A Guide for Americans Shopping in Australia

Because I can’t get hold of a used Concord, but am desperate to see all my American friends and family, I’m convinced you all need to hop on a plane and head Down here.

But I realise also that things are pretty different here, so I’ll tackle the first thing that will genuinely confuse you.  Well, maybe it’s the second thing – the first thing will be light switches that go opposite to what you are used to.  I cannot tell you how many times I prepared to leave a bright sunny room (the windows are much bigger here so the rooms tend to be brighter) and turned the light *on* when leaving.

Shopping.  More specifically, the money system used to shop.  Like the U.S., we have lots of annoying change.  Your wallet periodically becomes heavy enough to use as a weapon, and if it landed on anyone it would surely knock them out.  Although unlike America, coins are real money here, and if tipping were part of the culture in Australia, you could actually use them and not insult anyone.  The reason for both concepts is the $1 and $2 coins.  I suspect these were pushed through by vending machine lobbyists who were sick of counting small change, and festival organisers to ensure we paid at least a dollar for anything we donated to (“Gold Coin Donation.”)   And unlike the rest of the coins, they are shrouded in the same bizarre logic and the U.S. nickel and dime – the larger denomination is smaller than the lower one.  Frankly, I’m not a fan of dollar coins, because sifting through coins to give to the cashier takes longer than it would though paper bills, and it is always embarrassing to delay your fellow shoppers.  But you have to do this, otherwise you wallet becomes so heavy with metal that you can no longer move in forward direction.

Another difference in the coins, and hence shopping procedures, is that we do not have pennies.  Yes, you heard that correctly.  No pennies.  But we do have 10% tax on goods.  And, also unlike the U.S. tax is *exactly the same* everywhere.  And it is almost always included in the price, so there are no surprises. These two things actually make shopping easier.

Now some of you math nerds are scratching your heads and saying, “Wait a minute.  How can you function without pennies?  If you add a percentage tax to something, you will not come out with a 0 or 5 at the end of your figure every single time.  This simply can’t work!”  Well, I’m glad to say they came up with a solution, and no one has died prematurely because of it.  If you pay cash, they simply either round up or round down to the nearest 0 or 5.  So some days you pay a few cents less, and some days a few cents more, depending on what you’ve put in your shopping trolley.  If you prefer to pay using a plastic card, you get charged the exact amount. 

The actual bills are what I find make life really easy here, and why I wish they’d use $1 and $2 bills.   Some of you might be thinking, “More bills?  Then you have to look at each one individually and figure out what it is!”  But others of you might have guessed it:  our bills are different sizes.  AND different colours.  And made of plastic so if you accidentally run them through the wash they don’t disintegrate.  So it’s really easy to look at your wallet and figure out how much you’ve got in there, because in the case of the bills they got it right, and all of them go up in size as they increase in value.

Now, everything isn’t perfect Down Under, lest I give that impression.  There are two critical factors which keep us humble.  The first is the price of goods.  Paying $4.50 for coffee is *normal.* But second, and more dangerous one, is the Man-Eating Trolley.  Our shopping carts have all-way castors on all wheels.  At some point in time, someone somewhere said “let’s make trolleys more maneuverable in small spaces.”  In theory, this is great.  But the minute you have any sort of weight in the trolley, such as zero grams – or worse, any sort of surface that is not 100% level and smooth – you are doomed to hernias, scratched cars, and runaway groceries.  It is common to see people coming out of stores with trolleys flipping and flopping and angling in all directions, their owners ending up in the far reaches of the parking lot, never to be seen again.  Sadly, the inventor has never been found, possibly having been mowed down by the first production run.   Or maybe he was trying to wheel some goods out to the Concord to get them somewhere quickly, and ended up on a different plane.

Tribalism versus Shepherding

Tribalism is a real problem.  I'm not talking about being proud of your heritage, your traditions, and your family.  I'm talking about tribalism - that which divides.

Too many of us suffer from the innate human condition of tribalism.  Tribal thinking is what causes one person or group to look at another and say "you are inferior."  It causes groups to say "we don't have to listen to you."  It doesn't matter who we are, we can easily get caught up in this.

In fact, I think the church is particularly susceptible to this.  We can easily end up as our own little denominational tribe, with our leader who we follow (the pastor), and our tribal rites (dress, language, habits) that we indoctrinate people into.

Tribalism says: "I am the leader. Do what I tell you.  I've earned this. You must come to me to learn how to think."  And most people happily promote this, because it's how we are wired, bringing others to hear their wise leader, except those who angrily sit and wonder why they are not the tribe leader, or those who, realising they actually need community, leave.

Jesus never said, "Come with me, and I will make you a tribal leader."  He said "I am the Shepherd.  Be continually feeding and caring for my sheep."

The assistant shepherd doesn't look at the sheep and say: "once you've learned to grow the grass yourselves, I'll show you how to eat it."  The carer moves the sheep to the food.  Or brings the food to the sheep.

The assistant shepherd doesn't say: "hey, you're about to be devoured.  Come on Sunday and listen to my sermon and I'll tell you what you're doing wrong and how to avoid being eaten."  The carer says "Crap, there's lion over there, I'd better get off my backside and go kill it."

The assistant shepherd doesn't say to the sheep: "until you become enough like me, I won't spend any time with you.  In fact, unless you come to me, search me out, and agree with me, you're not worth spending time with."  The carer carefully checks on all the sheep, searching them out, making sure they are all there, their physical needs are being met, and goes after the ones who drift off from the flock.

But a lot of us inadvertently fall into tribalism instead, where we frown on tattoos, unmarried couples, people who we think should be taking better care of themselves,  people who are depressed, struggling or lonely and say "well, if they'd just come to church and follow these principles, they'd be fine."  Yeah, the pharisees and religious leaders tried that years ago, and Jesus got pretty fed up with it.    Worldly thinking says, "until you do it right, I can't help you."  Jesus said, "No one will ever get it 100% right. Period.  So I'm walking into your door, and giving you what you are asking for.  Now, go and do the same for each other."

Jesus always addressed the physical need first.  Even with the woman who was caught in adultery.  He didn't say "Why did you not follow these teachings, see what a terrible spot you are in now?" or "Can I give a turkey dinner at Christmas?"  He stepped in and stopped her from being physically killed.   He had a talk with her afterwards about stuff, but not until he'd helped her out of a bad place.

Look, I fail at this stuff, a LOT.  And yet I know people who are really good at helping others. But we must all step out of our tribal mindset, and actually knock on each other's doors, especially those we don't see coming anymore.

Find out who they are, what their challenges are, and roll up our sleeves and ask them what they actually need - someone to visit them, a light bulb changed, a trip to the grocery store, lawns mowed, a drive to the doctor's, a job, or everyone pitching in to help someone pay their mortgage or rent or utilities, so they can stay where they and not go through the trauma of moving and everyone simply expecting they need get their heads on straight and that they'll find another church once they do move...and then (here's the critical part)...

GIVE them the help.  Not once, not twice, but ALL THE TIME.  Just like forgiveness, there is no limit to sharing each others' burdens.  50 or 100 or 200 people sharing the load of helping each other makes the load pretty light.  But what a light in the world the community that does so will be!

Hidden Eclectia

I've been trying to create a cozy office for myself.  And create a bit of style and coziness in the bedrooms. Since we are in a rental (the normal state for many Australians, given the price of houses here), we can't just anchor shelves and pictures to the walls, so a lot of stuff is on the surfaces of other stuff.  A good portion is still in boxes, since our last home had built in shelves in the lounge, and this one is smaller and doesn't.

A lot of my stuff doesn't match.  It hasn't for a long time.  I love matching up floral things (I'm as surprised as you are).  Couches, carpets, cups.  Homey country hangings. Colour coordinated rooms.  And then there are times where I admire the functional, sleek, minimalistic style of decor. Or the really old, dignified antique-filled room.  Or beautiful tiles and tapestries.  But, in spite of my admiration of matching themes and decorator talent, most of our belongings adhere to the Avant Garage Sale school of design. 

So unintentionally, I have created an eclectic style.  A little bit of this, a little bit of that.  Hidden joys, sometimes used, sometimes forgotten, sometimes packed away just waiting to be rediscovered.

My life is like that.  It's pretty eclectic.  There are talents I've used, talents I've found, talents I've yet learn and grow.  My friends are pretty diverse lot, too. And that's probably a good thing.  If we hang out too much with people who are just like us, we lose opportunities to grow, to help, to enjoy.

Life certainly isn't neatly packaged, colour-coordinated and delivered according to schedule, no matter how much we try to make it so.  So open a few dusty boxes.  Enjoy the eclectia.

What Is All This Life Jargon, Anyway?

Every few years, a new bit of jargon becomes popular.  In business, it might be "Provide Excellence."  If we're talking about how we live our life in general, it might be "Live Intentionally," or "Be The Change."

But if you look at those phrases, do they really mean anything?  I'm not sure "intentional" is a real word, anyway.

I found myself focusing on "intentional" living lately.  It's not just intending to do something.  I can intend to buy my husband's favourite treat (a brandy snap filled with cream), give one to him and eat one myself...but if I'm living by how I feel, my intention goes out the window, and the second brandy snap works its way to my hips.  Because I will always feel like eating his brandy snap, if I keep giving in to that feeling.

This "Living Intentionally" is about putting a plan in place, and actually following it, one way or another.  I can give my husband his brandy snap first...or, if I find myself not choosing to do that, just buy one, so I don't eat them both.  (There's nothing in my mouth...really.)

Planning and reviewing our day, week, month and year is part of it.  With what we actually want to achieve in mind. Notice I didn't say just what was necessary.  What do you actually want, deep down? Your life can look like anything, so what do you really want it to look like?  If you want to be in control of your emotions, what experts do you need to read, and what do you need to change in your behaviour and thought patterns?  If you want to have better finances, what mindset, spending and savings habits do you need to focus on?  What kind of negative thinking about people who are in control of their own finances do you need to nip in the bud?  If you want your home to look like it could be featured in a magazine, what do you need to do daily to achieve that?  If you want to have a different kind of relationship with someone, or a better relationship with your Creator, what kinds of thoughts, actions and responses do you need to cultivate?

If it seems hard or overwhelming, or you have a lot of areas you want to work on, don't get bogged down in the idea of some amazing, hour-long Session Of Perfection every morning and evening. Just start.  Create little Road Maps, and little Must Do lists.  Because if something interrupts us (illness, circumstances, our emotions), we need to have that map to get us immediately on back a proper road, even if it's not our original route.

Make your maps fun and enjoyable.  Feel free to doodle on it.  Use single words, or lots of words, if that's your style.  Don't wait until next month, next week, or even tomorrow. If you have to write on a piece of scrap paper, and start a notebook later, do it.  Forget about "intending" -- actually do what you intend.

The Loneliest Party And Other Metaphors

I've had a few life lessons.  OK, yes, more than a few...but I probably haven't learned them...

A hard one has been what I call "If you keep throwing pity parties, eventually no one will come to any of your parties.  Not even the good ones."

At several points in my life, when my major, deep conversations with the people I wished to be closest to kept centring around my particular life-drama (we'll call that the "boo hoo factor"), well, people got tired of it.  They were genuinely concerned, always wished better for me, and even reached out to help me. The truth is, I've been very blessed with amazing help from amazing people.  But...

I wore them out.  I sucked the life-force from them when I was around.  And people eventually have to protect themselves from having their life-force sucked out.

I had to learn that my friends were not my therapists, nor were they responsible for fixing my life.  And...here's the kicker... there is no way possible in the universe for them to do the hard stuff FOR ME that I needed to do to improve my own relationships, moods and life situations.

Until I started changing, and eventually admitted that I was staying in my pity-party mode because it gave me some kind of weird, freakish self-satisfaction, and possibly at a deeper level, a sense of self-righteousness about how I thought others should fix my life, I was stuck there, derailed and crashed, an angry/unhappy little train waiting for the cleanup crew.  And no-one is interested in returning to a train wreck all the time.

Because no matter how badly I wanted my pity-party approach to change my life for the better and make people like me better than anyone else they knew, it was never going to.

I had to learn to pick up the phone and call people to go out and have a good time.  Just like everyone else has to do. I had to learn to say yes to stuff.  Just like everyone else has to do.  I had to learn to find out what I needed to change in my own behaviour and thinking.  Just like everyone else has to do.  I had to learn to try again.  And again.  And I absolutely had to learn to stop with the excuses.  (Although I didn't call it "excuses."  I called it "reasons" because they made sense to me.) I had to learn to try, and adapt, and learn that, for whatever reason, we all have weird, ingrained habits and thinking, but they need to be changed to live healthier and happier lives.


I also had to learn to protect my own mind and heart so that I didn't derail into a giant heap all the time.  We do this by choosing.  What we say to others.  What we say to ourselves. What we write. What we focus on. Who we hang around.  What we read, listen to or watch and fill our minds and thoughts with.

So, "whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."  No matter what your own particular challenges are, you can do this.  It really is your choice.  It will do you a universe of good.

"Fast" Track To Health

I've been doing a 7 day fast.  This is a water fast - no food, period.  Not even supplements.  It's going so well now that my doctor & I have agreed it's a good idea to extend it to 14 days.

I'm doing this fast for health reasons.  The best quote I heard is: "Fasting resets the body to work the way it was created to."  There's heaps of studies on how fasting resets and normalises various levels in the body.  And people have been doing it for millenia.  Jesus fasted for 40 days.  Mahatma Gandhi fasted for 21.  Fasting isn't for everyone, from what I understand if you have a medical condition (ie, diabetes, etc) or are taking medications you definitely need to check with your healthcare practitioner.

Fasting for one or two days is REALLY different from an extended fast, especially if your body is loaded with toxins.  Because the first two or three days you really feel like crap. You get headaches, muscle aches, dizziness, cramps, nausea, and you want to eat.  But after the third day something amazing happens.  You're body actually switches to using your FAT exclusively for fuel.   You feel better. You think more clearly.  Your body starts repairing and regulating itself and inflammation disappears.  I dropped 8-9 kilos because inflammation went away.

I'm glad I have supervision because even after 3 days, you can still get weird aches and pains and muscle cramps.  And heartburn.  And hiccups.   And, um...belching.  So I've added mineral water, and need to get some epsom crystals to ensure I'm getting enough magnesium for the muscles.  Not sure if it will help the audible events.

It's also reminded me to pay attention to my thoughts. Especially the one that says "I'm REALLY hungry!".  I stop and think "am I?"  Then I realise, no, I'm not, it's just a mental desire.  I don't need it.  My body is just fine.  Apparently your body will tell you when it really needs food, and not by tummy rumblings or even discomfort - it becomes an intense craving.  Given the actual amount of fat on my body, I'm set for a while.  So, pay attention to your thoughts, and change them!

I also discovered why one person said to keep exercise to a minimum.  It was a gorgeous day yesterday, so I decided to take a gentle walk around the block, and stop halfway at the park.  My leg muscles burned!  It was like walking in a lead suit.  Later I was exhausted and dizzy.  My doctor informed me that it's because when you fast, you don't take in glucose to feed the muscles.

I was tempted to stop at the 7 day mark.  Simply because I enjoy food.  Then I thought, wow this is doing amazing things for my body, which is disadvantaged by years of ingesting toxins that are put in the food, and doesn't have a gallbladder so doesn't work as well as it should, and a whole host of toxins from stress and environment.  Do I really want to stop now or give my body the best advantage?  It's got its hard work side, so I don't really want to start over.

Fasting does starve all the bacteria in your gut.  The bad stuff (cool, heheheh) and the good stuff, which needs to be replenished.  It's part of the processing of resetting your body.  I've got my homemade fermented foods to reintroduce later.  Fyi the fermented foods and yoghurt, etc you buy in the average store is useless because they pasteurise it and kill the good bacteria.  You NEED bacteria in your gut, but the good kind, not the kind that makes you sick.

So, here I go into week 2.  Can't wait to see the results!

Good Friday Potato

It's Good Friday, so a lot of places are closed today. Plus Andrew was in too much pain to go anywhere fun anyway, so getting out of the house didn't happen.

These days, I don't do well being home for periods of time.  I don't know if it's ADD, ADHD, PMS or some other acronym, but I get bored easily (just ask my husband) but it's generally not the kind of boredom that says "hey, let's go work in the garden, or go for a walk, or play the guitar, or clean the house" or some other creative or useful endevour. It's the kind that leads to staring at the pantry & refrigerator shelves, watching stupid TV, lurking around FB and eventually writing a blog post. 

HAHAHAHA and you're reading it.

Last night & today have been House Potato days.  I suppose someone might say, don't be too hard on yourself, everyone needs down time.  But there's a different between down time, and digging the hole deeper time.   At least I think so.  Obviously being down on myself won't help, and at least if I'm typing this blog, I'm not raiding the kitchen.

But I actually have some bits of time I've actually enjoyed.  I started reading a new book, attempted to play on the freebie keyboard that Andrew cleaned up for me, mulled some wine (and drank it), read & watched some interesting stuff on the internet (and not just cute kitty antics either - althought the cat and the blimp was pretty funny), watched the space station go overhead in the cold outdoors and admired a gorgeous moon (last night), helped out a friend, and attempted to reconvince the neighbours cat that our yard is not a bad place despite my husband's best efforts to have loud noises and scary machines.

Not having kids or pets at the moment, I can't tell you what crazy or insane or cute things they are doing.   Hopefully yours are doing something to keep you entertained or at least interested (in a good way).

Enjoy your time off, and do some Epic Shit stuff this weekend.  Even if it's as simple as giving House Potato a hug of appreciation.

Blessed Interruptions

Did you ever forget how awesome life is?  Of course you have.  We all have.  I've done a pretty good job myself lately.  In fact, a problem has been distracting me so much it was all I could think of pretty much all of yesterday.  And last night. And this morning.

When that happens, we need to interrupt our thought patterns.  We can let life do it for us, but that's not always the best.  I found that out this morning when I was so consumed by how the problem made me feel (stressed & angry) that in my distraction I let another, preventable problem occur - the kind that makes you say "hash mark-exclamation point-question mark-star-exclamation point".

At least I was distracted enough to come up with a solution after that.  I did find myself dwelling on the problem-feelings occasionally during the day, but came up with a phrase to interrupt myself with when I started thinking about it again.  The next step probably would have been standing on a chair and doing something silly just to reinforce NOT thinking about it.

Another key is to make sure you hang out with people who reinforce how you WANT to think, enough to counteract the woe-is-me trends we can get into.   And making sure we start choosing to act in ways that minimise stress.  For me, it's learning to set deadlines, agreements, and goals, and making sure I start them sooner than I think I need to.  If the weight of finishing a huge task makes me feel that much better, chances are I've left it too long and let it become a problem when instead it can be something that moves me closer to a goal.

And don't forget to look around and see how awesome life is.  Turn off the news, it's rarely going to tell you anything you don't already know, and will simply fill your  thinking with rubbish and hyper-negative thinking.  If it's important enough, you'll hear about it.

Look for what you love.  Today I was reminded how much I love the fact that in Australia I can drive down the road in suburban Melbourne and there are a bunch of horses doing something somewhere.

This holiday season is going to be vibrant, refreshing and amazing.  Because I choose to live it that way.  Have blessed Christmas and an stunning New Year!

Are You Ready For This?

I can't believe it's been a year since I blogged anything.  That's not to say I haven't been sharing my thoughts, just not KLogging...

This morning I was listening to Craig Hill's "God's Principles of Finance."  He talked about how most people spend 40 years doing what they hate, so they can retire and do what they love.  I love his question:  why not skip the forty year bit and get straight to what you love?  God wants us to be passionate about what we do, and love doing it.  It doesn't mean it will be easy and always fun - especially when people think you're nuts.

It really set up my day for the next bit - attending Melbourne's Dynamic Growth Experience at RMIT - a conference of chiropractors, their teams and chiropractic students getting together and discussing the concept of health and healthy living.  Discussing the research and evidence around the fact that conditions and health problems (eg, diabeties, high blood pressure, obesity, low blood pressure, you name it) have to do with the fact that what happens in the body is due to cause & effect - such as the cause of lifestyle factors, hidden or overt traumas, etc and their effect in the body.  No disease is ever caused by a lack of medication.  The key is to find the cause and address it, not silence the functions God created in the body to initially correct and certainly warn of the problem.   Certainly there is a time and place for pharmaceuticals and surgery.  They are gifts in emergency care.  But the fact that I'm fat isn't an emergency that requires a pill or injection of dangerous substances into my body.  It requires me to make better decisions about what I eat and how I exercise.

Chiropractors remove interference on the nerves in a way that no other practioner does, being trained to work with the spine specificially.  This allows the nerves to work at their best ability at that time.  If those nerves go to the heart, or the kidneys, or the eyes, or the bladder, then those organs will work even better as a result.   Working with the muscles is a gift that relieves pain, strengthens the body and helps correct particular issues, but the fact is that if the interference is still happening in the spine, doing stretches or muscle work so you feel ok doesn't make that problem go away.  And it will have effects later.  The problem is that we don't think about "later" until we get there, and then the problem has been there for years.

It's not a matter of "believing in chiropractic."  That's like saying, "I don't believe in dentistry" or "I don't believe in physiotherapy."  As one speaker mentioned, you don't get a choice. Like any other doctor, chiropractors are highly trained, they are accredited, they are regulated, they exist.  The facts are out there, just like Galileo discovered.  And as Galileo also discovered, facts can be unpopular.

Am I passionate about getting the message out there to allow your God-given nervous system to work as well as it can, so you can heal as best you can, your mind and emotions can work as well as they can, and you can be as healthy as you can?  YOU BET!  Because I've witnessed so much amazing change in people, including myself.  Will many of you think I am a fanatic, or nuts?  Quite likely.  But as one of our student speakers put it:  the forest is full of mightly trees that were once nuts who stood their ground.

Entitlement vs Entrepreneur

Somehow we get it hammered into us that we are supposed to be poor.  So we let the government give us money because we don’t bring in enough income.  Here’s the catch – it’s not just my own tax that money comes from, but everyone else’s.  We are asking everyone else to give us money – for no work.  But if we purchase goods and services from each other, everybody wins.

Greed vs Generousity

When we meet someone who “already” has money and gives to others, we think they are generous. Yet, oddly, when someone is learning how and working hard to build a business, we might think they are greedy!  But that money from a properly run business which is used to support employees, families and others is like a child - it doesn’t just appear out of nowhere. Some things have to happen first.

Perseverance vs. Paranoia

I was going to write a bit a perseverance tonight.  What it is to continue in the face of all odds.  In the face of failure.  In the face of messing up, and starting again.  But I was reading an article which started me thinking about what I call our "cultural paranoia." 

We've been trained to be paranoid.  The media and governing bodies tell us not to let our kids walk down the street on their own to a friend's house - they'll get abducted.  Not to let anyone be sad or depressed - they won't ever be able to cope.  Not to hug anyone or have physical contact - it's inappropriate and not therapeutic.

I find this flies in the face of both thousands of years of how we humans act, and in the face of research.  We walked down the street to a friends, and learned how to be independent and think for ourselves.  Maybe problem solve if we decided to go a different way.  We got sad, or depressed over the death of a loved one, and amazingly, we actually worked through our grief, and became both stronger and more sympathetic.  We got lots of hugs from family, friends, neighbours and teachers, and, as  research shows, became healthier mentally and physically.

Buying into the "cultural paranoia" makes us less healthy, less independent, and more depressed by teaching us not to do what is actually best for us.  But I think we all need to persevere in simply refusing to buy into it.  There is also the concept of what you focus on, you get.  The more the media focuses on the horrors, the more we get them.... So turn off the TV and news.  Send your kids to the neighbour's house.  Cry with a friend, laugh with a friend, and make sure you give and get lots of hugs!

Bootcamp For Beliefs

I've been digging around my subconscious lately.  It's difficult to write about these things without being boring (an attempt on Facebook was deleted after an hour...it put me to sleep!)  But I will say it's quite an exercise to look at what you say you believe - what you think you are living out day to day - and then to really pull up the roots and origins of what comes out in your actions and results day to day.

It reminds me of all the time I spent with my friend Mark in university. Mark was a student of philosophy, and very good at asking provoking (think "earth-shattering") questions. But I think the harder part is not having one's earth shattered - the harder part is looking through the rubble and finding out what's really underneath it all.

I won't bore you with what I've been pulling up - it might just sound like a bunch of fertiliser to you.  But if we are interested in growing, I guess we need to pull out that fertiliser on schedule!

Growth and Re-Growth

I've been accused of not writing much lately.  And that is is true, other than the odd Facebook note.  There's been a lot going on behind the scenes.  We've been busy at our practice, putting new systems into place, learning them, still learning them, and then learning a whole lot more.  And then, just maybe, it dawns on me just how much there is actually to learn.

I've also been challenged (and voluntarily challenging myself) on a whole lot of how I think, behave, act, respond, believe.  I'm pretty sure this is a good idea to do periodically; I'm just wondering why I picked the recent insane learning curve months to work on that as well.  Coincidence?  Probably not.

I've discovered fear is a lousy reason not to move forward.  OK, I haven't mastered that one yet, but the fear of losing what one has can really paralyze and wreck your life's plans.  I never understood, in the parable  about the guy who was so afraid of losing what his master gave him so he buried it in a field, why that master was so angry and took even that bit away.  I thought it was pretty unfair.  But now I think that might be a good analogy for fear.  It's not that what we have gets taken from us, it's that we give away any possibility of enjoying it (our lives?) and give away any possibility of growth and change because we don't do things.

We don't call our friends and family.  We don't take a risk and invest. We don't take enroll in that class or participate in our favourite passtimes.  We're afraid a friend we call will ignore us. We're afraid we'll lose all our money.  We're afraid of having a bad time.  We're afraid we'll have a good time doing the wrong thing.  Not doing means we don't fail, right?  Wrong.  We fail even more than losing everything would mean, because we don't just stagnate, we diminish.   If we keep attempting to grow, yes we'll fail and do the wrong things, but we'll do even more of the right things and really get a chance to enjoy our lives and achieve our goals.

So here's to new growth, re-growth, and some spectacular living!

Healthy Detox Strikes Again!

During the holidays, like everyone else I imbibed, ate and enjoyed the treats!  By January my poor joints were inflamed, my system reminding me that I don't consume heaps of dairy, wheat, sugar and additives for good reason.  Amazingly, while I think a kilo or so snuck up on me, I'm pretty astounded that my weight and waist-line were both back to where they were at my last "check-in" by the time I was ready to do a health tune-up.

Since I'd done a full-blown system detox previously, it is not recommended you do another large detox for at least a year or so.  But a mini-detox was definitely in order, so for the past 2 weeks I did the "express" version.  Part of that was getting back on a strict diet that excluded inflammatory foods, additives, sugar, caffeine and alcohol.  I'm happy to say the inflammation is down, celllular health is up, and the body fat, waist & weight all went down again!  Since Andrew wanted wine with dinner tonight, I decided to go ahead and have a glass, and even a little post-dinner, dark and thankfully soy-free belgian chocolate.

I'm glad to eating healthy again after the holidays, and look forward to disappearing more.  I also look forward to being able to make those glasses of wine and cups of coffee disappear again as well!

Merry Christmas and a Spectacular Old Year!

Happy Christmas everyone!  I know we're meant to be wishing Happy New Year (which I do!), but I was thinking about the old year, seeing as it's about to toddle off into history.

Today is an amazing day.  Not the day of Jesus' actual birth of course, but the day we celebrate it.  There's a lot of fun and goofy and old and new traditions attached and intertwined of course - trees, lights to brighten the solstice, decorations, paper hats, gifts, feasts, to name a few.  But when we stop and think about the miracle of Jesus, really, it's pretty awe-inspiring.

There are lots of carols, most of which we are all pretty immune to after hearing them blare on loudspeakers for weeks on end.  But I thought of the words to one this morning:  "He rules the world with truth and grace."  You know, truth and grace are pretty cool things.  Imagine what it would be like if we always spoke the truth to each other.  And did it with grace, and grace-full-ness.  Some definitions of grace:  mercy; clemency; pardon;  a sense of propriety and consideration for others.  How cool would that be?

This has also been a pretty amazing year.  Some wonderful miracles that came my way:  getting my life back through renewed health and well-being.  Having a new, awesome work to do where I can help others do the same.  New friends, new goals, people to push me and challenge me and help me move forward and change.

There've been other events, too.  Visits from family.  Leaving my real estate job - no regrets, just fond memories.  Trials and traumas too, but overall a great - fantastic year.  On New Year's Day, January 1st 2010, there were 2 gorgeous rainbows in the sky, which I felt were a double-promise of an amazing year.  I can't wait to see what 2011 brings.

Pushing Through

That seems to be theme of late.  It's a good one, just not any easy one.

I've started work at my new occupation - Chiropractic Assistant and Practice Manager.  It's not an easy road.  The learning curve has not only been steep, it feels like it's going around a twisty mountain and there's a few places where I've wondered about the guardrail.

It's presented me with all kinds of amazing opportunities.  Like the opportunity to grow personally as well as professionally.  I've been blessed with a fantastic coach and mentor - one who doesn't hesitate to push me to more than I thought possible, encourage me to do the right thing, correct me, and show me better ways to do things. It's been a real miracle, this whole process.  It's run me off my feet, but I've been pushing through.

I had to push through last night as I drove to a seminar in West Melbourne - on my own - in the pouring rain and in unfamiliar, opposite-side-of-the-road territory, driving on tram tracks (wait until one of those comes up behind you).  I must confess I was fairly stressed by the time I had to squeeze my car into the tiny, parallel-parking spot in the middle (!) of Victoria Parade.  But fairly amused and proud still because I'd done it.

Then the car died.

I called RACV and proceeded to wait for the service van.  What to do?  I had driven all this way to attend a seminar, and I only had half an hour to wait for a van that was 90 minutes from coming.  Push through.  I cancelled the call (which meant placing another one after 10pm) and went to the lecture.  OK, so I really struggled to pay attention, and was pretty stressed out.  But I did it.  And prayed hard to get home from the city.  I called the RACV later (after recharging the minutes on my mobile which, conveniently, had run out). 

Guess what?  The car started before the van got there.  Oh me of little faith.  God got that car home, because it died again today, and I had to push through and figure that out. But a really cool verse came up tonight on the Bible website.  It's the verse that was quoted to me in a prayer meeting when we first got here.  “For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”(Jeremiah 29:11)

Yeah, these plans are pretty cool.  I guess I just have to keep pushing through.

Directionally Challenged

We've moved into our new rental house.  It's a different size and shape to the old one, with cupboard challenges (think "simplify") and a very wet, small garden surrounding (I miss park-like setting) but it's got some really fantastic features.  It's got an actual pantry with shelves, a linen cupbard (again, with the much loved shelves), a lock-up garage with workbenches in it, a tool shed and another shed which we suspect had animals in it (time for a chook?) and a family room which we have converted to the lounge/dining room. 

That extra room has been a huge blessing - it enabled Andrew to convert the original lounge/dining to a much more client-friendly office, thus freeing up the bedrooms from A) being walked by, and B) giving us a real guest bedroom and my own little office.  If you come over for a cuppa, you can get the gist of the layout.  Then be sure to tell me, because the new pantry is where the old fridge was, and the fridge is now where the cupboards were...which, if I am not careful, could have some interesting results.

I have also started my new duties as Chiropractic Assistant at Peak Potential Bulleen.  I plunged into the deep end today on one of the busiest Saturdays.  Wow, I have a lot learn.  It was full on - but in a really good way.  It reminds of that email that periodically gets forwarded to all our inboxes:  you know, the one about ending up all exhausted and disheveled, commenting to your best mate about what a fantastic ride life is.

With all these exciting changes, I've really felt as though God is expanding my thinking.  I suppose that could be more accurately phrased as "blowing my mind."  Each year since moving to Australia, I seem to be privileged to experience new and deeper levels of awe at the blessings God provides, and the new directions we have moved in.  Its scary and challenging and exciting all the same time.  I'm looking forward to more of the ride!

Photos, Finally!

As promised, I've finally gotten around to having Andrew snap some shots of me.  This is what I look like after 3 months of eating healthy and 1 month or so of exercising a bit.  I haven't been on the scale this week (flat battery), but at last count I was down 12 kilos.

On Your Mark, Get Set...Already Going!

We're in the process of moving.  We just don't know where to yet.  I'm hoping this mystery will be solved by the end of the week.  I like a bit of suspense, but I must admit I'd like to have a known destination.

The packing is actually coming along.  With help from Jan, the super-packer who has never moved home in 30 years but has in fact helped our her children move on many occasions, we've gotten the fiddly little bits and pieces from the the lounge, dining room and kitchen almost all packed.  Now for the offices/bedrooms.

I've also started full-throttle in marketing at my new job.  The problem is getting my brain to shut off when I'm not actually working.  I'm going to have to go do something really mindless to get a rest...actually, NOT mindless because my brain will continue ticking along.  I'm going to have to do something that totally distracts my brain, like a good movie or coffee with a friend.

Exercising seems to help to, especially if it is something like swimming which requires concentrating on not trying to breathe the water.   I've even found myself out walking more (on purpose) and expending all kinds of energy I would have only wished I could 3 months ago.  All in all, my brain may be annoying me by constantly going, but I must say, like the rest of me, it does seem to be more active these days!