It’s not OK

10 March 2010UncategorizedMeg

To know what is right

and not do it is the worst cowardice.

Confucius

Bullying is back in the news.
It starts as young as 8.
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/bullying-by-girl-8-deadly-serious-20100309-pvwk.html
and continues in the workplace
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/in-harms-way-20100309-pvxm.html
with tragic consequences
http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/healing-for-workplacedeath-families-20100309-pvwp.html
and if you think you are safe at home
http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-national/students-suspended-for-facebook-bullying-20100226-p6i0.html
Think again.
Register your workplace for a workshop (& hope that the bullies don’t learn extra strategies from this)
http://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/wsinternet/WorkSafe/Home/Safety+and+Prevention/Health+And+Safety+Topics/Bullying/
Trust that HR will follow it up. If they don’t do it satisfactorily, then this page will help
http://www.worksafe.vic.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/wsinternet/worksafe/home/safety+and+prevention/health+and+safety+topics/bullying/what+to+do+if+bullying+happens+to+you
It’s NOT OK, and you shouldn’t “have to learn to get along with all sorts of people”. The bully is a cunning and nasty minded individual and those who observe and don’t do anything are complicit and are also responsible for the distress caused.

Confined spaces

9 March 2010UncategorizedMeg

I took this photo a couple of years ago at Silverton NSW.
For me it has come to represent the education system. There is light and dark, and the promise of a bright open sky and fresh air, but the bars of bureacracy confine.
Listening to colleagues, there is great promise in their intention to teach differently. I find the reality of the ‘lost’ children, particularly disengaged young boys, distressing . As an education professional, I endeavour to write units of work that engage all the intelligences, but competing with the “play station mindset” is an uphill task.
My challenge is to be less of an empath and become less sensitive to the negative energies of the school setting. Especially important is to de-stress so that I can get to bed before 1 am!

Supporting your journey

4 March 2010Education, Life balance, PhilosophyMeg

Term 1 will finish in just a few weeks and for VCE students, that means that there are effectively only 2 more terms left until the exams.

You can take some simple steps to prepare yourself and develop effective and time efficient strategies to enable you to fully prepare and become reasonably relaxed going into the exam period.

Parents and teachers will be talking about time management, study skills, diet and exercise. How to juggle all of this and still have a social life and get the marks that you want? …….blah, blah, blah….. of course you want the marks and you want a life!

Research shows that a relaxed person learns better, so what are you doing for relaxation? Watching TV, some sport..? How about some meditation? Dr Herbert Benson led the research many years ago with a groundbreaking book called The Relaxation Response . Research demonstrates that regular meditative practice helps with many physical and emotional issues.

So how do you relax?

There are 6 basic steps.

Find somewhere quiet to sit – it’s better to sit, and not lie down as you might drift off to sleep otherwise
Take a couple of deep breaths and then gently close your eyes
Focus your attention on the muscles around your eyes and forehead and then relax them and work down to your toes. In the Relaxation Response it is suggested to start at your toes and work up but do whatever is more effective for you.
Breathe through your nose and be aware of the out breath, letting it take away tension from the day. You can count the breaths if you choose. Just being aware of your breathing is enough. You will notice it changing to a more even and regular pattern.
Continue doing this for 10 – 20 minutes. The longer you do it, the more benefit. If you can only manage 5 minutes, then that’s what you can manage – don’t stress about it.
Remain in a relaxed state. If thoughts come in, acknowledge them and let them drift past like clouds in the sky….return your focus to your breathing.

With practice, this all becomes easier and it is surprising how long you can meditate for. Learning becomes easier because like clearing out old files from the hard drive, you have cleared a space for new information to be processed.

If you are having difficulty in setting up a meditation routine, then that’s where I can help!

Call or email to book into some guided sessions to start you off. These sessions provide you with a comfortable environment and a regular time scheduled.

A bright future

1 March 2010Life balance, PhilosophyMeg

Building a bright and positive future for yourself starts with a single page of paper. You know the saying that a journey starts with a single step, so let’s do it a little differently and write down some of your goals and aspirations.

Be imaginative, take a deep breath and let go of the tensions of the day and put pen (or pencil) to paper.

It is now the end of 2010. ( yes I know time has flown these last 2 months, but this is really quick!!)

I have had the best year of my life. (now it’s time for you to fill in the gaps & follow the prompts at the left of the page…)

Healthwise………

Friends and family……

Work……..

My holiday was…..

Overall, my best achievement was……

Change of plans today

27 February 2010UncategorizedMeg

I was really looking forward to today, as I had a client for a Past Life Regression session who has been referred by a colleague.
I woke up with a shocking head cold, which explains why I was feeling so ‘fuzzy-headed’ yesterday, and re-scheduled. I know I wouldn’t want to have my session done by someone sniffing and breathing germs near me!
Starting to wonder if it might have been something to do with the homeopathic I had the other day….. lucky I got another bottle of PCIP as it’s been fantastic at stopping the running nose.
My neice has just returned from South Africa and we will be able to hear all her news at her younger sister’s 18th birthday next week.
Hope my nephew in Coffs Harbour will be OK as there is a current tsunami warning for the NSW coast due a huge 8.8 earthquake in Chile. Thoughts & prayers go out to all those involved.

Trying out a new room

26 February 2010UncategorizedMeg

Dipping the toe back in the water by going back to Glen Waverley.
I was there 10 years ago and moved on to Heaven on Earth in Blackburn. This was run by Andrew with whom I had studied homeopathy. He chose to move on to a different realm a few months later.
I have had a couple of clients here, but the street noise below, whilst adding to the vibrancy of the area, is not as conducive as I would like for the trance state!!
So a brief re-visit to the area and I will finish up here at the end of March.

Limiting Beliefs

24 February 2010UncategorizedMeg

An interesting exercise that I came across today.
Draw 5 columns on a piece of paper.

list the things you believe you cannot do and that are affecting your life or business
When did you decide to do that? write the approximate time/date
list the things you can do & are successful at in your life or business
Write down what the differences are. Think of yourself using those particular skills and note what you see, hear or feel when you think of it.
Write down any learning or insights gained by doing the exercise.

HypnoCoaching

22 February 2010UncategorizedMeg

I’m now using the powerful combination of Hypnotherapy and Coaching techniques in my practice and have included this in my brochure. The brochure and webpages are very organic and have seen lots of changes over the last few months. There wasn’t any room to include the Polarity Therapy on the brochure, and since I hurt my hand when I fell at school 18 months ago, I haven’t been able to give a decent massage. No-one seems to know what Polarity Therapy is anyway and the massage associations are really very dismissive of it as a therapy. Shame – as it is very good at releasing blocks. My wetpaint site PolarityPlus Australia tells you all about it as well as some really good information about Homeopathy, Reiki and even some units of work for teachers using Multiple Intelligences.

One small step….

19 February 2010UncategorizedMeg

As the saying goes, a journey starts with a single step. Having taken a big step to continue studying, I have found some treasures already.
Now the challenge is to balance work and home commitments.

I have almost completed the workbook and activities for the 5 session program and have set up Facebook, MySpace and a WordPress spaces so that I can work in an online/virtual community.
A few tweaks to the main website hopefully will mean that I can have a newsletter and a secure page to order products.

Moving forward

15 February 2010UncategorizedMeg

What a fabulous weekend – meeting new & positive people.
2 new clients today and some leads to follow up on Wednesday and Friday. Meanwhile my horoscope for today says it all.
Just a day after a New Moon in a more adventurous part of your chart, the Moon is already getting down to the business of helping you prepare for one of the most auspicious professional weeks in over a decade. With Venus and Jupiter due to align in your career sector tomorrow, the Moon aligns with both today, with your intuition acting as a go between, giving you some inside clues. A lot more aware of how many options you have, listen to what your gut is telling you.

Meg Phillips

The Art of Stress Management