If you would like to learn more about the quality of Grace, and how it can help you to lead a more easeful life, we highly recommend Miranda Macpherson’s seminar, Living the Way of Grace, which is being offered by Seminars.ie. This will take place to Click here to learn more.
One Last Talk is a worldwide initiative that invites people to speak their truth unapologetically, answering the potent question: ‘If you had to deliver One Last Talk to the world, what would you say?’ On Thursday January 3rd, 2019, Seminars.ie will be running a One Last Talk event with the inspirational speaker, writer and filmmaker Philip McKernan. This will take place from 6.30 to 9.00p.m. in the
We are thrilled to share this sneak peek of our exclusive interview with the renowned spiritual teacher and author Marianne Williamson, which appears in our Autumn 2018 issue. Click here to find a stockist near you, or subscribe to receive a copy straight to your door.
by Aisling Cronin
Marianne Williamson is one of the world’s most renowned spiritual teachers, authors and speakers. Seven out of her twelve published books have been New York Times bestsellers. One of her powerful statements in the classic A Return to Love – “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us” – has become a guiding light for spiritual seekers around the globe.
When we asked her to summarise her extraordinary career, Marianne simply said, “If I’ve learned anything, it’s that life isn’t about the big dramatic moments that stand out, so much as it is about the consistent effort to live a better life. It’s up to us to make any one moment stand out, by standing tall within it.”
Marianne will be speaking in Ireland on Wednesday October 10th 2018, from 7.30 to 9.30 p.m. in the Royal Marine Hotel, Marine Road, Co. Dublin. Ahead of what is sure to be an inspirational talk, we spoke to Marianne about her thoughts on Ireland, world politics, Aretha Franklin, and how the famed A Course in Miracles – a remarkable 1976 book written by Helen Schucman, who said that she channeled the words directly from Jesus – has touched her life.
During your seminar in Dublin, you’re planning to talk about how we can learn how to transform our lives for the better, based on the insights you have gained from A Course in Miracles. We would love to know more about that subject. Have you had the opportunity to travel to many places in Ireland before, or are there any particular locations in the country that are special to you?
One trip I took that remains with me is when I went to Knowth and Dowth. Extraordinary. What amazes me about Ireland is that, unlike most civilisations, it was as amazing in ancient times as in contemporary times. That’s not all that common, you know. Newgrange and James Joyce? Seriously. Not many countries can claim that kind of thing.
The world has heard a lot about Ireland recently, and I’m curious about your own transition from external emphasis on religious dogma to the internals of spiritual growth. Obviously there have been some tragic lessons learned, and hopefully the principles of A Course in Miracles can help to shed some light on your path ahead. People studying and teaching the Course in Ireland are doing tremendous work, and I just hope I can add to the conversation with whatever insight I’ve gleaned.
The teachings within A Course in Miracles have been central to your life and work over the years. When did you first encounter this book, and what is the greatest gift that its teachings have given you?
I first saw A Course in Miracles when I was in my mid-twenties. The greatest thing it has taught me is that the lesson to be learned is always my own: my own need to forgive, to rise to the occasion, to be kinder, to be more generous, to accept people as they are, to be less judgmental. There’s always a temptation to make the problem about other people, but the Course is adamant that the work is always on ourselves.
‘Only a politics of love overrides a politics of fear.’ This is a truly beautiful quote from your book Healing the Soul of America, and as the book celebrates its twentieth anniversary, that quote has never been more timely. What do you envisage when you speak of a ‘politics of love’? We all know what a politics of fear looks like – all we have to do is switch on our television or read the news online – but how do you envisage politicians, or indeed, ordinary people relating to each other when they come from a place of pure love?
The same principles that guide us in our individual lives should guide our politics. If the point is to be a good person, then the point should be to be a good society. A good economy. And so forth. I think the economic principles that now organise our societies should be replaced by humanitarian ones. We’ve allowed money to become a false god, seen as the source of human happiness; but in fact, it’s the other way around. Money doesn’t create happiness so much as happiness creates money. When people are happy we’re naturally creative. We naturally manifest. A politics of love is one in which we see love as the bottom line, politically and economically as much as in our personal interactions. Politics is the work of our collective journey, and the effort to increase our compassion should be a political as well as a personal goal.
To read the full interview, pick up a copy of our Autumn 2018 issue in a stockist near you, or subscribe
to get a copy delivered to your door. Marianne’s upcoming Irish seminar will take place on Wednesday October 10th 2018, from 7.30 to 9.30 p.m. in the Royal Marine Hotel, Marine Road, Co. Dublin. For more information and tickets, go to seminars.ie. To learn more about Marianne and her work, go to marianne.com.
Our friends at the College of Naturopathic Medicine (CNM) Ireland have a series of exciting new events to announce during the month of September! Three open evenings will be offered in Dublin, Cork, and Galway, where you can learn all about CNM’s range of courses. Dr. Udo Erasmus will also be appearing at CNM in Dublin for a talk entitled ‘Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill’. Read on to learn more!
CNM offers an incredibly wide range of courses in the field of naturopathic medicine. These include: diploma courses in Naturopathic Nutrition, Herbal Medicine, Acupuncture and Homeopathy; short courses in Nutrition for Everyday Living and Herbs for Everyday Living; and a post-graduate course in Iridology. If you are curious and want to learn more, what better way to do this than by attending one of CNM’s upcoming open evenings?
Trained Course Consultants will be present at each open evening to answer any questions you may have about the courses and about CNM in general. Each open evening is free to attend – you are simply advised to register your interest using the links above – so why not give one of them a try?
Health-promoting fats have been shown to help prevent and reverse so-called incurable degenerative diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, and type II diabetes. These fats also enhance athletic performance, skin beauty, longevity, and energy levels.
Dr. Udo Erasmus is an internationally recognised nutritionist, lecturer, and writer who specialises in the study of fats, oils, cholesterol, and essential fatty acids.
In collaboration with Savant Health, Dr. Erasmus will visit CNM Dublin on the 6th of September, exposing the manufacturing processes that can turn healthy fats into ‘killing’ fats. He will explain the impact of both good and bad fats on human health and disease.
During his talk, you will learn:
Dr. Erasmus’ talk will take place from 6.30 to 8.30 p.m. on Thursday 6th September in CNM Dublin, Griffith College, South Circular Road, Merchants’ Quay, Dublin 8. Tickets cost €15. To book your place, just click here.
We are thrilled to welcome the international shaman, author and spiritual teacher John Lockley back to Positive Nights to launch his new book, “Leopard Warrior”, on Thursday the 10th of May from 7.00 to 9.00 p.m. Our venue is the stunning Bewley’s Café Theatre on Grafton Street, Dublin 2. You can book your tickets on Eventbrite. Read on to find out more about what this amazing evening will hold.
AN AFRO-CELT HEALER RETURNS HOME
John’s mother, Anastasia Kelly, had a vision of Africa whilst walking the Dun Laoghaire peer in the 1950’s. Who would have thought that her vision involved the mystical healing tradition of Nelson Mandela’s tribe, the Xhosa nation; and that her son would become the first Irishman to be invited to train in one of the oldest shamanic traditions in the world, the sangoma people.
In my discussions with him he was so passionate about coming home to the beginning of his journey, to the place of his Mother’s vision: Dublin, Ireland. Join us while we listen to John’s remarkable story and hear him talk about ancestors, nature spirits, immortality and the importance of listening to our Dreams. In my chat with him earlier, he said “In my experience, Paul, many people in Ireland have visions and prophetic dreams. What I hope to do is inspire people to trust in their bones, their ancestors and their Dreams. Modern Ireland is wonderful, but I still remember the Ireland of the 1970’s when my Grandmother looked after all of us in Monkstown. We listened to her dreams with rapt wonder while she made us all tea. Smartphones are wonderful, Paul, but we need to remember to listen to our elders, their stories, dreams, and the folklore of our emerald isle. Because there is more to the stories of the little people than we can possibly comprehend…”
To find out more, join me and John for a chat, book read, and workshop involving John teaching us a traditional South African trance dance. Get your dancing shoes on and your poetry books lined up….
People will have an opportunity to get a signed copy of his book.
John will be available for private sessions in the days following this event. He will also be running a one day workshop in Dublin in June followed by a 3 day retreat in Kerry.
For more information, contact: info@johnlockley.com
John Lockley’s book launch and seminar will take place on Thursday May 10th from 7.00 to 9.00 p.m in the Bewley’s Café Theatre, Grafton Street, Dublin 2. Click here to book your tickets.
Fran Bennett is a spiritual teacher who spent many years as a Roman Catholic Trappist monk. She has also led a number of retreat programmes in both the Vipassana Buddhist tradition and the Christian mystical/contemplative tradition. During a Church service in 2010, she had a transformative experience that she describes as “a radical perceptual shift in consciousness”, when she discovered a presence of spacious, pure awareness within herself. Fran is holding a special talk called ‘Full Circle Awakening’ on Tuesday March 27th, from 7.00 p.m. to 9.30 p.m., at the Talbot Hotel, Stillorgan Road, Co.Dublin. You can book tickets at Seminars.ie.
by Aisling Cronin
Many spiritual seekers are aware of the apparent conflict that can arise when we attempt to access the transcendent parts of ourselves, while also dealing with the reality of ourselves as complex, multifaceted human beings who experience a variety of struggles in our everyday lives. Many spiritual teachings talk only about rising above our personal human identities and dwelling in the absolute. For Fran Bennett, however, this dual understanding of who we are – encompassing both the transcendent and the personal – need not be a source of conflict or confusion. During her talk in Dublin, Full Circle Awakening, she will discuss the integral journey of both transcendence and embodiment, and why the transpersonal must also include the personal.
Fran is well-equipped to discuss this topic. She spent many years in monastic orders, living a life of contemplation, surrender and service, while searching for the presence of God. She lived in two monasteries of the Roman Catholic Trappist Order in the U.S., and was also a member of an urban contemplative monastic community originally founded in Paris, France in 1975. Fran received five and a half years of monastic/spiritual formation with the Trappists before making her vows as a monk at Gethsemani Abbey in Kentucky.
Fran graduated from the Pontifical College Josephinum with a B.A. in Philosophy and completed a two year residency in Clinical Pastoral Education with Ohio Health Hospital System in Columbus, Ohio in 2004. She has worked in ministry in the area of pastoral care in the hospice movement, as a hospital chaplain, and a pastoral carer of the sick and dying in parish settings. During her time as a monk, Fran also studied the Zen meditation tradition and the Thervadan Buddhist practice of Vipassana.
During a Church service in one of her former monasteries in Montreal, Canada, in 2010, Fran suddenly experienced what she has described as “a radical perceptual shift in consciousness.” She discovered the presence of spacious, pure awareness within herself, and came to see that this sense of unbounded awareness was actually the unchanging essence of who she really is and always has been: “the Supreme Self, talked about by many sages and saints from many spiritual traditions down through the ages.”
Following this experience, Fran left her monastery and embarked upon a “new incarnation” as a spiritual teacher. She offers guidance and instruction in the Buddhist traditions she has studied, the contemplative Christian mystical tradition she experienced during her many years in monastic life, and the Hindu Advaita-Vedanta teachings of Sri Ramana Maharshi (which have had a profound effect on her life).
Fran also has a great interest in offering spiritual accompaniment, encouragement and teaching to the LGBT+ community, following her decision to come out as transgender in 2016. She was prompted to do this after discovering that her chromosomes did not fit either the typical XY or XX profiles that most people possess.
At that time, she said, “Normally, males have an XY chromosomal profile and females have an XX chromosomal profile. But some people who are born outwardly ‘male’ or ‘female’ can have various chromosomal aberrations that are not the simple binary XX or XY. It turns out I am one of those people. Discovering this was actually a huge relief. It’s helped me understand what I have been unknowingly dealing with my whole life.”
Fran felt that her decision to whole-heartedly embrace her true gender identity was a catalyst for further advancing her own spiritual growth and her understanding of herself. She explained: “I have felt some hesitation and concern about a public disclosure concerning all this and have wondered how it might effect my relationships with my family and friends, and my teaching career. But I have come to see that if I am to teach others about life and authenticity, integration and integrity, I myself must be a living example of it.”
These principles of honesty, integration and integrity – principles that allow Fran to fully accept her personal self, while also living with the awareness of her transcendent self – permeate every aspect of her teachings today. Her talk in Dublin is sure to be a fascinating event.
Fran Bennett’s talk, ‘Full Circle Awakening’, will take place at the Talbot Hotel, Stillorgan Road, Co. Dublin, on Tuesday March 27th 2018, from 7.30 to 9.30 p.m. Tickets can be booked on the Seminars.ie website here. More information about Fran can be found at her website, findinggraceatthecenter.com.
We have two tickets to give away to this enlightening seminar. Just follow us on Facebook or Twitter, share this post and tag @positivelifemag so that we know you’ve done it. Good luck!
By Micheál O’Mathúna
With the numerous ways to meet someone special – from Tinder, to Plenty of Fish, to speed dating – how come it seems to be so hard to meet a suitable partner? Relationship expert, clinical psychologist and international speaker Dr. Tony Humphreys claims most of us have been drugged into believing the three most “common creative delusions” about relationships. These are: “We all come from happy families,” “Marriage will bring me happiness,” and “Having children will make me happy.”
“The consequences of these delusions are great expectations – and when not met, great disappointment and resentment occurs,” said Dr. Humphreys. “A relationship is where I bring my completeness to another and I experience a completeness of the other.” We can become deluded with the belief that somebody out there is going to complete us and make us feel happy. In our quest to find the perfect relationship, we can forget to have that most important relationship: the relationship with ourselves. “Our most important responsibility is to get to know and love ourselves. You can travel the whole world and not find anyone more deserving of love than yourself. As you examine your own life and come into a fuller relationship with yourself, you automatically see your partner
differently because your see yourself differently,” said Dr. Humphreys.
One of the key ingredients of any relationship is the ability of both partners to communicate in an authentic way. Often, what blocks this is our fear of what the other person may think. “Communication of a real, authentic nature shows you’ve come into knowing yourself. Communication of a conflictual nature mirrors back the work I have to do on myself. The conflict in the relationship is now the opportunity for each person to reflect on their own inner worlds and see what they have brought to the relationship, so that they can come into their independence and bring their fullness to each other,” said Dr. Humphreys.
You can join Dr. Tony Humphreys for a special seminar style workshop entitled: “The Lure of the Relationship” on Sunday October 22nd, from 2 until 5pm at the Talbot Hotel, Stillorgan, Dublin. It includes a presentation and a live interview with Dr. Tony Humphreys, as well as a Q & A session. The event is being organised by The Health Zone, a platform to educate and empower people about health and wellbeing.
Tickets cost only €40 and are very limited for this event. Book your place here!
It’s competition time again, readers! This time, we are offering two free tickets to a talk by the renowned meditation teacher Davidji, which will be taking place on the 12th of September in the Talbot Hotel, Stillorgan Road, Co. Dublin. To enter, just follow Positive Life on Facebook or Twitter, share this post on your Facebook and Twitter page, and tag us using @positivelife so we know you’ve done it. A winner will be selected soon. Good luck!
By Aisling Cronin
Davidji is a world-renowned expert in meditation, stress management, and mindfulness. He is the bestselling author of Destressifying: The Real-World Guide to Personal Empowerment, Lasting Fulfilment, and Peace of Mind, in addition to the award-winning Secrets of Meditation: A Practical Guide to Inner Peace and Personal Transformation. One of his most well-known teachings is his pioneering adoption of a twenty-one day meditation process, which has inspired many other twenty-one day meditation movements around the world.
This month, Irish audiences will get to hear his words of wisdom when he leads a seminar in the Talbot Hotel on the Stillorgan Road in Dublin, for what is sure to be an enlightening evening. During the talk, entitled ‘Secrets of Meditation’, Davidji will share his own personal journey, and discuss the many benefits that a meditation practice can have for your physical health, your emotional health, your relationships, and your spiritual journey.
He will aim to share ancient wisdom in an entertaining and accessible manner, debunk the five greatest myths about meditation, and reveal the most effective rituals you can use to establish a meditation practice. So if you want to learn more about how to find fulfilment in your everyday life, make sure you don’t miss this powerful evening.
Davidji’s talk, ‘Secrets of Meditation,’ will be taking place from 7.00 to 9.30 p.m on Tuesday the 12th of September 2017 at the Talbot Hotel, Stillorgan Road, Co. Dublin. For more information and booking details, go to seminars.ie.
Visit the Positive Life Facebook page for an opportunity to win a free pair of tickets.
The College of Naturopathic Medicine have announced their Detox Seminar coming to Dublin, Cork and Galway in this month.
Dublin 24th January | Galway 31st January | Cork 7th February
Health comes through the knowledge we recieve and the choices we make. Everyday we can make choices that support our health, uplifting not only our body but contributing to our mental and emotional wellbeing and energy levels, lightening the strain of processed foods, stress and modern life can put on your body and increasing your vitality. There is a lot that you can do to help your body eliminate toxins efficiently and effectively. Sometimes you might need a little extra help to support your body’s natural elimination system.
“I began my journey to better health in 2011 following the diagnosis of my then 7 year old with Type 1 diabetes. Hoping to combat some of the IBS symptoms my stress and anxiety were causing, as well as, fighting to ensure that my family received the very best nutrition had to offer. I embarked on my journey to better nutrition. I discovered the power a change in diet could exert over body and mind and became passionate about spreading my new found knowledge with others. I began blogging about my change in diet towards a grain, dairy and sugar free diet, out of this my blog “Irish Paleo Girl” was born! I am still not sure how people found me initially as I typed away to cyber space but my blog has continued to grow with over 50,000 readers a month and 15,000 facebook likes! I am happy to say my son’s condition is very stable and our family as a whole are enjoying the many benefits that nutrition and health has to offer.”
Join CNM to learn how certain foods and herbs can help enhance your body’s built-in purification system, without depleting essential nutrients that might leave you feeling tired or fatigued. Plus you will also receive lifestyle tips, recipes and more to keep you on your detox path.
Book tickets: Dublin 24th January | Galway 31st January | Cork 7th February
Friday 24th October, Stillorgan Park Hotel, 7.30-9.30pm, €10
The EMMETT Technique is a unique form of body therapy. It involves the application of light finger pressure at specific points, referred to as “Emmett points”. It’s a safe and simple muscle release therapy developed by Ross Emmett to relieve pain, improve movement and free you up. This technique is growing in popularity around the globe as a complementary therapy to assist in the relief of pain.
To book, contact Angela on 085-1465954/0851795647 Alice 087-2020407 or email: ahtherapy1@gmail.com
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