Kelly Zarb:

“My work has a central theme of natural wonder and joy in colour. I feel a strong pull towards the moon,  the stars and the sky. Every night after work I walk down my driveway, I look to the sky to see which of my friends are shining my way tonight. I feel that I am part of this vast universe. In order to capture this vast magical land and ocean of energy, I have developed a formula of geometric shapes including circles, triangles and repetitive dot sequences to explore unity, I can’t get enough of this grand science. These different elements create the backdrop for the universe at large which is the central theme of my paintings.”

Kelly Zarb: Embraced Beginnings, 30cm X 30cm, acrylic on canvas.

Bernadette Curtin:

“The sea creatures inhabiting the ocean, from tiny molluscs to the mighty whales, live in a majestic eco-system, each creature a part of the whole.
The coral reef systems, my focus for this body of work, symbolise the interconnectedness of all life, as well as the delicateness, preciousness and fragility of nature. If the way we live impacts on these systems and their inhabitants, how responsibly are we living?
The Ocean seems like a metaphor for a world uncorrupted, something we humans long for.”

Bernadette Curtin: Building the Reef, oil on canvas, 120cm x 90cm.

Merrilee Pettinato

“We have spectacular beaches in the Norther Rivers, each time I walk on the sand or swim in the sea the magic is all around me. Any one aspect of the ocean is worthy of expressing on canvas, and for this exhibition I have chosen to focus on the shoreline…a seagull strutting along the water’s edge, the crashing aquamarine wave with all the white crests, looking into a rock pool at the treasures living there, the pandanus growing in salty sand, the lighthouse a beacon of light to guide fishermen and sailors. The detail of random patterns, reflections and light play on the surface of the water, the colours that appear I find are of continuing fascination. When I break down a reflection the patterns, colours, light, shade and depth are so random…until you step back and view them as a whole and they then merge as water again.”

Merrilee Pettinato: Pier at Yamba, 120cm x 140cm, oil on linen.

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In a world full of technology and easy distractions we can easily find ourselves disconnected, and scared to be alone. Sonia Friedrich, author of 11 Steps to Healing, explains why it is so important to reconnect withthe most important person in our lives – ourselves.

Too often these days we live in a world of thinking, distraction, disharmony and disconnection. In fact life seems to be designed to keep everyone busy and we often feel that others are displeased if we take a few moments of time for ourselves. At the same time, me-time can also be the most confronting of all.

Many of us can no longer handle time alone. Recent studies published in the magazine Science, show that the majority of people would prefer to give themselves an electric shock than spend 6-15 minutes alone with themselves. Unbelievable but true.

Timothy Wilson from the University of Virginia conducted a series of eleven experiments, asking all the participants stay awake and be with themselves. There were no phones, books, or distractions. While the experimental design varied across the studies, with some being asked to do minor task, the results showed overall most people found it less than enjoyable and very difficult to be alone. In one study 63% of men and 25% of women actually gave themselves an electric shock rather than be all alone and doing nothing.

But the fact is that in distraction you cannot hear the calling of your soul, the needs of your heart or the voice of your body. Your mind takes over and snaps into thinking in short spurts at a time and this habituated response is now so ingrained that society grasps for distraction as their modus operandi.

Being alone in nature is a soothing way to get back in touch with ourselves. Photograph: Candida Baker

For many this avoidance is deliberate while for others it is completely unconscious. To reconnect with the self can be one of the scariest things to do. To be with our feelings is daunting because then we can no longer deny the truth of our life and our world, but we will do anything to avoid it. It is one reason addictions are so rife in our culture – whether it be work, drugs, alcohol, shopping, gambling, pills, sex, exercise, botox, even yoga – yes! Anything done to excess, for intentional distraction, as a mechanism to self soothe, and avoid feeling your truth is an addiction.

The journey of healing begins with feeling:

• Start with moments at a time and build from here
• Learn what your emotional states are again. You may be so numb you need to identify them as if for the first time
• When you have an emotional charge to anything, be with it. Hold the space and ask yourself: “How am I feeling?” and “When have I felt this before?”
• If you use the word “interesting” to describe your emotional states, stop. Ask what feeling you are too scared to say and get back in touch with
• Observe the self-initiated distractions in your day. Take a moment and reflect on what happened a few moments before that you do not wish to feel or see.
• Observe where you allow the distraction of others to take over your life.

Get out of your head and into your heart. Feel to heal. In feeling we align with our intuitive guide, honour and if we hear it, begin to live from our authentic voice. Here rests our truth. Find your place of silence amidst the distraction of the world and reconnect to all of who you are. It is there. Feel it.

Sonia Friedrich is a mentor to business executives who wish to change their life. She has recently released 11 Steps to Healing – For Multi-Millionaires & Business Owners. Visit soniafriedrich for more.

BUY 11 Steps to Healing here: $29.95 + p&h
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Book Review by Barry Eaton here
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Andrew Sooby used a Fuji XE2 with a 90mm lens at 1/80, f2.4 Flash. ISO 6400

You can contact him on: luminousmudbrick.net

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Australian native Blue Banded Bee

 Life in the city, in the fast lane, living on sugar, white flour and caffeine, rushing, oblivious of others, from one meeting to another, playing nonstop with the iPhone, cuts us off from real life, and from our original nature, writes our Political Potter Richard Jones…

British philosopher and writer Alan Watts commenting on the human experience put it like this:
 “As it is, we are merely bolting our lives—gulping down undigested experiences as fast as we can stuff them in—because awareness of our own existence is so superficial and so narrow that nothing seems to us more boring than simple being. If I ask you what you did, saw, heard, smelled, touched and tasted yesterday, I am likely to get nothing more than the thin, sketchy outline of the few things that you noticed, and of those only what you thought worth remembering. Is it surprising that an existence so experienced seems so empty and bare that its hunger for an infinite future is insatiable? But suppose you could answer, ‘It would take me forever to tell you, and I am much too interested in what’s happening now.’ How is it possible that a being with such sensitive jewels as the eyes, such enchanted musical instruments as the ears, and such a fabulous arabesque of nerves as the brain can experience itself as anything less than a god? And, when you consider that this incalculably subtle organism is inseparable from the still more marvelous patterns of its environment—from the minutest electrical designs to the whole company of the galaxies—how is it conceivable that this incarnation of all eternity can be bored with being?”

“This is a Flame tree I planted years ago, covered in these brilliant red flowers. Above, half way up, is a mistletoe bush and another baby one has established further down. The Mistletoe bird a regular visitor. On the right of the flower is a self sown epiphytic hanging moss. The pumpkins have doubled after two nights of rain and another shower is on the way. I just went for a walk through the young forest. It’s damp and lush. The sandpaper figs are heavy with fruit and the endangered Small-leaved tamarinds are covered in flowers as are the Silky oaks- with masses of orange blossoms. It all changes so fast after good rains…”

Here in Possum Creek we constantly experience the subtle, gentle movements of nature, whisper of leaves, ever changing shadows through the trees, distant calls of the whip bird and kookaburra, cheeps of finches and buzzing of bees as they busy themselves on numerous fragrant blossoms. 
If you put your ear to my studio wall you can hear the hum of many thousands of bees going quietly about their business. We could never separate ourselves again from this existence to live amongst the raucous sounds of traffic, smell of car fumes and hoards of rushing strangers and where birds are a rare sight, let alone other wildlife.

Alan Watts is right, every second is a precious jewel to be considered and relished and not just “gulped down”.

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