Archive | Life columns & features 14-15

Most of us have realised the degree to which negative thinking undermines our success and creates unhappiness. Continue Reading →

OZ Life- Ostrow col.
Butterfly with heart shaped wings breaking spider web.
Artwork by Sturt Krygsman.

THE question of what is ethical and rightful action is a tricky one. I was speaking with one of my spiritual teachers and she told me this story. A monk was walking along a country path and saw a child about to be bitten by a snake. He was left with the question: does he kill the snake or let it bite the child? Continue Reading →

Person in lotus position levitating with a rat running under them.
Artwork by Sturt Krygsman

IT was the weekend from hell. An impossible amount of things to do and worry about. Two major stories due in, a removal van coming to take away several pieces of furniture and deliver new stuff, a daughter arriving back from abroad needing airport pick-up, and a close friend in crisis. There was going to be no time to eat or sleep if I were to get through. Continue Reading →

Illustration: Sturt Krygsman

IT’S that time of year again when we make resolutions, and each year I make the same one: to stop my chronic procrastination. An estimated 20 per cent of people do it constantly. And it’s been proven to have an adverse ­effect on health and certainly the hip pocket. Continue Reading →

22/11/2014 Artwork by Sturt Krygsman.

In most religions the pursuit of pleasure is frowned on. Interestingly, the Dalai Lama preaches what may be considered the opposite, that our happiness and joy are nothing short of the very meaning of life. Continue Reading →

I HAVE a spiritual teacher in India. This year, when I was with him at his ashram, I sought a private audience to discuss my concerns. Continue Reading →

One of the most frightening experiences of my life was in Delhi during a trip to India when our taxi driver began driving on the wrong side of the road into oncoming traffic, which not only included fast cars and trucks but also, unbelievably, a herd of buffalo walking along the curb towards us. Continue Reading →

Driving around southern Italy and Sicily, my partner and I decided to make a sacred pilgrimage to volcanic sites such as Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius. We drove to the top of smouldering Mount Etna, to see the steam coming out of the ground and look into the volcano’s famed Calderas. Continue Reading →

My partner and I have just come back from driving again — across Italy. For the past five years we’ve been finding our way around exciting countries such as Cuba and Mozambique. Continue Reading →

IN the wake of the death of Robin Williams, I want to go back and revisit depression and the mythology around a condition which will be the second most disabling illness in the world by 2020 behind heart disease. Continue Reading →