Welcome to The Happening Space!
March 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment
This month, we’re launching a couple of new ’spaces’ here at The Calm Space. The magazine is growing, we’re actively seeking new contributors and there are many new and exciting ‘happenings’ in the works…
Let me introduce you to The Happening Space.
It’s a place where we’ll share news, views, ideas, notes, inspirations and links… anything to do with making your life easier and calmer, really. We’re going to be pointing you in the right direction…
Unlike the rest of the magazine, which has a monthly format - the Happening Space will be a ‘whenever’ thing. We’ll share stuff whenever we’ve got something to share! We think this will be weekly, or possibly more often, and whilst often it will relate directly to our theme of the month, sometimes it won’t.
Don’t you just love the poetry and clarity of that? Hmmm…
As you are a loyal reader of ours (or even if you’ve just popped in for the first time), I’d love to have YOUR views, news, excitements, tips or links. Please contact me directly.
I cannot promise we’ll use it, but I can promise we’ll look at it, and you will get a response from me. [And if you don't get a response within a week or so, your mail probably got caught in that oh-so-efficient spam filter. Try again or phone me!]
A dream is a wish your heart makes
March 3, 2008 | 2 Comments
I thought I’d so something just a little different in The Music Space this month. Since we’re talking about Dreams, I thought it would be fun to share some songs about dreams… until I did a search! It seems that a whole lot of songs are written about dreams. Somehow music and dreaming go together.
So instead, a small smattering of songs, artists, and movies that all bring dreams to mind.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - Running Down a Dream
Katherine Jenkins - Living a Dream
And, last but by no means least - this beautiful song from Disney’s Cinderella:
A Dream Is A Wish Your Heart Makes
A dream is a wish your heart makes
When your fast asleep
In dreams you will lose your heartaches
Whatever you wish for you keepA base in your dreams and someday
Your rainbow will come smiling through
No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing
The dream that you wish will come trueA dream is a wish your heart makes
When your feeling small
Alone in the night you whisper
Thinking no one can hear you at all
You wait for the morning sunlight
To find fortune that is smiling on you
Don’t let your heart be full of sorrow
For all you know tomorrow
The dream that you wish will come trueWhen you can dream, then you can start
A dream is a wish you make with your heart
When you can dream, then you can start
A dream is a wish you make with your heartA dream is a wish your heart makes
When your fast asleep
In dreams you will lose your heartaches
Whatever you wish for you keep
You wait for the morning sunlight
To find fortune that is smiling on you
Don’t let your heart be full of sorrow
For all you know tomorrow
The dream that you wish will come true
No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing
The dream that you wish will come trueWhen you can dream, then you can start
A dream is a wish you make with your heart
When you can dream, then you can start
A dream is a wish you make with your heart
Free Technology? Dream no longer
March 3, 2008 | 4 Comments
Having you ever dreamt about getting some new technology but all you could see were dollars signs flashing before your eyes?
Well dream no longer.
The current edition of Wired Chris Anderson talks about “Free! Why $0.00 Is the Future of Business” -
It’s now clear that practically everything Web technology touches starts down the path to gratis, at least as far as we consumers are concerned.
Some of the businesses jumping on the “freeconomics” bandwagon are technology companies. Here are just a few.
Office Software
For many years we all thought that the only way to have quality “office” software was to fork out the big bikkies for the Microsoft product. You now have an endless number of options for free office-suite applications. Some of the more popular ones include -
OpenOffice - is a multiplatform and multilingual office suite and is compatible with all other major office suites (which is a biggie). It has word processing, presentation, spreadsheet, database and drawing applications in built.
Google Docs - provides web-based word processing and spreadsheet applications that you can use alone or collaborate with others across the web.
Zoho Suite - offers an office suite, which includes Writer, Projects, Sheet, CRM, Show, Creator, Wiki, Planner, Suite, Notebook, Chat, Meeting and Mail.
Thunderbird - is the sister product to the Firefox browser (also free). It is a fully featured, secure and highly usable email application, as well as having an inbuilt RSS feed reader. It also filters away junk mail accurately and can be upgraded with many add-ons (also free).
Images - Software & Sharing
Irfanview - is a lightweight, lightning fast image viewer, editor, and processor that is the darling of many web-based business owners.
Picnik - is another image editing application that allows you to tweak, edit and get creative with your images. It has a great range of one-click filters as well as creative tweaks that are normally only found in some of the larger box-based tools.
Picassa - is Google’s free image management application. It allows you to locate and organise all the photos on your computer, edit and add effects and share the images via email or the web.
Animoto - this is one of my favourite web-based applications of 2008. Have a look at the write up that I did about Animoto here. These guys are definitely going somewhere.
Personal Productivity
Remember the Milk - there are a plethora of web-based task managers that have been released in the past couple of years. According to Lifehacker, “Remember the Milk stands head and shoulders above the rest”.
Telecoms
Skype - is my main telecommunications provider and has been for more than 3 years now. It is simple - free calls from one skype user to any other skype user anywhere in the world. You can also have conference calls with up to 10 people. They now have Skype mobile as well - the Skypephone is provided by ‘3′ and lets you call and instant message people on Skype, free wherever they are in the world.
Talkster - You can make free international and long distance calls from your mobile phone, landline, or computer. No registration or credit card is required and you don’t need any new software or downloads to use Talkster’s service. A short advertisement or offer covers the cost of each call without being disruptive to callers.
So what now?
I think that there is enough free technology there to keep you going until at least July 
I’m interested to know if you have any free favourites. Let me know below.
Sharing our Dreams - Nothing to be Scared of and Everything to Embrace
March 3, 2008 | 2 Comments
How would our worlds survive without our Dreams?
When we fail to dream we cut ourselves off from creative thinking and limit our ability to search for possibilities and opportunities. Whether we dream in our sleep or daydream, our unconscious is channelling us to follow our spirit and our passion to grow as wonderful human beings and share our knowledge with the world around us.
What hopes and expectations do you have fermenting in your dreams?
What faint possibilities could become real with the right kind of nurture?
Who do you share those precious fragile dreams with?
No matter whether our relationships are with a partner, a sibling, a child, or a friend, we also have hopes and dreams and expectations and a sense of possibility about each one of those connections.
Hopes and dreams are delicate and need to grow hardier and more real with careful attention, and not a whipping session from your Inner Critic or anyone else! So, in the early stages of development, they need to be shared carefully.
But they also need to be said out loud or written down. For them to come to life they need to be aired and fed. Taking them out of the ethereal world of our dreams into the reality of spoken or written words nurtures them with the Food of Life.
So when did you last nurture your dreams with the food of life? And how were they treated?
If you’ve shared dreams with another person, did they respect them, and appreciate how much more they got to know you because of what you’d shared?
When was the last time you asked the other person in the relationship what were their individual dreams or their dreams for the two of you?
How did you treat that person’s precious dreams? Did you recognise how fragile this shared gift was? Did you nurture its fragility? Could you see how honored you were to be given a peek into their spirit and passion?
Did the sharing open up channels of intimacy between you? The strengthening of the bonds of safety and the deepening of love that can flow from these moments is like a drug that once experienced keeps calling you to return! In our partner relationships, these sharings can open up a tenderness and connection not unlike the most exquisite lovemaking.
If you haven’t ever ‘gone there’, then maybe you need to wonder why.
- Is it because it’s never occurred to you to share others and your own dreams?
- Or is it your sense of self is so low that you believe that your thoughts and dreams will have no value, and don’t deserve the sunlight and nurture?
- Or do high levels of unpredictability mean low levels of safety in this relationship?
- Or is it something else?
If there is a reason, what are you going to do about it? Because of course you’ll always remain ‘stuck there’ until YOU decide to make a change.
To help you get unstuck, consider the people who are important in your life, and choose one person to share one simple little dream. You see, it’s good to make a start (take a baby step), and practise with something small with someone safe. Their responses can start to instil some confidence in you and some Life into your dreams!
Let’s hear about your experiences. What have you learned about letting your dreams out to play?
Dream Big
March 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment
There’s a little exercise I ask my clients to undertake. I ask them to Dream Big. Try it for yourself. Take a quiet moment and close your eyes.
Now make a picture in your mind of your perfect life ten years from now.
• What does it look like?
• How does it feel?
• Where are you?
• Who are you with?
Dream of your whole life, not just your love life or your career. Dream of your friendships, faith, home, community, finances, family and anything that’s important to you. See it all in detail. When you’re ready open your eyes. Now grab hold of that dream. Hang onto it. Write it down. Maybe even draw it.
And here’s the important part. Make a plan. Because if you can Dream it, you can Do it.
How will you make your dream come true? What are the steps you’ll need to take? Who do need to help you? What’s the first step? When will you take it? And if you are taking new steps to make your big dreams happen, what else will you let go of?
You’ve dreamed big and made your plans, now Do it.
Spiritual Dreaming
March 3, 2008 | 4 Comments
Do you really think for a minute that God doesn’t want our dreams to come true? Perhaps we’re the ones who get in the way, not Her/Him.
OK, so how do we get out of our own way?
I’ll give you an example. My dream has always been to live on a property – a place of beauty and tranquillity where I can produce the food we eat, grow beautiful flowers and trees, overlook a serene lake or river, write, and have others share as much as possible.
Periodically I do the homework to see what’s out there, and for how much. Then I become agitated and upset because achieving this lifelong dream seems a long way off, and I don’t want to be so old that I can’t lift a shovel when it finally happens!
On a recent occasion when I was actually quite distraught, my beloved said something which just stopped me in my tracks. He said “dreams are meant to make you happy not sad”.
Then I remembered! (Every-day spirituality has a lot to do with remembering.) If you have a dream that is worthy, that contributes, or that you have always wanted, this is what needs to happen:
- Put it out there! – meditate, pray, express your intentions/desires
- Don’t expect any other person to deliver your dreams
- Do whatever is in your power to align with your dream every day. By all means work towards it. My mum always said “God helps those who help themselves”!
- And above all, remember, the ‘How’ of the thing is none of your business! The Universe knows the means by which all things come into being so we don’t need to!
- Smile! (and appreciate what you already have)
May all our dreams come true (whenever the Universe feels it is time)!
Love, peace and wisdom
What Do You Dream About Writing?
March 3, 2008 | 10 Comments
Are you ready to share your writing fantasies?
Now I’m not talking here about the dream where you chuck in your job and make a fortune as a best-selling author. (Apparently more people in Britain dream about being a writer than any other job – I wonder what the figure would be in your part of the world?)
And I’m not talking about the books you might already have in the pipeline – the ones you’re thinking about, half-writing in your head, mentally slotting in for a year or two from now. I’ve got a few of those of my own – books about the work I do, ideas I’ve got for spreading the word and inspiring people to write in as many different ways as I can think of.
They might not all get written, but I know – somehow – that some of them will, that there’s a serious intention and a positive reason to write them, and that if I manage my time and energy I will.
No I’m talking about the writing that’s a much wilder kind of dream altogether.
Writing that has nothing to do with what you’re currently about, who you’re being, what you’re doing.
Writing that’s something you’ve always wanted to do, since childhood maybe, but never thought you could.
Writing that makes you smile, secretly, just at the thought of it.
Perhaps it’s poetry. The family memoirs. A loving history of the place where you live.
A children’s book maybe. Or perhaps you’re one of those creative geniuses who could illustrate a children’s book. (Now that’s something I could happily fantasise about.)
Short stories perhaps? I know a lot of people who have that on their list of ‘going to do some day’. And for some it’s to get their short stories published – and that’s part of the dream – but for others it’s the sheer fun of writing, the pleasure of mastering the form.
And mine?
I’ve got two.
One’s a crime novel. Perhaps it’s because crime’s my favourite form of escapist reading. Or because a good crime novel is so well constructed, so tightly written. Or because I live in Edinburgh, where the narrow streets are the perfect setting for gothic horror or modern noir.
The other’s historical romance. Totally over the top, feisty-female bodice-ripping historical romantic nonsense. Because it would be fun, because it would really test the range of my writing, because it would connect with a totally different part of my writing self.
I don’t know if I’ll ever get round to writing these books or even to experimenting with the forms. And you know, it doesn’t really matter. I enjoy the idea of them, playing with the possibility in my mind, knowing there’s always more and different I could write – as and when I want to.
How about you? Do you have books in mind that you ‘know’ you’re going to write… and others that you really dream about?
Dream on…
March 3, 2008 | 3 Comments
I would say the top ten of what we often dream about, intentionally or unintentionally, would uncannily have the following three topics as top runners: Health, Wealth and Love - not necessarily in that order but dependent on one’s circumstances!
This month, I give you four books sharing their tips on health, wealth and love, and I even include a book on how to make those dreams come true!
Cosmic Ordering - J Cainer
Call on the cosmos to change your life and realise your dreams. How do you get what you want in life? Cosmic ordering. You decide what you want, you announce to the universe that it’s your intention to get it, and it’s delivered to you.
Daily Mail astrologer Jonathan Cainer helps you achieve success, from the point of deciding what to order, through to delivery (and what to do if the wrong thing is delivered!). Described 
by the Telegraph as ‘a perfect creed for the age - no commitment but unlimited benefits’ cosmic ordering is the new worldwide phenomenon.
- How to gain your ideal job, perfect man and solve all your money and health worries
- Questionnaires and quizzes to understand your character type
- Charts and advice on the most auspicious time to place your order
- The science and history of cosmic ordering
Cosmic ordering is closely connected to ideas such as positive thinking, wish-fulfillment, prayer, goal setting and visualisation. Jonathan looks at all these associated traditions in the history of cosmic ordering and reveals how it can work for you, and change your life forever.
Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy - Dr W. Willett
Exposing the problems of popular diets such as the Zone and the Atkins diet, Dr. Willett offers eye-opening new research on the optimum ratio of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins, and the relative importance of various food groups and supplements. 
Readers will learn why weight control is the single most important nutritional factor and what the three other most critical factors of healthy eating are. They will find out how to choose wisely between different types of fats, which fruits and vegetables provide the best health insurance, and the proportions of each to integrate into their daily diet. And all this new, exciting nutritional information is translated for the reader into simple menu plans, and tasty recipes that make utilising the New Food Pyramid easy. Completely unique Eat, Drink and Be Healthy will teach everyone an entirely new way to eat.
5 Years to Financial Freedom - M. Kaplan
Are you fed up with not being in control of your money? Have you given up on the idea of wealth for you and your family? Morris Kaplan offers a simple step-by-step plan to help minimise your debt and maximise your investment profits. 
Five Years to Financial Freedom shows you how to understand and pay off debt; understand the economy; establish a regular savings strategy to suit your income; choose an investment strategy that suits your age, income and lifestyle; overcome behavioural obstacles around money; write a budget and stick to it.
Love Smart - Dr P McGraw
In Love Smart: Find the One You Want - Fix the One You Got, bestselling author Dr. Phil tells people who are dissatisfied with their love lives to stop making excuses and start taking action. You deserve a committed relationship, and it is within your control to have the one you want.
In this book you’ll learn to present the real you in the most flattering light.
You have to stop being your own best kept secret. Peek behind the male curtain. Dr. Phil tells you things about men that they don’t necessarily want you to know.
If you are already coupled up then learn how to grow and nurture what you have built. Learn how to negotiate the relationship you desire and then close the deal. Get out of your relationship rut.
The daily grind, money problems, work, etc., can take their toll on your relationship. Dr. Phil shows you how to assess the state of your union and take your relationship to a deeper level.
There are no exceptions: There is somebody for everybody, and everybody deserves a relationship filled with love and excitement.
Your Breathing Space for March
March 3, 2008 | Leave a Comment
The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream.
The oak sleeps in the acorn;
the bird waits in the egg;
and in the highest vision of the soul a waking angel stirs.
Dreams are the seedlings of realities.
~James Allen from As a Man Thinketh
[click here for full size image]
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Current Articles
- Stay Tuned to Your Eco Behaviour
- Listening to the melody of life
- Your Breathing Space for August
- Tune In and Turn On … Online
- Relationship Rescue the Low Tech Way
- Sound Space - Brendan Maclean
- Tuning in to our planet and ourselves
- Spiritual Tuning In
- What Is Your Stuff Telling You?
- Are You Tuned In To The Power Of Your Own Words?
- This month we’re tuning in…
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