Life in Perth and the Future

I’ve been in Perth nearly a week. I have landed on my feet phew. I have a friend who has a tribe of friends here and some have kindly taken me in. I had about $11 in my account, so either that or the street. So far the latter hasn’t been an option (have tent can camp), although it could be one day. I did explain to the people I am staying with now, my hope would be that if I did go onto the street, that I could do it joyfully and with curiosity. Although I doubt I’d be there long, I am friendly and people are kind I have found in my experience. As a woman you are less of a threat, young men tend to be viewed more suspiciously and seen as drug addicts, violent, dependent or losers (sad to think this way huh). Yet in truth society does judge them without really knowing their situation. I’ve met some lovely guys on the street and it shows you a little love can go along way. I never see them as losers, I respect all people, I see them as experiencing on the street which is a very uncertain life. If they can survive it they will be deeply empathetic of anyone down on their luck. Life is a journey for us all, could be me. Anyway I digress a little.

My friend Bronwen told me she had put out a Facebook request and her lovely friend Lily responded. It turns out I can stay with her and her husband Peter until early December. I will housesit for them for two weeks. I was offered this before they met me, such is the faith in their friendships. It was actually a lady called Ness who recommended to Lily that she meets me. Ness met me in Melbourne and they are also free wheeling through life like myself. Her and her husband Edward are Buddhists and they are housesitting. They are very free and I love that. This is a glimpse into alternative communities who are not buying into mortgages but choosing to float around. When you don’t have children this is not hard to do. Anyway, Lily knows Bronwen my friend and Ness and so I have a secure place for a month.

My feeling here is to work a little and fix my airconditioning unit in my car. Travelling further north is out of the question as we are moving into cyclone season up north. My feeling was to stop at Perth and I felt a blank as to where from here. Interestingly one of my friends is a medium (yes psychic) and she said in a reading that is how I would feel, not sure where from here. I saw that as well in Melbourne. I feel I am here for a reason and I have a positive feeling around my stay in Perth. Perth is a thriving city that has been made rich on the back of mining. There is a boom on in commodities around the world and Australia is racking in the extra profits. So Perth has a lot of economic activity and new housing developments as I am told they expect 8,000 new houses in the area I am staying in.

I have been taken in by two university academics. I have to smile they are both scientists and have real interests in ethics and critical inquiry. They are both very intelligent and one is involved in curriculum. The question is how do you move logical linear thinkers into social justice? Many scientists these days are actually employed in the military or multinationals. I actually went to one of the university’s here, which is a technical/engineering based uni and was reflecting on deeper questions of ethics and implications of inventions and how those technologies affect the environment and social wellbeing. So inquiry into social implications is important. You only have to think of externalities of pollution from cars – carbon-monoxide, the pollution from companies (chemical cocktails) and the various trace gases being released into the air or streams. We have heavily polluted the planet. If we look at Information Technology – we sit for 7 hours typing in front of screens, the eyes after a time require glasses as it is close up work. Moreover, the back gets sore as we are sitting and not exercising. Our working life becomes the social frame in which we live and it has not much room for social interaction. Most of our lives are caught up in work rather than living a deeper existence, as nature intended.

So I am interested. My scientist friends have Buddhist and Yoga backgrounds, so they are very interesting. They are lecturers so have some influence on how they frame the world to students. We have really connected and I am loving being with them. We laugh a lot and I explain my life of uncertainty. That is of interest to them as they are exploring the concepts of uncertainty and certainty in a Newtonian mechanics world. So it is very refreshing for me to meet scientists who do not reject metaphysics and who are open to the passionate side of life as a factor in science. I am fortunate to be here.

I’ve also met another couple who run an Entertainment Bank, it is about clowning, ballooning, characters in shopping centres. I have been a World Peace Clown and nothing else. Never could see myself as an Easter Bunny etc., however I am willing to open up to all forms of performance as I will seek to develop the clowning. I have some balloons and my friend Bronwen turns up tonight from Melbourne so we may do a little session of balloon sculpting. I will be clowning at a Baby naming ceremony next Sunday, so will start to clown more now I am a bit more settled.

I am working on ‘where to from here’? I am feeling about the Children’s Circle Parliament – non adversarial parliament for children which trains them in critical thinking, conflict resolution, creative thinking for solutions and clowning for fun and creativity. I have put in my application with UNESCO for funding, so if it is meant to be, you never know I could get that started. I am a great believer that all is in right timing.

I have to share with you a funny insight. I do see the world around me as a metaphor. I see signs in that world. I will give you a quick example of that. When I wanted to be a peace scholar on the Rotary Program in Bangkok, I happened to move into the Rotary Club of Canterbury’s catchment (geographical area) that week, I met my friend Bronwen and she and I dressed up on the street as clowns in front of a shopfront, I said let’s do some spontaneous clowning, we went into the restaurant (behind shopfront) clowned around tables and saw all these men and kissed the birthday boy, turns out he was the President of Rotary. I also that week went for dinner with another friend and saw an illuminated Rotary sign at the side of the road and said ‘I think that is a sign I am going to Bangkok.’ Then the Chinese restaurant we went into was full, they said go nextdoor and wallah it is a Thai restaurant. I was given Thai brochures, it felt as if I was going. That was all in one week. So I take notice of the signs that come to me. I am observing.

Anyway back to Perth, I noticed a sign that said ‘all things coming together’. Then I sat down for lunch and heard a guy say ‘all things are coming together’. I smiled, it is like synchronicity. Carl Jung speaks of this in his psychoanalysis work. In Melbourne the number plates there said ‘the place to be’. I felt intuitively that was true. As now I am wondering if the inspiration I felt is true. Will things come together for me here? I am definitely putting out the thought the right people come into my life. I wish to serve humanity, in my way I do that each day as I interact with the world and my blog. I am a clown I am sending love and peace whether I am dressed up or not. It is who I am not what I do. So I am reflecting, sitting with what I have done so far and where to from here. It is a lovely creative space to be.

Christmas is here in a month, so maybe some Christmas clowning. I can go to corporates or children’s party. I’d like to do more of the latter and really connect with the children. Make my shows educational so will have to start working on it.

I caught up with a friend who I met 25 years ago on a Contiki Bus Tour to the United States. We caught up a few times over the years and we get on really well, like sisters. We had coffee and she told me what is happening with her life and I laughed at my own with her. It was so nice to be with an old friend.

I also caught up with another dear friend of mine who I studied with at La Trobe Uni, studying Peace Studies together. She is an environmentalists who walks the talk. In her house everything was re-usable, she doesn’t get plastic bags, she rides her bike, she is a very natural person. Very conscious of her footprint and living a frugal and careful life. She has had some difficulties with her mum dying (her best friend) and coming back to Perth to study. She said the Teacher training course she is doing is a nightmare. Apparently a supervisor dropped out of her practical work and she now has to do it next year. She had her income support cancelled and she cried over the phone to reinstate it. Nightmare trying to live. I laugh at those who cannot understand poverty, you only have to take alternative pathways through life away from the security of money to realise how tight things can get. For me, I don’t mind as I live outside my comfort zone and actually feel challenged and energised by not knowing what will happen. I also have a deep sense of security, so I don’t worry I am curious. My poor friend is stressed, her sisters want to sell her mum’s house, she has no money to buy it and she is moving around. She is not like me where I like change, she prefers a stable home, like most people. So it is a challenge for her. I feel she is very strong and brave. Much more than she gives herself credit for. It will work out but the reality is none of us are in control and sometimes you just do your best but allow life to take its course. See where it takes you. I learned that from a parachute jump – the forces of nature just carry you through life, I felt that intuitively strongly. So for me it is a ride.

So life is good and I feel very inspired, as usual. I feel a really positive energy within myself and am curious where life will take me next, who I will meet and how life shapes me. All very interesting.

So with that I will get myself organised to pick my friend up from the airport.

Have a great time, make every moment an inward/outward breath, really notice it, for when it goes it goes. We are here for a short time, make it meaningful for you. You are a shining light and whilst you may regard my life as very interesting you are drawn to these writings for you are similar. There is a message for you in this. Mine is no more or less than yours. I wonder what message you will send to the world – will it be based on fear or love? The latter is awesome, let me tell you.