Your Story Ep 6 : Juan Mann, Free Hugs & Oprah is a Career

Welcome To Episode Six of Your Story.

To listen to the podcast please go to Your Story

Today we talk with Juan Mann of Free Hugs fame. You have probably seen the video, if not here it is.

A runaway viral success that has lead onto things greater than anyone could have imagined

It all started for me when I saw on Twitter that Richard Giles had gone to visit Juan and I thought well there is a story in that! So I found his Welcome To My Home site and asked if I could drop in, seeing how I was in Sydney. Generously, he agreed.

We talk about the runaway success that the video has become for him and what it has lead on to, including appearing on Oprah and Andrew Dentons Enough Rope along with opportunities that you would never write into a business plan.
Surprisingly this has lead to him developing a career as a public speaker enabling him to continue to get his message out there and to motivate others to follow their passion.

Your Story Ep 5 : Rod, from Stolen Generation & Prison to Art & Music

Welcome To Episode Five of Your Story.

To listen to the podcast please go to Your Story

Today is Australia/Invasion/Survival Day and coincidentally I have a poignant theme.

Rod is a local in my area and when I asked him to tell me his story he just went off on the subjects that impassion him. I had to ask him to stop until I got my recorder as I found that he really had something to say about Australian society and our ill treatment of the native Aboriginal Australians of whom he is one.

Born in Western Australia and adopted by Dutch migrants he grew up in Holland only to return to Australia at 14 to prejudice from both the black and white communities and then to fall, like so many, into the cycle of addiction and prison.

He now has a career as a performer and artist, striving to make his world a better place.

This is His Story.

To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story.”

Subscribe freely in iTunes by Clicking here.
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Many thanks to Rod for allowing me to record his didgeridoo playing for use in this programme.

How Australian is Australia Day?

Here we are in an era of mass communication where an idea can move in a moment around the globe. Where we can share information and give others a chance to see who we are.

But who are we…

If you believe mass media, I’m afraid you’ll end up confused as they have motives for their own benefits and frankly they don’t care for culture just the bottom line.

I’ve been ranting and raving for years about the slow erosion of what it is to be Australian. That is to say who we are, who I am, not better than anyone else just Australian like all of us, in all our variations.

I found this on You Tube. Thanks whoever made this.

So who are we…

Your Story Ep 0.00 : Welcome to Your Story and why I’m doing this Podcast

Welcome to the first but not quite episode of Your Story. To listen to the podcast go to Your Story.Thanks for dropping by.In this episode I explain my motivation and what I’m hoping to achieve in producing this podcast.On this blog I’ve referenced many times to the importance of understanding the ways of life that others live. By appreciating that we are all wanting a good life, a life of community and communication where we are both adding to our society and our own lives we develop a sense that we have purpose. This podcast is about exploring the different ways in which people live their lives and achieve the things that they have done in their lives to get them to the place that they are today.In this first episode I explain why I’m motivated to achieve what I’m doing and the hopes that I have for you the listener.To automatically receive this podcast freely to you, click on one of the links to the left or search in iTunes for “Your Story.”Subscribe freely in iTunes by Clicking here.If you use another Podcast software Get the feed here.

Socialisation drives competition & we need to get over it!

I’ve always thought that people because we are social, ultimately want community. This is achieved through all sorts of activities. Every club or group is a collection of people wanting to connect. This I feel is more important to the participants than the actual activity they are engaged in which is mealy the cause and commonality of their community. Once this community is forged it seems to become tribal where the protection of the group and dynamics is important if not critical for the survival of the group. This is what generates parochial behavior where outside groups are seen as threats.

This is played out with competitions played through arbitrary lines of division between groups, clubs, schools, communities until the divisions are state against state, country against country and religion against belief. Initially it’s nothing but spirited desire to improve against another reference group but quickly develops into competition. As the stakes increase from pleasure to prestige to fame to wealth to power the desire to stomp on the competition increases and if unchecked quickly moves into behavior of belittling , contempt, disrespect and on through to violence.

Consider a friendly soccer game where the joy is to have a kick with friends for the sheer pleasure of it. Now consider the development of the game through the minor leagues to professional and onto international where to win, at any cost is of the only importance. The frustration of not achieving is expressed in negative emotions that if allowed and antagonised leads to violence on the field and in the greater tribal spectators.
Sport in the true amateur ideals of Baron de Coubertin who started the modern Olympic movement is valid but the unbalanced human nature of wanting to put your competition down is the thin end of the wedge that if allowed to run unchecked and provoked can lead to war.

Few people can compete to 100% effort for only themselves and disregard a greater success in others while being equally content with not achieving as well as others. Second can be first if it’s 100% and should be equally celebrated by all in the same way that Personal Best(PB) performances are noted. Any demeaning of any position because they are not first is to feel someone is better so therefore I’m less and to win through fair or foul is okay.

This I’m wondering is maybe to crux of so many of today’s problems where people feel disenfranchised and on the outside. This can lead to frustration and possibly violence but is differently unhealthy if we want a harmonious society.

I find it interesting that in order to train people to kill another it is necessary to dehumanise the enemy as human nature is in contradiction to the act of killing another. Therefore the reverse seems to me that if you humanise your enemy or better still develop a connection and understanding with those you currently don’t understand you will be able to care, empathise and have compassion for others to the extent that to harm them is to harm your own tribe, your own family.

On her TED wish Jehane Noujaim said that she wanted to create word peace through interaction of the peoples of the world. In achieving that we grow our family to our community to the globe and a much deeper understanding of others must come of it. If we have an appreciation for someone else’s humanity and they of ours we will for a larger and stronger community or tribe until we all feel part of the one tribe.

My hope is that through my humble attempts to ask people to open up a bit and reveal a little of themselves, of their experiences, hopes and dreams we may learn some of who we share this world with and inso find out that maybe, just maybe, there is more that connects us than separates us.