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                                                                                                          (Copyright. Celia Turner)  I painted these sunflowers a few years ago onto a special edition of The Times. The painting seems horribly poignant now. The sunflower is the national flower of Ukraine. The beautiful sunflower takes her name from Clytie, a water nymph who turns into a sunflower after grieving the loss of her beloved Apollo. The mythological symbolism is that Clytie (in her form as a sunflower) is always facing the sun looking for Apollo's chariot to return that they might rekindle their love. The sunflower grows tall and moves to face the life -giving rays of the sun and is often used as the symbol of spiritual faith and worship.

Root Chakra: I am Colour: Red. I am safe. I feel grounded. I feel connected to Mother Earth. My roots are deep and strong. I believe in myself. I am brave. I am strong. Sacral Chakra: (Splenic) I feel. Colour; Orange. Affirmations: I am a creative soul. I easily find creative solutions for all the challenges. I honour and accept my sexuality. I feel excited and passionate about the things I do. Solar Plexus Chakra: I do. Affirmations: I am a confident being. I have strong willpower. I believe in myself. I trust my abilities. Heart Chakra: I love. Affirmations: I am a being of love and light. I can forgive myself and others. I am kind to myself. I am kind to people. I am kind to material things and creatures of Mother Nature. Throat Chakra: I speak. Affirmations: I am an honest person. I can convey my feelings. My ideas matter. My opinion matters. I can listen and honour the opinion of others. Third-eye Chakra: I see. Affirmations: I am a wise being. I have an innate ability to look bey

 

 

  Open Chakras It is so easy to find chakra cleansing and balancing, guided meditations on YouTube that I thought I would share with you the desired results of the meditations rather than the practice. I like Crystal Beach Chakra Healing Meditation as it is easy to follow, and I like the man's voice! So, you could try that one. The voice in a guided meditation can make it or break it so that's a very personal choice. I find it quite strange that there are so many meditations but few explanations as to the desired effect of the practice. Again, you can Google galore and research the benefits of chakra healing, so I am going to give a bite sized guide as to why it's worth taking the time to relax for twenty minutes or half an hour and feel so much better for it. If you look at the picture (above) you can see the chakras, energy centres, in the body. We start at the root, at the base of your spine and work upwards. The Root Chakra. Red.  Survival When the root chakra is open a

  Regular readers will be aware that I voted to Remain in the EU in the referendum, I was gob- smacked when the result was announced, and the Leave voters won. There are lots of posts here from 2016-2019 charting my reasons for a soft Brexit or better still, the withdrawal of the Withdrawal Agreement altogether.  I decided to publish these posts as I wanted to leave a record for my grandkids, so far one born, another still 'cooking.' I thought it was important that they can read about this time of momentous change in the UK's political history. I stopped writing the posts during the negotiations although I continued with writing every day 'Below the Line ' at The Times and The Sunday Times on the subject. So why start again? Well, obviously the world is enduring the pandemic, life has been put on hold and nothing much Brexit wise was happening due to the transition period. However, the transition period ended on 31st December 2020 and the new rules were to take effe

  'Every block of stone has a statue inside it, and it is the task of the sculptor to discover it.' Michelangelo. On 30th Street in Boulder, Colorado, there is a sculpture of a man chiseling himself out of a block of stone. His head, torso, arms, and thighs have already been carved from the stone. His right hand holds a hammer above his head ready to strike a chisel he grasps in his left hand. He is forming his right knee. The sculpture represents both the present state and potential of a self-made, self-actualised person. To reach our human potential the hammer and chisel will need to be used often and with diverse levels of precision and purpose. Some of us will place the hammer and chisel on the ground and declare ourselves, 'finished' while others will keep the tools close to them, ready to perfect their sculpture, change aspects of their sculpture, make it more beautiful, sincere, authentic. Some of us will see the block of stone as motionless while to others it re