http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com Life, death, spirituality and meaning Mon, 10 Sep 2007 05:06:19 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en We held the 9th National Palliative Care Conference in Melbourne last week. It was a long and exhausting week, full of fantastic presentations, social activities and time to network with colleagues as well as great opportunities to celebrate what we do. For me personally, there was a number of anxieties, not ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2007/09/10/the-big-gamble-that-paid-off/ Well I've had four weeks off work............and I know, I still havn't done a show! I am however trying to train up my new partner, so I guarentee you the 2007 version of Dead Serious is going to be exciting and challenging! Christmas was wonderful for me, surrounded by family and ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2007/01/23/back-to-it/ It's Christmas time again and while we're amid the joys of presents, trukey, ham, family and flashing lights we need to take a moment and remember that Christmas can be a sad, fearful and worrying time for many in the world. Poor, sick, grieving, homeless and lonely people struggle with the ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/12/31/christmas-wishes/ Next weeks there are rallies all over the country to "beat the drum" and bring David Hicks home by Christmas. Who is David Hicks? He is an Austtralian citizen who has been held in Guantanamo Bay for five years. David has not been charged, he has had no tiral and he has ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/12/03/rally-to-bring-david-hicks-home-by-christmas/ I watched a program on TV a few weeks ago about a guy called John Dobson who founded an organisation in the US called the "Sidewalk Astronomers" in 1968. Dobson invented a mount on which he sets his Newtonian Dobson Reflector Telescope. He carries the mount and telescope around the ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/12/02/looking-to-the-skyno-the-moon-isnt-made-of-cheese/ Well this most contraversial of media promotions for the "land down under" has been applied to me on numerous occasions over the past weeks! Yes, I'm still alive and well, though have been neglecting both my Blog and the show (for which I'm suitably repentant), but must give you an idea ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/11/10/where-the-bloody-hell-are-ya/ Well, I've been reading madly in every second spare about "quantum physics'. Why you may ask??? Somehow my exploration of all things esoteric has pushed me into mainstream science which is an interesting development I think. Given that I never understood physics when I was at school (in fact I thought ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/10/16/heading-off-to-mix-with-the-angels/ I know Dead Serious is not about AFL footy or soccer (despite recent posts), however now that the AFL home and away season is over and we start the finals this weekend, I just want to let you all know I am a proud Collingwood supporter...........a legacy from my dear ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/09/05/good-old-collingwood-forever/ I know you all probably think I've dropped off the end of the earth............this is far from the truth. Fact is, I have been madly working on an innovative project with Fr Bob (of the Father Bob Show on TPN) and a couple of other committed folks on establishing an ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/09/05/spirituality-australia/ As i check my stats it seems that lots of you out there are interested in the role, structure and function of funerals. I have done a show on why we have funerals and rituals to assist us in making meaning of significant losses but I havnt yet done a show ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/09/05/interest-in-funerals/ For those of you who have listened to episodes 33 and 34 where I interviewed Shane Holst of the Australian Altruism Foundation, you may remember he discussed the Humanitarian Awards. These awards recognise people who contribute to the social and spiritual wealth of their communities and often receive little or no ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/09/05/the-humanitarian-awards/ I guess you guys think I've dropped off the face of the earth, but in fact I've been busily hanging out with my TPN colleague Father Bob. Bob, myself and a couple of other like minded, creative thinking people are madly working on a project that will empower people to reclaim ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/07/25/spirituality-on-the-move/ I watch the TV and see frightened people trying to escape from a war zone and wonder what the hell is going on? Can't people see the futility of shooting bombs at their neighbors when the majority of people who get killed and maimed are civilians? Do poeple not have any ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/07/25/whats-happening-in-the-world/ Well, like millions of others I arose in the wee small hours to watch the World Cup final this morning. I guess I was a bit perplexed. I didnt know who to barrack for, all I knew is I didn't want Italy to win, so I ended up cheering for the ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/07/10/world-cupover-for-another-four-years/ I saw an amazing program on TV the other night about an Indian man, Dr Bindeshwar Palhak who established the Sulabh Sanitation Movement. Hard to imagine that in a country like India, with it's huge population, the majority of disease is caused by lack of adequate sanitation. In fact, many houses ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/07/06/bringing-toilets-to-india/ Well I went to the Socceroo/Italy game in Lygon Street, Carlton on Monday night. For those of you who dont know.........this is the centre of the Italian population in Melbourne. The vibe was great...............Aussies chanting, Italians chanting..........another great funfilled night of frivolity. I was again surrounded my two of my kids ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/06/30/world-cup-2006oh-what-a-sad-end/ Well that's the Aussie Socceroo theme song, and you know what? I did jump and scream............not in a stadium, but at Federation Square, in the centre of Melbourne at 5am in the morning, with 20,000 other mad Melbournians as our team succeeded in moving to the final 16 in the ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/06/25/i-want-to-jump-and-scream-in-the-stadiumwith-australians/ I heard an interview on the radio in the car last week that was extremely powerful. It was an interview with a 43 year old man who I knew...........not personally, but as I grew up watching "The Sullivans" on TV, I felt I knew this guy. His name is Richard Morgan ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/06/19/motor-neurone-disease/ With the World Cup games happening in the middle of the night here in Australia...........there are lots of 'bleary eyes" around today! I, like millions others, sat up till 2am to watch the Socceroos play Brasil this morning. Come 4am, I dragged myself off to bed, disappointed at our loss, but ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/06/19/sleepless-nights/ (MP3- 13MB- 37.58min) [audio:http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/audio/tpn_deadserious_20060610_036.mp3] LISTEN TO PODCAST HERE This week I explore depression................often referred to as "the black dog" because it's dark, haunting and always ready to pounce on vulnerable people when they least expect it. What is depression? What predisposes people to suffer from depression? What causes depression? What are the symptoms ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/06/13/dead-serious-036-depression-the-black-dog/ I dont know about you guys, but I sat up till 0100 this morning watching a game that makes very little sense to me and feeling sick about the Aussies looking like they were going to loose! BUT in the last eight minutes Tim Cahill and John Aloise wrote their names ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/06/13/the-socceroos-keep-us-up-till-late/ Yesturday we had a public holiday for the Queen's birthday. As the "bolshie" I am, I still feel frustrated that we have the queen of a counrty thousands of miles away as our head of state..............in the 21st century!!! I feel even more frustrated that we honour Aussie achievers on the ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/06/13/queens-birthday-honours/ Lots of talk in my home country re the pro's and con's of nuclear energy. In addition to selling uranium from three mines in Australia, should we be looking at value adding???? Should we be establishing "tips" for spent nuclear waste and being paid by other countries for taking their garbage??? Should we ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/06/04/to-nuke-or-not-to-nukethat-is-the-question/ Dead Serious #035 (MP3- 16.22 MB- 47.15MIN) LISTEN TO PODCAST HERE   [audio:http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/audio/tpn_deadserious_20060526_035.mp3] Download the podcast here "Hey baby, can't you see I'm looking older?" George Michael sang and we all thought he was an 'old coot' reminiscing......but guess what............it's happening to us all, slowly and irreversably! What does getting older mean? Are we destined to ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/05/28/dead-serious-035-older/ This week is National Palliative Care Awareness Week in Australia. I have been involved in awareness week activities for some years now and every year it gets more difficult to get people to engage with the concept. Palliative Care is really hard to sell from a PR perspective as generally people don't ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/05/25/national-palliative-care-awareness-week/ So Mother's Day has come and gone for another year. Those of you who are not a mum or who don't have a mum may say............so what, but I think most of you will have some sort of a connection for one reason or another with a mother of some sort. For ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/05/25/mothers-day/ Early this morning, Australian time, Brant Webb and Todd Russell were finally rescued from the hole in the ground where they have been trapped for the past two weeks. I watched the coverage on TV from early this morning with disbelief as the two men walked out of the mine elevator, ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/05/09/miners-are-rescuednow-a-town-comes-to-terms-with-their-loss/ It will only be people who live in relative isolation who have not heard of the plight of two miners, Brant Webb and Todd Russell, who are trapped in a mine in Beaconsfield, Tasmania, more than a mile underground. Even Foo Fighter, Dave Grohl has sent best wishes and an ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/05/07/the-trapped-beaconsfield-miners/ Dead Serious #034 (MP3 - 14.4MB - 42.05min) [audio:http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/audio/tpn_deadserious_20060428_034.mp3] DOWNLOAD AND SAVE This weeks show continues my discussion with Shane Holst, Founder of the Australian Altruism Foundation. We look at some challenging concepts including the failure of the expedential economic growth model and what this model has in common with cancer (the disease not ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/05/01/dead-serious-034-the-altruist-and-the-future-part-2/ Last week, here in Australia and elsewhere in the world we commemorated ANZAC Day. A.N.Z.A.C stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and is commemmorated on April 25th as it marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during World War 1, ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/05/01/anzac-day/ Dead Serious #033 (MP3- 15.44MB- 44.58min) [audio:http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/audio/tpn_deadserious_20060418_033.mp3] DOWNLOAD THE PODCAST HERE "Altruism...............hard to say, easy to do?" What the hell is 'altruism'? I hear you say. My guest this week, Mr Shane Holst, is the founder of the Australian Altruism Foundation, an organisation established to explore ways of making the world a better place by encouraging ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/04/18/dead-serious-033-altruismpart-1/ I know what you're thinking.................I've been slack as the show didn't go up on Friday. Right??? Well I have a good excuse..............apart from it being Good Friday, I went off on the weekend for a Crystal Workshop with an inspiring woman, Rachelle Charman, and spent some devoted time to 'getting to ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/04/18/crystal-awakening/ We’ve set up a new TPN survey! Only one page long! You can do it in seconds! CLICK HERE and help us out. http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/04/12/tpn-survey/ I got to pondering as we head towards Good Friday and Easter Sunday................what does this mean in the 21st century when most people don't believe in the traditional Easter story? Is there something in this story that can assist us even when we do not believe in Christianity or is ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/04/12/easterdoes-it-have-a-meaning-for-people-who-are-not-into-formalised-religion/ Funny question I know, but it has been asked of me in response to the shows we did on Funerals. My answer..........(mindful that I'm not the all knowing auricle) ...............firstly follow cultural traditions. if it is culturally significant to wear black, or white or orange..................do so. If it's culturally significant for ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/04/10/what-to-wear-to-funerals/ Dead Serious #032 (MP3- 17.9MB- 52.19min) LISTEN TO PODCAST HERE Sacred Ceremony and Power Animals..............a marathon episode that will leave 'no stone unturned"! Today my special guest is Dr. Steven Farmer, a spiritual psychotherapist, shamanic practitioner, author and former university professor with over thirty years experience as a professional healer and teacher. Steven ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/04/03/dead-serious-032-dr-steven-farmer/ I know many of you may not have access to sound capacity on your computers, but for those of you who do...................I encourage you to listen to the programs as well as reading the Blog. I've had lots of comments about how informative the Blog is, but the outlines in here ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/03/31/dont-just-read-the-blog/ I know this isn't EXACTLY what Phil Collins sang, however I just wanted to see if any of you have felt, seen, heard or experienced contact with your angels lately? I just spent the evening talking to a large group of older ladies about angels and how to connect with them..................something ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/03/28/can-you-feel-the-angels-in-the-air-tonight/ I hope you've listened to the Funeral episodes and found them useful! Have you given any thought to what songs you would like played at your funeral? If you have, I hope you dont have the same problem as me...................my family say my funeral will need to run over a week to ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/03/28/have-you-done-anything-about-planning-your-funeral/ Dead Serious #031 FUNERALS.............what happens after the formal service? (MP3- 10.4MB- 30.33min) This week we continue the exploration of the ritual and ceremony of Funerals. We explore what happens after the formal funeral ceremony. What is the role of the pall bearers? Why do some people choose cremation and others burial? How is ... http://deadserious.thepodcastnetwork.com/2006/03/25/dead-serious031-funerals-part-2/