Our Greatest Fear —Marianne Williamson

 

It is our light not our darkness that most frightens us

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.

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous,
talented and fabulous?

Actually, who are you not to be?

You are a child of God.

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other

people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to make manifest the glory of
God that is within us.

It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone.

And as we let our own light shine,
we unconsciously give other people
permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear,
Our presence automatically liberates others.

—Marianne Williamson

They have been so welcoming and are so impressed that someone from the western world finds them important enough to come and provide support for. The children are so sweet - they range from 2-3 yrs up to about 12 yrs, and come to school at 6.30 am to clean their working environment and start remedial lessons at 7am. They are goggle eyed at having a white person 'mizunga' with them, as many will never have seen one before ) They fight to hold my hand, and touch my hair and skin out of curiosity. I am teaching class 3 (7-9 yrs) class 4 (8 - 11), class 2 (6 - 8). english, science and social studies.

There are four classrooms which were built by the children and some willing volunteers. Made in the traditional way from mud on a wooden frame, the floors are also mud, rocky and uneven, as the school is built on a hillside. The trees (many eucalyptus) provide a shady canopy from the sun, and a lovely aroma too. There is a self-sustainable project providing chickens and eggs to help provide food and a little money for the school.

A meal is conjured up out of no-where for the children at lunchtime - they may get very little at home as many of them are unwanted, being cared for by guardians who make them work for their keep.

I am living in a traditional mud hut, with mud floor too. No running water, everything has to be carried from the river, about 10 minutes walk away. And no electricity either! So oil lamps in the evening and an outdoor shower which consists of a bowl of water in a small enclosure, and a strip down wash!

Toilet facility is a pit latrine - a novelty to say the least (not)! But all things can be tolerated for a short space of time.

I am really grateful to Naraya Urben-Winterfeld who kindly organised this visit for me, and Fazilah Bazari who gave me hospitality when I arrived in Nairobi and is keeping tabs on how I am doing. More to follow. Need to go and get supplies & getback before dark! Much love xx

This is always the hard part; what to take and what to leave behind! Being a girlie, I have a tendency to pack for every eventuality which then results in me lugging a really heavy case around! Packing for this trip will be a challenge for me because I want to take lots of play things for working with the children; and I will also need to take a light sleeping bag & liner, a towel, a lamp and a mosquito net.

I will take lots of drawing materials, colouring pens & pencils, balloons, marker pens, stickers, small balls, maybe some english workbooks....hmm......need to do a bit of shopping!

 

I bought a travel book on Kenya today, so that I have an idea about the country I am going to. Like the sound of the white sandy beaches and crystal clear waters too! Maybe I can spend a few days at the coast at the end of my trip.

 

I hear that the school are so excited to hear that I am coming - how lovely! I cant wait to be there and getting involved..

So I finally get to do what my hearts been yearning to do, which is to be of service living and working abroad within a disadvantaged community. My visit to Kenya has been set up by a lovely friend - Naraya Urban-Winterfeldt (a fellow Journey Practitioner: http://www.narayajourney.com) who has devoted much of her time over the last 18 years to working on social improvement projects with local communities in Kenya. She oversees the Journey Outreach programme in Africa/ Kenya, and was instrumental in setting the necessary wheels in motion to make my visit possible; for which I am truly grateful!

 

My placement at Hill Breeze Orphan school in Oyugis is being co-ordinated by a lovely lady based in Nairobi (Fazilah Bazari), who founded Holistic Community Kenya http://www.holisticommunity.com/blog/ and the plan is to go and spend three weeks there.

These children have very little, and their lives have been touched by HIV either in parents or family. A wonderful man called Ken Ariri founded the school after he was guided to do this by a 'voice from God'. I will be using some Journey tools to help the children to open to their own highest potential, and maybe do Journey processes with the teachers and the local community too if the opportunity arises.

I am so looking forward to hanging out with the kids, playing games with them and maybe helping them with their English too!

 

My accomodation is being kindly provided at the school, and will be quite primitive: I will be given water for my shower, (no running water!) and electricity only at selected times. It will certainly help me to appreciate how it is possible to manage with very little, and the creature comforts I have back home!

 

Look out for the next installment!

Essential oils could kill the deadly MRSA hospital 'superbug', scientists have claimed.

If you (like me) love the aroma of essential oils and would like some advice on how to use them at home, I would recommend an excellent book by Valerie Ann Worwood, titled 'A Fragrant Pharmacy' (A complete guide to Aromatherapy & Essential Oils). It gives a profile of oils for a basic care kit and many recipes for blends you can use for self treatment. Have fun if you do decide to try it! And I'm always available to advise if you need any additional help.

http://youtu.be/gx7lz5X2vKk 

Do you remember the 'I love to laugh' song from the film Mary Poppins? It was such a funny illustration that laughter and smiling are contagious! I've always thought it was a great analogy for how our energy vibrations are affected by either happy or sad emotions too. When we think happy thoughts, our vibrations are higher and a positive chemistry (endorphins) is released into our bodies. This is why we feel so healthy and talk about people 'glowing' when they are in love.

The opposite applies when we feel sadness or negative emotions; our vibrations are lower and if these emotions are suppressed the biochemistry released does not support optimum health.

Laughter therapy is recognised to be beneficial to good health.. what a great way to heal youself!

Really excited about finally getting my website up and running. I see it as a reflection of my values and offerings and would value any feedback you may have :) It is still work in progress to some extent, so do check back to see what changes I've made! Meantime, here's some food for thought:

 

Dr. Deepak Chopra who made a life study of successful survivors of life threatening illness found they had two things in common:

1. They were able to access something beyond the mind to stimulate healing; Chopra calls this ‘Infinite Intelligence’.  

2. They were able to let go of memories stored at a cellular level.

 

Cells in the body regenerate at different speeds. In the eye they take only 48 hours, whereas cells in the liver take 6 weeks to regenerate. The question is: what stops these cells from regenerating healthily? Dr. Chopra postulated that memories can be stored in the cells and can cause degenerative disease patterns to be passed on, preventing healthy new cell replication.

Dr. Candace Pert went further in her book 'Molecules of Emotion' which describes her Nobel Prize nominated research on “how emotions affect our bodies at the cellular level”. She showed that if trauma and negative emotions are not resolved, they become physically stored as a cellular memory, preventing the cells involved from playing their part in the constant chemical communication taking place within the body.

In other words, when emotions are suppressed, a specific biochemistry is released into the blood stream and blocks certain cell receptors, which are then isolated and cannot communicate with any other cells in the body. If these cells remain blocked over time and if disease happens, it's likely to manifest in the part of the body where the cells are blocked.

These memories not only 'switch off' these cells, but they can lead to emotional and physical disease years after the events originally occurred. The Journey process is a powerful technique that allows one to access these memories and clear out the emotional trauma so that forgiveness can be given and the issue let go of. This causes your cells to 'switch back on', and enables them to once again regenerate perfectly.