Hey there gorgeous reader! I’m back after a frazzled few months of milestone birthdays, long distance trips and busy business type stuff.

Last time we spoke, I was telling you about Princess Natasha and her 18^th birthday celebrations. She is now a grown woman although to meet her you would dispute the fact.

Natasha Jade likes to assert her somewhat bizarro opinion about society on everyone. For example, she will suggest to shoe store owners they should have baby shoes in adult sizes (because why should babies get to wear all the cute stuff?) and she is a firm believe that people over the age of 18 should be allowed to ride on those $2 kids rides in malls. Fair enough too!

Natasha truly is an individual. Independent, warm, funny and unique and very much attuned to her own sense of self while remaining connected to her local and global communities. She’s pretty awesome.

So enough about my progeny. I wanted to chat a little about the importance of rites of passage in this day and age. I have noticed that there isn’t much to signify the end of one life cycle and the beginning of another except for birthdays and graduation ceremonies and the likes.

There is an African proverb that says: “If we do not initiate the youth, they will initiate themselves.” It’s true. Just look at the problems we have with gangs and bullying.

Aside from the bad stuff, I would hate to think that all our new adults get for their efforts is voting privileges, access to rated R movies, being able to drink alcohol and get into licensed venues. As things stand, they leave school with a piece of paper that tells future employees and educational institutes how well they did academically. But what about individual character, self-worth, life skills and other such skills that determine if they are ready, willing and able to go out into the world and function as well-adjusted adults?

Which brings me to sacred-type stuff. What happened to family and cultural handing down of stories and heirlooms? What about blessings by elders, songs, dances, costumes, processions and gifts to honor and celebrate this monumental occasion?

I’d like to see a rite of passage specifically designed for young people to affirm their strengths and individual worth. I’m not talking competitive sports and intelligence tests. I’m talking challenges of the mind and body – not against each other, but against themselves – such as a rite of passage specifically designed so that each youth may find out who they are so they know where they fit in society.

Like the Australian aborigines and their walkabouts where male Australian Aborigines would undergo a journey during adolescence and live in the wilderness for months on end. In many remote communities in Australia, Aboriginal boys still have the opportunity to undergo traditional rites of passage and initiation into manhood.

Of course there are many other cultures where rites of passage are still practised. But for us folk living in the modern world there is no kinship system, community structure, cultural exchange or initiation, let alone a means of deepening our connectedness to land and spirit.

Without getting socially and politically extreme on your rear ends here, I’m thinking that the Number One Reason to have a lawfully recognised (or at least commonly accepted) rite of passage for adult transition is to encourage individual choice and responsibility, allowing future generations to know right from wrong, grow deep moral systems and foster inner strength. Woh… heavy, right?

I guess I just think it would be great to establish a more holistic journey for our youth to become men and woman that builds on the strengths of old ways and new ways. Some kind of ritual/ceremony/procession/gathering thingie that is a necessary piece of the puzzle that makes up a person along with education and social conditioning. Something that nurtures self-expression and freedom of choice and thought and lifestyle.

So here’s to thinking up a modern rite of passage. It could well be the answer to youth violence and crime. You never know…

P.S. I’ll post the next portion of the Get Your Life On course shortly. For now, I’m off to paint my toenails red (important stuff) and go to yoga class.

It’s been a while since I last wrote to you. I hope you have survived without me. My absence is legit. I can get a note from my parents if you don’t believe me.

As you know from a few of my more melodramatic posts of late, this year has not been a lie on the couch watching soapies kind of year for me.

To say the past few weeks have been a rollercoaster ride is an understatement. If my life was a rollercoaster it’s one that got stuck for yonks, fell apart, got knocked off its hinges and rolled down the mountain maiming show folk left, right and centre. I’m not exaggerating.

BUT at the focus of the maelstrom was my beautiful daughter, Natasha, who recently turned eighteen. It seems 18 is the new 21 these days. In Australia at least. I guess it’s the equivalent of a rite of passage, a coming of age.

So Tashi and I have been planning this occasion for, like, everrr. I won’t go into too much details as I’m still recovering (tired, so tired) needless to say that she smiled for three days straight during The Big Weekend and she still has another weekend away with her friends to look forward to. You can check out the pictures on her blog. She’s such a shy thing. Don’t blame me. I’m just her mum.

Anyways… back to you: I will write something profound and useful about rites of passage or something like that shortly, but for now I’m going to snuggle up with a hot chocolate and a book and think about not planning big things for a while… hmm, just remembered she graduates high school in a month or so, so it’s a lull before the storm I guess. Still, I love my princess mucho-maxo.

P.S. I almost forgot. Here’s the latest instalment on the Get Your Life On course. Oops. My bad?

Henry James said, “Three things in human life are important. The first is to be kind. The second is to be kind. The third is to be kind.”

I couldn’t agree more. While there are plenty of other fantabulous ways to spend your time, kindness has to be the thing that brings the most joy and pleasure to my life. If someone told me I could have a million dollars but I’d have to be horrible to everyone for the rest of my life, I’d pass, and I certainly hope you would too. If we’re to make the slightest difference in the world in a positive way, then we can do it by showing a little kindness every day.

So folks, I’m not going to lecture or offer my usual off-kilter words of waffling wisdom in this week’s post. Instead, I share with you the perceptive observations of others:

“Kindness is the greatest wisdom.” Author Unknown

“Today, give a stranger one of your smiles.  It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.” H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

“Like a boomerang kindness always returns.” Author Unknown

“If you want others to be happy, practice compassion.  If you want to be happy, practice compassion.” Dalai Lama

“Don’t wait for people to be friendly, show them how.” Author Unknown

“Never look down on anybody unless you’re helping him up.” Jesse Jackson

“It’s nice to be important, but it’s more important to be nice.” Author Unknown

“Today I bent the truth to be kind, and I have no regret, for I am far surer of what is kind than I am of what is true.” Robert Brault

“If you haven’t any charity in your heart, you have the worst kind of heart trouble.” Bob Hope

“A good character is the best tombstone.  Those who loved you and were helped by you will remember you when forget-me-nots have withered.  Carve your name on hearts, not on marble.” Charles H. Spurgeon

And to finish with a chuckle…

“If you step on people in this life, you’re going to come back as a cockroach.” Willie Davis

Here’s to spreading the happiness…!

Tracey

Hi folks, I’ve been quite the busy bee these past few weeks which is why I haven’t posted anything. You have been in my thoughts though, as I know it’s been hard for you not hearing from me in so long… Lol… I am so full of it, aren’t I?

Anyway, enough of the bs, so here’s what I’ve been up to for the last few days. It’s very exciting (exciting is another word for ‘dull’ right?). Read on only if you have absolutely nothing else to do otherwise I fear I will lose you, my only reader, forever.

These past few days I have spent many a loooong hour bent over a shovel and rake. You have no idea how sore I am…! Here’s the go. I live on a 2.5 acre property. The house is at the back of the block and our driveway runs the entire length. For the past six months it has done nothing but rain here on the un-aptly named ‘Sunshine Coast’ and so our driveway has pretty much disappeared into a trench of swampy madness. I swear there’s a few crocs in there (I do live across from Australia Zoo!).

Enter Tracey thinking she can save the driveway single-handedly. For those of you who don’t know me in the real world I weigh around 54kgs and I’m not that tall. I like to think of myself as physically strong and I’m fit enough but there aint no way I’m ever going to win the Women’s World Body Building Title!

So after hour upon hour of shovelling and raking and wheelbarrowing wet road base into puddles and washouts and slushy spongy muddy muck I can tell you I was pretty stuffed! But you know the weird thing? It was kinda cool. I mean there I was sweating it up with my ipod playing my favourite music and I was well into The Physical Zone.

I’ve discovered that The Physical Zone is completely different to The Creative Zone or The Meditation Zone. It’s more like The Yoga Zone on steroids. For those of you who practise yoga, you know what I mean. It’s when you tune into yourself on the ultimate level – mind, body, spirit. The Physical Zone was like that for me.

I was totally at one with my body while I was pushing myself to the max and all the time remembering to honour myself with many breaks to stretch and rest. It was ‘Om’ and ‘Ouch’ all rolled into one.

So that’s it. I just thought I’d share. Really, there’s no point to this post other than to say ‘Hi’ and let you know what I’ve been up to. Oh, and also I’d like to publicly take my sweaty grimy dirty hat off to all you physical labourers out there. All that physical stuff is tough  and I would imagine quite difficult to endure day in day out. Here’s to you.

…And to all you office workers out there, if you want to get physical, I have a house that needs painting. Hey, a girl can try.

Leave a comment to commiserate or tell me I’m a wuss and to get over it. At least my driveway looks good and I can drive on it again.

Stay tuned for a ‘proper’ post soon.

Tracey

You pick it up and notice that it’s not a normal teapot. It looks like it’s made of brass but in certain angles you can almost see inside it. It has a long sprout and a chain going from the handle to a lid that is rusted and clogged with dirt.

It’s a lamp, you think. A magic lamp…? What the? Wanting to see it more clearly you wipe off some more dirt. The lamp heats up and shines brightly. Argh! you say and you drop it in shock. After watching it a while to see if something crawls out, you pick it up again. Gently wiping more dirt from it so you don’t cause anything else weird to happen you notice that it has a label on the side. It reads:

This magic lamp contains one genie with the power to grant Wishes in Bundles of Three. For your own safety please read the following Terms and Conditions:

All Wishes are non-refundable. The return of any faulty Wishes supplied by The Genie must be accompanied by a valid receipt and a valid explanation for the return of the Wish. All such returns will be at The Wishee’s cost and risk.

These Conditions of Wish Granting are the only terms and conditions on which The Genie will accept. The Genie may, at its absolute discretion, accept or reject any such offers to purchase The Three Wishes.

The Wishee acknowledges that the confirmation by The Genie of an Order of Wish Granting constitutes acceptance of the offer to purchase The Three Wishes by The Wishee and creates a binding contract between them for the sale of The Three Wishes.

No Wish may be cancelled or varied by The Wishee without the express written agreement of The Genie. The Genie reserves absolute discretion to allocate supplies of The Three Wishes between Wishees. Orders for The Three Wishes intended for private use by the Granted Wishee and not a third party.

The Genie reserves the right to withhold the despatch of The Three Wishes until such time as The Wishee has paid in full the Contract price for The Three Wishes.

Phew, you think. That was a long label. So when did genie’s get all legal, you wonder? But then this is 2009, the age of paranoia and lawsuits. Gone are the days when genies dole out wishes wily-nily, obviously.

You take a moment to digest the warning and think, ‘I really, really want to make a wish.’ But you’re just not sure. Is this a good genie or an evil genie? You carefully carry the lamp home and Google ‘Genie’ and learn that in Roman mythology the word ‘genie’ meant “guardian spirit, wit, talent” then later it came to mean “person of natural intelligence or talent”. In Arabian folklore, a genie is a supernatural creature which possesses free will. They can be either good or evil. In some cases, evil genies can lead humans astray.

Hmm… So if a genie is a supernatural creature possessing free will that has natural intelligence and is either good or bad, I’d better be careful if I let him out of that lamp, you think wisely.

Even so, you really, really want those wishes and you’re prepared to take the risk but there’s another problem. You don’t know what he wants for payment. Surely money’s no good to a supernatural being that lives in a lamp? There’s only one way you’re going to find out.

You hold the lamp up to the light, you shine a torch at it, but all you can see is a hint of something dark and swirling. You’ve got two choices: 1) you put the lamp somewhere safe and forget about it and get on with your life, or 2) you get the lid off and see how deep the rabbit-hole goes (sorry, matrix moment).

Bugger it, you think. You only live once. So you rub some solvent on the lid, twist and pull…–

Stay tuned for Part Two, folks…

Tracey

When the rain started, it came down hard and at a forty-five degree angle. From behind. I was wearing an old dirty jumper that I found in the boot of the car, rolled up jeans and a pair of un-waterproof canvas slip-ons that quickly became two sandy ponds for my feet.

By the time I got to the café across the road for some lunch, I was squelchy and cold and drenched from the waist down. I ordered tomato soup with toasted panini. Sitting there shivering and wet, scoffing down the soup like I’d been trudging the sahara for yonks I thought to myself: now this is a good day. And it was.

Attitude is everything, peeps. Find pleasure in discomfort. Seize the joy.

Dollops of happiness to you all xx

Tracey

Imaginopians love nothing better than painting pictures and writing stories and having philosophical conversations and generally just creating remarkably innovative things. They can do that stuff all day long and not come up for air. What happens is they get a feeling about what they want to do and then they go off and do it. Imaginopians are particularly good at being in touch with their feelings and they love hugs. They don’t mind taking risks and dreaming of the future is second nature to them.

Though I have painted a perfect picture of it (lol, pun), Imaginopia does have its problems. You see, Imaginopians don’t like doing logical things. They run away from anything that involves numbers and science and common sense and being practical. Imaginopians rarely plan for the future, add up sums or solve problems. For stuff like that, they usually throw their hands up in the air and get someone from the Kingdom of Logic to help.

Ah, the Kingdom of Logic. Now that’s a neat place. And I mean that literally. The folks who live there are SO organized. Apparently (so I’ve heard) there is a right way and a wrong way to do everything. Go figure. In the Kingdom of Logic they have these things called ‘To Do’ lists that help them get through the day. AND they actually read maps and follow directions. Plus, get this: they don’t get into hugs all that much and they can sit for hours listening to boring lectures..!

If you haven’t cottoned on to what I’m talking about yet, it’s about being either left or right brain dominant. I’m right-brain dominant. The right brain looks at the whole picture and quickly seeks to determine the spatial relationships of all the parts as they relate to the whole. It thrives on complexity, ambiguity and paradox. It’s predominantly visual.

On the other hand (or should I say on other side of the cranium), the left brain is systematic, sequential and has an exact approach to things, striving for accuracy at all times. The left brain names and categorizes things. It’s good at symbolic abstraction, speech, reading, writing, arithmetic, all that verbal, logical, and analytical stuff. It also likes things to be in order. It’s predominantly verbal.

Clearly there is no right or wrong brain hemisphere; there are merely different ways of thinking. BUT when both hemispheres of our brains are in balance that’s when everything is pretty damn good. When we are wholly aware of our emotions and motivations and we are creative and logical at the same time, that is when we are using both hemispheres of our brains equally. This is called ‘whole brain thinking’.

Whole brain thinking allows us to be more logical, organised, communicate well, and be more imaginative. It empowers us to fully use our own internal resources and strengths to balance each aspect of ourselves and achieve full health, happiness and peak performance. Whole brain thinking also improves the way we learn and how we communicate. It enhances our relationships and cultivates self-understanding.

As for me, I still spend stacks of time in Imaginopia – it will always be my favourite place – but nowadays I visit the Kingdom of Logic a fair bit. It’s not as bad as I thought it would be. Sums and equations used to send me to sleep. I just couldn’t seem to keep my mind on them long enough to learn and benefit. But I persisted and eventually my left brain became active and now it functions pretty well. To my surprise and credit I can add up numbers and say and do logical things once in a while, if only to confuse my arty friends and/or impress my nerdy friends.

So, here’s my point: it is entirely possible to think with both hemispheres of your brain and do it effectively. Oh, and one more thing: if you follow me on Twitter and you see me tweet something like, “Yay! I edited html code today!” go easy on me. Remember where I’m from…

Until next time, may both your brain hemispheres be your friends,

Tracey

P.S. Follow me on twitter at: www.twitter.com/lovinglaughing. I’m currently tweeting daily acts of kindness though I might come up with some suggestions for living it up on a budget. Let me know what you think by leaving a comment.