“When you come out of the storm, you won’t be the same person who walked in. That’s what this storm’s all about.” ~ Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore One of the things I love about our retreats at Sangsurya is that we are always so supported by the natural environment. We’ve been doing […]
It’s Okay to Keep Changing – and How to Cope with People Who Don’t Recognise That
“If people refuse to look at you in a new light and they can only see you for what you were, only see you for the mistakes you’ve made, if they don’t realize that you are not your mistakes, then they have to go.” ~ Steve Maraboli, Life, the Truth, and Being Free I […]
In My Happy Place!
“The cure for anything is salt water — sweat, tears, or the sea.” ~ Isak Dinesen My Soul Sanctuary Retreat begins today. Before my work begins, before my week kicks off, I have this. The beach, the dawn, the rising sun, the smell of salt and the foam of waves. I have my husband’s […]
A Little Bit Of Chaos
“Floyd could imagine a dozen things that could go wrong; it was little consolation that it was always the thirteenth that actually happened.” ~ Arthur C. Clarke, 2010: Odyssey Two I thought about writing a blog titled ‘Reasons for Screaming Yesterday – My Top Five’. They would have been: The microbat in my bath-towel […]
Crazy Wild Farm Life!
“Patience is the calm acceptance that things can happen in a different order than the one you have in mind.” ~ David G. Allen Behold the beautiful flat space where my new vegetable gardens shall go. It seems so peaceful, doesn’t it? Part of that peacefulness is derived from the fact that the excavator […]
Crystals To Soothe Anxiety
“P.S. You’re not going to die. Here’s the white-hot truth: if you go bankrupt, you’ll still be okay. If you lose the gig, the lover, the house, you’ll still be okay. If you sing off-key, get beat by the competition, have your heart shattered, get fired… it’s not going to kill you. Ask anyone who’s […]
A Christmas Gift for Yourself
“You’re gorgeous, you old hag, and if I could give you just one gift ever for the rest of your life it would be this. Confidence. It would be the gift of confidence. Either that or a scented candle.” ~ David Nicholls, One Day I was talking with a girlfriend yesterday. A very organised […]
Riding Out The Heatwave
“Dawn, then, was a time where things changed element for element. Air ran like hot spring waters nowhere, with no sound. The lake was a quantity of steam very still and deep over valleys of fish and sand held baking under its serene vapors. Tar was poured licorice in the streets, red bricks were brass and gold, roof tops […]
Making Art and Magical Carrots
“Write it. Shoot it. Publish it. Crochet it, sauté it, whatever. MAKE.” ~ Joss Whedon I’m finishing up the last little bits of my secret project just now. It’s a project that has involved a lot of planning, and more writing and oracle card consulting and rumbling through my many bowls and boxes of […]
Easy Miso Udon Noodle Soup
“An army travels on its stomach. Soup makes the soldier.” ~ Napoleon Bonaparte This quick and easy soup is one of my all-time favourites. It’s healthy, and you can throw it together in a couple of minutes. Perfect for when life is crazy-busy, or when you’re tired and need an easy meal. Ingredients: 1 […]
Crazy, Beautiful, Sustainable Madness
“There is no such thing as work-life balance. Everything worth fighting for unbalances your life.” ~ Alain de Botton It’s a crazy time of year for me. As the end of year/beginning of the new year always is, in my line of work. I have a retreat coming up in less than two weeks. […]
A Message From Harry Dog!
“Sometime you just gotta get out of the house, breathe the clean morning air, run around like a mad thing, and bark at some waves.” ~ Harry the Cafe Dog Hello! This is an action post, because this morning is an action morning. Everyone has been stuck in the house for days because of the […]
A Meditation To Ease Suffering in Self and Others
“Ring the bells that still can ring Forget your perfect offering There is a crack in everything That’s how the light gets in.” ~ Leonard Cohen With all that is going on in our world right now it is easy to feel small and insignificant – unable to help when all we feel in […]
Planning For A Wonderful (and Ordinary) Life
“Do not ask your children to strive for extraordinary lives. Such striving may seem admirable, but it is the way of foolishness. Help them instead to find the wonder and the marvel of an ordinary life. Show them the joy of tasting tomatoes, apples and pears. Show them how to cry when pets and people […]
Festive Christmas Fudge Recipe
“They always gives me bath salts,” complained Nobby. “And bath soap and bubble bath and herbal bath lumps and tons of bath stuff and I can’t think why, ‘cos it’s not as if I hardly ever has a bath. You’d think they’d take the hint, wouldn’t you?” ~ Terry Pratchett, Hogfather I’ve had so […]
Stop Fighting Your Lack Of Flow
“I have come to accept the feeling of not knowing where I am going. And I have trained myself to love it. Because it is only when we are suspended in mid-air with no landing in sight, that we force our wings to unravel and alas begin our flight. And as we fly, we still […]
This is How The Universe Works…
“There are no ordinary moments. There is always something going on.” ~ Peaceful Warrior “Everything around us is made up of energy. To attract positive things in your life, start by giving off positive energy.” ~ Celestine Chua A few days ago, as I sat at my desk early, early, early in the morning, looking at my […]
Remembrance Day, 2015
“It has been said, ‘time heals all wounds.’ I do not agree. The wounds remain. In time, the mind, protecting its sanity, covers them with scar tissue and the pain lessens. But it is never gone.” ~ Rose Kennedy At 11am on the 11th of November 1918 the guns of the Western Front finally […]
Dreading Christmas This Year?
“It struck him that how you spent Christmas was a message to the world about where you were in life, some indication of how deep a hole you had managed to burrow for yourself” ~ Nick Hornby, About a Boy For many people, Christmas isn’t a Hallmark moment. It’s a time of stress and […]
My Favourite Crystals For Spiritual Connection
“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.” ~ W.B. Yeats Meditation, connecting with our guides, getting into a channelling space or spiritual flow, doing readings or healings, clairvoyance, clairaudience, clairsentience, working with energy, astral travelling, improving our psychic and metaphysical abilities – all of these things […]
A Simple Breath Meditation for Stress, Anxiety and Fatigue
“Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.” ~ Thích Nhất Hạnh Meditation doesn’t have to be complicated or long. This is a soothing and energising technique that is simple to understand and that can bring a sense of increased calm and peace in as little as […]
Big Brave Bert And The Terrifying Fly!
“Courage is found in unlikely places.” ~ J.R.R. Tolkien Summer is fast approaching here at our little farm, and with summer come the March flies. March flies are big flies. Big. Did I say big? Some people call them horse flies too. Besides being big they are also bullies. They bite, and their bites […]
Traditional Christmas Cake – Make and Mature
“I love the Christmas-tide, and yet, I notice this, each year I live; I always like the gifts I get, But how I love the gifts I give!” ~ Carolyn Wells I have so many fruit cake recipes, but if you have the time this one delivers a perfect Christmas Cake that is moist, […]
An Afternoon Concert for My Cows
“Ah, music,” he said, wiping his eyes. “A magic beyond all we do here!” ~ J.K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone The first time I heard Albinoni’s Oboe Concert #2 in D Minor I was seven, a little girl sitting in the music room of her primary school, eyes closed as instructed by the […]
Simple Summer Bruschetta Recipe
“Sweet, sweet burn of sun and summer wind, and you my friend, my new fun thing, my summer fling.” ~ k.d. lang It’s not quite summer here in Australia yet, but gee it feels like it! The sun is beating down, the sky is wide and blue, the grass is plush and green beneath […]
November 2015 – What to Expect
“A goal without a plan is just a wish.” ~ Antoine de Saint-Exupéry “Without leaps of imagination or dreaming, we lose the excitement of possibilities. Dreaming, after all is a form of planning.” ~ Gloria Steinem Hello, Lovelies! Well, here we are at November. Can you feel it? Can you feel the sweet energies of […]
Listening as a Healing Tool
“You do not have to be good. You do not have to walk on your knees for a hundred miles through the desert, repenting. You only have to let the soft animal of your body love what it loves. Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine. Meanwhile the world goes on. […]
Weekend Roasts, Owls and My Email Address!
“Are you still forgetting things?” “I don’t know, I can’t remember,” I said.” ~ Stephen King, Duma Key Last night Angela’s husband came around to the farm for a roast dinner. It’s only a week since Angela passed away, and everything is so hard and new for him. Before her breast cancer diagnosis Ange had […]