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#Banksy #SlaveLabor Mural Removed From Auction Sale In Miami

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Slave Labor by Banksy

(The following excerpt taken from “Stolen” Slave Labor Mural Withdrawn From Auction At The Last Minute by Ben Rankin originally appeared on http://www.mirror.co.uk on February 23, 2013. To view this post in it entirety please click on the link below.)

A Banksy mural at the centre of a controversial auction has been withdrawn from sale at the 11th hour, the council campaigning for its return to the UK said tonight.

Slave Labour, which shows a young boy hunched over a sewing machine making Union Jack bunting, appeared on the wall in Wood Green, north London, last May, just before the Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

It disappeared from the side of the Poundland store last weekend and was due to be auctioned thousands of miles away in Miami tonight, with Fine Art Auctions (FAA) expecting it to reach between 500,000 US dollars (£328,063) and 700,000 US dollars (£459,288).

But Haringey Council said it had been told the sale was halted at the last minute, with no explanation given from the auction house.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/02/23/banksy-slave-labour-graff_n_2750358.html?utm_hp_ref=uk

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One Person Makes A Difference In the Life Of A #Child

Pat-Conroy-FRONT-Custom

“Music could ache and hurt, that beautiful music was a place a suffering man could hide.”
― Pat Conroy

(The following excerpt from One Person Makes A Difference In A Child’s Life by Arthur Dobrin, D.S.W., was originally posted on psychologytoday.com on February 22, 2013. To view this article in its entirety please click on the link below.)

Writer Pat Conroy’s father was a brute, heaping verbal and physical abuse on his children, treating them as though they were raw recruits in a sadistic boot camp.

For many, this sets them down a road filled with physical and psychological hardships. But some, such as Conroy, overcome such a harsh childhood.

So what is it that kept the Conroy sane? What allowed him to transcend the daily horrors? Conroy attributes his salvation to his mother, who provided the counter-weight his tyrannical father.

When he was a boy, Conroy reports, his mother read aloud to him. One that stands out in his memory is The Diary of Anne Frank. The books was more than inspiring. Conroy says that he fell in love with Anne and became hysterical when, at the end of the book, he learned of her fate.

“And then my mother said something that affected me my entire life. She said she wanted us to become the kind of family that would hide Jews.”

Here was the father beating the hell out his children and a mother who wanted them to be rescuers of children like Anne Frank.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/am-i-right/201302/one-person-makes-difference-in-childs-life

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Watch: Lessons in Trust From a #Dog and a #Cat

Everyone knows a dogs’ reputation for being loyal, hence the endearing nickname “man’s best friend.” Dogs like to belong in a pack, and their behavior of wanting to bond—whether it be with humans, dogs, or other animals, reflects that. Cats, on the other hand, are more independent, able to entertain themselves, and content to be alone for long stretches of time, relaxing in a ball, or chasing their tails. While there’s been no definitive research on the matter of which domestic pet is more loyal—to my knowledge—this adorable video might suggest that in fact, dogs can be more trusted.

http://www.good.is/posts/watch-lessons-in-trust-from-a-dog-and-a-cat

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Top 5 #Regrets People Have At The End Of Their Lives


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“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”

- Mark Twain

Bronnie Ware is an Australian nurse who spent several years working in palliative care, caring for patients in the last 12 weeks of their lives. She recorded their dying epiphanies in a blog called  Inspiration and Chai, which gathered so much attention that she put her observations into a book called  The Top Five Regrets of  The Dying. 

 The are:

1. I wish I’d had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me.

2. I wish I hadn’t worked so hard.

3. I wish I’d had the courage to express my feelings.

4. I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.

5. I wish that I had let myself be happier.

(The above excerpt taken from Top 5 Regrets People Have At The End Of Their Lives by Susan Steiner originally appeared on The Guardian and was posted on http://www.alternet.org on February 15, 2013. To view this post in its entirety please click on the link below.)

 http://www.alternet.org/5-top-regrets-people-have-end-their-lives

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Mental Slap: 13 Reasons You’re Not As Successful As You Should Be

http://goo.gl/dbw8S

#1 Reason You’re Not As Successful As You Should Be – Laziness

I don’t think there’s an easy way to put this. I have to assume that you’re lazy. Every single successful person works their butts off to get where they are. It’s ok to be lazy. Just admit it. But don’t whine about not being rich and successful, ok?

#2 Reason You’re Not As Successful As You Should Be – Entitlement

Only a few people in the world are part of the lucky sperm club. You and me? We gotta work to get what we want. Quit thinking you are owed something. You’re not. Get to work.

#3 Reason You’re Not As Successful As You Should Be – Fear

You are afraid, plain and simple. Afraid of looking silly. Afraid of what your friends and family will say. Afraid of everything. Look, you’re either going to stop being afraid, or you’re not. Nobody can convince you to stop. Imagine though… what awaits you when you stop with the fear excuses?

#4 Reason You’re Not As Successful As You Should Be – Negativity

You may not realize it, but the people you associate with might be negative [orifices]. They could be soul-sucking beings who don’t want anyone to be successful. Get rid of them, now! Surround yourself with successful people. People you want to be like.

#5 Reason You’re Not As Successful As You Should Be – Stop Thinking

How much do you want to bet you have paralysis by analysis? You think way too much about what you could or should do. Doers get what they want, and everyone else gets what they get. Stop analyzing and start doing.

#6 Reason You’re Not As Successful As You Should Be – No Goals

You plan nothing. You believe that someway, somehow, everything you always wanted will just magically happen. So you “play it by ear” and wait. You need goals to shoot for. Otherwise, you’re just treading water.

#7 Reason You’re Not As Successful As You Should Be – “They”

There’s no “they”. There’s no secret group of people that controls your success or failure. You’ve made that up to make you feel better about yourself. The truth is you, and you alone, control your success in life/business/everything. It’s easy to blame “them” though, isn’t it? Weak.

#8 Reason You’re Not As Successful As You Should Be – No “X” Factor

You can’t do it because you’re not pretty enough. Or don’t have a strong personality? You don’t have the “X” factor? Wow, what an unbelievably lame excuse. The truth is even jerks, idiots and boring people can be just as successful as anyone else. Your problem is you don’t believe it yet.

#9 Reason You’re Not As Successful As You Should Be – Time Waste

You’re a classic time-waster. You spend hours and hours every day working on not-working. You do things that aren’t productive. How are you ever going to get anything done, or reach any goal if you keep wasting time? You’re not. So you might as well give up now if you’re going to keep this path.

#10 Reason You’re Not As Successful As You Should Be – Social B.S.

You spend way too much time in social media land.  You waste probably about 50% of your productive hours of the day doing this. The sad part is, you know it, but you can’t stop. So you can’t get anything done that matters.

#11 Reason You’re Not As Successful As You Should Be – Think Small

You think way too small. You are constantly looking only a day or a week ahead instead of years ahead. Because of this, you never get anywhere, and you never lead; you always follow.

#12 Reason You’re Not As Successful As You Should Be – Don’t Want It

You don’t really want to be successful. Sure, you like to dream about it like everyone else. But in your heart you are afraid of what might happen if you really get it. That’s B.S. fear your brain is feeding you. Success is change, and it feels really, really good. Tell your brain to shut the [foolishness] up.

#13 Reason You’re Not As Successful As You Should Be – Don’t Believe

You never believed that it’s possible. Society taught you that only a few “exceptional” people get what they want. Everyone else should just settle. If you really want to believe that, go ahead. The rest of us will be at the front of the line because we believe