Alcohol is Not Normal

I grew up in a family with a lot of alcohol. A lot. My mother was and is an alcoholic, though to single her out as the only alcoholic is in fact the very first step in society’s clever and insidious avoidance of the whole picture.

An addict is defined as someone who is “…dependent on a substance and has formed a physical and/or psychological habit around that substance…”

Which also exactly describes my father’s relationship with alcohol and all of his friends. Because they all ‘needed’ to drink pretty much every single day. And all did. They were all “…dependent on a substance and had formed a physical and/or psychological habit around that substance….” Continue reading “Alcohol is Not Normal” →

Understanding Life, My Choices and Appreciating Me

I recently took the time to reflect back on understanding my life, the choices I have made, and how these choices affected me.

Writing the blog ‘From A False Foundation of Abuse to a True Foundation of Self-Love’ allowed room for me to take time to truly reflect on understanding life in a true sense, and for the self-appreciation that I now know I deserve.

I have gone from someone who only thought about keeping her children warm, fed and safe (or what I deemed to be safe at the time) while giving no thought or concern to my own well-being, to a woman who now naturally does this for herself. This is nothing short of an amazing transformation. I went from hating myself deeply with every thought and action to having a conscious understanding of why I was doing this and replacing these thoughts with more understanding and care for myself. This inner appreciation slowly made way for much more Love and beauty to expand in my body.

Continue reading “Understanding Life, My Choices and Appreciating Me” →

Inspired by Michael Benhayon & the Teachers are Gold Project: Expression is EVERYTHING

“A teacher must be CELEBRATED and HONOURED in everything they are and in everything they bring, EACH AND EVERY DAY! Equal to this, they must be given ALL the tools of how to do this for THEMSELVES, that is, to truly celebrate and honour all that they are and all that they bring to our lives.” [Michael Benhayon, Director, Teachers are Gold! Project] 

I recently had an amazing conversation with Michael Benhayon – founder of the Teachers are Gold Project – about how I had been feeling at school and teaching; stressed, overwhelmed, and frustrated with the education system and all the ‘extra’ work I had to do. Only two weeks into school term I was becoming a teacher I didn’t want to be, exhausted and looking forward to the end of the week so I could come home and rest. Continue reading “Inspired by Michael Benhayon & the Teachers are Gold Project: Expression is EVERYTHING” →

All My Life I’ve Been a Fixer

All my life I’ve been a fixer – I’ve listened to other people’s problems, felt that I’ve known exactly what they needed to do to resolve their issues, and been convinced that I was right, and then told them what they should do. In doing so I have taken on the responsibility for fixing whatever their problem is. I’ve spent hours thinking about different scenarios of how I could tell them, thinking of all the different things they needed to do to get a perfect result – and in doing so I have been distracted from living my own life. Continue reading “All My Life I’ve Been a Fixer” →

From A False Foundation of Abuse to a True Foundation of Self-Love

This is my story of a life of abuse… and where it began…

Learning to Trust and Rely on No-One…

As a young child I grew up with only my father and one of my younger sisters, as my mother moved interstate one day with my oldest and youngest sisters and her new husband, unbeknownst to me and my sister. At that stage of my life I was attending primary school around the corner from her house. On the day she moved, I was about 8, I felt very strongly to go to her home. When I got there I saw a removalist truck pulling out with one of my sisters sitting in the front and my mum’s car driving away down the road. I was devastated. I knew this was goodbye and I lost two of my best friends and my mum from right under my nose.

From this I learnt a lot: I decided it was best not to listen to my feelings as they may lead me into great pain, and that just because I was born into a family this did not give me the right to expect to be a part of it, and that you can trust and rely on no-one because at any point in time they can disappear right from under you.

Continue reading “From A False Foundation of Abuse to a True Foundation of Self-Love” →

Sport, Competition and Fiery Debate

Julia Gillard, when Prime Minister, was asked why politicians need to act the way they do in parliament, to which her defensive reply was that this country has been built on fiery debate, that much had been achieved as a result of the cauldron that we know to be parliament. Competition runs deep in every aspect of our society and is treasured as one of the great forces that leads to innovation, evolution, and change. But perhaps the question that should have been posed to Julia Gillard was “How incredible is it that anything has actually been achieved in parliament DESPITE the fiery debate that goes on?”

For what could be achieved if parliamentarians truly worked together? What if we stopped championing competitive debate as the bastion of truth and allowed ourselves to co-operate in unison towards the greater common purpose? Of course to do so would reveal the fact that underneath competition is the insatiable drive of the self-centred individual, who, devoid of the understanding of their own true worth, is desperate to prop up their own self-esteem at the expense of another. Continue reading “Sport, Competition and Fiery Debate” →