As with everything too much of a good thing gets dull. We need to change our activities interweaving them with less enjoyable but necessary activities to not only appreciate our "time outs" but to lessen the sense of guilt when we do. The mundane less enjoyable activities once done do give us a sense of achievement if we let them. We don't acknowledge our achievements enough - we more often than not, are just trying to get through our impossibly long lists of "have tos" or simply trying to get to the fun bits and when we get there we are too tired to really enjoy them. 

I have a beautiful friend who is without doubt one of the most organised people I know. Su has quirky little ways for balancing her tasks with leisure. When she is tidying her home she takes one bill or letter from the kitchen drawer each time she is going to her bedroom and files it so she never really has a huge pile of papers dating back to 1964 to put away. After 1 hour of housework she gives herself permission to sit down with a cuppa and a book and read for 30 mins. You may laugh particularly if you have been like me and work for hours cleaning then can't get your nose out of a book when you are reading but there is certainly method in her madness.  She finds balance, she plays games with her time and she has an amazing ability to get everything done. 

Back to winter finding balance between activity and stillness is the key. Winter is a time of year for hibernation, for slowing down. Our lives are so busy that it is nice just to spend more time with home and hearth. My sons and I like to go bushwalking at this time of year (much safer while the snakes are hibernating), we put on layers of clothes and off we go - we warm up with exercise, enjoy the fresh air and time spent in nature and sunlight. 

We don't have the rush of Christmas, the busyness of the gardening activities and we are generally less inclined to have or go to social occasions in winter. When we do we can enjoy a different style of entertaining such as roast dinners, sitting around a brazier toasting marshmallows. In my quest to live more mindfully, my activities have developed a seasonal quality about them. Another little example is that I bake a cake for afternoon tea that comes out of the oven warm when the boys come home from school if I am working from home or we make pancakes one or two afternoons during the week. When things are done befitting the season they don't get a chance to become dull and mundane - one of my sons declared only yesterday after making a pancake stack together and lacing it with maple syrup "I am going to do this with my kids in winter".

If you are still not convinced that winter can be nice and joyful - try some bush essences. The essence Bush Iris is very helpful for Seasonal Affective Disorder as it balances the pineal gland. The pineal gland produces melatonin which regulates our moods as well as our body clock and is stimulated by light. Sunshine Wattle is also good for the winter blues, just it's name is medicinal isn't it? We are still working on the Australian Bush Essences page and so keep an eye out for it during this next month. 

The good news is though that from the 21^st June, the days start growing longer once more - almost tricks us into thinking it is nearly spring doesn't it? The downside? Seems to get colder too. There are lots of winter celebrations around that you can enjoy. Katoomba in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney have Christmas in July celebrations that are great fun - just surf the net for other events close to you. If you don't have any luck why not have a celebration with your family and friends for Merry Midwinter. Have the intention to make it a bonding celebration, an awareness of aligning with nature's cycles and an appreciation of winter. 

Make a wreath for the front door decorated in pinecones or evergreen leaves, twigs, gumnuts. Bake a cake with a sun on it.   Evergreens are brought into the house for protection and as a reminder of the continuity of life. We are putting up our Christmas tree for the month of July - lights 'n' all!

Enjoy a lovely roast dinner. Bring out the cake decorated with candles - ask everyone to make a wish and all blow out the candles together. For a short time keep the lights off and contemplate the darkness, it's role in the cycle of life - the cold, rest, growth etc. Then light the red candle and pass around to each person talking about what you love about winter in the candlelight or make up stories with wintery words with perhaps a hint of spring words handed out on a piece of paper to each person eg. snowman, icicle, daffodils.

Don't forget to toast marshmallows on an open fire (safely of course) too. We also like to give each other a small gift - maybe something made, or quirky - just to add to our midwinter fun. It is nice to experience a touch of our northern neighbours' Christmases. 

We have just finished our third annual "Reiki in the Gardens" event to celebrate Reiki Awareness Week and must say it just keeps getting better and better. Reiki in the Gardens is held in the Tea House located in the very tranquil Japanese Gardens in East Gosford. 

This year has been a decidedly different energy from the first 2 years. Firstly, this year we wanted our donation monies to go into aussie research into the benefits of reiki in palliative care rather than our previous donations to palliative care itself. Secondly and I think as a by product of us advertising the fact that we wanted to put money into research, many other masters and practitioners asked to join our celebration. 

The Central Coast of NSW had experienced almost non stop often torrential rain for more than three weeks now. Sending out emails over the last week to all those involved in our event, I had asked them all to visualise a beautiful sunny day for Sunday 6^th June. It was not looking good on Friday 4^th June - the north coast had just experienced wild cyclone/tornado weather and our weather forecast was for rain all weekend. 

The power of visualisation huh? We had a glorious start to the day - warm winter sunshine and not a cloud in the sky. Toward lunch it became a little cloudy and the first drops of rain came as we were walking out to our cars. It was a little brisk as we do get a southerly breeze through the Tea House but lots of rugs for the clients, lots of layers worn by the practitioners and we also had several chairs out in the sunshine too.

We had a busy few hours with approximately 40 people coming for seated reiki taster treatments and we were delighted to be able to give reiki to several children this year - some little girls who loved it and surprisingly some teenage boys who aside from their giggles and wanting to punch each other to give each other something that really needed healing they quite enjoyed it. 

We had several people up from Sydney and a number of people in the nursing profession who have studied reiki and are keen to see reiki in their own hospital settings, dementia units and the like. Needless to say we collected contact details from them so that they can be part of a "movement" to try and introduce reiki as a complementary therapy into these settings. Nurses love reiki, we know the healing power of touch and where once upon a time nurses were able to spend a little more quality time with their patients, now they need help in giving that kind of care. There are many practitioners who would love to volunteer their services in many areas of health care, provide ongoing service treatments externally as needed and master/teachers who would love to teach more doctors, nurses and other health care professionals to use reiki on themselves as well as others. People in caring professions certainly need to replenish their own energy and nurture themselves. 

We raised $140.85 from gold coin donations and a little extra from the reiki shares we run here at Saratoga. A great effort and I would like to thank Jules, Helen, Shaz, Annie, Libby, Melissa, Ross and Jan for giving their time and healing hands and hearts for this event. If I could give our special day this year a theme it would be "connection". Such a strong sense of connection for us all to unite and bring this beautiful gentle healing modality of reiki as a complementary therapy into mainstream healthcare. 

Remember to enjoy some hibernation this winter.

With Many Blessings

Pam