tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8819241415560372812024-03-13T14:24:14.038-07:00Explode into LifeGillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.comBlogger26125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-59796103000124722842011-11-02T06:13:00.000-07:002011-11-02T06:31:48.370-07:00CAPTURING THE IMAGINATION WORKSHOP<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<span style="font-family: Copperplate; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p><a href="http://www.infinite-i.com/">CAPTURING THE IMAGINATION</a></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Copperplate;">THREE WEEK<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Copperplate;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>WORKSHOP/RETREAT
AUGUST 10-31<sup>ST</sup> 2012<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Copperplate;">SLOW DOWN AND CONNECT<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Copperplate;">AT LA MUSE INN, WRITERS AND ARTISTS RETREAT, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Copperplate;">HAUTE LANGUEDOC, FRANCE.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Copperplate;">USING PHOTOGRAPHY AS BOTH MEDIUM AND METAPHOR,
WE ENGAGE INTELLECT AND INTUITION IN AN EXPLORATION OF OURSELVES AS ULTIMATE
ARTISTS, CREATING OUR EXPERIENCE OF REALITY MOMENT BY MOMENT.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>PARTICIPANTS ARE INVITED TO TAKE THE
TEMPORAL SPACE OF THE RETREAT AND TO USE THE WORKSHOP AS A CREATIVE </span><span style="font-family: Copperplate; font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Copperplate;">STIMULUS TO MAKE WORK IN A MEDIUM OF THEIR
CHOICE TO CONNECT DEEPLY WITH SELF IN WHATEVER MANNER THEY SO CHOOSE.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Copperplate;">APPLYING INTELLECT AND CRITICAL THEORY TO
DECONSTRUCT THE ILLUSIONS WROUGHT BY THE EGO IN TANDEM WITH THE ENERGY RAISING
ARTS OF INFINITE CHI KUNG, INFINITE TAI CHI AND MEDITATION WE CONNECT TOGETHER
TO EXPERIENCE BOTH COMMUNITY AND PERSONAL EXPANSION<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Copperplate;">Suitable for everyone engaged in the adventure
of self discovery<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Copperplate;">TUITION FOR THE THREE WEEKS EURO 900 P.P.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Copperplate;">PARTICIPATING PARTNER 900 EURO PLUS 25PCT OF
ACCOMMODATION FEE<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Copperplate;">ROOMS ARE SPACIOUS DOUBLES AND RANGE FROM 700
TO 1095 EURO FOR THE THREE WEEK RETREAT<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://lamuseinn.com/muses"><span style="font-family: Copperplate;">http://lamuseinn.com/muses</span></a><span style="font-family: Copperplate;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Copperplate;">PLEASE BOOK accommodation DIRECTLY WITH KERRI
AND JOHN AT<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.lamuseinn.com/"><span style="font-family: Copperplate;">http://www.lamuseinn.com</span></a><span style="font-family: Copperplate;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Didot;">FIRST THREE BOOKINGS ONLY</span></b><span style="font-family: Didot;"> EURO 1,800 P.P. FOR TUITION <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">AND</i></b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> </i>RESERVED SINGLE ACCOMMODATION IN DOUBLE ROOM<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Didot;">This special offer to be booked directly from Gillian Treacy: info@go4itcoaching.com</span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: Copperplate;">prices do not include board, airfare or
transfers<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<!--EndFragment-->Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-55156479395671273942011-10-21T03:38:00.000-07:002011-10-21T03:50:09.872-07:00ENGAGING FULLY WITH LIFE<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In the following video Brene Brown offers wise counsel on allowing the level of vulnerability necessary to foster self compassion. This key to self love in turn allows one to fully experience the range of human emotions needed to reach beyond the numbness of mere survival; that dampened down state which prevents us from knowing what it means to thrive in the fullness of our own life.</span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a href="http://www.ted.com/talks/brene_brown_on_vulnerability.html#.TqFLfaHfUvM.blogger">Brene Brown: The power of vulnerability | Video on TED.com</a>Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-56823021493626963112011-09-06T01:50:00.000-07:002011-11-02T06:31:40.846-07:00Anita Moorjani's Near Death Experience clears in 4 days, grade 4B lympho...<iframe width="480" height="295" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/tjLouLHH-_I?fs=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-22236483983962147442010-08-28T05:00:00.000-07:002010-08-28T05:30:37.956-07:00A STROKE OF LOVE<div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In this video from Ted Talks, Neural Anatomist Jill Bolte-Taylor passionately,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">vividly and lovingly describes the path which led to her becoming a brain scientist,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">and the brain hemorrhage which caused her to experience the expansiveness of</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">enlightenment available to all of us.</span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><object style="background-image:url(http://i2.ytimg.com/vi/UyyjU8fzEYU/hqdefault.jpg)" width="480" height="295"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/UyyjU8fzEYU?fs=1&hl=en_US"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/UyyjU8fzEYU?fs=1&hl=en_US" width="480" height="295" allowscriptaccess="never" allowfullscreen="true" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object>Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-6586337314825776742010-07-09T03:47:00.000-07:002010-07-09T04:03:53.349-07:00EVOLVING THROUGH TAI CHI<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TDcAzncqwXI/AAAAAAAAAHU/Vu7ku22iESE/s1600/6a00c2252293c4604a010980b47c31000b-500pi.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TDcAzncqwXI/AAAAAAAAAHU/Vu7ku22iESE/s400/6a00c2252293c4604a010980b47c31000b-500pi.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5491859157364162930" /></a><br /><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><b>TAI CHI AND ME</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">“Above all, be at ease, be as natural and spacious as possible.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Slip quietly out of the noose of your habitual anxious self, release all grasping, and relax into your true nature.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Think of your ordinary, emotional, thought-ridden self as a block of ice or a slab of butter left out in the sun.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">If you are feeling hard and cold, let this aggression melt away in the sunlight of your meditation.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Let peace work on you and enable you to gather your scattered mind into the mindfulness of Calm Abiding, and awaken in you the awareness and insight of Clear Seeing.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">And you will find all your negativity disarmed, your aggression dissolved, and your confusion evaporating slowly, like mist into the vast and stainless sky of your absolute nature.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Sogyal Rinpoche.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The above quotation comes from The Tibetan Art of Living and Dying and pertains to the practice of meditation.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">It also encapsulates my experience of Chi Kung and Tai Chi, practices that soften and melt on many levels.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The most primary experience of Tai Chi is movement at a physical level, and I dread to think how my physical progression would evolve over the next few years if I wasn’t stretching during warm up, and during the various practices I have learned to enjoy.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Spending a week in The Orthopedic Hospital after a horse riding accident in which I fractured my pelvis convinced me of the necessity of exercise.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The ward mainly contained elderly people who had sustained injury during falls and brought to my attention the number of people on the street who couldn’t walk without the use of a cane because their physical structure had seized up.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">As we are mind/body creatures, our emotions are intimately connected to our physicality and one affects the other.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">As Chuang-Tzu states, “In all things The Way does not want to be obstructed, for if there is obstruction, there is choking; if the choking does not cease, there is disorder, and disorder harms the life of all creatures.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Maintaining an awareness of myself as a being of energy vibrating as part of a field of energy, facilitates my understanding of the necessity of keeping that energy flowing.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Where there is blockage in the system, suffering ensues.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This suffering will occur on physical, emotional and intellectual levels.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Meditation and movement, indeed meditation </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">as</span></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> movement within the forms of Tai Chi and Chi Kung, softens the damaging grasp of contraction engendered by a cultural milieu predicated on argument, fear and the illusion of isolation.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Sensing one’s own energy while consciously connecting to the greater universal field of energy, allows for a softening of the experience of boundaries thereby increasing one’s sense of being All That Is.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Sogyal Rinpoche uses the metaphor of a vase.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Once the vase breaks, one realizes the space one previously discerned as being inside the vase was, all along, the same space as that by which it was surrounded.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The culturally conditioned mind creates the boundary which the practice dissolves, until one becomes, to quote Deepak Chopra, a “citizen of the field.”</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">As citizens of the field, we realize our connection to our greater selves.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Free from the versions of Reality we have constructed, we are liberated to live more loving, playful, creative and compassionate lives.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We are all genies, imagining ourselves captive in a bottle, until we realize there is no bottle and we are free to work magic in our lives.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">(This is a work in progress for me!)<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Over millennia, Taoists have developed disciplined, specific practices designed to channel energy through our various energetic systems, allowing us to actively interpenetrate various dimensions of existence, drawing energy from those dimensions into the ‘physical’ dimension of the Earth plane, through our various energy bodies and into the physical bodies we have fashioned for this lifetime.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">It is my sense that these disciplines are interplanetary and inter-dimensional, technological gifts we receive in order to help us to complete our task of awakening to the loving creative power we are.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Learning to create a flowing energy system allows us to feel more compassionate towards the Little Self we inhabit this lifetime. As citizens of warlike cultures we learn to integrate conflict, creating an internal battleground in which we chastise our inner Other whilst simultaneously perceiving this inner culprit in those around us.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The technologies with which we have been gifted, when utilized, allow our Higher Selves and Highly Evolved Beings access to the dimension of our human consciousness so that we may be assisted in the work we were born to do.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">While we are in the midst of suffering without means of amelioration we exist in a Me-centered universe in which our transcendental heart struggles to open. Once we avail of this life buoy, the practice, which provides us with the means to save ourselves, we can become more compassionate towards others drowning in the sea of illusion and soften our attitudes towards them.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">(I’m also thinking of a few specific people here whom I am struggling to like, whilst acknowledging how much I’ve learned from my dislike of their behaviour, mainly, to look out for the temptation to behave likewise myself and to refrain from doing so!)</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Practicing Tai Chi and meditation (though admittedly not on a daily basis) for the past two years has enabled me to integrate so much of the learning of my previous decades, each ‘piece’ of which has been essential to my growth as a human and a spirit being.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I also feel privileged to know the people I’ve met during this time, people who are consciously working on the development of their awareness and exhibit a higher caliber of behaviour towards themselves and others as a result.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">“Tibetan masters say that this wise generosity has the flavour of boundless space, so warm and cozy that you feel enveloped and protected by it, as if by a blanket of sunlight.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><o:p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This Golden Sun of the practice, the warm blanket of Divine Light experienced during meditation and further integrated through the disciplined, orchestrated movements of Chi Kung and Tai Chi is not only a true agent of positive change, but a solid base from which to reach out to facilitate a wider transformation, as it naturally translates into behaviour which benefits others.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <!--EndFragment-->Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-4596371937311257302010-07-01T10:53:00.000-07:002010-07-01T11:28:30.714-07:00Happy, sunny days<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TCzd_45NuxI/AAAAAAAAAHM/8iS5sBCphkM/s1600/_MG_7826.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TCzd_45NuxI/AAAAAAAAAHM/8iS5sBCphkM/s400/_MG_7826.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489006135531649810" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TCzd_UKhXtI/AAAAAAAAAHE/ORzHQVKN0HY/s1600/_MG_7830.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TCzd_UKhXtI/AAAAAAAAAHE/ORzHQVKN0HY/s400/_MG_7830.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489006125672128210" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TCzd_OUXtuI/AAAAAAAAAG8/VhP4MYWlgRk/s1600/_MG_7820.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TCzd_OUXtuI/AAAAAAAAAG8/VhP4MYWlgRk/s400/_MG_7820.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489006124102825698" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TCzd-nDVMuI/AAAAAAAAAG0/AbwkiL1J970/s1600/_MG_7812.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TCzd-nDVMuI/AAAAAAAAAG0/AbwkiL1J970/s400/_MG_7812.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489006113562374882" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TCzd-MqygiI/AAAAAAAAAGs/DJyIwUAlkEY/s1600/_MG_7772.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TCzd-MqygiI/AAAAAAAAAGs/DJyIwUAlkEY/s400/_MG_7772.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489006106480116258" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TCzaPeV-C4I/AAAAAAAAAGk/305YyoPqPsA/s1600/_MG_7769.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TCzaPeV-C4I/AAAAAAAAAGk/305YyoPqPsA/s400/_MG_7769.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489002005235895170" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TCzaPEq4pwI/AAAAAAAAAGc/4xh36LYXOx0/s1600/_MG_7758.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TCzaPEq4pwI/AAAAAAAAAGc/4xh36LYXOx0/s400/_MG_7758.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489001998344300290" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TCzaOXiL6lI/AAAAAAAAAGU/qZlQuWYq4jg/s1600/_MG_7690.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TCzaOXiL6lI/AAAAAAAAAGU/qZlQuWYq4jg/s400/_MG_7690.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489001986228218450" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TCzaN6x_RhI/AAAAAAAAAGM/fCGzX_Qaylc/s1600/_MG_7753.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TCzaN6x_RhI/AAAAAAAAAGM/fCGzX_Qaylc/s400/_MG_7753.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489001978509870610" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TCzaNVRGf2I/AAAAAAAAAGE/68VcG8BNQds/s1600/_MG_7756.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TCzaNVRGf2I/AAAAAAAAAGE/68VcG8BNQds/s400/_MG_7756.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5489001968439820130" /></a><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ok Just in case I've contributed to y'all thinkin' it rains on our glorious Emerald Isle all the time, I'm chucking up a few recent photos of the summer we're having. Yes, along with the UK, Ireland is actually having a proper summer this year!!!</span>Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-69619881916393872422010-05-31T10:23:00.000-07:002010-05-31T12:51:10.900-07:00THE ALL POWERFUL WEATHERGOD<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TAQQmFOLRjI/AAAAAAAAAF8/qriyUhnwxZ8/s1600/IMG_7641.JPG"></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TAQOapi-iaI/AAAAAAAAAF0/-ojBRu79QKc/s1600/_MG_7651.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 214px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TAQOapi-iaI/AAAAAAAAAF0/-ojBRu79QKc/s320/_MG_7651.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477518897781311906" /></a><br />I'm feeling decidedly mean. I love dipping into the blogs I follow and keeping up with the lives and interests of their authors and feel suddenly miserable that I've been so lax in contributing to this great world of blogging of late. As I'm about to begin my summer hols soon I'll rectify that in the not-too-distant future. Meanwhile, I'm lazily offering some of anothers hard graft, to whit a poem by one of my favourite poets, Billy Collins. Last week and weekend the weather was splendid; hot, sunny - provoking lazy days in the garden and activity filled picnics on the gorgeous local beaches. For the past few days it's been raining and cool and all of us locals are bemoaning the change in climes - yes, the conversation at the hairdressers today revolved around the well founded Irish paranoia that we've had our summer already, and this could be it for the rest of the so-called summer, whilst we remain hopelessly optimistic that "things will pick up again"....and we'll be rescued from our fears once more!!! The rain once diverted Billy Collins thoughts into less sanguine channels before he allowed the possibility of a return to better weather to again claim his allegiance for this earthly realm....<div><br /></div><div>Rooms</div><div><br /></div><div>After three days of steady, inconsolable rain,</div><div>I walk through the rooms of the house</div><div>wondering which would be best to die in.</div><div><br /></div><div>The study is an obvious choice</div><div>with its thick carpet and soothing paint,</div><div>its overstuffed chair preferable</div><div>to a doll-like tumble down the basement stairs.</div><div><br /></div><div>And the kitchen has a certain appeal -</div><div>it seems he was boiling water for tea,</div><div>the inspector will offer, holding up the melted kettle.</div><div><br /></div><div>Then there is the dining room, </div><div>just the place to end up facedown</div><div>at one end of its long table in a half-written letter</div><div><br /></div><div>or the bedroom with its mix of sex and sleep,</div><div>upright against a headboard,</div><div>a book having slipped to the floor -</div><div>make it <i>Mrs. Dalloway</i>, which I have yet to read.</div><div><br /></div><div>Dead on the carpet, dead on the tiles,</div><div>dead on the stone cold floor -</div><div>it's starting to sound like a ballad</div><div>sung by a man in a pub with a coal red face.</div><div><br /></div><div>It's all the fault of the freezing rain</div><div>which is flicking against the windows,</div><div>but when it finally lets up</div><div>and gives way to broken clouds and a warm breeze,</div><div>when the trees stand dripping in the light,</div><div><br /></div><div>I will quit these dark, angular rooms</div><div>and drive along a country road</div><div>into the larger rooms of the world,</div><div>so vast and speckled, so full of ink and sorrow-</div><div><br /></div><div>a road that cuts through bare woods</div><div>and tangles of red and yellow bittersweet</div><div>these late November days.</div><div><br /></div><div>And maybe under the fallen wayside leaves</div><div>there is hidden a nest of mice,</div><div>each one no bigger than a thumb,</div><div>a thumb with closed eyes,</div><div>a thumb with whiskers and a tail,</div><div>each one contemplating the sweetness of grass</div><div>and the startling brevity of life.</div><div><br /><div><br /></div><div>And he wrote that poem in November - this is June!!!</div><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/TAQQmFOLRjI/AAAAAAAAAF8/qriyUhnwxZ8/s400/IMG_7641.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5477521293212075570" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px; " /></span></div></div>Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-46212234200654865762010-04-28T05:04:00.000-07:002010-04-28T05:24:11.457-07:00BABY BLACKBIRD BYE BYE<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/S9glQTZm92I/AAAAAAAAAFs/QPCidPxvjp8/s1600/images-3.jpeg"></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/S9gkzRATqGI/AAAAAAAAAFk/bEBJrrcPvpk/s1600/images-2.jpeg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 140px; height: 105px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/S9gkzRATqGI/AAAAAAAAAFk/bEBJrrcPvpk/s320/images-2.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465158610970716258" /></a><br /><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Little Joey’s gone. He was only in our lives for a few days, but had a huge impact. I initially called him Mussolini because of his face, cross looking when viewed head on, the sides of his blackbirds beak widening to give a dictatorial aspect, that, combined with his demanding cheeps earned him the moniker.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Caoimhe, who has a bird phobia, had found him around the side of the house, almost stepping on him, and had run, breathless into the house, calling “MUM! Muuuum!” Her sister, upon hearing her tone, had run out and when I arrived I was greeted by one baby blackbird and two upset daughters. A shoebox was lined with dried grass and moss, and I 'deftly' lifted the bird and deposited it in it’s new nest. I had observed the bird appeared to have a damaged wing and at least one damaged leg and was hesisitant as to whether we should be helping it at all. Having become aware of it, or course, and not knowing what else to do, I felt we had to ‘do something’. I learned through Googling, that taking on the care of a baby bird is a huge commitment – the box needs to be kept, ideally, at 85 deg F, the air around the bird needs a moisture content of 25 percent, it needs to be fed every two hours around the clock (at least, depending on it’s age) and, baby blackbirds need to be fed pureed dog food with a high water content as giving it water by syringe could drown it. Phew!</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">As my concerned daughters were too scared to go near Mussolini, I had to step in and become mother. Having breastfed two human infants didn’t prepare me for this task. I’m not a bird and found trying to keep this little mite alive very stressful. I worried about it getting enough food. As it’s legs were so damaged it couldn’t do what baby birds usually do when being fed (i.e. stand up and flap it’s wings – this info thanks to YouTube!) it would fall forwards on it’s beak when trying to feed. At first, I interpreted this as bird language for not wanting food. I eventually learned to wait until it got itself into a position where it could put it’s head back and ‘gape’, and developed a technique of putting the tip of a watercolour brush into it’s beak for it to gently take the food. Then the moistened brush side can be used to wipe excess food from the sides of the beak.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">While I continued to feel stressed, I began to enjoy the sound of the blackbirds song in the house and to appreciate it’s contented little cheeps once fed. My concern for it’s condition never waned however, as with a damaged wing, and two damaged legs, how would it ever fend for itself. Esme began to feed it and to share the responsibility for caring for it, followed, miraculously, by Caoimhe, who initially was so sad to not be able to go near it to help it, but who, by day three, was participating in feeding Joey, having thus affectionately named ‘him’.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I wondered at the reason for this little birds appearance in our lives, as everything in the external world is a reflection of the internal. I thought about it’s injured wing and crippled legs, and how sad it is for a little creature to be unable to fulfill what it is born to do. The likelihood was this bird would never fly. I reflected on my own able body and skillsets, and vowed, once again, to fully spread my wings and fly.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">On Monday morning, just as I was leaving for work with Joey where I intended to get the vet on The Animal Care course to take a look at him, I received a phonecall from Caoimhe at school asking me to collect her as she was experiencing breathing difficulties, again. She’d had some similar episodes the previous week so this time, I brought her straight to the doctor. After the examination the doctor recommended we go to the A+E at the hospital to rule out a pathological explanation. We came home and fed Joey, who, I noticed also seemed to have developed breathing difficulties. When we returned from the hospital five hours later, having received the all clear for Caoimhe, little Joey, wings spread, head thrown back, had died. This came both as a disappointment and a huge relief. He had been loved and looked after during his short life, helping us in return and now, Little Joey had left behind his damaged body, and his limitations, having reminded us to let go of ours, and flies free, at last.</span></span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA"><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; font-family:Georgia, serif;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/S9glQTZm92I/AAAAAAAAAFs/QPCidPxvjp8/s320/images-3.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5465159109829916514" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 127px; height: 120px; " /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><i>Image courtesy of Nigel Chaney</i></span></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-52381977479002393542010-03-23T02:09:00.000-07:002010-04-04T15:18:05.518-07:00FOLLOW YOUR HEART- AT ALL COSTS!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/S7kLzmlJ60I/AAAAAAAAAFc/L8032Pi49BA/s1600/WRKCVR.BMP"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 137px; height: 200px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/S7kLzmlJ60I/AAAAAAAAAFc/L8032Pi49BA/s200/WRKCVR.BMP" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5456405404693687106" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:arial, serif;">Nick Williams, author, spiritual life coach and co-founder of Inspired Entrepreneur, a network which provides support, seminars and training to people who want to change their lives by following their hearts, kindly agreed to answer some questions I posed to him. I hope you will find inspiration in the following Q&A with Nick which is followed by my video pitch of a story of personal transformation I have entered in The Next Top Spiritual Author competition, I hope you will find inspiration here also.</span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/S7kFfAiyo_I/AAAAAAAAAFU/JeU-S3BZV0Q/s1600/WRKCVR.BMP"></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/S7kFeZzJzYI/AAAAAAAAAFM/IwBV84U1nyA/s1600/How+to+be+inspired+-+cover.jpg"></a><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/S6iHZbImJ9I/AAAAAAAAAFE/9CL9Cx_TqCo/s1600-h/2_DSC0120+retouched+2..jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 268px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/S6iHZbImJ9I/AAAAAAAAAFE/9CL9Cx_TqCo/s400/2_DSC0120+retouched+2..jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5451756219782277074" /></a><br /><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Tahoma;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">What do I feel the ultimate purpose of human life to be? </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Tahoma;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Tahoma;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">To remember that in this world of seeming separation, that we are divine spiritual beings, all part of the same one creation, that we are the light. We remember our true identity by letting go of erroneous ideas, beliefs and thoughts about who we believe we are and by sharing our creative gifts with each other. It is to remember that we are loved, we are loving and that ultimately we are love, and that the creator places no conditions on their love for us. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Tahoma;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Tahoma;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">What is the greatest fear that I have overcome?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Tahoma;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Tahoma;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Probably listening to, trusting and acting from the wisdom of my heart when I was in the corporate world and left the conventional career path. I had a good job and the trappings of success, but I didn’t have the experience of feeling a success and fulfilled. It took all the courage I could muster to leave it behind and trust both in my own resources and unseen powers and that there was a greater life beckoning me. I followed a crazy dream of inspiring people, teaching, being creative and creating a truly meaningful life, but discovered that was in fact my life purpose and calling beckoning me. As I have had the courage to follow it, I continue to be transformed. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Tahoma;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Tahoma;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">What is the single most important insight I would like to share with people?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Tahoma;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Tahoma;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">That your existence is a blessing and you do have purpose for being here. But that purpose may be the thing that scares you most, that you most resist and try to logically talk yourself out of, but is in fact the truest direction of your life and the direction that will lead to your greatest fulfilment. Your hearts deepest dream may well not be a fantasy but your soul revealing to you the grandest path for your life. And you can create an abundant living doing the work you were born to do. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family:Tahoma;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style=" ;font-family:Tahoma;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Nick Williams is co-founder of Inspired Entrepreneur and is passionate about helping people find the work they were born to do and build successful businesses around it. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style=" ;font-family:Tahoma;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">If you are not yet clear about </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">the work you were born to do, </span></i></span><span lang="EN-GB" style=" ;font-family:Tahoma;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">you can download your free copy of a nine part programme to help you discover it and become an inspired entrepreneur now at: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><a href="http://www.inspired-entrepreneur.com/">www.inspired-entrepreneur.com</a></span></span></p><div><br /></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;">To vote for me please visit the following link:</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><a href="http://www.nexttopauthor.com/?aid=2420">http://www.nexttopauthor.com?aid=2420</a></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /><object width="640" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/vtxD4e2CbZs&hl=en_US&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/vtxD4e2CbZs&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385"></embed></object></div>Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-36323120958466345862010-03-12T03:42:00.000-08:002010-03-13T03:51:49.124-08:00INTEGRITY INTEGRITY INTEGRITY<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/S5oqX8ORYfI/AAAAAAAAAE8/sSjkZ5ka7sM/s1600-h/optiramma-1647573.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/S5oqX8ORYfI/AAAAAAAAAE8/sSjkZ5ka7sM/s400/optiramma-1647573.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447713290049380850" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">INTEGRITY INTEGRITY INTEGRITY</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Antony De Mello began his bestselling book Awareness with the words Awareness, awareness. awareness. With good reason. Most of us are not aware of ourselves, others, our motivations, or the potential consequences of our actions. This is causing us all a lot of problems, for example, on a purely practical level, the economic state of this country and the world as a whole, is based on that very condition – lack of awareness coupled with lack of integrity. Certain individuals in positions of power saw opportunities to increase their wealth and, irresponsible of the consequences, pursued those opportunities, thereby sacrificing the livelihoods of others. These powerful people were assisted in the pursuit of their business interests by governments whose sole concern was self preservation, and by a culture which has become innured to corruption and material self interest.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">While there are individuals within government; within corporations and institutions who uphold a high moral code, it became practically impossible for those people to effect change to a system they saw spiralling towards wrecking havoc on the lives of the masses. The web of collusion in croneyism and hubris amongst their colleagues, and the media, effectly silenced their protests and most of them either shut up, resigned their positions or continued pressing warnings against deaf ears. The fat farce rolled on until it smashed up against a wall of it’s own making. Some simply sidled away unscathed by the ensuing fracas, others, remaining in power hide behind a new wall of spin, and most of us will spend the rest of our working lives paying for the latest measures hastily put in place to safeguard the interests of the economic elite.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">HONOUR IS A GIFT YOU GIVE YOURSELF</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">“Honour is a gift you give yourself.” I remember reading this a number of years ago. I don’t remember where, but it struck me as being so true. Sometime later, I heard Ricky Gervais repeat it in an interview, and thought, there goes someone I’d like to meet. Integrity is something we need to foster in ourselves, and, no matter what happens around us, it is up to us to keep checking with ourselves whether our thoughts and actions match what we know to be the best option for us to take. If we can’t look in the mirror and like the person we see, we become diminished in our own eyes and, ultimately, will have no one else to blame. No one can take away our honour but ourselves.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">There was an article in The Irish Times recently in which a priest spoke of the culture of The Victim. He maintained that people in the church didn’t speak out about the abuse they witnessed because they were indoctrinated to believe they were powerless to do anything about it – they had become victims. It wasn’t </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">their</span></i></span><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> place to do anything, they didn’t feel they </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">could. This is so sad.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This same attitude applies now as it did then, and not just to the clergy, but to the community as a whole. We all wait for someone else to do something, it’s the classic “</span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Somebody</span></i></span><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> get help!”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Not everyone is a political leader, a mobiliser of change on a grand scale. But we are all capable and indeed supported, to live our best lives for ourselves. By that, I mean to pursue a level of Self interest which supports what will nurture and nourish us on a soul level. When we each commit to honouring our true Self, we make it impossible to dishonour another. This is a challenge we each meet everyday and in almost everyway. The question always is:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">DO I LOVE MYSELF ENOUGH?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">When I love myself enough I will safeguard that self esteem and won’t risk diminishing it by actions which will damage it. All of us, responding to our souls calling to Love can create an environment of change which will benefit all. In this, if we but realise it, we are totally supported by our souls essence which holds us in infinite love and compassion. Everything which occurs in the external world, the everyday life in which we engage, exists to provide us with opportunities for growth.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Those opportunities often appear as challenges in the form of other people who ‘get up our nose’ or threats to our financial or physical wellbeing. In order to respond to these challenges from a place of awareness and integrity, rather than from a defensive kneejerk standpoint, we need to be in touch with our True Nature or souls essence. There are many ways of doing this. Spending time quietly with ourselves, or walking in nature will help us to gain a fresh perspective on matters. Writing out a list of our deepest values helps to clarify what is truly important to us. Practising Yoga, , Chi Kung and Tai Chi is an excellent way of replenshing our energy and maintaining health on all levels from the physical to the spiritual. Meditation helps us to connect deeply with our Soul Self, that essential root from which we project our energy enabling us to learn over lifetimes in the slower vibration of the material dimension. This is where we will find the support needed to face life challenges from an honourable and authentic perspective. It is from the place of our Soul Self that we realise we have the strength to form our own opinions and follow through on them. It is through strengthening the realisation that we (each and every one of us, without exception) are pure at our core that we are enabled to walk an enlightened, more responsible path in the everyday.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:ArialMT, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><i>I collected this image a while back and can't remember from where so haven't credited the author - if it is yours please email me your web address, I'll check it out and credit you for your great artwork.</i></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style=" ;font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style=" ;font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-72023033522864287612010-03-05T08:13:00.000-08:002010-03-20T03:16:03.799-07:00SLOWING DOWN AND SEEING<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I live in a beautiful place and enjoy the forty five minute drive to and from work (twenty five outside of rush hour). The light is constantly changing and I often yearn to spend the day photographing instead of teaching in a darkened studio, lecture theatre or darkroom. As I am also a mother, am always a student: of psychotherapy, of philosophy, shamanism, Tai Chi and Chi Kung; of writing and entrepreneurship, and, first and foremost, of my own spiritual journey, I can often miss the entrancing details of that almost daily car journey.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The other evening as I drove towards the orange and mauve streaked glow of the Western sky, my attention was drawn upwards to the birds perched on their nests in the tall bare branches of the winter trees. Every now and then the silhouette of a lone bird caught my eye as it's dark shape traversed the sky in front of me, now carrying a twig, then carrying a tuft of lambswool or dried grass. The age old movement of the bird population signaling Springs arrival and the portent of new birth, in a visual synthesis with the natural environment of budding blossom and spring lambs. Something about the beauty and depth of the changing scene, as each bird made a different shape swooping poetically across my path carrying its building material, enriched me with the prompt, You and I are One in Life and Nature.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Later, slowing down behind a trailer, packed high with organic matter whose pungent aroma filled my car, I spied an almost angular pocket of mist, hanging spectral like, alone in the graceful dip of a large darkening field. Wondering at its presence, I traced its source, barely discernible; a thin trail of smoke wafted silently across some fields, river, and road, towards the chimney of a large farmhouse quite a distance away. Somehow, this quiet scene, of smoke and landscape in the twilight palpated with the pure elegant presence of Being....</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The tractor and trailer turned off and I pressed on the accelerator, my thoughts gathering apace and projecting into the future once more, towards dinner and further list of the demanding To Do's of the everyday.</span></span></div>Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-17777461603608808662010-02-27T12:52:00.000-08:002010-03-01T06:49:12.490-08:00JZ Knight Interviewed by Alan Steinfeld on New Realities<div><br /></div><div>JZ KNIGHT TALKING TO ALAN STEINFELD </div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In a very eloquent interview JZ Knight talks to Alan Steinfeld about her life as channel for Ramtha, a more developed Being guiding us on our evolution through teaching us the nature of ourselves (our True Self and Personality Self) and of Reality as an eternal evolution of consciousness and Divine Creation.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The video begins with excerpts of JZ Knight channelling Ramtha at the Mastery School, then proceeds to the interview between JZ and Alan, in my opinion worth waiting for. It is evident from the comments on You Tube that most of the viewers are unable to grasp the concepts she articulates. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">After about 3 hours of unsuccessfully attempting to load this video, I'm posting a link here instead: www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXHtjb44qyA</div>Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-37627978497342461982010-01-13T04:44:00.000-08:002010-01-13T05:10:43.526-08:00THE GUEST HOUSE<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/S03GHHMpnXI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/GJtGxHpaB5Q/s1600-h/_MG_8558_2.JPG"></a><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/S03CoKN71jI/AAAAAAAAAEI/EBjFpgApApw/s1600-h/_MG_8558_2.JPG"></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/S03CJD5X-vI/AAAAAAAAAEA/85099Dpe_cI/s1600-h/_MG_8613_2.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/S03CJD5X-vI/AAAAAAAAAEA/85099Dpe_cI/s400/_MG_8613_2.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426206586971880178" /></a> <i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;">copyright Gillian Treacy January 2010</span></span></i><br /><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">THE GUEST HOUSE</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">This being human is a guest house.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Every morning a new arrival.</div><div style="text-align: center;">A joy, a depression, a meanness,</div><div style="text-align: center;">some momentary awareness comes as an unexpected visitor.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Welcome and entertain them all!</div><div style="text-align: center;">Even if they are a crowd of sorrows,</div><div style="text-align: center;">who violently sweep your house </div><div style="text-align: center;">empty of its furniture,</div><div style="text-align: center;">still, treat each guest honourably.</div><div style="text-align: center;">He may be clearing you out</div><div style="text-align: center;">for some new delight.</div><div style="text-align: center;">The dark thought, the shame, the malice.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Meet them at the door laughing and invite them in.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Be grateful for whatever comes,</div><div style="text-align: center;">Because each as been sent as a guide from beyond.</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/S03GHHMpnXI/AAAAAAAAAEQ/GJtGxHpaB5Q/s200/_MG_8558_2.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5426210951544806770" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 200px; height: 134px; " /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#666666;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">copyright Gillian Treacy January 2010</span></span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;">Jelaluddin Rumi.</div><div style="text-align: center;">Translation by Coleman Barks</div>Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-80069148075521010592009-12-31T10:28:00.000-08:002009-12-31T10:33:15.887-08:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/SzztnyJ88XI/AAAAAAAAAD4/rMRfQ_qXJgw/s1600-h/photo.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/SzztnyJ88XI/AAAAAAAAAD4/rMRfQ_qXJgw/s320/photo.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5421469319181431154" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, serif; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR HIBERNATION AND CELEBRATION - Providing light and cheer in the darkness of mid-winter.</span></span></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-70557148437588341272009-11-26T04:44:00.000-08:002010-03-12T13:02:17.696-08:00STEVEN PRESSFIELD ANSWERS MY QUESTIONS ON RESISTANCE<div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/SzNmYSkCOjI/AAAAAAAAADw/WV-gceitmJQ/s1600-h/DownloadedFile-3.jpeg"><br /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/SzNmYDLO7AI/AAAAAAAAADg/FPE-zo5neTg/s1600-h/DownloadedFile-2.jpeg"><br /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/SzNmX68xtsI/AAAAAAAAADY/3iUTbX1bVFk/s1600-h/DownloadedFile-1.jpeg"><br /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 227px; " src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/Sw541wTj6eI/AAAAAAAAACo/vO0W174_hjw/s320/sudek-egg.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408393067413891554" /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div></span><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><i>Image by Josef Sudek</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Ten years ago, as I sat talking with my then energy healer before a session, I told her I felt I had a resistance to Life. I knew I had, could feel it like an enormous anchor I was dragging around with me; like an invisible membrane I had to push through to do anything at all. She said something very important, reminding me that I was there, sitting with her; reminding me too of all the other actions I was taking which demonstrated my considerable coping skills. I hadn’t thought of that as I dragged myself around, trying to survive the death of my best friend Dolores, which had been followed on six months later by the death of my husband. I was devastated, not only by the loss of two such great friends and soulmates, but also by the suffering I had witnessed, in particular that of my beautiful Kieran, who endured extreme pain for two and a half years before moving on, as I helped as best I could, while feeling helpless. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Throughout that time of relentless suffering, other things were happening, which I can only describe as Divine Intervention, through which we both received enormous strength; strength I also witnessed in Dolores who proved to be a great spiritual teacher to me. I was in awe of both of them, people I simply loved, hung out with, who, when faced with circumstances which caused them unbearable suffering exhibited such immense tolerance and consideration, such grace.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">After they transformed, (death is the usual term we employ, but I now know for sure that death, as we understand it, is impossible) one of the gifts of grace I received from the adventure and trial we shared was to experience God, firsthand. Even now I don’t actually like to use the term God to name my experience. God, as a concept has become so distorted and misused, so misrepresented. What I experienced was pure, unconditional Love, whole and vast beyond measure. I cried with gratitude and bliss at a time I expected to cry in agony; was held in light as every cell of my body vibrated and I understood that this state of Total Love is my home, and each of our birthright; that all of us are returning to this state of complete wholeness and no one can miss that path – all roads lead home and </span></span><span style="Arial Italic"font-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">there is no if</span></i></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, however, it is up to each of us to determine </span></span><span style="Arial Italic"font-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">when</span></i></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">. We are all called, we are all sustained.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I felt immensely privileged and immensely humbled.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Since that experience, I have become more and more aware of the help available to </span></span><span style="Arial Italic"font-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">every one of us</span></i></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> and have also become aware of the struggle at hand. Following on from such bliss, I entered the Dark Night</span></span><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Symbol;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">*</span></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> of The Soul, where, having been brought to the top of the mountain and presented with the view, I now had to enter the abyss and make my own way back up. (</span></span><span style=" ;font-family:Symbol;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">*</span></i></span><span style=" ;font-family:'Arial Italic';"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">For Night, Read Dark Decade of the Soul! Don’t let that put you off though – the journey is worth it, and, you know what they say, “If you’re going through Hell - keep going!!!”</span></i></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> What I have had to struggle with is my own distorted beliefs and deceptive thinking. I wrote elsewhere on this blog recently, that I’ve realized, as Spirits undertaking a human experience (which lasts lifetimes) we undertake to experience the entire spectrum of human emotions. These emotions are not ours and can be let go of, once we realize we are misidentifying with them. What I experience is not me, it’s simply something I’m experiencing which is part of this planet, this dimension, and Humanity. The feelings we undergo </span></span><span style="Arial Italic"font-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">appear</span></i></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> very real,</span></span><span style="Arial Italic"font-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> feel</span></i></span><span style="Arial Italic"font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">very real, however, there is a Reality which outshines any fleeting emotion we experience, instantly and gratefully recognized as true Reality when we are privileged to merge with it, that which is our One Self.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">(Even great writers fail to express the profound elegance of the ineffable Being and I’m certainly not managing here!)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Externally, my life appears relatively unchanged. Some would say they notice I’m now laughing more. Internally, I have altered immeasurably and am still transforming, beautifully. Along with the rest of humanity, I still dialogue with myself and have to negotiate my self-imposed fears, or rather, the fears which are part and parcel of this dimension. Throughout, I have been aided by both ‘invisible’ and visible helpers, by friends and teachers, disincarnate and incarnate.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">As an avid reader, (and now writer(-ish!)), as a person seeking to evolve, I love books in which others share their authentic experiences of being human in order to add their support to the well of voices which speak for the Light. I love when people open their hearts to connect directly with the hearts of others, as this inspires all of us to trust ourselves and our own process. To know that it is a noble and shared endeavour we undertake which bestows real rewards.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">One of the books which provides savvy insight into Resistance, and eloquent support to the rest of us in our daily struggle is The War of Art by Steven Pressfield:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><i>“Resistance has no strength of its own. Every ounce of juice it possesses comes from us. We feed it with power by our fear of it.</i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><i> Master that fear and we conquer Resistance.</i></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><i> </i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><i>Resistance obstructs movement only from a lower sphere to a higher. It kicks in when we seek to pursue a calling in the arts, launch an innovative enterprise, or evolve to a higher station morally, ethically, or spiritually. </i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><i> So if you’re in Calcutta working with the Mother Theresa Foundation and you’re thinking of bolting to launch a career in telemarketing…relax. Resistance will give you a free pass.”</i></span></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=881924141556037281&postID=7055714843758834127#_edn1" name="_ednref1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><i>[i]</i></span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="Arial Bold"font-family:";"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Having commented on Steven’s blog, his assistant Callie emailed to say that Steven is reaching out to other bloggers and invited me to engage in a Q&A session with him. Steven kindly provided honest and heartfelt answers to the following three questions I posed to him:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">1<b><i>. What do you think is occurring when one is trying to move to a higher sphere - who or what is resisting and what is being resisted?</i></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> I'm only speculating, Gillian, but just as we can feel a force in nature that calls us to evolve to a higher level (otherwise why are we so uplifted, to the point of tears and beyond, by "inspiring" stories), so also do we feel a negative force that's trying to hold us earthbound. I wish I had some great wisdom here, to identify what these forces are. Good and evil? In </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The War of Art</span></i></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">, I suggest that what's holding us back is the Little Self, the Ego, whose existence and usefulness is limited to this material dimension, the dimension that knows death and suffering, in which each individual is seen as apart from every other, and in which fear is the predominant emotion. What is calling us to evolve is our Higher Self, our Big Self, what Jung called simply the Self and what others have called Cosmic Consciousness, the All, or God. That Greater Self has its primary being, I'm speculating, on planes higher than this one--where death is not real, where each individual is united to every other, and where love and not fear is the predominant emotion.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Our Higher Self is calling us to evolve to a loftier level. It is being resisted by our Earthbound Self that wants us to stay here on lower planes.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">That's my story and I'm sticking to it!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">2. <b><i>What benefits have you received/shared when overcoming resistance?</i></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">If I hadn't learned how to overcome Resistance, I would never have been able to write any of the stuff I've written. I wouldn't have met the great people I've met, felt my own soul evolve beyond prior limited self-conceptions, I wouldn't be who am I today but would instead be stuck in some lower, self-limiting incarnation. I wouldn't have been able to help the people I've helped or contributed whatever I've been able to contribute. I'd be a mess!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">3.<b><i> Have you had to be incredibly selfish/made sacrifices to progress your aims?</i></b></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Yes. But I think that is in the nature of the game. When we as artists or entrepreneurs make the decision that we are going to pursue a calling rather than just sell out our time in exchange for money, we also accept the consequences. We have to give up a lot. We decide that it's worth it. We decide that we want to do work we love and not work that somebody else tells us we have to do; we decide that it's more important to do work that fulfills our soul's calling--and we're willing to pay the price.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">In my case, one price is that I haven't had kids. I could have, many times along the way, but I knew it wouldn't be right </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">for me</span></i></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">--or for the kids. That's not nothing. I could have had more money, more material gain, I could've married certain women, enjoyed certain perks, I could've saved myself a lot of heartache and loneliness if I'd stayed at certain jobs, you know the tune. But I made the decision that it was more important to me to follow what gave me joy and made me feel like me. I don't regret it. The things that one might say I have "given up" are not real things </span><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">for me</span></i></span><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> and for my particular calling. Some sacrifices simply must be made. To believe that you can live your own authentic life and not make those sacrifices is a delusion.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">As Telamon of Arcadia once said, "It is one thing to study war, and another to live the warrior's life."</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">That's it, Gillian. Hope that helps!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style=" ;font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style=" ;font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></div> <hr align="left" size="1" width="33%" style="text-align: justify;"> <div id="edn1"> <p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=881924141556037281&postID=7055714843758834127#_ednref1" name="_edn1" title=""><span class="MsoEndnoteReference"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">[i]</span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> The War of Art. Steven Pressfield. Grand Central Publishing. 2003.</span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><br /></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/SzNmYSkCOjI/AAAAAAAAADw/WV-gceitmJQ/s320/DownloadedFile-3.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418787344142711346" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 67px; height: 78px; " /></span></p><p class="MsoEndnoteText" style="text-align: justify;">Steven Pressfield is the author of the following books together with numerous film scripts and various other projects.</p></div></div></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/SzNmYDLO7AI/AAAAAAAAADg/FPE-zo5neTg/s320/DownloadedFile-2.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418787340012153858" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 51px; height: 78px; " /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/SzNmYS6jqfI/AAAAAAAAADo/qwWAG8Wx1xU/s320/DownloadedFile-4.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418787344237177330" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 51px; height: 78px; " /></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(0, 0, 238); -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline; "><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/SzNmX68xtsI/AAAAAAAAADY/3iUTbX1bVFk/s320/DownloadedFile-1.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5418787337804035778" style="display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 51px; height: 78px; " /></span><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 93px; height: 140px; " src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/Sw542B5eEGI/AAAAAAAAACw/UkQHhT1ucNE/s320/images-1.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408393072136294498" /><div style="text-align: justify;"><i>Steven also posts on his blog. Check out:</i> blog.stevenpressfield.com</div></div>Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-85549259808177959512009-11-15T09:54:00.000-08:002009-11-25T05:16:22.637-08:00OVERCOMING RESISTANCE TO LIFE<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/Sw0t7ZKvG3I/AAAAAAAAACg/xC-CWe9zwl0/s1600/Over1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/Sw0t7ZKvG3I/AAAAAAAAACg/xC-CWe9zwl0/s320/Over1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5408029225933282162" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/SwBBZC0Z8GI/AAAAAAAAACY/RURy12tzPj0/s1600-h/1936021837_5af37c6bc6.jpg"><img style="text-align: justify;display: block; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: auto; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: auto; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 213px; " src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/SwBBZC0Z8GI/AAAAAAAAACY/RURy12tzPj0/s320/1936021837_5af37c6bc6.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404391451353804898" /></a><i><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:x-small;">image courtesy of asmundur from flickr</span></div></i><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="GA" style=" ;font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">OVERCOMING RESISTANCE TO LIFE</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style=" ;font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style=" ;font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">“</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Always be kind, as everyone you meet is involved in a great struggle”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Words to that effect have been attributed to people as varied as Plato, the Dalai Lama and Jack Kerouac – the point being, that there is a longstanding recognition that we are all struggling to ‘better’ ourselves in one way or another and, whether we are aware of it or not, the ultimate goal of all struggle is, like that of a salmon struggling upstream, to return home, to become Love.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Bringing in the light occasions challenges on multiple levels, physical, emotional, psychological and spiritual as the ‘Ego’ fights to maintain dominance over our lives. Resistance and self sabotage are well recognised; a multitude of tomes have been written and read on the subject, and workshops are ongoing on a daily basis in an effort to help people to rise above the dragging effects of negative consciousness.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Engaging in Positive Thinking is the new ‘tablet’ with which we are to dose ourselves in order to overcome low self esteem and inertia. Turn that frown upside down, change negative thoughts to positive. If thinking were all that were necessary to effect such change, we could simply ‘talk ourselves ‘round’ to anything we want to accomplish, and with the good of humanity in mind – there would be no more atrocities committed and we would all live happily ever after. Unfortunately, things are a bit more complicated than that. When as children, we learned to inculcate damaging perceptions into our subsconscious minds, merely changing our thinking on the surface level won’t suffice to transform those powerful subconscious perceptions. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The low vibrational energies we inherit as humans are a legacy of aeons of human evolution, which are self perpetuating. As evolving spiritual beings having a human experience, it is inevitable that we share in experiencing the entire spectrum of emotions, from states of joy through to deep self hatred. Over millennia, we have experienced them all; through lifetimes, we work to climb out of the abyss to higher states of being. Why we chose the experience in the first place, I do not know, but this appears to me, to be what we have chosen and the epic struggle with which we are engaged.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I’ve noticed as my insights become deeper and my consciousness more ‘elevated’, as the light comes in, and my body adjusts to a higher calibration, I have had to face physical challenges in the form of recurring illness. The illness is accompanied by depression and ‘attack thoughts’ which I have to negotiate. Recently, during such an episode, I mulled over the whole endeavour of attempting to ascend spiritually, to raise ones vibrations and effect some good in the world and the forces of resistance which kick in in order to hamper such progress. The vision which came to mind describing the process of counteracting Resistance with Will Power is that of the Roman bridge or arch, in which resistance of opposing forces is used to keep the structure in place. The effect of two opposing forces resisting each other has the effect of creating an impasse, or state of stuckness as energy thus engaged becomes frozen in place thereby preventing the necessary movement for consciousness to evolve to a higher sphere.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:ArialMT, fantasy;"><br /></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:ArialMT;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">In order for real transformation and insight to occur a third element has to enter the equasion; that of divine light, (which is above either conscious or subconscious thought) and the self compassion the invocation of the light endows. As Elizabeth Gilbert realized when she sat on the beach all night, inviting the rejected parts of herself to come to receive her love, greeting the abandoned aspects of our psyche with compassion means gently assuring the fearful, isolated frightened child aspects of ourselves that they are part of the whole, this allows our adult selves to recognise our wholeness and power. The activation of divine love aligns us with the light which is higher consciousness, and elevates our conscious awareness to embrace the entirety of existence. We can now hold more and more light thereby becoming more effective lightworkers and happier, more joyous individuals. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-44719173832513203972009-10-29T10:11:00.000-07:002009-10-29T10:26:43.800-07:00Life Rewards Love<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I'm a fan of Billy Collins since I happened upon Nine Horses in a bookshop one afternoon. This is one of the poems from that book.</span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Aimless Love</span></i></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This morning as I walked along the lakeshore,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I fell in love with a wren</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">and later in the day with a mouse</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the cat had dropped under the dining room table.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">In the shadows of an autumn evening,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I fell for a seamstress</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">still at her machine in the tailor's window,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">and later for a bowl of broth,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">steam rising like smoke from a naval battle.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This is the best kind of love, I thought,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">without recompense, without gifts,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">or unkind words, without suspicion,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">or silence on the telephone.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The love of the chestnut,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the jazz cap and one hand on the wheel.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">No lust, no slam of the door -</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the love of the miniature orange tree,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the clean white shirt, the hot evening shower,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">the highway that cuts across Florida.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">No waiting, no huffiness, or rancor-</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">just a twinge every now and then</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">for the wren who had built her nest</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">on a low branch overhanging the water</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">and for the dead mouse,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">still dressed in its light brown suit.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">But my heart is always propped up</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">in a field on a tripod,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">waiting for the next arrow.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">After I carried the mouse by the tail</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">to a pile of leaves in the wood,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I found myself standing at the bathroom sink</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">gazing down affectionately at the soap,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">so patient and soluble,</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">so at home in its pale green soap dish.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I could feel myself falling again</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">as I felt its turning in my wet hands</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">and caught the scent of lavender and stone.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div><div><br /></div>Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-42854772701495674892009-10-09T09:03:00.000-07:002009-11-22T04:21:54.593-08:00TO BE AND SIMPLY ALLOW<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, fantasy; font-size: small; font-weight: bold; "><i>This post, first published in October somehow disappeared from my site so I am republishing it today, as I feel the insights experienced are valid and useful reading. If it's your first time reading this particular post it may be worth your while reading the posts preceding and following on from it, as I am writing and posting sequentially according to the evolution of my spiritual development.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/Ss9fbgrFotI/AAAAAAAAACI/k5J81Dps08E/s1600-h/images-23.jpeg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 117px; height: 121px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/Ss9fbgrFotI/AAAAAAAAACI/k5J81Dps08E/s400/images-23.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5390632205217538770" /></a><br /><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span lang="GA" style=" ;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">TO BE AND SIMPLY ALLOW</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">When I wrote my last blog post, I had been through a disconcerting week of feeling stressed and angry to an extent which was quite out of character, and couldn’t really pinpoint the source of either condition. This state dissipated literally overnight – or, almost as soon as I’d finished writing the blog. As there really were no external factors warranting such anger and discomfort I realised I was in a state of ‘anger arising’, and experience has taught me that, at such times, I am to pay attention, as I am to receive a teaching. Pay attention I did, the result of this has been a deepened understanding of spiritual teaching and the integration into my daily life, of the guidance I have been receiving and which I hitherto hadn’t understood.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">When it was communicated to me, that I am to be and not to do, to allow rather than achieve, and that I am here (in body, on Earth) to experience and enjoy rather than struggle and attempt, it didn’t really click deeply with me, until now. Since last weekend, I’ve made a shift in consciousness and understanding which affords me the opportunity to live a new paradigm. I posted the ‘stressed out’ post anyway, as I realise a lot of people live in this state of ‘overwhelm’ and it provides an interesting platform from which to proceed to this post.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">One of the things I realised recently is that as spiritual beings living a human experience, the emotions we experience as humans, all of them, are not ours, they are humanitys, and we have elected to experience them. Each one of us, experiences the full range of human emotions which we mistake as our own, selecting and holding on to the most intense, thereby creating our life stories from a very limited palette. We are not our emotions and can let them go, by tuning into and electing to release each emotion in the moment. (See Hale Dwoskins Sedona Method for an effective releasing technique). The story of our life, is not our Life either, but an illusion we have created and continue to create as we filter experiences based on our incomplete palette of distorted memories, causing us thereby, to misrepresent ourselves to ourselves over and over. This of course, also causes us to regard others through our fantasies of them, rather than through perceiving a true impression of the other person, who in turn, is acting out a fantasy of themselves through their own misrepresentations ….As Deepak Chopra has said “We sacrifice Self to Self Image.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">As we are energy and light, and vibrate within the energy spectrum of the human race, in which web of tensile vibrations separation is but an illusion, we tune into others emotions as well as our ‘own’.</span></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=881924141556037281#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:Symbol;mso-ansi-language:GA;mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Symbol;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">*</span></span></span></a><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> Now, I’ve realised all of the above at various levels over the years – that our external reality is a projection of our internal world I learned through photography and psychotherapy and through studying to be a coach. Through studying energy healing and shamanism I learned of multidimensional existence and the fact that WE ARE ONE in Reality. For years I’ve been trying to understand the spiritual teaching that the whole universe is inside me, and this understanding is also deepening with me. I’m fortunate to have wonderful experiences of being in the present, ranging across a wide spectrum - from the deeply profound experience of the bliss of total Divine Love, to appreciating the beauty of a tree shaking off a shower of golden leaves instantly bringing me fully into the present moment. Being present to ones Presence is full of grace and deeply powerful.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Learning recently of, and beginning to practice Ho’oponopono has taken my understanding to a new state of peaceful empowerment and letting go.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The following brief explanation of Ho’oponopono is from an article by Joe Vitale:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">“Two years ago, I heard about a therapist in Hawaii who cured a complete ward of criminally insane patients – without ever seeing any of them. The psychologist would study an inmate’s chart and then look within himself to see how he created that person’s illness. As he improved himself, the patient improved.” The author Joe Vitale, then met with the therapist Dr. Ihaleakala Hew Len to ask how he had achieved such results (all of the violent, criminally insane patients were cured, released, and the ward closed!). “This is where I had to ask the million dollar question: What were you doing within yourself that caused these people to change?”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">“I was simply healing the part of me that created them,” he said. I didn’t understand. Dr. Len explained that total responsibility for your life means that everything in your life – simply because it is in your life – is your responsibility. In a literal sense the entire world is your creation.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">“Whew. This is tough to swallow. Being responsible for what I say or do is one thing. Being responsible for what everyone in my life says or does is quite another. Yet, the truth is this: if you take complete responsibility for your life, then everything you see, hear, taste, touch, or in any way experience is your responsibility because it is in your life. This means that terrorist activity, the president, the economy or anything you experience and don’t like – is up for you to heal. They don’t exist, in a manner of speaking, except as projections from inside you. The problem isn’t with them, it’s with you, and to change them, you have to change you.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">“I know this is tough to grasp, let alone accept or actually live. Blame is far easier than total responsibility, but as I spoke with Dr. Len, I began to realise that healing for him and in Ho’oponopono means loving yourself.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">“If you want to improve your life, you have to heal your life. If you want to cure anyone, even a mentally ill criminal you do it by healing you.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">“I asked Dr. Len how he went about healing himself. What was he doing, exactly, when he looked at those patients’ files?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">“I just kept saying, ‘I’m sorry’ and ‘I love you’ over and over again’ he explained.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">“That’s it?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">“That’s it.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">“Turns out that loving yourself is the greatest way to improve yourself, and as you improve yourself, you improve your world.” […] “Suffice it to say that whenever you want to improve anything in your life, there’s only one place to look: inside you. When you look, do it with love.”</span></span><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=881924141556037281#_ftn2" name="_ftnref2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:Symbol;mso-ansi-language:GA;mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Symbol;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">*</span></span></span></a><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Regarding oneself with love and compassion, and forgiving ourselves for all the attacks we have made on ourselves and our inner child will heal not only us but the people in our lives in whom we see our pain reflected. This leads to a heightened sense of compassion not only for ourselves, but for everyone we encounter, as we understand that we share their pain, their hopes their joy and their fears.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This teaching, which I don’t fully understand logically, but intuitively understand completely, has allowed me to relax and trust and become softer in my approach to myself and others.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I also realise that all I want to achieve will come to me. I don’t need to strive ‘out there.’ All I need to do is treat myself with self love and compassion through Ho’oponopono, practice Chi Kung, Tai Chi, and meditate, gently creating my intentions and allowing opportunities to manifest. As everything already resides inside me, it’s that simple.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span lang="GA" style=" ;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span lang="GA" style=" ;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <div style="mso-element:footnote-list"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span> <hr align="left" size="1" width="33%"> <div id="ftn1"> <p class="MsoNormal"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=881924141556037281#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style=" ;font-family:Symbol;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">*</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span lang="GA" style=" ;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">(Turns out someone I work closely with had been having panic attacks for the duration of the time I was stressed out, so I did some work for him using the Hawaiian technique of Ho’oponopono which seems to have worked. I didn’t mention anything to him but the day after I started work for him he came in free of an attack and yesterday reported they seem to have completely left him. Great!)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></p> </div> <div style="mso-element:footnote" id="ftn2"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=881924141556037281#_ftnref2" name="_ftn2" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Symbol;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">*</span></span></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> For a fuller version of this article see http://hooponopono.org</span></p> </div> </div> <!--EndFragment--></div>Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-71727987485129432392009-10-09T03:22:00.000-07:002009-10-09T03:32:49.353-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/Ss8RK9rspUI/AAAAAAAAACA/oxYl5mfr6ZA/s1600-h/eloq-logbw.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 150px; height: 89px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/Ss8RK9rspUI/AAAAAAAAACA/oxYl5mfr6ZA/s320/eloq-logbw.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5390546159039980866" /></a><br /><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Arial, fantasy;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style=" ;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">TO BE AND NOT TO DO, THAT IS THE QUESTION?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style=" ;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This is a dilemma I face. I want to save the world, I wanna do interesting stuff, but I put myself under so much pressure, between what I </span></span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">have</span></i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> to do and what I </span></span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">want</span></i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> to do, that I end up riding an emotional rollercoaster re all of it, thereby becoming less effective. I find myself facing resistance re being in the moment with whatever I </span></span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">am</span></i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> doing, and with taking time out to simply be. Even meditation, that holy practice of Being as ones divine self, becomes another something to be factored in. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Thinking outside of the moment, rather than being in the moment causes confusion – there doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day to pursue everything, and I don’t want to give up on my plans for anything, because that would, to me, mean giving up on my dreams and stagnating. Of course, I can plan to time-manage, but everything takes up so </span></span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">much</span></i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> time, and needs </span></span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">so</span></i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> much time, that this, in itself, becomes difficult.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Unless I am actively: putting in the preparation for classes, at work teaching, doing admin etc., preparing workshops/coaching sessions, or coaching clients, doing the housework/gardening, spending time with my daughters and catering to their needs (which usually seem to involve financial outlay!), I feel guilty.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Being on the internet, or on Twitter or watching TV feel like indulgences I have to justify to myself, even though these practices are necessary on so many levels and stimulating to my work.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I also feel less than when I don’t practice Tai Chi and meditate, or work on the book I haven’t worked on for ages yet know I need to complete because it’s important to me to create and will hopefully be of benefit to others. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">For instance, my plans for today were to: make sure I practice Chi Kung and Tai Chi, write a new blog, formulate the three questions I’ve been invited to ask Steven Pressfield (these are coming to me), make a Still Life photograph as a wedding present for my niece and work on my classes for next week. Housework, children and gardening don’t even feature, neither does writing my book – oh, and making arrangements to see friends doesn’t figure here either. I have to try to squash all this into today, because I’m busy for the next 6 days. (It’s late now as I re-read this and I haven’t managed half of those).</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Thrown into this mix, is the emotional flotsam and jetsam. One day, my most desired longterm plan, appears to be eminently achievable. Sure I can do that, I think with clarity and feel with calmness. Yep, I visualize, that’s me, right there, doing that – no problem. The next day, I may think I’m crazy and the “Who the hell do you think you are?” thoughts weigh in, and I believe them. All the arguments against </span></span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">me</span></i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> being the one to undertake such a project line themselves up, presenting their arguments rapidly and effectively.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This ping ponging is not good for my self confidence and makes me cranky.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Although I’m lucky enough to have a job which interests me, I feel frustrated when there’s so much else I want to do. This transition stage where I’ve got to juggle EVERYTHING in order to move from where I am to where I want to be (doing other, more important things - saving of world etc. activities to which I want devote my time and energy) takes a lot of effort and energy.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">To quote Gloria Steinem inexactly:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">'most recently feminism is not about being able to ‘have it all’ but rather, not having to ‘do it all.’</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">One of the questions which popped into my mind as I read The War of Art, Steven Pressfields great book on the topic of RESISTANCE (the condition warrants capital letters) was whether Mr. Pressfield would have been able to devote himself to </span></span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">successfully</span></i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> devoting himself to his writing above all else if he had been raising children as well. To quote Cyril Connolly in “Enemies of Promise”, “There is no more sombre enemy of good art than the pram in the hall.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">For myself, I could endure certain periods of near starvation if necessary to achieve my aims (done it before!), but, once there are children in the mix, their comfort has to come first and that means a stable financial income. As teenagers, they won’t actually realise they (have always been) </span></span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">are</span></i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> comfortable now until they’re raising children themselves; being teenagers they tend to feel hard done by, mostly!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Underlying all this though, there is a steel cable, quietly zinging as it vibrates, reminding me of my core strength and the resolve which has helped me to survive enormous challenges throughout my life. So, despite Ego led cavalcades of Self Doubt I will succeed, however, because I’ll be too damn annoyed with myself if I don’t. Having thought about, and worked for so many years building the foundations for my vision, with ancient stone and modern technique, I will not fail. I’ll find a way and the universe will have no choice but to help me.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This, however true, comes from my ’need to achieve’ attitude and, while my desires come from a spiritual intention of service (as well as a self serving need to live an interesting and meangful life), my guides (through shamanic journeying) answer me, when I ask for guidance re work and purpose that ‘I’m here to be and not to do’, that “I’m not here to achieve, but to allow” and that Life is for experience and enjoyment, and not for work, pressure and production. So, Mr. Pressfield, what can they mean? Are there Muses above muses, in a hierarchy in which those more wise in the ways of Reality warn of loss? Of losing ourselves to functionality, however creative and well intentioned; of sacrificing our birthright of Being? This begs the question: how can we balance our need to create and produce, to ‘move to a higher sphere’, without forfeiting the sacred gift of being and allowing? Do we somehow have it all wrong and are we becoming merely functionaries to the expectations of modern cultural mores, buying into the illusion but ultimately risking the exchange of one treadmill for another?</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">While the answer is to be in the present moment at all times, that, my friend, is a state of being I haven’t yet got the handle of….</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">A few days later….have already ‘received’ answer from the universe and am living a new paradigm – read same in next blog I post….</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-85446971474705509022009-09-08T09:06:00.000-07:002009-09-09T14:29:54.876-07:00<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><br /></span></span></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/SqaEjqHfQYI/AAAAAAAAAB4/HCUKuapNbZw/s1600-h/FlyingBirdRedBackground.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 233px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/SqaEjqHfQYI/AAAAAAAAAB4/HCUKuapNbZw/s320/FlyingBirdRedBackground.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5379132553076621698" /></a><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">RESISTING RESISTANCE!<br /></span></span></div><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Oh my poor head!</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">It’s been</span></span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">a whole week – 8 days in fact – since I got the flu and I’m still not well.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Tomorrow, I return to my day job, as opposed to my entrepreneurial venture (neither of which I’ve been able to tend to), and still don’t really feel up to the challenge of meeting and greeting lots of First Year students embarking on their new career.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I also missed last weekends Tai Chi workshop, the first of my second year on the teacher training course, which is so good for me and which I was looking forward to.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Tai Chi, of course, is about energy management, or mastery – packing our bodies full of energy for physical protection and nourishment, and raising our energy levels for emotional peace and spiritual attainment.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This is so beneficial, clearing trauma from our bodies and psyches, and removing the blocks which hamper the expression of our unique creativity and purpose.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The week before I ‘came down with flu’ I felt so good practising Tai Chi and Chi Kung with friends.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We spoke of how great the energy was and how we were feeling.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I remarked that we needed to remember these moments of peace, wellness and fulfillment in those other moments, the ones that don’t feel so good, when we feel down and flattened and self doubt goes on the attack.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">I had good reason to remember those moments in the past week, when I felt too unwell to do anything and the familiar ‘baddies’ whispered “shoulds” to me, and, “you always”,”you never”, “you’ll never”, “this is typical of you” etc., When clarity left and confusion tried to take over once more.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">While I did a fair amount of beating myself up, I also reminded myself of my achievements, and that this low level condition would pass, my energy would rise again and soon I’d re-enter the opposite state of feeling good, capable, and would optimistically move forward once more.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Everyone experiences change, both externally and internally.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Cycles are a natural phenomena (just look at our global economic boom and bust pattern if you need to see proof), the main thing is to keep focused on what we want and keep chipping away on moving towards what is best for us, knowing we will encounter setbacks along the way.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">When, during an energy slump during the week, the voice of my internal saboteur asked accusingly “What have you done with the past decade of your life? Huh!” I found myself, after a moment of succumbing to the negative aspects of the accusation, compiling a healthy list of rich experiences, obstacles overcome and a determined campaign towards creating the life I want to live.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l1 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">ü</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Helping my husband through cancer.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">ü</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Getting out of bed and going to work everyday after my husband, my best friend, and another very close friend died within months of one another. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">ü</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Discovering that death is merely another transition and deepening my awareness of the Divine.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">ü</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Learning for sure, that we are all supported at all times.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">ü</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Raising two children single handedly.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">ü</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Making a success of the Full Time Photographic Studies course I founded.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">ü</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Helping to transform the lives of others both through the course and my life coaching work.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">ü</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Studying Shamanism, energy healing, EFT, Chi Kung and Tai Chi</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">ü</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Achieving First Class honours on a post graduate course in Integrative Psychotherapy studies at UCC followed by a Diploma in Life Coaching.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">ü</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Buying our family home, selling it and buying a better one near a town where I didn’t know anyone.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">ü</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Making several trips abroad alone with the children, including two weeks in Jordan.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">ü</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Attending numerous workshops on various topics, all with a view to running transformational workshops in Ireland and abroad.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">My dream is to run a transformational centre in Europe, possibly in France, where people seeking the skills to change their lives will pay to mix holidays with learning and self exploration.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This in turn will fund people with cancer and their families, or the surviving members of a family affected with cancer to come along for a free, or subsidised holiday, to mix with others in a supportive and fun environment, in order to recover from their trauma and realise that good things can also happen to them.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">ü</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Meeting great people who are bravely committed to discovering and expressing the most authentic aspects of themselves.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Looked at in this light, I’ve achieved a lot over the past decade.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">My children have another three years at school and I’m now paving the way for the next phase of the plan – the transformational centre abroad.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This doesn’t mean I’m immune to those voices which beset us all – I have learned though, to hear them and counter their attack, reminding myself that they don’t speak the truth – that I am the one who decides what is true and possible, and that I have the support of Divine Intelligence and Love on my side.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">The more I accept that, the more I allow it to help me overcome the dreaded voices of Resistance – in the immortal words of Steven Pressfield:</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">“RESISTANCE ONLY OPPOSES IN ONE DIRECTION</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Resistance obstructs movement only from a lower sphere to a higher.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">It kicks in when we seek to pursue a calling in the arts, launch an innovative enterprise, or evolve to a higher station morally, ethically, or spiritually.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">So if you’re in Calcutta working with the Mother Theresa Foundation and you’re thinking of bolting to launch a career in telemarketing…relax.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Resistance will give you a free pass.”</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">“The first duty is to sacrifice to the gods and pray them to grant you the thoughts, words, and deeds likely to render your command most pleasing to the gods and to bring yourself, your friends, and your city the fullest measure of affection and glory and advantage.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l2 level1 lfo3;tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-font-width:0%;mso-ansi-language:GA"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">-</span></span><span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Xenophon, The Cavalry Commander’</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Both above excerpts from The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Jason Chan, an inspiring spiritual teacher with whom I have the privilege of studying, also counsels on the hazards of the path of Enlightenment; the higher our spiritual aspirations, the more our Ego will seek to deter and detract us from our task.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">In his experience, the path of commitment to a higher level of spirituality is a revolution rather than an evolution.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">It must be consciously undertaken and requires great courage.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">His book The Radiant Warrior is an informative and inspiring guide which offers great support to those seeking liberation.</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">So, everyone experiences Resistance; whether we want to tone our abs or save the world, as sure as the gravitational pull of the Earth keeps us from floating into space, we will hear those voices attempting to drag us down to prevent us from progressing with our goals.</span></span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Our best defence is to be on the lookout for these destructive marauders and, once we become aware of them, to relegate them to their proper function of protecting us from stepping out in front of oncoming traffic or over the edge of real, live, as opposed to imaginary, cliffs!</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-34808919455974111262009-08-24T08:30:00.000-07:002009-09-01T04:07:50.198-07:00VIVE LA DIFFERENCE!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/SpK1EOnMfAI/AAAAAAAAABw/cAioMDmpWrQ/s1600-h/images-23.jpeg"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 118px; height: 89px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/SpK1EOnMfAI/AAAAAAAAABw/cAioMDmpWrQ/s320/images-23.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373556389653019650" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/SpK08VfRFAI/AAAAAAAAABo/Xk4alucTv4Q/s1600-h/images-23.jpeg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 118px; height: 89px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/SpK08VfRFAI/AAAAAAAAABo/Xk4alucTv4Q/s320/images-23.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373556254059860994" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/SpK0qAbv_xI/AAAAAAAAABg/gROhJAlCWW8/s1600-h/images-23.jpeg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 118px; height: 89px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/SpK0qAbv_xI/AAAAAAAAABg/gROhJAlCWW8/s320/images-23.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5373555939170320146" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This particular post brings together two loves of mine, one</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">enormous intrinsic interest being personal freedom, the second, lesser love being France.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The following comes from an article by Debra Ollivier, an American living in France and concerns her observations regarding cultural differences between women of American/Anglo-Saxon heritage and French Women, who are regarded as being in a class of their own.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">She moved to spend a year at the Sorbonne in her early twenties after reading Jean Paul Sartre who declared “L’enfer, c’est les autres!” (Hell is other people) a sentiment which she wholeheartedly embraced at the time.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">She became mesmerised by French women:</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“They were a sensual and resilient counterpart to the one-size-fits-all beauty standard advocated around me, and seemed to make an art form out of </span></span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">ennui</span></i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">….their sophistication seemed wrapped up in the way they diverged from the aggressively sunny imperatives of “happy”.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">She noticed that they had a “defiant sense of self-possession that was somehow sexy in and of itself …..a certain </span></span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“je ne sais quoi</span></i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">” and “inhabited their own worlds so completely that I might have been from another planet.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">My smiles were greeted by a frosty reception, or often returned with a look of placid indifference.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I got the distinct feeling that my sunny Californian demeanour was a mortal faux pas.”</span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“If hell is other people, I thought, these women don’t seem to care what other people think of them at all.</span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">News flash:</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">They don’t.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">She goes on to say it took her years to actually absorb this insight “that the seeds of the French woman’s defiant and sexy self-possession are rooted in girlhood, and all tangled up in the cruel machinations of youth.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Consider the contrast:</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Indeed, one of the first pressures bearing down on American girls is the pressure not only to be liked but to be like everyone else.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This seminal feat of self-transformation often invloves loosening one’s grip on that quiet sense of inner self and hitching one’s wagon to a single standard of beauty and behaviour.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The stress of that effort insinuates itself into the young heart and soul with a vengeance, and insecurities go from being hard little buds of confusion to overripe, tyrranical fruits that hang on the vine as we age.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ollivier goes on to state that the opposite attitude is fostered in France, individualism is hailed, cloning and conformity of behaviour considered suspect.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">The concept of </span></span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Jolie-Laide</span></i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">, the French term for “ugly-pretty” honours striking looks above tame prettiness.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“The allure of a </span></span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">jolie-laide</span></i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> woman lies in her imperfections, and in the way her inner life informs her outer beauty.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">It is the anti-thesis of perfection, because perfection is boring.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Oh! What liberation!</span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">While, for the most part, we have been spared those Little Princess beauty pageants so plaguing young America, the concept of </span></span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">jolie-laide</span></i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> could do with a bit more press worldwide.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As for not giving a fig for the opinions of the general population, how much more powerful would we Irish women be if we eschewed the contradictory assertive male/aggressive female attitude we unconsciously uphold. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">This lack of respect for the concept of needing to be liked by everyone is a very powerful one.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">A friend of mine recently described a French Vice-Mayoress who she came across at an International conference.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">She said that this particular woman raised the hackles of a number of the women in her (UK) entourage.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">My friend admired the woman, who, she felt, wore her power very effectively.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">She voiced the opinion, that the women attending the conference would have had no problem at all with a man displaying the same attitude as the passionate and powerful Madame.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Debra Ollivier reveals that the movie He’s Just Not That Into You bombed in France.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Co-author Liz Tucillo (who also writes for Sex and the City) went to France to investigate.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">She discovered that when a French woman comes across a man who’s not that into her she simply moves on, without needing a book or movie to figure it out.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">She simply doesn’t give a damn.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“Adieu, next!”</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Tucillo was told the key to French womens self possession by a French woman:</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="Arial Bold";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="Arial Bold";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">“You have to love yourself. You have to know who you are.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="Arial Bold";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Which prompted Tucillo to reply “If I could, I would have an operation to become a French woman.”</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I wish I’d paid more attention to French women when I spent a lot of time in France in my late teens, early twenties.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Ollivier herself said it took her years to figure it out.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Personally I think the key is to know and love oneself, to desire to love and be loved, but not to take things personally.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">There are some people you just won’t like, and some who simply won’t like you.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">If I don’t like you, it’s my stuff, and if you don’t like me, it’s well, yours.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">You can still like you and I can still like me.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">I gave my children the benefit of my experience and personal exploration by allowing them a very long rein.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">They had to discover exactly who they are, in order to know themselves, have a high level of self respect, and to allow me to know them and them know me.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">They are confident and friendly, have excellent social skills, and are philosophical about rejection, quickly processing matters and moving on.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">As they are still in their mid-teens, they run with the flock rather than the wolves yet, but I so look forward to meeting the women they will become.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="Arial Bold";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="Arial Bold";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="Arial Bold";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span><o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-26958829540066285772009-08-21T06:44:00.000-07:002009-08-21T07:44:52.089-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/So6oFj9KccI/AAAAAAAAABQ/BqrkpnWx4RM/s1600-h/bird_cages_175.jpg"></a><span><span></span></span><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/So6mj-SLkGI/AAAAAAAAABI/K9fcbWrcy2k/s1600-h/sokteen_464b337380a55.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/So6mj-SLkGI/AAAAAAAAABI/K9fcbWrcy2k/s320/sokteen_464b337380a55.gif" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372414542444466274" /></a><br /><!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Symbol;"> <!--StartFragment--> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">FIVE STEPS TO FREEDOM<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:48px;"> </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">When</span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;font-size:14.0pt;"> </span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I was a little girl, my mother wrote this is my autograph book:<span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:48px;"> </span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">“Whatever people may say, whatever people may do</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">If you want to be happy the rest of your life</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Always paddle your own canoe”</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;font-size:14.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">That was damn good advice, but easier to read than live up to in a culture which seeks to tame and herd.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">She said her mother taught her that, they</span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;font-size:14.0pt;"> </span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">both grew up in a society which was very tough on women.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">I believe societies in general make i</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">t</span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> difficult for all of us (male and female) to find and express the exquisite essence of our Self.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">Also,</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">we</span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;font-size:14.0pt;"> </span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">seem to be wired to somehow diss ourselves, to believe we are</span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;font-size:14.0pt;"> </span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">less than the reality of our true Self.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">We can look at this as an inbuilt ‘device’ designed,</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">at some level with</span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;font-size:14.0pt;"> </span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:medium;">our agreement, to lead us, lesson by lesson, to truly recognise ourselves as equal expressions of Life.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;font-size:14.0pt;"> </span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="Arial Bold";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><b>STEP 1</b></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;font-size:14.0pt;"> </span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">STOP COMPARING YOURSELF TO OTHERS<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">By the time we reach adulthood, we have been criticized far more</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">than we have been praised.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This gives us the false notion that</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">we are not good enough, or inept.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This is simply not true.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">We </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">are all interconnected and have unique gifts.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="Arial Bold";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><b>STEP 2</b></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>BECOME AWARE OF YOUR THOUGHTS<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Our false beliefs about ourselves are constructed when we are too</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">young to realise they are untrue.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">When we heard things like “Why </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">can’t you be more like….” as children we didn’t know to question</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> the assumption and make the decision that it would not be the right</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">thing for us to be like the so called paragon held up as an example </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">of perfection.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">As adults, by tuning in to our in-built critic, we can </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">now reason and decide that no, we have a </span></span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">different</span></i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> way of being</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">which suits us.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This will take time, but will help you get to know</span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">the real you which you unconsciously repress.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="Arial Bold";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><b>STEP 3 </b></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>STOP BLAMING<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Yeah, I know this is a tough one,</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">blaming others is something we</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">all do.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Undoing this way of thinking is absolutely necessary</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">though if we are to i) KNOW and ii) BE our true selves.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Blaming </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">keeps us focused on those who ‘done us wrong’, this keeps us</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">focused on them, rather than ourselves and wastes a lot of <span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">time</span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> and energy.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-family:Georgia;"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> It </span></span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">assigns</span></i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> them power than over us;</span></span></span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">stops us from perceiving them as equals who also bought into</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">false ideas about themselves received from the authority figures</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">in their lives and keeps us </span></span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Bold";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">reacting from the past</span></b></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> rather than</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">spontaneously </span></span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Bold";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">responding in the present.</span></b></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">If we keep </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">blaming, we’ll keep missing opportunities to live a life we love.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="Arial Bold";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="Arial Bold";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><b>STEP 4</b></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>LET GO OF JEALOUSY AND RESENTMENT<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Again, something we all do, and like blaming, difficult to release.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">However, jealousy doesn’t serve us, it makes us feel less than.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">If</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">we had a difficult child/adulthood we may feel others have had all</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> t</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">he breaks.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">By re-viewing our difficulties from the perspective of </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">what we</span></span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> learned</span></i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> from our traumas, we can begin to identify our<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"></span></span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">specific skills and how we can use them to serve us.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">By realising</span></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">that we inter-are</span></span><a style="mso-footnote-id:ftn1" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=881924141556037281#_ftn1" name="_ftnref1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span lang="GA" style="font-family:Symbol;mso-ansi-language:GA;mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Symbol;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">*</span></span></span></span></a><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> we can see the gifts of others as gifts to ourselves</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">this will help us to appreciate the talents of others and support us to</span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">realise and manifest our own unique contributions to the world.</span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">When someone is successful, it helps us to study how</span> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">they do it</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">then modify their methods to suit our endeavours.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Simple, but</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">effective.</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="Arial Bold";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><b>STEP 5</b></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>ESTABLISH YOU OWN VALUES<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">This comes back to ‘watching’ your thoughts and questioning </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> t</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">he assumptions you have about yourself and others.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Where</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">did that thought originate?</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Where did you first hear it?</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">From </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">whom?</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">In what context?</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Does it enrich you or deny you?</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Does</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> i</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">t deserve your respect?</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">People have different values, think about</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">people you know at home and at work, what does their behaviour</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">tell you about their values?</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">Are they in accordance with yours or</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">are they different?</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">What is important to</span></span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;"> you</span></i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:small;">?</span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">Taking the time to observe and get to know yourself can lead to remarkable transformation.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>It takes getting used to, it takes focus, it won’t change you overnight but it will begin the process of change </span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i>immediately</i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>You’re going to be around anyway, so you may as well begin now and observe the benefits of your new practice of self awareness reward you over time…..<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Symbol;">*</span></span></span> Inter-being is a term coined by well known peace activist, Buddhist leader and spiritual teacher Thich Nhat Hanh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Thay (his nickname) teaches that if we take <span style="Times New Roman Italic"font-family:";"><i>anything </i></span>and trace it we will see that it is a continuation of everything else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>A famous example he gives is that of seeing the cloud in the blank sheet of paper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>By realizing that the rain had to moisten the seed for the tree to grow, that the earth had to provide it with nutrients, that the sun had to shine on it, that the logger had to cut it, the loggers husband/wife provide him/her with food, the logging company pay his wages, the paper firm make the paper – you see where this is going – nothing can exist without everything else.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="Times New Roman Bold"font-family:";"><b>We</b></span> are <span style="Times New Roman Bold"font-family:";"><b>One.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="Times New Roman Bold"font-family:";"><b>May as well feel jealous, resentful, less than or blameful of your own knee as of someone else.</b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;font-size:14.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;font-size:14.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <div style="mso-element:footnote-list"> <hr align="left" size="1" width="33%"> <div style="mso-element:footnote" id="ftn1"> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><a style="mso-footnote-id:ftn1" href="http://www.blogger.com/post-create.g?blogID=881924141556037281#_ftnref1" name="_ftn1" title=""><span class="MsoFootnoteReference"><span style="font-family:Symbol;mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Symbol;"><span style="mso-char-type:symbol;mso-symbol-font-family:Symbol;">*</span></span></span></a> Inter-being is a term coined by well known peace activist, Buddhist leader and spiritual teacher Thich Nhat Hanh.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Thay (his nickname) teaches that if we take <span style="Times New Roman Italic"font-family:";"><i>anything </i></span>and trace it we will see that it is a continuation of everything else.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>A famous example he gives is that of seeing the cloud in the blank sheet of paper.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>By realizing that the rain had to moisten the seed for the tree to grow, that the earth had to provide it with nutrients, that the sun had to shine on it, that the logger had to cut it, the loggers husband/wife provide him/her with food, the logging company pay his wages, the paper firm make the paper – you see where this is going – nothing can exist without everything else.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="Times New Roman Bold"font-family:";"><b>We</b></span> are <span style="Times New Roman Bold"font-family:";"><b>One.<o:p></o:p></b></span></p> <p class="MsoFootnoteText"><span style="Times New Roman Bold"font-family:";"><b>May as well feel jealous, resentful, less than or blameful of your own knee as of someone else.</b></span></p> </div> </div> <!--EndFragment--> <p></p> <!--EndFragment-->Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-91112755037126475462009-08-20T08:33:00.000-07:002009-09-01T04:11:43.941-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/So1tVMX6XBI/AAAAAAAAABA/NcZ9AEgyLCo/s1600-h/DSC_0176.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 160px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/So1tVMX6XBI/AAAAAAAAABA/NcZ9AEgyLCo/s320/DSC_0176.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5372070141389069330" /></a><br /><!--StartFragment--> <div class="Section1"> <p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span lang="GA" style="Arial Bold";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";font-size:16.0pt;"><b>NIBBLED TO DEATH BY DUCKS</b></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span></span></p></div> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">It struck me as I read renowned American author Joan Didion’s exquisitely written and poignant memoir, The Year of Magical Thinking, in which she remembers her husbands warning<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> (</span>prior to her acceptance of a job as staff writer for Life Magazine) - “Working for Life will be like being nibbled to death by ducks” - that most people find themselves in this position of slow torture during their working life, but often allow fear to prevent them from doing anything about it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Joan Didion discovered the veracity of his advice when she found herself constantly overlooked when it came to interesting assignments, which were always given to “the guys”, and she was left to cover lightweight assignments as her confidence in herself eroded.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>While things have improved gender-wise in the workplace, this is advice so many of us need to heed from our inner voice when we resign ourselves to working in jobs to which we are wholly unsuited - when we cause ourselves to die slowly by succumbing to the tyranny of Should. “I should take this job because…..”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>“I should stay in this job because….”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The metaphor John Dunne offered lovingly and knowingly to his wife, succintly expresses the agony of life sacrificed to the everyday torture of feeling less than and diminished by the work we do, or the politics of the workplace in which we feel trapped.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Sometimes, it’s the work itself which bores us to a paralysing deadness, or the feeling of talent dampened, othertimes it can be working in an institution surrounded by sharks in the guise of ducks who seek to undermine us while taking credit for our creativity and talent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Whichever it is, we owe it to ourselves to get out and strikeoff on our own path; to find that which will nurture, uplift, inspire and allow us to shine and share our unique gifts with a world which waits to receive the authentic expression of our Self.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">Once we recognise the need to breakout and thrive, and allow ourselves to engage with the delightful prospect of fulfilling our soul purpose, we initially feel joyful enthusiasm and inspiration but almost immediately meet more ducks.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>This time, they appear in the guise of harmless little plastic ducks bobbing up and down in the seas of our psyche, glowing in friendly yellow, and cautioning words of warning through smiling red beaks:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 39.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Symbol;">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">“Ah, I should stay where I am, it’s not so bad, I’ve got<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>great holiday leave and a pension plan, I don’t know how lucky I am.” <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 39.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Symbol;">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>“Sure what can </span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i>I</i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> do?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>How can I make my mark in a world already full of (insert your own word here)?<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>I’ll be better off staying where I am.” <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 39.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Symbol;">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>“I’m too busy to work my job, look after the kids and set up a new business.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Who </span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i>do</i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> I think I am?”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 39.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Symbol;">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>“Nobody will support me, they’ll all think I’m mad.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 39.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Symbol;">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>“How will I pay the bills?” <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 39.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Symbol;">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>“The banks won’t help the likes of me.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 39.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Symbol;">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>“I’ll scare the children if I leave my job, they’re used to the way we live, I can’t ask them to make sacrifices.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 39.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Symbol;">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>“(Insert name of husband/wife) loves the status that comes with my job, I can’t become a…..” <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:39.0pt;text-indent:-18.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 39.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Symbol;">·<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>“Am I crazy to think of leaving my job in the current economic climate – people would give their eye teeth to be in my position?”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">Nibble, nibble, nibble.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">The GREAT news is, once we discover and align with, our authentic self, our soul purpose, we cannot fail.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The universe conspires with us to help us succeed.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Success may not come in a conventional shape.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We may have to sacrifice something (our fancy house or car, the status we thought important) but it won’t be our </span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><b>Self</b></span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span></i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">It may take time, we may lose money, it may hurt sometimes, but the reward will be one hundred times worth the effort we put in, and every effort counts. <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">Every single person who has recognised and decided to engage in pursuing their passion has met with fear based resistance and has had to overcome a raft of excuses thrown up by emotions based on their egos intervention.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The ones who succeed in forging the life they want to live are those who listen to, then minimise their fears, while simultaneously enlarging and enhancing their desires.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Luckily, there are a multitude of effective techniques one can learn to enable each one of us to do this, and step by step, we enjoy the adventure of living our destiny.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">It’s important to understand that we don’t have to see the complete picture before we embark on the journey, we just need to see the first few steps.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>As we climb<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>the stairs towards our individual idea of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>success, the next few steps will reveal themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Each little step undertaken will bolster our confidence in ourselves and bring us closer to our desired outcome.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>We may feel we don’t have the energy to pursue our chosen lifestyle, that it will be too difficult, take too much time and effort.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>While this may be true at the start, like a rocket which guzzles fuel on takeoff but which uses less once it’s airborn, the initial stages of changing our lives demand a lot of time and energy, but, as we get our wings, it takes a lot less effort to keep things moving.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Remember, from our present viewpoint we can’t<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>possibly envisage the opportunities that will come our way, therefore while it’s important at the outset to have an idea or vision of the outcome we desire, it’ s also important to remember that any adventure allows for spontaneity and the outcome we desire will alter as we learn more about ourselves, receive support from unexpected quarters and shape our work and our world to suit.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">Best get started, you only need to take one small step at a time…<o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-7546628287007111072009-08-19T01:16:00.000-07:002009-08-19T01:31:05.589-07:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/Sou39c2ereI/AAAAAAAAAAw/Elma6gD0na0/s1600-h/airplane.wing1.plane.flight.view.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_vV_XT_jiigk/Sou39c2ereI/AAAAAAAAAAw/Elma6gD0na0/s320/airplane.wing1.plane.flight.view.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5371589246914047458" /></a><br /><div><div> <!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">POLITE FIRST OFFICERS CRASH PLANES <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">Having negotiated said Emergency Saturday and Seminar Sunday, I boarded the train at Liverpool St to head to Stansted for the return journey to Cork.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The tannoy on the train kept informing us we were heading to Liverpool St and, after the shenaningans of the day before I couldn’t help feeling nervous even though I </span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i>knew</i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> we were heading for Stansted.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The shifting sands of Ryanair Gates had me gaily skipping down the ramp to a plane to Milan before the nice ground hostess followed me having spotted the Cork ID on my boarding pass.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>At this stage I laughed out loud.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>Another Gate change later, much to the consternation of passengers who, previously occupied prime positions at the top of the queue now found themselves at the end of the new on, and I successfully boarded the correct flight.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">Having by now, surrendered my fate to the gods, at 30,000 ft or something, I calmly read Malcolm Gladwells study of airplane crashes in his book OUTLIERS , Ch. The Ethnic Theory of Plane Crashes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>In this fascinating study, he discovers a lot of plane crashes are caused by communication problems between cockpit crew.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>To whit, between the Captain and First Officer in which the PDI culture affects communication causing the First Officer to used “mitigated speech” in his dialogue with the Captain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>What this means is the First Officer is </span><span lang="GA" style="Arial Italic";mso-ansi-language:GAfont-family:";"><i>over differential</i></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> to the Captain and doesn’t want to upset him.<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>The PDI refers to the Power Distance Index of a culture.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>“Power distance is concerned with attitudes toward hierarchy, specifically with how much a particular culture values and respects authority.”<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>In high PDI cultures, the FO doesn’t issue clear instructions to the Captain as he feels too intimidated, and this has resulted in numerous plane crashes.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>PDI in work situations across the board results in employees fearing expression of disagreement with managers, and, in society in general, to individuals repressing their own opinions, intutitions and authentic self belief in favour of hierarchical figures and values.</span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">If a country has a high PDI Index, it means the culture of that country holds authority figures in very high esteem, and there is a large discrepancy between power relations between what are seen as higher and lesser individuals within that society.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>A country with a low PDI Index is one which upholds a more egalitarian societal structure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>According to Gladwell, the list which ranks plane crashes by country matches very closely with the top pilot PDI’s.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </span>The list below lists the top five:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <ol style="margin-top:0cm" start="1" type="1"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">Brazil<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">South Korea<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">Morocco<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">Mexico<o:p></o:p></span></li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="mso-list:l1 level1 lfo1;tab-stops:list 36.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">Philippines<o:p></o:p></span></li> </ol> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">The five lowest PDI’s by country are:<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:18.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:41.0pt;text-indent:-23.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list 41.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">15.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">United States<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:41.0pt;text-indent:-23.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list 41.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">16.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">Ireland<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:41.0pt;text-indent:-23.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list 41.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">17.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">South Africa<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:41.0pt;text-indent:-23.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list 41.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">18.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">Australia<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:41.0pt;text-indent:-23.0pt;mso-list:l0 level1 lfo2;tab-stops:list 41.0pt"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">19.<span style="font:7.0pt "Times New Roman""> </span></span><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">New Zealand<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">So, while we may whinge about Ryanair’s notorious ‘intractable’ attitude, it could be that my calm demeanour aboard the plane was justified.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">On a more poignant note, the chapter contains actual transcripts from the Black Boxes before the planes crashed which very sadly demonstrate the speech patterns and attitudes culminating in the deaths of all onboard.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;"> <o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="GA" style="mso-ansi-language:GA;font-family:Arial;">If this demonstrates anything, it’s that it’s essential for our own and everyone elses sake that we cultivate a healthy level of self respect and encourage all about us to step into their own power.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment--> </div></div>Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-881924141556037281.post-55660364315719065962009-08-18T10:50:00.000-07:002009-09-01T04:13:29.424-07:00Watchout! Ryanair Clipping Irish/UK Wings<!--StartFragment--> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">As I perused the Ryanair website on early Saturday morning, I came across a little item declaring that all Ryanair check-in must now occur online. OK, I'd already seen those headlines. What I hadn't noticed before, because it's not prominently advertised, is that the practice of citizens travelling between Ireland and the UK on Valid Photo ID such as a Driving Licence was now abolished. Apparently other airlines still observe this practice - but not Ryanair. My hitherto lack of concern re my passport needing renewal now became an emergency situation as I was travelling to the UK on the 08:10 plane the following day and passport offices are closed on Saturday and Sundays. I somehow managed to find a Ryanair phone no. which is 'manned' on weekends, but, Ryanair stayed true to its rep and gave no assistance. (If you booked your flight before May 20th of this year you can still travel on your Driving Licence until October 2009). Many expletives later and I phoned the Dept of Foreign Affairs. See www.dfa.ie for details of obtaining EMERGENCY PASSPORT. Despite being mentally</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Prepared for this conversation “Well, it’s </span></span><span style="Georgia Italic"font-family:";"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">not exactly </span></i></span><span style="Georgia Italic"font-family:";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">a</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Medical emergency</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">but I may have apoplexy if I don’t get</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">on that plane…” the lovely lady I spoke to merely asked</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">me for my name and travel details and I was almost</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">immediately contacted by a nice man who would go to</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Anglesea St Garda station to issue me a passport!</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The nice girl at the pharmacy stood on a stool to stick a digital compact camera in my face.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">New passport photo regulations demand a very close up photo with a severe </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Expression and one’s ears must show.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">The wide angle</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Lens at close proximity produced an unrecognizable</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">rendition of my face which looked somewhat like a</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">large nosed mule staring dazedly over a fence.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Grabbing my mule shots now signed and stamped by a young garda at the local station I rampaged my way to Cork managing an alliterative detour to Adelaide St Garda Stn thereby almost missing nice man from Passport Office.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">110 euro lighter for an 11 month passport I headed to Soundstore to buy coloured ink for my printer to ensure I could print out </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">the precious boarding pass.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Went through columns of coloured printing ink packs but could find none bearing the code of my printer.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Began concentrating on the side of packs, saw the code, bought the two packs bearing it and rushed home.</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Went to load coloured ink in position next to black cartridge only to discover it too was black!</span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Aargh!</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Said apoplexy setting in with alarming speed, I phoned friend for help, following a series of setbacks at her end, she finally managed to print out the Holy Boarding Pass.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">By the time my laptop bag caught itself in the door of the Seminar room in London the following morning, I was laughing – it seemed that was the last hurdle I’d have to overcome to get to my destination.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Georgia;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <!--EndFragment-->Gillianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14716068818398781630noreply@blogger.com0