By Gabriele Conrad, Goonellabah, NSW

I had quite an eye opener of an experience the other day. And eye opener is the appropriate term here, as it showed me firsthand and very tangibly what I had known for a long time about how we use our eyes.

I work as a book editor and a colleague had sent me two lines of a text with a typo in it to add to my collection of errata for its second edition; I had quickly skimmed the email and gleaned that there was an ‘r’ in the wrong place.

When I got back to the email a couple of days later I ended up staring at those two lines for a long while; I just could not spot the typo. May I add here that I have a lot of experience in this area; you could say that I am a pro. But no matter how hard I tried, I could not see the typo. There was no ‘r’ out of place, no matter how often I examined these two lines of text. And here they are:

They key to any minor or major problem is

to find the simplicity that has been ignored.

Serge Benhayon, Esoteric Teachings & Revelations, Volume II, ed. 1, p 367

I was very puzzled; extremely puzzled and confused. How come I could not spot this simple and straightforward typo, one that somebody had already pointed out?

Continue reading “We see what we want to see …” →

by Joan Calder, retired/volunteer work, Frome, UK 

It is a known fact among actors that there are moments on stage when you cannot remember how you arrived at the point you have reached, but more terrifyingly, you just cannot remember your lines. The mind goes blank and panic sets in. This can happen more frequently as they age until some have to give up their profession entirely. It is not only actors who suffer this in older life, all those who develop some form of dementia follow the same pattern.

Often in life we hear people confessing they find themselves somewhere and have no idea how they arrived there, or they can’t remember names, or what they were going to do next. Perhaps not so surprising, if as per Shakespeare, “All the world’s a stage” and we are all transient actors entering and leaving.

Recently there was a research project with a group of older actors which came out with some surprising results. The research team followed a group of older actors as they took part in a course of improvisation classes at the National Theatre. Many actors who have been used to learning their lines and having to remember them find it difficult to improvise, the same with musicians, especially those older actors who were trained in the old way of learning lines by rote or memory and did not experience the newer style theatre training with lots of free form improvisation.

Continue reading “Memory Loss  –  Learning the lines or improvisation, or neither?” →

by Rosie Bason, Australia. 

Let me introduce you to Susan, Nick and Ingrid, three dear friends of mine who are all friends and have a few things in common. Nick is my Dad, so he really is family, and Susan and Ingrid are family too but we are not related by blood in any way, but the love is there all the same. We often get together and have shared meals and support each other in whatever way we can.

Have a look at these three elders who are all around the same age and what do you see? To me, when I see them, I see the wisdom of their life, I see the glow in them, like something is radiating out of them and I see a joy that is infectious. Continue reading “Cancer and the three amigos!” →

By Nicole Serafin, Tintenbar, NSW

How should we look when we are ill, sick and or in disease? Is there a specific way we should be, or is it that as a society we have become so used to living in a quality that is less than vital on a daily basis that when we do become sick, ill or in disease, our health often plummets considerably and we have nothing left in reserve to sustain or support us?

I recently experienced an illness and made an appointment to see my local GP, presenting with body aches and pains, cold shivers, sweats and a piercing pain in my right lung, which at the time was diagnosed as a viral infection. It was suggested I get some blood tests done in a few days once the acute infection had passed, as I had had similar symptoms a few months before, and the doctor wanted to make sure there was no other underlying disease.

So off I went on my family holiday with my supply of Nurofen and Panadol, thinking the infection would pass in a few days, as it was supposedly just viral – but boy was I wrong. Continue reading “Illness and Disease – How Should You Look?” →

by Matilda Bathurst, Midwife & Primary School Teacher, UK

I have been beautifully, tenderly and gently humbled this week following a visit to my GP on Monday. For over 3 weeks I had had a cough and was feeling various degrees of unwell, resisting, as is my tendency, really taking care of myself and allowing support from others.

Prompted by a beautiful man in my life, I made the appointment and was guided by my GP to take some antibiotics, in that a cough that persists for over 3 weeks is significant and he could hear a ‘slight crackle’ in the base of my left lung.

For a long time, I have had a disdainful relationship with mainstream medicine, avidly exploring alternative modalities and building an arrogance in myself about mainstream medicine being ‘less’ and below me. So it was with some discomfort and unfamiliarity that I collected my prescription and actually committed to take the tablets. Continue reading “Eating humble pie – taking antibiotics for the first time in over 20 years” →

By Inmaculada Cobo Soler, Spain. 

Three years ago, I was diagnosed with very advanced osteoporosis, which led me to enquire honestly about the relationship I had with my body.

I come from a family which fundamentally values two things: a person’s capacity to accomplish great academic achievements or, in the case of not having higher education, the ability to be acclaimed by a natural intelligence and work capacity. The body was a mere instrument to this end, and it could be subjected to sleepless days and nights if needed, sustaining itself with the help of coffee like my father did or, as I used to do, living off my nervous system.

After finishing my higher education and starting work, I did what I thought was taking care of my health by doing road cycling and running half-marathons. Also in the name of health I dedicated many years of my life to learn and practise different kinds of nutrition.

The common denominator of this path has been my body being tyrannised by the demands and wishes of my mind. From the moment I decided what I wanted to do with my body, and left no room for feeling and listening to what my body actually needed, what was supposed to be “healthy” stands as an external imposition, based on ideals and beliefs, and therefore becomes unhealthy.

Continue reading “The Body Doesn’t Lie – Being Diagnosed with Osteoporosis” →