Feng Shui expert and inspirational speaker Amanda Sophia (formerly known as Amanda Collins) is one of our amazing regular writers, and we love to read her wisdom in every issue. Check out her Spring 2020 article below!
In our Autumn 2018 issue, eight of our readers shared with us what their relationships have meant to them. This season, it’s all about the bonds of love! You can pick up a copy of the magazine at our stockists across the country, or subscribe here to receive a copy direct to your door.
SPIRITUALITY & THE CITY
THE BONDS OF LOVE
Liz Lynch & Ciara O’Neill (couple)
Liz
It is hard to put into words how I feel about this wonderful woman. She is full of life, love and laughter. Ciara and I share a quirky sense of humour and I know that with her, I can always be fully myself, no matter how silly that is.
Ciara has great empathy for other people’s worries. I am lucky that she has made it her mission in life to take care of me. Ever since I started dating Ciara, I have felt enveloped by her boundless love and I hope she feels the same from me.
Ciara is very modest and doesn’t seem to know how wonderful she is. Her smile lights up a room and her laughter is infectious. I feel blessed every day knowing she is my wife.
Ciara
My wedding day was the happiest day of my life. I am so grateful to everybody who campaigned for marriage equality, and of course the wonderful Irish people who voted yes to love on that magical day in May 2015.
What I love most about Liz is her caring and compassionate nature. There is nothing she wouldn’t do for the people she loves.
Liz is the funniest person I have ever met and she makes me laugh every day. Meeting Liz is the best thing that has ever happened to me. She is my best friend and favourite person in the whole world. I know that she believes in me and loves me unconditionally, and that is the best feeling in the world.
Martin & Magda Janik (couple)
Martin
Magda is my soulmate. I know it isn’t our first life together: we have loved each other many times before. Her calmness, her beauty, her love and the amazingly multi-dimensional depth of her being makes each life so worth living. I had a dream about Magda after I saw her for the first or second time, and after that dream, I knew she was the one. We were 16 and 17 at that time. This year was our 25th anniversary of being a couple and our 20th wedding anniversary. Magda stands by me during our happiest and most challenging moments and I love her to bits. She is an amazing mum to our daughter Pola, who we both absolutely adore.
Magda
I love Martin: my husband and my best friend. Martin is warm, loving, kind and funny. He has a great passion for life and energy that always amazes me. He is intelligent, creative, and always eager to learn and experience new things, which makes our journey together very interesting. We always know what each other is thinking without saying a single word. Martin makes me feel loved every day and I love him for that. He is also a fantastic father to our daughter Pola, who adores him.
This year is very special for us as we are celebrating 25 years together and the 20th anniversary of our wedding. I am grateful for each of those years and excited about all the years to come.
Dave Weakley & Sara Weis (father and daughter)
Sara
My dad is a great person: very kind, hilariously funny and super talented as well. He is a wonderful human being. Because we both work in the field of music, we have a lot in common. I’ve learned a huge amount from him. His advice is very valuable to me. Music is such a difficult profession, it’s great to have people around you who understand that and who can be supportive. Both of my parents are hugely supportive – they both work in the arts – and they are wonderful. My dad is my inspiration. We have great craic together, and he’s just the best dad I could ever have asked for. His experience of getting out there and putting himself before an audience taught me how to be brave.
Dave
Sara is so talented. From a very early age, she always showed promise and excellence at singing and acting, and this promise has really borne fruit over the last few months. She recently began to put herself out there and start singing … and she is absolutely marvellous. I could go on forever about my tremendous admiration for her!
I’m incredibly proud of her. I know parents are supposed to be the role model for their children, but she is more of a role model for me. I’m a musician myself, and I derive a lot of joy from listening to her and watching her while she is performing.
Livia Devi & Carolyne Marks (friends)
Livia
Carolyne and I share a sacred space of beautiful heart-connection, love, joy, respect and appreciation. Her wisdom and life experience always guide me on my path. Her teachings about love, life and relationships have helped me to grow and evolve. We always have so much fun and laugher when we meet, enjoying life to the full!Her presence in my life is a like a warm ocean breeze on a summer day. The stillness, flow and richness of our connection its so cherished!
I am truly honored and grateful to have you as a friend, Carolyne.
Carolyne
My name is Carolyne and I am very fortunate! Why? I have a beautiful friend and her name is Livia. Yes, she is physically beautiful, no doubt about that: however, what I am referring to with the word ‘beautiful’ goes far beyond that superficial perspective. You see, as within, so without. My friend is beautiful in Soul. When we are together, there is simply harmony, peace and so much joy. At times, we have very deep, fulfilling and meaningful conversations and I love to grow with her this way, as well as simply sitting in silence and connecting on a very different level at other times. When out and about, we like similar things, laugh about the same nonsense and appreciate the world and nature with all our hearts. Being able to share this love of life with someone is a great treasure and a special gift.
In this sneak peek of the Positive Parenting article from our Spring issue, Anna Cole compassionately addresses the issue of parental guilt: an all-too-common emotion to those who always strive to do their best for the children in their care. You can read the full article by picking up a copy of the Spring issue, or subscribing to have it delivered straight to your door.
By Anna Cole
‘Guilty feet have got no rhythm.’
The longer I work with parents, and the longer I am a parent, the more I realise that we all feel truck-loads of guilt. We instinctively don’t want our children to get hurt. Ever. We ardently wish we could make a perfect life for them. But, unfortunately, we don’t have the power to protect our children from all the hurts we wish we could: the loss of a beloved family member that knocked you, and them, for six; the move you did for work and the dislocation on your child’s schooling; or perhaps you stayed put, but the class bully picked on your child; maybe you got sick and haven’t been able to be there as much as you’d like; perhaps violence or impoverishment in your neighbourhood has affected your child, or perhaps, like many of us, you’ve been through separation or divorce and worry about the impact of that on your child. You will be able to add to this list, I am sure.
So here’s the headline: it’s not possible to make our child’s life perfect. And the good news is: it’s also not necessary. Children come with a simple, elegant way of recovering from hurt, which I will discuss in our next issue. Right now I want to focus on what we as parents can do to help ourselves so we can best help our kids.
The first thing you need to know is that you have done your best. It’s not your fault things got hard, but it is your responsibility to do something about it. Take your regret to your Listening Partner (for more information on Listening Partnerships and how to find one, see the link in ‘resources’ below). In your Listening Partnership you can cry, tremble, shout and rage about the things you regret. Shed those tears. They are the rain that falls and makes the flowers so sweet in the spring. Share the dark thoughts you have, then leave them behind, and when you start feeling bad again, go back and have another Listening Partnership. You have the right to be pleased with yourself, and that’s what your child wants for you. They don’t want you feeling awful. They want you to play. They want you to be there with them, present and relaxed.
You can read Anna’s full article in our Spring 2018 issue, available at your nearest stockist, or via subscription.
Wander into wondrous joy.
By Sandy Newbigging
You are a remarkable Being. You may not always think it or feel it, but this doesn’t stop it being true. You see; the ancient spiritual teachers were not lying when they said ‘you are what you seek’. Meaning, if you want peace, you are peace. If you want love, you are love and if you want freedom, then you are the freedom you seek. I appreciate this be confusing, especially if you aren’t feeling these stunning states of being in this very moment but the ‘you’ the spiritual teachers refer to is not your temporary thoughts and feelings, but instead, the permanent part of your brilliant Being.
I’ve come to conclude that the permanent aspect is conscious awareness. This awareness, which has been residing within you since before the day you were born, is peace, love, joy and so much more. However, you can miss it if your attention is mainly on your temporary thoughts and emotions. A key purpose of meditation is to become attentive to the presence of awareness that is aware of your thoughts, emotions, body and life circumstances. Due to the fact that you feel what you focus on, by resting inwardly attentive to your consciousness, you can immediately reconnect with the aspect of your Being that is truly remarkable.
I recently created a Mind Clam Meditations audio programme, a modern-day meditation technique that calms your mind, while also helping you to reconnect with 10 states of Being that are truly remarkable. Here I’m going to talk about two of these stunning states – Clarity and Joy:
Reconnecting with CLARITY
Confusion comes from having a busy mind and thinking too much. The contradictory nature of the mind – whereby one moment it produces thoughts on one thing and thoughts on the complete opposite the next minute – makes true clarity very difficult from inside your mind. Clarity comes from stillness through being consciously aware of the present moment. When you are aware, you are beyond your mind, experiencing the silent presence of your own consciousness.
Clarity creates the optimum inner platform for performing at your best. Without clarity, you are not fully present and end up distracted by the mental activity that can be both limiting and confusing. What ifs, buts and maybes can paralyze decision-making abilities, hinder commitment and fracture focused action. By clearing your mind, you gain instant clarity and find that any answers you require will spring forth because they’ve finally been given the still, silent space to do so.
Reconnecting with JOY
Joy is the natural expression of life. It is the creative juice of the universe. Joy is the flow of inner-life-infused energy existing within you and is beyond the temporary highs of happiness. Growing up, it is common to be taught to mislabel the presence of joy for feelings of fear, angst or anxiety and as a consequence, end up suppressing its transformative powers.
Mind Calm and other meditation techniques can reveal to you that feelings you once knew as anxiety or fear have always been joy’s powerful presence, heal your relationship with this joyful force for good and let the energetic celebration of existence carry you on its wondrous wings.
Jump for January
“Whatever the present moment contains, accept it as if you had chosen it.” Eckhart Tolle
We could jump for joy – but that requires thinking about if there is something to be joyful about. Should I jump for joy? Am I joyful? Is the joy big enough to be leaping about it?! But if we jump for January, then we’re jumping for what we’ve got. Jumping for when and where we are because we’re choosing to see that as delightful, instead of wondering what joy we have we should be jumping for. Let’s just ask how high?
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Let the Fun Begin!
Two tips to bring playfulness back.?
By Dr Dain Heer
Dr. Dain Heer facilitates classes, workshops and seminars on Access Consciousness® and a healing process called The Energetic Synthesis of Being. He has written multiple books including Being you Changing the World. He offers tools that empower people to move beyond limitations and into the life they truly desire.
Do you ever feel overwhelmed? Responsibilities. Obligations. Expectations. Too much to do and not enough time to do it? Many of us lose our playfulness as we grow older and life becomes an obligation, but the good news is, you can bring it back.
1. Be Willing To Receive
Most of us were not taught to receive. We were taught to give, to do and to work hard. How different would your life be if you were willing to receive? How much more joy would you have? Every molecule in the Universe desires to contribute to you and when you are willing to receive it, you become fully alive.
2. Nurture and Care for You
When was the last time you did something that was nurturing for you and your body? Would you be willing to start now? One hour a day and one day a week, give time to this. Choosing to care for you is one way to embrace the joy of living and it increases your capacity to receive.
Even these two small steps will help you begin to embrace the joy of living and allow yourself to receive. Take time to do what is fun and nurturing for you and life will go from obligation to celebration. So are you ready to play? Let the fun begin!
Wander into Wondrous Joy
By Sandy Newbigging
You are a remarkable Being. You may not always think it or feel it, but this doesn’t stop it being true. You see; the ancient spiritual teachers were not lying when they said ‘you are what you seek’. Meaning, if you want peace, you are peace. If you want love, you are love and if you want freedom, then you are the freedom you seek. I appreciate this be confusing, especially if you aren’t feeling these stunning states of being in this very moment but the ‘you’ the spiritual teachers refer to is not your temporary thoughts and feelings, but instead, the permanent part of your brilliant Being.
I’ve come to conclude that the permanent aspect is conscious awareness. This awareness, which has been residing within you since before the day you were born, is peace, love, joy and so much more. However, you can miss it if your attention is mainly on your temporary thoughts and emotions. A key purpose of meditation is to become attentive to the presence of awareness that is aware of your thoughts, emotions, body and life circumstances. Due to the fact that you feel what you focus on, by resting inwardly attentive to your consciousness, you can immediately reconnect with the aspect of your Being that is truly remarkable.
READ THE REST OF SANDY’S MEDITATION INSIGHTS AND TIPS IN THE WINTER ISSUE OF POSITIVE LIFE. PICK UP A COPY IN ONE OF OUR STOCKISTS ALL OVER IRELAND. OR SUBSCRIBE HERE TO HAVE A COPY DELIVERED DIRECT TO YOUR DOOR.
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