I was at a concert recently in a new age church in Santa Cruz. I picked up their hymn book and found pasted in the book leaves a translation of The Lord’s Prayer from (presumably) the original Aramaic.
Given that Aramaic was the language Jesus spoke, it seems likely this is how the prayer was given to mankind before the Church jumped in and re-worked it for its own purposes. (more…)
I had this searing pain in my tooth. It was debilitating and I had to go to bed to cope with it. In those days I didn’t use painkillers – a leftover from my upbringing – but something had to be done, I couldn’t bear it much longer.
About two weeks previously I’d had a cavity in my tooth filled. It was in the tooth right at the back of my mouth, very close to the gum line. The dentist had had a difficult time accessing it to drill and fill. In fact it had been a slightly traumatic experience, i had felt completely helpless while this dentist pushed and shoved at my mouth and head. (more…)
We need a new medical model, and we need it fast. Although the medical establishment will not always tell you this, but we have the power to heal ourselves. Everything we need for this process we already have, if we but knew it.
Ironically the medical establishment has helped to conceal this fact from us. In their efforts to provide a simple pill or a ’scientifically proven’ cure for our ills, they have removed the necessity for us to take responsibility for our own health as well as the need to understand the fundamental principles of healing and the knowledge for how it is actually done. (more…)
It’s not just the weather that seems unsettled and unseasonal. It feels like we are experiencing cyclones, earthquakes and volcanoes not only physically but also politically, socially, and philosophically. Change is occurring rapidly and most of us are staring open-mouthed wondering what’s next. (more…)
Most of us did not get from our parents and family of origin all the things we would have liked. Some of us got things that were problematic for our health and well-being. Others were downright abused and traumatized.
No matter our particular circumstances, most of us spend the rest of our lives searching for the things we didn’t get that we either needed or wanted. We seek out ‘mother’ and/or ‘father’ figures in our relationships, searching for someone out there to feed and nurture our wounded inner child. (more…)
I was talking with a young mother recently. She told me that before she met her partner she thought one option open to her was to be a single mother. Knowing what she knows now though, having a much better idea of how much work a baby is, she said she’s glad she hadn’t made those life choices. Her partner is an incredibly active, and pro-active, father, yet still this young mother has been shocked by how much hard work is involved in caring for a baby.
It got me thinking about when my son was born 22 years ago. We were living in a foreign country without the usual support system provided by family and friends. The morning after I gave birth, Ian, my husband, left for a four-day business trip. He was then away four nights a week every week for the next nine months. (more…)
Loss is a universal experience of human life. No one escapes it. It may creep quietly, slowly destroying our hopes and dreams, or it may be shockingly sudden and devastating. It might clean us out internally or it may wipe us out externally. But we all experience the grief and pain of loss.
When all seems lost, when life deals a blow that sends us reeling and we have no idea how we will recover, we have a choice: face our fears or spend all our time, energy and attention running from them. (more…)
Has anyone else noticed that there’s pretty much only one way for a woman to be beautiful these days? The formula usually involves size 0, straight hair – preferably blonde, tanned (albeit fake) skin, straight white teeth, short, tight, low cut clothing to make the most of perfectly shaped breast implants, and minimum six inch heels.
I thought the young, lithe bikini girls prancing in the Big M ads in the 70’s were a slap in the face of the burgeoning second wave of feminism. Now I positively long for their return. (more…)
The news of the week is the official engagement of William and Kate. Outside Hollywood, there is little that captures the imagination and rouses the excitement of so many young (and not so young) girls. The promise of tiaras, bejewelled ballgowns and coachmen and butlers seems to play to a primal sense of hope similar to that which we feel when we hear about lottery winners: one day it could happen to us.
This hope persists, even when it is so obviously against the odds (i once heard that there is less chance of winning the lottery than putting one foot in a bath and being struck by lightning). Statistical probability and logical reasoning have nothing to do with it. Somewhere, somehow and sometime, it will be us. (more…)
Here’s a beauty tip for you. Let go of your past.
The more ‘past’ we carry around with us, the ‘older’ we get. Age is deeply connected with the past. It is the very measurement of how much past we have. The more past we carry within ourselves the older we look and feel. (more…)