Addiction – Russell Brand requests a more compassionate and loving approach to helping people heal

This is a 29-minute video clip of Russell Brand testifying at a Government Committee about reform to the way that addiction issues are regulated and handled. He openly shares his story of overcoming addiction and his belief that most addicts are people suffering from emotional, mental and spiritual maladies. If they heal these issues they no longer need the drug to mask their feelings and internal pain. Russell argues for a more compassionate and loving approach by Government, seeing addiction as a health issue and people needing support to heal, rather than being viewed as criminals or burdens to society. It is wonderful to see his authenticity and truth sharing – he urges more people to do the same so that we can have a real discussion about these issues and how to resolve them.

What to do when you feel blue about the state of the Earth?

cuddle earthRecently I have been feeling weighed down by the state of the planet, the enormity of the sustainability challenges we are facing and the difficulty of getting behaviour change. I asked for a message from Mother Earth about all of this. Here is what I channeled (23 Nov 2013).

Child it is I who talks to you all the time. It is my energy you hear in your head, for I dwell inside all beings. I am not in turmoil, I am just in a process of flux, of natural evolutionary growth. Do not fear a doomsday apocalyptic ending for that will not occur. Love will reign supreme on this planet and will heal the hearts of man and revitalise the natural elements of all.

There is nothing to fear or worry about. Be happy. Yes, human actions impact me, but it is of minor significance for I am much stronger than your scientists think. I can discharge adverse energies through natural disasters and rebalance myself to a state of peace and tranquility. Yes, increasing natural disasters are occurring because there is much I have to release due to your actions, but that is not as devastating a thing as your media makes out. Not on a planetary level. On the human level it is disruptive if you happen to live at a place of flux, but those who live there chose this as part of their incarnation. All souls are aware of this. It is just your human minds that doubt and question.

So there is no need for panic or despair. Trust all is happening as it needs to. Yes beings raising their vibration and spreading love helps to cancel out the adverse energies, thereby reducing the need for me to have so many releases, which you call natural disasters. So, yes what you do matters. It is this energy work you do that is so much more important than how you choose to live. Yes, it would be good for people to consume less and conserve. It all helps. But as you know we all have many energetic bodies and the physical is the densest. You make a much bigger impact through being love, having internal peace and harmony than you do by just recycling or donating to an orphanage or other cause. It all helps. It is all important, but it is your inner work that has the biggest impact.

Be the love you want to see in the world.
Be the love you want to see in the world.

So what I need from you and all beings is to have them understand this and to focus on creating inner and outer harmony in their lives, for then I will follow suit. Don’t panic or fear. Don’t predict the worst. Trust in love and joy and be this in the world. Celebrate life, live in a state of gratitude for all you have and vibrate at the level of the I AM Consciousness – that is what is needed most. So focus on that for yourself and assist others to do the same.

Do not waste your energy focusing on obtaining behaviour change for sustainability in the traditional sense. Let others do that. Your work, your mission is much more important than that. You are to help yourself and others to reconnect to me, their hearts, God and all beings. To see we truly are connected and united as one being. To create harmony and love for all. To see that connection, the synchronicity of life and its evolutionary process, to see we are all evolving into beings of love and peace. You are a wayshower for this.

You are an anchor for great light as are your Unite the Light and Abdy colleagues. A great many are doing this work and it is working. We are all awakening to oneness and love of All There Is. So do not fret, do not panic and do not give up. Be yourself, a bright beacon of light and joy for all to see. This is your mission, your joy, your destiny. So be it Child. Thank you for caring and for being the bright light that you are. Adieu.

Should I share this message as a blog post?

Yes Child you can do so. Some will relate, some will not, but a message of hope is useful. I am not saying don’t live sustainably, I am saying that it is okay if that doesn’t occur for all beings. I will not die and I won’t kick most of you off. I won’t need to as enough of you are waking up to love and peace, in yourselves and your lives, that you energetically help to balance up the actions of those who don’t. Yes, it would be great to see all of humanity choosing sustainable lives and supporting all beings, sharing and loving, but it is okay if this doesn’t happen overnight. It will not be the end of the world. Blessed BE.

By Jodi-Anne (23 Nov 2013).

Further free guidance on healing techniques and self love are available on the Life Insights and Healing from child abuse pages of this website.

Personal development dictionary L-Z

IMG_0493In this dictionary you will find a range of words commonly used in our every day language along with some interesting ‘spiritual / personal development’ interpretations of their meaning. I’ve gathered these from a range of books including the Conversations with God collection by Neale Donald Walsch, God I am by Peter Erbe and people such as Hermann Muller who teaches Psychosomatic Therapy. The explanations are my own interpretations and may not necessarily be exactly what the authors intended. It is fascinating to see how powerful our language is!!

LYING – When you lie, you don’t speak or live your truth, you don’t let your inner light shine. Hence the light of your being and your truth ‘lies (lays) down’ on the ground and you can get walked over. Lying leads to fear of being caught out, fear of talking to other people too much in case you slip up and contradict yourself. It leads to a lot of energy being used up in trying to remember everything you lied about to all the different people you lied to. It’s exhausting! Hence you become vulnerable and more fearful. You can become depressed. It feels like you’re pushed down with a heavy load to carry. Drop the load, tell the truth and you will lift yourself up – let your light and truth shine.

PASSED AWAY – Is a term we use when someone has died. Likewise if you are constantly thinking about the past and living life negatively affected by what has already happened to you then your body passes away. Your body is constantly caught up in those negative feelings and is unable to experience the present unhindered. When we live life this way our bodies age more rapidly. Science has confirmed this – anger and upset feelings lead to more acidity in the body which damages the cells. We also know this intuitively which is why we call wrinkles worry lines. Let go of the past, heal and enjoy life. Learn to love yourself, life and others. When you live in the now your body doesn’t age so much. You can even appear to look younger.

RELEASE – when you release buried emotions and tension you feel ‘real ease’ within yourself.

RESPONSIBILITY – RESPONDING with ABILITY – we all have the responsibility for how we choose to live our life. Every day we make lots of decisions and we can choose actions that lead to growth and healing or not. It is up to us. When someone pushes your buttons don’t react automatically. Stop and ‘respond with ability’ – make a choice you will be proud of.

SATAN – Seeing Anything As Negative – the universe is abundant and will support us if we just accept its love and assistance. Many of us don’t. We think it’s a ‘dog eat dog’ world. We have to work hard to survive. These are all just choices and beliefs. All just thoughts that we can change at any time we choose too.

SEX – Synergistic Energy Exchange – sex allows two people to be truly intimate. To connect in a very deep level of intimacy – ‘in to me you see’. It enables the energies of the two people to interact and exchange. It is a beautiful life creating gift.

UNIFORMED – when all people act the same, conforming to society’s standards then everything is uniform. We lose the diversity of life. This is ‘un-informed’. Reality is very diverse. we are all individuals. Conforming is a ‘con’, it is a ‘form’ of denial of yourself.

That’s it for the dictionary……. hope you enjoyed it!

Personal development dictionary E-K

heart radiate blue energyIn this dictionary you will find a range of words commonly used in our every day language along with some interesting ‘spiritual / personal development’ interpretations of their meaning. I’ve gathered these from a range of books including the Conversations with God collection by Neale Donald Walsch, God I am by Peter Erbe and people such as Hermann Muller who teaches Psychosomatic Therapy. The explanations are my own interpretations and may not necessarily be exactly what the authors intended. It is fascinating to see how powerful our language is!!

EGO – the ego directs where your Energy Goes – E-Go. Many people think the ego is bad and needs to be gotten rid off. This is impossible. It is a part of us and it is okay. The ego can be balanced and not misused. Your ego can be just as powerful doing good, helpful things for you as it can be for doing negative things when you’re not consciously aware of what you are doing.

FATE – From All Thoughts Everywhere – Our thoughts create our reality and what we experience. We are all made up of atoms of energy vibrating at a certain frequency. Our thoughts reflect our frequency of vibration and radiate out drawing in to us people, places, things and events that match our vibratory level. As you heal and ‘lighten up’ your vibratory level also lightens and therefore you attract in lighter, more harmonious events, people, places and things into your life. You create your own reality through your thoughts.

FEAR – False Emotion Appearing Real – fear is just the result of negative thinking. Fear helps us to avoid change and healing. Whatever you resist persists! So the longer you avoid facing your fears the longer they will remain. And they will get stronger because over time you will feel weaker, more incapable and more negative about yourself since you are still afraid. Fear, like illness, is designed to show you that something in your life is not aligned with love and your highest good. Fear enters your life to help you heal. If you face your fears, learn that there is nothing to be afraid of and move forward you will become fearless – more loving and trusting of your own ability to handle life and more trusting of life itself. You will learn to come from love – which is the opposite of fear.

GOD – Getting Over Denial – Many of the personal development and spirituality authors believe that we are all a part of god or if they don’t go so far as to say that they say we are all capable of becoming like god. In essence what they are saying is that we all have the potential to do whatever we want in our lives. We can all choose to be good, loving people helping ourselves and others. We can all have success, happiness, love, peace and harmony. However, we have to create it. There is no god out there directing our lives. We are the director. We are the one in control. We have total free will in this universe – we can do what we want. It is up to us.

HOLY SPIRIT – the ‘whole I spirit’. When you heal and embrace all parts of yourself you become whole. We all have the potential to behave in all ways. Many of us try to separate from or disown the parts of us that we judge as negative. For example we may try to push away or bury the parts of us that are judgmental, jealous, angry, sarcastic, or nasty. Yet those emotions and forms of behaviour are a part of being human. Each emotion is trying to tell us something, to make us aware that there is something about our experience in life that we don’t like, that isn’t in line with our highest good. We can learn from this. As we do so we learn to embrace all the parts of ourself as we heal and become whole. We let go of fear and can come from love in all things that we do. We become able to acknowledge that we are ‘wholly spirit’.

IDENTITY – is the ID also known as the personality covering the ENTITY or soul during its experience of being human. We are not our bodies or our mind. We are larger than that. We may think we are our bodies or our minds and judge ourself based on those, but they are not our true self. Many people believe in reincarnation, where the soul enters a body each lifetime so that it can experience physicality and all the challenges of being on Earth. This occurs so that we can learn all there is about life – to go through a wide range of experiences learning to let go of fear, to love ourself and others, to realise that we are all connected and the universe supports us in our efforts. To some this may seem like absolute rubbish – that’s fine. To others it will ring true. That’s fine too.

INCURABLE – Curable from withIN – Doctors often suggest that some diseases are not treatable by medicine – that they are incurable. People labelled with incurable diseases often feel that there is nothing that can be done. That they are doomed to die from the disease which has been classed as terminal. The findings of quantum physics experiments, spirituality and healing modalities would suggest otherwise. Many people have cured themselves of terminal cancer and other diseases. They do so by working within themselves – to heal all their hurts, painful emotions and experiences from the past. The memories of these past events is stored in the cells of your body and if you don’t release the emotion or face how you really feel then it can lead to dis-ease – your body is not at ease and it is trying to get your attention. For a great example of someone who has cured themselves of cancer read Brandon Bay’s book ‘The Journey’.

INNOCENCE – My INNER SENSE – following your intuition and letting what is inside of you out without modification results in being at peace with yourself and the world. It is very powerful. However, it can be challenging to do as the majority of people in society follow conditioned patterns of behaviour and unwritten rules. To stand outside of these and honour yourself can often be a lonely place to start with. As you progress you will meet like minded souls.

INTIMACY – IN TO ME SEE – seeing myself more clearly and allowing others to see my true self. We often hide who we are out of fear of being rejected by others. We may think that if people truly knew who we were deep down inside they wouldn’t like us. This is really sad. As a result of these fears we interact on a very shallow, surface level talking about the weather, jobs and other ‘safe’ items. We don’t discuss deep and meaningful issues, our fears, our hopes, dreams and aspirations. We don’t get to know the true essence of each other. This can lead us to feel alone even when we are with other people. True intimacy requires taking the risk of letting people really get to know you. Showing them who you really are. When you do this it can be scary to start with, but ultimately it is extremely rewarding as you really feel known, honoured, heard and loved by those you interact with. As you learn to love and accept yourself you will radiate this energy out which enables others to love and accept you more. The outer world reflects your inner world!!

I will share more examples in the next post!

Personal development dictionary A-D

In this dictionary you will find a range of words commonly used in our every day language along with some interesting ‘spiritual / personal development’ interpretations of their meaning. I’ve gathered these from a range of books including the Conversations with God collection by Neale Donald Walsch, God I am by Peter Erbe and people such as Hermann Muller who teaches Psychosomatic Therapy. The explanations are my own interpretations and may not necessarily be exactly what the authors intended. It is fascinating to see how powerful our language is!!

ADULT – As adults we have ADULTERATED our innocence (inner sense), changed it to fit in with others. Hence we don’t express ourselves. We behave – ‘be’ and ‘have’ what others ‘have’ and ‘be’ so that they feel comfortable around us.

ALONENESS – Many of us find it hard to spend time alone, especially in silence. We feel lonely and that feels like torture! This occurs when you don’t really like the person you are alone with – yourself!! As you heal and learn to accept and love yourself, spending time alone is great. You love the time to connect with your inner-self, to hear your thoughts, listen to your desires, to feel your feelings and to take action to create the life you want. You feel whole and connected to yourself, life and the universe. Hence aloneness becomes a beautiful experience of ‘All Oneness’.

ATONE – Some people talk about a need to atone for their sins. From a personal development point of view there are no sins – only learning opportunities. We learn that we don’t feel good about ourself when we do something that hurts others or ourself. We learn over time that hurting someone else just hurts me.

In this sense we are ‘at one’ with others. So to atone is to accept and live your life knowing that you are connected to others – that we are all one. Science shows that this is true in the sense that we are all breathing out dead cells and atoms from our body creating a soup of DNA, energy and information in the air. Each of us breathes some of this in and uses the atoms and energy in the air to create new cells in our body. Hence we all contain atoms and energy that have been in other people’s bodies. We truly are all connected! Spiritual authors also say that there is only one energy – that everything in the universe is made from this energy which is God – hence we are all ‘at one’ just experiencing life here on Earth.

BARGAIN – to bargain is to ‘bar gain’ from entering our life. Money can be seen as another way of expressing love. When we haggle down prices we are withholding love from those we are interacting with. We are coming from a focus on lack – a belief that there isn’t enough money or love so we need to be careful with it, stingy with it. We become reluctant to give and protect ourself. If everyone does this then the flow of money and love slows down. Life becomes more grim. Hence we diminish the likelihood that ‘gain’ will come into our life – when we don’t give freely we don’t receive freely! The world’s poorest nations are the ones where bargaining has become a way of life. Where withholding love from one’s brother has become the accepted norm and a cause of poverty. If you bargain down the price of an item from $100 to $80, then in your mind you will only value it as worth $80. Hence you lose out on $20 worth of enjoyment. Worse according to Peter Erbe author of God I am, you create an energy imbalance of $20 which means you will either lose the item, break it or experience some other loss or bill for the $20 plus interest later on. Peter claims that this is the universal law of compensation. He says that if someone offers you a discount without you asking then that is okay as you haven’t withheld your love – you still give freely what is asked. So to receive freely love, energy and all good things in life you have to give them away freely too. You have to trust the universe is abundant and will support you. Peter claims that whatever you do this with comes back to you in greater amount. However, if you give only so that you get more, it doesn’t work. You have to truly give freely with no expectation. This concept is a hard one for many of us who have experienced lack and poverty to swallow. However he claims and so do many others that it does work. The more you heal and accept yourself, you come from love. As you do this you see more love around you in the world. You realise that you don’t need material objects to make you happy and you’re happier with and grateful for whatever you do have. From this frame of mind it is easier to imagine giving freely and not being so self concerned, protective or self centred.

BEHAVIOUR – I change what I ‘be’ and ‘have’ to what ‘U R’ so that you will accept me. In doing so I lose contact with who I am. Often if we swallow what we would like to say or don’t do what we really would like to do, it feels horrible. It feels like a small death. In a sense it is. As every time we don’t honour our true self, we are dishonouring ourself. Internally we are flooded with ‘bad’ feelings – sadness or anger at ourself or the situation. We lose touch with our true self. We are all individuals and we are all therefore different. It’s meant to be that way!! Learning to love and accept yourself, to fully express yourself and to be who you really are at all times is part of your challenge here on Earth. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about you – it’s only what you think about you that matters.

BELIEVE – What I ‘BE’ and ‘LIVE’ – knowing a concept like trust or self love is not worth much, it is only when you actually practice it in your life, that you really believe it.

CONFUSION – we are confused when we are ‘fused’ with our old beliefs which ‘con’ us into believing in lack, evil, scarcity – that the world is a harsh place. We may be set in our ways of thinking yet know that things aren’t working the way we want them to. We don’t know what to do about it – we feel confused. We need to un-focus from our old values and refocus on the greater reality – see the good in life. Confusion leads to a process of reorientation.

CRISIS – “Christ Is” – We learn and heal through crisis and pain. Without disruption to our lives many people would not take the time and effort to heal from their past hurts and focus on their personal growth – they try to ignore it and keep the past buried. Life is not going to be easy all the time. We all face challenges and can grow from them. Some people think they are being punished by God when something that they see as ‘bad’ happens to them. They’re not. It is a chance for growth. God, Christ, the Angels and Ascended Masters support us through such processes, helping us to find the strength to go on. This is aptly summarised in the saying “People turn to God when their foundations are shaking, Only to find that it is God who is shaking them”.

DEVIL – Denying Everything Valuable In Life – not seeing the perfection in everything – living life backwards – LIVED. Many of the personal development and spirituality authors believe that there is no devil. No such thing as evil. No judgement by God – only love and acceptance. It is we who judge ourself. It is we who create negative situations in our life by our thoughts and actions. If we get caught up in only seeing the negative in life we can spiral downwards into depression – it is our thoughts that create this. To overcome it we need to change our thoughts, start noticing and appreciating the good things that exist in the world and in our selves and our lives. Everything that happens to us occurs to help us awaken to love and let go of fear. If we don’t listen we have to attract larger lessons to help us. When you truly understand this and experience how it works and heal it becomes easier to see that everything is happening perfectly and the universe truly does support us – once we love and support ourselves!!

DISEASE – Dis Ease – when we are not at ease with ourself – we become ill. All dis-ease comes to us to help us realise something about ourself. To get our attention so that we wake up and change aspects of our life that are not in line with love and our highest good. Speak your truth, release buried emotions, heal, come from a place of love, do what you enjoy in life and you will be at ease. Choose to grow and develop – take action and do it – then you don’t need to attract in disease or other wake up calls.

DOUBT – Driving Ourselves Unconscious By Thinking – We are all beautiful human beings capable of doing amazing things. However many of us have been told or made to feel that we’re not good enough by other people. Unfortunately many of us now believe that about ourself. We may want to try new things, to change jobs, to start a new hobby or sport, but we feel doubt and fear and we allow this to stop us. The events themselves do not have any power – it is our thoughts about them – what we say to ourself that creates doubt and gives objects or people our power. In healing we learn to take our power back and to stop negative thoughts and self criticism. We learn to overcome doubt and fear and do things anyway. Knowing that we won’t get it perfect the first time, no-one does, and that we will get better at what ever we choose to do the more we do it.

I will share more examples in the upcoming posts…….

From disconnection to connection

Many people have lost their connection with their hearts and the Earth. They live busy, stressful lives where they rush from one moment to the next, rarely slowing down to breathe deeply or see the beauty all around them.

Such hectic lifestyles lead to a focus on doing, achieving and rushing which result in a lack of rest, peace and joy. We rush about and touch briefly with those around us. We may not eat together and converse savoring the opportunity to connect deeply with what each other is going through.

We may not take the time to play or exercise, both of which are needed for our bodies to be healthy. We spend so much time indoors we forget the majesty of the Earth and all the treasures available to us if we sit quietly in nature.

The green and blue colours which dominate in nature are soothing to our bodies. These colours help us relax and BE. That’s why people can sit and stare at the ocean and feel perfectly content doing so. The salt air also cleanses us energetically making it a very therapeutic activity to do. Likewise, spending time in parks, forests, gardens all helps our bodies to relax, our autonomic nervous systems to regulate and balance back up, to come out of fight or flight and adrenaline rush. Gardening also helps with spores from the soil being dug having a calming effect on the body.

So much happens without our realising it. There is now a field of research called ‘Earthing’ or ‘Grounding’. Where they have scientifically shown that the Earth’s surface has an electrochemical current that gets transmitted to us when we are in physical contact with her. When we walk bare foot or have other skin to skin (Earth’s surface) contact, an exchange of negative ions occurs, which is beneficial to health.

Many people have reported amazing reductions in inflammation, pain and other health issues simply as a result of spending more time connected to the Earth. You can buy earthing sheets for your bed so you can sleep grounded. The sheets have silver threads that conduct the electrical energy through them. However, it’s not electricity. It is just the Earth’s energy drawn through the third prong in a power outlet – the Earth wire. The power point can be turned off and it still works. Similar to sticking an earthing rod into the ground and running a wire from it to the sheets. For more information check out the Earthing Oz website. There is also a documentary made about the amazing health benefits of Earthing that is sometimes available for free viewing. See: http://youtu.be/jgwF0tpioTU.

In ancient times we all had greater contact with the Earth. We walked barefoot or in leather moccasins which also permitted the transfer of the current. We slept upon the Earth perhaps on animal skins which are conductive too! We grew and harvested our own foods and caught or hunted animals to eat.

Modern society is largely separate from that past. We wear rubber soled shoes which block the transfer of the Earth’s current. We spend our time indoors mostly and we buy the majority of our food already processed and prepared from the supermarket. Many are very disconnected from nature spending more time playing with technology than in nature.

Today’s children – many of them – have not spent a lot of time playing outdoors, using their imaginations, watching the clouds or playing with bugs. They don’t ride their bikes to the local creeks and catch tadpoles or have adventures. The creeks in some areas are gone, turned into concrete channels and some feel it is too dangerous to let kids roam the street, concerned about what may happen to them. Some parents feel it is safer to keep them inside, to let them play video games all day long. The result – greater levels of obesity, anxiety and depression. Also boredom. Many kids don’t know how to BE in nature, they would see it as boring. They are used to fast paced, action filled games and TV/Video shows that capture their attention and entertain them. They’re not used to generating their own fun or being still. This is something that is really sad for all concerned as many kids have not experienced deep conversations with those they love, with an ongoing heart to heart interaction. We all need that level of human connection and we need connection with nature too – in order to be truly healthy.

Another negative side effect of being indoors so much is a lack of natural light. Sunlight contains the full spectrum of light. If you shine it through a prism we see a rainbow. Each colour is a particular energetic frequency – that is what it is and our body uses each colour to regulate its functioning. If you become deficient in a particular colour there will be a negative impact on your body.

Colours are a certain energetic frequency
Colours are a certain energetic frequency (Image from: www.myuniversalfacts.com)

Fluorescent lighting, energy saving globes and LCD TV and computer screens all emit the blue spectrum – the higher end of the colour frequencies and less of the lower end – the red, orange and yellows. Excessive exposure to blue frequencies can lead to depression and is one reason we are seeing an increase in depression in our society. To alter this you can spend time in nature absorbing sunlight. You can also buy full spectrum light globes. You can even buy yellow TV/PC glasses that balance up the excessive blue with the opposite colour = yellow. Yellow is needed for our nervous systems to work effectively. You can wear the colours you need, decorate your house in them or have colour light therapy to help your body come into perfect functioning.

Colour is just a certain vibrational frequency and we are all made of energy. Our bodies are simply atoms vibrating at a certain density that seems solid but in fact is all energy. Light and colour is also energy and helps our bodies to heal itself. For more information about light therapy and the use of colour for happiness and health see my page on Samassati Colour Light Therapy.

So, if you are feeling sad, exhausted or depressed make some time to BE in nature, to connect into the peace and tranquility, to absorb her energy through skin to skin contact. Go for a walk, do some gardening, grow your own vegies. There are lots of things you can do that will help shift your mood. Even the act of walking at a normal pace for 20 minutes creates a change in the hormones and chemicals in the brain leading to greater peace and calmness. This is important for all of us, but especially those who are struggling in some way.

If you have kids ensure they spend some time outdoors playing or BE-ing. Get them involved in outdoor activities – be it scouts, sports or even environmentally restorative activities such as tree planting.

Schools today thankfully usually have some activity on this front. Many have their own vegie gardens, native gardens, chicken coops, compost and worm farms – that expose children to nature and important information about nutrition. It embeds a joy of working the soil and growing your own food. It teaches them how to prepare nutritious meals from what they’ve grown.

These programs have been found to have much wider benefits too. They help foster teamwork and leadership skills in kids. They build self esteem and give an opportunity for non-academic kids to also excel and feel successful. Indeed some of the academically gifted kids struggle outdoors and get to see the strengths of the other kids. These programs are often run in partnership with the community. Parents and other helpers assist the kids with the gardening or other activities that they do. This provides children with exposure to role models that they may not normally have access to. This is especially beneficial for the many children who are growing up without their Dad’s around on a day to day basis. They get to form a positive relationship with men who show them respect and appreciation of themselves and the Earth.

Guidebook explaining how schools and communities are working together for sustainability.
Guidebook explaining how schools and communities are working together for sustainability.

I conducted, along with my colleagues at RMIT University, a 3 year review of such partnership programs in Victoria from 2008-2010. Click here to read case studies of what schools are doing and here to see the benefits that result.

Our findings were used to produce a guidebook for other schools and communities to use on how to establish effective ‘School Community Learning Partnerships for Sustainability (SCLPfS)’. The guidebook is available for free online at: http://mams.rmit.edu.au/s3ysio6sumic1.pdf.

So, lets get connected with the Earth and enjoy the many benefits of doing so! The more connected we are the more likely we are to care about what occurs on the Earth. Like a protective parent standing up for it’s child, we can stand up for the Earth – speaking out against activities that harm her; taking action to reduce further damage; and repair that which has already occurred. All of us can play a part in this process. So, lets step up and use our voices and our hearts to create a world full of love and respect for all beings – for us and the Earth.

Blessed BE, Jodi-Anne

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Family breakdown and social fragmentation

In times past families were physically located closer together which helped strengthen connection and unity. Now families are spread across the globe. Aging parents don’t necessarily have loved ones near by to take care of them.

Our society, in general, is focused on achieving success, material wealth and individual advancement. This paradigm does not reward caring for the elderly. The elderly are seen as a nuisance, a problem to be handled and solved rather than the wisdom keepers, the pioneers, the treasure trove of support that they can be.

Grandparents can make a massive positive influence on children. This is especially needed in today’s world where many children are suffering from a lack of loving nurturing attention. Either because their parents have separated or even if together they are so busy that the children don’t get quality one on one time. Parents role model this lack of connection and this need to succeed and acquire wealth to their children who then grow and perpetuate this cycle.

What is needed and could solve this problem?

  • Parents realising what their children need is their love; their time; to play; to feel special, wanted and loved. They don’t need to watch more TV or have another computer game. They don’t need junk food and hurried eating. They need time together growing food, preparing nutritious meals and connection while eating them. Be a positive role model for your children for they learn from your every move.
  • Choose a simpler lifestyle so you do have time to play with and nurture your children. Listen to them, get to really know them. If you can’t do this all the time, ensure there are other people who can. This is where grandparents play  a valuable role.  Children need connection and ideally that connection should come from people they love and trust, not physical objects or strangers / movie stars. This is why children form gangs – for connection, for a place to belong. Help them feel like they belong at home. Let them know they are loved. Encourage them to care for self, others and the planet by role modelling this for them.
  • Where the elderly are isolated it is useful for the wider community to engage with them and show them their value. Start community gardening initiatives where young people work in the yards of the elderly to grow vegetables, flowers and trees – to form connections and roots, to share the produce. Many homes are now being built on tiny little blocks and don’t have much garden space. Older homes often have larger yards and once past a certain age it is hard for people to dig the soil and do all the bending, lifting, etc that is a part of gardening. But if we work together we don’t have to loose that joy of gardening or the expertise people who have gardened for decades have. We can share and learn from each other.
  • Community building initiatives such as communal gardens, such as sharing equipment like lawn mowers, whipper snippers and other tools can save the need for each family to purchase their own. This saves money and physical resources which benefits the planet. It also means you don’t have to work so hard as you don’t need to buy all the gadgets yourself.
  • There’s lots of things that can be done to strengthen community cohesiveness and have fun at the same time. Get to know your neighbours, find the people who are passionate about sustainability and work together to raise awareness and make changes in your neighbourhood. By making it fun, social and engaging more people are likely to join in. We will explore this more in future posts.

For now just know that we can turn this around. We can have strong family bonds and cohesiveness. We can have community’s that care and share. We can have happiness and harmony. We just have to make the choices and take the actions to create this in the world.

From my heart to yours, Jodi-Anne