Month: November 2015

A Tooth Quest

By Dianne Trussell, BSc Hons,Goonellabah, NSW.

When I was a little child, I was already committed to my health. At school we were taught in the subject ‘Health And Hygiene’ to brush our teeth 3 times a day, so I did that diligently. But no-one told us or demonstrated how to actually brush properly. And no-one told us about toothbrush care. They also told us that sugar was bad for our teeth and caused decay and that’s one of the reasons we should brush our teeth 3 times a day. But no-one told us what foods sugar was in! And no-one told us about relating the sugar consumption and the brushing together in time i.e. that you needed to brush your teeth after you ate the sugar and what this would mean for the wellbeing of our teeth.

My mum had false teeth, as she ‘lost’ all hers in her mid-teens. That was so horrifying to me that I was motivated to care for my teeth! Not only that, but because she had no real teeth for her whole adult life, she was no role model for tooth care for her children. Putting your plastic choppers in a glass at night hardly qualified! Continue reading “A Tooth Quest” →

My Body and the Body of God

 by Liane Mandalis, Possum Creek, NSW, Australia

My whole life I have felt trapped in my body. Now, I know that sounds a bit strange, but this is how it has felt for me. Bodies are dense, they get sick, they are subject to abuse both from ourselves and from others. In short – they get hurt and the pain goes deep. If I choose to not connect too deeply then I won’t get hurt, right? Wrong.

I have spent a lifetime fighting my body and perceiving it as some ‘enemy’ that needed to be at best conquered and at worst abandoned. I was under the belief that our bodies let us down; they shake, they tremble, they vomit, they cry, they bleed, they break, they shut down, they faint, they get SO exhausted… Basically, my body did not feel like a safe place for me to be, but seeing as I had nowhere else to go, the only option was to ‘grin and bear it’. And so I did, through the many ailments that would come and seemingly go, only to come again. Nothing too serious to warrant immediate medical attention, but enough to leave me feeling depleted, depressed, disconnected (but from what?), anxious and exhausted. At one stage it all felt ‘too much’ and I suffered from bouts of anxiety and panic attacks. I was a nervous wreck, ever ready to fight or take flight. Continue reading “My Body and the Body of God” →