Tag Archive for spirit

Aleph by Paulo Coelho

18/11/2011 Joh reading

I am a fan of Paulo Coelho. I have read all his books and this latest ‘Aleph’ was a return to his writing about his personal and spiritual journey. He has written some great stories. The quest type stories are rich as his tales, yet different I think due to their personal nature. In this story he adventures on a train across Russia. There are many reflections about travel in this book.

I related to the start of the novel where he met with his ‘Master’ yet felt disillusioned and doubtful about his whole process. I really enjoyed the discussion about routine as I mentioned in a recent post about work I have recently noticed how my change of routine has given me my life back. I feel happier and more connected.:

“Go and re-conquer your kingdom, which has grown corrupted by routine. Stop repeating the same lesson because you won’t learn anything new that way.’ (pg9)

When I read those pages I knew the tale was for me. I haven’t travelled across continents and rediscovered past lives, recently, yet stepping out of the familiar routines doesn’t always need such things:).

 

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I’m a Believer by Jessica Adams

26/07/2011 Joh reading

I loved this book. Jessica Adams writes contemporary books that have characters I can identify with. She grapples with the questions of life, death and life after death in this one. The main character is a science teacher. His girlfriend dies and whilst feeling there can’t be a higher being because life’s not treating him well, he experiences conversations with her that convince him of life hereafter. Lot’s happens to reveal more than meets the eye. I enjoyed many of the descriptions about life as a teacher and the types of dilemmas teachers grapple with.
I enjoy her writing. This is the second of her novels I’ve read and I relate to the characters, the questions and the resolutions.
I’m a Believer covers much ground.

Now that Darin has returned to being a chef and I am basically keeping school hours, I have more time to read. We are adjusting to our new routines. I still feel like there is something that I would prefer to be doing but I’m not sure what it is yet. In the meantime, I’m enjoying school and finding CRT work is plentiful and satifying for now.

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Full Moon in Pisces – Wednesday 25th August 2010

24/08/2010 Joh astrology, work

Happy Birthday to my brother Tim for today.

At around 3am tomorrow morning the moon will be full in Pisces. My natal moon is in that sign so I wonder if there is any significance to that. Pisces represents dreams, intuition and all things fantasy-like, so I imagine that energy will prevail during this full moon.

Things have eased up astrologically and I read today that we are about to enjoy the lighter third of the year. I can’t say I’m sad to hear it, this year has been massive really. There have been so many changes. Most of the changes have been great but it’s been one of those years that I look back to this time last year and feel I am living on a different planet. I don’t expect that to ease actually because I have big plans for changes to my life, yet I feel I am making the changes in this instance not adjusting to a changing landscape if that makes any sense.

Pisces Full Moon : Do Nothing by Moonkssed is a restful read for this full moon. I am feeling this energy this week also. I have restarted my simple yoga practices and meditated this week and I am feeling it’s time to return to calmer and healthier ways of being. Tomorrow I am on a day retreat with the year 11′s and I’m really looking forward to that space, even if this is the first moment I’ve had today to think about the retreat side of it.
Click here for an Authentic Astrology Report

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The Five People you meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom

30/07/2010 Joh reading, relationships

My year 11′s were sharing their literature SACs (latest name for school assessed course work in VCE course{once known as HSC and previously by other names})with me based on ‘The Five People you meet in Heaven’. They were great stories and I have seen this book on Tom’s bookshelf the couple of times I have randomly dusted upstairs. The students writing was the final inspiration to read the book. It was the highlight of my day yesterday!

‘All endings are also beginnings. We just don’t know it at the time…’

This is a truly big picture book about a man who dies, with a seemingly empty life, and explores what it was all about with the five people you meet in heaven. It is a big picture book. It reveals connections that make me reflect on the ones I make. I really enjoyed it.

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The Language of Archetypes by Caroline Myss

23/01/2010 Joh health, reading

Cover of Cover via Amazon

Yesterday I finished listening to “The Language of Archetypes” from Caroline Myss. I have read ‘Anatomy of the Spirit‘ by the author many years ago and found it facinating. This talk was enjoyable also. I loved her directness and humour. She spoke confidently and forcefully about the archetypes. She is born the same day as me, although some years earlier. It’s no wonder I found her so easy to listen to!

I’m still musing on what my archetypes and lessons are. This review by Janet Boyer describes in more detail what the series is about if you are interested. Unlike Janet, I haven’t read everything there is to read by Caroline Myss so I was rather captivated by this series and frequently laughed aloud whilst listening. I think I will get my hands on ‘Sacred Contracts’ in the near future, hopefully as an audio because I really enjoyed her voice.

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Inspiration: Your Ultimate Calling by Dr Wayne Dyer

12/08/2009 Joh learn, reading

I’ve enjoyed a few books by Dr Wayne Dyer over the years. I think the first one was ‘You’ll See it When You Believe It’ or something like that. When I read about the ‘law of attraction’ or ‘The Secret’ it seems same idea and there are probably plenty of other versions of it.  The first ever new agey type book I read ‘Creative Visualisation’ by Shakti Gawain, is similar. I don’t often reread these books, but I can enjoy the same messages in different voices.

This book is a mixture of anecdotes, practical steps and quotes. It reinforced the message from the previous book I’d read ‘The Art of Trust’. It’s about finding what you can give that makes you feel good and trusting what you know. I like to read books that acknowledge spirit. If I don’t remind myself of that part of life, I lose the magic.

I felt very uninspired about my work life before I took my holidays. I was considering looking for a new job or different work. I felt like my time was up at my school and I was ready to move on. I just couldn’t settle on what next. I think having six weeks to choose exactly what I wanted to do, and mostly the things I did were pretty self indulgent, left me realising it would never be enough to just entertain and amuse myself. I need to interact with others and learn with them and solve problems. It keeps everything in the right balance for me.

It’s inspired me to get a bit more pushy about the things I believe in work wise. I have some strong ideas about what it is to be a teacher today. They are not always popular and I don’t have stats, facts and figures to back what I believe, so I want to get some. I don’t want to be an academic. I don’t want to do any more university study, but I do want to express what I believe and I will on this blog as well as continuing to be vocal and outspoken at school. I had started to believe that I couldn’t change anything so why bother. It was a very frustrating and dull way to be because I still felt the same and by not expressing it because I’d given up, I was losing self respect. It really doesn’t matter if things change the way I hope, I want to take action in support of what I know to be true.

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The Valkyries by Paulo Coelho

17/11/2008 Joh reading, relationships

‘The Valkyries’ is a novel about conversing with angels. The author goes on a journey to find a band of motorbike riding women in order to see his angel and communicate. His wife comes along for the journey and the other story is one of their relationship and recommitting to one another. The wife begins her own spiritual journey as a result of supporting him in his quest and finds herself in a struggle for her love and marriage.

After being advised to look at the horizon by a teacher she says:

“It seems as if…I don’t know…I can’t explain it…as if my soul has grown”

“Before, I looked in the distance, and things in the distance seemed really far, you know? They seemed not to be a part of my world. Because I was used to looking only at things that were close, the things around me.”

“But, two days ago, I got used to looking into the distance. And I saw that besides tables, chairs, and objects, my world also included the mountains, clouds, the sky. And my soul – my soul seems to have eyes that it uses to touch those things.” (p44)

This reminded me of one of my favourite books “The Marriages Between Zones Three, Four, and Five” by Doris Lessing. The people of Zone Four were discouraged from looking up at the clouds and the mountains. Zone Four represented a place where people were less spiritual, more grounded and war like. Al*Ith, the central character is from Zone Five, a more evolved culture. She can’t resist looking up, and is nourished by the view, to the discomfort of those she is living with in Zone Four.

Since reading this book, I have really noticed people who walk around with their heads down. They are the sad and downtrodden. I want to say to them ‘look up’. For now though I am trying to look up myself and stretch my own horizons.

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Sure as hell…

08/11/2008 Joh random
“I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best.”
Marilyn Monroe
I want this made into a sign that goes everywhere with me.

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Mary Stewart 21/11/1929-25/10/2008

02/11/2008 Joh gratitude, learn

Mary was my yoga teacher. I only learnt this weekend of her passing and I feel quite stunned about it. I didn’t realise she was that age, I would have expected her to be 20 years younger. She was always so energetic and looked amazing for her age. She moved closer to her family in recent years, so I hadn’t seen her for a while.

I had my first yoga class with her when I was 15. At the Catholic girls school I attended, we had one class we could choose a week and yoga was one of the offerings. I loved it. My friend Jane and I picked it every time and when we could no longer do it at school, would attend her evening classes. Sometimes our mum’s would come, but sometimes not. She was so patient and yet held a dignified space with our giggles and restlessness. We made progress and both of us still value and practise yoga. I am grateful for the flexibility of my body from those practices she taught us.

Every exam I’ve ever had to do, I’ve been thankful of learning about breath from Mary to remain focussed and calm. I’ve never experienced stress or anxiety about tests, having such a great tool to call on. My daughter used a relaxation tape of Mary’s for many stressful times also, she got it from my mum who also loved Mary’s classes.

I remember when I returned here I went to her for massage for a while and went back to classes that she held at school for teachers after hours. She was such a knowledgeable and wise woman. I really appreciate all she has taught me and I wish I’d told her what a gift she was to my life. My condolences to her family. Her tribute notice captures beautifully her great spirit. “Love is the glue that holds the world together”. 

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By the River Piedra I Sat Down and Wept by Paulo Coelho

01/11/2008 Joh reading, relationships

This book, set on a reunion road trip, is about loving and letting go. It also contains Coelho’s feminine spiritual philosophy, that I appreciate. I read it whilst I was on camp at Tamboritha. I thought I had already read this book and was about to give it away. I try to give away books because I have too many and I rarely read a book  twice.

I picked it up and realised I had only began reading it when I visited my good friend Jane in Fremantle on my first trip there, back in 1999. That feels like a lifetime ago and I had mistakenly, each time I picked it up thought, I’ve read this, but I never got to the end. It was before Sam had his accident. It was just before I moved back here when my grandmother was ill, yet still alive.

The book is about a woman who goes about her life, living as she thinks she ‘should’. She has a lost love that returns and she is afraid to trust or to throw away the mundane security she has worked to create as his lifestyle is far from secure or known. I love this quote:

“But love is much like a dam: if you allow a tiny crack to form through which only a trickle of water can pass, that trickle will quickly bring down the whole structure, and soon no one will be able to control the force of the current.”

It was a helpful story and I won’t give away the ending because it is kind of irrelevant and was a surprise to me. It’s about the battle to try to resist love that you want, but know is disruptive, is never going to work, is not practical. The sickening feeling that you know it will hurt in the end, but you can’t bring yourself to deny yourself in that moment.  

When I got home from camp it became very relevant. These weeks have been really busy though so my personal life is a private sub plot. I can relate to that quote. I am hopeless at casual relationships and those tiny cracks quickly appear when I am attracted to someone and spend even a little time with them.

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