Stories from the Outback

dreaming, extraordinary life, ,

What a lot of memories flooded back on reading an article in the travel section of the weekend newspaper…

Apart from the retreat …..which is sort of bush……..but not really…….. it’s a 40acre residential block surrounded by some light forest and farms, I’ve seriously missed being “Outback”.  My love affair with the red dirt began at age 11 when my father took a position as shopkeeper at Tarcoola on the Transcontinental Railway, just two years after arriving in Australia as “Ten Pound Poms”. We exchanged the bright lights of Adelaide for the bright starlight nights of a village on the edge of the Nullabor Plain and we children exchanged our “posh” English accents for an Aussie drawl…. We experienced the shimmer of the heat above the railway line as it snaked into the distance,  learned to look both into the distance and close by, to spot any movement (snakes) and danced in the dust as the first fat raindrops fell in a long time.

The store, with adjoining house was one of the few stone buildings and we lived a few meters from the railway as the goods were unloaded directly from the train into the shop. We all pitched in on days that the Tea and Sugar arrived. Circular crates of tetra pack milk were taken to the coolroom. The butcher’s van attached to the train did a roaring trade in fresh meat and samples of clothes were inspected and orders put in with Dad to relay to the bigger Commonwealth store in Port Augusta and to arrive on the next goods train. The train also brought movies and eagerly looked forward to and I seem to remember that film nights were held in a hall next to the pub.

The families of the fettlers lived a little way back from the railway – neat weather board houses all in a row and further up the hill, built during the gold rush, was the stone/brick schoolhouse.  In those years it was just 2 rooms – one for the “bubs” and another for the bigger kids – all eight of us – with different work for the different year levels we were in and I was the only one in my year level. Once a week, the girls went into the “bubs room” to do needlework with the teacher’s wife who taught the little ones.  Some of the other  school work we did together, such as having to rote learn poems, which I never got the hang of….

There was one about Ozymandius….

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter’d visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp’d on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock’d them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Which probably summed up the despair of the teacher as he struggled in the heat and with having to teach such a diverse group of students.

Spare time was spent roaming on the bicycles… always with the caution to stay on the roads as there were old gold mines in the area and keep the railway line in sight. Swathes of Sturt Desert Peas brightened up the landscape …the red and black in start contrast to the greenish leaves. I don’t think they were supposed to, but the train drivers would often stop and pick some on their return towards Pt Augusta for their wives.  Most of the time we roamed westwards towards an ancient escarpment, which in later years I discovered has some of the oldest rocks in the world.  Curiously we hardly ever went in the direction of Kingoonya, the next village towards the south. The highlight of the year was the race day at Mulgathing Station which was about 40km away. No 4WD in those days, we piled into to the trusty Holden EJ and off we went.

Then it was time for me to leave…. The school only catered for primary education and I was to go to Port Augusta for high school. Dad, having previously worked at Woomera, which was closer was adamant that it wasn’t the place for me to be. So the day before school started, I boarded the Transcontinental train with Mum and we went down to Pt Augusta. I met the family I was to board with and then Mum returned on the next train back that evening. This began the longest school term of my life. I loved school, but I wasn’t fitting in and I was stuck there until the holidays in May when I could return home.

Then in the middle of Term 2, I got a message to say that Mum & Dad had decided to move on from Tarcoola and we were heading to Western Australia. They packed up their belongings and put the car on a flat bed  carriage and as soon as I returned from school we set off .. this time on the “Tea and Sugar”, stopping at all stations on it’s way to Kalgoorlie. We had a compartment pretty much to ourselves and ate and slept in that. No refrigeration and I had memories of being violently ill in the main street of Kalgoorlie after a bung sandwich. Dad looked around for work for a couple of days and I don’t think they realized how far or remote Kalgoorlie was from Perth …. we set off in the Holden and arrived late one evening in Perth. After our sojourn in the outback, we were now back in the “big smoke”!

The next time I was “Outback” was as teenager, riding my 450cc Honda east across the unsealed Nullabor Plain road, a trip I was to make another 15 times over the years as I visited my parents who had settled in Western Australia.

Life, children, teaching all happened for many years and while we were discussing the purchase of a new car, I expressed that I would like to get a vehicle that I could go “off road” in from time to time. We ended up with a Nissan Patrol and the first trip was to Cape York. Quite a different adventure to Central Australia. Other trips were planned & taken…. Fraser Island (where to the amusement of teenage children, I got “air” under the wheels as I misjudged a creek crossing along the beach),  the old Ghan Railway line and Central Australia and back to the Cape. Another trip to Central Australia and a detour back to Tarcoola. We had to get special permits to travel through Commonwealth land – part of the Woomera rocket range and found the town closed down. The old house was boarded up with warning signs of asbestos and the pub was shut. The school had been extended to cope with the expansion when the Ghan Railway was re-routed through because of frequent flooding on the old track. They had even built a swimming pool! And I recalled the lines of the poem that I had found so difficult to remember…..

Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

Save

Save

Save

Save

Save

Looking back

dreaming, labyrinth

My very first labyrinth was a temporary chalk labyrinth drawn in the chakra colours some 18 years ago, on the driveway of my city home. This is the fourth permanent labyrinth that I have built…… with another on the drawing board….The current labyrinth was constructed over the Easter weekend in April 2014 on my 16 hectare property not far from Rushworth.

The previous three labyrinths were constructed on a friend’s property down the road, nearer to Heathcote. These were also built over Easter weekends, but have now been “de-commissioned” and two have been totally dismantled and the last one has been totally overgrown with trees.

The first one was made of wood and branches collected from the property and laid out on a disused ant’s nest. Curiously, the kangaroos and wildlife left it alone and it stayed relatively intact for some 15 years.The next labyrinth was a little more ambitious and work began on it in 2006. Blistered hands and aching muscles were forgotten when I made the first walk! Visits over the years entailed tidying up the path until one year that became impossible.

In 2011 there had been heavy rains in Central Victoria, with many areas flooding and the dry, dormant land sprang back to life. The pathway of the labyrinth became a forest of young gum saplings! I did clear some and hoped to weave the rest into a fence but it became too difficult to manage and the purchase of my own property gave me license to be creative!

In the meantime, the current, larger,  Labyrinth is a Classic 7 ring Cretan style that grew, once I realized that it wasn’t constrained by space. The small structure in the centre has a shallow bowl that I fill for the blue wrens and wagtails that live in the nearby bushes. To follow the construction follow THIS LINK or look through the blog archives from 2012 onwards.

A smaller labyrinth has also been constructed… initially intended to be temporary, it has remained in situ for about 18 months and needs very little maintenance.

On “the bucket list” is the construction of a large Chartres style labyrinth similar to the one in Sydney’s Centennial Park and have it open for public walking. I’ll keep you posted…..

Save

Save

Issues

balance, Coaching, ,

We all, at some time or another, have issues.

It is our choice as to how we act or react.

If we have come from a fear or control based childhood our responses are likely to be different from someone who has come from an emotionally intelligent background.

By overcomplicating things, we can often exacerbate an issue…..  who hasn’t heard of the saying “making mountains out of molehills” ?

By learning some simple emotional intelligence strategies, we can escape the return to “default” and exercise choice in our responses. These strategies will give you the courage to identify fears or issues and by facing them, you will resolve them. For example if you have an issue with conflict, then a useful strategy is to become aware of different perspectives. Ask yourself “What alternatives and opinions can be considered instead of sticking rigidly to this perspective?”

Abundance

Abundance, calm, conversation, ,

Depending on your outlook, the rhythm of the seasons brings great abundance….

Each season is a cause for celebration and when observing the cycles of the seasons, there is much to be grateful for.

As Melbourne swelters through a summer heat wave, I’ve observed an abundance of short temper. In one instance the power had to be turned off to a residential area to sort out a fault that meant that industrial sized air conditioners couldn’t be run. The heat was a little uncomfortable, but bearable and the power went off just as the sun went down and came back on about two hours later. Candles were found, both ordinary and citronella (to deter the abundant mosquitoes), and a pleasant evening outside conversing by candlelight ensued. Other households did the same and mixed with the sound of chirping cicadas was the low hum of neighbours chatting. The only discord was a neighbour several houses down ranting at the workmen about how old people needed to be kept cool, which brought a wry smile to those grey haired neighbours who were standing close by to her, many of whom had grown up in smaller houses with no airconditioning.

Taking time to enjoy the evening stillness, putting aside disharmony and participating fully in life’s adventures is but one path to abundance. When you are still, both internally and externally, you allow the abundance of the universe to flow toward you.  Notice your heartbeat and see if you can calibrate it with the rhythm of life.

Taking a step back…

crossroads, Energy, Life balance, Spirituality, ,

The most recent visit to the retreat was after the olive trees were planted and they looked as if they had settled in quite well. The grass in the labyrinth had grown by about a foot and it seemed an ideal time to use the newly acquired whipper snipper to good use.  With a brisk north wind blowing and forgetting that I have a rye grass allergy, I had a shot at redefining the paths. After a short time, I had to retire to re-hydrate and to take some antihistamines!

The antihistamines went to work, but I couldn’t shake the tiredness and a cough had developed. Returning to the city, I grabbed some take away for dinner, but didn’t have much of an appetite and went to bed quite early by my standards. Monday morning I tried to get a doctor’s appointment, but no luck. Probably something to do with the political announcement that doctors fees were going up because of the government restructure of Medicare.  I stayed in bed…. by Wednesday, I knew it was time to see a doctor. Again, no appointments available at my usual GP, so off to the bulk bill clinic down the road.

Pneumonia was diagnosed….. just what I didn’t need with a busy Reiki teaching month and hypnotherapy clients coming up.  After a bout last year, which took ages to recover my energy from, I decided then and there that I had to take a deeper look into why I was manifesting this. Being in an altered state from the illness has given a different perspective and rather than wanting to be in a state of helplessness, I decided that I would use this enforced “time out” as a positive exercise.

Louise Hay in Heal Your Body sees pneumonia as being “tired of life. Emotional wounds that are not allowed to heal” – her aphorism for this is ” I freely take in Divine ideas that are filled with the breath and intelligence of Life. This is a new moment”.

Debbie Shapiro in Your Body Speaks Your Mind goes a little further, suggesting that we need to look at what might be so deeply inflaming our feelings about breathing…. or if it is something within that we are unable to express. “….there are hot emotions her, as well as pain and exhaustion, depleting our energy. The act of breathing is the act of living. Are you feeling exhausted or overwhelmed by the burden of having to keep going? Is there a longing to stop and take some time out?  ………The relationship of breath to spirit is often seen in this illness, as mystical or spiritual experiences are not uncommon in those suffering from pneumonia…….”

Caroline Myss in Why People Don’t Heal and How They Can, states ” When an illness is part of your spiritual journey, no medical intervention can heal you until your spirit has begun to make the changes that the illness was designed to inspire…..the most effective healing option. when you are facing an illness as a spiritual challenge, is to rely on your spiritual practice to bring you the insights you need. ………Seeing illness as a spiritual challenge does not reduce our chances of healing, but we need to understand that spirituality is first and foremost the path of gaining inner rather than physical strength. Physical healing can certainly follow, but whether it occurs or not is part of one’s spiritual destiny………..”

She continues….”healing requires a willingness to make changes in both your physical and spiritual ways of life. Healthy changes of lifestyle and spiritual practice are parallel roads leading to the same goal, and each road needs to be driven along every day.”

So in the company of good teachers, I’m taking a little time out to make some changes with both the physical and spiritual ways of life.

Adding an Olive Grove

labyrinth, Permaculture, projects, ,

olive-grove-6A milestone birthday saw the gift of 6 olive trees to be planted at the retreat. Two of one variety and four of another. In my enthusiasm, I have left the labels in the shed, so am not sure about the actual variety.  I have been assured that there is a difference between table olives and oil olives. Either way, I’m sure I’m going to learn how to work with the crop. (Update:  they are Kalamata and Lecchino)

Presently there are plenty of flower buds on 3 of the trees.  Apparently the olives are too bitter for birds to be attracted to them, but I have observed a olive-grove-5large flock of cockatoos in the olive plantation down the road, so if I’m serious about getting a crop, I’m going to have to net them.

With the heavy clay soil waterlogged at times, I decided to work on the soil and wait for better weather before planting them out.  After the holes were dug, a liberal application of gypsum was applied and dug into the clay. Previous applications have worked well in conditioning the soil along the lines that mark the labyrinth.

Each visit since June, the soil has been turned over and the holes re-dug, partly to aerate them and partly to allow the winter rains to reach deeper into the soil and to get the gypsum to mix in with the clay.   With a revitalized Oak tree at the entrance to the labyrinth & possibly another acorn germinating at the northern edge, I decided to put the olive trees about olive-grove-7a metre out from the labyrinth, spacing them out…3 on each side, resulting in approximately 5 metres between each tree. That should give them adequate space to thrive.  The soil on the Eastern side is quite poor and very hard to dig as it is heading toward a section of the hill that has quite a bit of scoria, and I’m hoping that the addition of the gypsum and compost will be adequate.

The composting process has been improved and composted buckets have been transferred to a large compost bin and topped up with extra sawdust. Some early warm spring days have resulted in some good quality soil. This was well mixed into the previously dug holes and the trees planted. olive-grove-4

John, our friendly neighbour, advised that wallabies are partial to olives, so some sturdy wire was purchased and the trees surrounded by this. Also taller stakes were used as I have observed the kangaroos using the stakes around the oak trees as chin scratching poles!

Planting done…..an appropriate addition to the 7 ring Cretan labyrinth and I’m hoping that the energy of the labyrinth will help to nurture these Olive trees.….

One day, far into the future, long after the labyrinth path has subsided back into the paddock there will  be a small olive grove…..

Save

Save

Magic

extraordinary life, gratitude, Retreat, ,

greenhood-orchids With good winter and spring rains and some sunshine, Mother Nature has woven her magic and produced some beautiful plants to admire now that the land has lain fallow for several seasons and mulched with last season’s grasses and biddy bush.

Swathes of greenhood orchids, just gently nodding their heads in the breeze. I did chuckle when reading the gardening notes for them as these have sprung up out of heavy clay and have had no attention whatsoever.

Billy ButtonsSpring brings a colour palette of yellow….. first the wattles… with different varieties blooming over a period of time.  The longest lasting blooms are the pale, almost white wattles that have spikey branches.  This year has brought forward thesedrosera-3 tiny button like flowers that have carpeted the anthills and have started to die back.  Walking about, not only keeping an eye out for reptiles that may be stirring from their winter hiatus, the eye catches other small plants such as Droseras. Starting off as a small rosette of leaves, these grow into delicate plants that gently sway in the breeze, topped by a small pinkish white flower. They are carnivorous, but have yet to make any inroads into the thriving mosquito population.

CapeweedThe rains have also meant a bumper crop this year throughout the district of Capeweed. The yellow daisy like flowers with a dark centre are particularly attractive to the bees and I’m hoping that the local apiarist is getting some good quality honey. wildflower-2

In the afternoon light, there appears to be a patch of feathers in a stony area. Closer inspection reveals it not to be feathers, but tiny delicate irises, no more than four to five centimetres high.  The habit of carrying a camera on any expedition pays off, as the flowers have gone by the morning. Initially, I thought that the wildlife may have eaten them, but on a subsequent visit, noticed that by early evening the flowers had wilted and shriveled and later that night, by the light of a torch and with no wildlife in sight all that was left was the thin strappy leaves.

New Acquisitions

extraordinary life, gratitude, labyrinth, ,

WattleI love the way the wattle just seems to explode with exuberance from the tight buds into fluffy, exquisitely scented pom poms after a drab and chilly winter.

The yellow stands out against the green paddocks which also yield a secret not seen before…..a combination, I have concluded, that is a mixture of more than adequate rains and the paddocks lying fallow for the past two and a half years. natural insect control

From a distance it looks as if the grass in places is starting to yellow, but on closer inspection the grass is found to be swathes of sundews – a carnivorous plant! Starting off as tiny, delicate roundels, the plant matures and has a small almost insignificant flower that tops it. They are growing in and around the large labyrinth – so it may be that the rings of the labyrinth are acting as swales to hold the New but old.... seating in the labyrinthmoisture in the soil.

A perfect place to observe these plants is from the first of the new additions to the retreat.

Spring not only brings the wildflower season, but a hard rubbish collection in the city.  So the first of the new acquisitions was a swing chair found in a pile for kerbside collection. Permission was sought from the owner and it was dismantled and re- assembled to be a labyrinth viewing and meditation seat. Newer cushions were discovered on a different pile and replaced!

green hood orchidsI was excited to discover a single green hood orchid on my walk down to the lower dam a few weeks back and even more so to green hood orchidsfind them growing in abundance in the back paddock. I had to chuckle at the growing notes on several sites… not grown in soil, water and fertilize frequently – these are in heavy clay and exist on whatever rainfall has come this way and are fertilized by kangaroos and hares (which have left them alone).

new chairsThe newest acquisition came about from a conversation about the first. A colleague’s neighbour was downsizing and had just put out a set of 4 garden chairs for her hard rubbish collection. I followed my colleague home and stacked them in the back of the 4WD and here they are! Perfect for sitting around the fire pit and much more civilized than camping chairs!

 

 

 

 

 

Perception

balance, business, , ,

serviceA very curious thing happened at a networking function the other evening, which relates to the title of this post.

Food had been prepared and the caterer was busy pouring drinks for the attendees, so as a committee member, I volunteered to help with the serving of the food.

Armed with platter and serviettes, I started to wander around the room, lending a helping hand.  Approaching a couple of groups of people, food was offered and I attempted to start a conversation. Quizzical looks….food was selected and conversation stopped…..This happened a couple of times and then I realized….. I was being perceived as wait staff and the expected behaviour is that wait staff don’t engage in conversation with attendees at functions!

waitstaffAs an observer of behaviour, I found this mildly amusing and decided to test by going around without a platter of food. This time I was able to engage in several conversations!

Reflecting on the experience, I began to wonder about the subconscious expectation we have about people in different roles and to use a biblical phrase “about having a servant’s heart” and how it can be applied in business.  It’s about seeing that a task needs to be done and stepping up to do it with no strings attached.

But it is also about perception… there have been reality TV shows based on just that…. where the CEO dresses casually or a little bit scruffily and wanders around his or her business to observe what is going on. Many “action” movies have the villains move about in the guise of waitstaff…. they are “invisible” as they serve.

In your daily life, have you thought about your subconscious responses to people who       serve you? We all expect good service when out for a coffee or a meal, but consider the energetic exchange when you expand your awareness to include the person serving and I am sure that it will be reciprocated.

Behaviour and Brain Function

balance, lessons learned, ,

Just over 10 years ago, I gave a presentation at the Melbourne Regional Conference for MYSA. I had returned to teaching after some time working for a private company that had developed an exercise based program for people with learning difficulties.

It was interesting to be on the other side of the teacher’s desk, listening to the frustrations of both parents and young people and to see the positive changes that they made with the program. In the past, many of these young people (and their parents) may have been students who had undiagnosed learning difficulties and were often the ones most likely to be sent to the principal’s office with “behavioural issues”.

The presentation was titled The Physiological Aspects of Brain Function and Behaviour in the Classroom. I enlisted the help of a couple of teacher friends who had also done some work with alternative therapies and were ready to help me make this an interactive presentation and push some boundaries. The room was set up with 8 to a table and the obligatory conference mints were in good supply as was a selection of brightly coloured balloons.

All started quite normally…..

Firstly I identified some common classroom behaviours and asked the audience to then consider if they had students that exhibited them. Many responded in the affirmative. I then asked them to reflect on the idea that a physiological reason for these behaviours.

Did anyone have students that constantly tipped their chairs? Once more hands were raised. The student is most likely to be doing this to stimulate the Vestibular system.

What about students that slouched in their chair or over the desk? Yet again the audience indicated with a show of hands that they had students like this. The slouching is a stimulus for both the Vestibular and somatosensory systems and in addition, the student may have poor core muscle tone.

For the student who reads better when lying down (think of the Primary School reading corner with bean bags), they are stimulating the somatosensory system by having more touch receptors engaged.

At this point, one of my friends began to tip on her chair, just often enough to visibly irritate some of the people sitting near her. I asked the audience for feedback on how they would deal with such behaviours and most indicated that for safety reasons, they would ask the student to cease the behaviour, and in some cases would issue a detention notice for bad behaviour. I then shared with the audience that I carried a “wobble board” into my classroom and students who had exhibited such behaviour were encouraged to stand on it for a minute or so when they felt the need to tip their chairs.

Students who wander around  the classroom are needing to stimulate their vestibular, oculomotor and proprioceptive systems. This was the signal for my other friend to get up and start wandering around. She circled the tables and took mints from one table and gave them to someone sitting at another…. I “ignored” her and carried on….

When a student is easily distracted by movement or sound, it is likely that they have a hyper sensitive oculomotor or vestibular system. For those who constantly tap a pencil or a foot or leg, it is possible that they are stimulating their somatosensory system.

And what about those scruffy uniforms? Rather than handing out slips for uniform infringements, consider a hyper sensitive somatosensory system. Tags at the back of the neck, ties undone…all uncomfortable stimulants for a sensitive student.

Since giving the paper, there has been a greater awareness of students on the Autism Spectrum. One of the key characteristics is lack of eye contact, and forcing eye contact may cause distress as it overloads sensory perception. These students can process much better if they are not forced to interpret facial gestures and social cues. Lack of eye contact can also be associated with some cultural traditions and is something to be aware of.

The vestibular system is extremely important. It filters most motor responses to the brain and the oculomotor system is linked to it. Studies by Harold N Levinson & Barbara Phelong, discuss the importance of inner ear function and learning and further studies by the University of Melbourne have discovered that frequent ear infections impact on the student’s acquisition of language.

So what to do about these behaviours, now that it is probable that they are a result of physiology rather than “being naughty”?

For excessive movement, can you find an excuse for the student to go to the office or library?  Give a time frame for the errand and discuss this option with the relevant staff, so that they know to expect the student.  Encourage the student to do as much sport as possible, including trampolining, tae kwon do or tennis. Students with this issue will often seek out or prefer to engage in non team activities.

For the chair tipper, it is suggested that parents invest in a fit ball for the student to use when on the computer or watching TV.

The easily distracted student may be dehydrated, overtired or hungry. There may be issues at home that are taking their attention away from the learning environment.

Check that the lighting is working well. Often the flickering of a fluorescent light, and what is imperceptible to many is a nightmare or very distracting for someone with oculomotor sensitivity. Similarly an overload of external visual stimuli can be very distracting and recent studies have shown that “less is more” in the way of posters and the like in the classroom.  If the student is easily distracted by sound, then create a quiet space for them to work in. Headphones plugged into some music that is playing at a low volume will help them to focus on their work.

To further encourage more focus during class time and in conjunction with the understanding of the possible physiological causes of the behaviour, include rewarding non disruptive behaviours on the marking sheet (rubrics) for assignments. This is a bonus for students who are always on task!

And you might be wondering about those balloons… each one on the table was a different colour and shape. Some were easy to blow up and others a little harder. Some took quite a bit of persistence and I’m sad to say that some participants didn’t try at all….