There has been some tension in the community in which I live.  The developers love this place- earmarked to be the biggest and fastest growing regional seaside town in Victoria.  It is estimated that our growth will be 44,000 by 2030.

The town is divided as to which is the best way forward.  The tradies have never had it so good, and for city people coming to live here they are getting their dreams come true in as far as the houses they desire, beaches and the city only an hour away.

However what does this meant to the health of the community? This is a question I pondered yesterday as I walked my dogs through the reserve.  A reserve that is close to my heart, so much so that I became the founding member of an environment group dedicated to its welfare.  Planting trees, digging weeds, engaging with others in quiet banter and getting great joy and satisfaction of giving back. 

What makes a community healthy, and when one is healthy do we just take this for granted?  Do we all have an understanding of what it takes to keep a community healthy and indeed what our roles and responsibilities are in this?

I wondered, as I walked, what if we were all space lifted to Serbia.  How would we cope and how would we yearn for what we have come to expect as we walk out the door every morning.

Do we take for granted that our rubbish is picked up every week, and do we take for granted that because we pay our rates that everything that should get done does get done.

This thought was pondered as I walked and picked up rubbish left by locals.  Bags of dog poo are one of the most regular pieces of rubbish dumped each day.  Have some of us got to the point that we no longer think it’s our own responsibility to pick up and take home our dog poop.  Is there any thought as to where that ends up?  I picked up a plastic shopping bag full of household waste this morning, swept into the creek.  Do we really want to be swimming in that?  And just because I pay rates doesn’t mean I think picking up rubbish is not my responsibility and more or less than another – I think it’s the responsibility of us all.

A healthy community embraces the belief that health is more than merely an absence of disease.  It includes elements that enable people to maintain a high quality of life though community interaction and engagement and access to good health care.  It also includes the following

• Clean and safe physical environment
• Peace, equity and social justice
• Adequate access to food, water, shelter, income, safety, work and recreation for all
• Adequate access to health care services
• Opportunities for learning and skill development
• Strong, mutually supportive relationships and networks
• Workplaces that are supportive of individual and family well-being
• Wide participation of residents in decision-making
• Strong local cultural and spiritual heritage
• Diverse and vital economy
• Protection of the natural environment
• Responsible use of resources to ensure long term sustainability
•  

We are all unique, we all have differing views on aspects of life, however I do believe that we would all prefer to live in a healthy community, and that healthy community takes all us putting in energy in order to gain the long term positive outcomes.

Source. (www.ohcc-ccso.ca)

2013 has been a big year.  I know we all say this at the end of any year, however this has been a huge year.  Astrologically we have had lunar eclipses, Blue moons and lots of planetary changes.  I like to read Astrology Goddess on facebook - she has great explanations for the non expert.
So there have been some really challenging patterns of belief for many, a lot of "letting go", sacrificing and making way for new ways and doors to open.  I wrote a little about this in Silver Linings recently.  Have you noticed these challenges in your life?  For me they have been accompanied by grief.
My grief is OK, its purely the acknowledgment and letting go of old patterns and belief systems.  However this coincided with other normal parts of life....all in this year!!  Our eldest daughter has just finished school completely - so whats around the corner for her.  And our youngest has decided to finish his schooling in another city, meaning he is leaving home.  My husband became redundant after 18 years in the same organisation to boot.  Grief really hit me between the eyes just last week.  I felt it.  I know these are all great new beginnings and I know its just some transformation, and im ok with feeling this grief. 

It is a very different grief to losing someone you love or sitting with a family member with terminal illness, which a dear sister is doing presently.  So today I would like to honour the emotion of grief, with no rule book attached, no how to or timeline or indeed any barometer of whats right or wrong.   A beautiful old medicine woman says that it is important to cry, as it cleanses the spirit.  For some the process is made easier in isolation or by telling their story or by digging a big hole and yelling really loudly into it.  Whatever and wherever you I wish your day well.
xxxx

I love my work.  I have just finished another three day Bowen course - part of an updated Diploma.  There are eleven of us in the class  (4 modules in all) and there is never a moment of zoning out or wishing to be somewhere else.  That says a lot about the presenter and it also says a lot about the modality and the interest that all of the students hold.  Today I am back in the clinic seeing clients and I love my work!!!!!
One of my beautiful clients said this morning " I love it when you work on my lower back" as it tightens up sometimes, although she says her daily long walks and the 76 stairs she climbs as part of her routine help and so does getting out and about for lunches and catch ups with friends.  Some of the things that strike me about this woman is her sense of humour, and great balanced open minded outlook on life, a good old fashioned sensible diet and an understanding of the right amount of exercise for her.  She loves her family and has a great friendship circle.  She is not afraid to try something new and different either.  She is 78 years young.  I have written down her recipe for life and added a few of my own hundreds and thousands sprinkles.  Do you have a recipe for life or a person who just inspires you.

Every cloud has one, its just sometimes a little difficult to find it when there appears to be so much grey around.

I have had the fortune over the last few weeks to experience the silver lining in every huge cloud that has settled around our house.  It has not always come easily, however it has come through a mindset that I have been working on for some time.

I am thankful, I am grateful and I am in awe of what the universe sets out for me.  Not always but mostly.  It is my belief that there is always sacrifices in life and that this is not to be viewed negatively.  We are now being programmed to believe that we “can have it all’ and I happen to think that is bullshit!  How, why or should we have it all?

Somewhere along the line, the seesaw will tip and having it all wont actually always be that appealing or achievable.  I believe that we may have a lot, but not all at once.  That when we are ready to experience more bounty, then it may just be time to sacrifice or give away something first.  That ‘something’ may be a thought or worry, or a material piece.  It may be forgiving someone or letting someone go first.  Sometimes I am not in a hurry and am happy to sacrifice or give away my spot in line or at the car park – I have no idea what that means to the person I just smiled at and gave way too, I have no idea what domino affect it will have, any more than I necessarily know what affect I have opened up when I am standing firm in my place not prepared on that day to give away to another.   Neither is right or wrong.  Just part of the see saw of life, the give away of spiritual practice- The silver lining in the cloud.

I do not believe we can have it all nor that having it all is of benefit in the long run.  I do however believe that we can play around with what we have room for, what we want to experience, what we are willing to fight for or sacrifice and what silver linings we can find in any given cloud on any given day.

r Isnt it funny that for so many of us we want to grow up quickly.  We imitate older people, we daydream about our lives as an adult, we dress to look older.

And then, we try to back peddle that sense of being older, in search of looking feeling and being younger!  Im happy to be my age, but I have definitely had times where I wanted to be older and more grown up.  I m glad, now that my daughter is 18 I don’t feel the need to compete or look like her.  She would argue that my maturity level is way below hers at times, and she would be right.  But when it comes to being me, being mum and being comfortable in my skin, for the most part I’m pretty Ok with it.

When I go out to exercise, its too feel good, strong and fit.  I don’t use scales to know my weight, I use my internal barometer of how I feel.  I don’t do fad diets, I try to cook  a mix of Mediterranean cooking and Grandmas good old basics, that omitted so many of the processed foods theses days.  I give laughing a good go, find solitude when needed, breathe deeply and try to learn something new often.

My child within was so elated this week when it snowed unexpectedly when visiting family.  All of us had a great time, throwing snow, feeling it fall on our faces and being in wander at what delights nature gifts us all the time.  At the same time back home on the coast, the first whale for the season was spotted frolicking close to shore.  Yep nature rocks and I like being a bit of a kid sometimes.  How do you connect with your child within and with nature xxx

My healing journey consciously started in 1992 in the beautiful hills of NE Vic learning and practicing Reiki.  It definitely started long before that, but never so consciously.  Perhaps my mothers friend who did palm reading set my passion in place, or even as a two year old being put on Homeopathic medication by mum, was where it started.  Possibly doing meditation with the beautiful Jennie Kee in the blue mountains as a 15 year old was what did it…. How  can we be sure where our passion and yearning drive starts. I think we are very blessed to hear the calling though.  For some they can never hear it over the roar of what their parents want of them, or their partner wants of them and or their finances dictate of them.  Work doesn’t seem like work, when your doing what you love, and in the odd times that it does feel like a drudgery you can at least know that you just need a break to re-stoke the spirit and then you can burn brightly again.

Even though I love doing what I do, I found myself a bit tired and frazzled recently, and I took that as an opportunity to ask for support and guidance from a life coach.  I found it an exceptionally good experience and gave me the opportunity to step back, do a jig and step back in and up.

I would like to thank and show gratitude to Kath Essing from intergratedhearthttp://www.integratedheart.com.au/  and remind us all that even though its up to ourselves to make our life what we want, it is always brighter with  great family friends and community. xxx

There is something so glorious about movement.  According to Ryan and Travis it is the most basic of expressions of energy output in the Wellness Energy System.  Movement is life giving.  When we move, our lungs expand, our heart is pumping strongly and we express how we are feeling.  As a body worker and therapist the people I need to see the most are those that don’t find time for regular movement in their life.  And I’m the same.  I love to keep a regular routine of movement doing what I love – mixing it up a bit also- Yoga, walking, kayaking, dancing and gardening.  When I am unbalanced in my routine I feel it in my body and mind.  Yesterday was a classic example of this.  I worked solidly on the computer and doing office stuff and house chores.  I didn’t take the dogs for a walk and I hadn’t practiced Yoga for four days.  Last night I slept poorly and my body just felt “YUK”, kind of itchy under my skin and I always see that as my nervous system on overload and too much metabolic waste building up in my system.  Move it or lose it…… thats the truth, find regular ways to move your body, feed your spirit and nurture your self through moving.

Here are a few suggestions and please feel free to share how you keep movement in your life:


Aerobics / Boxing / Canoeing / Dancing / Frisbee Throwing / Giggling /Horse riding /Isolated stretching / Juggling / Kayaking / Long distance running / music therapy / Nia / Pilates / Running / Skiing / Trampolining / Up hill walking / Vaulting / Walking / Yoga.

Wellness is so much more than retaining good health, and in fact you may have very poor health and still have a high level of wellness.  So how does this work.  The defined dimensions of wellness are everything form self responsibility and love to job satisfaction.  A comfortable community, supportive family and friendship groups.  Education and vocation as well as the ability to be creative and pursue your dreams with the resilience to pick yourself up when the road gets bumpy.

I thought about this as I walked the dogs this morning.  Using my sense of audio I Listened to the sounds of “life” in my community – the waves crashing, birds chirping, cars driving, me calling my naughty dog!  I used my sense of seeing the amount that the trees have grown in the parkland since our environment group planted them.  I noticed how one She oak had fallen to the ground and despite this it was still growing strongly.  There was Silver beet growing wildly from drifting seeds and there was cherry tomatoes growing beside the path.  I used my body well and stretched high to reach 2 fresh figs hanging over a fence and there is something incredible about eating food that is so fresh.  Have you thought about that gift when you have food so fresh.  To end my walk I had the honour of seeing masterpieces of artwork, drawn by some happy children over the weekend.  So many aspects of well being and wellness have just been given me.  None cost a cent and I’m so blessed to have had this gift for a Monday morning.  Wishing us all a blessed Monday with wellness abounding x

O My Goodness – what happened to the nice slow start to the year.  february seems to be full steam ahead, school uni work yoga in a nut shell= LIFE!!!!

I had one of my beautiful clients come to see me today as a follow up from last week.  She is 90 this year and has handled and seen a lot in her life.  She knows how to laugh and she know how to be brave enough to talk about her issues.  She feels a bit flat at times and has had some anxiety in the past and feels that she may be tarnished from that brush.

I also went to a two day seminar addressing Infant & perinatal mental health issues -   Im here standing tall and able to say that yes I know these issues first hand and feel that I can be a much more empathetic healer and body worker because of it. Feeling flat, depressed anxious, vulnerable sucks, but there are options and support and one can live a full life by listening to their body and mind connection.

I honour this beautiful 90 year old woman who has asked me, a 44 year old woman ” Am I OK, is it Ok for me to feel like this at times – Does it make me a lesser person”  Of course the answer is YES its Ok and normal to feel depressed at times, YES you are Ok and NO you are never a lesser person for experiencing these feelings.  Its just been such a taboo topic and we live in an imperfect but pretend perfect world where we model and judge ourselves on how we perceive others to be traveling so much better than ourselves. And we are really hard on ourselves far too often.

Do you know that up to 70% of people that are seeking advice form their GP have a stress related issue driving whats going on.

So to all those younger and older and slimmer and bigger and shorter and taller incredible men and women out there- Rejoice in feeling flat sometimes and if the flatness is prolonged know your strong enough and loved enough to seek wise advice in whatever way fits your size best.  Don’t suffer in silence thinking that its just new born baby blues or old age or anything in between.  Reach out and talk to someone and if your the listener this time around, then just hold the space for that person and know that mostly hearing and not solving is what a person in distress is seeking xxxxx

I have had what I would consider senile moments of late and all I can do is laugh at them.  The best thing about them is that today when one of my beautiful clients came to see me and said how flat she was feeling and did I think it was because she is 90……I said NO, age is irrelevant.  It probably for her had more to do with recovering from surgery and illness less than 2 months ago.  So I was able to tell her my senile moments that have nothing to do with age, like making a mango smoothy with frozen mango pulp that turned out to be frozen pumpkin soup, merely because I label nothing, not even in my freezer!!!!! Why it didn’t taste stunning escaped me until the soup was pointed out- so I can tell you now that yes you can drink pumpkin smoothie but it aint that nice really.

A combination of story, some laughter and some healing hands and time for relaxation is really all anyone needs at times of fatigue and flatness.  And why Im reminded to talk about this experience is that this client has just called me to tell me that she feels so much better, happier and with energy.  She took herself out for lunch after seeing me and had made some other proactive decisions when she got home.  What has this person come to teach me?  Age is irrelevant and life is worth living and sharing with others