A Message from Petrea King

Petrea King

People seeking change are gathering across the world to Occupy cities. As this great movement of humanity draws together to seek fundamental change, it could be useful to address the questions that we need to ask ourselves and others in order to bring about change. If the Occupy groups splinter into individual causes we will dissipate our energy and not have a coherent and unified voice. It seems to me that we need to address the cause of our distress…we need a new cultural story to live by. What we are experiencing is the result of a cultural story that causes us to feel that we are separate individuals who need to compete, manipulate and exercise power over one another in order to get our needs met. And we are all seduced by the notion that a little bit more will make us happy.

We need a new cultural story that recognizes the unity of all life, that understands that what we do to another we do to ourselves, that respects the environment, that upholds the rights of individuals and protects and respects minority groups by treating all people as equal.

In order to collectively arrive at sustainable solutions we need to ask skillful questions that will lead us there. If we focus on more equitable pay, stopping deforestation, political change and the myriad of other challenges we face we may dissipate our energy and commitment.

The problems we are facing now cannot be solved through the political, economic or military systems. We need a spiritual (not religious) solution that honors all humanity and the environment from which we spring and that speaks to and enlivens our hearts.

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.

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Glass Half Full

Is your glass half full?

It is easy to take what you have for granted and be chronically dissatisfied.  Focusing on what blessings you have can transform your mind and your life.

Benefits

• Provides antidote to chronic dissatisfaction
• Increases your awareness of your blessings
• Helps you stay in the present moment

It is so easy to be caught up in feeling a chronic sense of lack, encouraged by a culture that says you never have enough and are never good enough.  You may find yourself fixated on that new car, a better relationship, new towels or a different place to live as the key to making you a happier person.  But you may have noticed, seeing your glass half-empty all the time makes for a miserable life.  Always looking to the future means you aren’t really present in the life you have right now.  By meditating on gratitude on a daily basis, you will reduce your dissatisfaction and increase your contentment with the life you have.  Happiness, you will discover, is ultimately a state of mind.

Meditation

When

If you are preoccupied with wanting things you don’t have.

Preparation

Write down everything you want that you don’t have.

Then write down ten things you are grateful for.

Practice

1. Find time to be alone in a place where you will not be disturbed.  Sit in any way that makes you comfortable.  After doing the preliminary exercise above, read over the ten things that you have listed.
2. Generate a sincere sense of gratitude for each item on your list.  If you are grateful for your health, feel thankful for your good fortune.  If you have a car, no matter what condition, be sincerely grateful to have transportation.  If you have a partner, think of their wonderful qualities and be grateful that they are a part of your life.
3. After you have gone through your list, sit quietly and thank yourself, God, the universe, or whomever or whatever you choose, for the gifts you have been given.  Resolve, on a daily basis, to be mindful and grateful for the blessings you have.

From the The Meditation Bible by Madonna Gauding.

Alexia Miall

Alexia Miall

Alexia’s career began in banking and then moved via advertising to a major career change in 1980 to Adult and Transformational Education.  She has been privileged to share this incredible journey with 1000’s of like minded souls through her extensive experience as a facilitator, trainer, life coach, therapist, and mentor.  She managed her own training company in Victoria during the 1990’s, and during this time was the Course Leader for a training program from which the Banksia Environmental Foundation formed.

Alexia has acquired further education in Adult Education in Training; Somatic Psychotherapy; Life Coaching; Conflict Resolution; plus Accreditation in many behavioural and culture change models. She is an Associate of EcoSTEPS, a niche Sustainability consultancy, which supports her love of the natural environment.

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My Friend in the Garden

Zen Garden

Recently I was in a beautiful garden sitting with a dear friend asking her for her wisdom and guidance about an issue in my life.

This friend is a true and trusted loving presence in my life and I often consult with her. I have to say she has never given me bad counsel. As we sat, she said I needed to “take it easy and trust in life. Everything is taken care of”. She added you don’t need to worry… you are safe”… I breathed a sigh of relief and warmth filled my belly.

I stayed holding hands with this dear friend and I relaxed.

My soul filled with joy and peace.

Did you guess yet who my friend was?

Yes it was me… Like many of you, I love to unwind and rejuvenate to Petrea’s beautiful voice. One of my favourite CD’s is Zen Garden in which Petrea leads us into a garden so we can sit and talk with the higher part of ourselves – the wise and loving part who cares and knows our best answers. If you have wondered what this CD is all about, I can highly recommend it as a way to peace and connecting with the part of you that holds your highest wellbeing at heart and who always loves you during both challenging and good times…

Wishing you much ease and peace with your own special garden friend.

Zen Garden

Lots of love Margie

Note: We have a special on Zen Garden until 31st October – it is half price at $15 (including postage) – will make a great Christmas present! Click here to purchase.

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.

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Pearl of Wisdom

Tom Bass

In 1994 I cut an article out of the Sydney Morning Herald.  I found it again today and have transcribed for you below.  I hope you find it as inspiring as I did all those years ago.

“It took sculptor Tom Bass 68 years to make the major breakthrough of his life. Now 78, the grand old man of Australian sculpture remembers: “I was in my 60’s before I realised I regarded myself as a victim. The day I got that, I was so embarrassed, I’m a raconteur (storyteller), I had this beautiful collection of finely honed anecdotes that I’s been victimised”

Until a decade ago, Bass – who grew up in poverty during the Depression and left school at 15 – felt really hard done by. “Imagine the collection of stuff I had”, he said.

Was wisdom about being optimistic and positive? The Herald asked Tom Bass, who nearly always wears white and lives in Sydney’s inner West with his “superb” 3 year old son and wife of 10 years Dr Margo Hoekstra, 48.

No. Optimism, he said, was too naïve a word in a world where we had tragedies such as Bosnia. Rather, wisdom was about trust, about trusting that whatever happens, good or bad, it is significant.

When I was 68, I was full of incomprehension still. I was sitting at the table and I got a sudden flash of explanation. Everything that happens has meaning. There’s no question of sorting out and saying this is dreadful, God shouldn’t have allowed this to happen. As I got that thought,  I got an image of a water-worn pebble which began existence as a jagged piece of stone, then had countless encounters with other objects – some could have been catastrophic – which finally shape it. And everything became the essence of the shape it is, or was.

“If I have a pearl of wisdom to give you, it is to accept that change is the most important and sacred thing there is. Then you are flexible. You have to lie back in the arms of the universe in an attitude of divine nonchalance, because believe me, once you begin to trust, the whole universe changes.

“You have to trust that happiness is an inevitable outcome of living in these terms. Trust the process. And there’s no quick fix, so be patient… People get desperate because they are disappointed in their expectations. They’ve built up an image of where they should be, and when it doesn’t work out, they’re disappointed and they miss out on what is happening”

Tom Bass passed away in 2010 aged 93. He wrote the poem below in 1998. You can find it and other information about the great man on his website www.tombass.org.au

And what of death?
There is a brief pang
of fear and grief,
and then there is
the peace and certainty
of knowing
that my soul
is in a continuum,
and that this life is
only one phase of that…
Tom Bass

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.

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Story of a Cup

For me a good cup of tea is an event

One of our staff at Quest for Life, Suzanne, recently shared this lovely story with all of us……and now we’d like to share it with you. What are the ‘cups’ in your life?

Story of a Cup

I just wanted to share a story of how brilliantly the universe works.

I was looking for a cup to have my Lady Grey tea in. For me a good cup of tea is an event; it is a time where I can live in the moment and breathe, so the cup had to be perfect. I wanted a cup bigger than a cup, not as clumsy as a mug and the design had to be ‘me‘. I had been to so many shops looking for just the right cup and had given up!

My mother was in the P&C for a long time where our 19 year old went to primary school. My mother was out recently when she bumped into one of his old teachers who she has known for many years. The teacher said she had a present for my mother and gave it to her. My mother was surprised as they had never exchanged gifts and it was not her birthday for another few months. When she unwrapped it at home it was a china cup, bigger than a normal cup, had a quirky Cancerian woman and crab on it and proudly said Cancer. My mother said to me the other night that she has a cup that was given to her and she already has too many cups and would I like it.

When I saw it I knew it was what I had been looking for – I am a Cancerian, the artwork is quirky, the china cup is bigger than a normal cup to hold more Lady Grey tea and also has a motif of roses around the picture. My middle name is Rose, so I have a wonderful fondness for this flower.

I have just had the realisation because of the cup – there have been so many tailored things that have appear in our life – fitting us perfectly to a T. I have since made quite a long list of these things; some big like a house, job, car, family pet and others small like a cup. It is very empowering to think you really can manifest what you desire.

Sometimes you have to stop looking and trust it will appear!

Thank you for sharing Suzanne!

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