I had been neglecting this blog because I was in the process of building up my other blog on living in the Seychelles. As is often the case with me, when I don't pay attention to something I lose interest. This blog is my first love though and I didn't want to just let it languish and die off. To revive my flagging interest I needed to do something new, so I decided I needed to implement a new design to get motivated again.

And it worked. My motivation is high again and I'm flooded with new ideas for articles.

Unfortunately, after spending a week looking for a new template and fiddling around with it, when I finally published it, I couldn't reinstall Haloscan. In other words, all the wonderful comments my readers had left (and they were often even more inspiring than the actual article!) got lost.

This is typical of every time I "rebirth" an aspect of my life. A sacrifice is required and then new things start flowing in. I often wish it didn't have to be like this, but it always seem to work that way for me.

I just have to believe the sacrifice was worth it...

I badly needed a break from all this fiddling with the layout today. I quite surprised myself with the "if money were no object, what would you do?" question. I answered without thinking and picked fiction author. It was actually what I wanted to be when I was a child.

Maybe I need to rethink here and get on with that novel...

Your Mind is Purple

Of all the mind types, yours is the most idealistic. You tend to think wild, amazing thoughts. Your dreams and fantasies are intense. Your thoughts are creative, inventive, and without boundaries. You tend to spend a lot of time thinking of fictional people and places - or a very different life for yourself.

What Color Is Your Mind?

I am trying to upload a new template which worked fine on the trial site. Hopefully, I'll get this functioning by this evening.

I love smoking. And smoking loves me. I have friends who are die-hard non-smokers who have said to me that smoking "suits" me. That's how convincing a smoker I am.

After 33 years of smoking, I have no physical symptoms. My heart is fine, my arteries are clear and my children will testify to my lung power. I don't have smokers cough and my skin is still wrinkle-free. I don't live in the US or UK, where smokers are increasingly ostrasised by society. Here in the Seychelles (and in Switzerland, where I lived before), smoking is quite acceptable.

So why even bother quitting?

I want to love more.

Smoking is a heart chakra issue. I've noticed that when I don't have cigarettes I feel a yearning in the anahata chakra area, a need to breathe in more deeply. If I'm upset and don't want to cry (breaking down in public simply isn't my thing) I reach for a cigarette. If I'm angry and don't want to throttle the person near me, I reach for a cigarette. If I'm feeling insecure in a social situation, I reach for a cigarette.

The latter is the reason I started smoking in the first place. I used to be a very shy teenager and forced myself to sit in cafés nonchalantly sipping at a coffee and slowly dragging on a cigarette. I perfected the art of looking cool with a cigarette in my hand. There were different phases of coolness: the vamp in a pencil skirt wearing bright red lipstick with a cigarette holder, the existentialist dressed in black and smoking Gitanes, the patchouli-smelling hippy rolling Drums.

Those were the days! Actually, it was a lot of fun, but I've realized that I am very far from that shy teenager. I am now (and have long been) a self-confident woman who doesn't give a flying f*** what people think. "You've come a long way, baby!"

I am a loving feeling person, who cannot watch horrible things in the news without crying. Forgiving others has always come easily to me and over the years I have learnt to forgive myself as well. I am passionate about people, causes and many things under the sun. Watching a sunset or walking in nature often moves me to tears of joy. I even get angry quite well ...

And yet I feel I am blocking my heart chakra. I fear that one day, I will no longer suppress my feelings consciously with a couple of drags on a cigarette, but that my emotions will no longer flow freely. Maybe I'm at the tipping point and, unconsciously, have realised this. Hence the urge to stop now.

I'll be working on my heart chakra in the next couple of weeks. Here's my plan:
Reiki, focussing on the heart
Deep breathing
Meditation for relaxation and centering in my sacred space
Walks along the beach to recharge my energies
Swim in the ocean to cleanse my energy field
Enjoy the moment to experience joy
Watch Bollywood movies to make my heart sing

And who knows, I might finally open myself so much to love, that my soul mate will show up and I can indulge in some loving sacred sex ...



"Ask and ye shall receive" I'm told. So here goes: if you like this article, please stumble, add to a social bookmarking site or donate. Thank you.

Remember the one where two mothers are sitting around discussing their children? One mother kindly says “Her child is a coward, yours is timid and mine is careful.”

My children were always what I kindly called “spirited”. Others might say “bloody-minded”. Now that they’re older, one might call them somewhat opinionated. When they were younger, this “spiritedness” often manifested as over-activity and aggressiveness towards each other. (After all, both of them were “right”.)

I never really liked the idea of seating the kids in a chair or room for a period of time as a disciplinary measure. Social ostracism works as punishment, but do we really want our children to learn only about feeling guilty and bad? Wouldn’t it be better to focus on the positive? Just sitting and doing nothing leads to brooding and mutterings of resentment which is counterproductive. I mean, aside from the handful of prisoners who find God, don’t most inmates spend their time focussing on their negative state? I feel that, just as time out of society doesn’t usually rehabilitate adults, it doesn’t do wonders for children either. Instead, the time out can be used constructively for changing the negative energy into a positive force.

When things got out of hand, instead of punishing them, I used to make the kids take a time out to sit and chant the mantra “Om Mani Padme Hum”.

Chanting “Om Mani Padme Hum” creates a state of compassion that manifests in a subtle way on a longterm basis and in the short term creates a state of calm and peace. The simple teaching of this mantra is the concept that when the heart and mind become united anything is possible. The rough translation for Om Mani Padme Hum is: "Om and salutations to the jewel of the mind that has reached the lotus of the heart".

Ask (or tell!) them to sit in the lotus or crosslegged position, close their eyes and take a few deep breaths. Then begin the chanting. I always used the “Om Mani Padme Hum”, because it is easy to remember and is very calming. It’s also more “magical” than words they know and understand and, hence, more fun and playful.

You can either sit down with them and do the meditation as well (initially, you’ll have to demonstrate it anyway) or let them get on with it. The time out meditation will soothe your frazzled nerves as well whether you participate or not.

Small children may not be able to do this time out meditation for more than a few minutes. Depending on their age, that’s all they need. Chanting the mantra won’t turn them into little buddhas overnight, but it will restore sanity and peace for a while as well as getting them started on a spiritual practice.

Later on, they may be keen on trying other meditations such as guided visualisations to a safe place or simple visualizations. As they understand more, you might add other mantras according to your spiritual tradition.

According to H.H. The Dalai Lama: "Thus the six syllables, Om Mani Padme Hum, mean that in dependence on the practice which is in indivisible union of method and wisdom, you can transform your impure body, speech and mind into the pure body, speech, and mind of a Buddha."

Ok, so my kids aren’t quite little buddhas. They are still too “spirited” for that, but they are on the path …


"Ask and ye shall receive" I'm told. So here goes: if you like this article, please stumble, add to a social bookmarking site or donate. Thank you.

This week I've been featured in two great blog carnivals.

Think Orange! Creativity and the Sacral Chakra was included in the Carnival of Creative Growth #27.

Another article of mine, Kundalini yoga left nostril breathing for insomnia, was featured in the Carnival of Healing #137.

Both carnivals are packed full with great articles from all over the internet. Please take a moment to check them out.

I noticed a lot of people from the US have come to this blog looking for information on the Seychelles Islands. I wondered what was up until I read the news and saw that Matt Lauer from the Today Show had been here. Then the penny dropped ...

Anyway, my blog on the Seychelles is Living in Seychelles. Please visit me there for more info on the Seychelles Islands.