Adrian Scott Counsellor Supervisor MBACP Accred

Boogie Nights, Always and Forever, Off the Wall, Rock with You, Thriller, Give me the Night.                    
What do these songs have in common? This man. Rod Temperton. He wrote them.
Born in Cleethorpes, Lincolnshire. An unlikely start for such a prolific songwriter of such famous songs.
To write a song which was one of the most successful tunes, of one of then most successful pop artists of the last 50 years is an amazing feat. Thriller by Micheal Jackson sold over 50 million copies and is the best selling album of all time.

What made a boy from Cleethorpes destined to work in a fish factory write such songs that defined an era?
He must have been very rich and never had to work again. Perhaps it was a huge talent and a wish to escape the North of England. A lot of British talent is motivated by artists wanting to run away from their past. Bowie out of Suburban Bromley, Morrissey out of grey Manchester to name two.

He also knew that he was not a front of camera guy. He was not pretty, not photogenic which he seemed to know. He took himself away from the stage to write songs alone. At a desk by himself. He was nicknamed the Invisible Man because of his low profile.

All Temperton’s songs were slick, polished, evoking LA. It was an escape from the small dark cold space of the North of England to the open vista of the sunlight of a big country. He did America as though he was a native.
R.I.P Rod Temperton

Copyright Adrian Scott North London Counsellor Blog 2016
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Disclaimer:This weblog is the view of the writer and for general information only.
This article is designed to provoke argument and critique

David Orr said
“The plain fact is that the planet does not need more successful people. But it does desperately need more peacemakers, healers, restorers, storytellers, and lovers of every kind. It needs people who live well in their places. It needs people of moral courage willing to join the fight to make the world habitable and humane. And these qualities have little to do with success as we have defined it.”

It is an obvious thing to say but our version of successful needs a lot of scrutiny. It seems we are all caught up in the idea of successful people. Success means little about who the person is, and more about the person’s status, house size, or earnings. As Marx predicted in the machine age, and now in the digital age, that people would be less people and more commodity.

Hopefully (but we will miss it) the people of the future will look back at this age and consider our age as cruel and barbaric. But this might be overly optimistic. Humans need a hierarchy. What better way to create a hierarchy than to fight over dwindling resources that only a few will have.

The above statement feels almost naive. There is no status in peacemakers, healers, or people living well. There is no easy way to achieve these ideals. It is easier to think of getting a good job, getting into a top university,  or trying to be acquire wealth. To “live well in their places” is a noble statement: but difficult to do if there is no work or housing in the place. To be peaceful is challenging in a violent age.

What would happen if we all just stopped? Stopped to regroup and consolidate. Not to be a slave to technology. Not to have to adapt to rampant globalisation. Not to have to keep running. For some to stay on the spot, or be pushed backwards. Its not possible to stop. Unthinkable.
Perhaps one day something will have to stop us.
Successful People

Copyright Adrian Scott North London Counsellor Blog 2016
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Disclaimer:This weblog is the view of the writer and for general information only.
This article is designed to provoke argument and critique

So the Brangelina dream has ended. Why do we care so much? Do you?
The couple are so famous there are not many to compare them to. Posh and Becks, and Clooney and what’s her name? What is the fascination?
The stars have large PR companies to look after them. They control what goes out & what is seen. Brangelina have managed to control their image letting out little bits of their life together just to keep everyone interested.

Brangelina are an example of who we might be with limitless/limited talent and loads of money. We wonder what we might be like and how we would deal with the pressure of fame.
Fame the microscopic obsession with wanting to know everything about the person. Yet most of us know that this is nothing to do with the actual person. We accept that it isn’t. So what’s the point? Boredom? The reality of life is not being satisfying?

One of the facets of the 21st Century that people might look back on in the future, is that nobody knew themselves, and if they did they wouldn’t be good enough. So to have stars who we can pretend are perfect or who we want to be is a salve or medication to our lostness and unknownness.

We look but we do not see ourselves. Narcissus looked and looked. Admired. But there was no understanding. No depth. No inside: just outside. The beauty was adored. But beauty is only skin deep. Much better to have the perfect star to look up to rather than be with the pain of our imperfect uglier self.

Copyright Adrian Scott North London Counsellor Blog 2016
All rights reserved
Disclaimer:This weblog is the view of the writer and for general information only.
This article is designed to provoke argument and critique

The attacks in Cologne on New Years Eve are still creating news. The left wing press reacts with a neo-nazi agenda. The right wing press with an anti-islamic agenda. There are reports that the German government tried to cover the crimes up. The government instructed the security forces to tone down the assaults and to stop using the word ‘rape’.
Cologne Attacks

When change happens to us without any discussion or control, we get stressed. We feel victimised. We feel fear. The pressure throws us back onto our primitive selves. Fight or flight. We lose sense and complexity which is replaced by rigid binary thinking. Like a switch. Off or on. We have to blame somebody. Extreme reactions all round. Polarisation of left and right wing views is the modern equivalent of fight or flight. Most of us have nobody to fight and nowhere to flight to.

Like all groups the majority elects a few to act out the group’s feelings. Assaulting women, and blaming immigrants is easy. Both of these groups are easy targets. The repeat of women being victims in times of stress and war is recorded throughout history. As is the attack on the stranger, the other, the new person in town.

Ideology plays its part. The mindset of freedom and openess of the European Union has ‘forced’ Angela Merkel to encourage immigrants to Germany. A clever ploy of integration of acceptance? Or an ideological decision? Whatever. But when politicians let stuff happen without scrutiny, thought or consultation voters start to worry. Ideology over sense, and sensibility.
Cologne Attacks

Copyright Adrian Scott North London Counsellor Blog 2016
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Disclaimer:This weblog is the view of the writer and for general information only.
This article is designed to provoke argument and critique

Marianismo is the Latina term for women being feminine and carrying out typical feminine roles of caring for others: relatives and children. The idea goes back to colonial Spanish conquest of the Americas. Marianismo is modelled on the Virgin Mary with the characteristics of saintliness and submissiveness.

Marianismo and Machismo were thought to be underlying factors in the wave of killing of women in the Mexican city of Juarez. In 2011 over 300 women were killed in the city. They were often assaulted, mutilated, tortured, raped and then dumped in the desert. Women with dark skin, slender figures and dark hair were specifically targeted. The Mexican Justice system completely failed to punish the perpetrators to this day.

The factors behind this appear to be impunity, drug turf wars, and a backlash towards women for moving out of their traditional roles. The increase of labour using maquiladoras – manufacturing projects creating jobs which women began to do. They came from the poor countryside into the city to work.  Modern marianismo is claiming back a role for women which includes creating a career alongside the usual traditional roles.

Mens’ hatred of women and womens’ bodies always seems to be bubbling up to the surface somewhere.
And so it seems with so called “Naplam Girl” The war and humanitarian message of the image was at risk of being eclipsed by the nudity of the image. Saintliness over napalm murder. The women’s body is either to be revered or desecrated.

Like the Brexit vote areas of the biggest handouts from Mother Europe voted leave. The contributions created resentment not thanks. There is an exclusivity of women in the world bringing up boys. This creates a perception that it is women who have the control over babies and boys from an early age. Boys grow up to be men who hate this womens’ role.
In war and impunity the hatred comes to the surface. Even in civilised places.

Copyright Adrian Scott North London Counsellor Blog 2016
All rights reserved
Disclaimer:This weblog is the view of the writer and for general information only.
This article is designed to provoke argument and critique

The myth of Pandora’s box is used to describe a situation where if you start to look, more and more trouble will  emerge. In fact the impetus behind the remark is that you shouldn’t look in the first place. Pandora’s box was actually a jar. Zeus told Pandora not to look in the jar, knowing that she could not resist the temptation of opening the lid.
The myths choose women like Pandora and Eve who cannot resist temptation. From a feminist perspective even our myths describe mens’ fear and hatred of women.

Out flew all the evils in the world which men and women would have to suffer for the rest of time. What is interesting is not what escaped out of the jar. We all live with the evils of the world. But the only ‘evil’ left in the jar was Elpis or hope. There are two ways to go with this. One that it is an evil. It was just left in the jar of evils, so that we all suffer in vain. Or that hope was being kept intact from humanity.

We hope all the time. We hope that things will turn out alright. We hope where there is no control. Hope transforms us into a future where somehow the problem has resolved itself. Hope is the opposite of being in the present.
The Now. Emotionally it is an avoiding mechanism. Hope keeps us away from feelings of doubt and fear.
It protects us from feeling bad. Pandora’s Box.

As always avoiding feeling bad doesn’t always end well. We lose the valuable information of doubt and fear. The information which might make our impression on the future more helpful (not hopeful) is lost.
I hope you enjoy this blog.

Copyright Adrian Scott North London Counsellor Blog 2016
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Disclaimer:This weblog is the view of the writer and for general information only.
This article is designed to provoke argument and critique

Aleppo world heritage site, one of the wonders of the world. It is the capital city of the state of Aleppo. For many   centuries it was the third biggest city after Constantinople and Cairo.
Sadly no longer.
The city is a shell of its former glory. It has turned into a living hell for those still eking out an existence there. Nothing is as it seems. Nothing is to be believed.

There are many reports of the ongoing suffering and what will possibly become a war crime. Again the local population is incidental. Though it would not be a city without them. But it is the two sides supporting the factions that keeps the situation going. And so it has always been.

The siege of cities stretches back into time. The sacking of cities. The plundering of cities. Written in the bible and old legends.The language is age old and familiar. And the city is rebuilt.

It is similar to two children fighting over the owner ship of a toy. Neither can let the other have it so it has to break. There is horror, but also relief that neither will have the toy. Neither child will lose face. Some sort of equality has been restored.

Yet the game of Aleppo is an adult game. There are no parents to negotiate. There is no higher power. Nobody else wants to get involved. They are too frightened of getting hurt. Shame is the dominant power. Out of our control, generated externally, sitting at the seat of our being. Shame is to be avoided at all costs.
As in the past will the City of Aleppo have to be destroyed, to be won?

Copyright Adrian Scott North London Counsellor Blog 2016
All rights reserved
Disclaimer:This weblog is the view of the writer and for general information only.
This article is designed to provoke argument and critique

Dean Potter to most of us would be a risk taker. He was a base jumper. (BASE  means buildings, antennae, spans and earth). Many people were not upset at his death: seeing him as an idiot taking stupid risks.
On the other hand he was seen as a visionary climber pushing the limits of Base jumping to be safer. He recognised the irony of the extremes of extreme sport. To live on the edge of life risks mortality and death.

Moonwalk puts risk, & natural beauty together in such a stunning way that it almost looks fake. The ultimate full moon shot. Dean Potter walks a high line at Cathedral Peak in Yosemite National Park photographed from over a mile away as the sun sets and the moon rises with a Canon 800mm and 2X lens taken by Mikey Schaefer.

He performed the feat of  Fly or die or simply Base jumping with his dog in the First Ascent film.
Sadly the law that you cannot Base jump in American national parks might have facilitated his and others death. Jumpers take risks not to be caught. They jump in bad weather, use inferior equipment so that it isn’t confiscated, and can even be imprisoned.

The technical climbers and base jumpers are the most experienced climbers. Dean Potter was a member of the Yosemite Search and Rescue (Yosar) for five years, helping to rescue people in the parks where it was illegal for him to jump.
On his last flight with Peter Hunt they were both flying in the evening when the conditions were not ideal.
Perhaps they were taking risks so that they wouldn’t be caught.

But tales of his personality abound. He stood 6 foot five weighing 185 pounds. He was obsessive, anal, meticulous in his preparation. He worked to offset the risks. If it didn’t feel right he didn’t do it. Pushing himself to do something too risky would frighten him and set him back years. After his bad jump in the Cave of Swallows in Mexico he frightened himself, and became depressed for two years.

He could obsessively focus on the jump ahead. He could enter into a Zen state, through meditation and cutting himself off from the world. He could become a sloth, to save energy and like turning a switch could become incredibly athletic. He lived in a cave to escape normal interaction with other people to channel his energies for the jump.

This quote relates to his parents wanting to protect themselves from their son’s “hobby”!
“My parents didn’t want to believe their son was 200 feet up, free-soloing. They liked to go on long walks and runs, and they would go right by Joe English. Later they’d say, “Hey, we saw someone climbing up there.” They would describe what they saw, and I’d be wearing the exact same outfit. And I’d say, “Oh… Nope, wasn’t me!”

Copyright Adrian Scott North London Counsellor Blog 2016
All rights reserved
Disclaimer:This weblog is the view of the writer and for general information only.
This article is designed to provoke argument and critique

Bubble sort is an algorithm where you can sort items for example books into alphabetical order by re-arranging them one at a time into alphabetical order. You take one at a time and move them into order. A much better method is to merge sort.

Make lots of piles of two books in each plie then compile the alphabetical list by adding the piles together. Making a pile of 4 books, 8  books, 16 books etc. The larger the number of books the more efficient this method becomes. It is much more efficient with millions of books. Bubble Sort

The same with emails. Apparently it is far easier to do searches for emails than it is to laboriously move each email into a folder you have created. It takes significantly less time to search than to move emails.
Sometimes science carries this efficiency too far. Is this what puts people off science?

To seem to create order by moving emails into folders keeps the person happy. Yes it might not be efficient but it suits the person to feel like they really are doing something efficient. So it feels efficient!! To put things in boxes, drawers and cupboards is what we are all used to doing. It seems like we enjoy it. It gives us comfort. However inefficient it is to search for something.

So what efficiency seems to forget is the random. The human. The creative. We might find something else by chance pulling items out of a cupboard looking for something else. We might have forgotten about it and take great pleasure in finding it. The newly found item might even surpass what we were originally looking for.

As a result we have adapted to many things that are inefficient. Sitting in a chair, driving a car, texting on mobiles. These are examples of inefficient ways of doing things.
Maybe. But we like it.

Copyright Adrian Scott North London Counsellor Blog 2016
All rights reserved
Disclaimer:This weblog is the view of the writer and for general information only.
This article is designed to provoke argument and critique