Debate is raging in Australia about the horrible fate awaiting one of our countrymen in Singapore this week.

Van Nguyen, a 25 year old Aussie boy is awaiting the death penalty in a Singapore jail after being convicted of heroin smuggling, and is due to be hanged this Friday 2nd December at 0900 EST.

I watched his mother on television, coming out of the jail, begging to be able to ‘hug’ her son before he dies on Friday. She has only been able to see him this week for 1/2 hour a day with a glass wall seperating them. This is the first time she has been able to visit him since his arrest in Singapore three years ago.

Despite the efforts of his defence team, the Australian government and a huge groundswell of support here in Australia, the execution as I write, is still going ahead.

As I watched Van’s distrught mother on television and listened during the week to the varying views on talk back radio about his fate, I couldn’t help but feel deeply saddened that a young life was going to be wasted as a punishment for a single crime. I don’t dispute the terrible effects of herion on young lives and understood the views of parents I heard talking about the deaths of their children due to herion use, however I can’t understand how killing a young man will have any impact on the ‘Mr Big’s” who import heroin…………they are not being punished, and to them Van is just a ‘packhorse’ and is easy to replace.

So as I hug my beautiful son who celebrates his 21st birthday on Friday, I will feel sad about another mother who is having her son taken away from her without even being granted the dignity of hugging him before he faces the gallows.

Maybe we should all take a minute to think and refelect on Friday 2nd December, as Van’s short life is ended.
Maybe we should be thinking about our kids, our brothers and sisters, the people we love. Maybe we should be thinking about mistakes we have made in our lives and maybe we should spare a thought for a lone mother for whom Christmas 2005 holds absolutely no joy.

Dead Serious #018 (MP3- 14.8MB- 42 min)

LISTEN TO THE PODCAST HERE

This week my special guest is a very close friend and colleague, Sue Coombes.

Sue is a Naturopath, Reiki Master and Angel Intuitive. I have known Sue as a friend and ‘fellow traveller’ for more years than we would both like to admit. We did our Reiki training together and studied our Reiki Master level together.

Sue has always been more open minded than I, about all things spiritual. She is far more likely to explore ideas , that to the more conservative of us seem a bit ‘out there’, but she is also extremely critical in her analysis of all ideas.

So I can thank Sue for introducing me to working with Angels.

My ideas about Angels were firmly formed as a child by my Catholic upbringing. I viewed them as friends and allies, I spoke to them in my formal prayers occassionally when I was little, however I didn’t view them as I do now.

It was with Sue’s gently encouragement that I too, attended a Doreen Virtue Angel Intuitive course last year and returned again with Sue just last month. Why?

Because in working with Angels I have been able to access the deepest recesses of my mind, heart and soul, something I had never been able to do thru meditation or energy work.

So it is with great joy, that I introduce my friend Sue to you all. I hope this interview may awaken in you a desire to pursue your life purpose and motivate you to find the tools that best suit you, for connecting to your mind, heart and soul.

The music “Water” was provided by Ian Dixon and the program recorded on Skylook.

So everyone, it was my birthday yesturday…………yes, I’m a Sagittarius!

Don’t know that I particularly like birthdays. I sort of lost interest after I turned 18…………..why????

Because as each birthday comes around it reminds me of the things I intended to do but hadn’t got around to.

Yesturday though, I had an epiphany (a ‘lightbulb’ moment) when I realised I had been looking at the ‘getting older’ thing all wrong.

I realised that I should be reflecting on all the things I HAVE achieved, not the things I havn’t got around to. When I sat down and thought about the things I’ve done since my last birthday………it really was quite impressive.

- I quit my stable executive job with car and petrol card for an unknown future
- I started my own Consultancy business
- My first book was published
- I joined TPN and launched Dead Serious
- I’ve had lots of articles published and have done the ‘touring around guest speaking’ thing

Really……….these are the major milestones I identified in a few seconds, but when I thought more deeply, I saw a whole range of achievements in relationships, both personal and professional. I have enjoyed another year of marriage to the most wonderful man in the world, have enjoyed watching my kids grow and blossom and have met and built relationships with a range of amazing people, who have guided, mentored and supported me.

SO…………the lesson in this?

Forget what you DIDN”T get done and focus on what you DID get done, and all of a sudden the passage of another year is a joyous thing, not something to grieve about. Sure my figure isn’t quite as alluring as it used to be………..but, I’m still in good shape for an ‘older chick’. Sure I’ve got a few more wrinkles………..but they’re ’smiley’ ones. Sure my hair colour has changed………….but I dye it all the time anyway.

I’m happy, healthy and surrounded by amazing people who love and support me………..so that passage of another year is a celebration…………..AND I INTEND TO CELEBRATE!!!!!!

So, have a drink for me and reflect on your achievements and be proud!

Tune in to this weeks show to meet Sue Coombes…………..the Wise lady who talks to angels!

So get onto the site and learn about those voices you try to ignore……..the voices of your angel helpers!

I spoke at a great conference last week for the Australian Association of Rural Nurses. These are the guys who work as sole practitioners in the ‘outback’ or the ones who work in small counrty hospitals or the ones who drive their cars ‘all over our wide brown land’ to deliver care to people in their homes.

There guys KNOW HOW TO PARTY!!!!!! We had a fantastic conference dinner, then learned how to Latin Dance……….then left the dinner and put it into practice……………what a rage! But we did do some work!

I had the great joy to give a session on ’self care’ which these guys are notoriously bad at!!!!

Mind you most people who work in the ‘healing professions’ are so busy looking after their clients, they forget to look after themselves………hence the crisis in recruitment and retention in caring professions world wide!

SO THE LESSON IN THIS………………..AND HERE IT COMES…………….

just as I told them!

You cant expect to spend your whole life looking after other people if you don’t look after yourself first!

NO, this is not selfish……………this is actually extremely generous, because if you look after yourself first, you become resilient and more capable of giving MORE to others.

If you don’t look after yourself and give away all of your energy, care and compassion to others………….you become an ‘empty shell’, you ‘burn out’ and can help NO ONE, not even yourself!

So, the next time you feel the urge to have a massage, to leave the office and go for a walk, to sit in the bath for an hour………………stop what you’re doing and LISTEN TO YOURSELF……………..NURTURE YOURSELF and you will find that the hour you spend on ’self care’ will translate into hourS of capacity for you to care for others!

AND SO ENDITH THE LECTURE FOR TODAY!!!!!

I’ve spent quite some time talking about the stress and anxiety kids face as they head toward their final high school exams. I thought on that last day, when the last exam was over…………..we could get a break for a while…………at least till the trauma of receiving results was upon us!

NO SUCH LUCK………..particularly if you’re artistic and want to get into a degree in any of the visual or performing arts!

As soon as the exams were finished in my house, we jumped on the “portfolio” treadmill…………design exercise, interview, design exercise, submit portfolio, interview………………over and over again, from one University to the next…………….and a whole new range of stressors!

It is quite intimidating for kids to sit in a room for 2 hours with 250 other ‘hopefuls’ and plough their way through design exercises that they think are so simple they have been ‘tricked’ into saying or designing something that will ’stuff up’ their chances of being offered a place at that particular Uni!

They look around and measure themselves against the kids with $$$$ worth of technical drawing equipment, the kids who have only a pencil and eraser, the ‘groovy’ kids, the ‘daggy’ kids, the ‘rich’ kids, the ‘disadvantaged’ kids etc. etc.

The kids have to face interview panels of often “sector snobby” artiste types who by virtue of their status and position of power, often make the kids being interviewed feel like they are ‘not up to scatch’ or ‘not good enough’.

As a parent and a NORMAL compassionate human being, I struggle with this ’succed or fail’ attitude that disempowers our kids and makes them feel ‘bad’ about themselves. We spend our lives as parents, encouraging our kids, building their self esteem, preparing them for life in the ‘real world’, but when ‘push comes to shove’ we have no capacity to ‘hold their hand’ and protect them from the people out there who seem to get some sort of bizarre joy from belittling others.

SO the point of all of this rambling (apart from the therapeuitic value of ‘ venting my spleen’) is to ask every one of you to THINK before you speak.

Before you put someone down, before you gossip behind someone’s back, before you ’shut someone down’ with your body language………….imaging how you would feel if YOU were the recipient of that kind of treatment (or your child or someone else you love)……….STOP…………….THINK…………….and then ACT WITH COMPASSION………….it’s not difficult………….it just takes a bit of practice!

Dead Serious #017 (MP3- 13MB- 32MIN)
LISTEN
TO THE PODCAST HERE

Today I interview Joanne Harrison.

Jo is an indigenous health worker who is currently the Victorian Project Officer responsible for ‘bridging the gap’ between Koorie communities and palliative care.

Aboriginal Australia has had to deal with having their kids stolen by governments, being incarcerated and being isolated in contemporary society…………..however as Jo says, there is so much we can be doing together…………white Australia and Aboriginal Australia to ‘come together’ and work for the benefits of us all.

Jo discusses Aboriginal spirituality, her peoples’ ties to the land, connectedness and reincarnation. She talks to us about the “Stolen Generations” and “Deaths in custody”, the fight for “land rights” and Native Title. She talks about how grief is expressed in Aboriginal communities and about ‘Sorry Business”.

Though I have known Jo for some time, I learned lots by talking to her about the things that impact on her community, and subsequently on the Australian community as a whole. You will probably find, as I did, that this struggle is similar to struggles other indigenous communities have had to have in other countries, to be recognised and accepted as the original owners of the land.

From my perspective as a fourth generation Aussie of Celtic heritage, I feel sad about the treatment Aboriginal Australians have received at the hands of the bureaucrats and over the past two hundred years………….I know I can’t change history…………..BUT I CAN build relationships with my indigenous friends and support them in pursing empowered solutions to the issues they face. I can support them in having their custodianship of the land acknowledged and promote moving forward together to build a more tolerant and compassionate society.

There are a number of resources Jo highlights for you if you want more information on Aboriginal health issues in Australia or Victoria or if you are interested in finding out more about Australian Aboriginal heritage. Just click on the highlighted words and follow the links.

Jo also refers to ATSIC (The Aboriginal and Torris Strait Islander Commission), which was dissolved by the current government incumbents, despite the protests of Aboriginal elders and the majority of the Australian community.

Sincere thanks to Jo for sharing her wisdom and igniting the passion in us all.

Thanks also to Armen Firmen for the fantastic music track, “It’s too Late” and to Tom Whitty for providing it. If you want more information about these guys, contact me via the Blog and I will refer you to Tom (their website is currently under construction).

Recorded as always on Skylook and supported by Motorola.

I’ve just returned from the funeral of a beautiful 22 year old girl, a friend of my son’s who died suddenly on Thursday.

I sat in the Church and looked at the photo’s around the altar of a vibrant, georgeous young woman, who this time last week was happy and well. I looked at her wonderful artwork displayed around the white coffin and I looked at the sad, desperate faces of her family and multitude of friends who had come to say their last good-byes.

I listened as family members and her mates talked about her empathy, her compassion and her fun-loving, happy personality.

So much love and so much sadness BUT SO many achievements. The stories I heard all told of a full life and a treasured life. She had managed to squeeze so much into her short 22 years it made me think.

As I have said so many times before. Our worth is not measured by our business acumen, how much money we have or how ’successful’ we are. It is measured by our relationships and what we leave behind us when we die.

Bronwyn left behind hundreds of people whose lives were enriched just by knowing her………….in her short life she had given so much more than some of us ever give, even after 60 or 70 years of living.

Sometimes we need to STOP and reflect on what we are doing with our lives. Are we sharing our gifts with others or are we forgetting the most important things?

We need to think about what we are offering humanity, and if we don’t like the answer…………do something about it, before you run out of time.

What’s a ‘newbie’ you may ask……………well I’m told it’s someone who is new to all this technology and I still consider myself a ‘newbie’, though maybe a Grade 2 version!

I’ve had lots of questions about how to access shows, so here’s the easy version:

All you need to do is scroll down to the interview you want to hear and either:

1. Click on LISTEN TO PODCAST HERE to listen straight away OR
2. Right click on LISTEN TO PODCAST HERE then click on SAVE TARGET AS and then you can save the file to your sound program (Windows media player, itunes etc) or save it in your document file then listen to it at your leisure.

You can receive regular downloads of the show by subscribing to Dead Serious (or any of the other TPN shows you are interested in) by following the instructions here.

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Just go to www.thepodcastnetwork.com/survey and HELP US OUT!!!!!