Saturday 24 October 2015

The Speaker Test

As a species, at one time our existence was centred on the intuitive but now we have swung to the other extreme, to be very much mind based. And despite our society’s commitment to it, for many people the daily experience of the mind is quite simply, crushing! 
  I often say to clients imagine if we could put a lead into our brains and play what is flying around in our heads out of a speaker. Very quickly I think most of us would be shouting, “Turn it off!!” or we’d run screaming from the room. Indeed if the room was locked we would not unreasonably consider it a form of torture having to listen to our endless internal narrative. So why then do we let it play all day every day, why do we turn it on even before we have reached out to snap the alarm clock off and why do we long for sleep to give us a break?
   Partly I think it’s because we are not told that there is an alternative or if we are, that comes so late that it is difficult to challenge our long established default setting. We are also not told that thought like everything else in the universe represents vibrational energy. Negative and critical, cruel, wasteful, repetitive, angry, dark, repetitive, pain of the past, fear of the future, repetitive: thoughts are energy, just like sound waves in a room. Only this energy is bouncing around inside our heads, feeding into our physical bodies to manifest tension and dis-ease, clogging up the auric field and blocking intuition.
   So for better physical, emotional and mental health do the 'Speaker Test!' Notice what you’ve just been thinking and imagine it coming barreling out of that speaker. Would you listen? Would you put up with this? Or would you take control of the volume and better manage the content. Would you seek something lighter, more joyful or maybe change the feed to the external sounds of nature? Perhaps you might even seek out the option of silence and stillness, for behind the noise there is every chance you will encounter a different version of you, one waiting quietly to be found.

(I am aware that deep depressive illness is not simple. This blog is aimed at those of us who do have a choice to take control of the mind.)

Thursday 3 September 2015

Raising the Vibration

Given all that is going on in the world it is no wonder that many people are sitting in fear and anxiety. War, terrorism, destruction, massive displacement of people, global financial issues, famine, drought etc etc.  Unfortunately, when what we need is for our leaders and the media all around the world to step up and offer calm rational discourse, instead we have the situation where fear is being pedaled on many levels.
  As such we are continually having our reflexive fight or flight, ‘them or us’ responses activated. And that is not only not appropriate, it is not healthy on any level, individual, societal, physical, emotional or spiritual.
  I grew up in Northern Ireland during the “Troubles” so I know only too well the impact of fear, stress and continual discourse in hate and anger. It’s why when I first came to Australia it felt like I could finally breathe. Sometimes over the last 5 or so years though, I have felt that that level of freedom and sense of societal openness that so inspired me in 1987 is no longer so evident. Perhaps it is the same all over the world. It saddens me greatly but I refuse to go back to the energy in which I grew up, where ‘them and us’ was the framework upon which all other constructs, belief systems, reactions and interactions were built. A framework that apparently justified the distortion of pillars of democracy which one would have thought were non-negotiable such as justice, law and order and human rights.
  Indeed, as those who seek power know only too well, it is when we are most fearful that our moral position can become a sliding scale and the hierarchical nature of our values is revealed. But we have a choice, we do not have to buy into the game. We can step back and detach from the ego based illusion and connect with our soul energy. From the perspective of its eternal wisdom we can shine light upon the distortions, the overreach and the hidden. We can be horrified but not afraid. We can be concerned but not overwhelmed. We can be human and humane.
  There is a physics demonstration in which several glasses of water in a row and vibrating at different levels will all eventually align with the highest vibration. That simple experiment is a microcosm of the human experience. Our purpose, life time after lifetime, is to raise our energetic vibration and in so doing to raise the collective vibration of humanity. And we achieve this one fearless moment at a time, one conscious thought at a time, one loving act at a time. That is true power.

Sunday 19 April 2015

Beach Stories

As I’ve mentioned in a couple of blogs I love living by Port Phillip Bay and its surprisingly pristine shores. Visiting the beach also offers plenty to see and think about. Here are three occasions that made me really stop and think.
  Last year on a very hot night I finished work and headed down to the beach as, after a stunning sunset, the last light was fading from the western sky.  The air was very still and the full moon, over the bay unusually early, was beautifully reflected in the calm sea. Some young people were twirling fire sticks near the water’s edge, the flashing fire-light bouncing back from the glassy surface. The whole effect was magical but as I walked down the beach taking in the scene I saw a couple sitting on low beach chairs not talking to each other or looking around but totally engrossed in their ipads. It stopped me in my tracks and I felt like going up and saying’ “What, you’ve found a better sunset-moonrise on there?” 
Memo to Self: Be Present and don’t Miss out on the Magic.
  I love to watch children play on the beach where they tend to be in their element with the combination of sea, sand and freedom. A couple of years ago I watched a wee girl of maybe 4 having a wonderful time digging a hole in the sand and then carting water in a bucket up from the sea to ‘fill’ the hole. It mattered not that the water seeped into the sand as quickly as she brought it up. The whole time she sang at the top of her voice, at one point breaking into “Hey, Sexy lady’ as she pranced down to the breaking waves doing a very good 'Gangnam style' dance, with one hand held out in front and the other in the air twirling the bucket. 
Memo to Self: Be Yourself and Have Fun.
  Finally, one day this Summer I had time between clients, to go for a swim. It was a 38 degree day and the water was gloriously refreshing. Off out in the middle of the bay dark thunder clouds were rumbling towards the city. Flashes of lightning lit up their giant bellies and reflected in the steely grey water below. In closer to the shore the water was luminous green and just beginning to stir from flat calm with the approaching storm. As I sat on the beach watching flocks of seagulls fly low across the white sand I had a sudden thought. “What if this is the most beautiful planet, the most beautiful of all places in the Universe? What if that is the pay off, the sweetener for coming here to the Earth school to grow, learn and struggle?” 
Memo to Self: Notice and Engage with Beauty
Memo to us all: Protect this Planet!!!

Sunset off Edithvale Beach Dec 2014


Thursday 19 March 2015

Changing Channels

I often discuss with my clients how a part of the human mind evolved as a useful tool for assessing risk. The risk used to be around things such as: “If I run across this clearing with that herd of buffalo heading this way will I make it?” That ancient remnant still exists today and so we are always doing a risk assessment of the world around us. Unfortunately we now have the media bringing us every piece of misery, crime and suffering from everywhere in the world within seconds of it occurring. Despite the surfing dog or juggling panda story thrown in at the end of the news program, we often end up sitting in our living rooms and assessing the world – both natural and man-made - to be a very dangerous place.
   With our minds convinced that our lives are threatened in many ways we feel fearful and worse still powerless.  We then create our own prisons both in terms of what we feel and think and to whom we relate. Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in a small cell yet, having read his book, I’m not sure that he was ever truly a prisoner. Many of us are the opposite – we are free to go about our daily lives but we have created our own prisons of fear and anxiety, disconnection and separation.
   The irony is that the human mind is also very capable of endless creativity, incredible problem solving, of appreciating beauty and complexity, and, through the pineal gland, of connecting to the spiritual dimension, if only we would let it gorge itself on those manifestations of the human experience to the same extent.
   So if you find your conversation (both internal and external) mirroring the news bulletins – mostly gloom and doom, a little bit of sport, though generally to complain about selector or refereeing decisions, and with just a wee bit of good news at the end - it’s time to change channels. Switch off the ‘mind monster’ that feeds on bad news and pain and turn on the part of you that finds joy and excitement in the success and happiness of others. The part that rejoices in the incredible diversity of the human experience and searches compassionately for inspiration from and connection to your fellow humans.
  To get you started here is a the best news story I came across in the last few weeks. It proved so popular that a whole program was made about this amazing lady.



Saturday 17 January 2015

Nature Calls

  Well there certainly is a lot of pretty heavy stuff going on in the world at the moment and it is easy to feel overwhelmed and negative. There is however an antidote and it’s never too far away.
  Spirit tells me that when they look down on our cities they see dark gluggy energy. All those lives jammed in together on energy-deadening concrete and bombarded by electromagnetic smog. To be honest the only reason I can survive here in a city of 4 million is because I live by the Bay. I can regenerate with a stroll along the beach, feel grounded by sitting on the sand or give freedom to my thoughts by following the swoop of the sea birds over the waves.
  My new Well-Being Centre is only a 50 m walk from one of the loveliest beaches and when the windows in my consulting room are open the salt air blows through clearing any negative energy. I encourage my clients to head down to the beach after an appointment as I feel that the work done in session will be better integrated and underscored by sitting in peace and stillness for a while, rather than jumping into a car and racing off to the supermarket with the mind back in 4th gear.
  Indeed so many of my clients light up in recognition when it is revealed that they love nature, and that their souls crave the deep wisdom of a forest or the enervating power of a surf beach. They readily agree how much they have always enjoyed connecting with the earth, before often commenting that they rarely make the time anymore, even when they live in the country. Hence a chat with Mother Nature is my most commonly prescribed remedy for all manner of ills.
  And we don’t refer to it as ‘Mother’ Nature for no reason. She is our solace, our source and our nurture. Yes we know that through our food and water she represents our physical survival but she also is our emotional survival, for any child suffering sensory neglect cannot thrive. So get out there to the local park, sit under the nearest tree and tune into its unhurried rhythm. Don’t make excuses, make time, for a journey to the hill-top, the forest, the lake, the gorge, the woodland or seashore – they’re all waiting to sing their song to you. And be assured your soul will sing back.



(This is a shot taken last week of my son swimming at sunset - sorry you have to crane your necks - try as I might I couldn't get it to rotate.)