Since Morrissey seemed to help Sandie Shaw from a career rut in the 70's through the 80's, i looked her up (also prompted by a friend getting me a collector's edition Smiths cd for x-mas dedicated to her). She seems to be the epitome of everything that i hold philosophically dear to me... it seems that she's the only person who thinks this way... sandie writes :

`Some people believe in destiny or fate, that things don't just happen randomly. I understand it as karma - cause and effect. Nothing just happens. We cause it to happen. Everything that you are, that is happening to you in the present, is an effect of a cause you have made through thought, word or deed in the past. Everything you think, say or do today is the cause for what you will be, what will happen to you in the future. For instance, someone who continues to respond angrily or slanderously to the people and events around them is making the cause for more people and events in their environment to make them angry and unhappy. Someone who lives dominated by fear is making the cause to attract situations that perpetuate that fear. Someone who makes others suffer is making the cause to suffer themselves. But someone who strives to see the potential for change, for joy, in everything they encounter in life, and grabs it with both hands, is making the cause to be happy and fulfilled. Once you understand cause and effect karma - you are master or mistress of your own fate. I have not changed my basic nature. Im still scatty, an emotional volcano, prone to occasional bouts of massive self-doubt. I still love to live in a fantasy world and have a child's outlook on life. What I have changed is that nowadays it all seems to work in my favour. The kind of tapestry we weave of our life depends on the relationship we have with our pure inner selves. I think of the warp of the cloth as our spiritual understanding and the weft as the day-to-day happenings. How we deal with tragedy, success, loss or gain, depends on the extent to which we develop and reveal the depth and strength of our spiritual life. The tapestry can be rich and warm with rewarding experiences and relationships or impoverished and restricted with lost opportunities and bitterness. Although I believe in angels, that we have the power to transcend anything, I don't believe in fairy stories any more. I don't believe there is someone out there who's going to wave a magic wand and make everything turn out fine. I do believe we are able to change our destiny, and that of the world, ourselves. This is the greatest challenge, the final frontier, the ultimate personal adventure. All it takes is wisdom, compassion, and courage - and the all-encompassing desire to do it.'' sandie xxx

Some important links that I have in my bookmarks file!