Month: June 2013

Harden up Wuss, What are You Made of! Real Men & Putting on the Tough Act

by Josh Campbell (20), university student, New Zealand

REAL MEN DON’T CRY – OR DO THEY?

All I can remember from my childhood years – when I think back to them – is forever getting a strong message that if I am to grow up to be a real man

  • I must be tough.
  • I must be hard.
  • I must be rough.

But the most hurtful and deeply felt ones of all were that

Breaking the Pattern of Abuse by Dealing with Childhood Sexual Abuse

When I was 7 years old, my mum’s then boyfriend sexually abused me. I told mum at the time, and her response was… “He was only trying to make you feel good”. I never spoke of the event again until I was 18.

When I brought up my childhood sexual abuse at 18, my mother said she could not remember a thing and also said that it had never happened. I felt deeply hurt and very sad that my mother did not accept that I was speaking the truth. All I ever wanted from her was to acknowledge that the sexual abuse did happen, rather than pretend that it didn’t.

As an adult I know what is true and there is no need for anyone else to get it, but as a child I was either silent and never spoke about it or I wanted my mum to own up and take responsibility for not being there for me as a child, for not listening to me when I was 7 and needing her to support me rather than just try and brush it away. Continue reading “Breaking the Pattern of Abuse by Dealing with Childhood Sexual Abuse” →

Settled

by Dr Rachel Hall, Holistic Dentist, Brisbane

No matter what I was doing, be it working, reading, walking, swimming, resting, chatting with friends or trying to get to sleep, my body always felt agitated or shaky and my mind would be in a whirl, spinning with constant chatter.

I never felt at rest, there was always a tension and a sense of having to get on with the next thing. That there was more to do, better things to achieve, one more hurdle, goal or milestone to hit and then I could rest, be at ease and achieve a sense of completion. But when I reached that goal there was another and another and another to strive for. My restlessness built and built until my body felt wired and my mind could hold several conversations simultaneously without my being even really involved in them. Continue reading “Settled” →

Healing through Writing and Expressing

by Rosie Bason, Mullumbimby, NSW

We all have something to share; a piece of wisdom, a story that we can either choose to keep to ourselves or we can share with others. I have come to realise that when we share our expression with others through song, spoken word or in a written format, it can inspire so many and be a gift for all of us.

I have benefitted firsthand from the generosity of others sharing their knowledge and wisdom – both practical and inspirational. Of what use is it if we keep what we have come to know to ourselves? Continue reading “Healing through Writing and Expressing” →

Making Decisions: The Body is the Key

By Christoph Schnelle, Australia

I talked to a professor of statistics about PhDs and he told me about one of his PhD students who wants to find out how people make decisions. This student puts people into a FMRI (Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging) machine and records their brain activity while they make decisions.

Might there be a simpler way to investigate how we make decisions? Continue reading “Making Decisions: The Body is the Key” →

Choices and the Power of Now

By Anne Malatt, Australia

I woke this morning feeling out of sorts; a consequence of how I had lived the day before. I had made some choices in how I had used my free time and in what I had chosen to eat that were not truly loving for me, and now I was feeling those choices in my body.

I was about to start giving myself a hard time, as usual, but stopped for a moment and thought “Why not just go for a swim?”. So I did. Continue reading “Choices and the Power of Now” →