Month: February 2013

Inspiration is a Gift we Choose for Ourselves

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by  Rebecca Poole, Health Practitioner, BHsc, Brisbane

When we think of gifts that we might give ourselves we don’t usually think about giving ourselves the gift of Inspiration. I know until recently I hadn’t! For clarification, I am not talking about the bodily function of breathing air into our lungs. I am talking about the Ah hah! moments that can change our lives, and the little tug we get in our heart to tell us there is a more true way to live in our lives. This is what I call the start of inspiration.

Most of us would have experienced feeling inspired by someone and how uplifting this can be, but I had always assumed this had more to do with how inspiring a person was rather than an interaction that I was actively and crucially part of i.e., a gift I could choose to give myself. I am continuously inspired by many, including Mary-Louise Myers and Jenny Ellis, the presenters at last month’s Esoteric Developers Women’s Group in Brisbane. I am inspired by how preciously and delicately Mary-Louise holds herself, and how beautiful she is when she humorously shares how she has lived her life, warts and all. Jenny has such an art for sharing her awareness about life in a way that makes it simple and easy for others to grasp and make their own. During the last women’s presentation I was admiring how light and joyful Jenny felt while talking about her own experiences of menopause. I am forever grateful to these two women, whose reflection of grace, strength and beauty in their 40’s and 50’s allows me to embrace aging (something most women struggle with) joyfully and fearlessly. Continue reading “Inspiration is a Gift we Choose for Ourselves” →

Sydney Launch of ‘Our Cycles – Period and Full Moon Diary’ App

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by Jean Gamble, Sydney, Psychotherapist, Mother, Wife, Daughter, Sister, Aunt, Cousin, Student, Teacher, Cook, Cleaner, Car Owner and Blogger!

About 60 women of all ages gathered on Sunday (9th Feb 2012) in Sydney to participate in Natalie Benhayon’s presentation about her ‘Our Cycles – Period and Full Moon Diary’ app for iPhone and iPad, and to discuss what it means to be a woman in 2013.

Unlike most other period tracking apps, this app does not focus on fertility and / or contraception. Instead, ‘Our Cycles – Period and Full Moon Diary’ app makes it very easy for us to track how we are feeling at different times of the month and encourages us to assess how our choices are affecting our moods, vitality and our periods (if we are menstruating). We all know that it’s easy to blame and name others and / or circumstances when we feel moody. With this app we can see the direct correlation between our own unloving choices and our resulting moodiness and lack of vitality. Similarly, we can track our self-loving choices and the resulting increase in vitality and self confidence (when we have mastered making better choices (woo hooo). Continue reading “Sydney Launch of ‘Our Cycles – Period and Full Moon Diary’ App” →

Walking back: Re-connecting to the True Woman I already am

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by Anonymous

When I was about 11 years old, I became obsessed with getting my period. Now, at that point I hadn’t yet, but I had heard about it from my family and friends and in my 11-year old mind thought it was the coolest thing I had ever heard. Every month I get to be special! I thought…

After that, I listened intently to my body, and with any pain in my tummy I would get a little excited and hope I was finally getting my period. A year later, I started to really notice that I was alone in my feelings towards this special event. My friends thought it was gross and would tell horror stories about their sisters bleeding on their uniforms, or about how much it hurt. I started to feel embarrassed that I was looking forward to it and so I would pretend I felt the same way, but kept my little secret. Continue reading “Walking back: Re-connecting to the True Woman I already am” →

Healing Anxiety with My Own Loveliness

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I look back over my life today and most of it doesn’t seem real to me anymore, as it is not part of my life now. I have come a long way and changed so much.

I have come from a life of severe anxiety and intense panic attacks with periods of agoraphobia (not being able to leave the house), and feeling like I had to grit my teeth and push myself to get through every day… to now, feeling like a calm and steady woman who is mostly guided through the day by a deep loveliness that comes from within. Continue reading “Healing Anxiety with My Own Loveliness” →

Self-Worth and Nurturing: How One Leads to the Other

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by Victoria Lister, Brisbane, Australia

Recently I attended a meeting of a group of women who regularly get together to discuss issues that arise in our daily lives. It was a beautiful chance to catch up with friends and re-cap on all we’ve covered so far. During the meeting, I found myself drawn to a very simple, yet key, aspect of our latest get-together – nurturing – and how we can all go deeper, and what that truly entails.

Simply, it was presented to us that although we have all come a long way in terms of developing a more nurturing connection with ourselves as women, we can all go much further by looking at what this means for us personally, and how we might develop simple routines and techniques we can use to support us in our daily lives.

Many of us could feel the truth of this, with several women commenting on the things they have found (or suspected) prevent them from being truly nurturing towards themselves. One woman linked it to a lack of self-worth, with the premise that we cannot truly nurture ourselves if we don’t believe it is worth giving that time, attention and loving support to ourselves. Continue reading “Self-Worth and Nurturing: How One Leads to the Other” →

The Power of Women when United

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Recently I was offered the opportunity to feel the ABSOLUTE power that naturally exists between two women when they both choose to connect in essence: it was an insight into the power and beauty women hold when united. When connected to another’s essence we let go of all our stuff, comparisons, and judgments and even stop competing with each other, hence make way for so much more. It felt very still, huge, unwavering and silky to connect with another woman’s essence, but it also felt very normal and familiar – even though I can not remember feeling such a pure connection before. Continue reading “The Power of Women when United” →

Hong Kong Women and Women Everywhere – A Letter to You and Me

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by Adele Leung, a woman and perpetual student, Discovery Bay, Hong Kong

Dear Women of Hong Kong,

(Hong Kong – a fast paced cosmopolitan, high spending financial centre of the East)

We have worked so hard, sped so fast, endlessly, tirelessly in action, in constant motion, in building up what we all wish for – recognition, is it not?

We have shown everyone that we can do everything a man can, or more, or better. We know how to dress up, run a meeting, hold a conference, host a large dinner party and discipline kids who misbehave. We are the spotlight of the party, the sexy wife, with flawless and age-proof skin. Continue reading “Hong Kong Women and Women Everywhere – A Letter to You and Me” →

Re-discovering the Delicateness Within

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by Adrienne Ryan, Brisbane, Australia

There is an exquisite ‘quality’ deep within every human being that we can allow ourselves to feel, connect with and begin to nurture.

When we connect to this quality and allow it to be, it naturally and effortlessly becomes part of whatever we do – it becomes our expression.

The more we nurture it (like a seed with sunlight and water), the more it grows and the fuller our expression of it becomes. As we nurture it, over time the quality within grows from seed to sapling and onward to oak.

We all have it – we all have something within ourselves, a unique quality with its own flavour of delicateness, tenderness, or joyfulness; so beautiful, so lovely and so natural. When we connect to it and continue to nurture it along, it begins to radiate out in every activity. Continue reading “Re-discovering the Delicateness Within” →

Celebrate, the Woman Within

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by Cherise Holt, Nurse, Australia

At a recent Women’s Presentation in Brisbane, a group of women shared how truly beautiful it is when we re-connect to ourselves as women: a connection that we override when we invest in fulfilling the roles we have adopted, or live under the pressures from ourselves and from a society that constantly tells us how and who we should be.

As women, it is important to reconnect to our bodies… what are we really feeling? In any moment, when we begin to ask ourselves this question we realise that our bodies never lie to us. If we are feeling stressed, tired, unwell or out of sorts, tense or exhausted – our bodies can feel it: or if there is something we don’t want to do, perhaps something doesn’t feel right. In addition, we may find ourselves doing too much in our day, or doing for others ahead of ourselves; or even when we are simply being hard on ourselves – we know about it. But when we make the time to stop and feel, we get to see that there is another way to be; a way that is honouring and cherishes the woman we already are. Continue reading “Celebrate, the Woman Within” →

The Things l’ve Done to Find the True Woman

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by Jenny Ellis, Practitioner and Director: UniMed Brisbane, Australia 

I started my forays into personal growth and healing back in the late 90’s when I found myself with everything that was supposed to make me feel successful and good about myself  – good relationship, a handsome, attentive partner, good job opportunities, a nice place to live, supportive family and a lovely young son. Yet I felt far from satisfied inside, and knew it wasn’t that I had higher ideas of what life should be – since I had what I’d always thought I wanted.

I realise in retrospect that it was how I felt about myself as a woman that was my main source of dis-content – unattractive, inadequate and lacking in confidence pretty much sums it up. There was always a ‘there’ I never seemed to get to, as far as feeling good about myself for any length of time.

I was in fact, far from unattractive or inadequate, but I felt it and had great ways of covering this up. Continue reading “The Things l’ve Done to Find the True Woman” →