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News May 2016

Tenacity and Direction

Over the last few weeks we got asked by many of you about updates regarding the Dance Theatre Production ‘Mundu’. Quite rightfully so, as there has been a lot of activity behind the scenes, but not a lot for you to be seen upfront.

It still is a work in progress, and our artistic, music and dance team is constantly and consistently working on bringing the final result onto stage. As this might take longer than anticipated we have decided to focus on bringing the equally eager awaited Workshops to you. Last month we successfully launched the new Workshop series in Australia, entitled: ‘Unpacking People – Strategic Tenacity, Sustained Direction And… The Power of the Ancient Code’. This is the product of more than 25 years of studying and researching people, history, connections, patterns – and solutions. It combines knowledge that comes from an ancient culture, connecting the past with your present, uncovering and presenting you with a strength that has been within you – without you realising.

Many years ago I had the privilege of spending weeks with an Aborigine Elder, teaching me the secrets of his generations, introducing me to his tribe, leading me inside his culture, pointing out details, elements and signs that impacted the direction of my future in a massive way I could have neither foreseen, nor expected. The insight and knowledge I gained during this time was crucial to the content for the Workshop, where you can benefit from this knowledge and apply it to stabilise your decision-making insecurities and make decisions for your business and personal life with confidence. It stays true to what I stand for – Tenacity and Direction – and in addition also gives you the Power of the Ancient Code.

Check out the website for more information (www.unpackingpeople.com) and stay tuned for what’s coming next.

‘I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.’ (Jimmy Dean, Actor and Businessman, 1928 – 2010)

Barbara

News March 2016

Knowledge – Hidden Signs and Mystic Symbols

How do we adapt to change? How did we find our way before the rise of GPS, Google maps and Google earth? How did we store information before ‘the cloud’, hard drives and multiple back-up systems?

Towards the end of last year I had been working hard on an important project. Hours spent defining words and phrases to get the information across precisely. Work was almost complete when disaster struck. A small spill of water on my keyboard, a malfunction with the external back up – and in an instant all the work was gone. The work of many hours was lost, a mere memory that I had to attempt to piece together again. It made me realise how much we rely on technical devices, how we extract, collect and store our knowledge in the belief, that at any time, with a quick tap, we can freely access it.

The ancient culture of Australia has more than 40.000 years of knowledge. Knowledge that was extracted, collected and stored. Knowledge gained from experience, handed down through countless generations – sharing everything they found, leaving signs and symbols for wanderers to read and understand. Knowledge that could be accessed readily and constantly. Signs and Symbols used to communicate from one generation to the next. No computer, no hard drive, rather a tried and proven procedure that has seen the test of time.

Over the years I have been fortunate enough to spend time with two Elders whose wealth of knowledge has impacted my life tremendously, guiding me onto a path very different to the one I had expected. Both of them opened my eyes to not only see what was already right before me, but also how to recognise, read and understand what I saw. I learned of signs, symbols and secrets. Like a map – easy to read once you know how.

Years ago, one of them, when much younger, was invited to a University for an interview about the Aboriginal culture. They questioned him for a long time. In the end they not only offered him a place to study for a Masters degree (he had no formal training up until then), but also invited him to be a lecturer while still a student, as there was no one with such depth of knowledge who could teach on this subject. When asked where he had studied to gain such knowledge, he simply replied, ‘my grandfather’.

There are different ways to recognise, access and implement signs and symbols into your life. You have a knowledge within you that somehow remains elusive, locked in, making it difficult to access and use. While you may not recognise it, the key is right in front of you. It’s as simple as reading a book – once you have learnt the language.  All you need is a guiding hand (as I did) to open your eyes and see the endless possibilities stretched out before you.

‘Learning to read our art is like reading a book that provides a greater insight and understanding of the oldest living culture on earth. It will take you on an enchanting journey of discovery and truth.’ (Colin Jones, Elder and Artist)

Barbara

News December 2015

The Mind And The Parachute

There are moments in life that you know will have a major impact on your life. You meet people who open your eyes to a whole new thought process, life perspective, or cultural thinking, and through that shift you to a whole new level of awareness.

Meeting the people from the Aboriginal culture many years ago was one of these major events. I let you decide whether it was by chance or predetermined. I was living and studying in Graz, when I decided to watch a performance at an International Dance Festival, by a group I had never heard of, from a country I hadn’t given a second thought to. Their performance changed the course of my life, as it resulted in me travelling and ultimately living in Australia. This ancient culture, foreign and unknown to me, was going to influence my future in a massive way and guide my path in a certain direction. My life was changed in an instant.

A few weeks ago I had another of those intensely powerful encounters. Once again, by chance or predetermined? An email suggesting that I take part in a course presented by someone completely unknown to me, but on a subject that resonated with me so strongly that I had to attend. Having done the course I already understand the impact that it has in my life even though I may not fully comprehend its enormity. Once again I know that nothing will ever be the same again.

We all have these times, these moments in life, when we can choose to embrace and take on the new, the different, the unknown, and let it influence us, take us into a whole new world waiting for us. We can accept or, on the other hand, step back. Scared, frightened, and full of thoughts filled with why’s, what’s and how’s.

If you feel it is right for you, if the idea resonates at a deeper level, if the mind, like a parachute, is open, then be brave. Don’t hold back. Don’t just step out – Jump! Trust that it appeared for a reason. It will take you further than you ever imagined…

‘A mind is like a parachute. It only works when it is open.’ (Frank Zappa)

Barbara

News November 2015

Time lost – Time spent

When significant emotional events occur in our lives they can derail the thought process, leaving us to live in a fog, a void – out of place. No one can prepare us for such times, only the event can give us the experience. Only time can bring the ability to deal with the problem and come out of the fog. Clear, but changed. In no specific way, but certainly changed forever. Even the time is different for the individual. A week. A month. A year. Ever?

The significance of being uprooted from the comfort of home, its familiarity, thrust into a world where language, culture, and even the weather is so different, also must bring this void experience with it. How long will it take the refugees, the immigrants, to adjust? Will those, who have lost family members, ever recover?

Those of us who have suffered the loss of a loved one can understand the fog, the void. We can lend a helping hand of friendship, love and respect. We can not replace the loss, but hope for peace after the storm, for the fog to lift, clarity to come – and for joy to replace the pain.

Time lost – that precious time, when we go inside ourselves in an attempt to make sense of senseless, to comprehend the incomprehensible, and come to a point of acceptance of the event. An understanding, that nothing we can do can change that moment. The grey clouds lift, daylight pushes through, and sunshine replaces the rain. Now we are ready to go again, to take up where we left off, but with a new understanding of the frailty of life and the importance of time. Now we are ready to rejoin society. One that may have no knowledge of our personal circumstances. It does not matter. It is not important. We rejoin anyway.

‘There is no past that we can bring back by longing for it. There is only an eternally new now that builds and creates itself out of the Best as the past withdraws.’  (Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, 1749 – 1832)

Barbara

News October 2015

Payback – Part Two

While we continue our journey back through history and the reasons for mass exodus have you found an answer to ‘where would you go?’ What makes you feel safe? What lengths would you go to to ensure your family’s safety? Your children’s freedom?

By the 1920’s the British Invasion had caused the death of at least a quarter of a million of black Australians. Genocide on a massive scale. This fact remains suppressed, except in the living memory of those who survived. This people did not want to leave their homeland.

– Nakba, the 1948 Palestinian exodus, 80 % of Arabs left the land that was to become Israel.

– Idi Amin’s Order, 1972, where 90.000 Asians were expelled because they were declared state enemy. Many of them had lived in the country for more than 100 years. Around 50.000 came to the UK.

– Afghanistan had a refugee ‘crisis’ 1979, sending as many as 5 million fleeing. The largest group ended up in Pakistan. Since 1990 the number of refugees each year has not fallen below 2 million.

– Then there were the Balkan conflicts, 1992-95, which forced 2,7 million to flee, making it the largest displacement of people in Europe since the second world war.

– In the Great Lakes Refugee Crisis 1994 in Rwanda, there was a mass exodus of more than 2 million people from the country to neighbouring countries.

– The War in Darfur, Sudan, 2003, brought with it the mass displacement of more than 2,5 million people.

– In the Iraq war, 2003, 4,7 million Iraqis have left their homes, more than 2 million left the country all together.

– The Colombian conflict, starting in the 60’s; almost 4 million have left their homes. Only 400.000 of these have been able to leave the country.

– The Syrian civil war, 2011, is the latest chapter in history’s biggest refugee movements, but it is unlikely to be the last. So far it has resulted in close to 2 million people fleeing the country and about twice that number uprooted and homeless within Syria itself. (Ref: Mona Chalabi, The Guardian)

None of these people planned to leave their home. But they would rather leave what is known to them, leave their homeland behind, and have their children grow up with a future. Again we face a whole nation fleeing their country. Uprooted, ousted and homeless people, looking for a new life in safety. Foreign environment, different culture, unfamiliar traditions. Displacement of a different kind.

Some of us will have parents or grandparents who’ve had to leave their country and find a new home, which in return gave us the privilege to grow up in safety and call the new place home. Can you imagine having to leave your country? Gather your children and find safety with strangers? And I ask again: Where would you go?

‘A lasting solution, the possibility to begin a new life, is the only dignified solution for the refugee himself.’ (Poul Hartling, Danish Diplomat and Politician, 1914-2000)

Barbara