Get Healthy and Support the Quest for Life Foundation

1 Million Kilo Challenge

Here’s your chance to improve your health and support others who are dealing with challenges trauma, grief, depression or cancer at the same time.

What better way to support your new years weight loss and health goals than by doing it with hundreds and thousands of others!

Channel Ten’s 1 Million Kilo Challenge is a 10-week healthy lifestyle challenge that aims to equip all Australians with the resources, advice and motivation they need to achieve and maintain their healthy weight goal.

The challenge will run for 10 weeks (starting Monday 30th January) and promotes healthy eating, exercise and happier lifestyles for everyone that participates.

You pledge how many kilos you will lose and set health related goals.

1 Million Kilo Challenge also offers participants the chance to raise funds for a charity close to their heart, upon completion of their registration. All you have to do is follow the steps and create your very own online fundraising page.  The process only takes a minute and you can upload images, post blogs and set yourself a fundraising target.

Set healthy goals

Step 1: Register for the challenge

Step 2: Create your fundraising page and select the Quest for Life Foundation as your recipient charity.

Step 3: Tell your friends about your pledge and encourage them to donate to support your efforts! You will be given a unique url to your fundraising page to share with friends, family and colleagues.

Step 4: Follow the advice and support offered to you to achieve your goals

Your support for the Quest for Life Foundation will provide people living with life’s greatest challenges, the opportunity to regain control of their life and find peace and wellbeing. We support people facing life changing crises and provide them with practical tools and strategies to heal and grow through their challenges. Your support makes these programs possible. For more information on our programs please visit our website.

We’d love you to share your progress and wins on our Facebook page.

And most importantly……have fun and stay healthy!

Hope

The coming suffering is to be avoided

I was teaching at a yoga teacher training course and we were having a discussion on Philosophy.

I recalled a sutra from the central texts of yoga (The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali, if you are that way inclined). Originally in Sanskrit, (I shall refrain from waxing lyrical about how much I love this perfect language!) it says, literally – “The coming suffering is to be avoided”.

What does that mean? “The suffering that is to come can be avoided?”.

For me, it is saying that things can become better in the future, by the choices we make in the present. This is a real message of hope.

It is about choosing your highest values to guide your actions.

If I ask myself ‘from what basis do I decide my present actions?’ What guides it? I would like to say it is Compassion.

Compassion is equal parts of love and discrimination.

The Buddhists say it is only our actions that we can own. We tend to think it is what we say that matters; yet it is who we are and what we do with our lives.

This sutra means Being in the present and still planning. By practicing being present and planning for the future with skilful decisions born of our values, we are then able to meet the inevitable challenges of life.

I recently saw this very quote being discussed in a book on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy for Obsessive Compulsive Disorders. Another example of ancient wisdom with current application!

So in these most challenging of times, perhaps we can consider what guides our actions, so that we can skilfully navigate our way to a future without the suffering which could have been avoided. (I thank all my teachers, past and present who have guided my life and shared so generously of their own experiences and insights).

Bernadette Arena

Bernadette Arena

Bernadette has worked with the Quest for Life Foundation since early 2006 and is the Senior Facilitator on our residential programs.  Her work is treasured by our participants and our team. She has also been developing and refining a deep understanding of the use of appropriate yoga and meditation approaches for use in oncology and with serious illness.

Bernadette maintains close association with International Yoga Teachers Association and is a senior lecturer for their Teacher Training Course.  She has designed and delivered yoga teacher training courses for other organisations.  During 5 years in the UK she taught retreats, workshops and classes across the UK and in Europe and worked as a personal ‘lifestyle’ coach.  Bernadette brings a gentle and loving nature with insight and compassion borne out of her experience. She can assist a deeper connection with the body as a means to rejuvenate the spirit.

Trust your Heart

Jobs that find you

We are so very blessed at Quest for Life with amazing staff, who put their heart and soul into their jobs and make our organisation what it is: A safe place for people to land, when dealing with life’s greatest challenges. I am working today and enjoying the quiet while everyone else takes a break. And in pops an email from Suzanne, one of our most treasured staff members. And attached…..was this blog post. I thought it a fitting time of year to share……it’s all about following your heart!

_________________________________________________________

Exactly what you need will find you.

For me I was looking for a job.  I had applied for many jobs and found one and was due to start work.   THEN I had a call for an interview at The Quest for Life Foundation.   What is that saying a “bird in the hand is worth two in the bush”.   Well that saying went totally out of the window when I took action on a gut feeling.  I had accepted another job that I had no interest or connection with.  This is where it gets interesting.  I took a leap of faith.   I told the employer I was about to start with I had an interview I had to attend (which was the one at QFL) and passed up the job.   I had no reassurance I would even get to a 2^nd interview or even get the job, but I did.

I think now sometimes we really have to listen to ourselves when something is not right for us – we feel it, whether it is tightness in the chest, shoulders or clenched teeth.  Quite often we settle for second best and pretend it is going to be ok.   But the magic lies when we take a leap of faith, just with the knowing there is a chance we will find greatness.  If you are still and you listen to your heart you will find what you need.

After starting work at Quest months and months later I found a list of my perfect job –  to be able to juggle it with family life, I will enjoy, I have the skills, I will be appreciated and actually hold meaning  in the role.

Guess what? My job at Quest ticks all those boxes.   I am thankful I listened to my heart and took that leap of faith and not just settled.

_________________________________________________________

Thank you Suzanne for your reflections. Now go back to being on holidays! x

Have you ever had a job that found you? We’d love to hear about it.

Finding Peace in the Midst of Suffering with Petrea King

Staff at St Vincents

Petrea was invited by the Pastoral Care Department of St Vincents Hospital to speak at Grand Rounds in October 2011. Her subject was Spiritual Pain and Suffering and how to be helpful to patients who might be facing end of life issues. The auditorium was packed with the highest number of attendees ever recorded at Grand Rounds. The audience included all medical and administrative personnel with many Heads of Departments as well as the CEO of the hospital attending. This talk is also shown on the in hospital CCTV system so that patients have access to it as well.

Sitting Like a Mountain

Sitting Like a Mountain

One of the definitions of meditation is having a steady mind, and the aim of meditation is not to identify so closely with thoughts but rather, just to watch them come and go.  In daily life, you usually react to what is happening in the mind.  When you feel happy, you call a friend or write a poem; when you’re feeling down, you might pour a drink or turn on the television.  The discipline of meditation allows you to sit like a mountain with all kinds of weather passing overhead – storms, sun, wind, rain.  Nothing that is thrown up causes a great reaction; you are just aware of the passing weather.  The mountain remains firm and solid and steady, not rocked by the changes that happen all round.  Meditation allows everyone to develop such firmness and dignity.

The Meditation Year
Jane Hope

When is the best time to plant a tree?

When is the best time to plant a tree?

Another beautiful post from staff member Suzanne. We are going to have to make her a regular on our blog I think!

It is amazing when you come across the answer to a decision you have been struggling with by chance…

I recently had the answer drop into my lap with an issue I was having…actually a Chinese proverb found its way to me (thank you!)

When is the best time to plant a tree?

The answer? Twenty years ago.

When is the second best time to plant a tree?

The answer? NOW!

I myself was struggling – should I commit to a course or not? After some time and consideration I was no closer to a decision. However upon reading this proverb, I thought to myself – yes I probably should have done the course twenty years ago. Will I still be debating the pros and cons twenty years from now? As the second best time is now, I completed my application and have since submitted it. I must say it is so empowering to finally make a decision, take the action and enjoy the leap of faith where ever it may take you.

Have you had something you have struggled with only to find the answer just appears?

Do you have anything you are putting off, perhaps a course or lifestyle change?

Because the second best time is NOW! Is there a tree you want to plant?

Peace: A Message from Petrea King

Peace Becomes Possible

Crisis in our personal life is often the catalyst for major uplifting transformation. For the past 27 years I (and others in our organisation) have been working with people living with a personal crisis – cancer, HIV/AIDS, grief, loss, trauma, depression, anxiety, violence and abuse.

When individuals realize that we can’t always change what happens to us, but we can change our response to the events, challenges and traumas in our lives, peace becomes possible. Too often people settle for mediocrity until the stimulus of deep suffering creates an opportunity for new choices, creative responses and inspired change in our lives.

It would seem that collectively – globally – we are creating this shared possibility of a new future as environmental collapse, climate change, over population, diminishing resources, political upheaval, economic collapse all contribute to increased personal, community, national and planetary suffering. It seems that this collaborative shift is happening through a combination of our yearning for evolution to a higher human expression of our conscious through the stimulus of our shared suffering. Peace is definitely possible.

We have witnessed the almighty capacities of the human spirit that refuses to be defined by the challenges we experience and instead evolves to a profound state of peace – the peace that passes all understanding. Of this we are all capable and it is a joy to be part of a community of people consciously evolving regardless of whether we are stimulated by suffering, insight or inner wisdom.

Thank you for your company.

Petrea King

Petrea King
N.D., D.R.M., D.B.M., Dip Cl. Hyp., I.Y.T.A.

Petrea King is a well-known author, inspirational speaker, counsellor and workshop leader. She has practiced many forms of meditation since the age of seventeen and she is also qualified as a naturopath, herbalist, hypnotherapist, yoga and meditation teacher.

In 1983 Petrea was diagnosed with acute myeloid leukaemia and was not expected to live.  Meditation and the integration of past traumatic experiences became paramount in her recovery, much of which was spent in a monastery near Assisi in Italy.

Since then, Petrea has counselled individually or through residential programs more than 60,000 people living with life-challenging illnesses, grief, loss, trauma and tragedy. Petrea sees crisis as a catalyst for spiritual growth and understanding and as an opportunity for healing and peace.

Petrea has received the Advance Australia Award and the Centenary Medal for her contribution to the community. She has been nominated for Australian of the Year in each year since 2004.

Climb-it Change

Climb-It Change

Is it just me or does change seem frustratingly slow at times?

Whether it’s a journey up the mountain or a path to enlightenment … change can seem slow. I reckon, however, that some of the best change is really gentle and unhurried… it takes time.

Our impatience with change is usually about pain relief. Of course we want to relieve our suffering. That’s understandable, however trying to force ourselves to ‘get there’ can leave you on Petrea’s ‘I’ll be happy when trip’ where your happiness is constantly put off to a future time.

It begs the question… Can you find peace in the midst of a painful journey?

Some people see the mountain but it appears unreachable. On a bad day it all seems hopeless. “I’ll never make it” or “What’s the use” can wander across the mind. On a good day, they may still feel challenged but reach for skills they carry in their back pack to ease the gradient. Meditation, breathing, relationships, Quest for Life and liniment can all come in handy at times like this.

If you feel overwhelmed, you might also consider viewing life as a mountain range rather than one big unreachable peak and celebrating each small summit as you reach it.

A word of caution about  ‘mountaintop’ epiphanies which can seem swift when in actual fact you have spent a lifetime climbing up the mountain and the last step gets you to the ‘peak’ of awareness.  In the excitement of reaching the summit it is possible to forget what it took to get there.

Some people become attached to these kinds of ‘peak experiences’.  I once had a teacher who said to me “during meditation, you may reach the heights of bliss but this is only an accident… therefore one must become accident prone” (i.e. stay on the path and you may reach the peak, but the important thing is the path not the peak…)

I have become a great fan of the organic kind of change that happens slowly and by witnessing what is without forcing or pushing. What may emerge out of this awareness is a change so slow and imperceptible that you are not aware it has occurred until after it has happened.

On that day you notice something new and say to yourself… “Hey, I don’t do that anymore” or “oh wow, I would never had said that 5 years ago” or “I am so good”… Has that happened to you?

That’s the satisfying kind of change that takes months or years of walking, climbing and resting and then climbing some more. It’s about keeping your eyes on the path instead of constantly on the peak.  We need goals so it’s natural to envision the peak, however, isn’t it equally important to enjoy the walk?

There is a lovely quote from Gabriel Garcia Marquez which reads,  ‘I have learned that everybody wants to live at the top of the mountain without realizing that true happiness lies in the way it is climbed’…

Wishing you all happiness in your climb-it change …

Love Margie

Margie Braunstein

Margie Braunstein

Margie is a somatic psychotherapist and counsellor providing psychotherapy services to the people of the Central Coast and Sydney.  Margie lives on the beautiful Central Coast with her husband, two children, two dogs and a cat.

Over the last 12 years, Margie has also been engaged in the design, delivery and marketing of transformational learning programs. During this time she has regularly facilitated personal development programs for up to 50 people on weekend workshops, week-long intensives and advanced programs of 3-4 months.

Margie has a Graduate Certificate in Adult Education from UTS, Diploma in Psychotherapy from the Australian College of Contemporary Somatic Psychotherapy and qualifications in somatic therapy, executive coaching and relationship counselling.

Margie has a passion for personal development and regards people with respect, empathy and compassion in the belief that while we all do the best we can, a little bit more kindness and care can lead to even greater peace and joy in life.

Today is the anniversary of my dad passing

My wonderful Dad

Quest for Life staff member, Suzanne recently wrote this piece and is happy for it to be shared with the Quest community. Thank you Suzanne for allowing us to share you’re beautiful reflections. I am sure they will touch the hearts of many.

Today is the anniversary of my dad passing. I will never forgive him for leaving me. He was my rock.

But I now at least understand that his body was giving out, which he tried to tell me over and over. I always wanted to make everything ok – and replied “only the good die young. You and I will be here forever”.

I realise now those were my wishes. But, he had emphysema. He was scared of losing his breath. He had some heart problems too. I was so close to my dad that I quite often woke in the middle of the night and could not breathe and venture out onto the veranda to try and get as much air into my lungs as I could. Once we both were diagnosed with the same diagnosis miles apart at the same time – for me, I knew it was not my illness and with that, my symptoms disappeared.

The blessing was he passed away at home, with no distress – a blessing for him, for me and all of us. Today is the anniversary of my dad passing. I am going to be kind to my self. I have slept in late. I let myself shed a tear before I got out of bed. Even though I feel his energy with me daily, I hear his words when I take a moment to gaze into his picture on the desk. I hear him saying, “your sister needs you – she is still not ok” (with him leaving) and, “you should be easier on your mother”.

The only thing I don’t have is the touch – I guess it is why I shed the tears. But also I celebrate today for having found and realised such a love that is so deep and true. My dad’s brother said the best complement to me I could ever hope to hear – after his eulogy was read that I had written – “You really knew your dad”. And I did.

My memories of my dad were always singing Frank Sinatra, listening to Benny Goodman, dancing on his feet and his constant whistling whilst he cooked breakfasts at the weekends. He loved reading and he was the smartest person I ever new. His work ethics were my role models – do it right or not at all. He was old school and buildings he built still stand today. He gave us a love of music, learning and taught us whatever we pursued do it with passion!

I am proud to be his daughter. I am still shedding a tear although as the years go on, it is not grief but gratitude for having a wonderful role model, friend and connection with another. My Dad left a diary of little passages and thoughts he collected over the years, painful to read at first after his death, but a wonderful recollection of who he was later on…some of his favourites…

I have travelled the world twice over.
Met the famous, saints and sinners, poets and artists, kings and queens old stars and hopeful beginners.
I’ve been where no-ones been before.
Learnt the secrets from writers and cooks.
All with my library card.
To the wonderful world of books.
– Janice James

The wisdom of the ages is there for you and me.
The wisdom of the ages is in your local library.
There are large print books and talking books for those who cannot see.
The wisdom of the ages, it’s fantastic and it’s free.
– Sam Wood aged 92

Do you celebrate the connection you had with someone who has passed?

Self Care Matters

View from balcony at Kiama

Our facilitators have had a brilliant year out in community delivering the practical and caring teachings of Quest for Life, to a wide variety of groups. These programs, called Self Care Matters are about creating a more vibrantly peaceful  and health filled life.

We have delivered programs to both staff and clients and have met so many lovely people from organisations such as special needs schools, respite care centres, day spas, multi-cultural centres, women’s health centres, neighbourhood centres and many more… We have had the privilege of meeting amazing individuals living in very testing circumstances who are, in my mind, the everyday heroes and heroines of our world seeking a better life for themselves and their families.

Just this week, I presented a Self Care Matters program to a staff group from a parents support centre in Western Sydney as part of an end of year retreat for their hard working and very caring team. What a wonderful day! (These photos were taken with permission to publish.) The venue was the Kiama Surf Club which overhangs Kiama surf beach so the view was stunning and we got to relax to the sounds of the waves crashing rhythmically onto the most gorgeous and pristine beach all day. Sheer bliss. The group received the Quest for Life wisdom and strategies for living with enthusiasm and appreciation. I felt deeply moved by these beautiful women who spend their working days supporting parents living in traumatic and complex situations and often with English as a second language.

Our wonderful group

I’m sure all the Quest facilitators will join me in acknowledging the courage and honour we witness in the men and women with whom we work out in the community on our tailor made programs. It is certainly an honour for us to be with them and we look forward to working with many more organisations in 2012.

If you would like us to deliver a program to your staff or clients, please contact me at Margie@questforlife.com.au or call us on 1300 941 488 or visit our website.

Much love to all for now
Margie

Margie is a somatic psychotherapist and counsellor providing psychotherapy services to the people of the Central Coast and Sydney.  Margie lives on the beautiful Central Coast with her husband, two children, two dogs and a cat.

Over the last 12 years, Margie has also been engaged in the design, delivery and marketing of transformational learning programs. During this time she has regularly facilitated personal development programs for up to 50 people on weekend workshops, week-long intensives and advanced programs of 3-4 months.

Margie has a Graduate Certificate in Adult Education from UTS, Diploma in Psychotherapy from the Australian College of Contemporary Somatic Psychotherapy and qualifications in somatic therapy, executive coaching and relationship counselling.

Margie has a passion for personal development and regards people with respect, empathy and compassion in the belief that while we all do the best we can, a little bit more kindness and care can lead to even greater peace and joy in life.