BEDA Day Eight! Cosmic Laughter from tAoP

Hey guys! I hope that you're well!

At the moment, I'm reading a book called The Art of Possibility (tAoP) by Rosamund and Benjamin Zander and I've loved it so much. It's a book that presents 12 practices about how to bring creativity into your professional and personal endeavours and for me, it presents many truths about life that you hadn't started to consider before. These truths make my mind blow and every time my mind blows, I have affectionately term it a 'KABOOM!' moment :D

So today, I wanted to share with you an anecdote from the book and which is part of the chapter called 'The Way Things Are' and it's all about cosmic laughter which is a concept I have grown to love.

The anecdote is about Roz and this is what she said:

As you can see, cosmic laughter is a wonderful thing because it's the moment at which you realise that by changing a small parameter in your mindset towards a task, you can stop meeting resistance and start being able to tackle the problem. You see the obvious which is in front of you that just wasn't clear to you before. This then allows you to surpass whatever was stopping you making progress before by allowing you to stop seeing it as an obstacle and rather just a slightly different surface on which you have to learn how to glide.

Cosmic laughter for me has been wonderful because it's made me feel so much better about situations that I had previously dreaded or had previously thought of negatively. For example, my previous blog post on this blog about not being replied to, if you make the assumption that the person you're talking to is deliberately ignoring you in order to make you feel unworthy and bad, you're bound to feel sad or dejected if they don't reply. However, by removing this from the equation, you can suddenly make conversation so much less of a personal affront and just a gift of presence wherever possible which I think we can agree, is much nicer! 

Moments of cosmic laughter can also be when you realise that you've placed assumptions in places where they're simply untrue, like Roz's assumption that skiing didn't include ice and this allows you to open up so many more possibilities about what the truth actually is rather than your assumption.

I hope that you guys enjoyed this post! If you've ever had a moment of cosmic laughter, please do let me know in the comments below because I'd love to hear about them! I hope you have a wonderful day and I hope to talk to you soon!

p.s. my good friend Matt made a video about the same topic here so if you have two minutes to spare, definitely go and check it out!

BEDA Day Six! 'I'm sorry, I can't be present with you right now'

Hey guys! I hope that you're all as well as ever and Happy Monday to you all! :D

As I was thinking about what I could talk to you about today, I remembered a feeling I had recently when I was talking to a friend of mine and waiting for a reply. I often get this feeling when I'm having a really good conversation or when I have something you really want to talk about, but the reply doesn't always come as fast as I'd like it to. If you're anything like me, this can feel quite disheartening but I was struck one day by a mindset you can have in those sorts of situations which can make you feel a ton better and that's what I'd like to share with you today!

'I'm sorry, I can't be present with you right now.'

Presence is probably one of the biggest gifts you can give anyone and knowing that and being able to recognise the gift when it's given to you is also something to work on within yourself. But that's a gift that can be consciously given and we all know what it's like to be having a conversation with someone who isn't really into it. It's practically like you're drawing blood from them. You can clearly tell they're just trying to not appear to be rude but still giving you the shortest replies and I guess what that made me realise was, a friend who isn't replying is actually being immensely kind.

Instead of having a half hearted conversation, by not replying they're telling you, 'I'm really sorry I can't be present with you right now,' and in that way, they're respecting you even more by only talking to you when they can give you their full attention. That feels pretty magic I'd say! By seeing every interaction you have with other people as exchanges of gifts of presence, you can really appreciate another person's presence. It's a way of not really expecting anything because it's a gift and it can be whatever size. Your return gift can be proportionate but receiving the gift in the first place is amazing and can lead to lots of happiness!

I hope that all of us are able to appreciate the gifts of presence that we can give to one another and not feel so disheartened when we don't get to spend as much time as we'd like with the people we care about the most. All that means is, the time we do get to spend is so much more valuable and that smaller amount of time with the maximum presence is much more worthwhile than half hearted attempts which don't really show what we truly mean to one another at all.

I hope that you guys took something from this post, I'd love to hear what you think in the comments, if you'd like! I hope you have a wonderful day and I'll catch you very, very soon!<2

BEDA Day Four! Paul Roth's live shows!

Hey guys! Good Morning! I hope that you're as well as can be!

Today I wanted to talk about some of the awesome positivity that I've come across during these past couple of months on the internet. One of these awesome things has been Paul Roth and the Google Hangout live shows that he's hosted on YouTube, the concept of which just fascinated me a lot. This is because it works quite a bit like YouNow but as it's in Google Hangouts, you can have multiple people on screen and that fact makes it magic!

I must confess that I haven't been able to go to all of Paul's recent live shows but that's just part of the magic. For example, on the 21st of March which was Paul's second YouTube anniversary and he held an eight hour live show along with his friends on Google Hangouts via Live YouTube. Literally, because it was that long I got an hour in the middle and the last ten minutes but I can tell you those people are amazing and may not have all been able to come together had it not been for Paul.

They talked about a lot of interesting subjects including YouTube related subjects such as big content creators like John Green as well as VidCon which is the largest YouTube gathering if I'm not mistaken which takes place in June every year in Anaheim, CA. That wasn't just it though, they also talked about a ton of different issues and concepts and ideas such as vegetarianism, glasses and swing dancing and that's literally just to name a couple of the subjects from the first couple of hours!

The dynamic amongst all of the small youtubers was both jovial, respectful and just plain open. It was something I've never experienced before and it just opened my eyes to how you can really build the community on YouTube just by knowing of smaller youtubers and engaging in their content. Their content often holds a whole sea of value even if it's hidden a lot further out of view compared to other larger fish in the pond and their content. It made me feel so much more included too because it's amazing knowing that when you interact with these people, they're much more likely to remember you and you're much more likely to be able to make friends with smaller youtubers than larger ones.

Just knowing that you can do that and you can learn so much from everyone together is a reason why I am now almost permanently emotionally vested into trying to make sure that I go to as many of Paul's live shows as possible! I also do hope that I've shown you why they mean so much to me!

If you'd like to see some of them, you can go to Paul's YouTube channel and see them!
If you don't have the time to see them, make sure you subscribe because when he schedules a live show, it comes up in your sub box and I'm sure you guys would love to be able to go too!

Anyways, I hope that you all have wonderful days and I shall see you here very soon indeed!

p.s. If you didn't catch the other half of the list of VEDA vloggers I'll be watching this month, definitely go and check them out here on my side Tumblr blog!<2

BEDA Day Two! 3 Vloggers I'm watching this month!

Hello again guys! Great to see you again so soon!

Today, I thought I'd talk to you about some of the awesome awesome awesome awesome people that I'll be watching every single day for the next  month! What I love about these people is that I've grown to know them so much better because they're small youtubers who I never would've known or dreamt about watching until a couple of months ago.

What I've learnt more about YouTube is that the smaller youtubers are those who make the most videos out of all the videos that are uploaded onto YouTube. They're the majority and they are the ones who make so much  more content combined in comparison to the bigger fish. The way I've come to know them is through themselves and through the support and communication that they have within themselves and I'm so excited to share them with you! As there's quite a bit to say about all of them, I'm going to be doing three on today and then three more tomorrow on my side blog :D

1. Paul Roth
Paul has grown to be one of my favourite vloggers, mainly because of the fact that he loves to talk about poignant issues to do with the rights of everyone. Literally everyone, from women to people of various sexual orientations to even talking about films and books and TV shows, the variety is so large that you can definitely find something that you can relate to on his channel. You can also keep informed about issues you weren't aware of and that element of education as well as the way he takes apart the issues surrounding a topic is just awesome. I'm incredibly grateful to have found Paul and to be a Paul Talker and to have found so many of the other smaller youtubers through him! Definitely go and subscribe to him if you'd love to keep up to date with current affairs and also, live shows! But that's a whole other topic for another blog post!


2. Matt Palka
I think I'd be lying if I didn't say that I'm looking forward to seeing a month of Matt's face. Matt does videos based around the truth about ourselves and the truth that he sees in the world around us whether that be in everyday life or in a video or TV series or book that he's reading. His first VEDA video was on the Walking Dead finale, for example and I'm really looking forward to seeing what
else he comes up with! He's also got an incredible talent for doing 3 minute one take videos which I'm sure many other vloggers are rather envious of because heck, how many of us could talk unedited for that long?! His videos are always jam packed with awesome food for thought and he's definitely one to be watching this month!


3. MellyTheNerd
Melly is another small youtuber who I've found through Paul and whose first VEDA vlog was a 7 minute long one take which I highly enjoyed and admired! I have to admit I don't really know her well either but she sounds like a very committed and enthusiastic youtuber who I'm really looking forward to seeing every day! Whooo for finding out more about new people and sharing new ideas! Definitely go and check her out too!


So that is a small list of people I'll be watching this month and I do hope that if you're doing VEDA or if someone else you know is doing VEDA who I haven't got on this list, definitely do let me know and I'll be sure to check them out! Have the most perfect of days and I shall see you tomorrow on my side blog for more awesoe people I'll be watching this April! Take Care! :)

BEDA BEDA BEDA BEDA Day One! An Intro :D

Hey guys!

I've missed you all so much and hopefully this month should have us seeing each other a lot more regularly!

As you can tell from the title of this post, I'm doing what has affectionately been named 'BEDA' as a blogging version for 'VEDA' - Vlogging Every Day April turned Blogging :D

I've been inspired by creators on YouTube who like myself, aren't always consistent with their content uploading. Their videos for the first day of VEDA have shown me that I shouldn't find excuses or rather just overestimate how long a blog post will take and just do what I love!

I absolutely love writing and I hate to think that I'll fall out of the habit or the comfort I get from knowing I can read something or find inspiration somewhere in my life and just know I can open either one of my blogs and gush. Gushing about things that make me enthusiastic is one of my favourite things I do!

So, for this month I shall be posting one blog post every single day for the whole month of April!
Just to also add, this could be either on this blog or on my side Tumblr blog which I tend to use for more inspiration type shtuff but that's not to say that the content here couldn't be equally so!

So stay tuned and I'm incredibly excited to be getting back into writing!
*excited squeal and jump*

I look forward to seeing you around! I'm sorry I didn't actually start this on day 1 but better late than never, am I right? :D

Have the  most perfect day and I'll catch you either here or on my other blog (or maybe on both, who knows?!) very, very soon! (Perhaps even today because I need to do two today because it's technically the second! Exciting times!)

p.s. If you guys know of any vloggers who are doing VEDA that I should check out, please do feel free to leave them in the comments below or tweet them at me (@AyyLaLaLaLa) - I'm hopefully going to be talking about vloggers who inspire me as well as videos that are especially touching so I'd love to find more!<2

Identity: Hipster, Geek, Nerdfighter?

Hey guys!

Today I'd like to talk about some thoughts that were stemmed from this cool video right here because it really got me thinking in a way I've never really thought or considered before.

We use ourselves and the image that we think of ourselves as as the way of knowing who we are and what kind of person we are. This is often through labels and identifying with a certain image of person. For example, I've been told before that my normal Tumblr blog is quite hipster which I can then identify with through the content that I put up and in this way, I feel more secure in some ways because I know who I am through looking at the other blogs that have been similarly labelled. You can be called a geek or nerd if you're clever or are expressedly interested in something or other and this can explain your characteristics. Similarly, you can create an image of yourself by choosing to not associate yourself with a label. For example, some people don't like to be seen as feminists or chavs for example and this is because of the image of themselves that they believe that they would create by using that label. But what is the real point that I'm trying to get to here?

There is an awesome truth in realising that we are not the labels that we identify with or don't identify with because are much more complex than the labels that we give ourselves. We're so much more than a few words with connotations, we're unique people with entire universes inside of ourselves that can't be encompassed by words alone. For example, my blog may seem like it's hipster but it's full of content that could be classed as verticle, or grunge or to do with YouTube. There's very little way in which we can try and understand ourselves through limiting ourselves to a few words. 

As human beings, we expressly love labels - they make us feel like we understand and that we're in control but in reality, there's so much to know and so much more to understand that labels aren't really worthy of us. You'll never find two people who identify with the same label who are exactly the same.

I think that summarises what I got from the video - we're so different and we're so complex that using labels doesn't do us justice. We should always strive to delve into the depths of ourselves which is pretty scary but there's so much to discover!

I hope that you guys enjoyed this post! Please do feel free to leave me your comments below and I do hope to speak to you guys soon! God Bless!<2

p.s. I tried to find a picture to go with this post but nothing really fitted ;)

There's Always a First :/

Hey guys!

Today I wanted to talk about something I haven't really been affected by before and it's not really something I have any advice on or really any experience at all; it's a first and I really hope it doesn't happen to you guys or anyone you care about.

My good friends on the internet were attacked for using the same hashtag as another organisation on Twitter. I'm part of this organisation however I wasn't present when the harassment kicked off. We're completely different groups with completely different reputations and agendas and yet the other team who used the same hashtag felt as though they had to make our lives miseries rather than be polite and try and talk through the problem they had with us using their hashtag.

The problem started when the figurehead of our group started getting aggressive tweets from the members of the other group. This also then spread to trolls on one of the members of our group who had used the hashtag in reference to our group and they attacked. Around 3 people were attacked and though at first they fed the trolls, they soon realised that the trolls would only keep going if they kept fighting them. So they did what they had to, stayed quiet, made their accounts private where possible and blocked those who had harassed them. Not only did the harassment happen on Twitter but the tweet that the friend used when tweeting contained a YouNow link which then led to the other team flooding in and spamming the chat which meant that the show was ruined.

I'm writing this a day later and we were hoping as a group, that by laying low and blocking anyone who appeared to be malicious, that we'd be able to return back to normal usage asap. We haven't used the hashtag and otherwise, things were looking good. Then it got worse - our figurehead received death threats and one of the main leaders of these trolls revealed our figurehead's number and home address as well as that of his mother and it was outrageous. On top of that, some of the blocked people found ways of refollowing those who had blocked them and right now, we have no idea what to do but to keep reporting and blocking.

As this has never happened to me before, I don't know how to react to this nor do I know how it will play out though from other people's experiences, they should move onto other people if we lay low and keep reporting. What I hate is that we can't do anything but report and hopefully wait for Twitter to respond. I didn't realise how hard it is to wait when you want justice to happen, that's something I'll definitely take from this experience; hopefully it should be sorted out soon! I also hate how they're parasites, how they take goodness away from their victims and how the victim must simply wait out the disease until it leaves and finds a new victim. It's a horribly vicious cycle, even if you do get their account suspended because it's far too easy just to create another account and restart again.

Anyways, if I have any updates for you guys before this goes live, I'll definitely add them in here so you can learn from my experience with trolls.

I hope that you guys can take something from my experience, even if it's just to make sure you don't feed trolls but also to make sure that you don't underestimate the power of keeping your full name out there.

I hope to speak to you guys soon on a happier topic but thank you for listening and God Bless!<2