Sunday 23 September 2012
'Engaging teenagers from a non-religious background in the spiritual journey'.
Just got back from speaking at the Australian Ecumenical Council for Spiritual Directors Conference at Xavier College, Melbourne.
Presented a workshop on 'Engaging teenagers from a non-religious background in the spiritual journey'.
An enthusiastic audience who wanted to hear more about technology free silent retreats, innovative meditation, Monty the dog the meditation mentor, pilgrimage in the footsteps of heroes, rediscovering the guru and more.
Thank you to the AECSD for the opportunity.
Thursday 20 September 2012
Sandakan - Ranau Death March
On Sunday, myself and 12 others head to Sabah, Borneo to retrace the steps of Australian soldiers who were forced to walk from Sandakan to Ranau at the end of World War II. All but six who escaped died, over 2,400 Australian diggers were lost in the single greatest Australian military tragedy.
While much of the track has been lost to palm plantations and other uses, some 96 kilometres is still available. This is our second time there and while one can never understand what it was like for the soldiers who were weak, undernourished, beaten and sick, it does give you some idea of the courage, character and sense of hope they possessed to keep going under appalling conditions.
For more information go to: http://sandakan-deathmarch.com
While much of the track has been lost to palm plantations and other uses, some 96 kilometres is still available. This is our second time there and while one can never understand what it was like for the soldiers who were weak, undernourished, beaten and sick, it does give you some idea of the courage, character and sense of hope they possessed to keep going under appalling conditions.
For more information go to: http://sandakan-deathmarch.com
Friday 14 September 2012
Life is a Journey
I apologise to all for the lack of posts. Life has been hectic at the home of redshoewalking lately. Family illnesses have taken time away from blogging!
How quickly the years come around! We are now at the end of another senior school graduating class and I am left wondering where the time went. I know they are.
For some it is a very interesting time, especially those who have spent the last 13 years at school, almost all their remembered life. Friendships, achievements, failures, shared tragedies, exciting times and more have been wrapped up in one place, one group of friends, one culture - the school.
What happens now? Now when the familiar falls away and they are exposed to a world which is unfamiliar, challenging, strange and unknown. Where they are the unknown not the known, the new person finding their way not the experienced one who knows' how everything works, the person without friends having lost touch with those they went to school with but a few weeks ago, and more.
Life is a journey not a destination, and these young people are discovering this, often with mixed emotions, feelings of trepidation and excitement. We wish them well, knowing from our own experience some where off in the past, that while it feels like the end, it isn't, while it feels like a new beginning, it isn't. It is a continuation of theirs and our becoming who we are meant to be, discovering where we belong and learning what we offer to our world.
It is just another step in a journey we began before we were born, and will go on living long after we are born again.
How quickly the years come around! We are now at the end of another senior school graduating class and I am left wondering where the time went. I know they are.
For some it is a very interesting time, especially those who have spent the last 13 years at school, almost all their remembered life. Friendships, achievements, failures, shared tragedies, exciting times and more have been wrapped up in one place, one group of friends, one culture - the school.
What happens now? Now when the familiar falls away and they are exposed to a world which is unfamiliar, challenging, strange and unknown. Where they are the unknown not the known, the new person finding their way not the experienced one who knows' how everything works, the person without friends having lost touch with those they went to school with but a few weeks ago, and more.
Life is a journey not a destination, and these young people are discovering this, often with mixed emotions, feelings of trepidation and excitement. We wish them well, knowing from our own experience some where off in the past, that while it feels like the end, it isn't, while it feels like a new beginning, it isn't. It is a continuation of theirs and our becoming who we are meant to be, discovering where we belong and learning what we offer to our world.
It is just another step in a journey we began before we were born, and will go on living long after we are born again.
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