Courage

There’s Gold In Your Shadow Our shadow side represents the person we don’t want to be, all the aspects of ourselves we don’t want to express because of feelings of shame associated with them. We lock away the parts of ourselves we believe are unacceptable and we disown them. They lie dormant, rejected, and their absence leaves us less than whole. A Golden Shadow Sometimes what’s in our shadow isn’t dark at all, it’s the positive aspects of ourselves we’ve rejected because they shine too brightly for those around us, or because a calling to a noble cause overwhelms us and we aren’t sure we’re up to the task. Jung referred to this as the Golden Shadow – our beauty, knowledge and power which we reject and even...

The Journey Back To Myself You are not who they said you were, you are who you say you are. ~ Jason Alexander  My mother was 14 when she discovered she was pregnant with me. I was almost aborted, but instead I was adopted out at birth. My new mother was a woman who seemed to have decided early on that she didn’t want to be a mother after all. She and her husband had no further children so I was raised an only child, and I was later sent to boarding school. There was very little affection, praise or encouragement in this family, instead I was raised with criticism, scorn and punishment. I became permanently estranged from my adoptive parents in my 20s, and during this time my biological father’s wife made it very clear to me that I was not to consider...

Step Out Of The Scapegoat Role Did you know the word ‘scapegoat’ came originally from a ceremonial practice where a goat was sacrificed for the sins of the people, and another goat was then loaded up symbolically with these sins and sent out into the wilderness alone to perish. The goats themselves were considered pure, and the shame and sin of the people were transferred on to these innocent creatures to carry. There are many innocents who carry the blame for others. It allows groups of people, families or whole nations to project their own prejudices and aggression away from themselves. It’s a very painful role to play, however family therapists believe the scapegoat is often the healthiest family member because they aren’t complicit in...

My Top 10 Highlights of 2013   1. I received so much abundance I won so many things in 2013! It started with my entry in Amethyst Mahoney’s Pinterest party for her Biztopia challenge. I entered a board and to my surprise, not only did I win, but the announcement came on my birthday! She sent me a trophy (I’ve never had a trophy before) and I got a free breakthrough session with her.  Next I won a book from TV vet Dr Katrina on dog training, handy for when I eventually find my canine companion. I won another book from Mandy Steward called ‘Thrashing’, and I also won various small amounts in lotto, which I hardly ever enter.  2013 was an abundant year!           2. I passed my piano exam I started learning piano as...

You Are Not Invisible For much of my life I felt invisible. It seemed like people didn’t hear me, couldn’t see me, and didn’t remember me. They talked over the top of me, left me out of things, and forgot my name. When they did see me, they saw something different to the person I knew myself to be. I began to be frightened of mirrors. I could look at my reflection when I was alone and be satisfied with what I saw, then when I was with people minutes later, the reflection in the mirror would distort. I couldn’t believe I was walking around in public looking like that. When I was about 10 or 11, my mother decided to ignore me for an entire week. She would pass me in the corridor and look through me. She wouldn’t respond when I spoke to...

The Gift of Your Inner Problem Child My two cats like to take turns being ‘problem child’ of the week. This week it’s Jade. Yes that’s a tear in the cotton canopy of my four-poster bed. I’ve had it for years and it’s got a few small holes which I knew would be inevitable with two crazy cats in residence.  But this wound is definitely going to need stitches.   She climbed up there sometime during the night, probably chasing a fly that got inside yesterday, and discovered she couldn’t get down. I woke in the murky light and saw her suspended in the air, followed by the sound of material ripping. This is an extension of her tendency to climb fly screens after lizards, she gets stuck there too.  We’re all having...