We have had such beautiful feedback by email recently that I’m asking everyone to place their feedback here for all to see and enjoy. It’s amazing the different perspectives that we all have on life, and the way they are reflected in their take on LivingNow too.

With love

Elizabeth Stephens

Editor

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North Node into Capricorn - Karmic Shift

Every eighteen months, the moon’s nodal axis, representing our earthly karmic direction, shifts backwards through the zodiac.  July marks the end point of the Leo-Aquarius polarity. For the past year and a half we have been asked to focus on the need to limit the rights of the individual (Leo south node) in order to preserve the wellbeing of humanity and our planet (Aquarius north node). This period has coincided with global financial upheaval and an ever-worsening environmental crisis. To quote author and environmental activist Paul Hawken: “Basically, the earth needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades. This planet came with a set of operating instructions, but we seem to have misplaced them. Important rules like don’t poison the water, soil, or air, and don’t let the earth get overcrowded, and don’t touch the thermostat have been broken.”

So now as the north node moves into Capricorn and the south node, shifts into Cancer, what can we expect? The sign of Capricorn (karmic progress) will be favoured over the next 18 months as we move away from Cancer themes (karmic regression). Capricorn activities include law-making, government, building, finance, business and structure. So if the north node in Aquarius has raised awareness about what needs to change, the next eighteen months should see Capricorn structures and laws put in place to implement these changes. Pluto’s transit of Capricorn over the past two years has already indicated where these changes need to happen.

The coming period will favour those who are thrifty, practical, responsible, hard working and self-disciplined. Those who are prepared to bring about real change. The more negative side of Capricorn relates to greed, power and unnecessary hierarchy and regulations. Hopefully, we will strive for the more positive manifestation. And just as there is no longer a place for the Leo ‘Me Generation’ in today’s world, we will increasingly see there is no place for the Cancer ‘My Tribe/My Family Generation’ when it comes to the wellbeing of the planet. No one knows how many groups and organisations are working on the most important issues of our day: climate change, poverty, deforestation, peace, water, hunger, conservation and human rights, but the movement is massive and crosses all borders. Rather than control, it seeks connection and its power lies in innovation, not tradition.

Wintertime

Did you know that the word ‘Yule’ is a derivation of the Old Norse word ‘Iul’ meaning wheel? This wheel is of course the Great Wheel of the Zodiac that turns with the seasons. Yule (the winter solstice) is the longest night of the year and from this night onwards the days grow longer as the wheel of the seasons turn towards spring. In the Northern hemisphere, Yule is at Christmas time, but here in Australia the winter solstice is in late June. The period following the winter solstice is a time for reflection, withdrawal, detoxing and pruning. Energy contracts and condenses, so we need to rest and feast on our favourite comfort foods. The Cancer new moon falls on the 22nd July accompanied by a powerful solar eclipse. Cancer rules home and hearth and because new moon energy is similar to winter energy, we feel like staying home with loved ones or spending time alone, meditating on our deepest feelings and yearnings. July is an excellent time to release old energy and plant new dreams and visions. Try and get as much sleep as possible and don’t overdo it at work. The Sun is in home-loving Cancer for most of the month, so spend quality time with family and loved ones, dig out the cookery books and enjoy a slow-paced life for a change. Hibernation is the keyword!

Key Astrological Events – July

Relationship planets Mars and Venus continue to flirt with each other in sensual Taurus and light-hearted Gemini throughout July. Early risers may have noticed these two beautiful planets rising ahead of the Sun for the past month or so. Venus is the huge bright morning star while reddish Mars looks tiny in comparison, but can still clearly been seen on the eastern horizon in the hour or so before dawn. Even if you are not an early riser, it is worth making an effort around the 18th-20th July when Venus and Mars will be joined by a silvery crescent moon – just beautiful!

Mercury moves into fiery Leo on the 18th, so use the second half of July to pen your masterpiece, audition for that leading role or update your CV with a creative twist!

A total eclipse of the Sun occurs on the 22nd at the July new moon and the following day the energy changes as the Sun heads into fire sign Leo. Eclipses have a tendency to intensify situations and bring hidden energies to the surface. It is wise to avoid making major decisions or starting new projects just before an eclipse, as new information often comes to light at the time of the eclipse, forcing us to revise our plans.

The final day of July marks the eve of Imbolc – the Pagan Festival of Lights known to Christians as Candlemas. The older Pagan names were Imbolc and Oimelc, ‘Imbolc’ meaning ‘in the belly’ (of the Mother). In the womb of Mother Earth, hidden from our sight but sensed by intuitive vision, there are stirrings. The seed that was planted at the winter solstice in June is quickening and spring is just around the corner. ‘Oimelc’ means ‘milk of ewes’, for it is also lambing season.

Moon Placements - July

Launch projects at the New Moon, bring them to completion in the period from just before the Full Moon to the Third Quarter phase and wind them down and reflect on developments in the week before the next New Moon. Important events such as parties, conferences and weddings are best held close to the Full Moon or when the Moon is in the same sign as your Sun (or Star) sign.

Stella Woods is an astrology consultant and teacher based in St Kilda, Melbourne. Contact Stella for private readings on (03) 9534 5021 or stellaw@ozemail.com.au or visit www.stellastarwoman.com and sign up for Stella’s free AstroUpdate or read your Monthly Stars. Hear Stella on 3RRR 102.7 FM or on line monthly, every third Wednesday (10 -11 am).

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July Eclipses

We have two eclipses in July - a lunar eclipse at the full moon on the 7th in Capricorn and a solar eclipse at the Cancer new moon on the 22nd. Eclipses have a tendency to intensify situations and bring hidden energies to the surface. It is wise to avoid making major decisions or starting new projects just before an eclipse, as new information often comes to light at the time of the eclipse, forcing us to revise our plans. Who could forget the last lunar and solar eclipse falling either side of the Black Saturday bushfires?

The Capricorn lunar eclipse teaches us about the need for physical activity as part of a healthy lifestyle. Consider taking time out from the pressures of work and mortgage repayments to focus on your inner world and the needs of your body. The total eclipse of the sun at the Cancer new moon asks us to examine socio-cultural values, especially those enshrined in tradition. Cancer is the sign of family, so cherished family values and beliefs will be under the microscope.

Featured Sign – Cancer

From the 21st June to the 22nd July the Sun travels through cardinal water sign Cancer. Cancer is the fourth sign of the zodiac with keywords “I feel” and “I fluctuate”. Cancer’s symbol is the crab, an instinctive creature dwelling in the watery depths in the safety of its shell. Cancers are extremely sensitive. They love to mother and nurture others and have a strong attachment to home, family and community. At best Cancers are in touch with their feelings and display kindness, love and compassion. They are highly emotional, usually love food and have a reputation for taking care of friends, family and workmates. Negatively, the Cancer individual can be moody, dependent, illogical, manipulative and insecure. Cancer rules the stomach, breasts and solar plexus. When Cancers are out of balance they suffer from digestive upsets, water retention and breast problems. The Cancer colours are silver and pastel shades and women born under this sign often love antique jewellery and lingerie! Cancer is ruled by the Moon, so those with a prominent Moon in their chart often display Cancer qualities. Cancer’s greatest lesson is to live in the present and to deal with their feelings of fear and insecurity.

Cancer Mythology

Cancer, as an archetype, appears in all tales involving the mother. The positive side of the Cancer myth is the good, kind and all nurturing mother - Mother Earth, the Cosmic Womb, the Fairy Godmother, Gaia, Isis etc. The dark face of this character is the mother who either prevents her children from achieving their individual potential, or destroys them rather than risk losing them or see them surpass her in greatness. So we have here the archetype of the Terrible or Jealous Mother, the Dark Mother, Witch or Wicked Stepmother, beloved of fairy tales. Remember Snow White and her wicked stepmother with the famous mantra “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all”?  A woman threatened by the beauty of her stepdaughter and who repeatedly tried to kill Snow White.

One Greek myth stipulated that any son of the sea goddess Thetis would be greater than his father, so no god dared have children with her. Instead, Thetis married a mortal, Peleus and they had seven sons. Thetis could not bear the thought of her children dying as mortals so she burned off their flesh, believing her children would be immortalised in the process. As she was burning the last son, Achilles, his father caught her and snatched the boy away by his ankle. Peleus’s fingers kept Achilles’ heel from burning and this still mortal flesh became the hero’s weak spot. Achilles eventually died from an arrow wound to the heel.

Another myth associated with Cancer, is the tale of Hercules and the Crab. When Hercules was fighting the Hydra monster, his stepmother Hera, who feared Hercules would undermine her, sent an enormous crab to bite him. Hercules was almost killed in the ensuing battle, but managed to crush the crab underfoot while also killing the Hydra and thwarting Hera’s plan.

Key Astrological Events – July

With Venus and Mars holding centre stage, the first week of July is a good time to clear up any misunderstandings in relationships both business and personal. A harmonious aspect between Mercury in Gemini and Jupiter, Chiron and Neptune offers clarity and communication. Avoid burying your head in the sand or escaping into a fantasy world.

Communication planet Mercury heads into Cancer on the 4th for a two week stint. This is an excellent time to catch up with family and friends, especially those you haven’t seen for a while.

Romance remains on the menu as playful Venus moves into Gemini on the 5th joined by Mars on the 12th. Gemini is the sign of the flirt, so don’t expect deep and meaningful encounters, just lots of eye contact and other relationship games. For those happily partnered or too old for flirting, Mars and Venus in Gemini offer a fertile breeding ground for creative ideas and concepts. Networking, brainstorming, journaling and even meditation will produce exponential results.

The July full moon falls on the 7th in Capricorn, accompanied by a lunar eclipse. The key here is to strike a balance between responsibility to ourselves and others and strive for harmony between home life, family and work.

Moon Placements - July

Launch projects at the New Moon, bring them to completion in the period from just before the Full Moon to the Third Quarter phase and wind them down and reflect on developments in the week before the next New Moon. Important events such as parties, conferences and weddings are best held close to the Full Moon or when the Moon is in the same sign as your Sun (or Star) sign.

Stella Woods is an astrology consultant and teacher based in St Kilda, Melbourne. Contact Stella for private readings on (03) 9534 5021 or stellaw@ozemail.com.au or visit www.stellastarwoman.com and sign up for Stella’s free AstroUpdate or read your Monthly Stars. Hear Stella on 3RRR 102.7 FM or on line monthly, every third Wednesday (10 -11 am).

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Our cosy heaters and pot belly stoves make modern life pleasant and comfortable. Not so for our ancestors, who prepared for the coming of winter long in advance, knowing the challenges of finding food and keeping warm. For them, the midwinter solstice was a vital turning point in the seasonal calendar, marking the longest night of the year. From midwinter to the summer solstice in December, the nights would grow shorter and the days longer. Many of the customs associated with the winter solstice (and with other midwinter festivals such as St Lucy’s Day, Saturnalia, Hanukkah, New Year and Twelfth Night) originate from stories of a fierce battle between the dark and the light, where the light finally conquers the darkness. Other traditions record this as the time that a saviour or sun-child is born to a virgin mother.

In Australia, our winter solstice is marked by the passage of the sun into Cancer on the 21st June. If you note the point at which the sun rises from the 21st-23rd June, you will see that it is in exactly the same place over these three days. Solstice means “sun standing still”. The weekend of the solstice (19th-21st) is the perfect time for a ritual to cleanse and release old energy and honour winter, the season of death and decay. The desire to slow down and go within is further intensified by the solstice falling during the darkest phase of the lunar cycle - less than two days before the new moon. And as the sun rises on the shortest day of the year, mighty Pluto, ruler of the underworld and collective unconscious, sets on the eastern horizon taking us down into the depths of existence.

Winter Solstice Ritual

Decorate a room with winter greenery. Place a large bowl of water and a lighted candle in the centre of the room. Have some golden glitter and scented oil nearby and a candle for each person. Sit in a circle with a lighted candle in front of you and talk about what you wish to release at this dark time of the year, blowing out your candle once you have finished speaking. Once everyone has had their turn, blow out the central candle and sit in the darkness reflecting on what you are leaving behind. After a long silence, relight the central candle, which represents the sun, and sprinkle golden glitter on the water. Then each of you light a candle from the central candle and place it by the water so you can watch the glitter sparkling. Pass around a glass of wine and offer a toast to the sun, the bringer of new light. Then go round the circle again, each of you talking about a dream for the future or a new attitude you wish to embrace. Finally sprinkle scented oil on the water and choose someone to anoint each person with sunshine by dipping their hand into the sparkling, scented water and sprinkling it over each person’s hair. Hold hands and offer thanks.

Venus & Mars - The Cosmic Love Dance

Relationship planets Venus and Mars normally meet up just once a year, but the recent retrograde transit of Venus has produced a flurry of activity for these cosmic lovers. They collided in September last year (in Libra), embraced again in April this year (in Pisces) and will have their final fling in mid June (in Taurus).

Relationships for all of us have been a major focus over the past few months, whether it be looking back at old relationships, sorting out current ones or dreaming of finding that perfect partner. This applies as much to friendships as to sexual relationships. And interestingly enough, Venus (the feminine planet) has been dominant in this cycle as all three conjunctions have occurred in signs that favour Venus, rather than Mars. A Venusian approach to relationships emphasises love, pleasure, beauty and cooperation, rather than dominance, conquest, desire and lust, the province of Mars.

This final meeting of Venus and Mars offers the opportunity to leave the past behind and embrace a new, rosier future. The final conjunction occurs in Taurus on 21st June, the day of the winter solstice and a time of reflection and new beginnings. The Sabian Symbol for the Mars Venus conjunction speaks of the inadequacy of past knowledge in times of crisis. If we apply this theme to relationships, it is clearly time to take a new approach. The roles of men and women are changing rapidly and the old ways of relating are now redundant. Perhaps that is why this cycle favours the rise of the feminine. You might like to think what this could mean for you and your relationships.

Key Astrological Events – June

On the 15th, giant Jupiter turns retrograde in late Aquarius and will travel backwards through the zodiac until mid October. Jupiter transits bring growth and expansion, so use this four month period to revise and improve on long term plans, ready for a renewed burst of energy in spring to bring them to fruition.

The entry of the Sun into water sign Cancer on the 21st marks the winter solstice and the shortest day of the year. Two days later on the 23rd, we have a Cancer new moon. Cancer is the sign of nurturing, home, family and children, so this new moon puts the focus on family and loved ones. If you need to mend a rift in your family, have the courage to act now. Invite loved ones round for a special meal and show them you care.

Moon Placements - June

Launch projects at the New Moon, bring them to completion in the period from just before the Full Moon to the Third Quarter phase and wind them down and reflect on developments in the week before the next New Moon. Important events such as parties, conferences and weddings are best held close to the Full Moon or when the Moon is in the same sign as your Sun (or Star) sign.

Stella Woods is an astrology consultant and teacher based in St Kilda, Melbourne. Contact Stella for private readings on (03) 9534 5021 or stellaw@ozemail.com.au or visit www.stellastarwoman.com and sign up for Stella’s free AstroUpdate or read your Monthly Stars. Hear Stella on 3RRR 102.7 FM or on line monthly, Wednesdays (10 -11 am).

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by Raym Richards

I am in a state of perfect bliss, alternatively laughing hysterically at the absurdity of life and then crying because I feel so happy and loved. My heart feels so full that is about to explode. I can see my whole life’s journey with great clarity.

More than that, I can see my soul’s and humanity’s journey, and it is funny. Funny, that we all take it so seriously. Funny that I feel so separated from the truth of my own profound connection to infinite love, the love that some people might describe as God.

I am experiencing the climax of a guided breathwork session with an experienced teacher. During my session I have been lead into gentle connected breathing, where each deep breath is connected to the next, in a continuous unbroken cycle.

This simple process affects your physical body and leads most people into a state of expanded consciousness. To get to that state I needed to release any emotional traumas locked into my body as cellular memories. Fortunately for me just a few, the primary recall being of a time in my mother’s womb. I saw myself clearly as an embryo and felt the powerful emotions I experienced as a conscious being, just before birth.

Pic by Ona Henderson. Email: onaandsyd@bigpond.com

This extraordinary technique was initially developed by two key people, Leonard Orr and Stanislav Grof. Essentially the core approach is the use of a conscious connected breathing to work with the psyche and clear unconscious patterns.

Stanislav Grof, born in Prague, was working with patients in a Czech mental asylum when he noticed that those who had the greatest transformations had started to spontaneously breathe in a certain way prior to the change. He started experimenting with this technique and found it consistently had dramatic results and called his way of working with a conscious connected breath, Holotropic (towards wholeness) Breathwork.

Leonard Orr was involved with the Human Potential Movement in America in the early 70’s and discovered quite by accident after falling asleep in a hot tub that the connected breathing brought on by being in warm water affected his physical and emotional bodies. He, as I did, experienced tangible tingling in the body, particularly the hands and other areas where emotional trauma was held. Because many clients in these early days recalled their birth experience and were able to change decisions they made at that time, he called it rebirthing.

More commonly called breathwork by practitioners today, it is not simply about revisiting your birth, although this can happen. It is about supporting you to clear whatever is unconsciously blocking you in any area of your life.

Breathwork/rebirthing developed over a period of 45 years, spreading rapidly across the planet. It gained a reputation as a technique that could bypass the conscious mind, and lead to a rapid release of old emotional blocks, blocks that could be affecting someone’s physical and emotional well-being now.

What happens during a session is unique for every person and for every session, depending on what you want to focus on clearing or creating.

Breathwork can be cathartic, as you release old, powerful and sometimes scary emotions, but an experienced therapist can guide you through that. To reach the state of bliss I experienced, it is well worth it.

Raym (Raymond) Richards runs the Starlight Wellbeing Expo in Bangalow, near Byron Bay, in January and Easter, now in its twelfth year. He has also published two books on holistic therapies, Spirit Guide and Alchemy of Crystals and teaches his own Crystal Dreaming™ technique to practitioners.

You can find an OZ breathworker below the second story

Discovering how to receive through breathwork

by Jonine Lee

It was at a time in my life that was really hectic. I was studying, working in a business with my then husband and we had a little girl just one year old. My husband and I seemed to be in constant conflict and I was experiencing mild anxiety, high blood pressure and cholesterol. Life wasn’t too comfortable, but I was a highly functioning, super independent woman. My motto was just get on with it!

Until, that is, I felt that I couldn’t. Something had to change. So I decided to take myself off to a health retreat and ordered one of everything! Amongst that everything was something called rebirthing. When it was described to me as a breathing process to access anything in the unconscious that was in the way of my having what I wanted in my life, I realised I have much of what I wanted, especially my daughter, the light of my life. So what I wanted was just some peace, freedom from anxiety, and peace with my husband.

As I lay down I was asked to close my eyes and breathe in a full and connected way. Almost instantly I got a sense of my daughter and my intense love for her. It was overwhelming actually. Tears poured out as my whole body seemed to in that moment remember all that I had gone through to have her. Hers was a miraculous birth through one of my younger sisters and surrogacy after years of being on the IVF program.

I came to realise how overwhelming it had been, the receiving of this gift of unconditional love. The enormity of it amazed me because it was it was the one thing I thought consciously that I was absolutely okay with in my life.

I very quickly then made connections to receiving in other ways and ohhhhh conceiving (a connection that often happens now when working with women on fertility treatment)! Being the eldest girl I had done a lot of taking care and this pattern of thinking – that I mattered as a caretaker – had played out in my life and my body. I wasn’t comfortable or safe with receiving! It was that simple.

So began my journey with rebirthing. I didn’t stop, and was later able to conceive the very first time I went again on IVF.  My daughter is now nearly 22 years old, my son 18, and joys of my life.

Opening up to receiving whatever you want, I realised, usually involves discovering and letting go of what is unconsciously in the way!!

Jonine Lee is a breathwork practitioner and trainer, President Australian Breathwork Association, and conducts regular workshops on fertility, self esteem, relationships and family constellations.

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I want to tell you a story about my experiences with rites of passage for males. When I use the term rites of passage, I mean that there are many potential rites for males between birth and death. In our times these are often ignored. A rite can be many things to many people. To me it is people coming together with a particular intention. Mostly the purpose is a ceremony of either healing or transformation. A ritual often involves acting, performing, dancing, prayers, singing, celebrating and other creative means to communicate with Spirit. I wish to unpack these words that often get thrown around. Spirit to me is either inside us, or outside us, or both. It could be goddess, god, gods, spirits or our own unconsciousness.

The journey for males has many possible stations. From birth to 7ish is one period. This is the time for starting school and moving one small step away from the mother. At around 13 or 14 puberty starts to physically change the boy’s body. The name ‘boy’ becomes fluid at this time. The next phase is the 17 or 18 year old. The body is stabilising, the hormones are racing now. School is coming to an end. Jobs are looming and girls, girls, girls.

There are more stages at every seven years.

Most traditional cultures around the world had ceremonies to mark the ages of 13 and 14 year olds, then 17 and 18. Some people still maintain these rites with dignity. There are now communities creating ceremony for their boys to guide their transformation into manhood. Manhood does not come easily. It is an art that needs to be learnt and practised regularly to maintain achievement. Becoming a man takes many years and many teachers. Some males will never reach the title of ‘man’. Without appropriate change it is possible to remain a boy your whole life. We all know 40 year olds still acting as children.

I am privileged to have been involved in a handful of transformation ceremonies for boys. I received these ways from an elder and I have tailored them to particular times and people. I will briefly describe a ‘rites of passage’ program for a 17 year old ‘preman’ called Dean.

I knew Dean’s parents and started by talking to them about a need I had noticed in their son. There are many signs that a boy is ready to participate in this ceremony. In different adolescents it manifests differently. It is usually the role of the ‘uncle’ to decide when the time is right. Uncle can mean any older males who can read the signs. Sometimes this is the parents or family friends, neighbours or teachers.

In the talk I wanted to know if the parents would consent for their son to participate. After that agreement I started speaking to Dean. This is difficult for two reasons. First, in our society we don’t have the vocabulary to explain why someone should participate in this ceremony or what it is. Secondly, it is unusual and maybe embarrassing to be involved with something unconventional. In this case Dean agreed after a long conversation. I had to tell a long story about my own experiences with my Bar Mitzvah, teen vandalism and arrests. Then I gave him an anthropological survey of indigenous people and their ceremonies. Finally I told him what I felt he would gain from the experience.

With the parents I then organised the date and the place to hold the ceremony. The next step was calling in the men. I asked Dean to suggest a dozen men who were important to him. His father invited them to join us for the weekend. The other men are very important for the experience. They provide guidance and offer gifts through their presence.

Joseph Campbell observed the universality in tribal society of these transformation ceremonies, and that they have three clear stages: separation, challenge and return. This is the archetypal hero’s journey. The separation, for the weekend, means that on Saturday morning we drag the boy from his theatrically wailing mother. The male has two births. One into his mother’s body and the second into the world of men. This separation is a symbol of a death and the way to birth. Dean spent Saturday and Sunday with the men. He faced challenges through the day and the night. This is also an important time for passing on the lore from the father and men to the young man. Lore is a body of tradition and information that is central to a group’s culture. Each man holds that lore in a different way and finds a loving way to communicate that to the boy. This part of the ceremony is secret and cannot be mentioned here.

An important part of the weekend is the use of the sweat lodge. The lodge is derived from a North American Indian ceremony. It is a small dome that can be made with tarpaulins and blankets. The men crawl into the lodge and very hot volcanic rocks are placed in a small pit. The door is closed and water is poured onto the rocks. This is a very intense environment with high temperature steam, no light and little air.  This tradition has a history in most indigenous people around the world. The lodge is like a crucible. The boy and the men are brought into this hot, dark steamy ‘womb’ – the intensity helps shape the participants. It is very significant for the boy to ‘sit in the fire’ with men whom he holds in esteem. The feedback I have received often points to this as the most crucial moment of the ceremony.

Finally on Sunday afternoon we returned a weary and beaming Dean to his parents, family and whole community. It was critical that he have witnesses to his journey. Now there are many people close to Dean who will hold him to account from hearing his story of ceremony. I observed that we were returning the same physical body – what had changed were the relationships to the people around him, particularly to his mother and father.

The whole event was significant for all the men who attended. In our sharing with Dean and with each other, we reflect on the experiences we missed out on. The ones that we wanted and needed. About the reckless things we did to try to create our own rites. There was healing for many of the men who participated in Dean’s ceremony. Each of us received a sliver of transformation.

I have now participated or facilitated in a handful of similar ceremonies, each one being tailored to suit the people involved. I am honoured to have been witness to the change experienced by many families. Without such events relationships can become stuck in unbalanced positions.

I have started a partnership which creates ceremonies of transformation for boys and many other transitions. I am very passionate about giving boys a chance to experience the richness of true manhood. We are such juicy creatures. To create a harmonious, beautiful and safe world, we need to guide our adolescents in powerful ways.

The benefits for the boys are: feeling closer to their father; connecting with their father’s masculine spirit; gaining an appreciation for family traditions, values and beliefs; experiencing leaving boyhood and entering adolescence; discussing feelings about adolescence; beginning to develop a vision of yourself as a young man.

The benefits for the men are: gaining awareness of what a boy needs from his father; strengthening the father-son relationship; enriching the fathering role; passing on the masculine spirit; learning skills which facilitate a boy’s adolescent passage; developing strategies which positively shape a boy’s character; realising the high and deep callings of fatherhood.

The benefits for the mother are the new relationship. The change from mother-child to adult-adult is critical for both. For the young man he can now go out and have healthy, independent relationships with women. For the mother she can move on to focusing on her growth and release the young man to find his own life partner.

The benefits for the community are young men who are not trying to fight males in authority to find the boundary lines. They are able to become the warriors that we need. The Earth is calling out for courageous communicators in the interpersonal, local and global arena.

Jeremy Lee Shub is an artist living in the Yarra Valley. He creates and facilitates ceremony for people wishing to transform. He has a wife and two kids. Jeremy likes to dance in the moonlight.

www.whiteheartdreaming.com.au

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(I can hear the readers now: “Change! Um-aaaah! He said the C-Word.”)

Change is hard on all of us. I’m a pharmacist turned copywriter turned stand-up comic turned wine writer turned author and speaker and I still find change incredibly challenging. If you ever see anyone stand up and brag “I love change. Change scares me not! I am The Change Master.” Point at them, giggle and say “Liar liar, your nervous, skid-marked pants are on fire.“

We human beings have evolved to love certainty. When something is familiar we feel relaxed and confident. When we’re trying something different, we get a surge of adrenaline that gives us sweaty palms and a tight feeling deep in our gut. Some people call it ‘fear’ or ‘nerves’ or ‘butterflies’; some call it ‘knots in the stomach’; sadly some of us call it ‘that thing that stops me learning a language/starting a business/phoning that girl’.

It’s such a shame we’re all taught it’s something bad, because it doesn’t have to be. We only feel it at all because our physiology hasn’t caught up with civilised society. Emotionally and intellectually we’re not primitive any more, but we still have this Neanderthal part of our brain, called the amygdala, that sets off alarm bells if we move too far away from the cave. These days, however, we almost never face life or death. We still get the same big hit of adrenaline – but we’re just out of our comfort zone – so fight or flight just isn’t appropriate. In a new business meeting it’s not considered good form to run away from your client screaming, or to lean over the table and punch them in the head.

So, even though it feels scary, in times like these it is far more productive to expend your energy trying new things.

Change is good, different is good. If there’s a new role going at work, try it.
If there’s a great house in a different suburb, at least look at it. If your partner wants to dress you up like Elmer Fudd, have a go. (And, NO, I am not in costume in my attached photo.)

To help you along, here are my three rock solid, cast iron, facts about change. If you can wrap your head around them, you will be halfway there to thinking of the current period of worldwide instability as a launching pad instead of a crash site…

1. Life IS change

Please understand I’m not saying. “Life is FULL of change” or “Change is such a big part of life”.

No. Life IS change. The Buddhists call it “impermanence”. Change is the true nature of existence. Sure, read the books and “change your life today”. As long as you know that it’ll change again tomorrow, and the next day and the day after…

Life is change. Change is life. Your cheese is always being moved. Your iceberg is always melting. And the times they’re always a-changing.

2. When you refuse to change you don’t hold onto the past – you lose the future

Bill Murray – started out doing movies like Caddyshack, took some risks, Lost in Translation got him an Oscar nomination

Chevvy Chase – started out doing movies like Caddyshack, and he’s still doing movies like Caddyshack.

It’s even more true in business – let’s compare radio network TripleM Australia with Apple computers.

Both launched in the 80s as great challenger brands taking on the big boys, shaking up their industry. Doug Mulray and Steve Jobs were smart and sassy.

25 years later? Apple is still innovating and leading their industry. TripleM is still playing a “non-stop block of 80’s rock.” Change was a tide turning on TripleM and the irony is truly gorgeous that our most Australian station didn’t remember “When you’re in a rip you don’t swim against it. You swim with it and across it.”

Apple is from California, they know about rips too. Apple saw computers and entertainment merging and swum with the tide. They invented the iPod, and the iTunes Store now sells gazillions of tracks a day. But why couldn’t Triple M have invented the iTunes store? It makes more sense for a ground-breaking radio station to give the people greater access to music. That’s the business opportunity of change. Triple M missed it because they kept waiting for a convenient time to evolve. But…

3. There is never a convenient time to change

You will always have problems. The trick is to make sure your problems are worth having.

Without fail, life throws all sorts of things at us that give us great big doses of adrenaline whether we seek it or not. So we may as well CHOOSE some evolution that pushes us towards our goals. So sure, right now the world economic markets are sick as a dog, but let’s face it, we live in the West. How bad is your life gonna get really? If you have money in the bank, in your wallet and in a little saucer by the bed you’re in the top 4% of the world’s population.

Make up your own mind about life. Will Shakespeare: “Nothing is good or bad; thinking makes it so.” It’s what goes on between your ears that matters. You can look at anything, even massive economic upheaval, in a positive way, or a negative way, or anywhere in between – it’s totally up to you.

How to make change work for you

The first thing we have to do is reframe this surge of adrenaline we all get from being out of our comfort zone.

Many years ago, a friend, John O’Connor, and I came up with a new word for that big adrenaline burst we all get when we’re trying something different. We decided to call it ‘newfeeling’. In the same way that you feel hot when you walk into a hot room, when you walk outside your comfort zone you get newfeeling. It’s not good or bad, just different.

I know it seems like a small thing to do. Sometimes when I say it out loud it even seems like an incredibly American thing to do. (Please insert a Yank accent) “Don’t call it fear. Call it newfeeling”. To be honest, that’s probably why it took me ten years to tell people about the idea.

But the Philosopher Wittgenstein said: “The limits of one’s language are the limits of one’s world.” The number of ways you can talk about something determines the number of ways you can think about something.

So change the word, change the meaning, change the feeling, and I can picture some of the furrowed brows reading this magazine, thinking “Cute word. But what good is it to me in real life?”

Follow your butterflies

When you allow yourself to feel the adrenaline without attaching words like ‘fear’ or ‘scared’ or ‘nerves’ to it, you don’t beat yourself up so much. You even start to welcome it as a sign you’re stretching yourself and growing your business.

Before your first day at a new job, you don’t have knots on your stomach. You have newfeeling. Of course you do – it’s a new job.

Before calling someone about a date, you’re not scared or nervous, you’ve got newfeeling.

When you’re just about to walk into a party where you know no one, you can turn to your partner and say, “I think my undies are full of newfeeling.”

The best thing is, you can use this word as a guide. Newfeeling is like a compass inside us that unerringly points to things we could be doing to more fully express who we are meant to be. Each of us has a totally different combination of gifts and skills that makes our unique destiny possible – and the best way to find it is look around, consider your options, then do the thing that gives you the biggest knots in your stomach.

Notice what scares you most: then do it.

Grab life with both sweaty palms

So what have you been putting off? Is it starting your own business? Is it getting a job doing something you love that pays a little less? Is it finally doing that degree/writing that book/running that half-marathon/calling that special person and telling them you will agree to dress up as Elmer Fudd?

It seems un-Australian to talk about your fear at all, let alone ‘reframing your fear and call it newfeeling’, but it works. It’s worked for me for 10 years. It worked so well for my son on his first day of school, he could explain it to his friends and it worked for them.

Don’t “feel the fear and do it anyway”, get the newfeeling and do it gladly
Life is a short, precious gift. Don’t let that underdeveloped Neanderthal part of your brain convince you to spend life inside your cave.

If life has a flavour it is not ham and pineapple.
If life has a motto it is not “same again thanks”.
If life has a soundtrack it is not a “non-stop block of 80’s rock”.
In the 200th year since his birth, let’s do Darwin proud and chase down some evolution.

Marty Wilson is a speaker, author of the What I Wish I Knew at Eighteen series, and Founder of National Newfeeling Day: “Face Your Fears”, with all profits going to the Dymocks Literacy Foundation.

www.newfeeling.org

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As shockwaves rolled around the world economy and conditions grew shakier, many countries were forced by the prospect of imminent bank collapses to guarantee customer deposits. In America, vast and unprecedented corporate bailouts took place, prompted by concerns that any other course of action might send the world economy over the edge.

Months later, the long-term ramifications of these spectacular events are still hard to predict. Will the current global recession deepen and turn into a depression? If so, how long might it last? Although Australia has been shielded from its worst effects by the tail end of a mining boom, unemployment is rising and confidence is shaky.

Increased saving as a hedge against uncertain times, and belt-tightening in response to tougher economic conditions are both curbing consumer spending, resulting in the downsizing of industries and increased layoffs, creating a kind of negative cycle. Is there any light on the horizon?

What is money?

The mysterious thing that we call ‘money’ fulfils two primary roles – as a store of value and a medium of exchange. In the ancient world, credit notes were issued to the depositors of commodities such as grains and gold, and these paper slips slowly evolved into banknotes. Modern-day money was backed by gold until 1971, when American president Richard Nixon disconnected the US dollar, traditionally the world’s reference currency, from what was known as the gold standard.

Ultimately, much of the value of a currency boils down to the level of confidence it enjoys among its users. This is particularly important for the ubiquitous paper currencies of today that, unlike gold, rely heavily on national economic performance data to retain their relative value.

As a result, anything can be used as money among a community of people culturally conditioned or sufficiently open-minded to use it. In one unusual case, Yap Islanders in the South Pacific keep circular rocks for ceremonial exchanges that come in a range of sizes up to four metres in diameter.

The Great Depression

Over six days in 1929, the US stockmarket on Wall Street crashed following a speculative boom, triggering the decade-long Great Depression whose effects were felt in many parts of the world. By the early 1930s, much of America’s money supply had dried up, leaving some rural communities with next to nothing. Locals witnessed the absurdity of having the means of production at their disposal, and watching life grind to a halt due to a lack of a suitable exchange medium.

In an enterprising fashion, many towns devised their own unique currencies. Rabbit tails were used in Olney (Texas), while Pismo Beach (California) traded with sea shells stamped with a special marking. In Petaluma (also in California), the local timber company issued engraved wooden disks.

However, it was a more sophisticated and well-designed type of community currency known as ‘stamp scrip’ that attracted the most interest, and was most frequently replicated.

A new economic paradigm

In an interest-based financial system, there is an obvious incentive to hoard, and this becomes more marked during economic downturns. An intriguing ‘out of the box’ solution to this challenge was devised by the Argentinean-German economist Silvio Gesell (1862-1930.)

He realised that a storage charge known as demurrage could equally be applied to a currency as a type of hoarding fee and incentive to spend. Historical times where such a model was followed, such as Europe during the Middle Ages, enjoyed a high level of prosperity as money was quickly converted into tangible assets. Gesell decided to name his demurrage-based currency ‘Free Money’.

This concept was put to the test in 1923, when Germany was facing economic turmoil and out-of-control inflation. In the small town of Schwanenkirchen, the owner of a coal mine made a bold attempt to avoid closure by persuading his workers to accept most of their wages in a scrip currency known as the ‘Wara’. This was backed by coal, and could be used to purchase food and other necessities. To remain valid, every month a note required a stamp equal to 2% of its value.

The gamble paid off, launching what became known as the Freiwirtschaft (‘Free Economy’ movement), and later the adoption of the Wara by more than 2000 German companies. This proved to be its undoing. In 1931, the central bank grew nervous and successfully pressured the German government to make the Wara illegal. A similar pattern of central bank interference was later repeated elsewhere with unfortunate results.

One year later, the mayor of an Austrian town named Wörgl responded to difficult economic conditions with a similar scrip note system that required a 1% monthly stamp. This proved to be a dramatic success, with each scrip Schilling circulating 12-14 times faster than the national currency. When 200 other Austrian towns expressed an interest in replicating Wörgl’s experiment, the central bank panicked and shut it down after 18 months.

Unemployment and extremism

In 1933, American president Theodore Roosevelt unveiled a number of large-scale work creation projects known as the New Deal. In the same speech, he announced a ban on emergency local currencies, despite advice from two economic experts that stamp scrip had the capacity to quickly pull the US out of the Depression.

The high unemployment levels of the early 1930’s caused a great deal of suffering, and this was compounded by the suppression of effective local economic solutions including stamp scrip. Government welfare safety nets that we take for granted today did not exist, and families were destitute. In Europe, many people looking for a saviour were driven into the arms of communist and fascist parties, setting the scene for Hitler’s final rise to power.

Although Roosevelt’s giant initiatives did make a dent in unemployment levels, America only really lifted itself out of the Depression when it shifted its economy to prepare for World War II – another large-scale and centralised form of work creation.

Scrip in the modern world

In recent months, the International Monetary Fund has been urging countries to keep their economies ticking over with stimulus packages. Australia has made a multi-billion dollar allocation for infrastructure spending that is reminiscent of the New Deal. Could scrip fulfil the same function?

Complementary currencies have traditionally flourished during difficult economic times and gone quiet in periods of prosperity. With all things being equal, most people would prefer to use the familiar national currency and avoid paying monthly stamp fees. It is only when the national currency becomes sufficiently scarce that a shared agreement can be reached to use a scrip alternative. Bringing it into the 21st century might involve introducing an electronic currency, with fee payments deducted automatically.

Some may believe that the modern shift towards globalisation would relegate scrip to a type of fringe economy on the edges of the ‘real’ one. Large chains and multiples play a far larger role now, but with their branches scattered around the country and supply chains stretching around the world, they are fundamentally at odds with the metabolism of the local economy. A scrip alternative may need to bypass them.

Encouragingly, the world already has a range of note-based complementary currencies, such as the Ithaca Hour (US), Totnes Pound (UK) and Salt Spring Island Dollar (Canada.) With the global spread of the Transition Towns model, many other places are planning currencies of their own. These are nearly always legal to issue, so long as they do not resemble the national currency.

Usually started by idealists and visionaries, they have often been quickly adopted by the wider community. However, none of these appears to be running along stamp scrip lines. Note-based local currencies are easy for businesses to use, unlike a ‘mutual credit’ system such as LETS (Local Exchange Trading Systems) that involves chits, positive/negative computer balances, and credit limits.

In Australia’s outback towns suffering from the combined effects of the drought and the financial crisis, scrip might offer a solution. While community currencies have the drawback of not being accepted beyond their place of issue, they do serve as an important motivator to spend locally, helping to plug the leakages of money and population from rural districts towards distant urban centres.

Tying into the bigger picture

Economic abundance is a worthwhile goal, but what does it do to the environment? Every item purchased has some kind of associated environmental impact, and will to some degree exacerbate climate change. The recent economic downturn has been accompanied by a downturn in global carbon emissions, and a recovery would push them back up again.

A few factors might support increased local economic activity in our current predicament:

•    Buying from locally-owned businesses will probably result in a small drop in emissions due to their shorter average supply chains.

•    A rapid across-the-board shift towards a post-carbon economy, as a response to both climate change and peak oil.

•    Removing carbon from the atmosphere faster than it is produced. Despite this being unlikely within the next few years, options include biochar, soil carbon sequestration, or hemp or bamboo used for construction.

As economic factors have grown in prominence on the world stage since the Great Depression, central banks will probably be keener than ever to assert their monopoly rights. Despite such a challenge, scrip can still be seen as a possible solution to our present difficulties.

Resources
Bernard Lietaer – The Future of Money (Century, 2001)

Martin Oliver is a writer and researcher based in Lismore (Northern NSW.)

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Having a photograph taken for a face reading feels a bit like getting a new passport shot. It’s not the flattering kind of image you’d choose for yourself. No soft filters, and the photographer is closer than I’d normally permit. But then a face reading is looking for a different kind of face value.

I’ve been flat out working then driving to reach the centre and I chatter on arrival as if wound up like a coil. But the spring in my step is missing.

The reading will look at the differences between my elastic feminine side, my intuitive, right brain soul expression on the left side of the body versus the left brain, analytical, mental, personality, right male side. Whether my mind or heart is the stronger influence.

At first glance there doesn’t seem much to face reading. But it interests me because the face is the autobiography of life, and this makes me look at others, and myself, with fresh eyes.

Face reading is one of the components of psychosomatic therapy. Hermann Müller the author of Face To Face with Facts, Personality Potential, says that, “The systematic exploration of this language of the human body releases cellular memory and imbalances in the body tissue. This gives you a very positive awareness of ‘the shape you are in’”.

I’ve already got a sense of the shape that I am in and I don’t like it. I am told to take a nice deep breath and relax and not to tilt my head to my left, something I often do in photos.

A moment later on the laptop I see why. There are three photographs. Two seem odd. In one image my face is thinner. I prefer that. The middle one is a normal photo. It shows me, tired, make-up hastily applied. But in the other image my neck is like a rugby player. The vain and feminine me hates this. “The one on the right is terrible,” I say.

The image I don’t like is actually two left sides of my face together and the other is two right sides together. The left side of the face is the emotional side, the right brain, feminine, and home of the creative and emotional self, and the soul, the yin that is responsive and caring. The right side of the face is inhabited by the mental, analytical, personality, the left brain, the yang, male side of action and doing. My emotional side, the photo I thought was terrible, appears wider because I present that part of me to support who I am. It reveals that I have a tendency to feel stuck in my emotions and fly off creatively through my mind.

But apparently it’s not all bad news. I am told that I get a good feel of things so that shows in my left side, which is “a powerhouse of energy, emotionally and physically.”

My mind and intellect are less important to me which surprises me, I’ve relied on my feelings yet the right side of my face shows a really high intellect, which is indicated by the height of my forehead.

I really like what I’m told next. That when I go into my mind, I can go off with freedom and creativity, but it’s like a penthouse suite and I can just keep going and going, higher and higher because there’s a lot of resources there mentally. Who wouldn’t like that?

All my energy gets drawn up and it’s a bit like flying in a hot air balloon, says the therapist. And I smile again because a day earlier I’d imagined myself on a balloon flight. It’s like pulling up all the strings and wanting to get away from everyone. This part I already knew. I have to be careful when I want to get away like that, for people are easily offended if you don’t want them near.

I am completely different on the emotional side. It’s as if I am sitting in a spa and all the emotions are bubbling to the surface and I am trying to figure how to get out.

There’s a clear line in my face, a line of energy that runs down the centre, from my forehead to the top of my lip. This shows a good expression of my mental capacity flowing into my emotional creativity. But there’s a little cheeky sparkle and a smile in the emotional side.

You like to stand up for your ideals, the therapist says. But I balance all those ideals and aspirations on a pointed base, so it’s a bit of a wobbly set, she adds. For a moment I feel wobbly about that, but I also hear a penny drop.

All of the body parts correspond to face parts. The mental zone is from the eyebrows to the hairline and the emotional part is from the eyebrows down to straight across the base of the nose, with the physical zone from the base of the nose to the bottom of the chin.

The strength and balance in my emotional and creative side is clear whereas in the mental side I am like an upside down Q1. This is a reference to a landmark Gold Coast tower with a fine spike at the top. It’s a powerful visual.

If you think of your mind as a well-known architectural site, which building would it be? Are the foundations strong or teetering?

Even though I am good at what I do, physically I don’t feel it due to this sensitive foundation, says the therapist. “Emotionally you have a lot of strength and you’ve got a lot of capacity there as long as you stay centred.”

The shape of each face indicates personality and distinguishing characteristics. My oval face shape reveals my easygoing nature with a lot of width to my mind, like a panorama. And I’ve got some conditioning from family but it’s now becoming less colourful. When I was young and my hair was very dark, family issues played more on my mind, like little stories that go around in my temples.

For two years I’ve recorded and had interviews transcribed for my work, although I rarely listen to them again. I’d had trouble keeping up with notes, and storing information in my head. And I never knew why. Secretly I worried if I was losing my mind, but the main thing I was forgetting was how much I was actually achieving.

The reading reveals that I’ve got a good long-term memory, but my past is so full there’s no room to put any new stuff. And hanging on to my many creative thoughts can be a challenge.

It is suggested I keep recording through voice or writing, as this reduces the frustration later when I try and find a particular thought that’s ‘disappeared’.

I never knew I’ve got “great eyebrows, good action eyebrows”. When the body is drawn on the face, in the Autobiography of Life, the eyebrows are the arms. Mine show that when I make a choice about what I want, I accumulate the knowledge that I need and get it done. However, sometimes I can get a little bit distracted as the creative energy dissipates.

‘It’s the need’ to do things always driving me that’s probably making me tired rather than my enthusiasm keeping me buoyant. But the loss of enthusiasm can also be to do with my heart as my heart shown in my eyes can get depleted of energy whereas my mental drive can stay there much longer.

One of my eyes is angled which says I tend to look down on myself emotionally, and don’t give myself the same compassion I give others. My eyes are dark, which says I feel deeply, both pain and passion. Perhaps knowing this will be enough to make me kinder to myself.

My ears are different shapes too. One is a lovely smooth shape, while the left one turns backwards just slightly so that I can hear as much as I can. My intuitive side is good at picking up knowing when to listen but it’s surreptitious because my hair is sitting over the top of it, so it doesn’t look like I am listening. I recall sitting in restaurants, hearing strangers chatting and learning their secrets. Surreptitiously.

My whole left side just wants to get a feel of things, says the therapist. I have the ability to understand and know what people want but I need to let the information go more quickly.

Ninety percent of who you are, are experiences. The body feels and the mind thinks, but feels nothing. I am asked if I smoke. I don’t. Did I grow up with smokers? I did. I’ve got quite a tight holding pattern around my nose that’s been there for a long time and relates to my diaphragm and the way I breathe.

“It’s like you’re not worth taking in enough to really live, you take just enough breath in to survive,” I’m told.

Oh my! That’s enough to spark a sharp intake of breath. And it makes me think about the way I am breathing right now. How are you breathing?

But then there’s my nose. Mine points up, and to compound this I hold it up which shows again how I am always aspiring to the next level. Never being satisfied with where I am or what I’ve done adds pressure. So I need to point my face forward, not point my nose up. If I look up too high I may lose sight of myself, not to mention the neck tension it creates.

It’s been confronting to see myself in this way. But it’s meant to be. Few people look at themselves in an analytical way and say, okay, yes that is me, what am I really doing to myself. It’s not about beauty or attractiveness. It’s about just viewing yourself and asking, what am I doing, how am I living in this home of mine.

Since the reading, I’ve not cured everything but I’m paying better attention to my home (my body), and letting go of stuff kept too long. I’m even plumping up a cushion or two, and allowing myself just to be.

Take home points on face reading

Helpful hints: follow these to ease neck tension, relieve headaches and just be

~ Hold your head upright as it’s designed to be balanced this way (like Atlas in Greek mythology depicted supporting the globe)

~ Pull your chin in: it lengthens your neck and takes the kinks out

~ Ensure your line of vision of your eyes is straightforward and soften your gaze. Looking down can make you feel down and looking up can be too idealistic or out of touch with the present moment

~ Relax your jaw and soften your mouth and lips. Tension in this physical facial zone is caused from an overactive and driven mind. Excessive tension here reduces creativity, sensual energy, desire to nurture and can limit one’s ability to taste the pleasures of life

~ In addition, watch your self talk, speak nicely to yourself, be encouraging and use soothing language

~ Breathe slowly and deeply, feel your words

Marian Edmunds is a writer and freelance journalist, who worked at the Financial Times for many years focusing on world news and the global travel industry. She is currently writing a fiction novel.

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We all suffer, we all experience pain, loss and grief that can devastate our lives. At times, during this suffering we may become emptied to such an extent that we wonder what is left inside. The draining of our emotions and feelings, the hollow experience of emptiness can disable us, making it very difficult to recover, and yet recover we must. The life journey we are on is fraught with difficulties to face, challenges to meet and unfortunately no one is exempt from this – we all have to work with our trials and tribulations in order to transform them.

Everything is our teacher

Often, in the intensity of our deeply felt pain (emotional or physical) we can start reacting in strange ways to its presence by disowning, ignoring, denying, repressing or perhaps even worse, justifying its hurt. At other times we can wrap ourselves up in the pain and consequently become so familiar with it that we comfort it as a friend almost, and this is dangerous. The pain is in our lives for a reason – so we must listen deeply to what it is trying to say, open up to its full voice and pay attention. In our busy, over-active lives this is not always easy but it remains essential. A mind and body that is constantly busy, unable to rest in peace and silence, will always find it difficult to heal, and it is a healing that we must seek…. Recognising that everything that enters our lives (whether we label it ‘good’ or ‘bad’) is our teacher here to give us a life lesson, is the route to liberation.

“ Nothing that comes to you is negative. I mean nothing……you will grow if you are sick, if you are in pain, if you experience loss…..learn to accept it not as a curse or a punishment but as a gift to you with a very, very specific purpose.”
– Elisabeth Kubler Ross

Sustaining our lives with hope

In the quest of securing a better, more fulfilled life we may have to ask ourselves:

“Have we nursed our pain and suffering for too long?”

“What benefits have we received by engaging with this restrictive mode of being?”

“Has it served us well?”

I suspect we all know the answers here. So how do we release ourselves from the grip of negativity, this seizure of tyranny?

Understanding that there are other ways forward, other options we could pursue to make our lives more enriching, opens us up to the presence of hope, and this can provide us with a sustaining energy to support us in time of crisis. Hope has a dynamic of its own that can take us to a point of synchronisation with higher things. It is always firmly placed in the future, never the past. It can trigger off the powers of optimism and motivation within us that can take us to new frontiers.

Recognising this power could be the first step in our recovery. Opportunities and creative options do move through our lives, but we may never realise their potential, may never come to develop them fully because we are too closed down emotionally through our entrapment in hopelessness. If we let go of hope, let it slip away from our lives, we effectively create a vacuum that can only be filled with negative thoughts and emotions. This will eventually erode our confidence and self-esteem preventing us from growing as fully as we should.

Once, many years ago fear gripped my heart with such intensity that I felt a deeply wounding pain, yet strangely enough hope still maintained its presence within me and eventually spoke saying: “Look beyond all this; things change. No matter how bad you feel now you will go forward to better things. You will be not be abandoned. I will come and support you and hand you my gift.” I managed to sustain a positive belief in this sincere expression and within weeks my life changed for the better…

Hope is a flame that can burn brightly within us spreading its light in the darkest recesses. Our role, indeed our obligation, is to protect it and never let it die.

Everything to be gained

If we are living our lives passionately, fully open, fully attentive, then there is everything to be gained. Yes, troubles do descend to make our life difficult and painful but we do have the inner resources to transform them. Everything that comes to visit us is enriching in some way if we remain receptive and committed to the notion of overcoming – always supremely unique and individual. We are all deserving of a full, nourishing life. So we must all work hard to ensure this happens, knowing that any efforts we make will be supported and sustained for our ultimate benefit.

“You have a calling which exists only for you and which only you can fulfill.”
– Naomi Stephan

Michael has just recently returned from a trip to France. He is currently at university studying full time for an MA in Fine Art. His writings continue to be published in a wide variety of magazines and he is due to be published in a book later on in the year.

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