Brick Walls Coated in Teflon

Brick Walls Coated in Teflon

The brick wall was coated with Teflon
It stood there staring back
Everything she threw at it
It just kept sliding back

So she walked around the side
To see what she could see
But all she could see was more Teflon
As far as the eye could see

Eventually she lay down
And stared up at the sky
The Teflon shadow stretching over her
There was nothing else that she could try
To shift the weight
It pinned her down
She was gasping her last breath
Or so she thought
Then something moved
And she got up instead

She knew there were cracks
Not far inside
That Teflon-covered wall
But it wasn’t up to her to budge it
It wasn’t up to her at all

She put on her hat
She put on her shoes
And left her calling card
Well actually truth be told
She left more than several cards
She stuck her cards
With super glue
All over that God-damn wall
Those cards they stuck
Didn’t even move in the breeze
They weren’t going anywhere at all
And every time
She passed by
She simply stuck on another
That God-damn wall would have to collapse
She wasn’t giving up
No she wasn’t, my brother

But that wall
Was fucking determined
It liked the safety of Teflon
But she didn’t care
About any of that
She didn’t care about the Teflon
She’d keep leaving
Her calling card
It was printed in colours of light
That wall it didn’t stand a chance
Against all that beautiful light

Eventually the Teflon would be consumed
By the light of those sweet cards
The black would fade
To leave all the cracks
All the indelible scars

She would run her fingers through them
All those faulty lines
She would reach deep within
Or maybe not
Who could surmise
What would happen
When the Teflon left
And revealed all that was hidden
So much love
So well-protected
So hidden from normal vision

Perhaps she would just know it was there
As days turned weeks turned months
Her life expanding
And then contracting
Seeking always love

But walls are harsh
So very hard
Wiser ones would say
But it’s the cracks that lie deep within
I love them she would say

Life is full of faults and pain
And some use that Teflon
To repel all other advances
They prefer to keep it on
And that is fine
To be sure
There’s nothing wrong with that
Although perhaps there is actually
Something profoundly wrong with that
Imagine if they moved the black
Moved that dark Teflon
And instead they let the light flood in
All the darkness could be gone

What did she know
Anyway
About anything, any of that
All the plain eye could see
Was Teflon staring back

But she would keep leaving her calling cards
That glue was really strong
Was the Teflon stronger
She wondered
As she kept on, keeping on

She didn’t know
Maybe she was wrong
To believe in any of that
Maybe she was wrong
To believe
The darkness was merely an act

Fanciful flights
Circling her brain
They flew straight to her heart
She was happy right then
To let them fly
The light still filled her heart

 

Psychic Connections: Are you blocking your intuition?

Psychic Connections: Are you blocking your intuition?

‘Holy crap! That was close!’ I’d just watched a Myna bird swoop through the eatery, missing my friend’s head by mere centimetres as it passed.

‘I don’t know what it is but the birds have it in for me lately,’ my friend said. ‘That’s not the first one to get that close.’

‘Are they trying to tell you something?’ I asked.

‘I don’t know, probably. I don’t have time to tune into that right now. I’ve got other things to do.’

‘What if the message they have could actually help you with all that stuff?’ I asked. My friend shrugged and changed the subject.

My friend’s reaction isn’t unusual. The more I work with people to help them tune into their intuition, the more I realise a lot of us have become very, very skilled at ignoring the messages the Universe sends us. For some it’s because they don’t want to deal with something but they know their intuition – or gut feeling – is telling them very clearly to take action. For others, they just don’t trust themselves enough to believe their intuition knows best.

So what have the birds got to do with intuition?

Well, if for some reason you’re not listening to your intuition, the Universe will frequently send you the information in another way. I don’t think the birds swooping on my friend in a few different locations within a relatively short period of time was an accident. The Universe was trying to get her attention.

And I think if she’d stopped and asked what that message was, she would have got a pretty clear answer inside herself. And it would probably be the first thing that popped into her head.

Here’s another example. You have an important document you need to put out for your business but you keep hitting roadblocks. You believe you’ve done everything right but every time you try to launch, it falls over. You keep persevering but it just won’t go. It’s frustrating beyond belief and you’re stuck.

This happened to me recently and I have to say, I was beside myself. I’d worked for so long to get this thing happening but it just wouldn’t go.

At this point, a wise friend said, ‘Have you asked why it won’t go?’

‘No!!’ I said grumpily. ‘I just want it f@cking gone!’ I was so fed up.

But I did ask the Universe and the answer came clearly, ‘It’s not time yet. It’s not ready to go.’

Did this information have me drumming my heels in frustration? Absolutely! But did I realise I had to suck it up and stop fighting? Yes (annoying, but yes).

In the case of my document, it is about timing. If you’re experiencing a similar situation it could be about timing too. Or it could be because there’s something you’ve missed in your document that you need to fix. You’ll have to ask the Universe to tell you.

Once you start to tune into this stuff, you’ll be amazed at the extra level of knowledge you have access to. And it’s all designed to help you lead the best possible life you can. It’s working for you, not against you. So if something keeps happening repeatedly (a particular situation, or an idea or a person keeps popping into your mind), then ask why? Are you supposed to do something differently? Ask the question and wait for the answer. But remember, the answer will not be fear-driven, it will intuitive (these two are quite different things and sometimes it can take a bit of practice to work out the difference between the two).

As for my friend, I’m sure she’ll get the message eventually. The Universe can be very persistent and, if you ignore what it’s trying to tell you, it will just send the information in another way (often even more disruptively) until it gets through. That’s just how it works. Avoidance is ultimately useless.

So when something happens persistently in your life, it might be worth you stopping to ask what’s really going on. Or you can ignore the messages and eventually a bird might take your eye out. It’s your call.

Would you like to develop your intuition? My Intuition Connection Program might be exactly what you’re looking for.
MAY SPECIAL: GET YOUR FIRST MINI-SESSION FOR FREE
Are you unsure if Intuition Connection is for you? I’m offering an initial mini-session for free so you can work out if it’s the right fit for you. Get in quick because places are limited and this offer is only valid for May 2016.

Are you the ‘shoulds’ taking over your life?

Are you the ‘shoulds’ taking over your life?

Have you ever read a book and thought, ‘This is so true. I have to recommend it to everyone I know!’

Well I’ve been doing exactly that about a recent purchase called The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k by Sarah Knight. My book purchase couldn’t have come at a better time. I’d had an incredibly frustrating day full of disrespectful people and challenging situations when, there on the news agency shelf, I saw the book title and just knew I had to buy it. And it has definitely delivered! Now, if you’re offended by the F-word then this clearly isn’t the book for you. However, if you are okay with it then this may be the text that changes your life or at least gets you to reassess the obligations, duties and things you currently believe you have to care about.

Because it’s true many of us can spend a lot of time trying to do the ‘right thing’/give a f**k about things we don’t really care about and this sucks away our energy, time and money. Often the ‘right thing’ doesn’t align with what we want to do, who we want to be, how we want to spend our time or what we’re interested in. Yet we say yes and are drawn into the ‘vortex of should’ when really we just don’t want to do those things at all.

Knight takes a very irreverent (seriously, I laugh aloud when I read this book) approach to looking at the things we think we should do/give a f**k about and challenges every single one of them. From friends to work to family, she casts a glaring spotlight on all those parts of our lives where we feel obligations, guilt and shame and asks us to look at them a differently. Even more importantly, she challenges the reader to begin living more in alignment with what will make them happy rather than trying to make everyone else happy all the time (which we all know is a fool’s errand anyway!). Even more fabulously, Knight provides polite strategies and techniques to help you manage all those important relationships in your life while still saying ‘no’ in a way that helps you ‘stop giving a f**k’ about the things that really add no value to your life.

For example, in her section on boundaries and maintaining friendships Knight offers the following (p.77):

160426 Book review imagep. Anecdotes and analogies like this are sprinkled throughout the book like hundreds and thousands on party bread and if you don’t laugh several times then I’ll be very, very surprised.

I’m only about two-thirds in but, as I mentioned it to yet another friend this afternoon, I felt I just had to write about it now. Forthright, practical and hilarious, The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving a F**k by Sarah Knight is a great book and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Let me know what you think.

 

 

My Wish for You

My Wish for You

I wish for you
Only love
And tenderness
Of course
I wish for you
A thousand stars
To shine upon your course
Wherever you go
They’ll be there
To light up the dark night
You’ll never be alone
They’ll always be there
They’ll always be in sight

I wish for you
Only love
And tenderness
Of course
I wish for you
Joy and hope
You may have to change your course
Backwards or forwards
Or round in circles
It doesn’t really matter
As long as you listen to your heart
That’s all that really matters

I wish for you
Only love
And tenderness
Of course
I wish for your heart
To remain open
With no bars
And nothing forced
I want you to live
As if yesterday’s mistakes
Were only just bad dreams
But today anything is possible
You can live only good dreams

I wish for you
Only love
And tenderness
Of course
Your potential is unrestricted
Don’t let fear
Ever prevent your course
Or keep you from what you want
That true thing
Deep in your heart
You know that thing
You don’t want to admit
That real thing in your heart

I wish for you
Only love
And tenderness
Of course
I wish for you
How I feel for you
I have no other recourse
And when I see the stars above
Shining in the sky
I’ll think of you and send you love
There’s nothing else that I can try

I wish for you
Only love
And tenderness
Of course
I’m sending you them
Yes right now
I hope you receive them
Yes of course

I want for you
All the stars
That spread out across the sky
I want for you
All that love
And everything you desire.

Is it time to be vulnerable?

Is it time to be vulnerable?

I’m a big crier. For those who know me really well, this statement will come as no surprise because I am self-admittedly a very emotional person.

For many others it will come as a big surprise. ‘But you always seem so happy,’ would be a typical response. And I can’t say I blame most people for thinking that because I can put on a pretty good show. As someone who’s worked in public relations for more than 16 years I am well-versed in keeping my shadows and my sadness hidden. But nevertheless, I have them like everyone else and I am a big crier as a result.

In fact, I can sit at home in the morning, have a good cry for 30 minutes, then get up, wipe my eyes, get dressed and head into work where no one will be any the wiser. They will believe everything is fine in my world. And they will be right, mostly. But I guess like a lot of people, sometimes I’m not okay at all. I get my heart broken too, miss the people I care about who are no longer around, am sometimes disappointed, am occasionally unwell and sometimes I just feel down because life’s too much and I just want to get off the roller coaster and rest for a while.

Now before you begin thinking I’m some basket-case who needs professional psychiatric assistance, let me assure you that I am not crazy. Nor am I usually deliberately choosing to present a ‘together’ face to the world when I’m actually falling apart inside. But what I’m trying to say is two main things.

Firstly, when you see someone who seems like they’ve got it together, there’s a pretty good chance there’s something in their life that probably isn’t as they would like it. And I can guarantee you that they have down days just like you. But they may not show it because they have to ‘get on with it’ and they don’t feel safe to be vulnerable around you for some reason. Maybe it’s not socially appropriate or they’re worried you’ll judge them or dismiss how they feel. I think a lot of people are scared of being vulnerable in front of others for exactly those reasons.

Let’s face it, being vulnerable isn’t exactly encouraged in most parts of our society and, when people do show that side of themselves, it can make other people feel bloody uncomfortable because many of us just don’t want to ‘go there’. And when someone is vulnerable around us then it reflects back all that vulnerability in ourselves that we often want to hide from because there is risk involved in being vulnerable. So frequently our response is to help them ‘pull themselves together’, compartmentalise how they feel, push through it or simply get over it.

Is it any wonder that so many people feel disconnected, depressed, anxious and alone when this avoidance of vulnerability is propagated?

This brings me to my second point; when you are vulnerable you are living from your heart. Vulnerability in its very essence is opening yourself up to feel pain, joy, love and everything in between. It is not about hiding who you are or hiding from yourself.

When I sit and cry for 30 minutes then tell someone that, on that particular day, I feel a complete mess inside, I am being vulnerable. And I can appreciate that some people find that incredibly uncomfortable. I’ve had people tell me I’m too emotional, I over-think things, I need to compartmentalise and so on. And that’s okay because I understand why people say that to me.

But for me, it is my willingness to be vulnerable that means I’m truly living from my heart. It is my willingness to go there and feel what I feel (however painful) that means I’m being honest with myself about where I’m at and what’s important to me. And over-riding all of that is the knowledge that it is only by being truly vulnerable that I can truly walk my path with integrity because I am not denying any part of me.

I can’t lie and say living this way is always comfortable. Sometimes being vulnerable will leave you feeling raw inside. Sometimes you will feel like you are on a road blocked with sharp-edged boulders that you have to climb over.

It’s challenging but I have to go there because I don’t know how to be any other way and, ultimately, I believe that if you’re not willing to be vulnerable then you’re actually missing out on the fullness of the human experience.