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Showing posts from 2018

Christmas Dreaming

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Do you get a bad feeling, with Christmas coming up? I used to feel that way & went to work at making it better each year. Now it's something to look forward to. I realise using the 'C' word anything less than two or three weeks out, is already for some, too much! Christmas can bring up a lot of stuff for people. That might be you or it might be the family & friends you'll share it with. Either way, it will help to do a little thinking and plan ahead. Christmas doesn't have to be a mess and there's a lot we can do to make it bearable, something we look forward to & dare I say it, even fun! It's a celebration! If that's already the case for you, Merry Christmas! If not read on... :) Here's a great place to start! Put aside the SHOULDS - all you 'should' have, be and do this time of year. We can tend to think Christmas should look or be a certain way. A feeble attempt at perfection. Take the pressure off! None of us are pe

Live the Dream Project

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The Journey The journey starts whenever you want it to. You can stay as you are. It will be ok, but nothing will change. If you’re ok with that, stop reading. So you’re still reading. You know what that means don’t you? Something’s got to change! That’s pretty exciting. Let me encourage you. :) My journey began in 2012, I think. Lets say it was then. As my father likes to say, “Never let the facts get in the way of a good story.” I was pretty unhappy that year, so I called up my family and called off Christmas. No joke! I didn’t know what I wanted from life anymore. I felt I was spinning my wheels, on a treadmill, surviving, stuck paying the bills; without ever feeling like I was getting anywhere. You know how it is. My family are great and understood, or said they did. Either way it was pretty cool of them. They still had Christmas of course, but I needed some time out. Not knowing what to do with myself, I took my dog down to the ‘off the leash’ dog park overlook

What to Do in Difficult Times - Part 3

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What about when things get rough? It won't always feel like this, but there's an opportunity in dark times to experience God. I'm not talking about religion. The opportunity is beyond all that... into personal experience. The best quote I ever heard about this was from a guy called Brent Rue who said, "Religion is like an innoculation; just enough of something to stop you from getting the real thing." So what's the real thing? That's for you to discover I guess, if you want to. 7. Pray When you're losing it and before that, try it. The Lord's prayer has got your back! There's also the Serenity prayer used in 12 step programs. I've found it to bring peace no matter what I've been going through. It gets you back in the game. "God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can & the wisdom to know the difference." Hang in there!

What to Do in Difficult Times - Part 2

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Difficult times are what they are... There are certain things I miss about the worst of mine. The focus, the clarity, the sense of feeling amazingly close to God. That being said, not having the tools in the midst of them can be excruciating! Here are a few more pointers for the bread basket - 4. Separate what's necessary, from what's not. My counselor used to tell a wonderful story as an example of this. He called it the two sniff test. In hard times, when he picked up his young kid's clothes left on the floor, if they passed the two sniff test they went back in the draw! Always makes me smile this one. It speaks directly to what's necessary and what's not. 5. Everyone gets their needs met. Needs and wants are very different ball games. Meeting needs and meeting wants can be the difference between sanity and losing it. Keep your sanity and meet needs, not wants. If there's room for a few wants later on, sure, go for it but knowing the difference is a g

What to Do in Difficult Times

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If you are going through hard times, you won't be the first. That really doesn't help though does it?! What on earth has other people's pain got to do with one's own experience? No comfort really... Unless they had a few pointers that might help to get you through. In my most difficult years, I learned a few things that really help. Here's three to get started. 1. Start with Gratitude. It may sound absurd when you are struggling, but it really helps to set your mind on good things when times are tough. Anything good, anything at all - the smell of hot chips, the sun on your face. The little things really add up when you notice and appreciate them. 2. Live one day at a time. So it can sound like a cliche, but it is sanely good advice! Letting go of what might happen tomorrow and focusing on today. And make it a good day! Include at least one thing you enjoy, as you go about all that must be done. 3. Find someone to help worse off than you & help the

What if the Feeling's Gone?

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New beginnings are awesome. A new space, a new life, whatever that looks like... it's the juice of life! We need them. But what do you do when the gloss wears off and they're not like new any more? I love old pairs of jeans. You can buy them like that, but they're even better when you wear them in. You treasure them, because of the process - You invested in them. Slow days can be good days when you can see down the track. When you have a vision and purpose,  the mundane everyday's of life don't have to be dull. You can take a break for a moment & enjoy life a little. "Without a vision, the people perish" wrote the wisest of men in history. What is it you want? Where is it you're headed? Life is good when you can answer these questions :)

Power to Create Worlds

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You may not know it yet but you, along with every human being on the planet, have the power to create worlds. We are made in the image of our creator. It's a fearsome thing to think about and probably why so many of us can't do it for long. We worry and toil, thinking about the time and how much money we have, the smallest of things; while all of us are capable of creating anything. In fact we are doing so - creating our own worlds, right now, as we speak. Thoughts become words and words create worlds. That's a fairly big assertion , I get it, but take a moment to notice what you were thinking about a moment ago & the precise words you used the last time you spoke. Notice how past words corrolate to current experience. If the experience is negative, I don't say that to impart blame. Far from it. It's something to learn from, like the last time you burnt your finger. So how on earth can all this be true? How does it work? In its simplest form, our

Appearance v Substance

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In Australia, fruit can look really good and be tasteless. Finding good fruit is an art form! There are soooo many precedents in history of people looking the goods and being found lacking in genuine substance. History, in the end, tells the story of who we really were. So what on earth has this got to do with you?  There's something in us that can say we're not good enough and that looks to others for a sense of inspiration. We can live our lives vicariously, afraid to live as we were born to - free and uninhibited. Millions watched a beautiful Royal wedding on the weekend... It was a beautiful wedding. This has got to do with understanding your own Royalty. You have within you everything you need to live a life that astounds and delights you. "The Kingdom of Heaven is within you." ~ Yeshua So what will it be? The way things look or the way the things are & taking responsiblity for that? Get your Crown on!

The Power of Authenticity

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In a world where image seems to count for so much, self image is the bottom line. How many stories have been told of one sacrificing one's self, for the sake of the approval of others? It's never enough and in the end they get sucked dry. Anyone relating here? The good news is, there is a way back, a way through, a way over the hurdles life throws at us. It's as simple as being loving. It might sound corny, even offensive, but try not to throw the baby out with the bath water... All of the shoulds and have to's, regulations and assessments, good and bad, can be summed up in two things - "Love the Lord (your Source) with all your heart and all your mind and all your soul & love your neighbour as yourself." ~ Matthew 22.37 Sounds impossible doesn't it? It is, without grace. More on this down the track. As you pore over what is and isn't working in your life, as we do, getting back to source is as simple as being grateful. A quiet whisperin

The Secret Sauce

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To have success in life in a way that truly fulfils us, we need the secret sauce. The secret sauce is connecting to source. Say what!? So I mean the source of all things. An easy way to think of it is 'a higher power as you understand them to be'. Some people have a difficult time with this, but if you aren’t connected to source, it’s like trying to produce grapes when you’re disconnected from the vine. Another way of thinking about it, is a battery that isn’t getting recharged. Your life source is not self sustaining. It’s hard work. You can get things done, you can survive for a while but without connecting to source, without connecting to who you really are and what you really want, without authenticity , life will not bring you the satisfaction or fulfilment you deserve. Life connected to source gets exciting; enriching and even major setbacks won’t get you down. They become a part of the journey, the means of getting you from where you are to where you want to

Where to Begin

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In life's frustrations and in its turmoil, it's not easy to know where to begin to turn things around. Turning around is where to begin. If things aren't going as we want them to, our tendancy is to look at our circumstances. Obviously something outside of us has to change! haha! The truth however, gentle reader, is that our outer experience is a reflection of our inner world.  If you truly want things to change, you have to start with you. I could espouse on the workings of this, but might save you the trouble and simply point to where to begin. Begin with gratitude. You may not like to hear it. It may be the hardest work you will ever do, but our thoughts impact our actions and our actions our experience; your circumstances if you like... This is not to say it is your fault. Take heart! You are not alone. It is the struggle of every human being on the planet. If you can find things to be grateful for, even small things, especially small things , you will star

What's in a Name?

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I guess I should talk about the White Feather thing… “What’s that all about?” :) A ways back, I got a little uncomfortable about my name. It was the surname itself and strangely I wasn’t exactly sure why. It wasn’t anything to do with my family or not wanting to be linked with them. I love my family. If you have any knowledge of the legal system used for controlling the general population; specifically the ‘NAME game', you might understand my being uncomfortable a bit more, but it wasn’t that really. It was more about a deepening sense of who I am, than a desire to become distinct from governing legal protocols. The distinction between legal and lawful will help if you want to understand more about that, but really I’ve found that an understanding of the scurrilous, is not at all as useful as the discipline of  focusing on what is good. “…whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is ex