Positive Personal and Global Change

CARE USA Says Thanks

2008-01-13T17:00:00.000+11:00

I have exciting news to share!

In 2007, you helped us educate Congress and President Bush about HIV and AIDS, and the earmark that requires one-third of all global HIV prevention funding to be spent on abstinence-until-marriage programs. This one-size-fits-all restriction ignores the daily reality of millions of women and weakens CARE's ability to help vulnerable people avoid HIV infection.

You played an important role by drawing attention to this issue and encouraging your representatives to support legislation to overturn this flawed policy.

On December 26, President Bush approved a provision that gives the president the flexibility to support effective HIV prevention programming and to ignore the abstinence-until-marriage restriction.

This is a significant victory and we want to thank you. Your voice made a difference.

While this is a step forward, we're not done yet. We will need your support later this year when Congress considers current legislation regarding HIV and AIDS. Help us hold Congress accountable for a strong new law that addresses the social, economic and cultural reasons that make people, especially women, vulnerable to HIV.

As a member of the CARE Action Network, you understand the importance of reaching out to legislators during critical times throughout the year to make your voice heard in Washington. Your vital outreach helps educate policymakers and the public about problems facing the world's poor and helps CARE communicate effective solutions that can give hope and health to millions.

We look forward to continuing to work with you in 2008. Together, we can raise our voices in support of policies that help people lift themselves out of poverty and claim a brighter future for their families.

Best wishes for a happy new year! We'll stay in touch.

Sincerely,

Giulia McPherson
Legislative Communications Coordinator
CARE USA

Port Phillip Bay Cyber Action

2008-01-10T14:42:00.001+11:00

Dear friends

At the beginning of February dredging will begin at Port Phillip Bay (Melbourne, Australia) by Dutch company Royal Boskalis Westminster, putting marine life in the bay at risk.

The southern waters of Australia, including Port Phillip Bay, have the highest diversity of marine species anywhere in the world.There are 5,000 species in the bay, 90% occur nowhere else on Earth and many have never been fully studied.
Blue Wedges, who are taking on the developers in a Federal court case to be heard on 10 January 2008, and Friends of the Earth Melbourne need your support.

Please visit our website at http://www.foei.org/en/get-involved/take-action/port-phillip-bay to send an email to Federal Environment Minister, Peter Garrett (ex lead singer of environmental rock band Midnight Oil), who approved the project in late December 2007.
It only takes 2 minutes and could help put a stop to this damaging project.
Please forward this message to your contacts and ask them to take action too.

Thanks for your support

Debra Broughton
Friends of the Earth International

Close Guantanamo - Action

2007-12-21T07:38:00.000+11:00

David Hicks is due for release from Adelaide's Yatala Labour Prison next week on 29 December, but does not know whether he will be subject to a control order. We believe control orders violate human rights, and that he must be allowed to return to a normal life.

As we approach the sixth anniversary of the Guantanamo Bay detention centre on 11 January, there are still 290 men detained there without charge.

We are marking the anniversary with a global day of action. Join us outside the U.S. Consulate in Sydney's Martin Place at 8am on Friday 11 January 2008. Meet our new National Director, members and staff as we call for the U.S. to immediately shut down Guantanamo Bay. Take part in the largest orange jumpsuit action in Australia.

Check out all the action info at the link

Exciting, defining times for women

2007-12-19T20:01:00.000+11:00

Exciting, defining times for women
Tracee Hutchison

IT'S HARD to identify the exact moment I knew Australia was
experiencing a seismic shift in identity and direction over this past
week. There have, after all, been so many monumental occurrences to
choose from, it seems impossible to rank or compare them.

John Howard's comeuppance. Julia Gillard's sustained grace in the
tally room. Maxine McKew's unbridled euphoria as she resisted the
temptation to gloat. And Peter Costello's smug exit. All of it gold.

But if I had to nominate a flashpoint when I felt my body jolt upright
with exultant anticipation and gushing love of country, it actually
came courtesy of the first lady-elect, Therese Rein.

When Kevin Rudd walked on stage to claim his place as Australia's 26th
prime minister, the woman he calls his life partner stood with her
hand in his beside him, and shimmied. She leant forward and, with a
cheeky glint in her eye, shook her shoulders from side to side and
shimmied. And it was glorious.

If ever there was an image to differentiate the old from the new on
election night, it was Therese Rein's shimmy. As surprising as the
revelation that I've placed a shimmy above Australia electing its
first female deputy prime minister and Maxine McKew's "in heaven no
one's blind" moment might be, the shimmy said it all.

It was sassy and confident and delicious. And 100% woman. Suddenly we
had a first couple who were smart, successful AND sexy. It was magnificent.

And it set the tone for how the rest of the week unravelled. The new
Opposition crumbled and the Government-elect unveiled its new line-up,
complete with a posse of impressive, talented women who would help run
the country.

After too many years of twin-sets and pearls in the federal
government, Australia finally has a group of governing female MPs who
reflect the status of women and the diversity of our lives in
contemporary Australia.

Finally, we have a group of women in the highest office in the land
who don't make me feel like a freak.

Women who are the daughters of migrants, women who are single and/or
childless, openly gay, unmarried with children, married with children
but who haven't taken the surname of their husbands and others who have.

Our first couple will be known as the Prime Minister and Ms Rein. Oh,
for the moment our PM is name-tagged Kevin Rein on an overseas trip.

It is significant and noteworthy that half the women Kevin Rudd has
given high-profile cabinet and portfolio responsibilities to are
childless and/or unmarried – the Deputy Prime Minister to name just
one. It is a great moment for generational change and validates the
often difficult choices so many of us have made to pursue our careers.
And it is so very welcome.

Finally, Julia Gillard gets the long last laugh over those appalling
misogynist attacks on her character, her life choices, her hairdo, her
voice and her wardrobe – that undermined so many other women in the
process – as Deputy Prime Minister.

The daughter of working-class Welsh migrants, 46-year-old Gillard came
to Australia in 1966 when she was five.

She'll juggle the massive portfolios of education, employment and
workplace relations. And become acting Prime Minister later this month
when Rudd is in Bali for climate change talks. So much for the empty
fruit bowl barbs; her plate looks pretty full to me.

There are many other great stories in Labor's new team of leading
women: 37-year-old Tanya Plibersek, the Minister for Housing and the
Status of Women, 40-year-old Nicola Roxon, the Minister for Health and
Ageing, and 39-year-old Senator Penny Wong, the Minister for Climate
Change and Water – the first Asian-born female MP and openly gay – are
just a few.

Look out for 30-year-old Kate Ellis, the new Minister for Youth and
Sport. She's young. And it's exciting. As is the parliamentary debut
of Maxine McKew, who – after tipping out PM Howard in Bennelong –
becomes the parliamentary secretary to PM Rudd. Then there is Labor
veteran and former deputy leader Jenny Macklin, the new Minister for
Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

These are exciting and defining times in Australian political life and
in our nation's history. And they are exciting and defining times for
Australian women. We are finally at the table of power in this country
and it's been a long time coming.

Let's all get down and shimmy!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Tracee Hutchison is a Melbourne writer and broadcaster.

Every Day Heroes

2007-11-26T19:26:00.000+11:00

Turn Your Everyday Living into Giving

http://www.everydayhero.com.au/
is an organisation whose mission is to connect people with the charities and causes they care about to increase overall giving.

Multiply your fundraising efforts, turn everyday purchases into donations.  Join now and turn your everyday living into giving.

New Australian online Political Party

2007-11-22T07:34:00.000+11:00

SOL launches Australia's first online political party

Senator On-line claims to be Australia's first internet-based political party, and says if its gets a candidate elected to the Senate, all Australians will be able to view and vote on every bill which goes through the Senate. SOL senators will vote in line with the majority ruling of the people's vote. I'd like to be able to vote online (if the technology was unriggable and not a "hanging chad" disaster like the voting machines in the last American election) and being able to scrutinise the political process online would be great. But what if you don't have internet access? I'd like SOL's ideas better if they offered a plan to ensure internet access for all Australians.
(From Springwise Newsletter)

Bottled Water Not Cool Anymore

2007-06-14T17:43:00.000+10:00

This blurb is from the Mercola.com health newsletter....

“ Bottled water is pricey, contributes to global warming, litter, and solid waste, and is usually no safer or healthier than tap water. Increasing numbers of environmentalists, shareholder activists and church groups are targeting the leading sellers of bottled water.
" For example, shareholders working with an activist group called Corporate Accountability International have asked Coca-Cola to report on the sources and safety of its bottled water, and environmental groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club have urged their supporters to consume less bottled water.

"Salt Lake City's outspoken mayor, Rocky Anderson, asked city officials to stop handing out bottled water at meetings, and a handful of high-end restaurants have stopped serving it.”

Check out more on this issue at http://v.mercola.com/blogs/public_blog/Bottled-Water-Not-Cool-Anymore-12481.aspx and read more about plastics in an up-coming issue of Action Change. www.actionchange.com

Live Earth Concert - tix on sale tomorrow

2007-05-17T19:47:00.000+10:00

Tickets go on sale tomorrow for the Sydney Live Earth concert at Aussie Stadium on July 7.

Included on the bill are Crowded House, Missy Higgins, Jack Johnson, Wolfmother, Eskimo Joe, Toni Collette and Sneaky Sound System.

The Live Earth Concerts will be across 9 continents, on the very special date of 07.07.07.

As well as Sydney the concerts, which will cover 24 hours around the globe, will be in New York, London, Johannasberg, Shanghai, Tokyo, Rio, Hamburg and Instanbul.

The concerts aim to promote awareness of environmental issues, particularly Climate Change.

Tickets are on sale through Ticketek.

The Solution to Eco Friendly but Ugly Cars

2007-05-16T16:55:00.000+10:00

I’ve thought for a while that I would one day buy a car when manufacturers came up with a sexy eco-friendly model.

I’m not just talking about an LPG-run car, but a truly all-round enfren product from the car seats to the fuel. So far I haven’t found one that looks good as well.

I’ve just realised the solution was there all along. Instead of forking out 30 to 40 grand for an ugly enfren car, I can buy a used diesel model, any one I like, and fill it up with filtered vegetable oil from my local organic vego restaurants!

It’s easy to do, uses up cooking oil that would otherwise be put into land fill, is the cheapest fuel around, and I get to reuse a car to boot (ha ha).

If you’re interested in making diesel fuel from recycled cooking oil, check out these websites.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodiesel

www.dancingrabbit.org/biodiesel/vegetable_oil_fuel.php

http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_svo.html

www.vegetableoildiesel.co.uk/

New Format E-mag launched!

2007-05-14T17:47:00.000+10:00

Well, the new HTML format of the e-mag is out and about and hopefully you would have all receieved it by now. Please let me know if you didn't, as I'm trying out a new automated subscritpion service.

A couple of business things first:
Correction in Product Hits. Mark from envirosax tells me that their bags are designed in Oz and the company is Australian, but the bags are in fact made in China. Apparently this is the case with all bags nowadays.
Correction: In the EFT article, I mention a book You Can Heal Your Life, by Loiuse Hay, but I wrote Denise Hay. Apologies.

Well all that being said it's great to finally have it out in a big glossy format that's easier to read and can fit in oodles of piccies. I'd love your feedback on what you love and what you'd like to see change or improve. Send your letters to me at editor@actionchange.com. They'll be a new Reader's Letters column in the next edition, so look out for that one.

Thanks for tuning in and sending in all your news, views and ideas.

Plastics and recycling symbols article

2007-05-10T10:24:00.000+10:00

A friend of mine at ENVOSO, Sarah Crawford, requested a while ago an article on plastics, and what the symbols on the bottom of plastic containers means. So in an upcoming edition of Action Change I'll put in this info. Just to let you know, just because plastic has a circle or triangle of arrows on it, doesn't mean it's recyclable. It needs to have the symbol of what plastic it is in the triangle. And even then, just because something IS recyclable, doesn't mean that we in Australia, or your local council recycles it. The best thing to do in the meantime is contact your local council and find out what plastics they are currently recycling: often they'll have a printed guide.

I've also been asked about the safety of plastics for food and water. A program on health, viewed on one of our commercial networks recently had this as one of their stories. I was very interested to see that the person they used as their `expert' on the safety of plastics was a head of the plastics industry in Australia! Does anyone else see how biased that is? I often wonder if everyday Australians think about things like that: even recognise what happened in that situation. We're not really taught to be media savvy, and I thnk it washes over most people. It would've been ok if they at least sought the opinion of someone on the other side of the fence, but the program failed to do even that. I am not impressed. Especially from a program that touts itself as being the real deal about health issues. Stay tuned...

Mother's Day Green Present Ideas

2007-04-17T20:24:00.000+10:00

I've just read in the on-line mag Shesaid.com some great ideas for Mother's Day that don't cost the earth. It's a great idea and so I've listed a short version of each of the gift ideas...  • Extraordinary Friendships through Breast Cancer: Celebrity Portraits by Rankin is a stylish and inspirational photography book, perfect for Mum’s coffee table. Launched to raise funds for the McGrath Foundation and Breast Cancer Foundation W.A., the book holds thirty stunning celebrity portraits captured by internationally renowned photographer Rankin. From actors like Goran Visnjic to supermodel Jerry Hall, the striking imagery and powerful stories demonstrate the important relationships these Breast Friends have formed. The Breast Friends book is available online at www.mcgrathfoundation.com.au and www.breastcancer.org.au RRP: $25.00   • Treat your mum to some nostalgia with Not All Tea And Scones, directed by Carmel Travers. Not All Tea And Scones provides a sensory feast as we follow the journey of a small group of rural women as they prepare for the annual “The Land Cooking Contest” in Narrabri, in far western New South Wales. The DVD is filled with beautiful imagery as the women tell their remarkable stories of strength against adversity in the Australian outback, and share recipes for great country fare.  Available on DVD for SRP $29.95 from ABC Shops, ABC Centres, ABC Online www.abcshop.com.au and leading video retailers.
 • When you choose one of seven beautiful cards from Gifts that Give, you choose to donate towards the health, education and protection of children in developing countries. For example, the Wellbeing card ($14) will provide a vaccine carrier to remote locations; the Discovery card ($30) provides pencils and exercise books for 180 children; the Comfort card ($40) provides mosquito nets for four families to protect against Malaria; and the Nurture card ($60) can save the lives of 14 severely malnourished children. UNICEF gifts can be purchased online at www.unicef.org.au or by calling 1300 365 943.  
• Is your mum a nature lover? Why not surprise her this Mothers Day by adopting a shark? She won't have to cook or clean for it, but she will be helping bring the endangered grey nurse shark back from the brink of extinction. There are fewer than 500 of these magnificent animals left of the east coast of NSW due to overfishing and loss of habitat. All proceeds of marine themed gifts from the Nature Conservation Council go back into the grey nurse shark conservation program. Choose from cute gifts like a Save Fluffy! T-shirt, or some risqué jewellery. From $70. Click here for more info.   • The perfect gift for Mother’s Day, charity initiative The One-Armed Cookbook, contains a collection of easy and delicious recipes from celebrities - including international celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s Hot Chocolate Fondant; Lorna Jane’s Toasted Muesli and Kochie’s Hello Dolly Squares and Kerri-Anne Kennerley’s Beef Wellington. The recipes are specifically chosen for busy people wanting to create tasty food on the run. 100% of funds raised will be donated to Australia’s largest Perinatal Research Centre at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital, helping Australia’s premature babies get the best possible start in life, and helping women become mothers of healthy babies. RRP: $29.95 The One-Armed Cookbook can be purchased at www.onearmedcookbook.com or by calling 1300 363 786.

• This Mother’s Day, War Child Australia is encouraging you to give your mum an invaluable gift she will treasure – donate to War Child and help a child affected by the turmoil of war. All donations over $2 made to the War Child Relief Fund are tax deductible and donations can be made via cheque, money order, direct bank deposit or by credit card through Pay Pal.For more information about War Child Australia visit www.warchild.org.au     For the full article go to shesaid.com and get the email newsletter from 17th April 2007

Fair Trade Easter Eggs

2007-04-01T16:11:00.000+10:00

The issue before last in Action Change I mentioned that fair traded easter eggs are now available in Australia, and now I've found some more.

They are available in Oxfam shops and come in little easter egg bags $8.50 or single big ones $7.50. They definitely have them in the Centrepoint shop because I went there today and saw them!

Otherwise you can get the Scarborough Fair ones through Coles, Woolies and some organic/health food stores.
Adios!

Dealing With Impatience

2007-03-28T15:08:00.000+10:00

You can find freedom from anxiety over when things will come, by discovering the freedom in nature.

When you can see that there is unlimited time to achieve your goals, suddenly you can give yourself some slack, sit back and enjoy life and where you are at right now. It really takes the pressure off HAVING to do anything. And having to do something is a sure sign your not going in the right direction.

You see impatience tends to block inspiration and realisation because it interrupts the natural flow of events as they are best to happen. Impatience is misleading because it tells you that you are ready for something when you may not be.

If you can look at what is in your life right now and see the perfection of that, see it from another angle or perspective, over time you’ll also see that each event unfolds perfectly, in the perfect time, for you to get where it is you want to go. And then life is a pleasant walk through the fields - as Stuart Wilde said - rather than a mad dash through the traffic!

How to Make Your Business Greener

2007-03-26T17:42:00.000+10:00

GREEN BUSINESS

1. Use recycled paper; email instead of using paper for communications/advertising/your newsletter; install energy efficient light globes; keep files on CD rather than printing out files of paper; use plant based inks; recycle ink cartridges; Get a business green audit. Move into an enfren business building.

2. Support green organisations by putting their details on the bottom of all your emails

3. Join a green business network

4. Donate a portion of your profits to green projects

5. Put green links on your website

6. Become a carbon neutral business. Follow the Carbon Diet for your business.

7. Hold minimum impact events

ETHICAL BUSINESS

8. Invest your money in green and ethical profiles; provide ethical super for employees

9. Know where your products come from, are made, who makes them etc, and if there is any link in that chain that leads to slave labour, child labour, developing world debt etc, and do something about it! There are many ways to get your products made and out there without resorting to unethical behaviour. If you need a place to start, go to Oxfam

PEACEFUL BUSINESS

10. Do business differently: link into spiritual business networks and people who are running ethical businesses. Check out employee contracts in countries such as Scandina, who’s people are the happiest in the world. Creating peace in the world by starting it yourself (within yourself first, then at home, then in business) Take up a meditation practice, take time to walk in nature, rest and play as much as you work.

For more information and links see the full article in Volume 2 Issue 7 of the Action Change Newsletter. Go to www.actionchange.com and subscribe to the fortnightly e-zine.

International Women’s Day

2007-03-08T11:48:00.000+11:00

The human race can never advance until women take their place beside men in leadership. The world is made up of both men and women, so the world will always be unbalanced until the other half of the population is of equal right. Saying that, women do not work in the same power structures as men. We meet in homes, in the community and make decisions directly, that directly affect our lives. So trying to fit women into a male leadership structure will never work.

Women continue to rule the world from our homes, our communities and our organisations. It's just a shame that the male structure is seen as being the only one of validity, and that men continue to be resentful of this power that comes so naturally and without force in women. When men are able to lay their weapons and their egos down, women will again take their rightful place in history.

Men have nothing to fear from female power. We are mostly peaceful and loving souls, with the family and each other as our primary motivators. I think men may be afraid of female power because they only see themselves in others. But women have shown generation after generation that their love of humanity, and indeed their humanity, always prevails.

Giving up the Addiction to Worry via Poodle Sitting

2007-03-07T16:42:00.000+11:00

I’ve been poodle and house minding for a friend in the Blue Mountains this past week, and being with dogs always reminds me how much I worry and wonder and stress about every day things.

The poodles sleep, and when they are not sleeping they play, and when they are not playing or sleeping they eat. That’s what they do. And dog is god backwards. Maybe that means that being dog-like is very ungodly, or does it mean that being dog-like is very god-like? I mean I’ve heard that a simple life is a good life, that being in the moment is grand, and that doing what you love is an excellent way to live, and it seems the dogs have it. My mind, however, has other ideas….

The dogs though certainly don’t seem to be worried whether they are following the right path in life, or stressed that the weekend is nearly over, or feeling guilty for watching the midday movie. Nor do they balk at scratching the treats cupboard until they get one, or seem to care about a walk tomorrow.

Dogs are like kids I suppose, and kids are supposed to be the closest to God. So while I sit here writing and wondering, pondering on whether acting like a dog is a good thing, or whether I’m using it as an excuse to be lazy, or whether if I did live a dog’s life (common, I know you’ve wanted it too) whether I will indeed go to hell, the poodles meanwhile have gone out into the sunny garden I can see out the window, and are chasing butterflies and each other and yapping in pure exhilaration.

And if I shut off the nagging hag in my mind, and put my hand on my heart, it’s them I want to join. And apparently my heart is my spirit, which is the part of me that is God, so by Jove, I think the dogs have it. My heart is my god and my head is the devil. If I just keep chanting this over and over to myself I know I’ll be all right. I’m with the gods…er…dogs!

Alliance for New Humanity

2007-02-08T16:01:00.000+11:00

Deepak Chopra is founding member of the Alliance for New Humanity, an international social organisation based on the premise that as everything is connected, our well-being is the well-being of everyone. Singer Ricky Martin is also a founding member, and the organisation has a board of directors, patrons and advisors.

Their Mission: To connect people who, through personal and social transformation, are committed to creating a just, peaceful, and sustainable world, reflecting the unity of humanity.

‘News for a New Humanity’ is their newsletter and you can subscribe to it free from the site. www.anhglobal.org

“Deepak Chopra has committed to reach the first million people so that we can take that evolutionary leap. Let us harness our resources and be part of that first million to reach the critical mass - and we too then can re-write the story for a new humanity. Let Creativity and Caring be our mantra.”

The Thing is Not to Think Much, but to Love Much

2007-02-07T17:02:00.000+11:00

The main thing is not to think much, but to love much - Mother Theresa

So when you start to worry, just love
When you start to fear, just love
When you start to doubt, just love
When you start to think, just love

How to Know Your Heart

2007-02-06T08:23:00.000+11:00

I've been doing this execise for a while now, and it seems to work for me. I'm an Aries so I'm always in my head rationalising and thinking through problems and questions I have. So I have to actually physically tune into my heart to find out what's really going on and what I'm really feeling about a situation.

So I sit in a quiet place, put my hand on my heart, close my eyes and meditate for a minute on my heart beat. This seems to take me out of my head, and if I do this with a question in mind, once I'm tuned into my heart beat, I receive an answer.

This is also a good technique generally to use in the morning, before I get out of bed. I create my day this way, as I know it's more in tune with where my soul is going, so there's no pulling the other way: it's all plain sailing.

Affirmation of Love

2007-02-05T18:48:00.000+11:00

“ I am love, I give love, I accept love, I believe in love, I extend love, I am always becoming love.”

Love Life

2007-02-04T09:25:00.000+11:00

To have a love life, you have to love life.

Poem: Summer

2007-02-02T11:15:00.000+11:00

Summer
wakes and stretches languidly
in sleeping postures stays

No sense of time
or any place to go

The endlessness
of long hot days
permeates my skin

I open every pore
and offer myself
to the thickly scented air

© Christine Butler 2007

Saying that Violence is just who we are...

2007-02-01T12:44:00.000+11:00

Saying that violence is just who we are, that humans are made that way, that that’s all there is and there’s nothing we can do about it, is like saying that the shade of a tree is all there is to the tree. Yet there is a sunny side too, and all you have to do is step into it. – Christine Butler

Feeling love and happiness..

2007-01-31T16:30:00.000+11:00

"Feeling love and happiness, and feeling peace within me, to my mind is the highest achievement I can attain as a human being on a day-to-day basis. Everything else is just a distraction." Christine Butler

Poem

2007-01-30T17:59:00.001+11:00

How do I think of you?
I wonder what you would look like with desire in your eyes
Serious
Intense
Wanting me
Giving me one single kiss on the side of my neck
that sends ripples through me and brings tears to my eyes
You look from eye to eye quickly
looking for my response
Then a small smile traces your lips
and you kiss me
My upper lip
then my lower
Aand lick my upper with your tongue
You sigh and look into my eyes again
not smiling this time
You say
I love you

The Gaia Theory of a Living Single Organism Earth

2007-01-29T14:50:00.000+11:00

The scientist James Lovelock with philosopher Dian Hitchcock came up with the theory of Gaia in the 1970’s while looking at the moon, and noticing how dead it was compared to the earth, which seemed teeming with life. They experimented further and found that the air was not just another aspect of the earth’s surrounds, but actually a part of it, like fur is to a cat. They concluded that if the air was alive and part of the earth, then the earth too must be alive and active. He “began to wonder if it could be that the air is not just an environment for life but it is also a part of life itself. “

The Gaian idea is that life forms actually control and manipulate their planet to suit themselves and to make it more conducive to the evolution of further organisms. This has upset many scientists, who find the theory too all-encompassing to grasp. Another debate by traditional scientists has been against the idea that cooperation between organisms can arise, where science tends to believe that organisms act out of selfishness and survival. No wonder the planet is in trouble! An example of this is that Lovelock believes sulphur returns from the sea to the land through marine algae. The algae help life by circulating sulphur throughout the biosphere so their proliferation of this algae continued as it ensured life for all.

Another phenomenon that proves we live on an intelligent planet is our stable temperature, which remains in the exact range suitable for life, no matter what has happened in the billions of years there’s been life on earth.

The Gaia theory gives us hope for the continuing survival of the planet despite the amount of pollution we are putting into ‘the organism’ (i.e. land, air, sky and inhabitants). It’s not an excuse to run amuck, but the earth’s system, if intelligent as the Gaia-ists would have us believe, will also find a way to keep everything stable and everything living, and even to dispel the pollution. Of course, that may mean that the earth system heats up the atmosphere, leading to increased temperatures, which ignites people’s tempers so the human race annihilates itself and that’s the earth’s solution to the problem! The scary thing about the Gaia hypothesis is that humans are not necessarily important in the overall scheme of things, and that the species that act to enhance the health of Gaia are the ones that prosper and matter in the long run.

Lovelock believes that there are regions on earth that are important to Gaia’s survival, and these areas may be the key to sustainability. Continental shelves may be vital in the regulation of the oxygen-carbon cycle. “ It is through the burial of carbon in the anaerobic muds of the sea bed that a net increment of oxygen in the atmosphere is ensured.” Lovelock also believes that wetlands and the tropical rainforests and scrub lands between latitudes 45 degrees north and 45 degrees south are core regions of Gaia. Lovelock urges that we watch carefully the tropics and the seas close to the continental shelves. “ Here (humans) may sap the vitality of Gaia, by reducing productivity and by deleting key species in her life-support system; and (we) may then exacerbate the situation by releasing into the air or the sea abnormal quantities of compounds which are potentially dangerous on a global scale.”

"Organisms do not just adapt to a dead world determined by physics and chemistry alone. They live in a world that is the breath and bones of their ancestors and that they are now sustaining." - James Lovelock.

Why it is Manly to Cry

2007-01-24T14:43:00.001+11:00

It IS manly to cry, and you deny yourself your manhood when you hold back your emotions.

You have chosen to be human and humaness is an emotional state. It’s what sets us apart from other planes of existence where there is no physicality and no emotion and no sense of time. Emotion is therefore one of the three important distinctions of the human being and therefore how we evolve.

If as a man you decide to deny your emotion self, you’re also denying yourself the opportunity to evolve as a human being. And not only yourself, but you also deny that to the men around you and your male children, who see from you what it is to be a man, and follow your lead.

Don’t let generation after generation of men cease to evolve. Men die more of heart attacks then women because they suppress their emotions. Suppressing emotions is the core cause of addiction. Do yourself a favour and join the human race! We need you! And we need men to evolve at the same rate as women, so that we move into the world that we dream of together, as a unified force.

Go with the Flow of Abundance

2007-01-23T11:40:00.001+11:00

The natural state of the Universe is abundance. The Universe naturally moves towards abundance and can’t help but support us in our own moves towards it. It knows nothing else. That’s why trees grow upwards towards the sun, why flowers bloom from tiny buds into flowers. Everything grows. To do anything else is to struggle against the natural flow. It’s the same with business, with making money. Growth is the secret to abundance. Go with the flow of what you’ve already got and you’ll begin to grow outwards towards expansion and more. If you contract, if you say no to natural growth, you are actually stemming the tide of abundance that would otherwise naturally flow.

FOODS FOR THOUGHTS - Brain Foods for Exam Time

2007-01-22T16:32:00.000+11:00

During periods of peak mental performance, the brain uses more nutrients than usual to sustain its proper functioning. The carbohydrates in food and oxygen in the air fuel the brain. Exams, study, long hours of concentration and focused work periods can all take their toll on our brain’s ability to give its best. Sometimes we need more specific nutrients to nourish and stimulate the brain’s activity. Studies have long suggested the link between nutrition and scholastic performance. Following is a run down of foods that will keep your brain at full steam.

Foods for General Brain Function:
*The human brain weighs 1.5 kg, that's about the same as a hefty school text.
*Lecithin comprises 28% of brain matter in a mentally healthy person. During times of stress this lecithin is used up rapidly by the brain and. If the diet contains mainly saturated fats, and not many natural foods, a better diet or supplements may be needed during exam time. Lecithin is produced by the liver and if you eat a regular supply of fresh fruit and vegies whole grains, legumes and raw nuts you should be able to produce enough lecithin for your brain’s needs. Soybeans and corn are main sources of lecithin supplements. You can also buy it in granules to sprinkle over foods (most economical) or in capsule form.
*Glucose - them main food for brain function is converted from complex carbohydrates. Make sure you are getting enough whole grains, fresh fruit and vegetables before and during peak concentration times. Even quick meals such as fruit salad or veggie sticks with dip will be better than snacking on junk foods.
*Niacin (B3) nourishes the brain. Good food sources are yeast extract, brewer’s yeast, nuts, dried fruits and whole meal bread, brown rice and pulses.
* Orotoc Acid (B13) is required for the normal functioning of the brain and also the nervous system. Found in abundance in root vegetables
* Some good foods for general brain function are Bananas, currants, dates, figs, grapes, olives, plums, asparagus, radish, tomatoes, avocado, garlic, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cucumber, lettuce, parsley, watercress, lemons, apricots, sunshine.

Foods for Concentration:
*Phosphorous. Necessary for brain strength, contains lecithin, and assists creative ability in writing essays etc Activates most of the B vitamins and is good for energy distribution to the brain and body. Vitamin D helps balance phosphorous levels i.e. sunlight. Foods include pumpkin seeds, wheatgerm, sunflower seeds, brazil nuts, sesame seeds and almonds. Phosphorous also gives you energy to get out and exercise in between studying.
*Vit T can help if your concentration and memory are poor. Sesame seeds and tahini.

Foods for Memory Stimulation:
*Manganese is a memory builder. It takes oxygen to the brain and helps with mental fatigue. Foods include chestnuts, brazil nuts, hazel nuts and almonds, as well as kidney beans, pineapple, grapes, beetroot and parsley.
*Magnesium also builds memory by nourishing the brain and spinal cord. It can also steady your nerves. Some good food sources are green vegetables, almonds, cashews and soybeans.
* Thiamine (or B1) deficiencies are known to cause impairment of the memory, a lack of concentration and inability to learn. Food sources are brewer’s yeast, yeast extract, raw nuts, soya flour, wholemeal bread. Most fresh vegetables contain good amounts of thiamine.
*Pantothenic acid (B5) Improves poor memory. Good supplies are in yeast extract, nuts and seeds, wheatgerm, green leafy vegies and root vegies.
*General foods for memory are currants, dates, olives, figs, lettuce, berries, potatoes, apricots, parsley, avocado, carrots, asparagus, spinach, apples, pineapple, raisons, beetroot, bananas, peaches and pears.

Foods for Mental Stress and Worry:
* B complex especially pantothenic (B5) B vitamins best taken together over long periods to help with absorption. B5 is not only a memory builder but it is also an anti stress vitamin. B5 is used in the body for the production of energy and healthy nervous system. See above for foods.
* C – You can take 10 times the minimum daily requirements during stressful periods as the body will use more. Vitamin C Produces anti stress hormones. It converts amino acids in foods into compounds needed for brain and nerve functioning. cherry juice, blackcurrants, guavas, parsley, kale, broccoli, green peppers, tomato puree,
* If stress is causing insomnia, lettuce and vitamin C can help, as can chamomile tea or lemon balm tea. Bath with lavender before bed, and adequate exercise is helpful
* Foods for stress: grapes, millet, wheatgerm, Brewer's yeast, oats, buckwheat, molasses, melons papaya, lettuce, watercress, sunshine, cherries, bananas, cauliflower, garlic, ginger, mushrooms, mustard greens

Foods for Nervousness:
* Vit E assists the functioning of the entire nervous system: the central nervous system is the brain and spinal chord. The sympathetic nervous system is the brain and nerves raw oils such as wheatgerm, soyabean, corn, safflower and sunflower oils (pour on salads or raw rather than cooking with as heat kills nutrients. If using with cooking, add a little oil with water in the pan to reduce heat of the oil)
* Nervous system: B complex, especially B1, B2 and B3 which all build the nervous system. These three vitamins are inhibited by stress and anxiety so it’s always good to get an abundant supply during times of nervousness. Good sources of all three are found in rice bran, wheatgerm and soyabeans.
* A good night sleep also helps the nervous system, as it has the opportunity to repair and give nutrients to nerves
* If depression is present, B6 can help, and it is wise to take supplements of this vitamin, including other B vitamins
* Before an exam, Ginger tea can be used to calm nausea from nerves, and chamomile tea to calm nerves generally
* Mental disturbances are often related to deficiencies in thiamine, riboflavin, nicotinamide, pyridoxine, folic acid, B12. If the conditions persist, see a GP for analysis.
* General foods for nervous tension are cauliflower, celery, garlic and passionfruit

Foods and Exercises for Eyes:
*Vit AiIs good for reading in dim light, also good as an immune fighter against infections and illness during the stressful periods. Butter, cheeses, fish oils contain vitamin A. Carotene (pro-vitamin A) is found in foods such as leafy green and yellow and orange vegetables.
* Flourine is a trace mineral, which maintains the functions of the iris. Foods include asparagus, oats, garlic and cabbage.
* Exercise: Look up from the page every 15 mins at something in the distance to exercise the eye muscles

Teas: Coping -licorice and ginseng; anxiety-passionflower and vervain; Headaches - rosemary or wood betony.

Juices: Brain Fodder Juice- apple, grapes, lemon, beetroot and parsley.

Other useful information: 1. Rosemary oil burning during study helps your brain remember information. Scent can also unlock memory, so if you wear the same scent during the exam as you wore while studying for it, you will tend to perform better than those who don’t. Peppermint oil is also useful during exam time to energise and stimulate the mind. Use both in a bath for stress and headaches 2. Listening to Mozart for 10 minutes can improve your IQ by 9 points. 3. Take a good multivitamin everyday leading up to and during exam time 4. Exercise every day to keep oxygen flowing to the brain 5. 30 mls of Wheatgrass juice taken daily will increase brain power generally 7. sleep and relaxation is needed for the brain to rejuvenate 8. Take Rescue remedy if nervous before exam

The Birth Of Ideas

2007-01-19T14:31:00.000+11:00

You feel in pain. You feel like the world is about to end for you. Nothing makes sense and you live like in a nightmare wondering how you got to be this way, You question yourself and your sanity and think a thousand ways how you got yourself into this mess in the first place. And then one moment when you can take no more, an inspiration glides into your mind, pours through your burning head like cold, wet, sweet ice cream. And the relief floods through you in a moment and all you feel is release, and joy and gladness, and you can’t even remember why you were feeling so down. What was THAT about? You write about it, talk about it, expand on all it’s glories and manifestations, and life generally takes on a glow all of it’s own. You even love yourself for having such genius. You think of nothing else, and every time your mind rests on your idea, your whole body goes back to that ecstasy of its birth. And then one day you wake up and the energy of that idea has dissipated. It’s hard to bring back the feelings you had and over the next couple of days it fades from memory, and you ask yourself again, well what was THAT about? You wander around trying to make sense of it all: you get a little depressed and start wondering what this stupid life is about anyway. What is the point to it all? You walk around frustrated and bored and wonder if you’d be better off just taking some pills and ending it all: the fruitlessness of it. Then in one single glorious moment, a new idea is born, and the world is once again, a glorious paradise of possibilities.

No wonder they call it ‘the birth of ideas’.

The Only Moment

2007-01-16T17:38:00.000+11:00

This is the only moment I have, and I won't spend it, these precious moments, on feeling anything less than fantastic. The most part of being free for me, is to feel happy. Feeling burdened and miserable is not freedom; it’s entrapment. If I feel free and happy all today, and as a result my world crashes down tomorrow, so be it. And tomorrow can take care of itself anyway: it’s not my business and I don’t even know tomorrow: it’s not part of me yet. But these moments, right now, are very intimate with me. They are mine and mine alone to express myself in, and I choose to be happy and free in them. I choose to be happy and free in this moment, because frankly, it’s the only moment I have. I’m not even sure that I have a next moment, so I may as well just live it up in this one. So today, so in this moment, and moment by moment, I’m just going to have the best time, and let any other moments do what they will.

The Principles of my Theory on Changing the World

2007-01-14T11:28:00.000+11:00

1. Everyone does their passion as their work. We shall call it plorking, a mixture of play and work.
2. Everyone earns the same amount of money, no matter what plork they do. All left over monies are used for infrastructure and fun stuff!

There would be no need anymore for taxes, as the employer would just give extra money back to the central money distributor, so all those boring tax jobs, so all the accountants in the world could join the charity workers in Tahiti.

3. Education is centred on learning to love, rather than learning to fear.

From school age, we are taught about the emotions and their effect on the body would be one of the underpinning subjects, especially to two basic ones love and fear, and to learn how to recognise when we have come out of the core one, love.

Education would centre on human qualities and emotions rather than on facts and figures, so that children and the adults they become have the ability to self-observe and make decisions based on love, not fear.

Education based not on what, where, when, and who (facts and figures) but on how and why (how to budget, how to love yourself, how to have a great relationship) and why (Why do wars happen? How could we stop them happening again? Why do relationships break down? How could we do them better?) This means teaching is based on asking questions, not giving answers, and students learn to think for themselves and make truly, educated decisions.

Education is based on qualities, not quantities.

4. The Law of Attraction is common knowledge

2007-01-12T18:37:00.000+11:00

“Plan life like you are going to live forever: Live life like it’s your last day on earth.”

I plan to do in life everything that has ever made me happy, and leave space for whatever might make me happy that I haven’t thought of yet. I’ll need forever to do this I guess simply because I am an ever evolving being. But even if I’m not, even as just Christine Butler, I want a long time to experience, to savour, all that I’d ever want to do, in all the various ways it’s possible for me to do them. And it will take longer because it is not just about the action: it’s about the contemplation, the dreams put out in hope, the gradual moving towards the goal, the shifting and changing of preferences, the fun, the sleep, the quickening of the experience, and then to the quiet contemplation of what was. See, it could well take forever.

If this was the last day on earth for me, then I would be happy to stay put and meditate on love, to read about people’s joys, to think on peace and hope in the world. Because feeling love and happiness, and feeling peace within me, to my mind is the highest achievement I can attain as a human being on a day-to-day basis. Everything else is just a distraction.

WHY ARE THERE JOBS THAT NOBODY WANTS?

2007-01-11T14:12:00.000+11:00

Jobs that no one wants are a signal that it shouldn’t be a job in the first place, or that we need to change the way the job is done. What’s a job that no one wants to do? Take for instance garbage collection. Ok, so if everyone was more personally responsible for the rubbish they create, the garbage system would be a lot easier to operate, we wouldn’t not like the job anymore because it wouldn’t be smelly and gross, and we’d save the planet in the meantime.

There’s basically three types of garbage. One is organic matter, the next are things we can readily recycle, and the others are materials we can’t readily recycle. So one solution is to separate the three, which we’ve already started doing.

RECYCLABLES:
The thing is, at the moment, people don’t wash the recyclables as they should, or they put in containers with food on them (i.e. like pizza boxes.) If we all took responsibility and a little time, the recyclables wouldn’t be smelly and we could do things like have people who can reuse them and think they’re fun (like the ‘Reverse Garbage’ company, stage and theatre designers, kids and schools, aluminium can collectors etc) rummage through it and get first dibs. Then the rest can go off to be recycled; so we’d also be reusing stuff first, which is what we should be doing anyway.

Recycling should be the last resort. In fact people could do this first before they put out recycling i.e. take tins and toilet rolls insides to the local school. This would make the load of collectors a lot easier. In fact, the recyclables collectors could be people who love to do stuff with recycled matter – artists etc. They could be given a certain number of streets in their suburb, and they could collect stuff each week, go through it, and then take the rest to the recycling centre.

ORGANIC MATTER:
This is a pretty obvious one and I’m sure some countries do this already. Organic matter going into landfill is one of the catastrophes of our modern times. We could be taking it to local community gardens, composting it for our own gardens, or to the local school, church, whatever. And we can also compost and make it into all the fertiliser we’ll ever need. And we could make it on site in the community (the left overs from home/school etc) and divvy it back out as well. So you wouldn’t need to buy fertilizer from the garden centre in plastic bags. I can’t believe we don’t do this already. And of course, going back to out dear garbage collectors, the whole reason why garbage collection is not on everyone’s hot job list – the smell and sliminess- would be eliminated. Instead, our wonderful garbage collectors would be seen as local heroes, turning our recyclables and organic matter into useful and fun things for the whole community. They’re already now being called Waste Management Officers (or something like that) because of their new jobs with recycling (in Oz anyway). Let’s now take it a step or two further…

NON-RECYCLABLES:
I’ve left this ‘till last because really, people, non-recyclables should be called non-consumables. There should be no reason for us to have to buy anything, or wrapped in anything, that can not be reused or recycled. This is the bit of the equation called REFUSE. Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Recycle: The four R’s that can be now taught in schools. Reduce is for wussies. Refuse is the go. And anyway, if there is a bit left over that we don’t know what to do with, the artist guy down the road who comes and gets your recyclables, will probably have a use for it.

So we’ve got the local garden enthusiast’s club collecting your veggie peelings, the arty fartys and kids scooping the pool on your exciting bits of recyclables, and the occasional non-recyclable, so the good old refuse/waste management/ garbage collecting ‘garbos’, will be heading down the local suburb every week or so to take your nice recyclables to the recycling station. It should only take them a few hours max; they wouldn’t need to do it at 5am because it’s quick and easy; they wouldn’t need to deal with smell or slime, and they’d be the heroes of our town because they’re taking our stuff and making it into other… stuff. Now that’s a job worth loving.

So anytime we create jobs that people don’t’ love’, it’s just a cue to say we haven’t worked it out properly; haven’t quite used our noggins and gone through the finer details. What about other jobs that are on the `wouldn’t do it for quids’ list for most people? Drain cleaners, toilet cleaners, and sewerage workers…. actually they sort of have everything in common don’t they? They’re all smelly, dirty, and have a hell of a lot to do with human waste. Mmm, got any ideas?

The Believing vs Effort Ratio

2007-01-10T14:42:00.000+11:00

Have you ever noticed that when you really believe you can achieve something, do something or have something, you don’t need to put any effort into getting it? You just say “great” and forget about it and at some point down the road you get it, and hear yourself say “I knew that was going to turn out well.”

Maybe there’s a ratio between how much we believe something and how much effort we have to put in to it. I know that if I really want something, but don’t believe it’s mine by divine right, then I have to work bloody hard to get it: and even then sometimes I don’t. For me getting into believing something is a matter of perspective: If I’m seeing getting something as difficult, I keep turning it around until it’s easy. I feel it in my heart like relief. Then I can let it go, and then I know that it will come.

So really, maybe the only effort we ever have to put in is believing we can have something. And if we can’t believe it in one light, then to look at it from another!

Divine Order and Social Activism

2007-01-10T14:41:00.000+11:00

There is a divine order in the world, and it’s a good thing to remember for all us social activists out there.

What we are creating in the world is a step-by-step process of getting us where we want to go. Everything in the world serves a purpose and is part of this process, otherwise it wouldn’t exist.

The thing is, this divine order cannot be seen solely through the mind, by thinking, by judging, by being angry and frustrated with all that is: that just creates more of the same in the world. The great flow of the universe runs on love, so we need to open our hearts and see the beauty in the world to gain access to this knowledge of divine order. It’s a bit like your own true purpose and desires can only be accessed through your heart, not just your ego.

The world doesn’t need saving, it just needs to be loved.

N.B This blog was inspired by a card in Toni Carmine Salerno’s Magdalene Oracle card Series. www.tonicarminesalerno.com

What Would Happen if Everyone on the World Earned the Same Wage?

2007-01-08T21:47:00.000+11:00

or Ten Reasons Why it Could Be A Good Idea to Have a Global Wage

1. We would all have enough to survive on (approximately $ 6987 per annum - the average wage globally in 2005 according to Finfacts: Ireland’s Business and Financial Portal)
2. We wouldn’t need to work so hard, because what would be the point? And most people work hard to earn more money. Australians now work the most hours in the industrialised world. Those who love working hard, well that’s nice too
3. We could all do what we love, as we are all getting the same money anyway
4. We could do away with charities, because any left over money circulating would automatically go into charities. That means all the people doing all that great charity work could instead take a nice vacation in the Bahamas
5. If every sick, old, disabled person in the world had $6987 each year, ditto above.
6. If every poor person in the world had $6987 each year, most of the charities would have to disband anyway, so ditto ditto above and above. Poverty would automatically be history, so we could go to rock concerts just to hear the music
7. We could do it initially by taxing everyone over $6987 so that the extra money would be immediately redistributed to those who don’t get that amount.
8. If everyone eared the same amount of money, and that was guaranteed, people would be more inclined to do their dream job - the thing they are passionate about - and that would automatically create a happier and healthier society. For more on how this works, see the blog and article in Issue 12 of Action Change entitled ‘Passionate Employment.’
9. Most wars would cease because there would be no more `greater than’ and ‘less than’. We could all do what we choose with our $6987. There would be no power plays because there would be no money to be gained from them. If for instance, the US decided to invade another oil rich country, they’d just have to put the extra money earned back to those countries that were under the average wage.
10. Crime would pretty much cease straight away, as most people who commit crime are coming from a position of impoverishment. If we all had enough money to survive, the fear of not being able to survive would be removed. Those with a mental illness that incites crime could afford treatment, as they would be earning $6987, and so would the therapist! (i.e. it would be in everyone’s means to receive treatment)

2007-01-08T21:45:00.000+11:00

“You’ll find everything you need in life in what you love doing.”
- Christine Butler

Heart Pumping Healing Visualisation!

2007-01-06T11:46:00.000+11:00

This morning I had this great experience visualising love hearts pumping through my body as my heart beat. They were pink like cartoon hearts and they pumped dance-like through my body and seemed to cheerily eat up any tired or unnecessary cells floating around in there. It was a great feeling, like I was filled up with happy love! Then they whooshed out of my body and circled around me. Crazy! (but in a good way.)

Creating Your Day, by Divine Right

2007-01-05T09:39:00.001+11:00

Each morning a good way to create your day is to feel what it is you’d like to do, and see it all happening.

Then say “if this is the day planned for me as mine by Divine Right, I accept it with gratitude. If there are more important things for me to be doing today in order to fulfil my dreams in perfect ways (with joy, grace and ease,) then bring those things to me as well or instead, and I accept those also, with gratitude.”

It’s not my job to work out the how. My job is to know what it is I want to do in my heart, and do that. It’s not my job to work out the how or why or wherefore. The God force does that – Love does that. I just need to honour myself and who I am.

Most manifestation techniques revolve around setting an intention for the day at the beginning of the day, and then being grateful for the day at the end of the day. In between we go about our business, feeling the good feelings of our intentions, yet holding off expectation. Expectation is not our business, and it actually gets in the way, as we end up doing things in accordance to the when, where, how and why of things and block the natural flow of Love doing what it needs to do.

So again, we just need to know the what, and feel how great that feels to have, and go about our day with that feeling. The rest will take care of itself. If we do picture something, it’s the end result only. You are driving the new car, you are ion your new house, you are with your soul mate. Again, nothing else is your job: just the ‘what.’

The Rubber Band Ball Theory of the Universe

2007-01-04T20:09:00.000+11:00

I see the Universe and `all there is’, like one of those balls with tight elastic bands inside. The rubber comes apart on the outside and there are all these pieces, yet they stay connected because of the rubber bands. So there are all these particles `out in space’ yet they all attached, so if you flick one of the parts, it all still reverberates, even on the other side of the ball.

Also, what we call `the space in between’ the parts of the ball, is not really space, not empty. It is also a mass, we just can’t see all the gases and such with our naked eye. So, in reality, we are not just all connected, but we are in fact, all the one thing: the ball.

We could also use the human body in the same way to explain how everything in the Universe is all connected, and one organism. We could label parts of us with different names, like we do parts of the Universe. My head could be Saturn (for example), and my hand could be Pluto. My knee could be Earth, and my bum could be… well take a guess.

So if the Universe is connected like the parts of my body is to me, and whatever one of us feels, we all feel. Whatever another planet feels, we feel on earth too. So as individuals we DO all make a difference to how the world and the Universe works. We ARE the difference. People always get overwhelmed with the problems that lie on the other side of the planet and say “but what can I do to help?”

But I point to my knee (earth) and dig my finger-nails in (Pluto), and that hurts! I feel it in different parts of my body (the universe) “ Ow, ow” I say, screwing up my face. But yet I look up at you and say “But what can I do to help?”

“Ow ow” I say again, leaning over and digging my nails in. “But I’m just one person.”

Do you see how funny that is, and how ludicrous?

I think this is what they call biting off your nose to spite your face, but instead, your biting off your nose while your teeth say, “but what can I do to help?”

Everything we do affects everyone else, and the whole of the planet earth, and every other planet out there. How do our choices change now that we have this information? How do the questions we ask in life change? What decisions do we ask our leaders to make?

Act as if you are separate from nothing and no one, and you could heal your world tomorrow – Neal Donald Walsh

The Ho’oponopono Technique

2007-01-03T14:12:00.000+11:00

'There is a way out of problems and disease for any individual willing to be 100 % responsible for creating her/his life the way it is moment to moment. In the ancient Hawaiian healing process of Ho'oponopono, the individual petitions Love to rectify errors within him.

"I am sorry. Please forgive me for whatever is going on inside of me that manifests as the problem."

Love’s responsibility then is to transmute the errors within him that manifest as the problem. Love does this by erasing and correcting.'  (www.ho’oponopono.org)

After I printed the article on Ho’oponopono by Joe Vitale in the second issue of the e-zine (www.actionchange.com), many people told me they had used it in their lives to great effect. Some had said “I’m sorry I love you” to the person who they’d had an issue with, others have said it to themselves - healing themselves in order to heal their world - and others have just said it to no one in particular, in order to heal problematic issues in their lives. All methods have had positive results.

I then came up with a longer phrase, which added more meaning to the words people were speaking or thinking. It includes personalising the statement, forgiving yourself, and asking Love to heal whatever has caused the disturbance.

“I’m sorry (your name). Please forgive me for whatever is happening inside of me that manifests as (whatever the problem is). I ask Love to correct/transmute the errors now. I love you.”

By using this technique, a doctor in Hawaii was able to `cure’ all the patients in his mental ward. See the story in the Action Change e-zine #2 for the full details.

For more info on the ho’oponopono technique, go to www.hooponopono.org

The Goal’s Guy and New Year Resolutions

2006-12-28T17:25:00.000+11:00

A great email newsletter I receive is from The Goals Guy. I published one of his articles on peace in the e-zine this year. Gary Ryan Blair – the goals guy - gives you great advice and solid plans for ways to achieve your goals, and just in time for new year he’s sent me a guide to making new year's resolutions that work.

He’s also set up a site of new year’s resolutions and he’s aiming at getting ten million on there! You can check out people’s NYR’s at the site, and even add your own. Go on, put it in writing. You know the stats. Writing down goals gives you a zillion more chance of having them come true (I can’t personally vouch for that last stat) but anyhoo, it DOES make a difference to write goals down, and that way you can also see them every day and keep on track.. And as an added bonus, if you add your ‘Resso’ to his list, he will send you a free t-shirt and his personal guide to making perfect New Year’s Resolutions! You can’t ask for more than that! So pick up your finger and click now, and get those 2007 Ressos working for YOU!

www.goalsguy.net/cgi-bin/SMent/s.cgi?which=2-12-24-2006-23-9&page=/www.10MillionResolutions.com

I’d also advise if you love planning, scheming and generally and getting the most out of life, to subscribe to his newsletter. It only comes once a month or so I think, and there’s always a valuable article in it, apart from the usual advertising guff.
Check it out at www.thegoalsguy.net

Join Danny Wallace and Do Good Deeds

2006-12-27T18:28:00.000+11:00

I just finished reading a great book called Join Me, that my mate Simon lent me. It’s the story of a bloke in London who put an ad in the local paper to join him. He did it as a bit of a joke, didn’t really know what people were joining him for, and it ended up being one of the biggest philanthropic organisations in the world. He put in the first advertisement in 2001, and the organization is still running today, with thousands of people as joinees. Basically all you need to do to join is send Danny a passport photo of yourself, and pledge to do a good deed for someone every Friday.

And because it’s a new year, and because doing something nice for someone else always makes me feel good inside, I think it’s a great New Year’s resolution. I had a mild idea a while ago to do something nice for someone every day, and now it seems just an ordinary part of my life. I don’t go looking for people to help either; they just seem to turn up. And they’re mostly not big things either (the deeds that is, not the people). I move aside to give someone a seat on the bus, I give someone directions; I help someone with their bags… Take the pledge now with Danny and become one of the famous `joinees’ or just take the pledge for yourself and resolve to help someone every day, or to do a good deed for someone who needs it every week. By the end of the year you can say that you’ve done at least 50 good deeds for people in 2007, and why the hell wouldn’t you want to do that?

Danny’s Join me website is at www.join-me.co.uk

You can see what else Danny is up to at www.dannywallace.com

Spirit is Unused Self

2006-12-23T17:58:00.000+11:00

In a dream the other night, I was told ‘Spirit is unused self’.

It meant that spirit can be all our (unused) potential; the unlimited possibilities of who we are, just waiting to be given the nod that means `I’d like that for myself’.

In the dream it seemed to mean that it was a pool of unlimited resources that we tap into and take from. When we have used it all up, we are spirit itself.

Making Decisions Eases Stress

2006-12-22T17:11:00.000+11:00

Making decisions eases stress, frustration and worry.

Your heart is your truth, your mind is your illusion, so if in doubt, fear, desperation, or confusion, put your hand on your heart and ask the questions that need to be asked. Do this regularly through the day until you don’t need to do the action, and then until the day that your truth is all there is.
Take action on your truths, no matter how small, but the grander the better if it feels good! Action begets action i.e. the universe is a giant photocopying machine and gives back to you what you put out.

When you’re stressed and afraid and depressed, it’s because you haven’t followed the instructions of your heart. You know what you need to do, what decisions you have to make, but you haven’t done them, usually because of fear. That’s the time to place your hand on your heart and ask your highest self what it is you really want to do.

When things are not easy and graceful, something is not right. You know what it is if you ask your heart. When things are right things move quickly and easily – effortlessly, and with joy.

Vegetarian Eateries and Recipe Guide

2006-12-19T19:17:00.000+11:00

Food is a celebration! It is used for love, for meeting with friends, for brightening up your day, for comfort, for sharing special moments, and for the pure heavenly feeling of it on your tongue and in your belly. So get some yummy vego food into you today!

Vegetarian food has many benefits, for both you and the planet:

* It’s healthy;
* It’s good for animals☺;
* Vego food uses less land and forest areas;
* Vego food is ethical, as land doesn’t need to be used in developing countries to grow feed crops or to graze livestock;
* It opens up people’s worlds to new and exciting food: no more chop and three veg!
What would Australia be like food-wise if we didn’t have a Chinese restaurant around when we were kids? We’d all still be eating chop and three veg for dinner. World migration to Oz has opened up our world to food we never dreamt of before, and vegetarian food does the same thing. Who would have eaten the myriad of beans we have available (unless they were in tins and baked), if not for vego food? Who would have ever tasted the delights of nuts and seeds if not for vego food? We would all still be eating peanuts.
* Vego food is yummy! It’s not all about tofu and steamed vegetables. There’s a whole new world of food out there to explore, and you’ll never know about it unless you get out there and try a vegetarian restaurant or café. These people specialise in vegetarian, and know what they’re doing.

Below are a few websites where you can find a vego café in your area, wherever you are in the world. Or try adding a few vegetarian recipes to your meals each week from the websites below.. Your body and the planet will thank you for it.

Have fun with your food and get out there into vego land! Exotic and new delights are waiting to woo your taste buds!

INTERNATIONAL SITES
www.happycow.net Worldwide directory of vegetarian eateries and information: even Veggie Humour!
www.vegweb.com International site good for recipes, links and for chatting to other vegetarians.

AUSTRALIAN SITES
www.veg-soc.org Australian Vegetarian Society. It lists restaurants, practitioners, has a forum and a magazine.

RECIPE SITES:
Vego recipes sites that I’ve used include:
www.ivu.org/recipes/ Vegan recipes from around the world.
www.vrg.org/recipes/ A good list.
www.veganchef.com/ Great recipes on this one.
www.vegsoc.org/cordonvert/recipes/ A great recipe index, also with special occasion ideas, including Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Halloween, and you can search recipes by ingredients, meal types, and themes.
www.vegsource.com/recipe/ VegSource is truly what it says it is – a source for all things vegetarian on the web. Go to the recipe page for links to all vegetarian recipes on the web

(If anyone has a favourite site or eatery, please add it in to the comments)

Practice Receiving

2006-12-18T18:26:00.000+11:00

Sometimes we ask for things such as winning millions on the lottery, our own dream home, a new car, a trip around the world etc, yet when a friend rings and offers us a small favour, we decline it immediately.

Now the Universal Creative Force is absolute power so a meal is no more trouble to give you than $10 million, but if we’re not on the wavelength of receiving, it blocks that from being able to come into our lives.

So practice receiving: say yes to help, gifts, and offers; if you need something, ask a friend or family member and accept their help. Once you see that you are a constant receiver, (as well as a giver), it changes the dynamic and you’ll receive more often and with more ease and joy. You’ll have set up a pattern of receiving that the Universe can easily move into.

Help with Creating Your Day

2006-12-18T18:24:00.000+11:00

There’s been a lot of talk about the idea of creating your day: of focusing for a few minutes each day and dreaming of your perfect day, then putting that out into the Universal Forces. Here’s a couple of links to pages that help you create your day.

1. Dr. Joe Dispenza in 'What the BLEEP Do We Know!?'TM recites a pact he makes every morning. See it here www.whatthebleep.com/create/

2. Ramtha also has advice on creating your day
“Did it ever occur to you that oftentimes you give permission for life to do to you what you complain about or are overjoyed with at the end of the day? Creating, well, creating is a privilege. It goes along with being a divine person. Divinity gets to create and that is why you want to know how to do it, because you are a divine entity." www.ramtha.com/createyourday
***
“When a man undertakes to create something, he establishes a new heaven, as it were, and from it the work that he desires to create flows into him... For such is the immensity of man that he is greater than heaven and earth.” Philipus Aureolus Paracelsus

Don’t Get Up Until You’re Excited!

2006-12-14T11:28:00.000+11:00

Each morning before you get out of bed, close your eyes and imagine your perfect day. Feel how great it is to be doing all these things and send it out to the Universe to bring back to you.

Then, spend a minute or two being thankful for all the good things in your life. Feel how great it is to be you!

When you’re excited about who you are and what the day could bring, THEN get out of bed.

Carry this feeling with you all day. If you start to wane, take a minute to close your eyes and think about your perfect day again until your energy lifts. You’ll be amazed at the results!

"I would make a strong suggestion that every day you get up and you sit in this discipline, roll your eyes back, and instead of rushing around, sleeping in late, do this and focus, create your day. All you have to do is to see that this day is filled with sublime adventure. And if you know it and you feel it and you have given it life, it will be. So be it."" - Ramtha

From: Ramtha Dialogues®, Tape 323, Beginning C&E® Workshop, September 20-21, 1992 (Yelm: Ramtha Dialogues®, 1992

Ecotourism Quick Consumer Guide

2006-12-12T18:30:00.000+11:00

Ecotourism is big business. From local attractions, to world tours, to luxury resorts, business owners are lining up to be included on ecotourism lists and to win awards.

Criteria for ecotourism usually encompass the triple bottom line: Economic sustainability, environmental sustainability, and social responsibility. That means that part of business practice must include business ethics, contribution to conservation, and cultural respect and sensitivity etc.

In Australia, a good site to log onto is www.ecotourism.org.au

Ecotourism Australia certifies tourism products (attractions, tours and accommodation) and has a database of these. So if for instance you’re visiting the Blur Mountains and want to find an eco-friendly attraction, you can search for exactly that on the website. They also host an international ecotourism conference in November every year.

When you’re looking at tourist products generally in Oz, all products with the certification of ecotourism will carry their logo.

If you’re traveling further a field, a good international site is www.responsibletravel.com/. You can search for any holiday or accommodation on any budget, right from the home page. The site includes travel hints, a shop and an
e-zine. They also host the First Choice Responsible Travel Tourism Awards each year, voted by travelers. There are awards in different categories, however this year’s (2006) joint overall winners were Intrepid Travel (Australia) and Ol Malo Lodge & Trust (Kenya).

Another large international ecotourism forum is the Annual Summit of the World Tourism Forum for Peace and Sustainable Development (DestiNATIONS), held in Brazil. You can check out the recent third annual forum at www.worldtourismforum.org/

A Dialogue with my Creator

2006-12-11T13:33:00.000+11:00

One day I asked my creator

`How do I get all the things I desire? How do I become the person I long to be?’

And my creator replied...

My child I will show you the way, but you must follow my every direction.

'Of course', I said. 'But I am so scared I will go wrong. How will I know, absolutely, what it is you ask of me?'

The creator replied...

I will put it in your heart as your greatest wish. Whenever you do not absolutely know the way forward, put your hand on your heart and ask yourself what is the very next thing you would love to do. If you do this, then you will be following my directions perfectly.

‘Wow’, I said, ‘it will be very easy to do as you ask’.

I went on my way, but the things I truly wanted, seemed out of reach. They cost money, and I had none. I wondered if I had made it all up. After all, doing whatever you love to do as a path to my creator seemed too good to be true when I thought about it. So I asked again.

'What do I do? I need money to do the things I love. You haven’t given me any so how am I supposed to do what it is you ask? Are you sure this is the way I do it?’

Trust in me. I will provide all you need, answered the Creator.

And so I did. I trusted that whatever I wanted to do, there would be money there; and there was. Mostly they were actually small things, and sometimes they didn’t cost money at all. I learnt not to judge where the money was coming from, just that I knew it was there for me to use, for now.

Sometimes I wouldn’t do something I loved and then I found myself becoming angry with the creator and demanding where my money was and demanding it to tell me what my path was. At the end of these outbursts though, I would invariably return to the only words I knew, loved and trusted. ‘Do what I love’. And I learnt that every time I thought I was lost, it was only because I didn’t trust, didn’t follow the directions. I already knew what the next step was, I was just too afraid to take that leap of faith that was asked of me. I was asked to take that leap time and time again, and it was hard. Still, it was the only message that kept coming, and it was often also my last resort. In times of anguish I would say to myself.

`This is too hard. I give up. The only thing I want to do is….., and seeing as I don’t care about what happens to me, I will just do that, even if it is the last thing I ever do.’

And of course, I knew that that was exactly what my creator wanted me to do. I wasn’t giving up: I was surrendering. I was saying to myself that whatever happens to me, I will only do what I love. See the perfection? And through those experiences I realised that the right path for me was always doing whatever was the next thing that I loved.

And one day I stopped struggling with my next task and all its risks. And on that day I realised what they mean when they say that life is blessed. That it is NOT too good to be true. Our destiny, the job our creator wants each and every one of us to do, is right there, in our dreams. And all we have to do is have faith, take a leap, and do whatever it is that we love, in every single moment. When we do that, we are on the path that our creator set for us. And it’s a quick path as well! And the more faith we have, the more we walk that road, the more easily it becomes, and the quicker we find our dreams. And you know it’s all true, that the journey is as fun, as exciting, as amazing as joyful, as the destination: so much so that I never wanted to reach my destination. And guess what? I don’t have to. Because every time now I reach my destination, another one shows itself in the distance like a magical oasis. And my feeling is that it is only there because I love it being there. If I just wanted to live with the dreams that had come, that would be what was presented to me, and I’d be happy with that. So what was promised me, and more, has come to be. I have everything I desire, and have become, through my journey, every thing I’ve wanted to be.

So one day I asked my creator...

'Why is it that you keep giving me gifts that I haven’t even asked for?'

And the Creator answered

I am like the loving parent who knows what the infant requires and desires before the babe even knows the desire exists. And therefore in my infinite wisdom I added some extra wording to your wish-list the day you called my name. And that was
~ whatever she desires and wishes to become now, and everything that she desires and wishes to become in the future, and all that she desires and wishes to become for all time is hers ~

And another day I asked the Creator...

‘Why do I have to go through the journey to get to my destination? Why can’t I just have what I want now?’

To that the creator replied...

Your journey IS your destination: it is the same thing. That is because all of your destinations get you to me. And I am the only true destination. Everything else that you thought was your destination was just an illusion.

‘How will I know then, when I get to you?’ I asked.

Because you will know yourself as me. You will know we are one and the same, the creator replied.

But I still don’t understand. What will it feel like to be one and the same as you?

It feels the same as it feels when you are doing what you love. Because when you are doing what you love, you are expressing the highest part of you, the part of you that is love. And that, of course, is me. I AM the highest part of you: that part of you that is pure love. And that is also why the journey IS the destination, because by doing what you love to get there, you are being me, which is your true destination.

Advice from Nefertiti

2006-12-10T11:26:00.000+11:00

Know you are strength, and go out and be that strength of the Goddess. Command life to do, as you will. Do whatever you like with your days, allowing the Universe to come to you. Going out and trying is not the way of the Goddess.

You go out with the force of who you are when you have purpose, when you have a mission. Do it with the force of who you are, do it with strength, do it knowing the Universe comes to you all day, to bring you all you desire, all that you have commanded us to bring you. And so it is.

The Ego and the Spirit

2006-12-07T16:10:00.000+11:00

Here’s a useful way I make a distinction between the ego and the spirit.

I see the spirit as being the same as the heart, the soul, and God. To me, the spirit is accessing that part of me that is the God Force, the creative energy within me; the part of me that knows on a deep level, what it is I want, and how I want to live my life.

My ego I see as being a part of my mind. It’s the part of me that makes me individual. It brings down the universal energy and knowledge and makes it `mine’. It makes decisions about what I like and don’t like, and in doing that, makes universal mind, Christine mind. Because its main goal is that I the individual survive, it does whatever it needs to do to make sure that happens: fit in, have my needs met, have money to pay the bills etc . So often what it’s telling me is what I should-must-need to do in order to survive. And that’s when it sometimes goes out of alignment with my spirit. The spirit's needs are not individual, survival needs; they are universal eternal needs.

It’s when my ego is out of alignment wth my spirit that I feel the most confused, the most fearful, the most vulnerable: Things just don’t add up, don’t make sense. My ego is telling me what I need to do right now to ease the fear on a surface/ practical/doing level, but when I ask my spirit, it is taking the peaceful, meditative, do-what-you-love approach. How to make a decision between the two voices? I’ve found 100% of the time, that when I follow my spirit’s advice, I immediately feel calm, feel happy, and am loving what it suggests. When I follow my ego’s voice, I may alleviate the fear for a while by acting, but I don’t often find real happiness in the action, or the result.

I learnt to use them both in tandem. I ask my spirit, my heart, my happiness what I would love to do. I use my ego, my mind, to explore how I can do that, how to bring down that universal knowledge into some form that is meaningful to me. But that is all. Once I start hearing should-must-need, I tell my ego to take a back seat and let my spirit take the lead. Since I’ve made this distinction and am using the strengths of my ego to ASSIST me, I’ve found those moments of confusion don’t come around so often, and when they do, I recognise the misalignment immediately and tune into my spirit. And tell my ego to follow suit!

An Invocation of Prosperity (and other stuff)

2006-12-07T16:07:00.000+11:00

I see Beauty all around me in the world
And I know, that being part of the world
I too, am Beauty
I open myself to the Beauty that I AM

I see Love all around me in the world
And I know, that being part of the world
I too, am Love
I open myself to the Love that I AM

I see Freedom all around me in the world
And I know, that being part of the world
I too, am Freedom
I open myself to the Freedom that I AM

I see Prosperity all around me in the world
And I know, that being part of the world
I too, am Prosperity
I open myself to the Prosperity that I AM

How to Heal The World

2006-12-04T09:56:00.000+11:00

When I see that I am separate from nothing and no one, I am part of the universe and the universe is part of me. That means that all of the universe is contained within me. Actually, the entire universe is contained in every cell in my body. So I can visualise my body and see the universal flow of health, wealth and wisdom circle through it.

If my body is the universe, then I can allow healing of my body, and I can also, by healing my body, heal the Universe and my world. This is what we mean by Heal Yourself: Heal the World. What it means is that if we heal what is not flowing in our bodies, we heal what is not flowing in the universe (and vice versa).

So if I wanted to replace war in the world with peace, all I need to do is see or feel on my body (universe) that which is war (dis-ease) and fill it with peace. I can see or feel where peace is in my body, and take that and put it wherever there is war. It’s the same with poverty: I heal it with prosperity. Where there is sickness, I heal it with perfect health.

That is why, if you truly want world peace, and world prosperity, and world health, all you need to do is heal those things within yourself. You don’t need to go to rallies, you don’t need to join groups, you don’t need to shout your grievances to the White House(unless that is what you love). In fact, doing these things may only serve to create more of your grievance. One, because you're giving it lots of energy and whatever you give a lot of energy and passion to becomes real. And two, it takes you away from the real task at hand - healing yourself.

Healing Meditation: Visualise your body and know that it represents the universe. Ask yourself where there is love and peace in your body and see those areas: they’ll be glowing or a lovely colour, or you’ll feel a pleasant sensation there. Then ask yourself where in your body there is war, famine, poverty etc and see or feel that n your body. It may show up as a murky colour, or feel blocked or painful. Then with your mind, take a part of the area that is love and peace, and put it in the area that is blocked, and see it change from murky to radiating brilliant colours (or whatever it is you see or feel as peace etc). Do this on every area of your body that needs it, until your whole body is glowing in glorious colour, and know that you have healed yourself, and indeed, the universe. This could be your daily prayer for peace in the world, and healing for yourself.

“Act as if you were separate from nothing and no one and you can heal your world tomorrow.” Neal Donald Walsh

We Are Already, What We Desire

2006-12-04T09:53:00.000+11:00

Whether it seems this way or not, everything in the universe is connected. Just because we can’t see the particles that we call `air’, it is in fact solid, and so we are connected to everything else in existence.

So if everything in the universe is connected, I am whatever I can conceive of in the universe: it is part of me. So I am the energy we call love; I am the energy we call wealth; I am the energy that we call wisdom. I am I am I am…

If I visualise myself connected to the rest of the universe, I can see that the entire universe is contained within me. I see it like a giant ball and there’s me on one side of it. So seeing myself connected to All That Is, I don’t have to ask for money, health, wisdom, love. I AM that. I AM THAT WHICH I CALL LOVE. I AM THAT WHICH I CALL ABUNDANCE. I AM THAT WHICH I CALL PERFECT HEALTH.

And if the Universe’s natural flow is abundance, an outpouring of all that is good, I simply have to declare that I am that, and let it flow through me: to let it in, rather than shut it out, which is all anything but health, wealth and wisdom is.

War and Peace

2006-11-30T15:38:00.000+11:00

PEACE WAR

1. To come from love. To come from fear

2. Know there is enough for all. Think there is not enough

3. Celebrate diversity. Believe in right and a wrong

BE What You Want to Attract

2006-11-27T14:47:00.000+11:00

The Universe works on vibration. It will give you everything you want, as soon as you decide on it. All you have to do is match yourself up with the same vibration.

So if it’s a loving relationship you want, BE loving. If it’s financial security you decide on, BE secure. If it’s the courage to leave a job that no longer serves you, BE courageous. Line yourself up with the same feelings, the same vibration you want to attract, because in the Universe, like attracts like.

There’s a great article about this very thing, on the Abraham-Hicks website. Just reading stuff on this site makes me feel good.

Check out the article at
www.abraham-hicks.com/journal.php/journal.php?eid=915

How to Find Your Life’s Purpose

2006-11-27T14:46:00.000+11:00

1. Take time out. Create time each day to do this, or instead of holiday leave, take a month off to just rest, hang out, meditate and have time to actually think about what it is you’re doing here and what it is you want to do in life.
 2. You’ll find that once you set your mind to it, opportunities and people will just come along. And this is step two, and it’s easy: Whatever you put our mind to with passion and a real desire for change, will attract those things you need to you. So start really thinking about what it is you want.
3. Thirdly, spend some time each day, dreaming about your ideal life. Your life purpose is actually your deepest dreams and longings! Fantastic isn't it? So spend some time day dreaming EVERY day and really get to the heart of what those dreams are. And sometimes you'll think you've found it, and then a day or two later, you'll discover it actually goes deeper. A useful question I found to ask myself was the million-dollar question. `If I had a million dollars and knew I didn't have to work for the rest of my life, what would I do?' This is a great way of discovering what your life's purpose is. Of course first of all I thought `I want to travel, buy this and that', but after I had done all that, what would I do then? What would I do that I love so much, I would do without getting paid for it? That's a big clue - your life purpose is the thing or things you would do, whether you were paid to do them or not.
4. You’ll probably have a few things you love to do, or many. So put all of these elements into a statement about what kind of job/life you want to create, as everything you love doing ties in somehow.
5. I read a long time ago that you'll find your life purpose is something you have always done and enjoyed. So look back over your childhood and early adulthood at the things you used to love doing, and still do now. Do you like cooking for the family? Do you get a kick out of playing with cars? Did you always write great horror stories as a kid? These are all clues. You'll usually find that what you love doing, you've been doing all along!  
6. Then, write down what these dreams are. Apparently 5% of people in world are actually living their dreams (their life purpose). And the thing all these people have in common is... that they wrote it all down. It solidifies what you want, what your plan is, and if you then pin it up on the wall where you look at it each day, that solidifies it more, especially if you add visuals (pictures, photos etc). You'll be amazed at the results. It may not happen overnight, but it will happen!  
7. Once you’ve written them down, you may like to add to them over time. I found it useful to break each thing I love doing into smaller parts, to really get down to the nitty gritty of what I wanted. The more specific you can be about your purpose, the more specifically you will create it. So if you love going to the cinema, you may break this down into: `I love being taken away to another world; I love talking about films with friends, and even strangers; I love debating how successful the director was; I love imagining it’s me up there on the screen etc.
8. Lastly, take action only when it feels good. If you don't feel like doing something, you're going in the wrong direction. If you've got a real impulse to call someone, start something new, or look up a topic of interest, do those. Feeling excited and happy about doing something is a sure-fire sign that it's part of your life purpose.

Good Luck!

Freecycle

2006-11-25T15:07:00.000+11:00

A website that gets my thumbs up is Freecycle.

It’s an international site for recycling anything you want to get rid of, and for getting some great bargains as well. If you offer up something for free, you can get stuff for free as well. It’s easy to find what’s available in your local area and the link below gets you to the Australian section.

All you need do is email the person advertising the goods and go pick them up. Or email your local group with what you’ve got on offer, and whoever wants it will arrange a time to pick it up.

It’s not just for junk either, everything is up for grabs that people can’t or don’t want to sell, including baby clothes, cots, CDs, electronics, clothes and furnishings. You name it, Freecycle give it away. A great use of bartering and reutilising resources: It gets my thumbs up.

www.freecycle.org/display.php?region=Australia

FREECYCLE.ORG

"When you recycle one glass bottle, you save the amount of energy needed to light a 100 watt bulb for 4 hours" – Freecycle

Do That Which Is its Own Reward

2006-11-24T17:18:00.000+11:00

When making a decision: what job to take, what study to pursue, which exercise to do etc, do the thing that in doing it, is its own reward.

In work, what do you love doing, that makes you feel good when you do it, that you’d do without payment? What would you love to study, love to delve into, regardless of the qualification at the end? Which exercise would you do, just because it makes you feel free, makes you laugh, makes your body tingle, despite the health benefits that go along with it?

Doing that which is its own reward, is the signal from our deepest wisdom that this action is the one that gets us to our destination with the most joy, grace and ease. Now there could be several reasons for this…

Firstly, it could be a mechanism to show us the difference between what our ego wants (payment, glory, reward etc) and what our heart wants (love, freedom, limitlessness etc) not that payment, glory and rewards are bad things of course; it’s just good to have the whole picture when making decisions.

Secondly, it could be the God Force’s way of moving us in the soul direction that we cannot see at our earthly level. For instance, if you’ve asked for perfect health and you go through a period of just wanting to turn on music and dance because it makes you want to cry (in a good way!), it could well be that moving your body in this way helps heal an organ that is out-of-whack. It could well be one of those Universal Mechanisms where doing what you love serves a higher purpose, whether you’re aware of it or not!

Same with our hopes and dreams and not knowing quite how to get to them: Doing the activities that are rewards in themselves could well be the message from our spirit-self that this leads us down the path to our desires. By doing what we love regardless of any secondary benefits, our spirit-self is able to bring to us the people and opportunities we need, that we would not necessarily come into contact with otherwise.

Perhaps there are many reasons why this works. All I know is that it is one of those Universal Mechanisms: when we do that which is its own reward, we don’t NEED anything else. Yet everything else comes to us, by doing just that.

Get Some Perspective!

2006-11-23T14:28:00.000+11:00

When things happen in life that we don’t like, the `not like’ part of it is usually because we’re not seeing it from the intended perspective. If we attract everything we need to us, and if the Universe is perfect, and if it is filled with nothing but abundance, then only good stuff EVER turns up in our lives.

A good friend of mine, Dr Judy Moss, gave me a great example of a possible reason ‘bad things’ happen to us.

If our child wanted something, and we as the adult knew of something that would give it GREATER joy, wouldn’t we rather our child have the greater joy? Wouldn’t we even stop the child having the first thing momentarily so s/he could have the greater joy a little later?

For example: your child sees an ice cream stand and wants an ice cream, yet you know they sell her/his favourite down the road. You tell that to the child but they don’t listen; all they see is the ice cream stand in front of them, and start to complain. You feel bad that your child is in distress, yet you keep walking knowing the child is about to experience greater joy. Then you get to the second ice cream stand, and are rewarded by the glee on your child’s face. S/he has forgotten all about the first ice cream stand.

And that’s just one idea. It could also be about an opportunity you hadn’t thought of, could lead you to people you need to meet, or might give you the skills that you’ve been asking for. Whatever the reason, know that it’s ALL GOOD! So next time you feel challenged by events that you’ve attracted into your life, have another think. Try turning it around and looking at it from many different perspectives. You’ll usually find that there’s a light in there somewhere, and that it was a gift to you after all.

The Next Step

2006-11-22T13:14:00.000+11:00

I wrote a few weeks ago about doing what’s right in front of you (6.11.06): I call it The Next Step. When I feel frustrated that I’m not making progress towards my dreams, it’s usually because I’m either thinking of the past (like the work I’ve put in) or looking into the future (when I have my dream) and their not matching up.

I find a great way to get me back on track, feeling good, and centred in the present is to ask myself `what is the next step?’ And the next step is always what I’d love to do now, that I CAN do now. Next time you’re feeling frustrated or confused, ask yourself what it is in that moment, that you’d love to do, that you CAN do. Because life WAS meant to be easy, and this is the mechanism that makes it so.

Stuart Wilde knows about easy living. He wrote a book called Life Was Never Meant to be a Struggle. Check it out at www.stuartwilde.com

Have Yourself an Eco Friendly Little Christmas

2006-11-22T13:13:00.000+11:00

Gifts: There are lots of great gifts to buy that use sustainable resources, recycled products and that also help different charities. Look up websites such as Greenpeace, Amnesty International and World Wildlife Fund, who all have great on-line Christmas catalogues. You can also buy presents that are durable, non-disposable, recycled, have no packaging or are made from small local producers. Or be creative and make something yourself!

Trees: One of the most enfren ways of having a Christmas tree is by buying a good quality live one and potting it over Christmas, then replanting it in your garden for reuse next year. You can also use a big house pot plant instead of the usual pine tree, and decorate it with pretty lights and hand-made decorations out of recycled Christmas cards, fabric scraps and wool. Alternatively, you can buy a durable recycled tree that can be use again and again.

Wrapping: Buy wrapping paper with as much recycled content as possible, and again, these usually come from charity or non-profit organisations. You can also reuse paper from last year, reuse brown paper bags as wrapping and tie presents up with colourful string or raffia. Another idea is to wrap presents in fabric scraps or bags, for something unique. Or avoid wrapping altogether and buy people presents such as cinema or concert tickets, memberships to earth-friendly organisations, or buy a family in another country a pig or chicken on behalf of your friends here. Oxfam have a great `Unwrapped’ program on their website.

Cards: Again look for cards with the most recycled content, or make your own. After Christmas pack away you cards to reuse for decorations and hand-made cards next year, or give them to Planet Ark, who recycle them into toilet paper. In Australia, you can do this at any Coles supermarket.

Have a happy (and eco friendly) Christmas.

The complete article is available at www.actionchange.com, issue #10 out 24th November 2006

There's no new philosophy

2006-11-21T19:51:00.000+11:00

There’s nothing new in the world: no new philosophy, no new ideas or theories: they’ve all already been thought. The genius now, is in making these ideas reality, and HOW we use our knowledge and WHAT we’ll create out of it. Will it be destruction, or will it be real human development? In these decisions and actions, lies modern genius.

The Secret to Manifestation

2006-11-21T19:48:00.000+11:00

The secret to manifestation is to desire something with all your heart, yet to be free of expectation.

Gross National Happiness

2006-11-18T10:13:00.000+11:00

In 1972 King Jigme Singye Wangchuck of Bhutan made a political decision that would change the world. He decided that human development was inspired by spiritual as well as material needs, and put in place policies based not just on Gross National Product, but also on what he termed `Gross National Happiness’.

In Bhutan, most street advertising is banned, especially that aimed at children. Industrialisation is limited, and only enough timber is cut each year to meet needs. The environment, including native animals are protected, development is sustainable, and their unique Buddhist culture is preserved. There is a ban on plastic bags. In 1999 the King allowed TV and the internet to be introduced to Bhutan, because he thought it would contribute to GNH. However programs such as wrestling and MTV have since been banned, as they were not seen to promote GNH.

In recent years countries such as Britain and USA and Canada have followed suit. The British government have discussed the implications of a happiness strategy and The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs has now defined its purpose as improving people's health and happiness. In 2004 the American National Institute of Health came up with `The Day Construction Method’ to measure people’s happiness doing different tasks throughout their day. For the last decade Canada has been collecting data aimed at creating ‘the Canadian Index of Well-Being’ that will, alongside GNP, help planners and decision makers create policy.

For the full article on this subject, go to www.actionchange.com. The article appears in issue #10 out 24th November 2006

Creating That Money Feeling

2006-11-18T10:09:00.000+11:00

Because it’s the FEELING of having something that attracts it most strongly to us, a great way to attract more money is to get to the loving feelings you have about money: whatever that is to you.

When we want something to manifest in our lives, we need to get in line with it, to match up with it energetically. We need to not only SEE ourselves on the holiday or in the new car, we need to FEEL ourselves there as truthfully as possible, because we are then matching its energy and that experience is then attracted to us. So if it’s more money you desire, find out what it is that you love about money, how money makes you feel good, and get into THAT.

Some people visualise cheques coming in the mail and feel good about that; others visualise themselves in a bath full of money and that makes them feel good. I’ve tried some of these but never found a vision of money that I really felt was true. Then I got a good one.

I was standing in the middle of my local town and I could see geographically the three banks there that I have money in. I stood in the middle of where they were in the town centre. It felt really secure. I saw money in those banks growing and growing and it felt like a fortress of security forming around me, and I felt strong and protected.

Then I saw that I was facing a gap between the banks and in my hand I held my purse. Inside I had plenty of cash that kept going out and coming in as a constant flow, while the backs around me continued to fill. To me this was money I could spend, that would always be there, while my savings and investments continued to grow. I felt not only the security of the money, but also the solidity of the bank buildings, and the institutions themselves. I hadn’t seen banks in this way before. It was a great visualisation and I discovered what it was that put me on par with the energy of money: it was the feeling of strength and security that having both cash and growing bank accounts gave me. Before then I was trying to get into a happiness mode with money, visualising winning the lottery etc, but for some reason this wasn’t really believable for me.

For more info about getting into the feeling of whatever it is you want to create, see the film The Secret or follow the link.

Whatever You Can Do, Begin it Now.

2006-11-16T17:41:00.000+11:00

Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. - Goethe

When you start something, you get excited about your new idea; you keep thinking deeper and deeper about it; you explore all the possibilities.

That energy builds momentum, the wheels turn faster and the universe is all the time returning that energy to you in great leaps because of your tenacity.

Then greater ideas occur, the things you need appear `magically’, and everything seems to fall into place.

It’s proof that the more passion, the more `oomph’ we put into projects, the quicker all we need is attracted to us. So just start those bold and crazy ideas, especially the ones that scare you: they’re the genius ones!

Resting in Dharma

2006-11-15T09:28:00.000+11:00

Dharma is destiny without any force or resistance. It is going with the flow of life and doing what brings happiness.

It is letting go fear of the future, releasing fear of the past, and just being in the eternal now, knowing the universe is unfolding as it should.

What a caterpillar sees as death, we call a butterfly.

Our spirit (the God Force) is to us what we are to the caterpillar. It sees all and knows all. Rest in your spirit; take refuge in dharma. All is all right with the world.

The Mind Recording Device

2006-11-14T19:57:00.000+11:00

Ever since I was a kid I’ve wanted someone to invent a machine that records thoughts. When I was a teenager it was to be able to capture all the good ideas, philosophies and theories I had during the day, especially the fleeting ones. Then I could write them all in my diary at night. It seemed a lot easier than having to remember them or stop to write them down, and even then capturing on paper those moments of genius were never nearly as good as when they first flashed through my mind.

I was thinking about this machine again the other day, when we did a free writing exercise at the writer’s group. This time I was thinking how such a machine could capture thoughts so at the end of every day I could see how much I was thinking positively and how much I was thinking things that were not useful to my purpose. Like Stuart Wilde says, spend as much time as possible on the things you want in life and as little time as possible on the distractions. Well for me at this time all I need to do is focus on being open to prosperity as I’m forging ahead with my dreams. That’s it. And yet how much time do I actually spend on this each day? How many wasted minutes do I use up thinking about things that are not important or that actually go against my goal? I d say a lot. So I’d like to invent a machine to show me at the end of each day what I’ve wished for. If we all had that we’d be a lot more mindful I guess. But maybe that’s too easy. The practice of actually having to observe ourselves think is great exercise for the mind, and actually, it also keeps us at the observer level, which trains us to stay in spirit mode rather than in the chatter of our minds. So it’s one of those mechanisms built into us that serve a greater purpose.

So maybe that’s why we haven’t invented a machine that can record actual thoughts yet: because we already have the perfect mechanism inside our heads. And I’ve realised that as I’ve grown older, what I’ve wished for has come true. I haven’t had to buy a machine that measures my thoughts, but I’ve somehow learnt the skill to be able to remember those fleeting glimpses, AND to translate them onto paper. Genius.

Everyone is the Universe IN PERSON

2006-11-13T17:31:00.000+11:00

I’ve just been reading an interview with Barbara Marx Hubbard where she said

“I've realized that everyone is the universe IN PERSON. So whatever is true of the universe is also true of you and me.”

I love that idea because it fits so well with social change and how we as individuals can influence the world, but also vice versa, as we become more aware and active in social change, it’s because the universe is doing the same! She then says

“ Instead of being a neurotic housewife I became a universal process of creation in person. Do you see the enormity of that identity shift?”

Every time we declare our purpose, we are tuning into the bigger picture of what is happening in the unfolding universe. No wonder so many of us find it hard to hold down one job, or are bored so easily with the work we do. The universe is changing so rapidly that we are wanting to as well. And as we change rapidly and create some of the amazing good news we’ve been experiencing with governments and industry lately, coming together more and more to help our world blossom and prosper, the more the universe responds to that and heals. And it only takes a small shift at this pace to make a very big difference. It seemed for many years that the social change movement expended enormous effort without seeing much change. Now all of a sudden it’s like we’ve all made this quantum shift and everyone wants to be a part of creating a clean green planet. That means the planet is responding to us, and in turn, must have already healed itself somewhat for us to make this change. It’s an exciting time to be in the social and personal change movement.

THANK FOR NOW, RATHER THAN FOR LATER

2006-11-13T17:28:00.001+11:00

The universal creative force, being impartial, is a giant mirror, or photocopying machine. Whatever you think about, it gives to you. Whatever you keep thinking about, it keeps giving you more of. So…

If you dream and wish for something to happen in the future, the creative force replicates that and gives it to you in the future. The thing is, of course, that if what you want is always in `the future’, you never actually receive it. This is unless, of course, you KNOW you are going to get it, then you’re actually giving thanks for something in a sense that is already delivered, so it is indeed delivered.

So the idea is, even if you don’t have something you want now, believe whole-heartedly you’ll get it, so you’re giving thanks for a sure thing. If that’s too hard to do because you have doubt, think of something you already have in the same vein, so you are basically putting out to get more of it. For example, if you’d like money to go on a holiday, be thankful each day for the money you already have, that you have plenty to pay the rent, to eat, to have some fun, and when you do that, stick in pictures of you on the holiday when your energy about having money is nice and high.

Anytime you list things you are grateful for, really grateful for, you’ll notice your energy heightens. This is a great time then to bring in new things, because they seem effortless. After all, if you’ve managed to create enough money to eat, pay the rent, pay the bills, have a night out etc –all that - why wouldn’t you have enough to go on holiday? You believe it! And that’s what makes it work.

The Creative Force doesn’t care what it is you want, it just gives it to you. And how it knows what you want is where you put your energy - where you put your focus, your emotions - for the majority of the time. So if you can live in constant gratitude for what you already have that you want more of, it will be yours.

Thanking Me

2006-11-11T09:22:00.000+11:00

If we are all one, who am I thanking when I say thank you for what I am about to receive, or have received?

Me of course! Same with being thankful for all I have, or for achieving my goals. I’m really thanking that part of me that is creative; that part of me that had the courage to believe; that part of me that was determined to succeed no matter what.

So I’m putting a new spin on it. Instead of just saying thank you when I receive what I’ve asked for, I give myself a pat on the back and say “well done.” And when I don’t get what I want when I thought I’d get it, I pat myself on the back and say "well done, for knowing there was something even better out there to choose!”

Imagination x Vividness = Reality

2006-11-10T12:59:00.000+11:00

I x V = R

IMAGINATION times VIVIDNESS equals REALITY

How the Universal Mind ensures our Prayers are Heard.

2006-11-09T19:30:00.000+11:00

If you’re not sure if your prayers are heard in heaven, think on this.

Even though it appears that our heads, our minds are here on Earth, and the Universe is `out there’, space is just an illusion to make it look like things are separate. So actually, our minds are spread out over the entire Universe!

Which is how our `mere thoughts’ create the universe. They not only go right out there, they ARE out there; they ARE the universe!

And the bigger, more intense, more passionate, more resolute our thoughts are, the more change occurs in the Universal Mind.

The Feeling Part of Change

2006-11-09T19:28:00.000+11:00

I write a lot about the three-step process of manifestation in thinking, speaking and acting, but the most important ingredient is actually feeling. That’s because the universal mind responds to how you are feeling.

It’s an objective energy this thing we call God; I don’t think it really `hears’ or `sees’ like we do. It feels vibration, and it feels emotion and intention. That’s why even though you can think your affirmations and desires, they won’t result in anything if you don’t believe them. The God Force feels the disbelief, or the resentment or sadness, and responds to that. And I think that’s why gurus in the manifestation field tell you to `put out for’ things that you believe you can achieve, because this yields good results.

So whenever you think, say and do things to make positive change in your life, check the feeling factor. How do you FEEL about getting it? Do you feel a confident, deserving, piece-of-cake feeling about it coming true? If it’s 100% then you’ve backed a winner. If it’s anything below 100%, work out what that part is and change the perspective a little until you’re in 100% congruence with what you’re wanting.

An easy way check in with your higher self (and also find `the next step’) is to ask `what do I FEEL I could do now, to reach my goal?’ Actually, the main thing you probably need to know is how you’re feeling. If you keep checking this throughout the day, you can see instantly whether you’re on track or not.

Love is the Word

2006-11-07T19:35:00.000+11:00

You may have heard that Grease is the word, but actually, it’s Love. That's because...

* anything you do with Love is already its own reward. Anything after that is an added bonus.

* when Love creates, what it creates is more Love.

* Love is the answer to any question you’ll ever have.

♥ Every time you think about Love, you attract more of the same into your life;
♥ Whenever you speak of Love your whole body resonates, which is a powerful healing tool.
Whenever you speak from Love, the vibration of your speech reverberates out to the Universe. When you talk and sing, you can feel the vibrations in your body. In the beginning was The Word, and that’s because words are vibrations and vibrations create matter. That’s why a word was able to create the universe. Imagine then the potential of our every word.
♥ Anytime you act from pure Love, you're putting in motion one of the most powerful manifstation tools we know: Loving Action.

So whenever you feel down, need a lift, or want good things to happen, just think, speak and act from Love:

♥ Think about something you love until the Love vibe awakens inside of you;

♥ Tell someone how great they look, how much you appreciate them, how much they are loved until ditto above;

♥ Go do something you love!

And remember, Love is the word! It could well be the only word you’ll ever need to think, say or do.

Go for the thing that’s directly in front of you

2006-11-06T17:35:00.000+11:00

To manifest your dreams, you only need to know the next step. To lead a life of joy and ease, the only action you’ll ever be required to make is the one right in front of you, calling your name. You’ll know what that next step is: it will be something that’s been on your mind for a while, something that feels good; something that you feel compelled to do. This is your spirit’s way of talking to you, of giving you a nudge. This is how your higher self guides you to your dreams. It could be something as simple as taking a bath, or it could be making that call you’ve been putting off. Whatever it is, the next step is another step towards what you’ve been asking for. I guarantee it. You don’t need to bother about what you’ll do later on, or tomorrow, or next week. All you need to know is the next step, and then life becomes a walk in the park.

Yearning for Something Pushes it Away

2006-11-05T11:17:00.000+11:00

Yearning for something actually pushes it away. I think this is because yearning is linked with fear, rather than a KNOWING that you will receive it in Divine time. So it seems the best way to get something (and from my experience, the quickest way) is to ask for it, but not be attached to whether you actually get it or not. Just being happy with what you’ve got, and saying `yeah, that would be cool too.’

The Concept of Luxury Sustainability

2006-11-05T11:13:00.000+11:00

I’m coining a new phrase.

High-End Sustainability. I also like the term `Luxury En-fren.’ Enfren is the term I’ve been using to describe environmentally friendly (because I’m lazy), but it’s come to mean to me not just good for the environment, but also incorporating human rights, sustainability, fair trade etc.

So anyway, the concept of Luxury Sustainability has been twirling around my brain for a while. It’s the idea that very wealthy people like to buy the best of everything, and some of them also want to buy what’s best for the common good as well. So High-End Sustainable products and services are the best you can get, at all levels. So I don’t mean `the best that you can buy’ is a hand bag costing $4000 because of the name on the label. I mean that a handbag costs $4000 BECAUSE it’s made by people who receive fair wages for their work, the materials are organic, chemical free and come from sustainable sources, and perhaps you can also recycle the bag after you’ve finished with it, and get a discount off your next purchase. Now that to me, is the best that money can buy. And if I think that, then there are others out there that are thinking the same.

Take beauty products for example. Now there are a lot of very expensive beauty products out there, but perhaps it’s the brand name or the advertising costs of the supermodels that factor most in these costs, rather than that they are made with the best quality ingredients available. If you take a look at many high-end beauty products, you’ll find they are made with mostly chemicals with a few buzz words/natural ingredients, and have `enviro-destructo’ packaging. Luxury enfren beauty products would be the ones that are made with organic locally grown ingredients, by small companies, using ALL natural ingredients AND had cool, attractive AND recyclable packaging.

Clothing is another big one. Even five to ten years ago I could pay a bit more at Myer or DJs and buy clothes made in Australia. Now I go to these stores or designer stores, and even though I’m paying a lot more for clothes than I would at Kmart, they are still made in China! So what am I paying the extra money for? It’s getting harder and harder to buy products that are made here, or made where people are receiving fair pay for their work.

So the idea is to source products and services that are great quality AND sustainable. Actually, I’d like the term `luxury’ to mean the best that money can buy in real terms. Not just because the label is known as an expensive brand but because there is real substance behind the product. So it’s the best money can buy BECAUSE it’s the best money can buy in ALL areas. So the dream would be that the term `luxury enfren’ eventually dies out, and the concept of ‘luxury’, actually means the best for the individual and best for the common good as well.

I’m starting to source products and services now, and will do a Buyer’s Guide in the New Year, which I can update annually. If you know of products and services that are top of the range in all aspects, please let me know. Just thinking on this, it’s probably a good idea to have a list of criteria by which we measure these products and services. Again, any ideas, drop me a line

IDEAS FOR CRITERIA
* packaging – sustainable source and able to be reused /recycled
* ingredients – organic, natural, best quality available
* where the company invests, and in what
* wages/fair trade
* worker’s/human rights
* effects of product and process on the environment

I DON’T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING!

2006-11-03T17:49:00.000+11:00

I don't have to do anything!

I DON"T have to do anything!

I don't HAVE to do anything!

I don't have TO DO anything!

I don't have to do ANYTHING!

Universal Mechanisms

2006-11-02T19:32:00.000+11:00

There are mechanisms in place on earth that show us everything we need to know in order to live full, productive and joyous lives, and to evolve. And those mechanisms within themselves are perfect.

For instance there’s a mechanism for showing us ourselves, so that we can see clearly whom we want to be, and whom we don’t. To put it simply, it’s called other people. Other people are mirrors of how we see ourselves, so if we don’t like what we see in another, we know it’s a part of ourselves that we wish to change somehow; it brings it to the surface to be explored, if you like. Many people know and understand this mechanism already.

Quantum physics is now explaining how we are all linked, which is another mechanism, for as we change ourselves, we change our world. We don’t need to look outside ourselves to create world peace, world prosperity or world freedom: we just need to experience it for ourselves, and the world follows suit.

The field of sacred geometry ahs shown us the magic of mathematics, and how numbers and patterns tie the whole universe together: another mechanism, allowing us to, in a sense, make sense of the infinite possibilities out there.

So, how does all this relate to personal and social change? Apart from the example above, Universal Mechanisms answer the two of the most asked questions we humans ask:
1. What is my purpose - what am I doing here?
2. How do I get the things I want – how do I make my dreams come true?

The Universal Mechanisms that are `the grid’ of the universe, give us the answers.

1. The mechanism for knowing what your purpose is, are your heartfelt dreams
2. The mechanism for getting what you want, is your bliss

That’s it. That’s all there is to it.

And of course it’s all-perfect. The Universe is created and works through the energy of love. So, in order to get us to follow the path to our dreams, the God Force made it the most fun we could ever have! Neat hey! And the Divine gave us the manifestation tool in the mechanism of knowing our purpose. Because not only is dreaming/fantasising about what we want fun, every time we think about what we want, we come closer to getting it. Every time we think about something with passion (as we do in fantasies) the stronger is the manifesting power. So it’s a perfect mechanism – both of them are.

In order to know what your purpose is (and you create this yourself of course), look at the things you love to do, love to have, love to visit. Now in order to get it, do the things you love, go where you love, be who you love… you get the picture. This is the perfect mechanism, put in place by a perfect intelligence. It sounds too good to be true, but it’s not: it’s just perfection. And whenever you’re in the stream of natural perfection, your right smack bang in the middle of a Universal Mechanism.

Here’s a mechanism story about how a tiny seed can grow into a gigantic tree. The little seed feels the warmth of the sun on the soil around it, and in joy it stretches out to meet the warmth and the seedling pops out of the seed. The seedling feels the warmth of the sun more intensely outside the protection of the seed and all it wants to do is get to that sun, so every day it stretches, it reaches up in joy and keeps reaching, reaching until it bursts through the earth and has the sunlight on it’s face. Aaahh…beautiful! And the stretching and reaching wasn’t hard or too much work because he had his eyes on the prize and nothing was going to stop him. And his body loved the feeling of stretching so much; it’s all he wanted to do. So even though it was a miracle that the tiny seed pushed through all that dirt to get above ground, he didn’t notice it at all. And all the while he was drinking lovely water from the soil, which brought him joy, and was fed by the nutrients in the soil, which gave him the strength to do it all. So his journey was joyful and exciting and filled with a burning desire that could not be quenched until he reached his goal. And then as a little sapling, he stood tall in the soil, with the sunlight on his face, and the breeze gently rustling through his little leaves. And he was happy. And the only thing he wanted in life now, was to get closer and closer to his heart’s desire – that sun. So every day, little by little, he looked at the sun, he dreamt about the sun, he loved the sun. And little by little guess what happened? He grew taller and taller, and closer to that sun. And heavy rains would come, and strong winds would come, but nothing threw him off course. Nothing was going to hamper his determination. And of course, he made it. He became a very tall and lustrous tree, close to the sun’s warmth. And every day he enjoyed his life, basking in the sun, swaying in the breeze, drinking from the rains and being nourished by the soil. Birds came to nest in his branches, which tickled him no end. And he loved watching the tiny little chicks learn to fly from his branches – so cute! And life was good.

Changing Beliefs at Cellular Level

2006-11-01T20:08:00.000+11:00

Hold your affirmation or desired belief in mind
Ask, Do I know this at every part of my being?
Check it
If no
Feel in which part of your body does not accept it as truth
Go there and ask it what it needs to believe this
Give that thing to the area – at cellular level (it may be words, love, forgiveness etc)
Keep asking until your whole body knows the fact in each cell –
then it is done

For each of my cells contains the Universe
And what I know is in each cell, I know is in my Universe
And thus it is so

Invocation for Manifesting

2006-11-01T20:06:00.000+11:00

I see beauty all around me in this world
And as I am of the world
I too, am beauty
I open myself to the beauty that I am

I see love all around me in the world
And I know, being part of this world
I too, am love
I open myself to the love that I am

I see freedom all around me in this world
And I know, that as I am part of the world
I too, am free
I open myself to the freedom that I am

I see prosperity all around me in the world
And I know, that as I am a part of this world
I too, am prosperous
I open myself to the prosperity that I am

How to Change the World

2006-10-30T16:48:00.001+11:00

“I’m saving the world!”

“How are you doing that?”

“I write out my dreams, step by step.
I say `I will do that. I will commit to my dream. I will be all I can be.’
I ask that all be done with joy, grace and ease,
and for the good of all.
Then I follow my inner wisdom (my heart) every moment.
That is the path down which I find them.”

Creating Meaningful Affirmations

2006-10-28T09:48:00.000+10:00

The things you want others to say about you
make perfect self-affirmations.

The things you fantasise about –
what people say to you or the way they look at you –
look at yourself that way.

It’s your spirit’s way of telling you all the secrets locked inside.

Because ultimately we are self-sufficient:
Because ultimately as nature, we are perfect as a single unit.
You can use anything that comes to mind for your own transformation.
It’s just a matter of perspective.

MAKING MONEY FROM NOTHING

2006-10-27T11:03:00.000+10:00

You don’t need money to make money!

Money seems to be the hardest thing for people to manifest; it’s our greatest `worry’. And yet we seem to find it relatively easy to manifest other things, even without money. We might say `well I need money in order to do this or that’, but often what happens is that thing manifests in our lives, and we haven’t used money to get it. We win a prize, or someone gives it to us, or we barter one of our skills for someone else’s. It’s the same with money. We don’t need money to create money in our lives. And if we had money, what would we do, buy more? No of course not. So basically, we don’t need anything outside ourselves to create money, like anything else. You can start with nothing, have no money - and I know this from personal experience – and create it into your life. I’ll describe to you what’s been working for me.

Every Morning: I sit in bed and be grateful for whatever I already have. Enough money right here and now, a home to live in, friends etc, and really feel that gratitude. The idea is to get in that place of love, where you really feel good about life.

Once I’m in that I say something like, ‘I am grateful for what is, and I m ready for more!’ I picture what it is I’d like; how much money I have in the bank, the holiday I’m dreaming about. I also have a dream folder that I put pictures in of all this stuff. I’ve whited out bank balances and put in the amount I want to see. I’m a visual person, so I can look at a photo of a beach resort in the Maldives and feel more amazing just looking at it than I would being there! I have a picture of my perfect car, my perfect body (with my head on it) and my perfect house. So I get these photos out and look at them while I’m daydreaming. This sends a very strong message out to the quantum field. Then I say to my Higher Self, my angels, the world of people and to the universe and beyond `I have taken this time to create my day and I’m affecting the quantum field. If there is a spiritual aspect to me, and you’re watching me create this, show me a sign today that you’ve paid attention to these things I’ve created, and bring them to me in a way that surprises even me, and that I know, without a doubt, that it came from you.’ (this statement comes from the film `What the Bleep.’)

Then with this loving feeling inside and knowing that I have been heard and listened to, I put all my dreams and gratitude out to the universe. You can put your dreams in an imaginary basket and blow them away, you can open up your arms and visualise them speeding away: whatever makes you feel like they are out of your hands and in the hands of the Divine. I blow kisses!

Then I get out of bed feeling fantastic!

During the Day: I then usually go for a walk, but even if I’m on my way somewhere, I put myself in the picture of already having what I’ve asked for. I let my imagination run wild here. I put on imaginary clothes that I’d wear if I had all that money; I think of all the things I’m planning to do now I have that money. If I don’t actually have money and really feel like going shopping, I go and look at things in shops as if I will buy them. I check out flights and prices and hotels on the internet. I’m basically keeping my energy focused on what I want, and in the stream of love. This is very important! Because love is the stream by which all things are created, it’s really important to keep yourself in this wonderful feeling all day. I do this by daydreaming about having all I’ve asked for, pretending it’s already here, doing things I love the way I love to do them as much as possible during the day, and basically keeping in high spirits. Now you don’t need anything to do this outside yourself. We’ve been given this ability to imagine and pretend as an incredible gift, and we can use it to do whatever we want. That’s why you can start from absolutely nothing, and create a life of riches, love and joy.

The golden rule is: whatever you do with great love and joy, will create more of that for you. So you’ll always find your `good luck’ comes in areas of your life that you love doing. Of course the other side of the coin is true too. Wherever you are feeling not good, you’ll attract more of the same! So watch your thoughts!

Let me give you an example: I recently went house hunting, which I quite enjoy. I like looking in different houses and imagining myself in them and having a bit of imaginary fun. I had looked at a couple that day and was having a cup of tea. The real estate agent had said there was an open house for an apartment opposite the park that afternoon. It was a bit above my price range so I didn’t think about looking at it. I hadn’t been to that area of town for a while, and besides that park there were great shops and cafes there. I had nothing else to do that day so I thought `I’ll jump on the bus, check out this great flat than go shopping and to the new café down there.’ Just the kind of thing I like doing. So out of fun I went and checked out this apartment. It was cute, a bit small, and I didn’t think more on it because the flats I thought I’d move to were being viewed the next day. I saw those places but over the next week I kept thinking about that apartment, and although I couldn’t remember specifics about it, I decided to move there. I signed the lease and went to look at it again, and when I walked in realised it had everything I loved. I looked at a list I had written several months ago about my perfect home in the city, and I had manifested 13 out of the 16 things I had written on that list. And it was all because I’d decided to look at a place, `just for fun’.

OK. So during the day as well, I write a gratitude diary. Every time something nice happens, I write it on my computer or in my notebook. It could be a friend buying me a coffee, it could be a great idea for an article, it could be winning something. Anything that I’m grateful for I write in, and that keeps my spirits lifted throughout the day and keeps me in tune with the fact that I am creating all this good stuff. I also make sure my thoughts keep focused on what it is I want, rather than what I don’t want. This has been the hardest for me, but with practice, has become second nature. I’m surprised now when I have a negative thought, and I just laugh it off.

At Night: Before bed I complete my gratitude diary on my computer, from my notebook and adding anything else I can think of. The clue is to not put the same thing twice: it’s always new stuff. Then, before I go to sleep I say thank you for my day and review all the good things that have happened. This is a great thing on its own, because whatever you’re grateful for, you create more of.

It seems a bit of work now I write it all down, but I’ve developed this over the last ten months or so, and I must say, as I’ve built up what I’ve done each day, things have got better and better. It took me a while to move out of negative thinking and into positive - months actually - but it was worth the effort and determination to stick with it. After all, what else do I wanna do on earth, other than manifest my wildest dreams!

*
I hope some of this helps you too. You can start with one thing and work your way up. Being grateful is an awesome thing on its own. If the only prayer you ever have is `thank you’ you’re on the right track. The gratitude diary took things up a notch, and I started winning prizes and having more `luck’ after starting this. The biggest thing for me though, has been keeping in the `stream of love’. And the greatest thing about it, besides it being a fantastic manifestation tool, is that you get to have the best fun doing it. You get to spend all your time daydreaming about what you love, and spending your day doing things that you love. Whenever I come across things I don’t want to do now, I just don’t do them, and I’ve realised a great thing: I don’t need to do them. I have a saying now. If I don’t love it, it’s not my business!

I urge you to keep going with this, even when it seems nothing is happening. It may takes days, weeks, or months as in my case, but you’ll see little indications along the way that what you’re doing is working. You’ll be on a high and something great will happen; You’ll be in a bad mood and quickly lift yourself out of it because you know the consequences! The gratitude diary has been good for this because even when it seems not much is happening, you can look back over your day and note the little things that have come your way. And it gives you incentive to keep `smiling on the inside’ because it gets you excited about what you’ve just created from those good feelings. Good Luck!

To learn more about gratitude diaries go to http://gratitudediary.blogspot.com

PASSIONATE EMPLOYMENT

2006-10-26T15:05:00.000+10:00

How Doing What We Love Creates a Better Society

What would happen if everyone quit the jobs they hated and started working at what they love?

Many people out there seem to be unhappy in their jobs, and only a few I know can really say they love what they do for a living. Yet, the majority of us spend at least a third of our days (and that means our whole lives) working. A lot of people are going to boring jobs in order to save up for, wait for, get by until, what they love, magically appears. And because working at what we don’t love takes up so much time, much more energy than we spend focusing on our dreams, where we don’t love is where we stay, unless we push against that or take a leap of faith to change it.

Now if it’s true that the Universe actually revolves around us, rather than vice versa, then we could all quit the jobs we didn’t like today and know we’d be safe. We could take that leap of faith and get down to exactly what it is we want to do while we’re here. It’s probably a good thing we don’t do it all at once because it would mean a complete change in society as we know it, which may throw us into a bit of a tither. However it is happening and it’s quite exciting to think about.

Now if many of us are working in jobs that are not our passion, how and why the heck did we create these boring jobs in boring environments in the first place? I have a sneaking suspicion it was a little bit about money, and a little bit about misunderstanding how powerful we really are.

Apart from the fact that shopping and buying stuff can be a lot of fun, our culture has created a great supply of superfluous things in order to make money. Take shampoo for instance. We don’t really need to wash our hair. If you stop washing your hair for a month, the natural PH balance will be restored and you’ll never have to wash it again. We were made perfect, to function in this glorious world just as it is. But you go to the supermarket now and there are aisles full of the stuff. We’ve even bought the idea that we all have different needs for our hair, different ‘problems ‘ with our hair, and therefore `need’ about four or five products each, on a continual basis, just for our hair! Multiply that by all the other parts of our bodies, and you have a hell of a lot of needless products out there, that need to be made, advertised, packed, shelved and sold. And shazam!, you’ve created a ‘need’ for a supermarket. Who likes working in supermarkets, in their present form anyway? Go in and ask the staff at your local one. How many of them are passionate about working there?

OK, so through advertising we tell each other how much we need all these products, which creates a demand for them, and then of course we need people to work in these industries so that is where we have created most of our jobs.

Another place I see people get trapped in the `job while I’m waiting for the real job’ is in waiting tables. Most people do this while they are ‘waiting’ to do their passion: except now ‘waiting’ has become a job all of its own. We’re all waiting. Waiting tables, waiting on the boss, waiting on people. What would happen if everyone left? The people who stayed in cafes and restaurants would be there because they loved it. And it would probably be their own business, done just the way they liked it. They would be people with a passion for food, or passion for coffee or passion for chatting to people. If we taught young people to find and learn (and therefore do) their passion, most cafes would shut down because they’d be no one to work in them. Or we’d revolutionise them so it’s so much fun everyone can’t wait to come to work.

It’s not just in the private sector either. Have you walked into a Medicare office lately? My local Medicare office is full of very unhappy people who look like they’d give their right arm to be anywhere else. What happens on the day all of them decide to walk out? There’d be no one to manage the whole structure of paying back the large sums of money we’ve just paid for medical care. So first, doctors would have to go back to charging people themselves: second, people would have to be able to afford the bills, and third, we would have to take a serious look at preventative health because it would be in our best interests to do so. While we get free medical attention, why worry about preventing health problems when you can just go and get someone to fix it for you? So my feeling is that where there are many unhappy people in one industry, it’s just a sign that there’s something out of balance within that industry, that system of running things.

People would argue that doctors study for 4 –6 years and deserve to get paid more than say an ‘unskilled’ worker who serves people coffee. My answer to this is that when you are living your passion, it’s always a lifetime of learning, because you are genuinely interested in the subject and it’s usually something you’ve done all you life anyway (as it is with passions). So a person with a passion for coffee and serving it with finesse deserves as much return for that as a doctor. Who knows, that wonderful coffee aroma and the friendly banter of the barrister may have just lifted the spirits of someone who was about to give up on life. Like the musician who has spent years in the bedroom perfecting his playing and song writing and had spent as much time on his craft as that of the lawyer or astronaut down the street. And yet often musicians have to `pay-to-play’ to 20 people whom they give a lot of enjoyment to, while the doctor gives relief to 20 people a day on a sizeable income. What’s the difference?

If we are also receiving the same amounts of money as everyone else, it takes away a lot of financial stress because most things will be priced affordably. This is because a. no one would bother buying things at over-the-top prices, b. the producer wouldn’t bother producing things s/he didn’t love or need because they are earning the same as everyone else, so why waste the day creating items no one else wants or needs?

Perhaps along with similar incomes, we may organise ourselves into communities, as the community could redistribute the necessary money out to everyone. So every person would be given the training and the time to develop their passion, and then the whole community would benefit, and in effect, pay the person, by money or in kind. We already have this mechanism down pat; we just need to put the `luurve’ back into it.

We would no longer ‘work’; we would simply be playing, without effort or `labour’. Our life would be our work, which is why we call it `life work’. So there would be little need for work hours, pay structures and many other work-related rules, industries and infrastructure, because we are just doing what we love as part of our lives. So all the office blocks and jobs we’ve created for unions, banks, pay systems, work laws etc could go out the window, and we could all go out the windows too, and into the sunshine! (Unless working in an office block is what you love, of course.)

I think at some deep level we understand that we are working outside our internal passions. You can tell that by the phrases we use around work such as `working for the man’, `working hard for the money’, `it’s just a job’ ` another day another dollar’ etc. There are two sides to this. One is that as a society we’ve decided to create `false’ products and services, and knowing this, we don’t enjoy working with them. The other side of the coin is that we’ve also decided it’s easier to let an `other’ rule us (the boss, the job, the government, the need for money) rather than take responsibility for our lives and dreams, and so have created these jobs in order to hide within them.

Imagine walking into shops and cafés where the people love serving you and love making things for you, because really, they are making it for themselves. There are people doing that now, and don’t we love to buy their stuff! It’s the best advertisement I can think of.

Life's mission is the Heart

2006-10-25T14:29:00.000+10:00

You must listen to your heart
It is the only thing you need to do
in order to live a simple and true life.

Your life mission is then to perfect
listening to your heart
and act on this rather than
on the noise of your mind.

Amazing Nature

2006-10-24T09:29:00.000+10:00

I continue to find nature amazing. Walking through the grass today I wondered on the intelligence which created snakes with the ability to feel the vibration of someone approaching – to be able to know which way the person is heading in oder to protct themselves.

The level of intelligence needed to create all I see around me is beyond my undestanding, yet I am made of the same stuff as all that around me, so therefore what created `all of this' is also inside of me. It's one of the ways I know myself as God.

And I wondered about how I can so easily turn this Divine Intelligence into something human, rather than live up to the divinity of that energy. Like I sometimes assume that `God' displys the same pettiness, the same limitations as I do, and I lose my trust in it, in myself. Now, I'm sure this Divine Source would have the CAPACITY to use these qualities obviously, but why would a Divine Intelligence that can calculate the entire Universe on specific mathematics, confuse itself with 1 + 1?

When I open myself to the wonderment of nature (including myself) it is proof to me that the God Force would never need anything from me. And that's a point besides the fact that as`God' is not a `person' but an objective energy, it doesn't desire anyway (another example of how I can turn Divinity into less than it is).

Does the Divine need the snake to only slither in a certain way, live in a certain home or worship it in a certain way? I think not. Then why would an intelligence so far beyond my comprehension, need us to communicate to it a certain way, act towards it in a certain way or indeed, worship it at all?

If you could have everything in the Universe that you wanted, if you in fact knew that you could create and have anything you desired, then why on earth would you need ANYbody to do ANYthing for you? You could do it all yourself! And that's exactly how we've been created: to be able to manifest exactly what we like. Imagine the intelligence that created THAT mechanism. And it's inside us all.

Welcome to Positive Personal & Global Change

2006-10-23T15:16:00.000+10:00

Welcome to Postive Personal and Global Change.

This blog is about both social change and personal growth, because these two areas of change have become inextricably linked. So often today, people who are on a spiritual, personal growth path often find that their highest goals involve working in ways and with products and services that serve the common good. And people working in the social change field are now finding that when they work within the stream of love and what they love, they can be more effective agents of change in the global arena.

Whatever you choose to do, every action does make a difference, and you as one person do count. As Mahatma Gandhi so famously said, “ Be the change you want to see in the world.” And if Quantum Physics is anything to go by, every thought we think and every feeling we feel is like a footprint in the universal and personal creative force field. So whenever you believe you can make a difference, and take action on that, the world actually becomes that belief, and becomes your positive action!

Thanks for tuning in, and may all your actions be joyous!

Christine