Music and Connecting

Music has an infinite capacity to move us, to tears as well as to joy. Connecting with others to create something stimulates hope, strengthening a belief in our ability to affect the world around us: it's easier and more things are possible when we work together.

So connecting to make music is one of the most fundamental, soul-enhancing, life-affirming activities we have available. My lack of natural ability in this area is an occasional source of disappointment to me, but I love seeing others doing it (and I have a little plan hatching which may change my relationship to music, too).

Playing For Change are an inspiration. They've brought together artists from all around the world. Now they are building music schools. Just listening to their music and watching their videos is a joy-generating experience, which is why I'm offering one of my favourites here, and I've created a music page to present more.

Enjoy!

Magic

Now I understand why I cried so much as a teenager: I mourned the terrible loss of my belief in a deep magic inherent in life.

I didn't know it, but I was letting go, under a constant bombardment from the prevailing world view, of my connection to everything else.  To the wild things, to my inner self, to the magic of infinite possibilities.

I'm so very happy to have found it again.

I got here, step by tiny step, by beginning to entertain the notion first that I could overcome my limiting beliefs, then that I could change my circumstances.  As it turned out, the one followed on from the other.

One of the major landmarks along the road is when you give yourself permission to please yourself - not to the detriment of others, but in a self-nurturing way.  Prepare to think differently to everyone else.  Learn to ask yourself what you really want and "follow your excitement".  Life takes on new flavours, new colours, scents, sensualities, all run through with eagerness and joy.

I followed my excitement to study biology with the Open University.  So fascinating, so amazing, the extent of the activity in each tiny cell of my body, at a speed that defies comprehension.  Learning the science of life hasn't lessened my awe in the mystery, it's heightened it.

Three books which have helped renew my belief in magic* - a sort of marriage of science and mystery - are:

The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter & Miracles (UK) - how our beliefs shape our biology, right down to the cellular level. You don't need any knowledge of biology or science to read it, it's really easy to read and explained very well.

Biology of Belief - US

Biocentrism(UK) - the notion that everything (yes, everything) exists because life exists, not the other way around.  A bit of a mind bender, again beautifully written.

Biocentrism - US

Cosmic Serpent: DNA and the Origins of Knowledge(UK) - joining the dots between shamanic experiences and modern science. I defy any biologist to read this and remain closed to the concept that we are so much more than co-ordinated chemical reactions.

The Cosmic Serpent - US



*By magic I mean, that there is still a deep and beautiful mystery to life, the universe and everything; that so much more is possible than we have been led to believe by the rigid lines of this current collapsing paradigm.  One day these inexplicable phenomena will have everyday names and they won't be thought of as magic at all, because it will be totally accepted as normal!  I suspect, though, that there will always be some deeper mystery to go on chasing.  Hope so.  Let's keep it juicy.

Chocolate porridge

I am definitely going to listen more to my Higher Self.  Chocolate porridge is truly awesome.

recipe

I made it myself from porridge oats, a good quality hot chocolate mix (basically cocoa and sugar) and yes, I topped it off with a little cream.

Not one for every day, but such a treat!  Yum!  

Inspirational women

I have spent a wonderfully cloistered summer in my little flat, listening to some incredibly inspiring women.  I am profoundly grateful to Katherine Woodward Thomas and Claire Zammit for their Women on the Edge of Evolution teleseminar series.

Katherine Woodward Thomas

Claire Zammit

They're based in the US but people can dial in from anywhere in the world, or download the recorded conversations afterwards.  That's what I do, as I live in the UK.  I listen to them when I'm driving, or washing up, or when I just want to make myself relax for a while.

Two favourite new heroines for me are Diane Hamilton, who expresses a delicious feminine strength and loving acceptance, and Barbara Marx Hubbard, a leading light on conscious evolution with a fabulous sense of humour and extraordinary vitality at eighty.

Diane Hamilton

Barbara Marx Hubbard

There are many, many more marvellous women in conversation with Katherine and Claire.  By sharing their stories with us, they're demonstrating that we can all step into a new way of being.  Rather than feeling trapped, frustrated and helpless, by nurturing ourselves first and then operating from a position of inner strength, we can begin a joyful engagement with our modern problems.  They're demonstrating just how much demand there is now for feminine strength, feminine ways of thinking, even nurturing ways of doing business.  They're demonstrating that by stepping into her beautiful individuality, a woman is capable of incredible things. They're saying: "I am you.  Any of us can do this.  Start with a new kind of special care for yourself."  I feel very much more optimistic about the next few years for people and planet since I've been listening to these dialogues.

They're also saying: "We are the ones we've been waiting for."  That's exciting!

Women on the Edge of Evolution is easy to register for and it's totally free.

yippee

Free as air

Joy is as freely available to us as air.  It is all around us and in us, just like air.

Once we dissolve the mental and emotional blocks constructed since childhood, we are able to feel joy flow through us, inhabit us. 

Let go of fear, let go of anger, jealousy, self-hate.  These are all veils hiding how easily accessible the joy is.  Cut them down, let them fall, let the wind blow the veils away.  We don't need that stuff, we can choose to be without all those fear-based emotions.

Try it.  Don't be surprised if you fly.