There's always hope!
Every day another tragedy - they come thick and fast, leaving us unable to comprehend why. The world seems to be in chaos with fear and uncertainty prevailing. Hope seems to be in short supply.
Every day another tragedy - they come thick and fast, leaving us unable to comprehend why. The world seems to be in chaos with fear and uncertainty prevailing. Hope seems to be in short supply.
Life is like a dance, and for the dance we need to be fluid, fearless, and aware. Everything in life is in a state of constant change, ebbing and flowing, waxing and waning, but we need to trust in the process of constant regeneration.
A year ago I set out to fulfil a long-held dream, but I got more than I’d bargained for which made me appreciate just how precious each day of our lives is. I boarded a flight on 25 April to Kathmandu via Abu Dhabi with five friends. Ultimately we were bound for Tibet and our expedition had been planned for many months. As our visas and permits for travelling in the different regions of Tibet were being handled by an agent in Nepal, we were intending to spend some time there before flying on to Lhasa.
I was interested to read about last week’s new moon in Aries, the first sign of the zodiac, and the fact that it was also a Supermoon, coming into close alignment with the earth. After the various eclipses this year, it apparently, according to astrology, heralds a new beginning. This coincides with my own view that it’s time for us to wake up!
We live in extraordinary times of complex and escalating change. Crises seem to confront us wherever we look, and these crises are largely the result of our limited consciousness, and our attitudes and behaviours.
Mindfulness and meditation produce changes inside our brains. The new science of brain imaging shows how critical networks in the brain become activated. The parts of the brain associated with positive emotions like happiness and compassion become more active as we meditate regularly. So it’s not just a question of feeling peaceful whilst practicing as the benefits carry on beyond. It seems we can literally rebuild the brain’s gray matter and increase our wellbeing and the quality of our lives.
To read the article in full, click on the link below
All of us want to flourish – to live a life that makes us feel happy and fulfilled and be the best we can be.
In the Western world women have more opportunities and choices about how they live their lives than ever before. They may still have to battle to get equal pay and status, but there is no question that huge strides have been made in the last hundred years or so.
Women are particularly challenged in today’s world because we have more opportunities and choice about how we live our lives than ever before. We may appear confident, but often lack self-esteem, and end up feeling anxious, stressed, or even depressed. We all seem to have too much to do, with never enough time for ourselves. We make too many demands of ourselves, trying to be perfect. We tend to doubt our capabilities and feel we’re not quite good enough. We can sometimes be envious of others’ seeming good fortune, comparing ourselves needlessly, or we may feel burdened and frustrated.
Restraint, self-discipline, and simplicity are somehow considered unfashionable these days. The marketing supremos and our consumer culture entice us to spend, indulge, enjoy - we deserve it, they tell us. Now I don't want to be a kill-joy - of course there are occasions when it's perfectly OK to do just that, but constantly giving in to temptation and instant gratification will never result in anything other than temporary satisfaction.