The Secret to The Secret

Did you think of any other things to get The Law of Attraction to work? The main thing, and it's not really a secret, is Action. You cannot just sit at home focusing on all the things you want. It's great to do that and it certainly will help. But if you don't actually DO something towards getting them, the chances of getting them are extremely slim.

In "The Secret", the man that starts getting cheques in the mail must have done something to get those, they didn't just magically appear. And the man who realised that he was living in his dream mansion looked like he had spent years working hard to get there.

Tony Robbins and many other motivational speakers and writers from Napoleon Hill and others even before him, have talked about this and encourage people to do the goal setting, the visualisation, the positive thinking, the gratitude and then take action. And if that doesn't work, try something else. And if that doesn't work, try something else. To not give up but just keep moving and taking action towards those goals.

"The Secret" is not new. But it is a great reminder of how powerful our minds are. Getting clear about what we want, believing in that possibility and taking action towards those goals are some fundamental skills that should be taught to children so that it becomes a habit. I'm going to start talking about all of this with my own children.

movies and peace

I love the wave of spiritual cinema that has become very popular since "What the Bleep.." was released several years ago. I guess by now most people have seen "The Secret" and maybe even "Conversations with God". We used to subscribe to the Spiritual Cinema Circle and every month would be sent a new DVD with several short independent films and a regular feature length film. These were films like "Delivering Milo", "Indigo", "Into Me See", and others from all over the world. I love that these movies are helping to reach a wider audience and plant seeds of possibilities - of a kinder, more peaceful world where people can connect on a deeper more loving level.

A couple of posts ago, I mentioned the Go Gratitude site. "The Secret" talks about the law of attraction. They show how powerful your thoughts are in attracting everything in your life. Gratitude plays a huge role in unlocking that even further. Even if your current situation is not what you want it to be, living with an attitude of gratitude will help to bring you the things you do want. I've been thinking about what else are the keys to the law of attraction. Certainly Trust /Faith would be another. Are there any other things that are the main keys to getting this law to work?

The recent tragedy in Virginia raised an ongoing discussion in this house. Cary and I differ in our opinions about guns. I don't see how we can have peace when people are carrying around weapons of war. He doesn't see how we can be safe when criminals can still obtain guns and "good" people cannot defend themselves. In his case, would the "good" people be more likely to attract such a situation to them where they may need to defend themselves? According to "The Secret" you get what you focus on and if you think someone is going to attack you, then surely there is a greater chance of that happening? In my case, am I being too naive? Can you really protect yourself with a belief in love and peace? It's worked for me so far.

AJ rolls the dice

Last week we went to an electrical store to get a cable for a new tv we bought. As it was going to be a quick in and out, I thought I'd wait in the car with the kids while Cary went in. Then I noticed that the store was having a promo day there including having a radio station tent near the front door. So the kids and I decided to have a closer look. When we got over there, the DJ asked if we'd like to play a game to have a go of winning a remote controlled fire engine. I asked "what kind of game?". He said "how about .. roll the dice?" I should have said we were from Las Vegas and he didn't stand a chance, but I just said "sure". He asked which one of us would like to have a go and I suggested AJ as it was two days before his birthday and that would make a nice present. So it was arranged. I went back to the car to get the camera and as I was coming back, AJ went on the air, chatted to the DJ and played the game. The DJ rolled a 9 and AJ rolled a double 5! It was all over by the time I got back, but I snapped this photo just as he was walking away with his prize. He was so stoked! He was talking about it all day "the DJ rolled a 9 and I rolled a 10 and I won the firetruck.....". It's a pretty cool truck - you can put water in the tank in the back and from the remote control you can turn the fire hose on top and it will squirt out water.



Mr AJ - 6 years old. Happy Birthday gorgeous! We love you.

Thanks for the blog birthday wishes for him. M, I hope C had a good birthday too.

Love you all.

March / April photos

We had this goanna visit a cabin we stayed in on the Sunshine Coast. It was at least 3 feet long and the kids enjoyed following it around for a while.


Shortly before school broke up for the holidays, AJ's teacher had a birthday celebration for him. The morning started with their usual morning circle and for the story, the teacher told the Rainbow Bridge story then Cary and I took over with a brief synopsis of AJ's birth and life thus far. Before the circle started, AJ had the privilege of wearing the golden cape and crown, which he actually kept on all day. The teacher had knitted him a woolen cat as a gift. In the afternoon, we went in early to share their afternoon tea time. The children had made a banana birthday cake and they sang Happy Birthday to him before enjoying the cake and some fruit. He felt very special and thoroughly enjoyed the day.




The day after AJ's birthday celebration was the Easter celebration at school. The children watched a puppet show and then performed a little play. While that was happening, the Easter Hare gathered up the baskets they had made and hid them in the garden. In the baskets were a woolen bunny the children had made and a felted egg, about the size of a chook egg, they had also made and some wool for them to rest in. There were also some plant bulbs. The above photo shows AJ holding his basket and Nicholas excited for him.


While AJ's class was having the Easter Celebration, Sami's class had their performance as part of the Main Lesson Sharing that happens on a regular basis in the school. We missed it so the teacher gladly said they'd do a special performance just for our family. Here we are inside the classroom. Sami is the second student from the right wearing a brown shirt and black pants. The large wall hanging behind her is actually a woolen felted picture.


Sami, Nicholas and AJ on Easter morning.

What a busy time it's been lately! It started with celebrating my birthday a week early with my dear Dad and wonderful stepmum Frankie who called in on their way back from a trip to Brisbane to celebrate the launch of a book that Frankie had helped to illustrate. She's such a talented artist and a beautiful person on many levels. We had a lovely time with them. Then a week later we had my birthday which was a lot of fun. Cary and the kids had made a vegan chocolate cake that we had for breakfast. Sami wanted to go to school but AJ took the day off and spent the morning with us swimming at Sawtell beach followed by lunch with friends at the Sawtell surf club. I had a few surprise guests and had a great time. We made a yummy mexican dinner in the evening and just took it easy.

About a week later we had the celebrations at the school and then my sister and her family arrived for 4 days. We celebrated my birthday again, Easter and AJ's birthday early. After they left, we started preparing for AJ's birthday and party that he had on his actual birthday. We had 10 children, 3 toddlers and 5 adults plus our family at the party. After meeting here, we walked across the street to the playground to play. We were going to go down to the creek and run and splash there, but the kids were all having a good time at the playground so we just stayed there for a while. Then we came back over to our place for lunch and cake and more playing. It took us quite a while to get it all together between cleaning the house and making all the food but it went smoothly and a good time was had by all.

Since the party, we've been checking our clothes status for winter gear. The days are still beautiful here, usually in the mid to high 70's F. Though the nights and mornings are getting cooler. I took AJ to Target to get him some more long pants but he found everything too scratchy and uncomfortable. A pair of kids jeans there are $25! Yesterday we went to some thrift stores and ended up finding him 8 pairs of long pants of various kinds and colours that he actually liked and worked out at an average cost of $1.50. So I think we're all set for winter now. Nuke has enough clothes but we'll see if he will actually wear them. He's so particular about what he will wear.

We've still been playing lots of games here. Sami has really gotten the hang of mancala and sees the strategy of it. AJ can be walking past, look at the mancala game in progress and within seconds see how everyone should move. AJ constantly amazes me with some of his statements and questions. I'll never forget the question he asked one day about a year ago when he was just 5 years old. We were in the car on our way home from a gathering with our Life Learner friends. He was quietly gazing out of the window when he said "..what if WE were the ones in the snowglobe?"

Sami's been amazing us lately too. Her thoughtfulness has shown a maturity we were not expecting at this age. She's mellowed with AJ and they do not have the same number of challenges that they used to. She's been a really great helper with Nicholas and around the house in general. She has made some amazing connections in her own life that show how she is integrating herself into the larger world out there and how that all fits into the family life. I won't go into specifics, but it's beautiful to watch her blossoming right before our eyes.

Nicholas is incredibly busy. He is speaking more every day. He knows the names of a lot of the local birds and animals and can recognise some of the bird calls, like the kookaburra. Mind you, that is pretty distinctive, but we haven't heard them a lot lately so I was amazed when we did hear one the other day and Nuke said "burra!" We had three kangaroos grazing 3 feet away from our family room window yesterday evening. Nuke knew to be very gently and quiet while watching them graze. Which is amazing because most of the time he goes non-stop like a pile of nuclear energy. He confidently rides a three-wheeled scooter and every day he gets on the tricycle to see if his feet will touch the pedals yet. I must get him a small trike for his 2nd birthday in about 8 weeks time. And loud! Oh my goodness! He certainly wants to be heard.

I'd better get going. I'm going to pack a picnic and we're going to go and check out a gold mine near here. Then on to a labyrinth that I saw a sign for. I'm fascinated by swirls and labyrinths. I got some sidewalk chalk and drew some labyrinths on the pavers at the side of our house. They were great until the rain washed them away. Now I'm playing with a new design to try. Speaking of swirls and things, have you seen the go gratitude site?
www.gogratitude.com/masterkey/ After watching this, you can sign up for the 42 day experiment which consists of daily emails which are lovely. I thought I had a pretty good appreciation of my life, but the emails did help to deepen that.

Today is the day after...

AJ's 6th birthday. We all had a great time. I'll blog about it later and post some photos. I feel a little wiped out today but just wanted to post a little hello to my dear friends and family here. So "hello". I miss you.

After reading the last post...

...Cary said to me "you're still struggling with this?" (releasing attachment). The answer is definitely no - I am not struggling at all. It's just that every now and then a small little feeling pops up that I just didn't expect. I decided to blog about it as a very real part of simplifying - to let others know that these kind of feelings might pop up and it's ok.

My sister and her family came over for 4 days over Easter. It's so great that we only live 4 hours drive away and can see each other more often. It was strange to me to have Easter in the autumn again. It seems so right to have it in the Spring. Easter here is just done differently than in the US. The plastic eggs we used to get to put our own fillings in are just not available here. Back in the US, we would put crystals, coins, stickers, and some candy in the eggs. Here, it's all about chocolate! I had bought our children a chocolate bunny each. So did my sister. And she had a ton of little chocolate eggs to do an egg hunt with. So AJ was in heaven! I'm sure it reminded him of Halloween (which is not celebrated here). So whatever hemisphere we are in during the fall, he will have a candy fest to look forward to!

The weather is still beautiful here. The days are warm enough for swimming, but the evenings and mornings are getting cooler. The kids have 3 weeks off school and we are exploring our local area a bit more. We just heard about some waterfalls about 15 minutes away from our house. We knew of some an hour away, but we'll have to check these out this week. We've been playing lots of games and are really into Mancala at the moment. When I play with AJ, I can see him thinking several moves ahead whereas Sami just plays by luck. Interesting how different they are. At the moment, they are having fun playing Polly Pocket together. An Ibis just walked past my window and a kangaroo is across the road. The rainbow lorikeets are chattering and the plovers are looking for breakfast. We are off to a friends farm to see his different crops - mainly bananas which are almost done for the season and pumpkins. My Mum is popping in this afternoon on her way back from visiting my brother. He had radiation treatment on the cancer in his neck last week. He was very sick afterwards but is getting better now.

Better go and grab a shower. Ah dear, I won't have time to work out, what a shame! I've gotten very slack about "working out". It seems like such a chore. I have so much more fun going for a walk along the beach or for a swim.

Every now and then...

...I get a pang - of what, is it grief? longing? - for some of the material stuff we left behind. It's not as strong as it used to be, and it is getting less frequent, but it still comes and I didn't expect that. It's usually directed towards a few specific books - which I know can be replaced but those specific copies already had my energy in them. Also, some of the kids toys and games. I think I was more attached to them than the kids were! Probably because I put a lot of time and thought into shopping around, getting good deals and organising their room.

I think what I'm feeling is a sense that I wasn't quite finished with those things. Some of the books, I may not have even read yet, but planned on doing so. Some of the toys and games the kids played with a lot or a little but they might have wanted to do so again as we had such a good time in the past with them. Things they might have grown out of could have been passed on to Nukie.

At least we had a choice of what to bring with us. It's not like some natural disaster wiped us out of everything. I still have all of our photos and special mementos. We brought some great toys with us and we've found some other fun toys. I brought some of my other favourite books and have found new favourites at the library and second hand book stores.

Most importantly, we have each other, we have this beautiful area and we have right here, right now to create in whatever way we want. Nothing is more important.

Material stuff is going to flow in and out of my life. That's ok, it's all only background props to the real play of life that is happening with the people front and center.

On the odd occasion when those little pangs do still come up, I will just need to take a moment to remember the fun or the lesson in the item, thank it and let it go and I'll go and hug someone here and be filled with gratitude that they are here and we are together.

Priorities. Perspective. People before things.