Well now this might sound a bit weird, but this blog post is celebrating the passing of someone very special in my life.

My 20 year old Volvo 740gle. Bear with me a minute.

You see, this car, or the Big Friendly Gasguzzler (BFG) as he was affectionately known by all of us, has chaperoned our family and friends through years and years of changing times. The BFG has protected my daughters as they have grown from children to young women; the BFG has helped move a whole garden of plants, been the emergency van for many house-moves not only ourselves but also for friends who couldn't afford hire transport; the BFG has taken many groups of sometimes 7 plus children from home to secret party destination or education experience; the BFG has escorted us excitedly through the joys and delights of weddings and christenings, and taken us with dignity to the hospital visits and funerals of clients, friends and family.

Being environmentally aware, the BFG has had to pay its way ecologically; this he has done by often restricting the need for two vehicles (and receiving grateful thanks along the way from parents not needed to make that return party journey!); he has also removed the need for commercial pick up of bigger items - amazing what we could get in the BFG when the seats went down as well. The back became like a beautiful carpeted palace...

So, this is my public acknowledgement to my car; you served us selflessly; you provided us with experience after experience of magic, hope, joy and sadness; you helped us get the things we needed, and shelter things which just couldn't fit anywhere else during torrential downpours. And you did it all without asking for anything back.

And now? Now you provide the ultimate sacrifice; allowing yourself to be recycled, every part of you, so that the love which has flowed through that life with us can continue to flow into the lives of many, many more.

Thanks BFG.

I don't normally read the papers; however this week I bought my mum her DT as I sometimes do, and I noticed a couple of stories that suggested that maybe we really do  need a massive financial shake-up and fiscal collapse in order to wake up to the gross misunderstandings that seem to exist in the money world.

One story was describing the growing awareness of the world food shortages and the suffering that is already taking place; it described the difficulties many people found themselves in, and the struggle for survival. Staple foods such as rice and wheat are beginning to come in short supply and major producers are already reducing exports.

The other story detailed the monies earnt by the five most successful hedge-fund individuals in the last year. Each one earnt over $1billion. I'm not a financier so I don't really understand hedge-funds that well, but what I do know is that it flies in the face of Universal Law; hedge-fund earnings are created by gambling on the price of something at some future point. Basically these people are buying and selling things neither they, nor their vendors, even own. And they're earning fortunes doing it, whilst others, who are trying to live in the present moment, can't even afford a bowl of rice.

Whilst some make billions out of thin air, others create a few more days of life out of scraps. Whilst this type of disconnect exists, we will be forced to become ever more conscious.

Do we need a financial collapse? Well, I'd love to think that we're capable of creating a parallel reality that values life above all things, a reality that can gently and lovingly subsume and transform the old paradigm of greed. But with many grasping and grabbing and earning money at all costs, whether that will be possible or not only time will tell.

I've worked with many business people who have chased money at the cost of emotional and physical wellbeing. I've learnt much from them all, including this;

A life spent chasing greater and greater sums of money is one of the most barren existences a person can live and ultimately leads to an existence of loneliness and dissatisfaction. A life spent creating happiness in the present moment is priceless and constantly creates a new and exciting experience.

Well blimey - after weeks of mucking around with recording equipment and months of chewing the cud, or whatever it is one chews when contemplating new adventures, I have just uploaded the first podcast show - click here to play it. It's just a trial at the moment to test out the techno side.

Ah yes, back to the old recording days. What fun! And what with Winnie and Anna both featuring too, and Sophie providing some of her beautiful singing talent for jingles (yeah, I'm biased, but so what) - it's quite a family affair.

Features will develop as we go along, and in a few months I'll probably listen back to this first episode and wonder what I was doing! Still, we've already got a framework evolving; the show will give listeners free access to lots of ideas from our years and years of coaching, seminars and writing; and we'll be featuring special guests, starting in this episode with our 'Tell me who you are' feature, where we get someone to contribute their dream for global change, and what the first steps to achieving that dream would be.

We've got a 'book of the moment' and of course we'll always have an inspirational story...or two...or three...

We'll be encouraging you to challenge that stuck conditioning and get you thinking right outside the box...  and don't hesitate to provide us with your feedback.

Party on down doods... 

Well, don't hold your breath, but it's just possible that Andy Thomas of the 'Changing Times' organisation, will be appearing alongside Nexus Magazine's Marcus Allena and ex-Sun editor Kelvin MacKenzie on Friday 11th April at 7.00pm on 'The One Show' discussing conspiracy theories.

Please note that TV schedules are notoriously subject to change (particularly to do with this kind of material...), but at the time of writing this broadcast is expected to go ahead. Andy's a great speaker on a wide range of new consciousness subjects, so it will be interesting to see whether he makes it off the cutting room floor!

After doing a consultation in  the morning and dealing with various admin bits including firming up Veronika's Brighton talk and deciding that it's just a bit too short notice to do a Mother camp this year, I drove myself over to deepest Kent to do a bit of filming.

I had been asked to film the creator of the Wild Earth Animal Essences, Daniel Mapel. Daniel had just flown over from the States, the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia to be precise, to do a workshop in the wonderful surroundings of School House Oast in Horsmonden (run by close friends Ian and Shelley Sishton and a great event venue for retreats and peace).

It was great for me to get back into a bit of recording (both audio and visual) -  as I'm busy preparing to create The Art of Change podcast show and hopefully future tv/film progs too. Daniel's story is very powerful and he speaks with great humour too - which is always refreshing! Fascinating to hear how he makes the essences in harmony with the animals and how the qualities of the essences contain the qualities we often associate with the animals.

For instance 'Mountain Lion' will help you gain courage, 'Badger' will help you deal with anger issues, 'Dove' will help you find peace while letting go, and his most popular essence 'dolphin' will help you harness the qualities of play, joy and freedom.

80% of his 'business' is exports, only 20% coming from his home USA. Fascinating how often we undervalue things that are on our own doorstep?

His site can be found by clicking here.