Alan Mann

Please don’t let doubts about whether donating to help the people of Myanmar will actually result in aid that will reach those in desperate need - it’s only money after all.

Most organisations who are appealing for money will have people already on the ground in Myanmar who can make a real difference with your help.

I know Hope International Development Agency have the capacity to help.

And there are guarantees being made from the Disasters Emergency Committee that donations will be channeled to those agencies who are best placed to intervene.

If you need reassurance check out the BBC’s Website here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7389735.stm

Reflections from the Happiness For Life Course.

Well, I’m 5 weeks in to my Happiness for Life Course and I may have found my way forward - meditation.

My problem is, I think - a lot. Actually, I find it really difficult to shut off. In all the personality and strength tests I’ve done, thinking always comes out top. Which, as these tests suggest, can be a strength. But it can also be the cause of much angst. For while thinking is at times productive - I am, after all a writer - I also examine life, with all its problems, from every possible angle, too often concentrating on the negatives and worst possible outcomes. (Though surprisingly I come out pretty average on the pessimist/optimist scale). I guess the issue Read the rest of this entry »

We had some friends visiting us from New Zealand this weekend, with their newly adopted children. For reasons of confidentiality, I can’t say much, but if I could tell you their story, it would break your heart. Anyway, we decided to visit a local park before the whether broke and we encountered yet another April shower. My wife went on ahead to the swings and things with our daughter and two of the children while I played soccer with the older brother.

On arrival at the park, I was confronted with what looked like a situation that needed some intervention. My three-year-old daughter and her new friends where atop a climbing frame awaiting an opportunity to launch themselves down the slide. But their path was blocked by three older boys Read the rest of this entry »

For those of you who missed it and would like to know what I said, here is my thought for today from BBC Radio Bristol’s Breakfast Programme.

Given the conversation Dave Barrat was having with his listeners this week, I’m just pleased to have made it to the weekend. Apparently, according to some scientists, we may be close to a global catastrophe – the end of the world even. And so, what Dave wanted to know was, ‘If the end of the world really is coming, how would you spend your last few days or hours?’ Would you sell all your belongings and go and live in a cave? Would you stop worrying about the credit crunch, perhaps, and blow all your money on luxuries? Or just tell the boss where to stick his job and spend your time with those you love?
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This Friday (18th April) I’ll be broadcasting for the first time! I’ve been asked to contribute to BBC Radio Bristol’s Thought For the Day, which basically means I’ll be expected to produce a brief reflection on life that’s intended to get people thinking while stuck in commuter traffic or deciding whether to have cornflakes or toast for their breakfast. It’s going to be a fresh challenge for me, and one I’m looking forward to with a mix of excitement and anxiety.

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Reflections from my Happiness For Life Course.

What makes you happy? I guess that’s a good question to start thinking about happiness. [Actually, we began by thinking how happy we'd feel if we were given £50,000 - but I'm not going to tell you why that's an interesting question.]

I thought about lots of things: Honey Roast Ham, Joni Mitchell, Sunsets, Whiskers on Kittens and Warm Woolen Mittens . . . But then a subsidiary question entered my mind: Do such things make me happy, or do they just bring me pleasure, and how is this all tied up? Bothered by this (and Read the rest of this entry »

This week, I’m starting my happiness course. Not that I feel that unhappy with life, but then I’m sure I used to be happier than I am now. Though in saying that, I can’t really quantify my state of happiness. It feels too abstract an idea to give my happiness a score out of 10, which I was asked to try and do when registering for the course. That said, I’m sure I’m generally more stressed, less content and angrier than when I was younger, despite being in an life-enriching marriage, spending large amounts of time with my three-year-old daughter, who has become a life-force to me, and having the opportunity to be a writer.

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It’s World Water Day today, which is especially significant this year as it’s also the International Year of Sanitation. But, rather than me rant on again about the 1.1 billion people who don’t have access to clean, safe drinking water or the 2.6 billion people who don’t have access to sanitation causing disease and death on a catastrophic scale, I thought I’d drop you a link to radio 4 where you can listen to the development expert and writer, Maggie Black, and Lydia Zigomo of WaterAid, talk far more eloquently about this most fundamental of development issues.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/womanshour/01/2008_12_wed.shtml

I would have gladly embraced this rotting piece of wood,
Until this moment had passed.
But no one understood my intent.
Neither friend, nor foe,
Not follower, or thief.
And so they fastened me here as if I am some captive of theirs,
Instead of being captivated by them.

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In many ways the church I go to is great. However, having spent many happy years in a High Anglican Community prior to moving to Bristol and joining a local independent church, I do miss the liturgy and theater of those ‘High’ days, especially around the major Christian festivals. No processions or palm waving for us, just a brief acknowledgment of Palm Sunday shoehorned into a talk about Daniel in the lion’s den - sounds odd, but actually it did work.

Anyway, my daughter is now of the age were she can take part in the children’s activities on a Sunday morning, so I thought I’d ask her if she had a story about Jesus riding on a donkey and people waving palm branches. ‘No’, she said. ‘We had a snack and I did some sticking.’

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