Sometimes, the best way to solve a mess is to simplify!
Laughing, and eating sugar!
If you don’t laugh you’ll cry. ~ everyone’s Nana, Pop or wise mentor at some stage Hey, Lovelies. I had one of those work days yesterday. I started really early. I finished really late, and we managed to jam a number of emergencies into the small gaps in my day – because so many people […]
How To Work With The Energy of Forgiveness
Forgiveness is a gift you give yourself. ~ Suzanne Somers Hey, Lovelies. How’s your heart? Not your physical heart, but your emotional one. Your spiritual one. The energy of your heart chakra. Is it in flow? Do you feel peaceful, connected, open, uplifted and compassionate? Negative emotions can disrupt the flow of your […]
Unexpected wonders and a need for coffee
Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry. Cassandra Clare Hey, Lovelies. Today I have only this. A favourite poem. Some lovely things I found on my morning walk. And soon, good coffee, a chapter of one of my Christmas books, and a day of planning. May you find some wonder […]
Don’t be a prisoner to the past…
One need not be a chamber to be haunted;One need not be a house;The brain has corridors surpassingMaterial place. Emily Dickinson Hey, Lovelies. Today I want to remind you not to dwell in the past. Memory is notoriously unreliable. Ask any detective or psychologist. Ten people could witness an event and each will have a […]
Inviting Stillness…
When I dance, I dance, when I sleep, I sleep; yes, and when I walk in a beautiful orchard , if my thoughts drift too far off matters for some part of the time, for some other part I led them back again to the walk, the orchard, the sweetness of this solitude, to myself. […]
The Old Photo
What I like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce. Karl Lagerfeld Hey, Lovelies! A dear old school friend (Thanks, Genevieve!) sent me a photograph via Messenger last night. It was a picture of me, taken at a friend’s eighteenth birthday party. I laughed so hard. It was […]
Mummy Won’t Wake Up!
“Never let your ego get in the way of asking for help when in desperate need. We have all been helped at a point in our lives.” Edmond Mbiaka I almost didn’t take the call. It was an Australian number, but not one I knew. And it was two in the morning here in Sedona. […]
Frosty The Calf Teaches Us About Life
And suddenly you know: It’s time to start something new and trust the magic of beginnings. Meister Eckhart There’s a new little calf at our farm. She came into the world so quietly. She just slipped in without a sound. Ben named her Frosty, because once her coat dried and fluffed out it was bleached […]
That Day We Always Knew Was Coming…
“The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected.” ~ Robert Frost I’m feeling achy and sad inside today. Late on Monday afternoon, we sent Ben’s elderly mum to hospital. She’s in her nineties and has always been stubbornly independent. And she’s been able to stay at home on her own with help which is just the […]
Start Again In June!
“Today is the perfect day for a fresh start. Stop delaying, stop making excuses, stop putting it off. Now. Today is the perfect moment. You can change things, you can try. Don’t give up.” ~ Akiroq Brost I had so many messages yesterday from readers and students and clients all asking me if they could start […]
Checking In On You
“Are you okay?” ~ Popular movement Hello, Lovelies. This morning in my meditation (and I always include you in my morning meditation) I felt the loneliness some of you feel, and your yearning to have someone to connect with. So, today I’ve made a pot of tea, and gathered some tasty treats and put a […]
Crying Over Sushi
“There is freedom waiting for you, On the breezes of the sky, And you ask “What if I fall?” Oh but my darling, What if you fly?” ~ Erin Hanson Yesterday was quite a remarkable day for me. In the morning I drove to the other side of town for a meeting with an illustrator […]
Grounded Goodness
“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature — the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.” ~ Rachel Carson Yesterday was one of those days when my […]
Song of the Sisterhood
“A sister is a gift to the heart, a friend to the spirit, a golden thread to the meaning of life.” ~ Isadora James These past few days have been hard. It’s been one thing after another. Then there’s the pain. It’s unrelenting. Drugs have helped take the edge off but it’s ground me […]
Apprehension
“You should have seen this coming,’ they said. I did see it coming. I saw it coming the way you see a train coming when you’re tied to the tracks.” ~ Margaret Andrews I’ve been awake since I don’t know when. No, that’s not true. 2.36am. I lay awake in the dark for a […]
Changing Your Perspective Changes Everything
“Most misunderstandings in the world could be avoided if people would simply take the time to ask, “What else could this mean?” ~ Shannon L. Alder I met with a new doctor yesterday. It was a trial of sorts. I wanted to see if they would become my Lyme Recovery Plan A, or whether […]
The Phone Call I Hated to Make
“When you give yourself permission to communicate what matters to you in every situation you will have peace despite rejection or disapproval. Putting a voice to your soul helps you to let go of the negative energy of fear and regret.” ~ Shannon L. Alder I had to make a phone call yesterday. A […]
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 […]
Being Held By Nature
“The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking.” ~ Albert Einstein Here’s a little snapshot of the loveliness that is our retreat venue. The picture above is of the huge crystal grid set up in the middle of our work room. […]
Sometimes You Don’t Need Solutions, You Just Need To Be Heard
“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around.” ~ Leo Buscaglia Ben and I met a close girlfriend for coffee yesterday. We’re each going through quite a […]
Today Is A Powerful Day
“Stop trying to ‘fix’ yourself; you’re NOT broken! You are perfectly imperfect and powerful beyond measure.” ~ Steve Maraboli Today, and the following three days, are powerful days, energetically speaking. Why? They are days for decisions. They are days for facing up to that thing. You know. That thing. The thing you’ve been agonizing over. That thing […]
When I Loved Myself Enough…
“You can be the most beautiful person in the world and everybody sees light and rainbows when they look at you, but if you yourself don’t know it, all of that doesn’t even matter. Every second that you spend on doubting your worth, every moment that you use to criticize yourself; is a second of […]
A Very Good Day!
“I love people who make me laugh. I honestly think it’s the thing I like most, to laugh. It cures a multitude of ills. It’s probably the most important thing in a person.” ~ Audrey Hepburn What a wonderful weekend it has turned out to be. Good friends have come to stay at our […]
A Little Bit of Normal
“Get yourself grounded and you can navigate even the stormiest roads in peace.” ~ Steve Goodier I’ve spent the last twenty-four hours offline and disconnected from the outside world, so that I could reconnect with my husband, our dogs, and the beautiful place we call home. I needed that, after five days holding the space […]
Update from Lyme Land
“Every day you may make progress. Every step may be fruitful. Yet there will stretch out before you an ever-lengthening, ever-ascending, ever-improving path. You know you will never get to the end of the journey. But this, so far from discouraging, only adds to the joy and glory of the climb.” ~ Winston Churchill It’s […]
Something Very Beautiful
“Sometimes people are beautiful.Not in looks.Not in what they say.Just in what they are.” ~ Markus Zusak, I Am the Messenger When you begin to see with your heart, beauty is everywhere. There is something very beautiful in a Nana rocking a child to sleep in her arms, unselfconsciously singing in the corner of a crowded shopping mall… […]
Some thoughts on Dementia, Alzheimers and the End Stage of our Journey
“Deep into that darkness peering, long I stood there, wondering, fearing, doubting, dreaming dreams no mortal ever dared to dream before.” ~ Edgar Allan Poe Recently, my friend Catherine contacted me to ask about her grandmother Phyllis, also known as Little Nana. Her Grandad has already passed over, and Little Nana is in a nursing home. […]
A Short Walk
“Many people nowadays live in a series of interiors…disconnected from each other. On foot everything stays connected, for while walking one occupies the spaces between those interiors in the same way one occupies those interiors. One lives in the whole world rather than in interiors built up against it.” ~ Rebecca Solnit, Wanderlust: A History of Walking […]
Possum Attack!
“The fear of burglars is not only the fear of being robbed, but also the fear of a sudden and unexpected clutch out of the darkness.” ~ Elias Canetti I had hoped to be bringing you a Guided Meditation this morning, but no… Instead I’m blogging about possums, because it’s their fault I’m not. I’m staying […]
She’ll be Apples…
“Bean finds the best apple in our tree and hands it up to me. “You know what this tastes like when you first bite into it?” she asks. “No, what?” “Blue sky.” “You’re zoomed.” “You ever eat blue sky?” “No,” I admit. “Try it sometime,” she says. “It’s apple-flavored.” ~ Rodman Philbrick, The Last Book in the […]
Another late-night psychic Emergency…
“But life inevitably throws us curve balls, unexpected circumstances that remind us to expect the unexpected. I’ve come to understand these curve balls are the beautiful unfolding of both karma and current.” ~ Carre Otis I’m on ‘Week On’ of my heavy-duty lyme meds til Thursday. So I’ve been in bed early every night. Last night I […]
Inviting Stillness…
“When I dance, I dance, when I sleep, I sleep; yes, and when I walk in a beautiful orchard , if my thoughts drift too far off matters for some part of the time, for some other part I led them back again to the walk, the orchard, the sweetness of this solitude, to myself.” […]
Not where I’d expected to be…
I keep trying to write a post, and nothing comes out right. I keep trying to explain what’s in my heart and there are no words. But that’s okay. Words will come later. I’m standing at the wheel of life, watching it turn, and knowing it will keep on turning. Nothing I can do to […]
Breathing in Life…
“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” ~ Albert Einstein Yesterday was wonderful from start to finish. And yet it was also the most ordinary of days. I didn’t win lotto, there was no major excitement, no […]
Dr Sketchy – Beautifully Burlesque
“Have no fear of perfection, you’ll never reach it.” ~ Salvador Dali My brain is still in a post-virus muddle. Clarity comes in fits and starts, and then fog washes over me and my brain disappears entirely. Trust me, this is not conducive to writing. So, what should a writer do when they’re in […]
Lessons in Vulnerability
“When we were children, we used to think that when we were grown-up we would no longer be vulnerable. But to grow up is to accept vulnerability… To be alive is to be vulnerable.” ~ Madeleine L’Engle I’ve spent most of my life being strong. Being strong for others, being strong for causes, being strong because […]
Life’s Spontaneous Adventures…
Much to my mother’s ‘sense of style’ mortification, I drive an old Hilux Ute (a pickup for my non-Aussie readers). One thing I have found to be a truth in this life – when you have a ute you have friends. Friends who need to move things. I have also found that having a ute […]
Getting to the Heart of Things
There is a powerful journalling exercise that I use every so often. It is a very simple technique, but it never fails to give me clarity. It also highlights areas of my life that aren’t working, shows me where my resentments and frustrations are, and uncovers my deepest dreams and desires. It works best when […]
Don’t be a prisoner to memories…
One need not be a chamber to be haunted; One need not be a house; The brain has corridors surpassing Material place. ~Emily Dickinson, “Time and Eternity” Memory is notoriously unreliable. Ask any detective or psychologist. Ten people could witness an event and each will have a differing version. And that version will change over […]
Using your Internal Compass to Navigate Life
At any moment, you have a choice, that either leads you closer to your spirit or further away from it. ~ Thich Nhat Hahn Inside each of us in a compass. Although we can’t see it, it spins and turns in ways we can feel, if only we learn to tune in to it. The […]
The Power of a Father’s Love
“Life is the first gift, love is the second, and understanding the third.” ~ Marge Piercy One night, in the middle of 2010, I was on a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean. It was late, and we had been asleep for some hours. The room phone rang, waking us up. When I answered […]
What does Happiness look like to you?
In our age of overwork, stress, social isolation, time pressure and exhaustion, it is increasingly important to know what fills you back up again, what makes you smile, what brings joy and happiness into your life. What does happiness look like to you? If you don’t know, make it your mission to find out, and […]
Drought, Poetry and Roses
Today’s post is inspired by a flower – a single rose blooming in my garden. Bless that rose, and all she means to me… A few years ago we weathered eight years of the most horrendous drought. Our farm in the Lockyer Valley was baked brown, and it seemed surreal to be without water up […]
Making Peace with Right Now while Holding a Picture of a Brighter Tomorrow
Don’t let your current reality dictate your future possibility. Hold true to your dreams. Miracles are entirely possible if you dispense with miserable thinking!~ Nicole Cody The reason for today’s post comes from something seemingly ordinary. But what’s ordinary for some can be positively miraculous for others. Yesterday I walked up the stairs carrying two laptops […]
What to do when you don’t know where you’re going…
You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who’ll decide where to go. ~ Dr. Seuss Feeling lost is a very normal human emotion. And it is […]
Garden offerings – pasta and sauce in 12 minutes
I came home to my farm tonight after working in the city all week. We pushed open the gate at the bottom of the drive, meandered up the gravel road as a sunshower fell on the rich green paddocks, and I felt the weight of the world slide from my shoulders. We hadn’t been home […]