“Listening through the heart is not something you must learn to do. It is something you need only reclaim and remember.” – Stephanie Dowrick – I loved going to the sea ever since I can remember. In Germany it was the chilly harbours along the North Sea. The fishermen would sit there like a line…Continue reading What The Sea Teaches Us
Author: Nicole Conner
The Sacrament of Waiting
“We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.” – Jospeph Campbell – Traffic lights, coffee queues, airport security, hospitals … they have a common theme: waiting! And I am not very good at it. But these last 2 weeks, with a loved…Continue reading The Sacrament of Waiting
“Youer Than You” – Saying No To Comparison
“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive that is Youer than You.” – Dr Seuss – You may be someone who looks back fondly on your school years: friendships, laughter and camaraderie. My school years were complicated. We moved around continents and countries and I changed schools regularly.…Continue reading “Youer Than You” – Saying No To Comparison
The Avoidance Crisis
“Everything worthwhile in life is won through surmounting the associated negative experience. Any attempt to escape the negative, to avoid it or quash it or silence it, only backfires. The avoidance of suffering is a form of suffering. The avoidance of struggle is a struggle. The denial of failure is a failure. Hiding what is…Continue reading The Avoidance Crisis
Life’s Most Ignored Partner: Death
“It is hard to have patience with people who say, ‘There is no death’ or ‘Death doesn’t matter.’ There is death. And whatever it is matters. And whatever happens has consequences, and it and they are irrevocable and irreversible. You might as well say that birth doesn’t matter.” – C.S. Lewis – My sprightly father…Continue reading Life’s Most Ignored Partner: Death
New Streets and Old Maps
“Not all those who wander are lost …” – Bilbo Baggins In the 1990’s nearly every car in Melbourne still had an often mangled, coffee-stained Melway in the back seat. In the ‘good old days’ we did not have any fancy satellite navigation systems that talk to you in that annoying, patronising voice (you can…Continue reading New Streets and Old Maps
Scars Sealed In Gold
“To banish imperfection is to destroy expression, to check exertion, to paralyze vitality. All things are literally better, lovelier, and more beloved for the imperfections which have been divinely appointed, that the law of human life may be effort, and the law of human judgment, mercy.” – John Rushkin – It seems that “banishing imperfection”…Continue reading Scars Sealed In Gold
Are You Getting Your Beauty Sleep?
“Laugh and the world laughs with you, snore and you sleep alone” Anthony Burgess I love my bed. There is something totally therapeutic and delicious about sinking into flannel sheets after a long day. As an introvert I have memories of being at those hideous children’s parties and counting down the minutes until I can…Continue reading Are You Getting Your Beauty Sleep?
Autumn: A Time to See More Clearly
“There is something incredibly nostalgic and significant about the annual cascade of autumn leaves.” – Joe L. Wheeler – I was on retreat at the beautiful and cold Bellarine Peninsula in Victoria, Australia, this past week. It is autumn in our ‘down under’ part of the world. Each season speaks to us, holding its own…Continue reading Autumn: A Time to See More Clearly
Hildegard of Bingen and her Love Affair with Fennel
“Even eaten raw fennel does not harm the body in any way. In whatever form one eats fennel, it makes us happy, gives us a good skin colour and body odour and promotes good digestion.” – Hildegard – Fennel was a regular star in the meals consumed in my childhood. To this day I can…Continue reading Hildegard of Bingen and her Love Affair with Fennel