How Long Does the Santa Claus Live?

Santa Claus or Joulupukki as I know him in my own Finnish language has been a continuing presence in my life since my birth during the 1950s in Lapland, Finland. I am a Christmas child myself who was born in a city that resides both the Santa Claus’ Main Post Office at Napapiiri at the Arctic Circle and the long tradition of tourist industry around Santa/Julupukki, including the official University courses in Elf Profession. Just check here to believe it. I am not telling you fibs.

Once in a while, or quite often actually, researchers do tell you that Santa is a lie, check in here and if you still have doubts here it is in Finnish. Every now and then we are also reminded that adults think too much. I mean in no respect to demean the two articles presented here but I am convinced that whatever we believe does construct our reality, including the metaphysical reality of Santa. Check my previous 2010 posting here about what is the history of the Santa tradition I believe in.

This year, like every year, it has come to pass that people are considering Santa and their Christmas traditions, including its political correctness and the commercialisation surrounding the modern practice of giving enormous amounts of presents to everyone. It boosts the economy, say the economists and many, if not all the shops rely on their Christmas sales to cover much of their yearly expenses. This makes it understandable that we keep on staring the Christmas markets earlier and earlier in the year. And who wouldn’t like to boost the economy? Or maybe not.

I live in Australia and find that the Christmas for me starts with the decorations at the shopping center, because otherwise, it is summer. The season comes as a great contradiction to my birth home of Rovaniemi, where the winter snow falls plentiful and it is freezing cold. In Australia, in the heat and the sun, it is quite hard for me to think about Christmas in the way I used to as a child. Now my traditions much come from having fun with the grandchildren and imagining with them how Santa would ride the skis from Lapland to deliver the presents Downunder.

My grandchildren know very well, where the line of the fairy-tale and the reality lies. They think that it is ‘cool’ that they, for example, know exactly where the North Pole is: that it is at Rovaniemi, Finland. And why do they know is because they have been there themselves. My six-year old granddaughter insists on this. “Mummu, I have actually been there twice.” There is no buts about it. She does not think about it philosophically, or in any metaphorical way. For her North Pole is where the Santa lives and because she knows the Santa, Rovaniemi for her is the North Pole. It is possible for children to think about Santa philosophically as well. At the age of five, my elder son asked me how long I thought Santa would live and when I answered: “As long as you believe in him”, he immediately said: “Oh, just like God!” That was also clear at one go and the end of the discussion.

Oh no, my granddaughter thinks about it all as a great potential for performance. She needs the right costume, and the right music and the right atmosphere and we are on. This will be the best Christmas ever performed. I bet it will include the music from the movie Trolls as for her it is the best dancing soundtrack possible to imagine.

The other way, I get my Christmas spirit rising is through technology and internet. I plan on talking to my family situated around the world, especially the other granddaughter in London. We are planning on maybe decorating our Christmas trees together, at the same time, through connecting on Skype. At least we will build Lego Christmas decorations together in our weekly get-togethers. We will show and tell about all the little decorations I have collected and placed in our tree. They come with different memories of my family for generations. Before this tree decorating used to be on the 13^th of December, because the Saint Lucia’s Day was my mother’s day. The family tradition carried to us from Sweden through the WWII when my mother was a refugee as a child there. We remember, I can tell it all to my grandchildren in my mother tongue, in Finnish.

This year, though, like last year, my grandchildren are in a hurry, and so am I. So, we might decorate the tree during the first week of December, already. The artificial trees that last and last make this longer season possible. The positive part is that we can even choose the colour of the tree as we fancy. This year it will be black. And from there on, sitting quietly, watching the lights on that tree reminds me of the Christmases past, present and the future. Baking cookies and the Karelian Pies with kids makes my Christmas real.

Our Christmas or Yule/Joulu traditions as I say it in Finnish might change and adjust into new technology, new environments and blend with new traditions. Still, for us the message of Santa remains the same: compassion, kindness, light, fun and caring. To me, it is no lie, it is a reality worth sharing with my family and friends and passing on to children and grandchildren.

If the spirit of Santa grows into a figure of a jolly old man or a strong grandma like woman, it might not be so bad to imagine that it is the spirit of the ages, all the good parts from Odin to St Nicolaus and many other unimaginable realities blended together into a consideration of others and their plight. It is not always about us. Mostly it is about the truth. So, how long does the Santa live? I still say that wherever or whenever you are, it depends on your own capability to imagine.

Welcomome to LOVE ON THE LINE TV CONVERSATIONS: Episode 1. Behind the Book

Finally, I get to welcome you to my new venture: LOVE ON THE LINE TV CONVERSATIONS on YouTube. I have been planning to start a YouTube project for quite some time.

This has been one of those things that has been nagging at me but due to some unidentified fear factor has only manifested itself after some help from good friends and friendly professionals.

The final impulse to getting my new channel out was a 7 day video Facebook challenge I took part in just a few of weeks ago with Rachel Dunn and Michael Hole and their Girl Director Company. It is just  little things that make all the difference. My friend Janet Blake has been a marvel in supporting and helping me to get over the live. She has promised to make conversation videos with me on regular basis which means that there is much to look forward to. There are also lots of other wonderful people who have said yes to conversing with me about many issues concerning us today in relation to LOVE ON THE LINE.

There are many topics that come under this flag, so to say. There are also other subjects in the planning. One of them being my SAGA HEALING JOURNALING AND RECREATING YOUR STORY FOR RECOVERY eCourses that are in development. My head is just spinning with all the new things I need to learn.

It is all for the good cause, I say. The goal is to highlight HOPE, RECOVERY and HAPPY ENDINGS possibilities for trauma recovery. Of course, all this stems from me becoming a target of a romance scam and writing a book about it. It has developed into a lot more that I thought possible.

So, now it is over to you. Please enjoy Episode 1 of the LOVE ON THE LINE TV CONVERSATIONS with Janet Blake and I. It is the so called behind the scenes approach. I have included the full script here so that you may also read the conversation if you so prefer.

Thank you for reading, listening and watching.

FULL SCRIPT OF THE CONVERSATION Episode 1 LOVE ON THE LINE TV CONVERSATIONS: Behind the Book.

This be our trial one, taking about where we are at and talking about book launches and LOVE ON THE LINE, even if it is in the tree.

Welcome to the LOVE ON THE LINE TV Conversations with Janet Blake and Elina Juusola

Janet: And Elina is the author, in case you haven’t heard about it somewhere along the line. In the, shall we say, momentum, leading up to this, of Love on the Line
Elina: Here’s the book
J: Her first book.  Before we just have a bit of a chat. You have just written a book
E; I have, and it’s actually been published
J: And you know what, from listening to you. Congratulations on that. This book, you are welcome, has been what twenty something, maybe longer in the making or incubating?
J: And this whole process has been nurtured by a number of people?
E: Yes

J: Including, perhaps, finally, coming to terms with yourself and honouring and respecting that deep inner sacredness of what was deep inside of you, what would come out.

E: Yes, it was. It was like.

Well, this book, particularly, LOVE ON THE LINE is about Internet Romance Scams and because I was a victim of one, although I don’t call myself a victim. I call myself a survivor, or I was involved in one of these scams as a target. So, that woke me up to that I needed to do what I needed to do
And so, I mean, the shock of being a victim, or a target of this kind of scam when I was not even able to believe that it would be happening to me, because I am pretty knowledgeable about things. Or, I mean, as I said before, I’ve researched pornography, prostitution, violence against women for over 35 years. You would think that, you know how these things go, but they don’t, you don’t.
J: Listening to you and you know, the time we share before, life perhaps has positioned you as an expert in this field and with the hindsight. Do, you think that that has actually created a huge blind spot
E: Yes. I think because, as a person I am still, even though that I have been doing a lot of research for a number of years, I still look at the world with a very, very blue eyes, maybe. And I still think the best of all the people. So, I am not suspicious, so I am probably exately one of these people who would fall into a scam. Because, I would read an email and say, OK this is a nice person. I wouldn’t go on expecting this person to be a scammer. There are a lot of people who do, but I don’t. So, I mean. It can take you unaware.
J: Remember, I think, it was Albert Einstein who said that one of the fundamental questions we have to come to terms with, and this isn’t the exact quote whether the Universe is a friendly place or not.
E: Right, and in my mind Universe is a friendly place and in my mind, humanity is better that what we think.
I look at it as a lesson and I look at it as if this is probably why I was able to feel that now I have to look into this scamming, I have to research and see the bigger picture and see what was my relationship to the scam and how it came about and that’s why, for example, I started journaling and I started writing down my experience in the way. And then, like you know, the book became a narrative healing experience and from there on it has developed even more, because I am now writing the sequel.
J: So, when you dream, do you dream in different languages
E: Yes. People speak the language I know them from.
J: So, when you write your narratives. What language you write them in?
E: English
J: Because?
E: Because, that’s the language they will be published in.
J: Haa
E: And then I need to have somebody who is a skilled person, who understands me. Like I had Chris Henderson, from Women Howling at the Moon
J: And she is fantastic
E: Yes, and she took me in, and she has interpreted and she changed the structure because I might be writing in English, but it still might have a Finnish syntax. And not only her, but before the book was published, I still had the context editing.
First I write. Sometimes, I plan in Finnish, whatever happens. And then I plan and I write and it comes, quite a lot from my, automatically, what I write and I write very much as I speak. And then I have a person who looks at my language and changes it and maybe come out with some words which I think I knew but I didn’t remember
And then the second tie, is the context editing and then there is the product. Perfect product.
J: Which just happen like that! J
E: Exactly! It did take nearly one and half years.
J: Yes, and all that time leading up to it, incubating.
The word scamming is used a lot. So, here is a question for you. And maybe it’s in another language, I am not sure. What would be another word or a string of words that you would use to describe the picture of scamming?
E: I would say, when you are thinking in the bigger picture. And that we live in… First of all we live in a society where we don’t always know what’s happening where the thought forms and the thought patterns of this society, they have been ingrained in our brain, so that that we, actually, automatically, behave in a certain way.
J: Like Pavlovian dog
E: Yeah, we are very, very predictable as people
So, we have our culture, we got our language. We have our environment, where we are.
And some people can also use these kind of thought patterns and though forms against us. And so the scammers do that. People who are trying to, trying to get something from us for their own behalf.
J: Do you think there is also an aspect or, in terms of scammers and us, that they see the wound that is crying out to be healed?
E: Yes, the scamming is all about emotions and it is about catching that weak, vulnerable moment of the target.
J: Aha
E: So, let’s say that in my case, I was really ill, already, because my mom had died,
E: and I had developed fibromyalgia, so I was so ill that I even thought that my life is going to end at 60 instead of 110 which I had already predicted that I would be.
J: uhyy J
E: Thank you, that’s my plan
J: Part of your ongoing bigger narrative
E: Yes, exactly. So, I was caught in that very, very vulnerable moment and what happens in your brain is that you then go from this rational thinking into your emotions and I was having, just marvellous time. I tell you.
It’s incredible to have this kind of emotional high. And I had not, honestly, felt like that in a long time. And what I realised with this scamming experience is that I could change myself. I could live in my emotions. Deeply. I could go, without any drugs, like enhancing it. That I could do it myself. I could make myself happy and the oxytocin and the, what else, the hormones just start flowing your brain. And I realised that this is the kind of thing what happens with scammers. They want you to be in that moment so that you automatically work in that way. And then they ask for money and when they ask for money, at least the first couple of times, it comes unaware and you automatically help because it’s in your nature. But what happened with me was that the moment I pushed the button, when I sent my first money, I knew that there was something fishy about it.
J: Ah, did you, but you still did it.
E: Well, after I sent it, I went like, ah this is something I’ve done. What did I do! J And then I went and I sent an email to my son and he found that it was a Ghana scam and then he said to me. Well this is what he said: well here are all the links but do not click on these links because you don’t need to read all that crap that there has been about this person. Just keep the good memories and particularly the romantic memories. And this is how writing this book came about
J: Yes. So, for me, just watching the process unfold, in terms of launching your book and what you have been talking about the editing and pulling together. And the story actually has evolved even during that process and it has evolved even earlier as were talking earlier over tea and coffee
E: Yeah
J: One of the keys or, if you like, the highlight of the book was when your son told you, just to hang on to, hold on to. It was a bit more than just a good bits, but the bits where he made you feel alive, awake, and fantastic and it was even a bit more than that, because it was enhanced awareness and those things. So hold on to that state and you didn’t say it in so many worlds but remember that the messenger is not the message.
E: What happened there was that J we actually started making, having ideas of what kind of documentary we would do. Like you know a documentary about the scammers who are working in Ghana, in their call centers pretending to be the military in Afghanistan as a militant. And then you have this person, this this person, who is actually the target, the romantic person that is there and we had so much fun. Not only with my elder son but also with my younger son. You know. So, it became like a sort of an inspiration and a muse.
J: M-U-S-E so the essence of that whole, what shall we say, event.
E: Exactly!
E: Exactly, and from there we can go into storytelling and If you would be looking at your life from the deep dept. You could be tracing your emotions from one place to the other. You could be journaling. How could I say it? At this stage, we have this new kind of consciousness coming in, where. we are now being able to create our own world.
J: AHA
E: like the quantum theory says.  And the quantum thought patterns, they now are telling us that we are not stuck in our own ways, we are not stuck into these thought models. We can actually create our own life. So, this is like my storytelling that we could create a happy ending
J: Yes.
E: to our story.
J: And we could create lots of endings
E: Exactly. That it’s not the same. The happy ending is as likely as a bad ending. So, like you now, we can be part of the creation of our own story.
J: cool
E: And in that way we can break this generational victim idea.
J: And we can rewrite our scrips in terms of our life story, can’t we? (The book falls)
And that might be the end of it because the book fell off our wonderful bookshelf.
E: Yes, and thank you very much for listening to us. This was the episode one of our conversations with Janet and Elina and we aim to do more. So, just keep up, subscribe
J: Once a week. The subscribe button might be down there.
E: Yeah, do it. Once a week, we will have a new conversation about
J: Life, the Universe and everything
E: Yes, and about Love on the Line. And it is called LOVE ON THE LINE TV CONVERSATIONS
J: OK, so magic week for all of you in your life and explorations of
E: LOVE ON THE LINE
J & E Goodbye

Launch of Author Elina Juusola Book Tour of Libraries

                                          Picture by Aila Peteri


The year 2016 has been very exciting for me as many people know. Firstly, my book Love on the Line. How to Recover from Romance Scams Gracefully and without Victimisation was published in January with the hugely successful book launch at the Avid Reader Bookshop in Brisbane. There was another launch at my local Gympie Library in February. I was also able to speak about the book in my mother tongue Finnish a few times, at some of our community events, the largest being the Suomipäivät (The Finnish Festivall This was not only in Queensland but also in Sydney with the Sydney siskot (Sydney sisters).We know that romance scams are the top #1 fraud crime in the world. It is a huge issue and we need to talk about it as much as possible.

I am really proud to say that my book has gotten a wider audience lately. All the reviews have been very positive. I am now launching a Library Tour first in Queensland and then interstate to further fraud prevention and specifically to help the people who have been targeted by romance scams.

My tour will start on the 6th of May at the Hervey Bay Library at 10 am. Everybody is welcome. Just remember to register. In June I will be at the Victoria Point Library on Friday the 24th of June and then at the Logan North Library on Friday the 15th of July, both at 10 am. Then after an overseas trip, we start again in September in Logan and Gold Coast. The schedule will be on my Website. I am also planning on new ways to spread the word about love and fraud prevention and recovery from targeted through LOVE ON THE LINE TV on YouTube and online eCourses on Narrative Healing Journaling. So, look for them on my website as well. For now here are some very interesting resent links about me and my book:

ABC Wide Bay Radio interview with Trudie Leigo aired on the 3rd of May at 10.13 am. It was also aired on 612 Brisbane State-wide later in the Drive program and there was a very nice article included in the ABC Local Top stories as well. Please, enjoy them and comment on them. Links are also posted on my Facebook page.

I wish you all the best. Especially I want to thank a Sydney artist Aila Peteri for the lovely picture.
Looking forwards to seeing you around in the library near you.

Embarrassing or Empowering: Choice is Yours to Speak Out and Recover

Lately, I have been talking to a lot to people about my book Love on the Line, How to Recover from Romance Scams Gracefully and without Victimisation, It has been a huge learning curve for me about how to best advocate to my audience the importance of recovery as a surviving method from romance scams. My method has been writing through healing narrative. I have been surprised to find how hard the recovery really is because so many people feel embarrassed by their own experience. 

There are many reasons for embarrassment from loosing money to not really believing that such a thing could happen to me. Sometimes it is hard to face yourself and admit to the vulnerability that is within everyone of us. Sometimes it is hard to be confident to know that it was never your fault, even though the victims are often blamed for the crime, What is certain is that anyone can become a target of a scammer. Dr Cassandra Cross from the Queensland University of Technology, while talking at my book launch in January 2016, put it as it is:

   "The reality is that anyone could become a victim of scammers. We all have vulnerability. We have to respect that the offenders know exactly how to find that vulnerability and weakness. That is their profession."

She also said that people like me who come forward and speak out are rare. I was not really aware how rare, before I started to really engage with my readers and interested audience. I also found that many websites or groups that take on the issue of scamming have to work in secrecy or very privately to keep their members protected from treats. It was a schock to understand how many people are affected by scamming.

Wouldn't it be the ideal that our world would support the victims of scams. Instead, many feel isolated and afraid. Many feel devastated and disillusioned with the world. Luckily, there is hope, healing and recovery to consider. There are those who have spoken out about it, like Sharron Armstrong with her #standup2scams community. There are people like John with his Website and Facebook group who want to help. There are bloggers like Jas who write about inequality and how to engage yourself in making the world a better place, Last, but not least, there e people like Chris and Glenda who have made it their primary purpose to help others, in business and in person to get over it and act on it. I feel it my duty to spread the word of hope and positivity through writing.

So, join me in empowering yourself by using hashtags like #stanup2scams and my new one #speakoutandheal in your social media postings. Also tags like #empowerment #endviolence #positiveaction and #recoveryispossible would be good. And you can make up your own as you go. Blogging is also an effective and easy way to get your meaning accross to a wider audience. Sometimes, there might not be a huge readership, at first but we are working towards a long time result so every little action is a welcome addition to the movement. And if you have some good ones, please feel free to comment and and suggest down below, 

I am currently developing writing workshops and also a newsletter. My new Website for Love on the Line Book is alive and there is a blog that is all about those important question that has come fort during my book signing and event tours. Feel free to get involved. My main Website should get you everywhere. The book can be bought through Xlibris or any other main distributor like Amazon. Ah, and do like my Facebook Author page, too.

I wish you all a great Holiday Break from Australia.

How to Stretch Your Limits and Write Your Dream Book

There is a promise of very exciting times ahead in the year of 2016. Namely, I finally finished my book LOVE ON THE LINE. How to Recover from Romance Scams with Dignity and without Victimisation. It is the first book in the series of critically analyzing scamming in the modern world with its roots firmly in the world of pornography and romance book industry that I have planned on writing after becoming a victim of an online scam. The book is my ode to the new quantum paradigm and the possibility of happy endings through social change.  I have great ambitions to helping people to overcome their limits by understanding the bigger picture.

How was I able to achieve my goal, you might ask. On hind site there were a few things that contributed to the successfull execution of the plan. Namely, I was inspired into stretching my limits, overcoming a seeming language skills barrier with the help of a wonderful women's community connection, personal editor and some determination from my part. Finally, and I write it with gratitude, I was able to get my act together and finalise a long term dream of writing a book in the English language.

What I am saying here is that people should dream, set goals, make plans and work on achieving their desired happiness. They should seek to stretching their capabilities and overcoming their limits. It is worth all the angst and trouble. I should know. I was shocked enough to start writing. 

After having researched pornography, prostitution and violence against women for decades, I suddenly found myself in the clutches of an online scammer. It was a huge wake up call for me. How could I have fallen into a scam like that? Certainly, I am a savvy and intelligent woman. I would think so, at least. But the new digital world can fool anybody. It was a really low point in my life.  I felt devastated and disillusioned with the whole world. How could I have fallen so low? Luckily, I had my son to lean on to.

He inspired me, with his words of encouragement. He advised me not to dwell on the negative but keep in mind the positive memories of the romancing. So, I took his advise to heart and used it as a muse to write my best happy ending to the story in ordear to help others to avoid similar situations. My book is about to come out any day now. The launch date is already locked in. I am very excited. It is a new high for me. I am inviting everybody to participate. 

It is a new year for me, literally and symbolically. Having had huge anxiety attacks about how on earth could I write in a fluent English, I finally have had professional help to make me get my message through in a language I love but sometimes cannot express myself in. I thank my lucky stars and the community of wonderful Unstoppable Women who have encouraged me to stretch my limits and believe in myself. As a non-English speaking person, I often get corrected in my use of the English language. Sometimes, I feel like an idiot for not being able to express my thoughts in a way that deliveries the message the way I want it to be. It is frustrating!  Luckily, there are those friends that understand my blight and encourage me to expand on it and further explain my thoughts. I am blessed with good friends. I am grateful for that as well. A personal editor will make all the difference to a budding author's confidence. 

I really hope you will enjoy the results of my year of labour. I am inviting you all to the launch at the Avid Reader Bookstore in Bribane on Friday the 22nd of January at 6pm. You can register already on the website at 

http://avidreader.com.au/events/elina-juusola-love-on-the-line

My book will be online next week at

http://bookstore.xlibris.com

More information on my website at

www.elinajuusola.com

How to Take Advantage of Experiencing Failure and Become Unstoppable

What do you do if you want to be unstoppable?

You look at the things you have failed before. Preferably you make a list of your most phenomenal failures and contemplate over why, where, when and what to do about them. Because, what you now might think as your most profound failure in life could become your best ever success, yet. That is, if you set goals, make a plan and execute it with some courageous effort. 

At Brisbane, October, 'Howling at the Moon', Unstoppable Women's evening, we had a theme that looked into these failures. We shared stories about how to turn phenomenal failure into success. As I was filling in the discussion questionnaire, I commented to my friend, sitting next to me that lately, I felt like I was on top of my failures. And then it hit me! 

My phenomenal failure, in the past had been three things 

First, due to dyslexia, I always would feel like a failure in expressing myself in writing and by words as well. Sometimes, I would be overwhelmed by the English language which I just felt I could not master. I felt that I never could be perfect. So a phenomenal failure in Finnish, Swedish and English. What a bomber! 

Secondly, I had always wanted to write a book but had not done so because I sabotaged myself by believing that the deed was too hard to accomplish. Particularly in the English language. It followed that  I never completed a book about my 15 years of research into violence against women even though I mentored others to write theirs. That was my first "failure."

Another failure was never to have finished my PhD in the History of Ideas, despite completing the  fieldwork for it and interviewing 99 Scandinavian born Finnish women in Australia: a second phenomenal failure. But how to turn it around? Would there be a way to correct this mistake? 

And talking about mistake, oh yes. My third failure has been my ever yoyoing weight management skills. Up and down, high and low depending on my emotional state at any particular time. 

Thinking about these failures, I realised that yes, the Universe had intervened from all fronts. The impulse to share my experience on how to recover from romance scams overshadowed everything. The drive was there, and when there is the will, the opportunity opens up through planned action. I was inspired to start with the end in mind and that created a pathway to the resulting product, my book: 'Love on the Line. How to Recover from Romance Scams with Dignity and without Victimisation'. I even visualised the pink cover for it. I was determined not to be a victim and not to look like one either. That is how the third failure was taken care of. 

By the time the circumstances were created for my pathway, I had already learned from all kind of intelligent thinking persons. Napoleon Hill had inspired me to recite daily his suggested Self-Confidence Formula. And my networking had taught me about the definite purpose statement as a means to creating pathways to the vision about my future. It always included writing a book and becoming a healthy person. Admittedly, I had know all of that before, but I was never inspired enough to really set my goals and my efforts to serve the same end: becoming unstoppable in being a success story. I learned that people are drawn to human lives. My story will be worth reading about. And why? 

Because it contains everything I have learned about the subjects: personal experience about online romance scams, personal approach based on my now over 25 years of observing of how to understand WHY in our society there is such vulnerability that requires half the humanity to be available to the other half to exploit. Most of all it has a creative solution for how to heal yourself through the energies created by the community of my family, friends, acquintances and circumstances. It is a journey that is gaining momentum. It will be self-published, but it is set as a project with a reliable publishing company, Xlibris. And not only that - there will be a sequel, to go deeper into it - to answer the question of how to meet real people in the real world. Because love is at stake. Right now! 

So, let's turn our profound failures into our best ever success stories. Let's plan with the happy end in mind, filled with compassion. According to the science of Quantum paradigm and Epigenetics a happy ending is as likely as a miserable one. So let's choose our own happy ending and put all our effortless effort in to make it a reality.

In the Novevember 'Howling at the Moon' the theme is 'Being Unstoppable'. I urge you to come and share your story with other unstoppable women. 

Love on the Line, my story, can be followed on my Facebook page @ Author Elina Juusola or Twitter @ejuusola and very soon on my new website @ www.elinajuusola.com

The book will soon be available through all possible channels, especially through Xlibris

The 10th Communities in Control Conference in Melbourne, May, 2012

It was really exciting to be attending the 10th Communities in Control Conference in Melbourne. In our invitation it says that it will be the last one and many of the attendees have certainly wondered about that purely because this conference is one of the most useful and beneficial conferences for the nonprofit sector in Australia that I can think of.

I was completely taken by the conference last year and this year is no difference. I think that attending is one of the best decisions I've made this year. The atmosphere of the conference just blows you away with it's excitement.

To me this year's Communities in Control Conference was a heartfelt reminder of the things I hold dear, which is working for the social justice and equality in the world.

It is really a noteworthy thing that while we are working in our daily tasks in the community and thinking that we are doing it for the good of the community and especially benefit those who are vulnerable in our society, we can easily loose the tread on what it means to be working for a good cause. Our struggles for funding and other opportunities often shift the focus to things that lead us to pettiness and fragmentation, away from the real issue, which is to maintain social justice in our community and nation.




The Communities in Control Conference works to restore the balance helping us to hold on to that big picture. It gives us some worthy suggestions on who to follow in order to get to the right information, that 'right stuff' in maintaining our knowledge base on where the world is at this particular moment in the human rights and social justice area of things.

I was literally blown away with the discussions in this year's conference on many subjects. Last year, I was really impressed but this year's conference managed to catch my attention at every turn. My mind was captured at every moment, with every speech and every speaker.

The Hon Peter Ryan, the Deputy Premier of Victoria rightfully questioned the invitation to this conference as the last communities in control conference. It is really right and proper that the format of the conference should follow the times and maybe change to something reflecting more of the so called modern times in media, but at the end of the day, it is the human beings in the conference and where else would we get such a wonderful possibility to meet new people whose concerns are similar to us or to listen to an oration on social justice with teary eyes. Not online, as the atmosphere is very hard to transfer through broadcasts. It is the human interaction that inspires and lifts us up to such new hights that ensure that we feel like we need to 'do something' about mobilising for building and maintaining social justice in our communities and the nation.




From the first speech at the conference delivered by Dr James Whelan from the Centre for Policy Development about the 'Big Society' movement and it's possible effect on Australian society, I was holding my seat in awe of how much information I had been missing while concentrating on my own organisation's struggles in gaining a threshold in service delivery in our area.

I had not noticed how the global impact of the Big Society ideal has been creeping to my world without me giving it any deep thought. Luckily, I can now read the report that is published by the Centre for Policy Development online. I am looking forward to reading James Whelan's analysis and research and by doing so acquiring some tools to encounter the signs of the Big Society taking over my consciousness.




Associate Professor Natasha Cica, the Director of Inglis Clark Centre for Civil Society in Tasmania had recently published a fascinating book, called Penner Dreaming about the stories and the pictures taken around the disappearance of the lake Penner in Tasmania during the 1950's. She also told us some touching stories that will be part of her next book on the Polish refuges from the WW II to Australia.

She raised a question on where do we need to take our stand in being responsible for our own actions despite the systematic possibility for compromises in human dignity some dictatorial nations (like the nazi Germany) provided or provide for performing heinous acts in the name of the ordered society. Her speech left me with wonder and a desire to buy her book for further reference.




Renowned health sociologist Dr Samantha Thomas from the Monash University spoke about the scare campaigns that are rampant concerning obesity and gambling.

She held the view, backed by her research that the individuals and the communities involved should be part in finding solutions to the problems. That is the only way to gain insight and really make a difference in removing some obstacles from finding dignified ways to solve the problems. The results of the scare campaigns only lead to more harm done to the society at large than ensuring that there is real outcomes for the people and communities involved. A very inspiring speech, indeed.




My favorite speech for the first day was delivered by George Magalogenis, an Author, Journalist, Political Commentator and a Blogger. It was a very intellectual speech and covered a lot of ground in Australian politics and the history of politics. I now look forward to reading his book, the Australian Moment and making sure that I read some of his blogs to keep up with the political atmosphere in Australia in relation to the global issues.

The first day ended with Judith Lucy's hilarious comedy performance that left me giggling and a little embarrassed, long after exiting the conference room, which I am sure was just her intention from the beginning.

THE SECOND DAY

If the first day of the conference, in my opinion, was excellent, the second day easily topped it and ensured that the participants left with renewed spirits and an eager mindfulness about social justice issues that we need 'to do something about'.




The day began with Margaret Simons, a well known journalist, author, academic and the founder of YouCommNews talking about the end of journalism as we know it. "There might not be journalists as we know in 20 years but the will always be acts of journalism." We do live in an age where everyone can publish, anything and everything online.

She held a positive view to the worldwide fragmentation of information and news and said that even though it might be fragmented, with a little bit of effort, it is possible to find 'the good stuff'. An audience needs to choose carefully who to follow to get to the unbiased, well researched news and act of journalism. It is all in the skills of how to navigate through the maze of unnecessary information flow.

Her speech left me thinking that a community organisation such as in which I work at or indeed any kind of modern business that is working to help the vulnerable people in the community needs someone who can keep up with the big picture that will help us to guide the organisation to informed decision making.




Scott Riddle, the Strategic Syndication Partnership Manager for Google then followed the lead of Margaret Simons and informed us of all the new technology, help and systems that Google.org, the nonprofit part of the Google business has actually already put in place to help the nonprofits of the world online. He talked about cloud computing and raised concerns in the audience about privacy issues. He acknowledged all the concerns and said that they were really good points and that Google was certainly putting a lot of effort into dealing with such issues as privacy etc.

I was quite fascinated by The OurSay Panel that followed. On the first day, the participants had been invited to log on to the OurSay.com, write down the question that we would have liked to be answered by the politicians and vote on the questions that others had raised. The three top questions were then presented to a panel consisting of former and current, local, state and federal politicians.

What was interesting was to hear their point of view to the questions raised. It left me with a definite aim to actually look more deeply into this kind of online mobilising of the public behind important questions that need our attention.




Next Damian Ogden, the founder and Executive Director of Campaign Action and an Obama Campaign Advisor give us his insights to how to organize meaningful campaigns for a good cause.

I was really impressed by his high ethics in planning and mobilising people behind worthy causes. I am sure that the program his company runs would benefit anyone who is in a process of thinking about what to do about concerns and how to go about doing whatever it is that needs to be done. I certainly will take this up anywhere I go and talk about the social justice as an issue to be raised in relation to building equality in our nation.




After that, it was time to announce the the winner of the Joan Kirner Social Justice Award winner and to listen to the Joan Kirner's fantastic Social Justice Oration. It truly made my day by reminding me and everyone else why we are working in the community. It is to help others and the world to reach the goal of Social Justice all around the world.

I do not think that there was a dry eye in the audience while listening to the Joan Kirner's speech. It was a heartfelt reminder to us all about the huge work that is there in the community and society for those who set the goal of helping nations to equality, peace and freedom as a main purpose of their life's work.

A really worthy cause to follow and I am looking forward to seeing where the new forms of the Communities in Control Conferences will lead us.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Inspiration Application; An Unexpected Day in Amsterdam

Last week, I got stuck in Amsterdam. There was a storm and I missed my flight and landed a great opportunity to be inspired by the moment in time in a great city.

My conclusion is that Amsterdam is not a bad place to get stuck in. It is merely the question of how to size this unexpected opportunity suddenly and without any preparations. Quick decisions had to be made of what out of all the possibilities a visitor could choose to be inspired by.

So, I chose the most obvious, the canals. It is the quickest way. After all, that is the most striking feature I know about Amsterdam, besides the famous tulips, of course.

After making your way to the Amsterdam Central by train from the Airport, you just walk across the street and hop on a boat that will take you around the city's canals for a day. There is a combi-cruise available, where you can hop on-and-off wherever you like. The coolest thing ever, especially on a dreary mid-winter day.

Then it is another decision of where to hop-off as with a sudden opportunity time is of the most importance as you have to catch the next flight home, for sure.

The other great feature I know about Amsterdam is that it is full of great art. Hoping off next to the National Museum then becomes quite a simple decision. But would there be time enough in two hours to absorb it all? I' d say no. So the next available inspirational, fit-for-two-hours-experience is the Van Gogh Museum, right behind the previously mentioned one. And Wow!

It is an inspirational tour of the best kind. To me, it was an exercise in turning the dreary into colorful. Van Gogh, famously, knew how to do that.

Let's see! Here we have a person, who adores dreary landscapes and colors but instead becomes the trademark for orange.

To make the long story short, here is an example of a person who, at the age of 27, after making a sudden decision of becoming an artist instead of selling art, works tirelessly at improving his skills. He is also confident enough to forgo critique and hold on to the inspiration to the end. It is a show of real self-confidence in one's abilities to be able to say that you are satisfied by your work of art and leave it at that despite of what anybody else says.

I was fascinated by the way Van Gogh was inspired by the Japanese art and how it can be detected in his work. His famous work, 'The Bedroom', for example becomes much more understandable with the background knowledge of where he took his inspiration from. It is much like after watching the special features of making a movie, you can better appreciate the completed work. The Van Gogh Museum has certainly succeeded in giving the visitor that experience.

Amongst the inspirational art that inspired Van Gogh, I also found Odilon Redon, a new favorite of mine in inspiring for the mysterious.

One of the art works also reminded me that I should re-read Emile Zola, which would then in it's turn inspire with the understanding how the rebellious mind of the youth of the 19th Century can be turned into great art pieces.

What I did take with me after spending an unplanned day in Amsterdam as a spectator for great architecture, landscape and art was the concept of inspiration application.

The opportunity is in all of us, despite the dreariness of the day. It is learning to size the moment and channeling every inspiration to make our day a worthwhile experience. Holding on to that inspiration and letting it move us towards an enchanted life then becomes a little bit easier every day.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Inspiration Application; Marketing the Best of You!

Last week I was at the Westside Business Women's Breakfast meeting listening to a very interesting and thought provoking talk by Deborah Jackson about marketing the best of you.

Deborah is a client attraction specialist who has written a book called Easy Marketing for Women. It is Pink!

She has chosen to write her book for women because she feels that most of the books on marketing have been written with men in mind and mostly take their examples from their experience. Her book highlights the female experience of joggling many tasks at one go.

Of course, when listening to talks at breakfast meetings, they are always condensed to their shortest essentials and to get the full benefit, you must then read the books and follow their advise to know if it works. Like other times, this is my speciality. I like following advice, if it leads to something worthwhile.

So, that is what I did. I read the book and followed the leads where it took me. I created a folder on my iPad memos for pursuing the best of me, everything I get inspired about and everything I could do if I wasn't doing what I do now. This takes serious contemplation. My folder contains headings suggested by Deborah, such as Branding, Passion, Reasons, Customers and Ideas.

For a week now, I have been putting some of my efforts into building a make belief company on what I do best. I have had discussions with friends and workmates on what they think about what I do best. It has been a very interesting experience. I really recommend Deborah's book for those who are thinking about starting a business or are seriously concerned about marketing the best of themselves to the well thought target groups.

My Experinnce

Listening to Deborah and other motivational speakers in many seminars over the last few months has left me thinking about inspiration application as a concept.

Every now and then we do need inspiration. Sometimes the inspiration we hold leads to action. If it does not, then we have lost a very valuable opportunity. Sometimes, the action we take is shortsighted as we may think that we know what we want but in the end, what we wanted wasn't what we really needed or what was the best of us.

Deborah gives us good practical tools for considering our marketing strategy. It can be applied everywhere, even in marketing the best of you.

Thank you for taking time to read my blog. Here is a link to Deborah's Website:
Here is a link to Westside Business Women's Website


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Be Inspired by Everything

At this time of the year in Australia, I am really inspired by the colours of the spring. They are everywhere. Everything seems to bloom. And still, after so many years of living in Queensland and experiencing it, I get inspired by the idea that long time ago some forward thinking people planted flowering trees around the place in rows so that other people would be able to enjoy and be inspired by them in their unforeseen future. I also get inspired by the fact that everything that in my birth country is grown inside in pots here grows into trees and flowers as well.

I get inspired by little things. People who smile and say hello even though they do not know you. They are in the act of spreading goodwill and sharing their positivity. It is invigorating.

I get inspired by art, music and culture. Listening to inspirational music lifts your spirits spreading calmness and good feelings. it contributes to making your day better.
                                    
I get inspired by exhibitions and museums where people have collected inspiring things or ideas. Even after experiencing the Queensland Museum many times, I still think it is cool that the sex of a sea turtle is determined by the temperature of the eggs.

Most of all I get inspired by other people being inspired. The look of rapture, passion and enthusiasm when they talk about things that inspire them. It can be anything.

Recently, I was inspired by Yvette Adams at the Westside Business Women's breakfast. She inspired us by likening marketing to eating ice-cream. I can just see the visual image of a child enjoying the ice-cream and this inspires me further to try everything she suggested we try on the net.

Just couple days ago, I was inspired by a conversation about light bulbs. It is incredible how the technology and science of producing electricity has changed in the recent times. It is inspiring to understand that the little halogen light that previously did not light much has become so powerful as a light source that it can now light a whole stage.

Last night, I was inspired by the calming music at a friend's house. Listening to the clever piano player being inspired by a long passed composer made my day.

Today, I am looking forward to much more inspiration. My eyes will see things, my primary visual cortex will transport the images to 30 other processing centers of my brain. This process will create meaning for me. My limbic system will recognise the feelings that come to me and I'll be once again inspired by everything I see, do and think.

It is a viscous circle but someone has to be inspired, so why not you and me?

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad