What Makes People Tick?

The more things change... The more I hope they change even more! Saudi Arabia grants women right to drive – but with some bizarre conditions http://t.co/jprfDwIZPM pic.twitter.com/M7LED1uJrd — RT (@RT_com) November 8, 2014 I'm one of those people who doesn't drive. Not because I can't or believe I shouldn't, but because I don't want to. I walk, I bike, I take public transport and feel good about doing so, about using environmentally friendlier modes of transport than using a car to get just me from A to B. Driving is not usually necessary where I live as public transport runs on a regular schedule and can get me most places. Sometimes though, especially after being harassed on the bus or tssssk-ed at while waiting for the train or ogled while on the tram or followed home from the metro,  I wish I did drive. I do not ask to be harassed. I do nothing to suggest I might want strangers to approach me. I wear a ring around a significant finger to show that ...

Sad but true. Both men and women the world over label and judge others based on how they look, what they wear and how they choose to express themselves.  A recently published study by the Brazilian Institute for Applied Economics ( IPEA ) shows that a stunning 65% of respondents found that a woman who dressed provocatively deserved to be attacked or raped .  "Earlier this week, a study was released that said a startling 65.1 percent of Brazilians either partially or wholly believe that "if dressed provocatively, women deserve to be attacked and raped." In addition, the study revealed a 58.5 percent complacency with the belief that "if women knew how to behave, there would be less rape." ~ Huffington Post

Browsing my Facebook feed today, I came across a friend's post asking if shops'd be open tomorrow in her area. I'm in Europe, my friend lives Down Under. I assumed there must be a local holiday I didn't know about until reading the comments - It's "Good Friday" tomorrow. Right. Took a while but : Click. When it dawned on me that I couldn't for the life of me remember what the whole Good Friday and Easter thing was about exactly, I checked Wikipedia. While I understand that Wikipedia is not an encyclopaedia or infallible or anything of the sort, the information it provided still surprised me greatly. Source :  Wikipedia "Easter (...) is a festival and holiday celebrated by Christians and non-Christians" So, according to Wikipedia I celebrate Easter? Uh... NO. I really, really don't! I was raised secular in a mainstream 'Christian' country in western Europe. Even though my family didn't care a...

Checking out my blog statistics lately, I couldn't help but notice that this blog has gotten quite a few hits. Even though I haven't written anything for months, people still keep on visiting. It makes me feel slightly guilty, to be honest. I had such high hopes for this blog and intended to 'do so much with it' and then never quite got around to doing it... I still have this vision of what this blog could be and what it could become and in light of that, here's a post about reaching your potential and being the best you can be! I found an amazing article at Zen Habits through Google Search. It's called 7 Essentials For Living Your Fullest Potential by Jonathan Mead who is also the author of website Illuminated Mind  - a website dedicated to helping you reach your fullest potential in life! The article is full of amazing tips, hints and ideas - I strongly encourage you to read it as I found it very illuminating. Below is a very abridged (and edited) versio...