This week Authentic SOAP host Paddy McCurdie interviews his mother Marian McCurdie on her new found passion for crocheting.

Learn more about the benefits of crochet and how to get started in this fun, lively and insightful episode.

Intro music courtesy of Pixaby - Caffeine Creek Band - Fetch me another one.

To contact Marian for Crochet advice search marianmccurdie on Instagram.

Do you ruminate over the same thoughts and mind patterns?

Do you recognise what rumination is?

Are you finding it difficult to be mindful and present?

Tune into this episode of the Authentic SOAP Podcast with your host Paddy McCurdie to learn more about rumination, how to be aware of it and the detrimental impact it can have and antidotes to rumination.

Ross Deuchar Mindfulness

[email protected]

In the episode your host Paddy McCurdie delves into the field of technology and social media.

What impact is excessive use of technology and social media having on our minds and wellbeing? 

Learn more in this insightful episode about how the tremendous benefits of technology can be tempered by negativity.

Do tech companies deliberately design addictive apps and would we really have some of the problems we have now if we where in the 90s.

Authentic SOAP host Paddy McCurdie speaks to Professor Ross Deuchar - Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice at the University of the West of Scotland to discuss his book Gangs and Spirituality'

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Gangs-Spirit...

Dr Ross Deuchar is Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of the West of Scotland. He has been conducting research into gang culture, violence and organised crime for many years and is the author of 5 books and numerous research papers. His most recent book, 'Gangs and Spirituality', documents insights from his research conducted across three continents of the world. Ross is a Fulbright scholar, an Affiliate Professor in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Florida Atlantic University and is also a certified Mindfulness Practitioner and Life Coach.

The episode discusses discourse around themes of gangs and masculinity and how religion and spirituality has offered gang members a way out of a life of violence. Learn about the key cultural differences between gangs in the USA, Denmark, Scotland and Hong Kong.

Ross will touch on his work with Glasgow gangs, youth crime, policing, social justice and sectarian rivalry in the west of Scotland. Join us as we delve into his own personal transformation including the use of mindfulness meditation and its benefits.

Travel has evolved over the last century with the growth in global population and the insatiable aspirations and desires of humans.

Unfettered globalisation and global travel has contributed to increasing stress on the planet and in light of COVID-19, this episode of Authentic SOAP examines how are innate desires for journeying will be affected.

Discover how technology and influencer culture is destroying the very authenticity of places we all want to see and the detrimental consequences for local populations.

Learn how overtourism has created  a generation of consumers oblivious to the true journey of life.

If you wish to contact the host you can so do on the following media

[email protected]

Twitter: @CatfordPat

Facebook: Search for 'Patrick McCurdie' or 'The Authentic SOAP Podcast'

THE PECKHAM RAMBLER

The Peckham rambler treads with a light touch,

surprising given the heavy burden he projects,

but then appearances can be deceptive.

I see him moving steadfastly towards the library.

He doesn’t strike me as the intellectual type,

but I have been wrong many times before.

Perhaps he is hoping for a gratis newspaper to study the horses,

or maybe he will read, a complicated and jargon heavy Science journal;

it’s too easy to pass judgement,

but then life gives us a keen eye for personality.

Perhaps we should trust our judgement!

I see him regularly standing outside the pub, drawing heavily on his cigarette.

He appears thoughtful and absorbent, like a sponge soaking up bathwater.

In his royal blue T-shirt and faded stonewash jeans,

he’s like a throwback to an era which I can’t define and probably never existed.

I like this man a great deal, he reminds me of someone, maybe even myself.

I long for engagement, to shoot the breeze in a leisurely fashion. I believe I can learn a lot.

I see him rambling towards his humble abode; another day in Paradise gone!

Canary Wharf

Immense structures towering high yet gentle and reassuring,

their retro look disguises an urban beast.

Looking from Greenwich, they seem so close but distant.

A partition in place, a separation of industry and the natural world.

I look almost fearfully from my calm green vista wondering what chaos ensues there,

relieved it’s a Sunday.

Cool and vibrant, it smacks of the modern world, and has an originality unbridled.

I peer through a birch tree to catch another glance, what a majestic sight!

CAMBERWELL GREEN

Camberwell Green, where urban meets suburban,

frantic crossroads and compromised air makes you crave a fresher feel.

Homes old and new, some dilapidated and some proud,

But each with a story to tell;

I catch a tower block out of the corner of my eye,

a menacing powerful structure,

and a reminder that we can’t all live in a sprawling green heaven.

The shops bustle and the crowded pavements provoke irritation.

There’s people from all over the world, a reminder of community or a lack of it.

The grinding noise of frequent London buses and the impersonal, callous looks as I march through the streets

sets this place out as something different, but only on the veneer.

I dander a few more yards past the hospital where the screech of trains greets me.

Functional and gritty, they stride along the tracks laboured and uneventful.

I continue to proceed, and after a lung awakening climb up a curious hill,

I realise I’m nearly home!

The Authentic SOAP Poetry Cast

SWASH

Stanchions of green metal, a desolate towpath

scratches old thistles where the canal skirts the sea.

As far as the eye permits, a drumlin erupts framed by picturesque houses.

A headland protrudes extensively thrusting far beyond the turquoise channel.

A green and navy car is perched neatly next to a disused castle as two small turbines struggle to rotate.

A group of paper white swans revel playing on land. The head of a solitary deer penetrates an eroded hedgerow as an unusual precise square of water appears.

A burly cyclist transcends an antiquated stone bridge, crossing at the very moment the drumlin resurfaces. A large rock looks brutally exposed in the sea swash.

Three ships in a near military formation glaringly look at an erect lighthouse. A gravelly black quarry scars the landscape fittingly.

McCann is working at the old power station, I wonder if he is there today?

I don’t envy him, what a hideous structure!

The horizon is looming quickly as a field of cabbages briefly intercepts. A deep valley peppered by foreign trees disappears as does the horizon.

A swallow soars high but evaporates in the glistening bluey-white sky. Guarded rock faces form a formidable barrier.

Dunbar is working down at the harbour, if any man knows where the horizon has gone, it is him. 

With his flat cap, arched back and hand welded cigarette, he points to a small stream, his back creaking menacingly. I think he might be leading me up the garden path.

I keep looking and can see the horizon once again, a partition so defined and robust. There’s a mechanical sound, it must be those turbines, I thought they only dwelled on land.

I shift a few yards and sit against a mature silver birch tree. Ogling the horizon, I feel still and lonely but somehow connected.

I look back down towards the harbour, Dunbar has gone. Maybe for a few pints at the Bann Eel. I think I’ll join him for a sup of the black stuff.

That creamy taste is so magical, it’s like an awakening. Much more tangible than the horizon, but I won’t be fooled by either.

What is Mindfulness and how can it benefit us?

Tune into this episode where Authentic SOAP host Paddy McCurdie goes back to the meditation roots of the podcast.

Learn about how we get sucked into 'Doing' mode and away from our natural 'Being' mode. Can we get out of the head and into the heart?

Learn some practical ways to be mindful and hear the hosts very own experience with mindfulness and meditation.

Recommended books to supplement this episode:

Eckhart Tolle - The Power of Now
Anthony De Mello - Awareness
Anthony De Mello - The Way to Love
Mark Williams/Danny Penman - A Practical Guide to Finding Peace in a Frantic World
Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyasto Rinpoche - How to Understand the Mind
Brain Lock: Free yourself from Obsessive Compulsive Behaviour - Jeffrey M Schwartz

Previous Relevant Authentic SOAP episodes:

You are not your thoughts: Difficult to comprehend?? https://www.buzzsprout.com/865489/4413236

Coronavirus, Self Isolation & Being - How to make life easier and simply 'be'.
https://www.buzzsprout.com/865489/3143974

How to Meditate with a Guided Meditation
https://www.buzzsprout.com/865489/2755165

Why do people get involved in Meditation?
https://www.buzzsprout.com/865489/2742358

Why Choose Meditation?
https://www.buzzsprout.com/865489/2694718

Contact the host:

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @CatfordPat
Facebook: Search for Patrick McCurdie or the Authentic SOAP Podcast

Apple:

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/patrick-mccurdie-the-authentic-soap-podcast/id1501550244

The changing climate and damage to the Earth is the greatest threat and challenge facing humanity.

Often, the problem is focused through a prism of political, legal, economic and technological solutions but how often is the spiritual dimension looked at?

Discover how recognition of inter connectedness with everything on the earth and our oneness can help shift the dynamics of our natural problem.

Are we able to embrace our own place in nature which is essential to survival?

Listen and learn more on the Authentic SOAP Podcast.

If you are interested in any of these issues and wish to get in touch, you can do through email:  [email protected]

Follow me on Facebook: Search for Patrick McCurdie or The Authentic SOAP Podcast.

Follow me on Twitter: @CatfordPat

Tune into this episode, the very first interview recording on The Authentic SOAP Podcast.

Host Paddy McCurdie is joined by his first guest Marta Blicharz.

Marta discusses her experiences visiting Scotland including her love of Edinburgh and Glasgow street art by Australian artist Smug - aka Sam Bates.

Marta discusses her experiences as a Polish emigrant to the UK sixteen years ago in the first wave of emigration after Poland joined the EU. Learn about some of her early jobs and how she improved her language skills creating greater social mobility to progress in the workplace.

We discuss forms of prejudice and racism pre and post Brexit and we learn how craft based activities such as Lino Printing have helped Marta find her passion and gain some mindfulness.

We also explore her reasons for wanting to return to her homeland.

Doesn't miss the powerful episode of individual transformation.

If anything resonates with you and you would like to contact Marta, please do so on - [email protected]

You can follow The Authentic SOAP Podcast on Apple, Google and Spotify. Just search for 'The Authentic SOAP Podcast'.

You can follow me on Facebook. Either search for 'Patrick McCurdie' or 'The Authentic SOAP Podcast'.

You can follow me on Twitter: search @CatfordPat