Tag Archives: Jeffrey Slayter

Are we fragile to the Core?

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After doing six workshops in a day recently I felt a little bit fragile, Feeling this way it made me wonder what did fragility mean and how did it shape our society, This is Wikipedia’s cut at it.

fragility

noun
the quality of being easily broken or damaged.
“osteoporosis is characterized by bone fragility”

synonyms: frailty, flimsiness, weakness, delicacy, daintiness, fineness, brittleness;

antonyms: robustness

the quality of being delicate or vulnerable.
“a film about the fragility of relationships”

This made me think about the times I have been really fragile in my life, especially my mental health episodes , all five of them. These periods are the extreme places fragility can take me so I looked to see what people had to say about it:

1. Fragility1

This image is a great depiction of the times I have been taken over by my fragility, it was like having all the air crushed out of a ballon.

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The fragility of Life is what takes us on our journey to discob=ver our passion, It is never an easy road as life tries to fit us into one of its boxes.

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Life is a delicate mix between the fragility of new growth to the eternalness of the night sky, both are extraordinary in their magnificence.

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Love is often depicted as the peak experience in our lives, it is not in these moments that love triumphs , but in the moments when it is at its most fragile state.

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Women give all of their heart if you are willing to stand in the space of unconditional love and be there for the whole journey, the fragile bits of vulnerability and the tough bits of the storm that is love.

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We close our eyes when we kiss as a sign to the fragility and beauty of the pureness of the act. At that moment the rest of the world feels like walking on broken glass.

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Love and its fragility is universal to the world and is written of in all languages, this is one of them, it translates with the same power as your native tongue.

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Crystals have been a powerful tool across the centuries, their fragility is hard to explain the journey that have been through to create their well known healing powers.

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Do we need to be sorry when we are feeing a wee bit fragile in our emotions. We would hope that we have understanding friends, family and partners who assist us through these times.

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Nature in all its power and mystery can make the human race very fragile, it is in these times that we learn to respect the power of Gaia.

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Do we need to take a trip to the moon to learn the lesson that our planet is built on a fragile ecosystem and that mans responsibility is to care for it.

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The world wide web has become the way we communicate, Instant gratification. We can use it to spread possibility or hate, I choose the former with my group of world wide FB friends, what do you choose.

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If we do not risk the steps that it takes to feel the joy of intimacy we may never know the rapturous beauty of these moments, it is a path filled with fragility.

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Sometimes it feels that we muddle through that crazy little thing called Love. It calls for our vulnerability, our fragility, our strength and our tears.

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Trust, one of the most fragile things in life. We must treat this honourable gift we give to each other with the dignity that it deserves, especially in love matters.

Another exploration into the wonder that is life over, Namaste until next time my friends.
Namaste

What does it take to truly Love?

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I have taken on creating a new essence in my life in one of the courses I am doing at the moment. It is to be Lovingly Courageous in my life. I looked up the definition of courage and love, here they are.

Lovingly
feeling or showing love; warmly affectionate; fond

Courageous

fearlessness, dauntlessness, intrepidity, pluck, spirit. Courage, bravery, valor, bravado refer to qualities of spirit and conduct. Courage permits one to face extreme dangers and difficulties without fear: to take (or lose) courage. Bravery implies true courage with daring and an intrepid boldness: bravery in a battle. Valor implies heroic courage: valor in fighting for the right. Bravado is now usually a boastful and ostentatious pretense of courage or bravery: empty bravado.
I was sure Lovers across the world would have written saying that describe this essence so I looked them up. Here are some of my favourites.
Courage1
If you love somebody or something the greatest gift you can give the world is to speak up about it, how will they know if you do not.
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The moments I have been the most courageous in my life was when I felt a deep love for a person or a cause. Courage comes from the heart.
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My siblings Jann and Ruth fit into this beautiful quote about sisterhood. They are passionate, loving women and I am lucky to have them in my life. 
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In the sixties they often quoted the term Free Love, they were not referring to the type of love pointed to here, that of universal love without attachment.
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What would you do to achieve your dreams, a dose of courage can help you out according to the creator of Mickey Mouse, Walt Disney, a man who certainly created his.
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Lao Tzu is from the 6th century B.C. and is known as the Supreme Old Lord, his quotes on almost anything can transform your life. Love and being Loved are no exception.
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Courage is the foundation of Integrity especially when it comes to an area as quirky as loving someone, if you have never lied in your relationship you do not have to remember what you said.
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I fell in love recently and did not know what the outcome would be, it did not turn out the way I wanted it too. I don’t think I was coming from the place of without guarantee of the outcome.
Courage9
There are times in our life when we are called on to be courageous and we cannot plan this. You may be walking down the street and the need to be appears, or you may meet the person you will love the rest of your life as you turn the corner.
Courage10
Lovers build up the world and relationships. These are the actions of heroes and heroines, those who love their lives with a passion.
Courage11
I’m not sure what this quote is pointing to, but these are all fine qualities to be in love with, keeping these present will take your best intentions and heart.
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Beautiful that courage stems from the root word heart (coeur) They interlink and make the act of truly loving a thing of ultimate courage.
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Do we honour our love with grace, the state that moves our heart and quiets our mind. One of the  imperial states of consciousness
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If they hang around after their hearts have been trampled on, this is a great sign that there is more to the relationship than meets the eye. give each other more time to decide the fate of it.
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We all have heard and told fabulous stores during our lifetimes, they are the moments we remember for their sadness, hilarity but mostly moments of loving life.
We have to work on creating this essence for a 6 week period, doing daily meditations, creations and renewals, I expect to have a different relationship to it when it is finished.
Namaste till next time, my dear friends
Namaste

Getting to the bottom of it all to be free.

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I have recently been busy with an online Sacred Union course and a course I attended every Monday for six weeks called Creative Mastery. Here are the links if you wish to read more on the subject http://www.starofishtar.com/white-tantra-creating-sacred-union-within/ and http://activationschool.com/creative-mastery-6-week-program/. During the process I explored the depths of what was my underlying thoughts of why life did not work at times. Creative Mastery has a lot of breath work and Sacred Union works on aligning your chakras with their relevant gods and goddesses to make your relationships shine.

I discovered and had it become OK to be my deepest darkest secret and that if people knew it I would not fall down a deep dark hole. So I have sort of fallen in love with life just walking along the street or being in a deep conversation and everything in between.

Having all this heart felt energy I have decided to pass on my thoughts on some of my favourite quotes on the subject.

1. We are not meant to have everybody in our worlds agree with our every word or action but it helps if our hearts beat as one.

heart to heart1

2. I have put myself in many a situation over my 60 years of existence where I have given away my power to the teacher or guru especially in the area of Tibetan Buddhism often forgetting the inspiring quote below. If you find a servant master situation arising run like hell, it isn’t it.

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3. When I was growing up my greatest wish was to fly unaided, I tried parachuting, gliding, hang gliding, bungee jumping and several other equally dangerous past times. I realised that it was actually an inner journey and that the flying I wished ti do was of the spiritual kind. I fell several times quite a long way ending up in pysch clinics before I realised this.

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4. During the courses I learnt that one must work on both the dark and light side of ones character. It allows for vulnerability to face that which we hide to grow into our strengths.

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5. I have a friend that every time we touch or hug it is like our bodies transport to the middle of the Sahara desert, an amazing temperature increase and heart rate flux. How does one measure such a re action on a scale of 1 to 10, what does it mean? 

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6. We spend our life hoping like hope this will happen to us and when it does it speaks so true that we wondered why we ever doubted that it would.

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7. How often do we shield our heart because our head says no, no, no, no to that action or those words that need to be said or done but we would rather play it safe and survive the moment.

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8.  I was lucky that the person who did this for me was born into my family. My sister said to me I don’t care whatever you do, I will still love you. Allowed me to get in touch with love and begin my healing journey for real.

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9. We often have great ideas during the night whilst asleep and we often forget them when we wake. They are called dreams, my dreams , your dreams. Its critical we are really awake to fulfill them.

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10. Live as if this is all there is, beautiful ethos, walk to the edge, y darlings.

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11. I have laughed, wept and had my heart shudder with joy at the beautiful prose that the poets of the world offer us. I had a friend who used to go to markets and create a poem from one word, a remarkable skill of the heart.

 Poet1

I am learning to balance life, this is what life does with balance.

Balance

So our first contact for a while, I promise to get back into it, Namaste until next time my friends.

Namaste

Friendship, Cheap at half the Price

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Is there a price for friendship? What is a true friend versus a fair-weather one, here are my and some other better known peoples thoughts on it.

I have experienced some heart shuddering moments of friendship through my journey with my mental health issues.People who would not give up on me when I had entered the dark zone of self hatred, for this I must thank my siblings and friends I have made over the years, some of who I thought fitted into the fair-weather arena.

The quote I use to explain friendship is as follows: You cannot judge the value of a friendship, the great ones are based in Love which is priceless at its core. Lets see what others have to say on the matter.

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The Marquise de Sevigne, born in the sixteenth century, was famous for her letters and musing on friendship, In this well known quote she point to the fact that true friends are around when life is rocky as well as smooth sailing.

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Friendship2

Martin Luther King is a modern icon of oratory yet in regard to friendship he does not talk about remembering words spoken, but those beautiful moments of silence that occur between friends where words are not necessary.

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I recently met one of these old friends that Jim Henson is pointing to in this quote, we had met once before but there was nothing I wanted to hold back from her when I got a chance to have a long conversation with her.

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Aristotle was more than a great philosopher and a bugger for the bottle he was a deeply spiritual man, he authored this quote that close friendships are like one soul in two bodies, beautiful.

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How often have we formed friendships because that particular soon to be friend had the same quirky liking or hobby we had, C.S.Lewis the author penned this great ode to just those moments.

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Ralph Waldo Emerson points to the time I did the worst white South African gumboot dancing in front of a crowd of 5,000 people with two of my oldest friends, you give each other permission to be silly when you know the ins and out of each other.

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The bard William Shakespeare reminds us that friendships are meant to grow as well as be safe places to hang out in.

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Albert Camus speaks to what is beautiful about great friendships, that they happen side by side, not trying to one up our friends or follow their beckon and call.

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Kahil Gibran is not just remembered for the iconic tome The prophet he also is remembered for his spiritual quotes, this is one of them that I like a lot.

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Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of the American president was often in trouble with the establishment for her outspoken views but this lovely quote speaks to a person with a beautiful caring heart.

So I hope this has demonstrated that friendship is a subject that has fascinated people over the centuries, namaste until next time my friends.

Namaste

The Year of Love

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I’m not a great one for New Years Resolutions since I took up Danielle LaPorts Cored Desired Feelings and having intentions. But I came across the practice of Naming your year from a friend who inspires me lately. She chose the Year of Being, I chose the Year of Love for 2015.

It doesn’t necessarily mean that I will fall deeply in Love with the One but that would be nice but more that each and every moment is appreciated from the heart space of Love. So I researched what we as a society have to say about Love, Here are my favourite 20 quotes and sayings on Love.

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The majority of Quotes on Love are romantic in nature but I have collected romantic and inspiring love quotes over the years, Here we go.

1. In dreams and Love there are no impossibilities.

To get to know somebody at the deepest level ask them what their dreams are and support them in fulfilling them, they will love you with the intensity that it will take to assist them in reaching their life’s pinnacle.

2. Hatred paralyses Life, love releases it . Hatred confuses Life, Love harmonies it, Hatred darkens life, Love illuminates it.

What did the man who said this Martin Luther King have to give up in the area of hatred to inspire a national Civil Rights movement in  the sixties. If you listen n to his speeches they are all from love of his fellow human being, be they white or black.

3. Love is a canvas furnished by Nature, and embroidered by imagination.

Gaia gave up beauty all around to inspire the love of this extraordinary planet, allowing us to have Aww moments at every moment in the day, We have only to stop and smell the Roses.

4. We are all Born for Love. It is the principle of existence, and its only end.

People have been offering Inspiring quotes about love for centuries and Benjamin Disreali ( Earl of Beaconsfield ) offered this profound take at it back in the day. I love it for the way it states that it is the backbone of our very existence.

5. Love in its essence is spiritual fire.

I have been on the spiritual path for many a year and this sums up what as I see the message of this way of Life, Simply Love.

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6. Doubt that the stars are fire, Doubt that the sun doth move: Doubt that the truth is a liar, but never doubt I Love.

The bard William Shakespeare had a way with words, here he writes in regard to the power of, and the power to love.

7. I don’t want the heavens or the shooting stars, I don’t wan’t gemstones or gold. I have those things already. I want ….. a kind soul. I want to fall asleep and wake, knowing my heart is safe. I want to love and be loved.

Wealth, possessions cannot give you what true love does. The kindness of a friendly soul and the joy of love and being loved back, thats what provided it.

8. There are only four questions of value in life What is Sacred?, of what is the spirit made? What is worth living for and what is worth dying for? The answer to each is always the same: only love.

Don Juan De Marco said this, not known as a spiritual man but a supremo in the area of Love. Who do you live for and who would you die for?

9. I Love you because the entire Universe conspired to help me find you.

Haven’t we met our loved ones in unusual places, Like someone or something was conspiring to have it happen. Paulo Coelho’s quote sums it up nicely, remember we are all Starseed’s just waiting to find the right bit for us.

10. The heart has its reasons of which reason know nothing.

Love is a quality that overrules all logical thought, It has a fluidity all of its own. You may never know what draws you to certain people but are just glad that it did.

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11. Who being loves, Is Poor

Bad boy Oscar Wilde penned this short vignette, not known for his holding back Oscar seems to be pointing to the only thing that truly satisfies the heart, being in Love with whom and whatever that inspires you.

12. Love is a fabric which never fades , no matter how often it is washed in the water of adversity and grief.

We will have things that happen in our lives that will test the power of our love, Deaths, unexpected breakups , financial disasters but underneath it Love will remain, beating away through the power of our heart.

13. Love is Life, and if you miss Love, You Miss Life.

This quote by Leo Buscaglia hits home for me. Last year I fell out of love with myself and  spent three months fighting depression, only when I got back in touch with the love others had for me did I return to the sef love that got me out of it.

14. Love has nothing to do with what you are expecting to get – only what you are expecting to give – which is everything. 

When Love is reliant on What an I going to get out of this , you fail. It is what you are willing to give to a situation, without expectation where the beauty of love resided.

15. Falling in Love is like leaping off a really tall building. Your brain tells you it is not a good idea, but your heart tells you, you can fly.

I listen to my head far too often in these situations, time to leap of some tall building and let my heart run things for a while.

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16. Can miles truly separate you from friends… If you want to be with someone you love , aren’t you already there.

They say you can sense that those you love are thinking about you or are in trouble. These people are the people who, no matter how long you have been apart it feels like one minute.

17. Now join your hands, and with your hands, your heart.

The bard again. Would make a great wedding vow, joining our hearts is the ultimate act of love.

18. Love is like the wind, you can’t see it, but you can feel it.

When Love comes to town, it feels like a mighty, mighty wind straight to your heart. Can be stormy weather but as the power of nature inspires us, so does love.

19. Meeting you was fate, becoming your friend was a choice, but falling in love with you was beyond my control.

This three step process simplifies that crazy little thing called Love. We hope we only need to take the final step one or two times in our life, but that is not becoming the norm these days.

20. Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included

This is my quote. it came to me when I was sitting at my desk at work. I saw the possibility of everyone returning to the possibility of Love. I spend my time having it happen on the planet.

This is what is behind me choosing the Year of Love for 2015, I would love you all to get on board. Namaste to next time my friends.

Namaste

 

Your contribution is a gift to the Community

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compassion

The news that has been being reported in  my country is tragic at the moment, multiple deaths that are unexpalinable to anyone with a humane heart. it has made me think how does the community recover from such events when they become permeated in  our history, Soon after the event an unknown person placed a bunch of flowers in Martin Place as a sign of the deep  loss they felt for the people involved, they probably did not know them but they wanted to say i feel for you in some way.bikemartin

In an amazing outpouring of compassion, thousands upon thousands of people have followed suit and it has simply become to be known as the martin Place Flowers Shrine.

flowers

This has brought me to think what options are available to you to mend a broken heart when something unimaginable happens that renders it asunder.

1. Seek professional help.

What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s quote sums up succintly the power of what we are thinking about something has over us. When your thoughts start getting dark and are making it difficult to face the day its time to talk to someone who has been trained in releasing the grip those thoughts have on you.

2. Write about It.

They say it is better in than out and if you find it difficult to talk to someone about it then the option of writing how you feel gets it out of your head and on the page. As they say you can’t start the next chapter if you keep on reading the last in your head.

3. Physical Touch.

I find this one difficult when in the depths of thinking life is not great but in following this koan: Physical touch makes you healthier. Hugs, Massages and holding hands reduces stress  while boosting your immune system I have allowed my friends and family to help get me back on the path to wellness.

4. Do what makes you Happy.

Be it spending times with friends and family, physical exercise, watching a film that cheers you up, making something, just do a little bit a day if that is all you can do now, and build it up gradually as this will improve your general demeanour.

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5. Meditation.

Your vision will become clear only when you can look in your own heart, who looks outside dreams, who looks inside awakes. Carl Jung expresses very well what the benefits of a daily meditation practice are, meditation is just not for relaxation, its primary purpose is to respond skilfully and gracefully to life’s difficulties as well as  its joy. There are many forms of meditation available, from calm abiding to chakra focus. Try one on until you find the type that suits you.

6. Spirituality.

Nothing goes away until it has taught us what we need to know – Pema Chodron, A Buddhist nun and profound thought leader of our generation covers it pretty well, if we think we know the answer there is no opportunity to advance by learning the lesson our circumstances are trying to teach us. Spending a few hours a week reading your favourite spiritual teacher can only enhance your understanding of the world.

7. Shake, Rattle and Roll.

Walking is the worlds oldest exercise and today modern  medicine. In the days of driving to work and back home again simple exercise like an half an hour walk can transform your life. I started with this and have built up to cycling every where and three sessions in the gym a week.

8. Dancing.

Dancing with the feet is one thing, Dancing with the heart is Another. We all have our favourite music that touches our heart. Put some on and dance to it. As children this was one of our main pastimes, we have just forgotten the enjoyment we get out of it.

Sorry about the break in blogs, busy over the festive season, Namaste till next times my friends.

Namaste

Take Some Things off The Table

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table

Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included. This is my core goal, to have this be the paradigm for the world. My core desired feelings are Love, Peace, Bliss H.O.P.E. – Helping Other People Evolve and Abundance. I need to bring all these into play to achieve such an awesome goal. I had two others, To let my soulmate find me and to be a Kundalini Dance Teacher for Elders that have sort of fallen by the way in 2014 so will reassess them next year.

Often we take on far to many goals for the year and set ourselves up for failure in at least a few of them. People have made an industry out of helping people achieve their New Year Promises made on a dash and a prayer at one or another  NYE celebration, a lot of them based on wouldn’t life be better if ……, sort of like your personal wish list.

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Usually they are the biggies that have been following us around for a lot of our life, weight issues, money issues, relationship issues, you name it they could be  on that list. A much more useful practice would be to say Not yet or even, gasp ditch these things that having been hanging around our necks for time immemorial. How do we do such a revolutionary thing when we have been trying our whole lives with little apparent success.

I have put together a list of suggestions and practices that have worked for me over the journey.

1. Your Life is your message to the World, Make sure it is Inspiring.

You have 86,400 seconds in each day, in fact each human has the same exact amount  of them a day. You have the opportunity to have the same effect as Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, The Dalai Lama, Oprah Winfrey on the planet. Use them as powerfully as you can, its in what you give not how much you make.

2.  None of us can change our Yesterdays, but all of Us can Change our Tomorrows.

The one thing you are guaranteed in life is change, the more we resist it the more painful the trip is. If you want something in your life, unstick the glue that you have formed your identity with, begin with being real about where you are at this moment.

3. It takes only one Person  to change your world – You.

I spent years working in Government service because I had an attachment to feeling safe financially. My heart was speaking to me the last five years to get out and fly but I did not listen ending up with severe mental health issues. Since having my career curtailed I have discovered my passion https://www.facebook.com/groups/Interulturalism/ but I had to travel quite a journey to get there. I am so glad I did.

4. You must make a Choice to take a chance or your life will never Change.

Each and every moment of the day we make instant choices, to brush our teeth, to go to work, to eat a meal. We also have the choice to take a real chance that will make a difference in the direction we are heading. These choices are also instant, just that there is a whole lot of dross in our head that tells us why we can’t, don’t listen to it.

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5. The Ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones that do.

Who do you spend you time with, I spend my time more and more with people who have these ideas that take other people getting on board to help better the planet. From Little things  Big things grow and I’ve got a biggie.

6. There are no Mistakes.

Making the social media airwaves at the moment is this inspiring 2 minute something video by Oprah Winfrey https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZ3ucnkDOiY pointing to the fact there are no such things as mistakes in our lives only opportunities. Where we live , what we do, who we hang around with, we chose that.

7. I’ve been embraced by a new community, thats what happens when you’re finally honest about who you are, you find others like you.

Spend time finding out who you are at your heart space, when this emanates from you, then they will come. I met two of the people that inspire me in a Raw food shop.

8. Lifes most persistent and urgent question is – What are you doing for others.

Who do you include in your dreams, if your dream  is to own a Ferrari or ten houses then when you get them there will still be that missing factor, How have you improved the lot of others, Focussing on yourself in your actions is the booby prize. You can go internal to resolve your issues but it is in what you provide for others the juice lies.

So these are a few of my practices and suggestions. Get Up, Stand Up for your Rights, its up to Us, Because we Can, its our Time.

Namaste until next time, my friends

Namaste

Small Changes, Big Results

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results

These are the beginning of 300 foot trees if they survive their journey. This is the same for human beings, we are destined to be the leaders of the world if we fulfil our dreams or failed seedling if we do not. As seedlings/children we imagine amazing futures for ourselves and our friends, real or imagined. Then comes something called the education system that is more and more becoming about normalising children, packing them into little boxes so they all come out the same prepared for their careers in our economic world.

Would we have lost the space program if all the astronauts of the world have stuck to their childhood declaration and sought to walk on the Moon or Mars for that matter. Would we have the politicians we have today if all the 4 year old presidents and prime ministers who wanted to make a difference to their friends and family had followed their dreams and transformed their communities.

Ritu Ghatourey,a writer from India  said – Your life is made up of little moments, little efforts, little changes, big smiles, and all your hopes and dreams. Don’t think any problem in your life is any different. Don’t accept defeat. You were built to triumph through. I admit there are times where I have not lived up to these ideals.

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Here are 7 things that can keep  you on the straight and narrow when you feel that the results you desire are slipping away from you.

1. You are exactly where you need to be.

All those thoughts that keep saying I’m not going to make it , I have failed are not correct, you are where you need to be right now on your life journey, you cannot be anywhere else as a matter of fact.

2. Trust yourself Vs. the Doubting monster.

Love and Respect for all, Everyone included. If you go through life with this koan there will be no room to doubt what you are doing will succeed because you will have the majority of people onside. People who exude love have to push away people who are willing to support them because there are so many of them lined up.

3. Give up resisting what life does every moment  of the day , Change!

“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

4. Never stop learning.

There is a quote that goes “Anyone who stops learning is old, whether 20 or 80. Anyone who keeps learning today is young. The greatest thing on the world today is to keep your mind young. I would add your heart and soul to this as well, the access to the knowledge of the elders is growing and refreshening our heart soul and mind is essential to keep our dreams and projects alive.

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5.Develop a Gratitude practice.

We can be grateful for what we have in our lives, or complain and judge them, here are some reasons that being grateful works and makes us an all round better person.

  1. Feeling more connected (less lonely)
  2. Strengthened immune system
  3. Improved emotional equilibrium
  4. Better sleep
  5. Increased energy
  6. More confidence in ourselves
  7. Deeper relaxation
  8. Appear more attractive to others
  9. Increased creativity
  10. Easier bounce back from difficulty

I sure would  like some of these!! Gratitude journal and the writing of Thank you notes are great practices to help manifest this.

6. Sun Gazing.

The practice of sungazing closely resembles its name. At sunrise and/or sunset, when the sun is closest to the earth, sungazers stand barefoot on the earth and look directly at the sun for 10 seconds. Every day, 10 seconds are added and some sungazers eventually reach a duration of 44 minutes. This is meant to increase your melatonin and serotonin levels, our feel good hormones which also increase our overall energy.

7. Care with no Reason, Love with no Expectation.

Life rarely turns out exactly the way you want it to, but you still have an opportunity to make it great. You have to do what you can, with what you have, exactly where you are. It wont always be easy, but it will be worth it in the end. Remember that there is no perfect life, just perfect moments. And its these moments you must cherish; its these moments that make the whole journey worthwhile.

Another Ritu Ghatourey quote to end on, no attachments make it easier to walk your path and have more and more great moments in your life, projects , relationship, pretty well all areas in your life.

Namaste until next time, my friends.

Namaste

Terra Nullius, the theft of a land

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firsta

I live in a land that has been populated for close to 60,000 years. Recently the Prime Minister of our country denied this https://newmatilda.com/2014/11/14/tony-abbott-says-nothing-bush-australia-white-settlement, an act he continues to do even though he is the self appointed representative of the people who have inhabited the land for this time. Our Country, Australia is the only western country that does not recognise the indigenous native in their Constitution, in fact the words “other than the aboriginal race” were contained in up to 1967 when 94% of the population voted to have it removed in a referendum. I am ashamed that prior to this under the White Australia Policy of the government our Indigenous brothers and sisters, The First Australians had been considered less than human.

Terra nullius is a Latin expression deriving from Roman law meaning “land belonging to no one”, which is used in international law to describe territory which has never been subject to the sovereignty of any state, or over which any prior sovereign has expressly or implicitly relinquished sovereignty.

We are showing the inspirational SBS series The First Australians at the place that I work at Darebin Intercultural Centrehttps://www.facebook.com/DarebinInterculturalCentre?ref=hl ,a series created by First Australians to belie some of the myths that have been put across as the history of our land http://www.sbs.com.au/firstaustralians/. Facts I have learnt from this series are that there were over 250 Tribal groups populating the country when whites first arrived and that genocidal actions were taken against them to steal their land such as the 5 pound bounty put on an aboriginal in Tasmania and the hiring of  professional hunters to complete the task by the government of the day.

This made me think that families who first settled the land in the early days probably saw or took part in some horrendous actions to claim their lands if they were all populated by an aboriginal tribe. I grew up in the bush so somewhere in our distant past who knows what occurred.

massacre

On the night of the 12 February 1965, 30 university students from Sydney boarded a bus and set off to campaign in the country towns of New South Wales. Officially called Student Action for Aborigines, they were led by Charles Perkins, a young man who would become one of the most important Australian Aboriginal activists, as well as a leader in the Aboriginal community through his work as a politician and bureaucrat, as well as through his sporting achievements as a soccer player, coach and administrator.http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s-56_u-490_t-1335_c-5130/tas/sose-history/australia-after-1945/an-era-of-protest/charles-perkins-freedom-rides

Charles Perkins and his ilk were willing to fight for the rights of Indigenous people and their actions led to the referendum of 1967 and allowed people like Vincent Lingiari to lead his fellow stockman and families off the Wave Hill cattle station where their civil rights had been being abused by the Vestey family, a wealthy British family who had run the station since the 1880’s. In 1975 the land was handed back to the Gurindji people by then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam , the first such case and the beginning of the land rights movement in Australia.

Finally, to give back to you formally in Aboriginal and Australian law ownership of this land of your fathers. Vincent Lingiari, I solemnly hand to you these deeds as proof, in Australian law, that these lands belong to the Gurindji people and I put into your hands this piece of the earth itself as a sign that we restore them to you and your children forever.—Gough Whitlam, August 16th 1975 [4]

This opened up actions to be taken by several governments to either crush or support land rights http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Native_title_in_Australia , the most famous case being Mabo vs. Queensland over the period of 1988 to 1992. Eddie Mabo took the government to task about the right his Murri people had  re owner ship of Mer, his home island. Unfortunately Eddie became ill and died several months before the victorious decision was handed down http://www.abc.net.au/tv/mabo/biography/eddie-mabo.htm.

eddie

So why will the government of a supposedly civilised land not recognise the first 40,000 years of their lands history in their constitution? If you look at these statistics it could be assumed that the will of the people is not there and the government are listening to the unspoken racism that exists in  our country http://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/people/racism-in-aboriginal-australia#toc6

Terra Nullius is an abomination and belittles the people of our great country and we should be taking all steps we can to have it reversed and call out to our elected head of government to stop making statements that suggest he supports its existence. The fight for land rights has also risen again as the premier of Western Australia intends to  close 150 settlements http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-11-12/indigenous-communities-closures-will-have-severe-consequences/5886840. I believe we are better as a nation in recognising our indigenous brothers and sisters, the First Australians than some of the actions occurring seemingly in the name of the money barons who wish to mine without having to ask anyone. Say no to Terra Nullius and the fold back of land rights.

Namaste until we meet again my friends.

Namaste

Recreate Your Reality!!

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reality

What’s life reflecting back to you? As you travel on your journey is your existence a proud statement about what your passions are. All the great thinkers and inventors changed the current paradigms that existed prior to the acceptance of their ideas or invention. I believe there is a new movement occurring that is changing the planets vibrations for the better and that we will have to go through a near cataclysmic transformation of our existing paradigms before we reach this space.

Throughout history there are continuing examples of empires rising and falling  There is a great map of the persian empire from 8000 B.C. to current day that illustrates this perfectly in a soundscape that goes for a minute and eleven seconds.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4ORmtZ2Go4, all these emperors and kings and queens imagined they would last for ever yet they did not.

Persia

So why do we live our lives like each and every moment is stuck and things will never change when the evidence points to the exact opposite.  The market for something to believe in is infinite and our logical minds crave Belief even  when it is not healthy for us and shuts down the possibilities available through the recreation  of our realities moment to moment.

Each new meeting with another soul is an opportunity to recreate how we relate to the world. They say the greatest gift you can give another is to actually listen, not wait to people finish so you can pass on your own judgement or wisdom. What if you could relate something somebody said to you three months ago in a conversation, I admit to not being too great at this and have to keep practicing the noble art of listening.

Whole Body Listener

I have been recreating my reality in the past few years and have notice that my tribe has changed and that most of the people I consider close I have not known more than three years. I love Albert Schweitzer’s quote –

In everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out

It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another

human being. We should all be thankful for these people

who rekindle the inner spirit.

At the tender age of 60 I have done many things in my life, some extraordinary, some flakey. I discover my passion two years ago, it is the ethos of Interculturalism: Love and Respect for All, Everyone Included. I wish to see a world where that is the paradigm we live by. I work at an Intercultural Centre https://www.facebook.com/DarebinInterculturalCentre and have created an open Facebook group for people to get on board sharing this world wide https://www.facebook.com/groups/Interulturalism/?fref=ts . When it gets all too much and I fall into but this is impossible I talk to one of these  new friends across the world I have made that believe in the change that is coming and get rekindled each time.

So three questions to assist you in helping you recreate your reality when it starts to weigh you down.

1. Is your perception true ?

– Byron Katie makes this the first question  of her inspirational worksheet attached to her transformational process in  The Work http://www.thework.com/index.php . If the only person we ask is our selves with our attached judgements and evidence the answers we come up with are somewhat limited.

2. Have you found your passion ? 

Bored doing what you do, Many thought leaders say you will never work another day in your life when you discover what you truly love doing. Don’t accept that you have to stay where you are, begin your passion as your hobby and work towards it becoming your livelihood, one step at a time my friends.

3. Who is your Tribe ?

I had a real problem with all my new friends being half my age until I got to see that its about who you really are not how old you are and it was these people who were my soul people and would be the ones who are up to making the difference that is happening to have the new paradigms occur on the planet.

There is no reason to get stuck in a reality that does not empower you, all the tools and people are out there.

Namaste until next time, my friends

Namaste