I’ve noticed there’s been a lot more activity around here with lots of new people checking out ConversationsWithBianca.com thanks for finding me & welcome! If you’re not sure where to start maybe the below may be able to give you a little direction.

From Problogger (via: themerchgirl), my attempt at the following 7 links:

• Your first post: It’s Adventure Time!

• A post you enjoyed writing/putting together the most: Do You!, The Friendship Manifesto, My Humps, My Humps, My Humps and Mi Inspiration #1 (I enjoy writing all my posts otherwise I wouldn’t do it)

• A post which has had a great discussion: without a doubt it would have to be Conversations With Punx: A Spiritual Dialogue and Miss B’s Guide To Brisbane

• A post on someone else’s blog that you wish you’d written: Dear Destroy X: Motivation, Focus, Planning and Ask Nubby #9 – Rocking Your Style With Confidence!

• Your most helpful post: I have a back log of questions I’ve received in email messages that I’ve started answering—I get asked a lot for interviewing tips and how to make a zine. New section coming soon: Miss B Q&A, so if you have any thing I might be able to help with write me. At the moment you could check out: Salin’ On and 30-Days To A Radder You

• A post with a title that you are proud of: Love. Love. Love. (is there really anything better?)

• A post that you wish more people had read: Camp Fail

• Popular interviews: Henry Rollins, AFI, Marky Ramone, Felinedown, Glenn Danzig, Del The Funky Homosapien, Operator Please, Victoria Veins and Brisbane Bands – Part 1
• This post makes me excited about the future: Hip Hop Insight #1 (featuring ?uestlove of the Roots)

Happy Weekend!

Since childhood I have been obsessed with magazines. I enjoy the content, look, feel, and smell of the paper—I care about gsm & typography! (lol) I justify a $20+ magazine purchase as ‘research’ and I make special trips into the city just to browse Borders’ international magazine imports and day dream of having subscriptions to all my favourites: Vogue, Juxtapoz, Dazed & Confused, Marie Clare, Tattoo Life, Self, Monster Children + more. Notice there’s no music magazines on the list? The reason: honestly, I dislike most music journalism (more on that in coming posts).

For my own music writing work I prefer to draw inspiration from somewhere like Vogue than Rolling Stone, NME and the like. The way a writer from Vogue describes a couture garment is much more honest, interesting and informative than most reviews and features I read in music mags. I feel that I am getting a truer representation of what it is beyond somebody’s personal opinion—apart from a select few whose opinions I have come to value and trust (over years of following their extensive and informed body of work). To me, most music writing (that I’ve found) has no depth or soul.

Now, the one thing I love more than flipping through a publication is cutting it to pieces to make something else—hence my love of cut n paste zines perhaps! I especially enjoy taking things out of context and giving them a new significance (I’m a big fan of Exene from X’s collage art and Jhonny Hobo’s photomontages). I’ve been working on a couple of pieces I will post once finished.

For the past few months I have started to keep an Inspiration Notebook where I make collages in a sketchbook of things that I find inspiring. I’m a huge fan of Nubby Twiglet’s Fashion Notebook (so far spanning 10 years) and Decor Notebook collection. Besides the biggest reason—it’s fun and makes me feel incredibly joyful all that cutting, pasting, organsing and dreaming—it also comes in handy when I’m needing inspiration for photo shoots, planning my wardrobe, art works or my work in general. It saves a lot of time and effort having material that I adore to readily reference. It also functions as somewhat of a mood board.

I’ve also found it interesting to see what kinds of images/objects I am drawn to, there’s definitely reoccurring themes. I adore the exotic, the decadent, the simple, the ancient, the futuristic, the astral, the cute, the embellished, the nerdy, celebrating and embracing ethnicity, bright colours, retro paintings, things that sparkle, pop art…. and pugs! Here’s a little sample of what’s been moving me of late.

What’s inspiring you currently?

What is art to you? How do you or don’t you define it personally for yourself?

I think art is a hard term to put into words, but basically most things that involve creating and expressing are art to me. I sort of think its best not to analyse these things too much. You start to think about it too much and it starts to mess with your creativity.

Is art cathartic for you?

No. I don’t really feel like I get any kind of release of pent-up emotions or anything from making art. Though I can see how creating things could be helpful in letting go or addressing issues bothering you. It’s more about just creating something that didn’t exist before rather than releasing emotions for me. I don’t really take much seriously.

What’s the feeling you get from drawing or making music?

To be honest, I don’t get any “feeling” from it myself. I mean, I really enjoy it, but I see it more as I try and think as little as possible about it, and just make what’s in my head in a sort of almost meditative state. I think it’s up to someone else viewing it to be thinking about the feeling they get from it.

How would you describe your art?

It’s always hard to describe for many reasons. For one, I do a lot of different things that come into that category. Painting, illustration, producing and performing music, sculpture, designing, photomontage. So, I’m not really sure I could describe my art. As Frank Zappa once said, “Talking about music is like dancing about architecture.” I think he’s pretty right. I don’t necessarily think art should be described or critiqued.

Is there a particular movement, period in art or artist that has greatly inspired or influenced your work?

I think Marcel Duchamp and a lot of ideas of the Dada artists really kicked me in the head and taught me alot. The rejection of any rules. Not doing what’s expected. As well as the satiric side of making fun of ‘serious’ art.

What were you like growing up?

I was a little skinny nerd. Nothing’s changed. I was totally obsessed with music and art.

Your brother is also an artist and you both have a band together, tell me about your relationship with him. What’s something important you’ve learnt from him?

Andy and I grew up discovering music and art together so obviously i can relate better to him than anyone, so he’s the perfect person for me to collaborate with. When I try to think of something I’ve learnt from him, there’s one moment in my life where one sentence changed my outlook forever.

I remember being about 8 years old and making something to eat, and turned to Andy and said “Do you think it’d be ok if I put this kind of sauce with this?” or something like that. He just smiled and said, “Dude, as long as YOU think it tastes ok, there’s no rules, do whatever you want.” Now, it probably sounds silly, but as a little kid, that blew me away. I applied that to a lot of things in my life, especially my art and music. Fuck music theory, just as long as you think it tastes ok.

Has art always been a really big part of your life?

Yes. I know alot of people are like, “Music is my life” and all that bullshit, but I really haven’t thought about much else since I was 7 or 8. Even when there’s no music playing, I find myself processing the noises from traffic, wind and birds and things as if it’s music. It’s hard to explain. But, yeah, it’s constantly on my mind.

What contemporary artists have inspired you lately? What is it about their work that you enjoy?

I find that the amazing quantity of really horrible stuff that gets made in the mainstream inspires me to do things almost more than things I like.

What’s your preferred medium of choice and why?

I don’t think I have a preferred medium. I would get really bored if I only did one all the time. But I’m most comfortable with just a lead pencil.

What are you working on right now?

I’ve been working on photomontage a lot. Two of the biggest artistic influences on my life are John Heartfield (german dada artist), and Winston Smith (who worked with Jello Biafra a lot). They were both photomontage artists. And I became obsessed recently with finding old 60′s and 70′s reference books, so I’ve been at ‘em with the exacto-knife. As well as combining them with spray paint and mixing it up.

I recently finished my 2nd solo CD and a new Hobo Obituaries EP, so have been having a break from music production. But will be back at it real soon to complete the 2nd part to the Future Champions EPs as well as a fairly orchestral-style instrumental solo disc and a collaborative EP between Californian musician Shmoe and Hobo Obituaries.

Photo by Mischa Photography

What have you found to be your greatest challenge as an artist?

Getting any kind of support is by far the hardest thing. I mean, you don’t ‘need’ it and that’s not what it’s about, but at the same time, when you get no support it’s very discouraging. Even if you aren’t out to impress people, you get the feeling of “why do I bother?” a lot…

What do you do to keep things fresh and interesting for you?

I rotate what I’m working on from drawing, to making music, to carving, to whatever, and back again. So if I get bored with one, I’ll do another for a while, and wait to be inspired to want to go back.

Who or what compels you to keep drawing?

I’m not sure. It’s always a struggle to stay inspired but I couldn’t imagine what I’d do otherwise. So I guess boredom is what compels me.

How, if at all, does living on the Gold Coast, Australia influence your work?

I really hate to say it, but if I was being honest I would have to say really negatively. There is absolutely no creative avenues here, and very little support for anyone doing anything interesting.

You’re also a musician. What is one of your first musical memories?

As a child the first two cassettes I got of my own choosing were a Paul McCartney double Greatest Hits and Big Audio Dynamite II’s The Globe cassingle. Both huge influences. I heard The Globe come on the TV just the other day and stopped to think about it, and it really has so many elements that make it the right starting point for what I do. It was mixing a traditional rock/pop band with sampling, electronics and some hip hop / techno sensibilities. Definitely an area I have dedicated myself to since.

What are your top 5 albums and why?

‘Faith No More – Angel Dust’
My forrae into alternative music was ‘the Real Thing’ LP but I remember anticipating this release and not being disappointed at all.

‘Ramones – Rocket To Russia’
The band that taught all of us “un-co losers” to play guitar.

‘Solex – Low Kick and Hard Bop’
I really appreciate DIY. And for that matter, one person who does it all is even better. Like Solex. The one woman sampling machine.

‘Ween – Pure Guava’
I could write an extremely long essay on why Ween are the best. Not the kind of band you can paraphrase here.

‘KRS One – a retrospective’
I remember taking a tab each and then everyone left to go paint trains.. I stayed behind and tripped balls on this disc alone in the dark.

The majority of your friends are artists and musicians, is there any people from that network that has really inspired you? How so?

The people who inspire me the most are the ones who do it themselves. And there’s a big difference between what I mean by doing it yourself and doing what most people do. I think too many local peeps concentrate on being “picked up” by a label or something, and what they do is to impress these people, rather than just doing it yourself, and that’s it. It’s like the “doing it yourself” part of it is a step to making it. Where I consider doing it yourself and making your own disc or whatever, you HAVE made it. You’re not making this to submit to labels and things, you’re making it and giving it to people to listen to. And that’s it.

Have you ever had a really life changing moment?

Ever since I could remember all I wanted to do was be a children’s book illustrator. But that all changed in a creepy instant. I was about 12 or 13 and on a school trip to Sydney. We were in the middle of the city and stopped for lunch. Me and 4 or so other kids broke from the group and went and got some burgers and fries. We were from a small town and were really sheltered little kids, so we had never really been exposed to homelessness before and there was a lot of people there who were in that situation. We ended up sitting down to eat and made friends with one of the hobos, Maurice. We gave him one of those old Maccas calendars with all the vouchers. He was super stoked on it. My friend Mitchell tried to
give him a bunch of money but he refused, so we hid some at the bottom of the chips we gave him. We were talking to him for a while and he was a really nice, smart dude. Then he started asking us all what we wanted to be when we grew up. We went round the group and all my friends were saying they wanted to be a doctor or lawyer and fancy things, and he was encouraging them and telling them “that’s great!” and to work hard. When it got to my turn, I told him I wanted to be a children’s book illustrator and he totally lost it. It seemed to really anger him, it was bizarre. He told me to give up and that it was a bad idea in a very serious tone. His demeanour totally changed and he wasn’t kidding. It freaked the hell out of me. I still feel really weird about it. So basically I gave up on that idea. I still secretly wish I could, but don’t tell Maurice.

You can find Jhonny at:

http://jrmysteryschool.wordpress.com/

http://jhonnyhobo.tumblr.com/

http://www.gcbands.com/profile/jhonnyhobo (there’s 50 different tracks to listen to!)

http://jhonnyhobo.deviantart.com/gallery/

http://www.youtube.com/user/JhonnyHobo

Who or what has been inspiring you lately?
Have a super productive day lovelies!

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Photo montage by JhonBoy

“Nothing is original. Steal from anywhere that resonates with inspiration or fuels your imagination. Devour old films, new films, music, books, paintings, photographs, poems, dreams, random conversations, architecture, bridges, street signs, trees, clouds, bodies of water, light and shadows. Select only things to steal from that speak directly to your soul. If you do this, your work (and theft) will be authentic. Authenticity is invaluable; originality is nonexistent. And don’t bother concealing your thievery—celebrate it if you feel like it. In any case, always remember what Jean-Luc Godard said: “It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them to.” ~Jim Jarmusch

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Don has also been responsible for wonderful documentaries on Sun Ra, George Clinton & Parliament Funkadelic, The Clash, Punk Attitude and more!

RANDOM MISS B STORY: I met Don a couple of years back, he was in my hometown of Brisbane presenting a screening of the Clash doco Westway To The World among others. He also read excerpts from his biography Culture Clash: Dread Meets Punk Rockers, had a Q & A with the audience and performed one of the most amazing reggae, dub, dancehall DJ sets I have ever seen in my life.

Earlier, in the weeks leading up to Don’s appearance at The Globe in Brisneyland I’d been trying to secure a conversation with Don for my book project, Conversations With Punx: A Spiritual Dialogue; trying without much luck. A couple of days out from the screening/show I noticed a missed called on my cell/mobile phone. I checked my voicemail and a very British accent came down the line saying, “Hi this is Don Letts. I heard you’re looking for me.” To say that I was excited is the understatement of the year! I have always had a lot of respect and admiration for Don’s work. I can identify with him in the way that he is a part of, has helped shape and documents some of the most vibrant, innovative, creative music communities in the world—something which I aspire to every day with my work.

I told Don about my project and he listened with great interest. He told me that despite being a part of the punk community since its inception he had not necessarily thought of punk and his work having a direct link to spirituality. He told me that he rather it just manifests itself in his work. He also commented: My church isn’t a building, my church is the planet and the way I give praise and thanks to the creator, whatever or whoever he or she might be to any individual. It’s in the actions and the way that I conduct myself on a day-to-day basis. I respect myself, I respect other people. To me, that made a lot of sense, commonsense in fact. What do you think?

Are there any good music related documentaries you’ve seen of late?
Love & light,

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“I’ve come to believe that nothing’s impossible if you can imagine it. There’s nothing new under the sun. When you’re moved, you’re moved, and you should seize the moment to express the feeling. It’s that moment of expression that I define as art.” ~Pharrell.

One of my fav hip hoppers and creators Skateboard P a.k.a Pharrell Williams has been flexing his creative muscles in the art world of late designing a line of chairs and candles. He has also launched an online art community ARTST Guild & Gallery. It’s billed as a “community where artists meet share work and collaborate”. I urge all of my camera wielding, music making, sculpting, writing, brush and pencil pushing, creative friends to check it out!

Artwork by Sanjai Bhana (a featured artist on ASTRT). Sanjai also has a blog crammed full of illustrative goodness. I especially like his Joey Ramone piece and Mr T tee.

For more info on ARTST Guild & Gallery check out an interview with Pharrell here.

Pharrell also recently spent some time at (one of my favourite photographers) David LaChapelle’s working on a collaboration. LaChapelle’s work is a kaleidescope of pop culture and art his images have featured some of my favourite artists: Debbie Harry, Courtney Love, Andre 3000 & Kelis (all Egyptian stylee), Chris Rock (contains nudity), Kanye West (as Jesus), Bjork, Gwen Stefani and (a naked) Moby (vs. robot)!

Thought for the day: Art is limitless (my Jhonny and his art remind me of this fact every single day).

Hope you all have a productive, creative day!

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Hello Lovelies!

I know it’s been a while. Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond my control I had to take some time out from EVERYTHING and regroup. Things still aren’t 100% but I’m working towards it! Slowly but surely is the way to go for sure. So it’ll be easy does it for a little while for me.

During my downtime I got to thinking about all the aspects of my life and I’ve decided that right now it’s all about fresh starts—and no doubt my posts in the near future will reflect that as well as all the usual goodness Conversations With Bianca has come to represent in its short yet exciting existence.

I have a whole bunch of posts cued for all you beautiful people so remember to bookmark me and check back often :).

To all of you that have sent me messages and email love while I’ve been on hiatus thank you for caring; your love and support mean the world to me. I’ve really missed you all! In the spirit of my last post, it’s time to ride!

To kick-start things again here’s some things that have been inspiring me or tickling my fancy of late:

Rock & Roll – legendary Australian rock photographer Stephen Booth’s exhibition at the Brisbane Powerhouse; Jack Loyd Grisham’s blog An American Demon and his work at the Centre For Change; The work of Chad VanGaalen; Freaknik The (animated) Musical on Adult Swim featuring T-Pain, Snoop Dogg, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, Big Boi and more!; Holly Becker of Decor8 blog sure knows how to turn any space into something truly beautiful. For all your home inspirations. Also on the home front for some punk, Kustom Kulture and pinup inspired wares is Sininlinen; A virtual tour of CBGB’s! Get amongst it!; Creative Thursday makes me want to be creative all day every day; Post Punk Kitchen (a public access Vegan cooking show) is a Vegan/Veggie foodies dream, it’s been inspiring a flurry of action in the kitchen. I’m loving the recipes for Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies, Scrambled Tofu and Vegan Sushi! Bake & Destroy!; Time Magazines 30th Anniversary of Punk photo essay; Stylist Andrea Liberman; La Magica Lingerie; Frida Kahlo as fashion inspiration; Finding I identify with Vogue India rather than the Australian or US counterpart; Eat, Pray, Love becoming a film!; Hip Hop lyrics archive; Pro Hip Hop a Hip Hop Marketing & Business blog; Fifi Lapin; Amelia Arsenic!

Happy Monday!

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PS – Happy Happy Birthday to my gal Prue! You’re an amazing friend and one of the raddest people I know.

There are times in life when we fall of the horse, wagon, bike, whatever—basically out of the momentum that we have going. There’s a million reasons why this happens, it’s different for everyone. Despite the reason though, the most important thing for us to do is to get back up, brush ourselves off, get back on and ride. Don’t dwell on the falling off, don’t beat yourself up for it (like I started to). Don’t wait until tomorrow to start again, start right now. The present is the only time we really have. Giddy up and ride!

When you fall into a pit you either die or get out. ~Chinese Proverb.

Let’s get the show rolling again! It’s do or die!

Love,
Miss B

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Dear Universe,

Just wanted to let you know how thankful I am that I get to converse and collaborate with inspiring, creative, innovative individuals every single day. I pinch myself over and over to make sure I’m not dreaming. Thanks for allowing me the opportunity to ask: Who? What? Where? When? Why? How? I will be forever that inquisitive kid questioning and trying to understand the world, my place in the world and myself. Thought I’d share a mash-up of some of the punk rock wisdom and hip hop insight I’ve gained on my journey:

Art by Sodium Gum

Tim Armstrong’s greatest aspiration as an artist:

To keep playing music; that’s what we [Rancid] love, that’s what we do. I have new ideas, always new things. People always ask me ‘Is Operation Ivy gonna get back together?’ You know they’re my homies—Matt Freeman is my brother—but it’s like, ‘Nah man, I’m on to something new. I want to do new shit.’ …to live a good life and take care of myself and have my friends and family around me. I’m blessed to still have my family here. My dad and mum are still here and still been married after 50 years. My brother got back from Iraq. My other brother is one of the bookers at Gilman Street. As an artist I just want to keep doing new shit. I got some ideas, always! They never stop… I love playing music! That’s my number one thing. It’s all I have ever done.

Art by Satchoo

Del Tha Funkee Homosapien on success:

It’s achieving a goal that you set for yourself, that goal may not be money. For me, Eleventh Hour was a successful endeavour. It had a lot more to do with me and what was going on in my life than trying to sell the album for money. It wasn’t about that. It was about getting this knowledge in my head to work out everything I need to. It came out dope. On this album I was right there, concentrated and focused. I didn’t want this album to be scattered—that took a lot of work. After years of not focusing and just doing it… I’m used to just doing… after a while I figured that wasn’t enough. I felt like I had to put more effort into it. Realising that was successful to me. There was a lot of things around me that tried to stop me. I just kept going. Now I’m ready to go after more success. I’ve grown.

Art by Ktharsis

Glenn Danzig on what motivates & inspires him:

Anger [laughs] and frustration at how stupid people still are [laughs] but you know what? I read a lot of books from centuries ago and people were stupid then and then they’re still stupid now a hundred years later! They don’t learn. Only a select, I won’t say handful ’cause it’s more than that but, some people are just happy meandering through life and not having to think about anything or have any responsibility for their actions. They don’t want to know either. They just want to wander through life and get their pay check at the end of the week and that’s it. That’s fine but that shit just boogles my mind. I could never go through life like that.

Art by Juart Little

Pharoahe Monch on what it means to be an artist:

It means everything because I don’t think that you can use that term loosely in the art world period. I don’t think that everyone that calls themselves artists is that. You could be an act signed to a label but that definitely doesn’t define you as an artist to me. To me an artist is a person who is instrumental in being groundbreaking and trying to push the envelope and that are very instrumental in what they write and the music choices that they make – they can make you feel a certain way. They’re definitely not cookie cutter; they have a long shelf life.

Love you lots!
Much gratitude,

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“If I had to boil it down to one word it would be “kindness.” It goes beyond that, though. Spirituality is a training of the mind and heart in wisdom and compassion practices and ways of living that increase understanding of the way that the world, ourselves or reality really are . Spirituality is also learning how to respond skilfully to the suffering and confusion in the world. The only rational response being to care about it, to feel compassion for all of the confusion and suffering that’s present both personally and in society or the world.” Noah Levine on spirituality (book extract).

In my travels I’ve explored and encountered many different cultures and their unique perspectives and philosophies on life. I’ve come across some things that have fit me well and those that didn’t at all. Something I found that has resonated strongly with me though is the Buddhist idea/concept of The Noble Eightfold Path.

The Eightfold Path is a collection of eight enduring principles which if taken onboard can help you be and do your best. I’ve found that by incorporating these virtues into my own life it has helped me create things that bring benefit to others and lasting value to people’s lives—inspiring them to take action and make a positive difference themself—as well as my own.

Working with the following tools, I feel you can’t really go wrong. It’s all common sense. I don’t define myself as Buddhist (I find stuff in Buddhism that I don’t necessarily agree with) but I do appreciate and practice the things that ring true to me. Have a read, see what you think & make your own mind up.

We’re all interconnected and interdependent—as are the values associated with the path’s principles: wisdom, ethics & mindful-awareness—maybe have a think about what you’re contributing to the world with what you do in your everyday and of your values and what you believe. I’ve found that when exercising the following steps my life is more successful in all areas.

The Eight Steps to living your best life:

Right View. Right View is understanding your reality. It’s realising that a conditioned existence if unacceptable. It’s visualising your highest potential while maintaining a realistic view of where you’re at and what you’re doing. Ask the questions: How do I see myself? What is my purpose? How does it impact the world? What are my gifts? How am I utilising them? What is my grand vision for my life?

It’s important to have a vision and to really see that vision and believe it. Having a clear idea of self and what you do is a great foundation for anything in life. Often our idea of self can be distorted by ego and delusions. Having Right View will help you see beyond that and influence your day-to-day decisions for the better. If you’re having trouble seeing yourself, why not ask a trusted friend for help. Friends can sometimes see what we can’t. They can give us a fresh perspective on ourselves. It’s time to awaken to the real you… wakey, wakey! Rise and shine.

Having Right View is looking at all the ‘good’ and all the ‘bad’ bits that make up you. Once you acknowledge your truth and accept where you’re at, you can work on changing those things that don’t fit. It can also be about keeping ourselves free from prejudice and superstition.

Right Intention. With your thoughts you create your world and with your intentions you set the tone and dedication of your mission. Your mission is what you do; it should drive and excite you.

Your intentions behind what you do, determines the quality of your interactions and life experience. Choosing your intentions chooses your experience. Ask yourself what is my mission? I’ve found the practice and cultivation of equanimity can be helpful here as it can nurture innovation and promote open-minded thinking. How we think influences how we feel and how we feel affects what we say and what we do.

Right Speech. Think before you speak. Lose the ego and bad attitude. Think about what are you saying? How are you saying it? Right Speech is saying things that matter and that are not hurtful or causes harm to others. That includes things like idle chatter, there’s a lot of people out there that just talk for the sake of talking, silence can definitely be golden sometimes.

I admit that in the past I’ve totally been guilty of saying hurtful things to others (I’m pretty sure that we’ve all been guilty of that at some point). The important thing though is that I woke up and saw what I was doing and have worked super hard every day since to be mindful of my words. I’ve also apologised (where I have been able to) to those I have hurt. As with all these ideas it takes practice, dedication and work.

A funny thing I’ve noticed since consciously practising Right Speech is that sometimes the people that are on the receiving end of what I am saying get a little taken aback by the truth. Maybe at times I haven’t phrased what I’m saying so great, right speech to me is also choosing your words wisely. Think about what it is you’re really trying to say, don’t just grab the first word available and think that’ll do.

Note: Also typing mindfully would fall under Right Speech to me. In our day and age our interactions on the internet, chats, forums etc (our online voice) is equally as powerful. Don’t hide behind your keyboard being a hero gossiping and slagging people off, contribute something of value to discussions—be helpful not hurtful.

Right Action is understanding that your actions have consequences. It’s about walking the walk and talking the talk and treating others how you want to be treated. It’s always a work in progress; we are always upgrading ourselves so obviously it can change moment to moment. It’s basically just not acting in ways that would be dishonest or bring harm to oneself or to others.

Right Livelihood. Seriously, the world needs you to do what you love! When you’re passionate, engaged, aware you’re at your best. It’s all about loving what you do and taking up a vocation that is non-detrimental to others. It’s also appreciating what you have, your talents, and your abilities and using them for the power of good.

Right Effort is combining your intelligence with your intuition. It’s performing at the top of your game. Exercising efficiency in your work, you don’t need to work a million hours a week. It’s about making the effort to work smarter not harder. Exercising Right Effort enhances you productivity. It’s about practice and perseverance, it can take a lot of effort and energy to go against the grain and change our habits and conditioning.

Practising Right Mindfulness is being aware. It’s staying fluid. It’s being a witness. It’s being in the moment. It’s being thoughtful in your actions (if you haven’t noticed yet, all of these principles overlap and work in unison with each other). It’s keeping in mind what motivates you? Please cherish your mind lovelies. To me the Eightfold Noble Path is all about being mindful of yourself and others.

Right Concentration is collecting your energy, focusing and once again staying in the moment. It’s cultivating a strong mind. Meditation has helped me with this. Having clarity of mind can help us do great things.

For more info on the above: Dharma Punx author Noah Levine talks about The Eightfold Path here. Also, the Dharma Punx NYC site has more information on the Eightfold Noble Path and some interesting, helpful talks and guided meditations on everything from dealing with stress & anxiety to working with depression.

Love & light,

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