Do You Recognise Beauty?

We are enjoying beautiful weather here in Southern Tasmania at the moment, it's late spring and everything is bursting with life in my special place, the garden.
I was feeding the dogs, I looked up and saw a little tableau of a geranium in flower, an old post with two little ceramic birds on it and a teapot with a succulent growing in it. The beauty of it caught my breath and my attention. I don't always see beauty, do you?

I've noticed that when I see beauty, when it truly grabs me it is when I am feeling my best. It's a marker for me that my energy is operating at a high frequency. When I don't see the beauty around me in this way, it is a marker for me that my energy is lagging, or low.

I have put so much effort into trying to change that lagging energy into the high frequency sort that has me catching my breath in beauty, has me feeling that my heart will explode it is full of so much love and joy and peace. It doesn't work, not really.

What that sort of effort does is drain you so your energy lags even more.

When you can't see the beauty and feel the love, don't worry. Don't give it another thought, don't try and change it. Take your mind off it, chanting mantra, I find, works very well.

When you see the beauty, and your heart is bursting with it... drink it up and soak it in.

Little native pigface, the petals open and close each day.

A rose about to bloom, did you know that roses have the highest frequency of any plant? Grow them to uplift your energy.

How Can You Tell if a Spiritual Teacher is the Real Deal?

Did you know that a Reading is actually a medicine? For those of you who have had a Reading with me or with someone else, you will know that they work on two levels, one is fast acting and one is slow release. You can think of a Reading as a fast and slow release medicine fertiliser for your soul. They work.

When you have a reading what you hear will confirm things that you already know, this helps your mind to open up to the changes that need to be. You might know these things consciously or subconsciously, either way, receiving confirmation will instigate immediate acknowledgement from you and things will begin to change. Right then and there you will begin to feel better after a Real Reading.

The slow release medicine starts to take effect as soon as you hear your reading, it gets the ball rolling. It is the first domino that will hit the next one and a chain reaction of change will start. You might have a very long line of dominos lined up or maybe just a short line, the length of your domino line will determine how long it will take before you see the full effect of your reading in your life.

I have had readings that have taken years to fully come to fruition. I have totally forgotten about what I have heard in a reading only to remember years later when something happens which reminds me.

That's what readings do, they instigate change. If you have a reading then what you are saying is, I am ready to set a line of dominos off. It's a wonderful thing, very empowering and it's positive action in motion.

Readings ought never be negative, they ought always to bring an energy of love and understanding to the situation. Why is this? Because readings do not come from the person giving the reading they come from a higher source and that higher source is always an energy of love, peace and understanding.

If you ever have a reading or have had a reading that does not leave you feeling uplifted, inspired and full of hope for the next step do not worry because it is the energy of love that guides us and determines our ultimate path so that energy will will out in the end.

Real readings, real teachers will only share love with you and will always hold complete understanding for you. Real readings and teachers will only ever uplift you and this will be an energy of Divinity.

Grace, is the essential ingredient for the Divine life you want to live

I can remember, a few months ago feeling very, very frustrated… I wanted certain situations to be different to what they were. I was frustrated with (what I perceived) as life’s slow march of progress towards how I thought things ought to be. I don’t think my feelings were unfounded. Not at all. Nevertheless they were causing me to feel greatly frustrated. The frustration was eating me up, it was all consuming and I was not a peaceful person. It took a few days for the ‘cure’ to surface in me, that cure was Grace. Grace was the healing balm to be applied to the nasty bite of frustration.

Please don’t confuse Grace with Gratitude, this is the mistake I made.  I was being told by someone, ‘the problem is you are not being grateful for what you have’, this made me even more cranky and frustrated as I knew I WAS grateful and I am always so. What I was not being was Graceful, full of Grace. When I got hold of this idea and the energy of Grace, it flowed to and through me, my frustration eased bit by bit.  It is difficult to be Graceful, full of Grace. There is no instant grace switch, though we can lure it so that it builds up and becomes all encompassing. Where there is grace, frustration cannot exist.

These are three yoga asana I perform on a very regular basis that help me to allow the energy of Grace to flow through me freely. Sometimes, I do these asana several times a day… even if I am in a cue at the post office! You will need to do these asana regularly for the energy of grace to flow because these asana will relax you mind and body. Start with daily. It doesn’t need to take you more than a few minutes. They are very effective at triggering the relaxation response (that alleviates the stress response) and in turn, grace in being.

Pranamasana (Prayer Pose)

This pose is the most wonderful pose for inviting Grace into your mind-body. Close your eyes and hold your palms together in prayer position at the heart. Relax, and feel love. Do this pose as often as you can and keep feeling love as you do so.

Hasta Utthanasana (Raised Arms Pose)

I love this pose and do it as part of my Surya Namaskar (salute to the sun series) each day. You don’t need to do this pose as part of Salute to the Sun, you can do it as a stand-alone pose. Science now shows that to look up, to reach up, to lean back like this actually reduces feelings of being overwhelmed. This pose opens your heart and brings a sense of deep relaxation and release to your mind-body system.

Padahastana (hand to foot pose) 

This pose is a counter pose to the raised arms pose above, do one after the other as a flowing movement. Take your time. The raised arm pose brings the energy in and the hand to foot pose releases it. This action reduces stress in the mind – body system and as a result paves the way for Grace to flow. Do not be confused with being ungrateful with being ungraceful!

Theresa Daley is a Mindfulness Mentor and Spiritual Counsellor 

Book your private appointment with her here

How to Meditate on Your Kitchen Bench

When we think of meditation an image comes to mind, similar perhaps to the one above. It is of someone meditating in ideal circumstances. They are probably very attractive by mainstream standards, they are certainly in a peaceful environment and we then think that we too, can’t meditate until we become the very image that we have conjured in our mind. The thing is, this is not (usually) how life is… it doesn’t look like this. I’ve followed the yogic life for many, many years now and regular meditation is perhaps the backbone of my sadhana (practise) and becoming a mother, running an off grid permaculture property and cooking all food from scratch as well as guiding others to live by the inner light was not going to stop my practise. Sometimes we need to harness our shakti (power) to stay on track! Here’s how I use the kitchen bench to continue on with my meditation practise in my hands on life on the land, life of motherhood... life.

The kitchen bench has recently become my place of meditation. I built a tipi by hand and it took me almost two years. I have spent hours in there in meditation and practising agnihotra, practising yoga asana and pranayama too. I can’t meditate there much at the moment because too many karma yoga duties draw me away. I live in pristine bush in Southern Tasmania. It is so quiet, it is so beautiful and there are numerous spots under trees that are perfect places for meditation. I can’t meditate there much at the moment because my duties draw me away. In short, I can’t meditate in several places that are perfectly suited to meditation… but that’s alright because I have found I can meditate on the kitchen bench.

From experience I have learned that the kitchen bench is as good a place for meditation as my tipi, as the bush, as a lake or an ashram. It is a central location in our little home, from my spot up on high I can supervise the baby and I can have the space I need to tune into my inner self, that ever peaceful expansive bliss that is found in meditation. To sit on the kitchen bench and mediate is to sit on the highest of mountains. My kitchen is the Himalayas and my kitchen bench is the highest mountain top ashram.

The kitchen bench, as mundane a spot as it is has been transformed by my perception of it. Because I have be shown how to see it as a harbour for my practise of meditation my heart has opened it as a space for the expanding energy of love and peace. That is all it takes, that is all it took, for my heart to open up this little spot for my higher good and peace and love. We can look here there and everywhere, we can go to the top of mountain tops and we can lock ourselves away from the world but what we really need to do is to open our hearts to allowing a space for our highest good to materialise… in the life we live, in the life we have, in the moments we have NOW.

Theresa Daley is a Mindfulness Mentor and Spiritual Counsellor 
Book your private appointment with her here

How to grow good pumpkins

This year I have grown the best pumpkins. They are big, they are healthy and there is an abundance of them. This is an improvement on any other year for pumpkin produce because this year I actually applied some skills and methods that I’ve not applied before. We have a supply of pumpkins for the winter (tick) and I have grown too, along with these gorgeous pumpkins (tick). Welcome a new master, the teacher, Pumpkin!

Previously I have applied a rather hit and miss approach to pumpkin growing, fuelled I think by a comment my father once made about how when he was growing up they ‘grew like mad, practically weeds’. He grew up in a much warmer climate on a dairy farm where they no doubt were regularly soaked in both cow manure and water whilst growing in red volcanic soil. These growing conditions did not come to mind for me, instead, I considered that pumpkins must be the hardiest plant on the planet to grow and as such could pretty much fend for themselves. I have been wrong.

Last year I decided that I was going to grow an abundance of good pumpkins and I was going to apply myself to the task. No more hit and miss for me.

The first thing I needed to do was to prepare the soil, here at Nala Pakana this actually means make the soil. Pumpkins need heaps of room and so we dug out a large circular shaped area in the spot my landscaping friend had designated for such a purpose in a plan she drew for us a few years back.

We then collected up some wood (of which we have mountains of) and set it alight. It was a huge fire and when it was burning well, lots of coals, we put it out. Then we covered it in quite a bit of freshly collected seaweed, several inches thick. We combined the coals (well and truly out for about a week) with the seaweed. In short we had made our own slow release bio-char.  Onto this we emptied well-rotted humanure soil from our clivus multrum composting toilet. We also added lots of good soil and mixed everything up. Then, a very thick layer of garden mulch hay was added. Nothing to do now other than keep it watered and that is what I did.

I cared for that pumpkin soil religiously, ensuring it was well watered. When the soil looked as if it had broken down and now that autumn was upon us I sowed seeds for a green manure crop of barrel medic, broad beans, sub clover, white clover and red clover. The rains began and the seeds grew and the space filled with green. When the green manures started to flower I went out and dug them all in, well, until everything was well combined… green manure, soil and hay. I waited until the perfect time of November and planted into our pumpkin patch a selection seedlings I had grown from seed myself in our little cold frame made from old windows placed quite near to the front door for easy care of seedlings.

I watched those seedlings like a hawk and spoke with them every day. I told them they were strong and beautiful and would grow into wonderfully big plants producing enough pumpkins to see us through the winter time. I thanked the Devas for their help and asked them to protect and nurture these seedlings. I watered them, I fed them foliar feeds, some homemade and some bought at the hardware. They grew and grew those plants and then I used the sprinkler to keep them watered.

Does this seem like too much work for winter time meals? Does this seem like too much work to break the habit of the hit and miss gardening approach? Does this seem like too much work to build a strong and more personal relationship with the Devas? Does this seem like too much work to be able to watch little seeds turn into big plants and green an area so that you can see that green from meters upon meters away?

Yes, we now have enough delicious organic and grown with love pumpkins for the winter time but that is not the best of what we have gained. I have learned to make my own bio-char and I have further developed the ever useful skill of patience along with the also ever useful tool of diligence. I am at the moment working on a garden area for the Devas because my hand in hand relationship of gardening with their faery energy has grown stronger.  Our little daughter will love this spot and at it we will converse with the elementals and offer them gifts. I have also applied myself to making the best sourdough bread and a brilliant compost that is ready to use in just a couple of weeks, both of which would not work with a hit and miss approach.

Theresa Daley is a Mindfulness Mentorand Spiritual Counsellor  Book your private appointment withher here

I look at our pumpkins and I am filled not only with a sense of happiness, but also a sense of achievement because I get to eat pumpkins, I met my goal of growing plenty for this winter and I know I apply the hit and miss approach far less in all areas of my life.

It took planning to grow these wonderful pumpkins and it took dedication and both were worth it. Do not apply a hit and miss approach to anything in your life if you want good results. Be it meditation, changing your diet, growing pumpkins… apply a hit and hit the target approach!

Harvest your pumpkins when the stalks begin to look like this, when the leaves die back, when you tap on them and the seed cavity is formed and the tap gives off a hollow sound. 

Harvest your pumpkins when your pumpkin patch begins to look like this, straggly and old. Leave a good amount of pumpkin vine attached and do not use the vine or stalk as a handle. Carry your pumpkin and vine by the pumpkin. Do not break off the vine or stalk or your pumpkins will not store well.

The One Big Reason You Feel Overburdened

This morning I feel, really, really happy. I feel in balance, I feel at ease (soldier), I feel a great expanse of space in my mind, in my heart, in my body and in the space around me. I know why I feel like this, I also know why I don’t feel like this all the time. There are many little reasons (tired or such) for the days that I don’t feel like this and there is one big reason. I also know I am not alone in this, I’d bet that your one big reason is the same as my own. I’m writing this down, I’m sharing it with you because I want to remind not just me, I want to remind you also. I want to give you permission to get over this one big reason. I think we all need all the help we can get with this one.

It’s about being overburdened, it’s all about taking on too much, and it’s all about trying to get ahead. Yes, it’s all about trying to get ahead or is that… a head? At almost 42 years of age I know my motivators for overburdening myself because I know myself pretty well. I can, at times, take on too much because I have a good and generous heart and I want to help people, animals, the planet, even Angels. In fact, I’ll help just about anything and anyone. I will stop what I am doing to save a bee or a worm on the road. I can, at times, take on too much because I feel I need to, should do, have to because I am almost constantly looking to be productive/useful. I love the way I am, I love that I love to help and I love that I love being productive, that’s me! However, even these gorgeous qualities leave a nasty taste in my mouth when to them is added being focussed on the result because this is what causes the overburdened business.

Here’s how I have (am) fixing it so that I have far, far more days feeling as I do today. Because as they say ‘what do you expect, the world to change for your peace of mind? Change yourself.’

Being totally honest with myself (and with you now), totally honest, I realised that the reason I wanted to help someone/something, the reason I wanted to be productive was because I was focussed on the result. I would (and sometimes still do) add and add to my list of things to do and to be if I thought it was going to get me closer to my expected result. In your head, picture a small woman that is now bent over with the weight of the load she is carrying. She can hardly see the road that lays in front of her because she is carrying such a weight she can only manage to put one foot in front of the other and she can see only the road at her feet… not the sky, anymore. Poor thing.

The most powerful action I took to help me shake off my burdens was to stop being focussed on my expected result, and I instead enjoyed what I was doing just for the sake of it.

When the need to achieve a certain result is taken away you have all the time in the world, when you feel you have all the time in the world the burden is lifted. Suddenly there is no finish line you need to rush to. There is no push, the rush is gone.  First a feeling of deep relief rushes in and is followed by the feeling of relaxation.

“Rather than focussing on the finish line, my expected result, I am free to do the best I can. I am free to enjoy what I am doing, I am free to be present.”

When I realised this, truly realised this, a weight heavier than Mt Everest was lifted off my shoulders. The thought ‘I don’t need to worry about the result, all I need to do is my best (and enjoy) THIS moment, THIS action’ is perhaps one of the most powerful thoughts I have. I don’t need to do my best to get a certain result, I don’t need to do my best to impress someone else, I don’t need to do my best for any other reason other than to enjoy the doing, the action. That IS ALL,I realised, I need to do. I just need to do my best at enjoying myself as I live this moment focussed in the action of this moment alone.

This isn’t selfish, nor is it foolhardy, it’s honest and it’s real and it gives me/you energy rather than zapping it away from us. This way of thinking spells an end to the career of the dis-eased juggler of life! This way of thinking will have me/you doing a far, far better job of things I can assure you.  Rather than overburden yourself, rather than take on too much, rather than trying to get ahead try surrendering to the moment instead. Give enjoying the moment and what you are doing (regardless of what that is) a go. Trust in the moment, trust that even if you do let go a bit things will work out. Cease with the thought that you are the doer, that you are responsible for everything and all results. Hand that all over to God/Divine Mother/Life. 

When you let life flow through you by not overburdening yourself with the stress of results you will find life will flow through you freely. I’m sorry I can’t do this for you, I really am. You need to do this for yourself. You need to trust for yourself and you need to trust that your action in each moment when done with in an energy of surrender and for enjoyment will result in you feeling happy, open and free. What are you waiting for? Are you ready to let go of this one big reason for feeling overburdened?

Theresa Daley is a Mindfulness Mentor and Spiritual Counsellor 

Is Spiritual Development Running you Ragged?

I don’t know about you but there have been, are times, when it seems that all my spiritual practises are actually causing me more stress rather than less. Given that the idea of spiritual practice is to develop inner peace and clarity of connection in mind-body-spirit and to Divine Mother it’s not a good thing or a step in the right direction to be run ragged in such a way. Why does it happen and what can we do to put a stop to it, to get our ‘life’ (time) back?

Just this morning I opened my eyes after morning agnihotra and meditation and was giving this very subject some thought. I thought about all that I do to foster health throughout my mind-body-spirit being. I thought about all that I have done in the past, all the practises I have given my time and effort to over many years and as I sat there feeling so calm and relaxed I thought about karma yoga and of what great benefit it is, how ridiculously productive it is to remember and practise karma yoga as part of one’s sadhana (spiritual) practise.

Karma yoga is the yoga of action. That is what karma means, action. So karma yoga is the yoga of your actions. It is doing the dishes, going to work, sweeping the floor, making the bed, watering the garden, feeding the family, wrapping a gift, making a card for someone, writing a letter… all of your actions can be yogic actions, all of your actions can be transformed into your sadhana (spiritual) practice by performing them as karma yoga.

You won’t be run ragged by karma yoga because it involves doing what you’d normally do though with a different focus/intention. You don’t need to set aside an hour day for karma yoga, you don’t need to go to a class. You just need to live your life with the attitude of service and awareness.

Karma yoga was not a form of yoga that I ever really gravitated towards, to be honest. However, as things often turn out… it is the yoga practise that is more dominant in my yogic life. Having spent so many years ‘working on myself’ has given me a perfect background of skills to employ in the art and act of karma yoga. I can apply almost all ‘healing myself’ skills I have learnt in life in karma yoga. The wonderful thing is, I don’t need to do most of those activities or have them as a focus in my life, I can just apply what I have personally gained from them in my daily karma yoga practise.

I have found the perfect balance and recipe (for me) is karma yoga + meditation + diet/lifestyle + agnihotra. Karma yoga needs to be balanced with meditation practise. Anything at all needs also to be balanced with meditation practise. What karma yoga does is give you the opportunity for you turn your everyday life into an opportunity for your spiritual development and overall wellbeing for your highest good. This is the beauty of karma yoga. It does not run you ragged, it is not asking you to perform more actions it is asking you to work at being more present in action. Actually you will find that in order to have more success with your karma yoga practise you need to do less action.

Less action because this means you can move, think and breathe more slowly rather than when you are in a rush. The slower you go, the better the chance you will have of being aware, mindful, and present.

So this is how you can avoid your quest for spiritual development, God realisation and personal development running you ragged in modern life, karma yoga.  It doesn’t ask more of you, it does not deem you as less or wanting, it only asks that you be present in your actions and hone that skill with the intention of opening your heart to Divine Mother and love.

Theresa Daley is a Mindfulness Mentor and Spiritual Counsellor 

Life is a Construction Site

This morning I was watering the garden. I do this almost every morning and it is one of my favourite jobs. It’s a peaceful, gentle job. I talk to the frogs and the plants and when I want to really find some inspiration I lay down on my belly and look into the secret shaded world of pumpkins in their patch. They are looking so big and happy! Today however, this usually peaceful job was marred by a touch of anxiety and it was generated by yes, you guessed it, my mind. I saw all these things that were ‘messy’, so many little things that need to be finished off and quite a few very big things that need to be started. Quite suddenly I quite lost my sense of peace.

Thank goodness I am enough in my right mind to realise that it was my mind that was at fault here… not the still unbuilt glasshouse. Quick I thought, what can I do? Thinking, thinking at a fast pace I realised! Chant mantra and get cracking with it. Get your mind away from these thoughts Theresa.  I began to chant a lovely Hari Krishna mantra, on repeat. It doesn’t take long for a mantra to take effect and I began to feel peaceful again. Something was left though, it was a thought and it has stayed with me all day. I know this thought and I am so glad I had this experience this morning so that it has been at the forefront of mind today.

This thought puts things into perspective and the thought is this… life is a construction site. At all times, life is a construction site. Of course I can see endless jobs around me and when I think about my own being I see there are many things I can do for my inner wellbeing too. Pens out, blue ink… life is a construction site and there is nothing wrong with that.

You are living in the middle of a construction site. It will get dusty. It will have materials laying around in it, waiting to be used. It will at times be noisy. All work will at times come to a grinding halt thanks to the weather. That’s what happens on a construction site.

We can get very confused and rather than seeing life as a construction site we think it is a polished Rogers and Hammerstein musical. Not the rehearsals, the end product where everyone has paid for a ticket because they know the show will be pretty much perfect.

This is what makes life hard. Thinking it is a polished Rogers and Hammerstein musical when in fact, it is a construction site. Nobody has a Rogers and Hammerstein polished musical situation around them other than God Realised Yogis/Masters. From an individual’s perspective it seems that everyone else has a polished Rogers and Hammerstein life and that their life is the only one that is a construction site.

If you ask the most beautiful, the wealthiest, the most intelligent (etc) person if they feel their life is utterly polished they will answer no. The fault in our thinking is that ‘peace’ is just over there, ‘time’ is just over there, ‘happiness’ is just over there… this is a battle and it cannot be won. It only and always leads in disillusion. So, what can we do?

Realise that life is a construction site that you are working on. There is no deadline on this work site. Enjoy the jobs you are doing, take your time, do your best rather than the most you can do. Above all else, keep in touch, keep the connection with peace in your heart. Do not worry about the construction around you, keep a connection with the peace in your heart instead.

Theresa Daley is a Mindfulness Mentor and Spiritual Counsellor 

He who burns his bottom must first himself sit on it.

I think we are all quite guilty of suffering some consequences that could have been avoided if only we had been mindful enough to have seen them coming. If we can pause, or tune in or in some way be aware of what the consequences of our actions will be before they are upon us certainly life is easier, healthier and more harmonious. So why oh why don’t we? Because we have not trained ourselves to be ready to pause, to tune in.

Abhyasa is practise, to repeat and repeat and repeat again. It is practise that is aligned with a spiritual goal and the benefit of abhyasa is that it prepares us. I still sometimes wonder at the way in which a stressful situation washes over me. My feeling/experience is definitely more that of a spectator rather than a participant. It washes past me and it is rarely that I feel its wake. This is because of abhyasa.  

When we wait until there is a disturbance in life and then attempt to use the breath to calm ourselves down it does not work unless we have trained our mind, our breath, ourself to deal with stress, or change or dis-ease first. We need to be prepared. In the same way that we avert any bad experience, or lessen the impact of bad experience… such as a picnic by remembering insect repellent, or a hat when going to beach, or a water bottle when going for a bush walk or a warm coat for a winter’s walk. We need to be prepared to avoid or lessen the effects of unpleasant consequences, we need to prepare ourselves to be peaceful.

This is the way to be able to avoid suffering unpleasant consequences, as much as possible. The more we embody calmness, peace, light, understanding and joy we will be carried through our environment and interactions with the world and others around us by their energy. We can’t call upon these beautiful energies and expect for them to come running if we are not first very, very good friends with them. The better we are acquainted with these beautiful energies the faster they can come to our aid. A good friend will come to your aid, to your side, far more quickly than a stranger.

Who are your good friends, who do you spend most of your time with? Is it love, peace and calmness or is it rushing, anger and stress? Whomever you are most acquainted with will come to your aid/side and each create their own consequences. If you are good friends with peace than the consequences of your actions will be peaceful. If you are good friends with stress, than the consequences of your actions will be stressful.

Theresa Daley is a Mindfulness Mentor and Spiritual Counsellor 

Too fussy, too busy...

Fussiness, discretion and the busyness culture go hand in hand. They are the three sides of a triangle where no matter what way you turn it a pointy end is reached. The culture of busyness, which I feel is a dominant culture in developed societies is a topic of great interest to me. Whether it be work, or play or the seemingly never ending quest for self-betterment, the culture of busyness can often be found hard at work. I have come to the conclusion that it is fussiness that is a main driver in the personal goals we are trying to meet when immersed in a culture of busyness. Similarly, it is the showing of too much discretion that works alongside fussiness. Here is a real life example.

I love people who are good at feeding you. My nana was an expert, my mother is also. I have a few friends who could teach almost anyone a lesson in how to generously feed. I hope I am a bit the same. These people are the people who offer you lunch, or morning tea and find great pleasure in sharing food and in doing so warm the cockles of heart's in their home. Visitors and residents alike.

My nana was the first person to cut you a piece of homemade pineapple pie if it were not a main meal time and the first person to set you a plate at the table (set anyone a plate at the table) if it were a main meal time. She was not a wealthy person by a long shot, but she was generous with what she had. Could fussiness and the culture of busyness be killing off such shows of generosity? I won't eat that, I won't do that, I don't have time and on the list goes. In my nana's day you gave graciously and you accepted graciously. That was that. I like it.

We can show too much discretion, it's called fussiness and it is stifling. Being proactive is important and too much of it is called busyness and it wears us out.

Have you read the Tao of Pooh and the Te of Piglet? In it, Rabbit is always placing a sign on his door and it reads 'busy, busy back soon' he is referred to as a backson. Always busy, busy back soon. A busy backson.

What drives the backson to be busy all the time is a lack of acceptance, a lack of grace. Ever searching for something else, something more perfect keeps one very busy indeed. I doubt that anyone who lives with a fairly good degree of grace and acceptance would be a busy backson.

Whilst the goal we have in mind may seem worthwhile, how are we living on a day to day basis to reach that goal? Are we being fussy, are we too focussed on our goals that we have a sign perpetually on a door that says we are busy and will be back soon?

To life a life of mindfulness and peace, we need to balance discretion with grace and acceptance. To live a life that is happy and healthy we need to balance activity with inactivity. We need goals, it's solar plexus stuff and it's important for our overall wellbeing and health but goals that are rigidly adhered to can leave us exhausted. There needs to be flux too.

A good compost heap works well because of it's as anaerobic activity, a good digestive system for the same reason. There must be space. That is what the asana (postures) in yoga are all about, creating space.

Eat to 80% capacity, turn your compost heap to bring in air, stick to your goals and ethics and allow for a little bit of give too. Live graciously and generously in the acts of both giving and receiving. Life is not meant to be so serious and hard... now, how does this wonderful song go?

Theresa Daley is a Mindfulness Mentor and Spiritual Counsellor 

Joy comes before love

We are encouraged to be more loving, and to be so will help us to feel happy in/with life. 'Be grateful, be loving, be thankful, be kind this is the way to happiness', but is it? In a chicken and egg scenario, joy actually comes before love.

Unrequited love is a great example of this, we love something or someone and yet if it/they do not love us back. We continue on with our admiration and efforts and whilst the feeling of love may still be there we lose energy, interest and finally effort... next comes a broken heart. For such short periods of time we may have felt happy during the interlude and this feeling of happiness can end up becoming feelings of sadness expressed in many ways; depression, stress, anxiety, worry, anger, tiredness to name a few.

What would happen if rather than seeking love we sought joy? This is something I have been working on, seeking joy directly whilst also becoming aware of causes distress (the opposite) of joy in my life and within myself.

I have found that when I seek to experience joy, I experience happiness and a love for life. Joy is such a light feeling and it lifts you up. When I am filled with joy I want to be generous and kind and understanding and this is loving. So by seeking joy, my heart fills with love.

A joyful love is light and all that it touches is uplifted, including our thoughts and actions. Love however, is not necessarily light and it sometimes fosters light heartedness but not all the time. Joy always fosters light heartedness and light heartedness always brings forth a loving feeling towards life.

We can feel love and yet still feel stress or anxiety or tiredness or stress... but when we feel joy we cannot feel anything but happiness.

Seek joy directly in your life and feelings of love and happiness will follow.

Theresa Daley is a Mindfulness Mentor and Spiritual Counsellor 

Falling in love with the life you have

Confession time. I have spent most of my life working hard to create a different life to what I have. Always looking outwards and coming up with what I need more or less of in my life so it could be a life that I would love. The perfect life for me. A life with more time for this or that, a life where I am always happy, a life full of joy because it is the perfect life. In this perfect life I am perfect. I have worked hard on myself to make it so and if life is not perfect than clearly it is my fault. I know now that this is a bit like a donkey trying to get a carrot that is hanging from a stick, just out of reach.

I'm not sure how it happened but I fell in love with the life I have and that is because I fell in love with who I am right now, RIGHT NOW. I have a suspicion that the course of flower essences I have been on have tipped things over the edge, as they do, and this is the shift that has happened. 

I have in fact been suffering from 'farmer's curse', that's what my neighbour calls it. You probably suffer from it to. Do you recognise these symptoms? Other people come to your garden and home and comment on how beautiful it all is and all you can see are all the jobs that need doing. Because once those jobs are done, THEN things will be beautiful. That may be the case,it also doesn't prevent you from loving what is, because you love yourself as you are RIGHT NOW.

That is how I have been (I hope) cured of farmer's curse. I see all those jobs (especially and including the jobs pertaining to my personal development) but they aren't so noisy, they are just there and they are a part of the life I live and am madly in love with. We hear it all the time, love what is, love your life. How can we do that though?

The secret (thanks flower essences) is to love the jobs too, to love the 'imperfections'. It means to no longer be bullied by 'how you can be better' and the jobs you need to do.

I look at all the things that are 'getting there' absolutely including aspects of my character and love them for where they are at, they are like a child growing, they are at a stage of growth and I don't need to hurry it all along. I attend to things with love and when I feel the joy of doing evaporate, I move on to the next thing.  Just like planting a seed, watering it and leaving it do its thing. Tending it when necessary, leaving it alone when necessary.

I have realised that the feeling of being in a rush is perhaps the most destructive thing (for my) peace of mind. I also realise that it is me (for the most part) that causes the rush. To be relaxed is most important. When we are relaxed our prana (life force energy can flow) and our body fills with ojas (bliss) and we are dis-ease free. I'm so tired of rushing myself, I'm not doing it anymore.

I think that maybe, just maybe I 'have it' this time because yesterday the baby went to sleep in the afternoon and I thought about writing and then I realised I needed to nap. So, I had a sleep instead.

When I woke, all the things I want to do were smiling at me and I felt so very madly in love with my life and myself. 

Theresa Daley is a Mindfulness Mentor and Spiritual Counsellor 

It's who you parent with that makes the difference

Our daughter is almost one, I've learned many things this past year but one thing that stands out is that it is who you parent with that makes all the difference. When I was pregnant, so many people told me how hard it would be, to have a baby around. From what I was hearing I imagined parenting would be like going on a really, really, really long bushwalk in the most extreme conditions. I've found that at times it can seem a bit like I am in some sort of event that is a cross between a wild goose chase and a marathon, but for the most part it is easy.

Yes, our daughter is a wonderful little girl an 'easy baby'. Yes, we live in paradise and yes we are both healthy and happy. But why is she 'easy' and why do we live in paradise and why are we healthy and happy? I've given all this some sort (and many other things too) as I sit there for a few hours at a time spotting her as she learns to stand. It's largely to do with whom I parent with, and this (more than) theory also applies to who you work with, live with, own pets with and are friends with.

Could our baby be 'easy' because we (her parents) know who we are and are relaxed? We respect each other and we are there for each other. We meditate daily and we eat really good whole foods (vegan) and we do many things each day, for each other. Maybe our little daughter feels safe around us?  Maybe she can feel that we back each other up and we support each other and we support her, together.  Maybe she can feel that we live in a wonderful little community where most people know her and que up to hold her?

We didn't just end up in this paradise, we created it (to an extent). We are building and bringing to life the prettiest vision of self-reliance and we take the time to enjoy what we already have. This afternoon for instance we sat for quite some time, on the veranda, watching chooks and the way the sunlight shone through the newly emerged leaves on our newly planted fruit and nut trees. We watched the bees entering their hive for the night and we spotted our daughter's standing attempts.

Paradise is partly what is, and it is partly what you notice. Parenting with someone, working with someone, living with someone who can notice the paradise around is a blessing and it makes things easy.

We choose to be healthy and happy, we are careful regarding our diets and we are careful as to how we conduct ourselves. It is almost automatic now, but it took practise to get to this point of self control. Of being peaceful within and without.

I think that any job, parenting included (perhaps especially?) is easy when it is done with someone who makes it easy. I save so much energy and have so much joy in my life because of who I share my life with. I don't think that parenting is hard, or working or digging a hole of cooking a meal... it's only hard when who you are doing it with makes it hard.

You will have people in your life that make things easier and you will have people in your life who make things harder for you. Choose to parent, to work, to play with those people who make life easy just because of who they are and the affect they have on you.

Theresa Daley is a Mindfulness Mentor and Spiritual Counsellor and Writer. 

I set different goals and have good mental health

The basic definition of a goal is to look at what you have/are and what you want/to be, to understand what is missing and to add in the step that is needed for you to go from where you are to where you want to be.

We recently returned from a visit to my family, who are all really lovely people. However, when I look at what I have I see a huge gaping whole between that and what they have. I was just sweeping the kitchen floor in our little, old, handmade wooden home nestled in a remote bush location and I thought... geee, it would take so much effort to get from where I am to where they are, materially.

The reason I am not where they are is because I have set (consciously and subconsciously) different goals to them.

I've realised it is so important for mental health to set goals that suit your path, that can be fueled by your interests and endeavour... not goals that more or less force you to be someone you are not.

"Be sure your goals reflect who you are and what you want to be,
not what you think you ought to be. It's how you will succeed."

This morning I read an article in an Australian permaculture magazine, it was as story on a self-reliant family in rural Victoria. They have no rubbish bin, really, no rubbish bin. I thought that was AMAZING! It seems like such a small thing, but can you imagine having no need for a rubbish bin?
It is certainly one of our goals.

I look around my life and see that indeed I have met some great goals. I have achieved what matters to me, what inspires me. In fact, our whole living is filled to almost capacity with projects that take us further towards a self-reliant life.

Our goals are to ungrip from the system, to rely on it less and less. For our food, for our health for the education of our child. We also put energy into building connections with our local community, with friends and with God. We have unspoken goals of daily meditation, cooking all our food from scratch ... we do this now, our goal is to continue with it and to help others learn how to too.

That's what these blogs are about. Giving back. Sharing and inspiring.

So the gap between where we are 'at' and where members of my family are 'at' is big. It would take an incredible amount of hard work to achieve what they have achieved. But it doesn't matter because I don't need to achieve those things. I need to achieve what I need to achieve. It would take them an incredible amount of hard work to achieve what we have achieved. Peaceful hearts and simple living takes a great deal of work and sacrifice too.

What are your goals? What have you achieved in your life? You may not be able to sit in meditation for a few hours at a stretch, you may not own a brand new car? You may always have time for others or you may have no time for others because you are focussed on getting things done. It doesn't matter.

What matters is that you are able to look around you and know that what you see is a reflection of where you are 'at'. I see wonderful friendships, big gardens, a happy husband and baby, animals, art on the walls, and wood fired meals.

If you look at your life you will see that you have achieved something too. It may not be what someone else has achieved, but that's alright.

Look at your own life and don't compare your goals to the goals of others because that is super stressful and disempowers us.

What to do when everything you touch turns to ...

The past few days have been those sort of days where everything I touch turns to ..... It started three days ago, and they are just little things but they are enough to be seriously annoying and upset my usually beautifully flowing life. I've been quietly watching things and my reaction to them, delving in using my intuitive feelers to see a) what is going on b) why? c) what is causing it?

Of course this is not the first time and I doubt it will be the last time I experience this, though I must say I am getting much better at processing and dealing with this slightly turbulent energy that rocks the boat of happiness and peace.

The number one thing I have realised and perhaps you have too is that this is not anyone else's 'fault'. Nobody is trying to rock my boat and the fact that the dog's voice seems louder, the baby's whinging seems to be conducted at an even more unnerving note and the matches (half a packet of) that it took to light (too late in the end) the agnihotra fire this morning do not 'have it in for me'. No, they do not. However I could definitely be excused for thinking they do as it does seem that everything is indeed focussed upon turning the air I walk on into thick mud. Breathe, that's right, let's take that focus and turn it inwards because the matches are not out to get me.

Inwardly I gaze and ponder. My first port of call (often the way with me) is to check in with my diet and sleep patterns. I give them both a big tick. I've been eating well and at regular times, food blessed and infused with an intention of light... gratefully accepted from Gaia and all. Sleep, well, I still do wake every three hours to feed you know who, though I do stick to my early bedtimes and I am relaxed before sleep so I sleep well and for roughly 9 hours per night, actual sleep. So it's not my body's chemicals and hormones that are out to get me.

The next thing I check is how mobile I have been, how much I am exercising and practicing pranayama (breathing exercises). Well that gets a big tick as you know who now weighs over 7 kgs and I put her on my back and we walk in the direction of the letter boxes and back most days Our aim is to get all the way down and up our steep gravel road to those letter boxes and back again in not so long a time... that would be 7 kilometres. Most days I work in the yard, digging and digging and ripping out buzzies. I bring in a load of wood a day, feed the chooks and the goats, clean the home and make it pretty and cook on average 8 meals (from scratch) per day. I also pick up and put down (several times a day) you know who, who is 7kgs. Then there is my yoga and meditation practise. So, no, I'm not sitting about and I give my mobility and breathing and meditation practice a big tick too.

So it's not the matches and it's not my diet and it's not my sleep and it's not my mobility... so who is out to get me then? Maybe it is my friends and husband?

Yesterday we took the baby to a play/learn splash everyone with freezing cold water group and a friend works at the school. She knew we were coming and had a picnic morning tea ready for us. On the way home we visited another friend who is a naturopath and spent time sharing her knowledge over an ayurvedic chai (made by her), upon leaving she gave me the sort of hug that you really, really feel loved in.  As soon as I have finished writing this blog I'm making a fantastic lunch to share with friends today.  I started the day (as I do everyday) with half hour massage given by my husband who is now taking the baby for a bushwalk whilst I write and who also (as he does every day) changed the baby's nappy, fed her and all the rest.  So it's not my baby, my mates or my husband who are out to get me. So who is it?

That really leaves one person I have not assessed and that would be me, am I out to get myself? Deep breath, really could it be? I am ready to accept the uncomfortable. Read all that is written above... now, someone who puts so much effort into caring for themselves and is obviously very loved, would they be out to get themselves? No, of course not. I love myself and do my very best to show myself compassion and kindness so I don't think it is me who is out to get me. So who is it?

You know what I have worked out, it's nobody. Nobody is out to get me. Everything is actually wonderful and all I need to do is to breathe and relax and allow this period of bad matches, barking dogs, annoying flies and steeper hills to pass. All I need to do is to focus on my light within, which never changes, and feel that. All I need to realise and know is that nobody is out go to get me, that I am wonderful and so are you are.  If everything you touch seems to be turning to ...., don't worry about it. Go and have a cup of tea or something.

Theresa Daley is a Spiritual Counsellor and Mindful Living Mentor, book an appointment with her here.

The Importance of Prayer

I grew up attending a Catholic school. My family are Catholics, though not practising and nor am I. They certainly are not, were not religious so I am not sure why we were baptised and attended Catholic schools. I think because they were thought to be good schools and they were too. All those hours of sitting in church and attending RE classes, that is, Religious Education classes, meant that the word prayer had for me, a distinctive nuance about it for many years. Even to this day it still does. But praying and prayer is so much more than the activity which comes to mind when we think 'prayer' on bended knee before a God in the sky.

I pray daily, I pray many, many times a day and I'm sure you do to. Whenever we have a wish, an intention then that is a prayer if our heart is in it. Whenever we connect to someone, somewhere, something with our heart than that is also prayer. Whenever we wish someone well, whenever we think.... I hope such and such feels better soon, then that is prayer. Whenever we write a list of goals or create a manifestation board with gratitude in our hearts than that is also prayer. Whenever we give thanks, that is prayer.

Prayer empowers us because it is a process that allows us to speak and be listened to. It gets our hopes up because when we pray we aim our thoughts at something good. Prayer releases our stress because when we pray we get to take what is in our mind, in our hearts and put it 'out there' rather than carry it around with us. Not only do we put it out there we do so with the hope that we will get help. It is awfully cathartic to ask for help, to be honest. That process starts with ourselves realising and owning up to what we need, what we need to change and when we pray we are saying 'I'm ready'.

Prayer unites us with our world, it erases the delineations of separation. When we pray we are not alone.

Whatever it is that we do that connects us to more than our ego self is prayer. Whatever it is that we do which expands our hearts to encompass more than our own little paradigm is prayer. I see my morning yoga routine as prayer too. I breathe and I expand and in that expansion I breathe some more and I connect to the deeper parts of me and this is prayer too.

Before I eat a meal, I chant the mantra AUM followed by three Shanties and Hari Om Tat Sat. I do this to bless the food and to give thanks to Lady Gaia and to all those that helped (including the nature devas and divas) create/grow the meal for me.  I do this to connect. To disconnect from whatever it is I have been doing and to become present with being and eating. 

Prayer is important because it is a way to connect. It is a way to step outside our own routines and our own thoughts, desires and own little world. Prayer empowers us because it humbles us. In prayer we are acknowledging something bigger, something that is love and gratitude and life. 

Theresa Daley is a Mindfulness Teacher and Spiritual Counsellor.

It's hard to choose your battles as a hippy

When someone mentions the word hippy I know just what springs into most people's minds... tie dyed clothing, long days of doing not much other than relaxing and listening to groovy music and big plates of mushy food. But that's Okay, hippies are kind of 'out there' pacifists who don't care anyway.

I'm a hippy and not only am I a self professed hippy. I heard my little sister referred to me as 'a big old hippy' to her local postie. I'm not quite sure how well she understands what a hippy is really, I'm not qutie sure many other people do either. Maybe you yourself are a hippy and don't even know it! Perish the thought.

The first false assumption made about we hippies is that we are pacifists, we are not. We choose our battles, every day. There is a list as long as your arm plus your best friend's arm to choose from too. The captain of the army we face in battle is ourselves, and we have faced this most formidable old war dog many, many times. Just as Krishna urges Arjuna in the Bhagavadgita to fight, we also fight. The first battle we fight, the longest battle we will ever fight is with ourselves. It can start when we are quite young, and often does. You may recognise the signs of the battle lines being drawn in sentiments shown by teachers and friends? Always the cry is to conform with the herd. That's if you know what's good for you. We hippies however, don't really have a choice when it comes to conforming, we just can't. Some young hippies in a mainstream society may try very hard to conform and this can cause all sorts of psychological issues in the long run.

The battle to be true to ourselves in the face of great pressure to conform, we're on the front line. Something deep within us knows better than what conformity calls us to not blossom as. It can take quite some time to win ourselves over to the idea of supporting ourselves and then we battle society, family and friends. We battle the social structure around us. Because we know that social structure supports the very thing we believe needs to cave in.

So what battles ought a good hippy choose? To stick with veganism, reduce one's carbon footprint, always support live music, poetry and art? How far does a good hippy take their war effort, as far as spinning and weaving one's own clothes. Ought a good hippy get involved in politics, equal rights, gay rights and animal rights? What about fair trading, sustainable farming and building? There is a dichotomy here, on the one hand, at heart we are pacifists and prefer the gentle path and yet to follow the hippy heart we need to be true to that pull which insists we support compassion and care for all.

Of course we'd rather be sitting about in our tie dyed jeans sipping on home grown tea looking for animal shapes in the clouds, but we have too strong a conscience for that, and we can be very hard on ourselves.

We're warriors of the light! This does not mean it's easy to choose our battles. If you're a big old hippy and you are reading this, remember to be kind and gentle with yourself. Show yourself compassion too. If you know a big old hippy, know they are strong person who is just amazing.