In this month around Forgiveness and Understanding, we wanted to share this beautiful poem from Rumi.
Oh, if a tree could wander and move with foot and wings!
It would not suffer the axe blows and not the pain of saws!
For would the sun not wander away in every night ?
How could at every morning the world be lighted up?
And if the oceans water would not rise to the sky,
How would the plants be quickened by streams and gentle rain?
The drop that left its homeland, the sea, and then returned ?
It found an oyster waiting and grew into a pearl.
Did Yusaf not leave his father, in grief and tears and despair?
Did he not, by such a journey, gain kingdom and fortune wide?
Did not the Prophet travel to far Medina, friend?
And there he found a new kingdom and ruled a hundred lands.
You lack a foot to travel? Then journey into yourself!
And like a mine of rubies receive the sunbeams?
Out of yourself , such a journey will lead you to your self,
It leads to transformation of dust into pure gold!
I have a “brilliant” theory – that every wife needs a wife. No, it’s not some new age sexual revolution. Let me explain my vision…
Being a Mother of small children is such a beautiful, precious, short period in ours lives, but it is also incredibly physically and mentally challenging – and exhausting. Imagine if there were two of you! Two wives in a family to share the Mothering load!
It was once said that it takes a village to raise a child, but in most Western societies this is not the case.
Many mothers don’t have extended families living nearby to help and support one another. Raising children can be a lonely and isolating experience.
I want to live in a place where Mothers support other Mothers. Where we become each other’s extended family. We are nurturers by nature so why not nurture each other as well as our own children and partners?
A shared mothering load would mean that you would only have to cook every second night, do half the school runs, go grocery shopping without kids in tow and take kids to after-school classes some of the time.
Someone to share the tiresome cleaning jobs with. You could rest when you were sick and have someone make you nourishing soups. There would be more time for YOU; to go to the gym, meet friends for coffee, read a book, have a nap or watch a movie. Life would be so much more balanced!
A woman having both a husband and a wife is not currently legal in Australia, so I have come up with a more culturally acceptable concept – ‘compassionate food’. Again, I’ll explain. After the birth of my first child my eyes were opened by a few kind women (other Mothers of course) who brought me some amazing gifts – home cooked meals! It made such a huge impression on me that I jumped on the bandwagon and have been singing its praises from the hill-tops ever since.
I come from a big Greek family who are wildly passionate about food and who love to cook, eat and share their cooking. It’s a way we show our love for one another. My extended family lives far afield but when we get together there are shared jars of jams and olives, cakes and slices, not to mention the feast that comes from a team effort in the kitchen. When my Mum comes to visit she always arrives with a cardboard box full of goodies – leftovers, baked treats, fruit from the little farm stall down the road and some fresh organic produce from her garden. What a blessing!
I truly believe that one of the most powerful ways I can support another Mother is to provide a home cooked meal for their family. How would you feel if a friend turned up on your doorstep with a big hearty casserole and a batch of freshly baked biscuits? I’m talking about reaching out to Mothers who have something bigger than everyday family madness going on – a single Mum, an ill Mum, a Mum with a sick child or husband, a Mum who has recently given birth, a Mum with a partner who works away, or a Mum who is just in need of a bit of extra TLC (because we all have those times).
It’s easy to get consumed by our own family’s challenges, but it is humbling to remember there are always others far worse off. It’s actually quite good therapy – for me there is nothing more effective in helping me forget about my own problems, than doing something to help another. I cannot do much to help the Syrian refugee crisis, but I can look closer to home and with a small act of kindness make a difference in the life of another Mother.
If we can’t have wives then let’s create communities of women who care for each other enough to reach out with compassion to one another. Something as simple as and sitting down to a home cooked meal that you have not prepared can bring a huge amount of relief, joy and gratitude. Knowing that someone cares about you that much can fill our tanks so that we can get up in the morning and embrace another day of the wonderful rollercoaster ride that is parenting.
Holly Hoffman is an ex-teacher, ex-personal trainer, and currently a pregnant stay at home Mother and Blogger on The Sunshine Coast, Australia. When she is not running around after her two children she enjoys baking cakes, going to the gym, reading, writing, frolicking on the beach and listening to TED talks.
Holly recently launched Feel Good Mumma, a blog dedicated to Mothers with young children who would like to experience greater happiness and more moments of joy in their lives. You can read more from Holly and find her beautiful and inspiring blog Feel Good Mumma at www.feelgoodmumma.com
Planning ahead and daydreaming are some of life’s wonderful gifts. They allow us to consider and visualise our future possibilities. However, as wonderful as daydreams are, they can also set up false expectations.
When daydreams create expectations
I remember a family holiday I planned a couple of years ago. My husband and I had been stressed out with work and I was greatly anticipating the activities I’d carefully planned for the family to connect. I dreamed about whale watching tours, playing on the beach and going on nature walks.
Only the reality was quite different. After months of drought, heavy rain descended for the entire week of our holidays. I was bitterly disappointed. All of my carefully made plans were no longer suitable.
After a day or two I noticed that while I was feeling disappointment, my son and husband weren’t. In fact, they were relaxed and joyful. They didn’t care that it was raining. They were spending time together, bonding, enjoying our wet weather activities.
It dawned on me that I was not having a good time because while planning our short holiday, I had set up a host of expectations in my own mind about how the holiday should go. So when the reality didn’t meet my expectations, I had closed myself off to the enjoyment of current possibilities.
Danger of holding expectations
When we have attachments to the daydreams of what may be, there is a danger they will turn into expectations of what should be.
This can be troublesome, because when our reality doesn’t live up to our expectations, we can feel disappointment. We might even feel like we’ve failed. Only we haven’t. Our expectations were never real in the first place.
If possible, try to walk into all eagerly anticipated events and life experiences – whether that be a new job, your wedding, having a baby, a holiday – with an open mind. Leave any beliefs or expectations you have set for the experience at the door.
Mantra for letting go
I’d like to share with you a mantra that I have since developed especially for letting go of expectations:
‘It will be what it will be and I’ll meet it from a place of love.’
Being open to experiences and lovingly allowing whatever happens to flow, will be of immense value. It will allow you to be open to possibilities and not fixated on a particular outcome. Therefore, you’ll be less likely to bring disappointment into the equation.
Most importantly, being open to whatever situation comes your way will make you powerful and present to enjoy the little moments for what they are. And guess what? It’s the sum of all those cherished little moments – often the unexpected ones – that make for a fulfilling life.
What expectations are you holding that you can let go of today?
Cherie Pasion is an author, mother and founder of Connected Mama. She lives up to her name and is deeply passionate about the transformative journey women take when they become mothers. Her book It’s Your Birth…Right? helps professional women emotionally manage the change from being a professional to being a mother.
Cherie runs programs focused on proactive emotional preparation for their motherhood transition centred on her Connection Compass – allowing women to form rich connections with themselves, their baby, their partner and community as well as nature.
Feeling Abundant is an Inside Job.
You could own a building and money in the bank, and still feel lack of love, purpose, nourishment and vitality. Or you may be walking in the woods, take a moment to breath and connect to the Mother Earth and suddenly feel a wave of joy and bliss flooding through your heart. You feel that you have more than enough. That there is nothing more that you need and that your life is abundant.
In this moment, you experience abundance from within. A deep inner knowing of what is true. You are alive. You live in a magical and mystical universe. You have many things to be grateful for. You are blessed with love.
Then comes Monday. You receive several bills to pay, run out of cash just when you want to get a coffee, and you see an ad for a vacation in Hawaii and you say “if only”, and you slip into a strong feeling or sense of lack, and you feel abundance is alluding you again. Right?
For many of us, feeling abundant is a moment-to-moment thing. The more we practice the feeling of abundance, the longer we can sustain and substantiate that moment. Through the laws of attraction, more and more abundance will come our way, as if there is a momentum of manifestation based on our continuous feeling of abundance or lack.
So how do you keep that feeling going? Are there practices or processes that can help us to stay in the zone?
You may ask: Are you suggesting we should live in denial? Is this the “Fake It Till You Make it” thing?
The answer is, of course not.
We know you may have MANY questions on this subject and we have some really great materials to share with you. This is why we would like to invite you to join us in our April experience: Pathway to Abundance.
We are doing these in 3 stages:
Firstly, we invite you to ask all the questions you may have on Abundance on our Facebook page, that way we can ensure we cover the hot topics in our Master Class.
Launching on Monday 18th of April, will be the Abundance Master Class
- Online Video Format
- Digital Audio Download
We will share with you some awesome practices and processes that work. You will get to hear some incredible manifestation stories and HOW did that happen. We will also invite you to send in your own questions and we will cover them as well.
The Abundance Project
From Monday the 18th to Friday the 22nd, you will be invited to our closed Facebook group. Here we will be sharing inspiring quotes, stories, tips, reflection and “Guess What I Have Just Manifested” lists on our FB event page. The idea is to gather momentum and a collective feeling of abundance, and see what we can collectively create, and how much abundance we can be grateful for as a community focussed on Abundance.
On our last day of this experience, 22nd of April, which is also the Earth Day. We would like to give thanks to your participation and offer three lucky winners a Gratitude Pass to our next Embrace Life Festival in Central Coast on the 1st of May. So don’t miss out!
You can also watch our Introduction Video here.
She had no name.
Some glanced, sneered at her and walked off, others looked longer but didn’t see anything special. For most it was hard to see her beauty, she had been severely mistreated. For me she was a dream come true.
But I am ahead of myself, let me start at the beginning. The first year of my life, according to my mother, I was very unhappy, I grizzled most of the time. No one knew why. At the age of one, my parents bought a one acre block. The concrete floor I was used to was replaced by earth and from the moment my feet touched it, I was a happy child.
I love being amongst nature and with animals and my dream has always been to have a small farm. When I finished school my father helped me purchase 100 acres in the Hunter Valley, and I managed to pay it off. In my early twenties I was married. My husband’s business was doing well but to grow needed capital so we sold my acreage. My dream was put on hold.
Fast forward thirty years – we have three children, a couple of grandchildren and the money I had put towards the business had paid off, we lived in a large waterfront home. The house had everything you could ask for, and more. A perfect picture…for most.
Everyone told me how lucky I was. I tried to see it that way but as the years passed I became more unhappy. I needed earth, grass, flowers, birds…. I wanted a farm where we were off the grid, could grow our own fruit and vegetables, have bees, and an array of animals to love and pet. A fairytale? My husband thought so. He wanted me to be happy but he told me my dream was impossible. I told him I believed in miracles.
Halloween day 2015, with nothing better to do, my eldest son was looking for places for sale. One stood out! Six acres not far from where we lived.
When I saw the property I was shocked! Tyres, metal sheeting, asbestos, rusty barbed wire, and even linoleum littered the surface. Although 13 truckloads of trash had been removed, the place looked like a rubbish tip. But looking beyond to the distant views I knew this was the farm I had dreamt of.
The Auction was in three weeks and we needed 10% down payment – we didn’t have the available funds.
Every day I visualised being with her. I walked the land, smelt the flowers, could feel the cool breeze, hear the song of the birds and taste the bitterness of our home grown apples. I talked to her like she was real asking her to trust me, to restore and heal her.
A week later the bank emailed outlining that they had sold some shares we owned. The money was in our account. It was the perfect amount we needed. The funny thing is – we didn’t know we owned such shares.
The day of the auction, I waited at home. I tried to busy myself, but I was worried – What if a developer wanted her and there was no upper limit?
The back door opened. I raced downstairs. My husband looked at me, and smiled.
Once again 54 years later my feet touch the earth and I am happy beyond belief.
She has a name – Tara Farm.
Indra Prem is a Kundalini Yoga teacher, she also gives raw food classes where students prepare meals that are not only highly nutritional but taste delicious. She has just started Community Assisting Communities in Need. It is about community working together – each person merging their skills and ideas – to help those less fortunate.
Her first venture is a retreat on Tara Farm where numerous healers of different modalities will be gathered to assist the people of the Central Coast. She sees Tara Farm as a place where people can stretch, dance, sing, chant, learn, and heal. All profits will go to the community whose home is on the street.
You can contact Indra via 0404 568 326 or email: indraprem01@gmail.com
Visit Facebook – Community-Assisting-Communities-in-Need
Every person on planet earth has the ability and potential to access and experience miracles. Join Dr. Nick Good and Nicolas Perrin as they explore the inner dynamics and workings of how to normalise miracles in your life.
This Podcast explores what is preventing you from accessing Miracles, the path of least resistance and how to troubleshoot when things aren’t flowing for you. Deep profound wisdoms with simple practical ways to get you accessing your natural miracle state.
Nicolas Perrin is an Intuitive Transformational Coach, heart-centred facilitator, inspirational speaker, supporting entrepreneurs, small business owners and corporate refugees to step into their greatness and experience their potential. Nicolas supports his ideal clients, who are gifted & have enormous potential, to transcend the pain of playing small, confused on life direction, feeling held back, and find it challenging to share their unique message with the world. Nicolas supports his clients to step into their greatness through the creation of a magnetic vision & activating their true core nature enabling them to make a difference in the world.
Nicolas believes in a holistic approach and shares and teaches about New Paradigms, Intuition, meditation, energy transformation, soul driven leadership and a thriving mindset. He has been on his own inner journey for 11 years and shares this gift with others too.
Want to connect? Visit: www.lionheartcoaching.com.au
I recently had an opportunity to share my story with a fellow therapist and I was encouraged to write a little of this story about what I have achieved or attained from humble beginnings.
You may not feel worthy, you may not feel that you belong or have a right to belong. Let’s face it existing can be painful at times, but the great news is, you can, with a great deal of will, rise out of the ashes or your own darkness to manifest YOUR dreams.
How you came into the world, family stability, love, honour and presence is paramount to your journey in the world. For me it was a somewhat wobbly beginning and it wobbled for a long time. Sometimes I fell but somehow I kept getting up. My life was primarily living through the lenses and perception of others…am I loved, am I liked, am I wanted, am I enough?
Unfortunately I created my own negative self-beliefs from my perceptions and I projected these onto others, there was no trust and the world was not a safe place for me. In this place, it is easy to begin to hate yourself and others.
My school years are a bit hazy and to be honest there are not many happy memories from those years. Let’s get out of here and get to work I thought – determination is something I am known for and I don’t give up easily. I had a strong work ethic which was mirrored to me by a 7 day a week working mother. I was expected to help her both in her shop and with my siblings, to some degree my home life felt like hell. So starting work and travelling to Sydney from the Central Coast seemed like an easy transition with not so much responsibility. I had my own money and independence, life became lighter.
At 16 I met my husband to be, the rock and dependable yet somewhat free spirited man of my dreams. We married when I was 20, we had saved hard and our own home was built that year. Ah, security at last. Three daughters later and my husband starting his own business, we climbed many, many more mountains together to attain a lovely lifestyle and home, this took 20 or more years, nothing happens overnight. My relationship and our three girls, now women, meant and do mean everything to me.
My personal status in life was still troubling for me and these words started rumbling, “‘what about me?” I had over time struggled with anxiety, depression and low self-esteem, this took me on a healing journey, so many steps so many slides, so many loving supportive naturopaths, masseuses, homeopaths, therapists and many more courses later, I found my niche within a body oriented psychotherapy – Core Energetics, which proved to be very healing for me and led me to my ultimate destiny.
In 2000, I attended the first ever psychotherapists training in Core Energetics in Australia, this was to be a 5 year intense journey of healing myself and learning to be a psychotherapist, WOW!
This was and is my passion, my light was lit and my aim is to shine a light for those who despair and have lost their way – there is hope and there is a way!
Never give up! We are more than we ever think we are!
We are unique, we can inspire and above all we can learn to truly love ourselves and manifest our abundant dreams.
Some food for thought on your journey
+ Never be afraid to ask for help or to seek it, it is hard to go through life on your own
+ Be curious about yourself and who you might be, beyond your perceptions, sometimes we are blind to our magnificence
+ Challenge your beliefs as they have most likely been created very early on in your life and what you may have felt to be true might in fact not be true. This creates extra baggage you don’t need to carry
+ Blind spots in our perceptions are tricky as we quite often are unaware of our behaviours. Be willing and open to realise that our wounded inner child quite often runs our lives and our adult selves needs to take the reins
+ When hearts have been hurt and broken they are defended and sometimes not easy to reach, making want we truly want an impossible task, for example, how can we love if we don’t trust. So many of us are truly afraid to love, but to feel and heal our broken hearts is the most profound journey of opening our hearts, truly loving and connecting with self and others
Leslee Hughes is one of the most senior members of Core Energetics in Australia. She is an experienced Body Mind Psychotherapist (Somatic Psychotherapist) who works in Sydney & the Central Coast of New South Wales NSW. Leslee is a Member of the Psychotherapy & Counselling Federation of Australia and a Clinical member of the Counsellor’s and Psychotherapists Association. Leslee works one on one with individuals, couples, families and is able to do phone or Skype sessions. You can ring Leslee on 0407934499 or email mail@lesleehughes.com.au
Check out Leslee’s website for more details.
Gaia, the goddess that the ancient Greek honored as Mother of Earth, represents all form of earthly abundance for me.
In mythology, it was believed that Gaia existed before all other life. She formed the sky from her womb, which she called Uranus. Then, Uranus lied upon her, made love to her and kept her company. In other words, Sky lying upon Earth created many children within Gaia’s womb.
However, Uranus feared that their children would grow stronger than him and would not let Gaia give birth to them. Fortunately, wise Gaia gave her strongest son, Kronos, whose name means Time, a special tool to cut through and be born. In that way, Gaia managed to give birth to all the god and goddesses of the ancient Greek world. She was widely worshipped by the priestesses at her shrine at Delphi for her eternal wisdom.
Keep in mind that when we read myths, we read them as metaphors. If you do that, you would see the beauty and deeper meaning that rings true. Think about it, all the mountains, canyons, oceans, rivers, and forests surround us are essentially the fertile grounds that give birth to all kind of life. There are hundreds of millions of different kind of life forms on earth. With time, more and more life and species are created.
The Gaia principle suggests that we all originate from the mother earth and our life is so closely connected to her that in fact, our survival depends on her. All the plant-based food or animals that we as human consume, come from her. There is a constant and continual cycle of life and all matters are governed by a natural order. One life form will consume from another and all the waste (or what is remain of that life form) will eventually return back to earth and allow another cycle of life to begin.
Isn’t this magnificent? The cycle of life is never ending and our mother earth is always providing abundantly for us.
Many of us spend most of our time indoors, surrounding ourselves with all kind of technology that we may feel distanced and removed from Gaia. So perhaps this month, we can bring more awareness and gratitude towards this great goddess.
Let’s place an intention and honour all that have been created and provided by her. Here are some of my suggestions:
- Go for a walk in nature and appreciate all the natural beauty around you
- Enjoy a grounding mediation and consciously connect to Gaia
- Adopt a more plant-based diet and treat yourself a lovely colorful meal that is made with all the fresh produce from Gaia.
I think some roasted vegetables will just be perfect for this autumn weather….
Enjoy all these activities and bask yourself in this feeling of abundance!
One of my favourite ingredients to play with in the kitchen is avocados. It runs a close second to chocolate. This fabulous fruit has a wonderful smooth texture that lends its self to so many dishes. Unlike most fruits, which are high in carbohydrates, this fruit is high in healthy fats, monounsaturated fatty acids to be precise. This fatty acid is known to be beneficial for your health.
Avocados are also high in fibre, both soluble and insoluble. The soluble fibre feeds our friendly gut bacteria
which is so important for maintaining health. This insoluble fibre is like a broom that goes through our intestines and helps sweep out the gunk that can accumulate there. Avocados contain a wide variety of nutrients, like vitamin K, vitamin C, potassium (they have more than bananas), vitamin B6, Vitamin E to name a few.
Did you know, avocados are also called ‘alligator pears’. This is due to the rough, reptilian skin that surrounds the flesh and the shape of the avocado itself. Avocados grow in pairs and symbolically they represent love. The couple, living and growing together.
So back to the kitchen. Avocados are great for dips, we all know guacamole, however did you know you can
use them as a base for raw soups to make it creamy. I sometimes blend them up with my greens and some fruit to create the base for a creamy smoothie bowl for breakfast. I then add chopped nuts, desiccated
coconut and chia seeds.
My favourite use has to be in raw desserts. OMG they are sensational!
If you would like a quick and easy dessert recipe using avocados that even the avocado dislikers will eat, visit my website.
Vicki Cook is a Kinesiologist, Coach and Raw Food Teacher
She believes that life’s challenges are there to offer us the chance to grow and learn to create a new, more positive and empowered path, and feels truly blessed that though her practice she can provide insights and support that facilitate that growth.
She holds regular RAW food workshops, with her next one scheduled on 1st May, click here for the details.
“Both abundance and lack exist simultaneously in our lives, as parallel realities. It is always our conscious choice which secret garden we will tend…when we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that’s present——love, health, family, friends, work, the joys of nature and personal pursuits that bring us pleasure——the wasteland of illusion falls away and we experience Heaven on earth” —Sarah Ban Breathnach
Last month I shared a rather dark period of my life, we all experience them once and awhile, the key I find is when I am in this space is to acknowledge, honour and to allow whatever is rising to emerge. If you are interested here is the recent article.
This month we are focussing on Abundance, and often I find this term becomes inter-changed with a more “acceptable” way to express “I want more…”, more money, more things, just more …and typically focussing on an external outcome that will then make us happy.
Although an increase in our finances, that new car, job, relationship, etc may be a goal for us, I believe the true meaning of abundance goes beyond just simply having or acquiring more money.
It’s all-encompassing and bigger than that. Abundance is a feeling. Abundance is a state of mind, and can be tapped into as soon as we allow it, it is a gratitude and an willingness to see the richness in every moment. Abundance is love, and ultimately a choice.
So how does one choose to be aware of abundance?
I can only share from my own experience, when I feel out of alignment and not expressing abundance, it normally comes down to where I am – am I living my life through my head, and what I believe to be “correct” or am I in the present moment, enjoying what is and open to acknowledge all I currently have.
In a recent trip to the Blue Mountains, I decided to go for a bushwalk ( connecting with nature, through the bush, the ocean, or even my garden is a sure way
for me to become aware of the now, I find my energy can shift quickly in a nurturing way).
The purpose of the trip was to connect with the energy of the Blue Mountains, to ask for a blessing for the upcoming festival and for Embrace Life in general in the year ahead, while honouring the ancient wisdom of our land and asking for their support.
As I walked down the path, and what felt like a million steps, each step become an analogy of my journey so far. Some where steep, others a bit rocky, there were times my husband James needed to hold my hand to navigate – ultimately each step taking me to where I needed to go.
A few times, I stopped, slightly hot, breathless and agitated as the sun streamed down on my head, and at that very instant a cool breeze would come through to give me relief, and I looked up to see the magnificent vista that surrounded me – wow! we do live in the lucky country.
The stepping stones, and wonderful cave that arose as I reached the bottom was a true sanctuary, I could have lived there. As I breathed in the sense of calm that emulated from this hideaway, it dawned on me for the first time in ages I was 100% in my body.
I was in the now. I was experiencing true abundance.
A peacefulness came in with every breathe, and my heart grew wider. It was here I asked for the support I had come from, and received an encompassing message throughout my whole body of ” we are here for you, always”.
In this moment I felt like I had truly come home to myself. Acknowledging how strong I was, and at the same time vulnerable. How I could create and also be part of the whole. It is when we take a moment from the busy-ness (and believe me with a looming festival I had plenty other things to DO), that we can experience the essence of Abundance.
When the time had come to say my farewell, I asked for a sign. It came in the form of a native plant called 
the Dianella Berry, it sounded familiar. So when I came home I realised it was the flower that Tribe of the Tree use in their flower essence Treasure Hunter.
Which offers the message:
“You are deeply worthy of abundance in all its forms. It gently makes you aware of the ways your attitudes, expectations and self-worth affect your feelings of abundance and opportunity, and helps you bring them into energetic alignment”
So here’s to a month of opening up and allowing yourself to experience how wonderfully abundant you are!