Category: – Family & Parenting

It’s All Just Child’s Play – Or Is It?

I had always been one for cleaning up children’s toys at the end of the day, leaving everything clear and ready for the next day.

There was always the question there – “Was I being perfectionistic?,” “Did I have a problem with a messy house or ‘struggle with clutter’?” and then I realised that it was the order that brought simplicity. Continue reading “It’s All Just Child’s Play – Or Is It?” →

Control or Connection: It’s a Choice

The Oxford Dictionary describes Control as “the power to influence or direct people’s behavior or the course of events.” For me this goes very light on addressing and describing Control and almost presents a level of acceptability of its place in the world. Continue reading “Control or Connection: It’s a Choice” →

Giving Your Power Away: Why Being ‘Good’ Doesn’t Work

I made a choice in my childhood to give my power away in exchange for some attention, the second best thing to love, or so I thought. In essence, I wanted to be seen by my parents and I wanted their affection, so I found a way where I knew I could make this happen. Continue reading “Giving Your Power Away: Why Being ‘Good’ Doesn’t Work” →

Expressing Myself and Being True

I recently came to a realisation about the different ways I express myself with friends, family and people I meet for the first time.

The different way of expressing myself with friends compared to how I express myself with others feels like it came about as a way to offload some of the pain I was feeling in my relationships within my family. Often when I spoke to a close friend about what was happening within my family situation I would look for and gain sympathy, as we would also compare notes about how our parents treated us. Continue reading “Expressing Myself and Being True” →

Time to Play

by Jacqueline McFadden

Recently I got a lovely card from a colleague who wanted to tell me how much she had enjoyed the year working together. In the same card, she also wrote: “Don’t be afraid to have fun”. What did she mean? I asked myself. Was I not fun to be around? Was I so serious? When I stopped being defensive, I saw clearly that yes, I was rather serious – actually very serious! For the last two years life had become even more so, (due to health reasons). I then started to realise most of my life had been serious – with having many responsibilities from a young age.

Being a single parent with two children is hard, and can feel like a serious job, especially when trying to be both mother and father to your children. But that was then, and those responsibilities are long gone. My children have their own lives now; yet, I cannot seem to shake this seriousness that hangs around me and follows like a dark shadow. Continue reading “Time to Play” →

Let Go and Live

by Rod Harvey, Marketing Manager, Gold Coast

Before my involvement with Universal Medicine, I had limited tolerance for people who blamed their past for emotional issues or problems in their lives. My attitude was “well, that’s the past, get over it and on with it, and here’s a personal development book to fix it”. After all, I had my life sorted… so I thought.

Outwardly, I was confident, yet there I was, striving at various sports to prove I was good enough; putting ridiculous hours into work to show I was worthwhile; struggling for years to find my purpose in life and getting drunk at the pub to relieve tension.

No, “I didn’t have any issues”. Continue reading “Let Go and Live” →