The Silence of Now

I was at a funeral in Bendigo yesterday. Aunty Nell Caelli died a few days ago and was burried at White Hills Cemetary.

It was a lovely service in the small church that Aunty Nell loved so much. She was such a wonderful part of many people's lives for so many years. I know it's a cliche, but she will be missed.

During the service, I took a moment to step into what I call "the silence of now". That's what refer to as the real heart of myself.

There's a stillness there in the centre of your being that brings great peace and light. It's a place where you can allow the emotions to come and go; a place where memories are clear and bright. This is where you can access your inner knowledge, your memories, your connection to all that is.

While I sat there, partly listening to people telling us the many ways Aunty Nell made an impact upon their lives, I reviewed my own special times with her. Frozen in time forever are little snapshots of hot cups of tea, homemade scones, cakes, slices, jams, smiles and laughter.

Memories are great things! They don't always have to hurt, you know. We have the power to remove the sorrow, the pain, the negative baggage we humans so love to drag around with us.

So, I removed the sorrow and left happy, loving memories for me to look back on and smile along with.

I found myself smiling during the service. Maybe some people thought I was an idiot.

When I did shed a tear or two, it was for Uncle Noel. They'd been married for 59 years. Nell was the love of his life, and now she's gone. I felt for his pain and that awful, aching emptiness that settles into your heart at times of great loss.

I know she's waiting for him. I don't think they'll be apart for too long. What a joyous reunion that will be! Until then, like the rest of us who've loved and lost, he'll find a way to endure, a way to live on. I wish I could introduce him to the silence of now, but, like so many older more practical people, it's a concept that would be too alien for him. I'll send him loving, healing thoughts and energy instead.

At times of tragedy and sorrow we really need to find the silence of now. We need to find the quiet centre of ourselves and be at peace with our grief; to accept it, own it, embrace it, see it for what it is and love it as a part of ourselves. It's only then that we discover the joy and strength that hides within its depths.

Love and light to you all.

Brittany

Once Upon A Time...

Once Upon A Time

There Was You

By Maia Berens

http://www.allaboutlifecoaching.com
http://twitter.com/lifecoachmaia

I’ve been reading, as usual, and learning, as always. And… couldn’t resist the opportunity to share what I’ve discovered – about me! Not that you asked for it, but here it is anyway.

My latest revelation came in the form of an ebook written by a very inspiring woman, Maia Berens.

Maia’s book, “Once Upon A Time There Was You”, is a wonderful journey into yourself.

It starts out by telling you a story about a little girl. This story is told as you would read it to a child.

The real kicker is, YOU ARE READING IT TO YOURSELF AS A CHILD.

I couldn’t help but connect to this story. My inner self related to this child-like tale on so many levels that I even ended up crying.

Yes, I know… I’m soppy enough at the best of times. But this got me right where I live – right in the soul.

Maia made me look at my life from the time I was born as a brand new person, full of hope, love, light and possibilities. Her story took me through my dark teenage years and into adulthood. It made me really see me as I am, and, most importantly, me as I could be.

This is more than just another self-help book to discover new ways to find yourself. This is a journey to the centre of yourself and back out again. Not only does this ebook give you the key to YOU, but it also helps you to fit it into the lock and turn it.

As many of you know, I call myself a “soul healer”, for want of a better term. I deal with people’s emotions, past lives, fears and soul-deep damage. I try to help others reconnect with themselves and the universe, to accept themselves and to love all that they are.

This is not something I’ve learned to do in just one life time. This has been a very long haul of lives and experiences. One thing I can assure you is that what I do for other people, I am also constantly doing for myself.

However, healing yourself when you don’t have any help or instructions can be an extremely long, hard road to trudge along. Believe me when I say I’m still walking that path, even though I started putting one foot in front of the other several lives ago! Maybe I’m a slow learner.

I wish someone had read Maia’s book to me as a child. It would have led me to a greater understanding much sooner, and possibly without half the scars. I would have believed in myself and my own inner light much sooner. These tools would have helped me through many dark times.

I also wish I had this book to read to my two sons when they were little. What wonderful possibilities there would be for a child who grows up with this philosophy, and with the tools Maia has blessed us with.

Within the book are, as I’ve just mentioned, tools. Tools for life – keys to open the door to yourself.

There are exercises for us to do as well. Being me, I couldn’t resist the exercises. The following are some of the lessons, or realisations, that I learned. Most were no surprise for me, as soul-searching and analysing moments of my life is something I do quite often. Some realisations were quite surprising – even for someone like me who considers themselves adept at digging the positive out of the negative.

For what it’s worth, here are some things I’ve learned from the darkness:

I thought about all the many minor things that bug me about my life at the moment and what lessons I’ve learned from those.

I have learned that I’ve been given the time to reconnect with myself, and to connect with the universe again on a deeper level.

I’ve learned patience and endurance. How to live in the here and now and cope with the practical day-to-day physical plane of existence.

Most importantly:- I’ve learned how to be me and how to stay true to myself when others can’t/won’t/don’t want to see me or accept me for who I really am.

I thought about the slightly more serious negative things about my life.

I’ve learned resilience, lateral thinking and problem solving. I’ve discovered how different situations and emotions impact upon me, my life and emotions, physically, mentally and spiritually.

I’ve learned how to deal with them, how to embrace them and own them as a part of me and my journey. I’ve learned how to live through them and with them.

Now for the major problems and really negative parts of my life.

I’ve learned that my inner self is strong.

I’ve learned that my spirit and soul cannot be destroyed by despair and cruelty.

I have learned that hate cannot destroy love.

I know that the harsher and darker the world/people are, the brighter the light that shines from within me.

I have gotten to know myself. I know I’m a work in progress, but I also know that I am worth working on.

…and so the journey continues.

Please surf on over to Maia’s web site, http://www.allaboutlifecoaching.com and check out “Once Upon A Time There Was You”. This is not an ebook you’ll read once then put aside.

Thankfully it is an ebook and not a print book. I’d probably wear the print off the pages by constantly thumbing through them!

It’s never too late to work on yourself, and think what a wonderful gift this knowledge would be for any child or teenager in your life.

Thank you, Maia, for helping to spread light in the world.

Cheers

Brittany

Art Attack

All writing and gardening aside for the moment... It's ART time.

The Un4Seen Exhibition is on this coming Saturday. I can't believe the time has come around so quickly. Thursday is "hanging" day. I'm praying for a clear, sunny day. A couple of my paintings are too big to fit into my small car so I'm going to have to borrow the old farm truck to take them out to King Valley Cucina. They'll be fairly well wrapped up in blankets, etc., but rain would be a disaster. Keep your fingers crossed for a clear day.

I also can't believe how busy I've been this past couple of weeks. With the release of my latest short story, Sword of Anubis, and the promoting that goes along with it, not to mention that the end of this month is GST time again and that means accounts by the dozens have to be entered into MYOB, setting up and printing my colour catalogue for the exhibition, and the black and white version... Yep! I've been on the run. I haven't even had time to go to Curves to get my daily fix of exercises. Shame on me!

So today I'm shifting cattle, printing and binding my catalogue, visiting the chiropractor, meeting a friend to see a movie - got to slip that one in - and.... yeah... the list goes on. At least I'll have a couple of hours off to see the latest "Mummy" movie. That should be fun.

Anyway, people, it's off to the chiropractor for me now...

Catch you soon

Cheers

Brittany

Competition Winner

Congratulations to:

MS. PRISS

You have won a free ebook copy of
Sword of Anubis.

If you've already read that story, please feel free to choose another title from Eternal Press and I'll have that ebook sent out to you as soon as possible.

Thank you to all who entered my competition.

If you liked Sword of Anubis, keep an eye out for Shadow on the Crystal coming out next month.


Cheers

Brittany Kingston

The Sword of Anubis

To celebrate the release of my short story, The Sword of Anubis,
I'm giving away one free copy to the first person who can tell me the following:

Where did Morgan's dagger come from?

Post your answer as a comment on this blog or email your reply to: brittanykingstonauthor@gmail.com

Good luck!

--Brittany

Vampire Short Story Releases

I'm really excited to be able to say that two of my historical vampire short stories will be coming out soon with Eternal Press.

If you like a good vampire tale, keep a look out for:

October 2008

Shadow on the Crystal

Cover by Dawne Dominique







September 2008

Sword of Anubis

Cover by Ally Robertson



Both covers blew me away. I love them! I hope you do too.

I also hope you'll enjoy the stories. Thanks to some wonderful editing from Deborah Nemeth, these two historical tales have sprung into life. Don't forget to keep an eye out for them at Eternal Press.

Also don't forget, my art exhibition is fast approaching. And, yes, I'm still throwing ink all over canvases [and everything else] in an attempt to have some new paintings to show off.

Add to all this: At long, long last, spring is approaching and I've been trying to get outside into the garden to gain some sort of control over the jungle before the summer hits. I did manage to scare a few weeds into submission yesterday. I hope word has gone out through the weed vine that I'll be out there again today and possibly tomorrow looking for victims to add to the compost. Sneaky little weeds. They think they can run riot all over my garden..... I'll show them.... hahahahahhhah!

Cheers

Olympic Fever

It's that time again...

Every four years I suffer from a strange condition: Olympic Fever.

Some of my friends are also suffering from this strange condition. It hits us every four years and keeps us virtually housebound and glued to our televisions.

Suddenly I begin to watch sport. Not only that, but I become an instant armchair expert on every sport I watch. You name it - I can judge it from the comfort of my own lounge room.

Well... that's my excuse, and I'm sticking to it! What better reason could there be to stay inside on a cold winter's day? And just so I don't feel totally bad about staying indoors, I do odd things like catching up on the ironing, polishing the floors, mending clothes, catching up on my writing and editing and getting some painting done - the artistic type. This morning during the beach vollyball and men's basketball I even cleaned all the windows - the insides at least.

All in the name of fun!

Good luck to all our Olympians! You're all heroes.

Cheers

The Runes of Earth by Stephen Donaldson

The Runes of the Earth by Stephen R. Donaldson

My review

rating: 5 of 5 stars
I can't believe it has been 20 years since I read the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.



This is the first book in the last Thomas Covenant series and I'm totally hooked. I want more, and more, and more... The characterization, the setting... again, superb. Utterly brilliant - as I have come to expect from this writer.



Stephen Donaldson is one of the writers who inspired me to become a writer.



This is one author who's books I can pick off the shelf at random and, without even looking, know I'll thoroughly enjoy it.


View all my reviews.

Un4Seen Art Exhibition

Great news on the Art front.

My first local exhibition will be on in September with three other contemporary artists: Fillian Fytch, Robynne Ilott-iiama and Kaye Watt. It's going to be super colourful, and very, very different to any exhibition many local people will have ever seen. It will be interesting to see how it all goes.

Check out our colourful invitations below, specially designed for us by Louise Einersen, a local graphic designer. As you can see, Louise had to work really hard to fit all four of us into a "one-artist" space.

If you're in the North East area at that time, please drop in and have a look around at our work.

Storm Orbs

Hi Everyone!

Take a look at these photos I took last night. Wow! Energy Orbs everywhere. I was trying to take photos of lightning. I failed at that, but look what I caught on film. Unbelievable. Wonderful.

Woo Hooo! They were everywhere in every photo. Click on each image to see the larger view.

Obviously I can't post all the photos here, but these will give you the general feel. It's amazing to think that we were walking around with these floating in the air all around and above us and we didn't even see or feel them.





Cheers

Brittany Kingston