested in what good it does you to have so many opinions about how I lead my life?

Perhaps you want to influence decisions I make because you have views on how my decisions impact on your life?

I end this post with three related questions:

1) How correct are your underlying assumptions about how my decisions impact on your life and/or on my own?; 

2) How much self-responsibility are you taking for how you are triggered by me? 

&  3) How are you most likely to succeed in encouraging me to change in the way that you want my behaviour to change?http://nagaloka-dream-cycle.blogspot.co.uk/p/dreams.html

Hastings Pier Fire -the 2nd anniversary is coming on 5th October 2012

For my money, the most informative and interesting Google Search about Hastings Pier Fire and it's aftermath is: What I did that led to Hastings Pier Fire. Not only is this blog -and it's videos well-represented- but you also get a David Icke Forum on the topic

Tony May here recommends that you come to the events on 5th October 2012 at the Southwater Area Community Centre:

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Booking for all these events is by phoning/texting me (Paul Crosland) on Zero7807066202 and receiving a confirmation text message or on a 'click here and fill in the form at the bottom of the page' basis.
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The programme is as follows

Friday 5th October
10am-5pm -HastingsTube Workshop1

Lunch provided; £10 deposit to secure

Fuller programme here

(A draft proposal for HastingsTube Playlists here)  

7pm for 7.30pm "The Hastings Pier Fire Investigation So Far"

(Films recapping the meeting with Sussex Police and local residents last year will be shown from 7.10pm-7.30pm and correspondence with the Ministry of Justice handed out, as well as copies of requests for the HPWRT)

From 7.30pm to 9.30pm the community meeting will focus on The Petition to Hastings Borough Council.

Saturday 6th October 11am-5pm HastingsTube Workshop2

(The programme will be approximately as per Friday 5th; particularly for those who struggled to be available on the Friday daytime, or who wanted to go into the matters raised on the Friday 5th workshop again whilst the issues are still fresh)  

Food, Friendship, Music,

Caring, Sharing,

Groups, Events,

Social Justice, Liberty

Equality & Fraternity

-Connecting you with these on your doorstep:

HastingsTube.com

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Booking for all these events is by phoning/texting me (Paul Crosland) on Zero7807066202 and receiving a confirmation text message or on a 'click here and fill in the form at the bottom of the page' basis.
***************************************************************************
The intended play has been postponed to the 3rd anniversary -so save Saturday October 5th 2013 in your diary now!

Coastal Currents 2012 - see page 42 of the programme

(Discussion of "Karma Vipaka")

(Photos by Gary Heasman)

Edits to be made to the above Community Loyalty 2-sided card:

1. To activate this community loyalty card, please write below the house number, post code and cost of where you live: (http://additionalinfo.blogspot.co.uk/p/cost-of-living-in-st-leonards-east.html)
2. St Leonards Sharing Consortium accepts "street creds" from streetbank.com as a currency, exchangeable for St Leonards Timebank hours. 

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An introduction to Paul Crosland's professional background (as shown on ITV1)


The relevant Hastings Observer articles can be found here about how I brought this work to Hastings & St Leonards when I saw the pier fire as the most accessible & important community development opportunity in the UK, bar one.

For Coastal Currents 2012, I have prepared a diverse playlist that has "method in its madness"; comments on how you found it will be greatly appreciated - please add them below Tony May's at the bottom of this blog post:

1. Was the playlist interesting/entertaining/inspiring for many of the recommended minimum 30 minutes?. If you didn't last 30 minutes, please let us know where you gave up and why, for this  is part of the research going into design of a new (Community Development )Broad casting/Interconnecting Channel.************* (Also how long would/did you spend  at the open studio no 19 in September 2012, as advertised on p42 of the 2012 Coastal Currents programme?)
2. Would you watch more than 30 minutes if you were paid to, and how much would you want to be paid (in St Leonards Timebank credits?)
3. Have you resolved to join the events on the 2nd anniversary of the Hastings Pier Fire -5th October 2012?
4. Have you paid your £10 refundable deposit for the day workshops on Friday 5th &/or Saturday 6th October?
5. For the 7pm for 7.15pm event entitled: "The Pier Fire Investigation - progress so far" (priced at 2 timebank hours) will you be claiming your discount by bringing along your "Community Loyalty Card"?
6. Do you know who designed the St Leonards Sharing Consortium "Community Loyalty Card" & do you know someone who might want to design the next one (Hard cash available)?
7. Have you identified other ways in which you want to use a "Community Loyalty Card" or start up a community loyalty scheme with your neighbours?
8. Does any of the above (NOT) make sense to you?

All comments welcome below & for queries that you want answered phone/text Paul Crosland on Zero7807066202. 

Mediation as a central life-skill; today's quotes:

1. "Mediation starts for me with how I relate to living where I live, at this point in time, with all that I have been given, all I desire & all I want to avoid. The conflict is accentuated by my placing a particular aspirational picture in my room & believing in a way that I could grow into a better human being".
2. "For me, perhaps the most interesting, growthful, and (retrospectively) valued part of any relationship is when something arises that represents, to either of us, a bigger challenge than one expected, or a different kind of challenge from the ones anticipated."
3. I trust our long-term relationship enough to ask this (sharp?) blunt question: "You're very attached to your ego-centric bulls**t, aren't you? Me too".
4. "Talking about marriage etc - In time, I'd probably prefer it if your strategy to hold onto a belief in your sexual attractiveness did not depend significantly on me. This is because I am easily swayed in seeing superficial sexual attractiveness elsewhere. Now, if you are asking me a question about Loyalty/Fidelity - which apart from in the film, Frida (*below) are usually seen as the same thing - then we can have a useful conversation. What I'd want to clarify is whether Fidelity of Body, Speech and Mind is your bottom-line, or not?"
5. "If you want to start mediating, reflect on one of your relationships in life (be that with someone living, dead or your idealised self & ask: i) What, so far, have we co-created?; ii) What do we like about it?; iii) What have we found more difficult than we like? iv) What change are we asking for?; v) How was 1-4 for you?"
6. "The most 'successful' people in the world are those who get others' support for their activities whilst helping their supporters to be less self-responsible & less caring about a sustainable future. Through this lens my very limited 'success' is no failure. The lens I hold up in awe is that of Dr BR Ambedkar, for whom success would surely have been defined as groups of "downtrodden" people living more harmoniously under the principles of Liberty, Equality & Fraternity (& not their 'near-enemies' from the French Revolution).  (And this is a link to a short talk illustrating how Dr Ambedkar's ideals are being upheld - especially by the empowerment of women in Norhern India- within The Indian Dharma Trust)
7. Some communication is so laden with assumptions and blame statements rather than with clarity & taking responsibility that it can seem an overwhelming task to "detoxify" what was said to you by them (or even what you just said to yourself about yourself - your depression arising from your own destructively critical way of talking to yourself!). How about I help you with that and you help me, or someone else with it too, or with something else that you'd prefer to do that takes as long? (Mediation provided by Mediation Support Ltd on a Timebanking basis: contact me via the web here or phone Zero7807066202)
8. "Your ability to understand me is heavily influenced by your willingness to understand me. Would you be willing/able to find a way to generate that willingness that doesn't involve me doing anything first? Advice on generating empathy is widely available; I have preferred websites for doing that which I could let you know about if you remain stuck."

*

Linking the "Walking Buddhas of SE England" project to "The Angel of the North"

And if you'd like some more context for the above film, here's the playlist of the project:

"The Speed of Trust" & how we can build it quickly between ourselves

Everything looks very different (especially my videos) depending on where you stand in relation to trusting me, and that the best way of building trust with me is:

1. Build mutual understanding 
2. Take responsibility for your own emotional baggage 
3. Build an action plan to address unmet needs 
4. Plan a review meeting to discuss whether the plan met the needs  
5. Repeat 1-4 ad infiniteum until you learn a better way to live. :-) 

**********
Recommended reading: "The Speed of Trust" by Stephen R Covey. Ironically this book is packaged as if it were written by his far more esteemed dad; I for one was fooled! If you can get past this apparent deception and absorb a tenth of this book it will save you so much stress and wasted resources*. (Available for free from the Southwater Area Community Centre Streetbank depot). *I'm currently involved in a mediation case where it holds the prospect of saving £200,000.
 ************
My services (through Mediation Support Ltd, Southwater Community Centre) as a mediator are available to you on the basis of "an hour of my time for an hour of yours" - this is brokered through a formal or informal timebank eg http://stleonardssharing.info so that you spend your hour doing something you like to do for your local community eg having a cup of tea with your neighbours two doors away. The importance of your taking neighbourliness to the next level, and beyond, can hardly be overstated in my opinion. If younwant research evidence let's start with that showing the lower rate of burglaries -and pier fires, I presume- the more we generate the environment wherein we know (& love?) our neighbours.

Freely distributing "the heart of mindful relationships" and helping the strong

Dear X

I've  been reminded recently of a controversial aphorism: "Help the Strong".
This morning I realised what my working definition of "the strong" is ie those who have been receptive to one of your two-day trainings or to some other formalised structure to support individual growth eg Hastings Buddhist Centre, as supported by a guy called Vidyakaya*.

Rather than give everyone who attended your training here a copy of your book, prompted by my partner", I want to practice freelending (and possibly timebanking at the same time). Buying a stock of just 10 books from you, I'll promote the book to those who came to your last years training, lend the book for a month to anyone who wants to borrow it (including an advert for it in the forthcoing fortnightly newspaper I'm launching at St Leonards Warrior Square Station), and deliver/collect it on my bike using timebanked hours where possible. 

For those who haven't seen Maria's advert for her book, here it is:http://www.mariaarpa.co.uk/the-heart-of-mindful-relationships.html 

* And here is Vidyakaya:

A plea for team-building as the pre-requisite of community-building

Dear X
Let me just mark this stage of the "story" by stating that I believe you can achieve great things in St Leonards in the context of a strong team that is deeply committed to working through conflicts. To use Maria's words (paraphrased): "Wherever there is more than one person, there is conflict. Wherever the conflict is expressed there is a dispute. Wherever there is conflict or dispute, an authentic exploration of needs and values enables healing that no other process achieves."
The vision that I had for you, Patsy Solanki, Sue C & Ms Z last autumn was of "a sisterhood", providing mutual support that enabled you, amongst other things, to get the best out of me in making my contribution to "a more caring and sharing St Leonards", to which I am deeply committed, though often feel under-resourced. Thus, some difficulties in life I too postpone handling, striving to treat people with respect as I do so.
Of course I balance this by asking: Why postpone your integration (& integrity) any longer?

Kind regards/ Lots of love (whichever you prefer)
Paul
http://additionalinfo.blogspot.com

Also
http://YouTube.com/toothpaste007 - I've experimented in many ways with filming. I'd really value it if you subscribed and let me know what filming could enhance your connection with others and help  develop a "more caring & sharing community" around you?

Also
http://stleonardssharing.info

For a better quality of connection and mutual understanding, please phone/text 0780 70 66 202.
I usually prefer calls & will call bac