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Ruby Wax Live: Inspirational, Funny and Informative in her Sane New World Tour

By Friends & Family, Gigs & Shows, Happiness & Joy, Health, Inspiration, Life, ThinkingNo Comments
the-lowry-salford-outside

The Lowry Theatre – Salford Quays

 My good friend Jayne had bought us tickets to see Ruby Wax live at The Lowry, Salford Quays for my birthday. But on the day, unfortunately Jayne wasn’t well. My anxiety went into overdrive, but I manage to arrange for Simon to come along instead.

Simon and I just made it on time and took our seats, as Ruby sat on stage about to start. Ruby had split the show into two sections. In the first she delivered a scripted, but still exceptionally funny and informative talk on why we’re screwed.

Ruby explained how she became the Poster Girl for mental illness, shared some of her experiences and schooled us in the functioning of the brain. She covered the chemicals of the brain and their functions including dopamine, serotonin and cortisol. Ruby explained what happens in the brain in the case of dysfunction – such as in the cases of depression and anxiety. Then she briefly explained how mindfulness effects the brain before taking the audience through a short mindful exercise.

After the the interval we returned to our seats for a two way discussion about mental health between Ruby and the audience. I actually reached for the microphone, which I couldn’t imagine doing when I was well let alone in recovery. But I just thought: I’m only get this opportunity once. Plus there was something about Ruby that made me feel at ease. I disclosed about being ill, to Ruby and an audience of about two hundred, no less. I explained that I had been worried about the stigma and only went to get help when I completely lost the ability to function.

I told Ruby that I agreed life getting busier, with too much information to retain and that it often felt unmanageable. I stated that often I feel like I’m not achieving anything, as every time I reach a goal – my mind moves the goal posts further away.

I explained to Ruby and the audience that I am learning to control my negative thought patterns and critical inner voice. I said that I feel that I can control my thoughts, but that I struggle with controlling my feelings. I asked Ruby what she thought the difference was. She said that there was none, that they were both just chemicals in the brain.

Other people asked Ruby questions, shared their experiences or explained projects that they were involved with around mental health. Then Ruby brought the show to a conclusion.

Afterwards, I treated myself to two of Ruby’s books (see below). She thanked me for my question and she was kind enough to sign both of the books for me.

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Treated Myself to Ruby Wax’s two books – both of which she kindly signed.

I did become a little star struck, being so close to this inspirational woman. – Sorry about that Ruby.

Overall the experience including the Sane New World show, discussion and book signing left me feeling less alone and that Ruby is without doubt a inspirational, funny and informative woman. Thank you Ruby. It was a superb experience that I would recommend anyone whose experienced poor mental health, been effected by another’s poor mental health, or is just interested in keeping mentally well.

Oh and if you can’t get to see her, you can buy her book Sane New World on Amazon.

Write soon,

Antony

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Sunday 31 May 2015

Susan Boulet’s Beautiful Artwork

By Friends & Family, Inspiration4 Comments

I recently came across Susan Boulet’s Goddesses Knowledge Cards, I instantly loved them. The artwork was beautiful and on the back of each of the goddess card’s was information about that particular goddess. The artwork was inspirational, so I went in search of other artwork Susan has done and found Animal Spirits Knowledge Cards.

So impressed with this artist’s work that I wanted to know more. So I did some research:

Susan Seddon Boulet, a San Francisco Bay Area artist whose work is widely known, died at her home in Oakland on Monday, April 28, after a long struggle with cancer. She was 55.

Susan Boulet was born in Brazil of English parents who had emigrated there from South Africa. Her early childhood was spent on a large cattle ranch which allowed her great freedom and where she first developed the love of fairy tales and fantasy that would later be revealed in her paintings. She was educated in Sao Paulo, Rio de Janiero, and later in Switzerland. It was here that she began her training as an artist. She came to the United States in 1967, but always retained a great love for the land and people of Brazil.

Susan Boulet’s art has had a profound influence on many people. She was a prolific artist whose themes ranged from portrayals of medieval figures and fantasy characters in her early work to goddesses and shaman figures in more recent images. Working principally in oil pastel, inks and occasionally pencil, she developed a distinctive personal style characterized by the use of color applied in layers from which dream-like forms emerged. Susan Boulet drew her inspiration from a wide variety of sources: mythology and poetry, Jungian psychology and worldwide spiritual traditions, as well as a deep love of animals and the natural world. Underlying her work is a spiritual quality and a universality which strikes a chord in people from many walks of life. Her paintings have been widely reproduced and are held in collections around the world. Published works include Shaman: The Paintings of Susan Seddon Boulet (1989), and The Goddess Paintings (1994), both published by Pomegranate Artbooks in Rohnert Park.

The inspiration that people drew from Susan Boulet’s work was often heightened by their meeting her in person. She loved to be present when her paintings were shown and those who met her, however briefly, were invariably touched by her empathy, gentleness, modesty and charm. Her ability to listen and make personal connections won her innumerable admirers. Indeed, one of her greatest challenges was to balance her artist’s need for solitude with her love of friends. At a recent gathering in her honor a large number of people paid tribute to her generosity, sense of humor and the profound influence her art had exerted upon their lives. Susan Seddon Boulet was married to Larry Boulet who died in 1980. She is survived by a son, Eric, and a brother, Patrick Seddon, of Oakland, California, and her step-mother, Naide Seddon, and a brother, Ernani Seddon, of Sao Paulo, Brazil.
(from: http://www.well.com/~davidu/boulet.html, Last Accessed: 14th November 2009)

I was saddened to read that she has passed away, such a talent gone off this physical plane. I was also disapointed that I was unable to find Gods Knowledge cards and couldn’t create some now that she had passed away.

I loved both of the packs of cards and knew that two of my pagan friends would too. So I bought them for Simon and JL for Yule.

If you want to view more of the truly beautiful and inspirational artwork by Susan Boulet you can google image search her name or click here.

In love and light,

Antony

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Saturday 23 January 2010

People that inspire me

By Books & Authors, Friends & Family, Inspiration, Life, Music & Radio, TV, Online Streaming & FilmsNo Comments

Today’s blog entry, is some what of an odd one. It is about people who inspire me in my life.

First and foremost my family and friends inspire me and influence me greatly. Family wise, my mum inspires me the most. I once asked her, “if you could be famous for anything, what would it be?” Her responce: “I’d like to be famous for making a difference to the world, like discovering the cure for cancer.” As a child she instilled a huge amount of confidence in me and continues to inspire me with her thoughts, feelings and attitude. All of my family inspire me in different ways although she remains the one that inspires me the most.

My friends come from all over the country and from all different cultural backgrounds. It would be impossible to list each and everyone and how they inspire me in one blog entry. But a good example is my friends Simon and Chrys. They are truly wounderful. They accepted me for who I am, the good, the bad and the ugly. They inspire me by being who they are recognising their own strenghs and flaws and have taught me to recognise mine.

In the “famous” world (i.e. people you will know), their is a variety of people who inspire me. I have always loved to make people laugh, so naturally any one who can do this is a big inspiration to me. Comedians who inspire me include: Whoopi Goldberg, Alan Carr, French & Saunders and Dylan Moran.

In the film world it’s more about the content of the film that inspires me than the actors/actresses. Films that inspire me include (but are by no means limited to these films listed): Ever After, Mona Lisa Smile, Beautiful Thing, The Craft, Good Will Hunting, A Home of our own, Billy Elliot, Brokeback Mountain. It would be impossible to list all of them. But the films all involve one of two key themes:
1. Finding love
2. People coping through difficult (some times dangerous) situations in life and dealing with them, coming out stronger often achieving their goals.

Music inspires me too. Again it’s more about the song than the artist. Although some artists that do inspire me with most of their work include (but are not limited to): Mariah Carey, Whitney Huston, Kylie, Diana Ross and The Supremes, Celine Dion, Savage Garden, Enya, Gabrielle, Josh Groben, Nerina Pallot, The Calling. The songs that inspire me are generally about love (as most songs are). They inspire me as they descibe how it feels to be in love or to loose it, feelings that we’ve all had at different times in our lives.

Writers to me are very inspirational. To write words telling a story, that allows your imagination to show the story in your mind (much like a film), even making you feel emotions is truely remarkable. I love books by Sophie Kinsella, Cecelia Ahern and am constantly finding new authors that I like. A book from my teen years entitled The boy in the bubble had a huge inspirational effect on me, wetting my appetite for reading. All of these authors have inspired me to do creative writing which I do from time to time when inspired.

That’s all for now, hope this has give you more of an insight in to me.

Antony



I aim for posts on this blog to be informative, educational and entertaining. If you have found this post useful or enjoyable, please consider making a contribution by Paypal:


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Wednesday 23 July 2008
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