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Where have goodness and kindness disappeared to?

I used to look forward to reading the morning paper over breakfast, an easy, informative and recreational start to the day.  But things have changed.  The paper I used to enjoy has lost its noble restraint.  Now in tabloid form with too much colour this paper is filled with dramatic and revealing photographs ranging from local football angst to the horrors of war in other lands.

Words that carry foreboding abound:  threat, arms, step up, deal, break trust, fixation, jailed, extremists, fears, detainees, activist, deceptive, banned, militant, nude, fails, suspended, victim, forces, abuse, blasts, ice, famine, serious, split … and more. Read more

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Personal Peace for World Peace

Personal peace for world peace – Within the family, between friends, across cultures 
My thoughts in this blog are especially with the Maslin family of Western Australia who lost their beautiful, treasured children and their children’s much loved grandfather in the recent horrific attack on flight MH17.   I have never read anything that moved me as greatly as the message from that family to the world.  That these wonderful people could so profoundly express graciousness, resilience and the power of love despite such unbearable pain; that they can still access their ability to pray; and that they are able to find some measure of solace within the care and company of others is the most poignant of all love stories.

My prayer for them is that they may perhaps, at a time still distant, be able to reclaim the gift of hope, that powerful presence that sustains the spirit and eventually restores personal peace.  Read more

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From Fear to Freedom

With an engaging smile, one of our regular clients said to me recently, “I like to keep coming here often – this is my brain gym”! What a great way to summarize meditation, a regular fitness skill, just made for our brain.

And why do we need that regular brain gym? To manage stress of course, because no life ever escapes the influence of stress – and here’s the how and why of it all. Stress, if not managed, is a trigger for fear; fear then converts to anxiety, anxiety leads to raised tension levels and tension in turn, raises anxiety further. These combined influences produce the debilitating symptoms we hear of so often today … those negative mental disturbances that fill the daily news, the many physical illnesses related to stress and, very significantly, the current epidemic of depression. Read more

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Fanning the embers of life or burnout?

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy
All play and no work makes Jack a mere toy*

Let’s get some balance in life?  The old proverb gives us a hint that it’s not a bad idea to do just that, yet sometimes it’s a bit tricky to get the balance just right.  We all must work in one way or another and while we all need play for recreation and refreshment, we can’t rely on play for life satisfaction.  However and unfortunately for many, our desire for ambition and independence, our easy access to international travel and all that entails and our ready access to technology of many kinds can mean that work can become far too constant.

That’s when burnout begins to make its presence felt.  Read more

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Watch your life begin to flourish

This blog begins with a short Youtube video on homeostasis, which I hope will bring some laughter to an otherwise serious subject:

Now let’s get a little more real!

Homeostasis probably does mean all those things Dr Sheldon Cooper described.  But, to put its meaning slightly less technically, homeostasis means equilibrium – the aim to achieve existential balance – so that living is relatively comfortable, spontaneous motion is easy and a sense of flow, as opposed to tension, is generally experienced.  Equilibrium applies to our body and to our mind … in fact our entire being. Read more

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Mingling with angels

Have you ever considered that in any ordinary day, your guardian angel just might be taking care of you?

I’m a great believer in Destiny and so therefore there simply must be an angel nearby to ensure that Destiny is fulfilled.  You might like to find a moment right now to recall and consider the many ‘near miss’ incidents that have touched your life from which you have lived to tell the tale.  How remarkable.

Some might put these occurrences down to fluke or luck or even their own good thinking.  On the downside of course, there is the mystery of ill health, accident or misfortune as and when it does occur – a topic that has been pondered for time immemorial.  Why did this happen to him or her … why to that small child … why to that very young and decent person … so many questions that can never really be answered.  Unless of course, we believe in Destiny, in which case perhaps a glimmer of hope can shine through the darkness to bring acceptance and a sense of trust that sometimes bad things do happen to good people and there simply must be a purpose to it all. Read more

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Paralyzing panic and other outcomes

Recently I had reason to reiterate to a new client an outline of the effect of anxiety, panic and the outcomes of these reactions. Since there seems to be quite a deal of ignorance about the physiology surrounding anxiety, I decided to talk about it again.

Anxiety is part of our survival.  Yet anxiety levels can creep out of control when, via the brain, emergency messages arrive at the nervous system creating distressing symptoms.  It is this sequence of events within our body that creates panic to the extent that people may begin to live a life of compromise, founded on fear. Read more

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Nurture strengths to assist our journey

And so we begin the month of February in this New Year of 2014.

Barbara 2In this ‘job’ I’m extremely fortunate to meet a very wide range of people from all areas of life and across all age groups – from very small children to those who used to be known as ‘elderly’ (or the ‘older’ generation).  Looking at those small children and knowing that one day, if all goes well, they too will join the older group I can’t help wondering what lies in store for them as they travel toward the autumn shades of life.  In this, a picture of utter tranquility, Barbara demonstrates that the mature person can find a new way, a meditative way, to ensure that life can become easier, healthier and far more enjoyable.

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Christmas – peace or turmoil?

Red tinsel, silver bells, bundles of holly and an pulsating hum of expectation is in the air.  Christmas is approaching again and how this year has flown by!

Perhaps I remain a child at heart but I can never forget little girl Christmases … the religious significance (whatever our belief system, the birth of Christ and his message of peace is the actual reason for upcoming celebrations), the excitement at school as studies were put aside to be replaced by carol singing and story writing, the wishes and hopes and dreams – and an awareness of limits, too. Read more

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A question of balance

I often wonder whether all the commodities we have today makes a world that is not that great for emotional health.  Often I’m wondering these things as I press the start button on the washing machine or the dishwasher or as I Google for information or glide along the road with ease in my faithful car.  So a keen observer would see me smile wryly at these thoughts.  Because we like these things; these elements of modern life that aim to make it all easier.  And so they do.  Sort of.  But maybe they don’t make life simpler. Or maybe they detract from natural things – our innate self … our natural environment … our appreciation of real living.  Or maybe they create those unseen stressors that contribute to emotional disquiet.  And could it be that these elements might contribute to the emotional disquiet experienced by so many in Gen Y and Z – our youth of today?

These questions were certainly what I wrote about in my small children’s book Quiet Magic, something slightly prophetic in that story actually … as we see more and more kids joined to their iPods or iPads and clicking away – unnaturally – with eyes fixed as if glued to the screen. Read more

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