Saturday, September 19, 2020

Saturday Search - Lee Harris Energy

I've been a Lee Harris fan for a while now. His monthly energy updates were what hooked me first but now I'll listen to him anytime :)

Today he put out a song with a video clip that is incredibly beautiful, sensual and moving. I wanted to share it here; https://www.leeharrisenergy.com/all-who-walk

If you're moved by this, check out some of Lee Harris's other work. 

His partner, Steven Washington, does Qigong if you're looking for movement, energy shifting, and exercise. I've been enjoying that movement as well.

My search of all things spiritual began with a story, Past Lives, I wrote way back in 2009. I don't know where the story came from, but it poured out of me in random scenes that grew into a story. I took it to a writing course, and was told by a story editor that my premise was impossible. I'd written about past lives, where the gender shifted depending on which past life was written about. I decided I needed to learn about past lives, since I'd obviously ballsed up the whole concept.

I followed a rabbit hole into a realm that has changed my life. It began with a writing course on astrology and past life connections (when you look for something, sometimes it falls into your lap!). I did a few courses with Mary O'Gara and she taught me so much about writing and the alternate spiritual practices. 

I've kept following the flow. One course led to another. One person to another. All are connected to writing - which is the weirdest part! 

This journey has had fundamental changes to my life, health, focus and happiness. It's been the weirdest, longest, but most fulfilling rabbit hole I've ever fallen into!

Have you followed rabbit holes? Do you find things out-of-the-blue that are perfectly what you need?

Friday, September 11, 2020

A Course In Miracles - messages

A friend of mine shared this channelling experience with me. It's a series of youtube videos, twice a day for 40 days, channelling Jesus by/with Tina Louise Spalding. 

It's about looking deeper into yourself.

It's a bit challenging.

Definitely woo woo.

But it's really quite eye-opening and awakening.

It's worth having a look. Each video is only about 20 minutes long. They come out morning and night, but Tina Louise Spalding said to listen any time because she wasn't having set times, and they'll be available for a while.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZcWtLUDi4o

Has anyone read the book A Course In Miracles?  

It's from 1976, so it's been around a while. I've not read it or done the practices. My friend is almost halfway through, so I might chat to her about it later.

Sunday, September 6, 2020

Sunday Story - me and romance

I read a book this week that i was loving - witty banter, unbelievable chemistry, a huge conflict. I was so sold on it. I was devouring it, loving every word...

and then...

I hated it.

OMG. Why?

It's got so many fabulous reviews and readers love it. It's by relatively 'big-name' romance authors. I should have loved it because everyone else seemed to be, so what happened to me?

The female was disempowered. In a book that was all about the hero helping her and empowering here, the conflict disempowered her in such a way that it crushed me. It seemed to go against everything that it had been leading up to do... but it was subtle, and kind of went with the conflict, so it worked... just not for me.

I don't want to bag out the book, or single it out because romance is full of books that do the same thing, but I do want to explain my issue. So I'll try to do that in general terms.

Hero and heroine are both outsiders in their families. They bond because of this and the issues that arise from the ostracising. The heroine helps the hero in quiet, private ways, and in public, he pretty much sorts his own shit out.

The heroine... well, she doesn't sort her own shit out. The hero 'saves' her. Not only does he cover for her, he then tells her brother that she needs help and insists that the mother does too. So the brother 'forces' the heroine and her mother into counselling, which sorts all the issues out. Does the brother also go to counselling? NO. Did the heroine take charge of her life and organise her own counselling? No. Did the hero help her in private as she'd done for him? No.

The men sorted their own shit out, themselves, in private spaces. 

The women had to deal with theirs publicly, and then go to counselling that had to be forced onto them, and the males involved did not need this counselling.

Why do we (as women romance writers) do this?

We are perpetuating the "useless" female stereotype that the patriarchy dishes up to us.

Can't we do better??????

I know the conflict doesn't happen on a grand scale unless this all gets aired publicly... but do we need that conflict as readers? Do we need to have the women humiliated and then saved by the men they love? 

*sob*

This is why I don't fit easily into romance. This is why I struggle to read the most popular romance titles.

I want to empower the females in my stories.

I want my women to save themselves.

I want them to be as strong as their men, or stronger.

It may have taken me a bloody long time to work out exactly what was fucking my brain up with romance, but I think I'm getting it worked out. My idea of romance is something completely different to the genre and the fairy tale.

I need to write what makes my heart sing. That's what I'll be doing. Proudly. With my brave pants on!

How do you like your romance?

Wednesday, September 2, 2020

Wildlife Wednesday - Little Things

 

You know I'm a crazy nature nut and I've been sharing all sorts of weird nature photos for years, but I think I've been looking at the smallest things to find the most joy this year. 


Yellow freesias image

I put together Pockets of Joy, a print book earlier in the year, and it brought me a great deal of satisfaction to do that...however, it's not enough.

I was wondering what else I could do. I realised I missed doing a regular magazine-type setup. I missed contributions from others, a schedule (ARGH! I can't believe I said that!), regularity, and accessibility. I mentioned it on Facebook, and my friend, Lori, gave me a title and a focus for it all in one comments. She said, "From Little Things Big Things Grow."

Isn't that true? Seeds become plants or trees. Babies mature, then often have babies themselves. As I thought more, I realised how often the littlest things brought me the biggest thrill. Catching a bug's portrait is one of the biggest fun I have with photos. The fact that they sit still and pose, amuses and amazes me. Capturing pollen grains, the shades of a petal, the light on an object, perspective, a gentle unfurling of the tiniest shoot, all these things make me smile, bring me joy, keep me looking at the little things.

Ha! There was my magazine. Little Things that make me happy. Sharing them with others. Showing others the tiny things around them, so these things could make them smile as well.

e-magazines can be accessible and easy to disseminate. So, that's what I've done. An e-mag that's available in an open Facebook group or you can ask to go on the mailing list and I'll email it to you each month.

It's free. So you can pass it around. You can share it with your mailing list. You can do whatever you'd like with it.

Mostly, I hope you'll enjoy the little things that you may overlook in the busyness of life!


a water droplet hangs on the end of a green gum leaf

a white feather lies on it's side

vertebrae of a fish lies as bare bones on the sand


a fly sits on a stem

sunlight in mangroves

two puppies sit at a fence looking gorgeously cute

a fly with green eyes sits on a yellow bin lid

a paper daisy

a white bird (egret) lifts into flight

the circular whirls of a Lebanese Cedar Tree cone

a tiny bug stares at you from a finger tip

a closed purple daisy in morning sunlight

yellow and orange lichen on a rock

a green fern leaf unfurls