Healing Wounds
On holidays with the extended family at his beautiful holiday home in the west of Ireland, I was tagging along behind Grandpop, effervescent, eager for connection, wanting to learn from and share some emotional intimacy with this great man.
Unluckily for me, the great man must have been somewhat agitated on this sunny summer’s morning. At some point, as we were walking along the riverbank in the bright sunshine, he turned on me suddenly and, looking down from the heights of a six-foot man, told me that I was a case of verbal diarrhoea, instructing me to put a plug in it. Perhaps 6 or 7 years old at the time, I was devastated…
Solitude, Community, Service
Community is, in essence, solitude greeting solitude. The Great Spirit in me speaking to the Great Spirit in you. To be in community means to build a home around the essence that rests at the core of each of us. This beautiful translation of the Sanskrit term „Namaste“ expresses it best: „I honour the place within you where the entire Universe resides; I honour the place within you of love, of light, of truth, and of peace; I honour the place within you, where, when you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, there is only one of us“…
Global Consciousness
The Mind Command piece is pivotal. When we recognise that the Saboteurs have become active, we use brief powerful body-based exercises to bring us back into the present moment. These produce the effect of circuit-breakers in our stinking thinking, so that, in this new placid awareness, we can consciously switch from Saboteur to Sage, and thereupon determine our next move…
Courage
Worrying about what others think of us leads to a constrained life where actions are taken not for personal satisfaction but for external validation. It is we, ourselves, who engineer the role of becoming a puppet on a string, even without the participation or even the knowledge of those who are ostensibly `pulling our strings´…
Big Mind
Recovery is about moving from illusion to truth. We acquire the insights and tools required to escape the bondage of constant anxiety and fear. Now it is clear that, while I have my feelings, I am not my feelings. That is a great leap forward indeed. It is not the full story, however, as beautifully elaborated by Stephen and Ondrea Levine in their inspiring book on cultivating Spirit in relationships, `Embracing The Beloved´…
Endings
I have now been actively practicing the PQ (Positive Intelligence) Mental Fitness Programme on a daily basis for almost two straight years. In addition, I completed my 18 months of training as a PQ Mental Fitness Coach, gaining certification in July of this year. The support of my fellow coaches, peer group, and clients has been invaluable on this exciting adventure, and I am looking forward to more discovery, creativity, and growth in this arena in the new year. It is my conviction that this PQ Mental Fitness modality will establish itself as a fundamental element of transformation coaching in the years to come…
Solstice
Then there was the question as to how the architects got the solar alignment correct, to such a degree that the Winter Solstice spectacle functions perfectly. How could they have known what to do and how to execute such a plan? Surely the people who built Newgrange had both know-how, resources, and wisdom at their disposal which we cannot even imagine today. What cosmic forces guided them in this endeavour? How can we, as humans, tap into such forces and cultivate the connection?
Roots
At the end of this seemingly successful treatment, Rowland Hazard, now several months dry, was confident that he could remain abstinent and return to the US to continue his recovery. He only got as far as Paris, however, where someone asked him the wrong question: `Would you like a glass of champagne, Sir?´
Returning to Zurich with his tail between his legs, distraught and depressed, he once again sought out Dr Jung. He asked him what hope, if any, there was for him. Jung was frank with his American client…
Samhain
My father’s death and, in particular, how he handled the experience, has also shown itself to be a great gift. By leaving this incarnation in a conscious state of humility, faith, and gratitude, he demonstrated how best we can embrace the ultimate human challenge. Almost half a century later, I still find myself unwrapping further layers of this precious gift…
Bealtaine
My sense is that the TV has superseded the open fire in the homes and psyches of our people. I much prefer the fire, a preference based on countless hours of `fire-watching´ in my childhood. You will find no TV in my abode…