Jane Alexander's Blog, page 16

Something had to change...

Anyhow. Back in the ‘real’ world I realized something had to change. As in…me.  I had become a bit lardy over the winter, piled on a few pounds…oh, okay, let’s be frank, a stonking ten pounds.  And I didn’t like it. I didn’t like the way I looked and I didn’t like the way I felt.  But hey, it happens.  We backslide from time to time, right?  And it doesn’t mean you just give up and let it all slide back to where it was – you just…regroup.
And when it comes to bodies, t...

In which prudish Pinterest slaps me on the wrist

So I got an email from Pinterest.
“Hi eJane Alexander,
We removed a pin from your account because it contained nudity. It was originally pinned from the following address: http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_macfecS6W41qjuse9o1_500.jpg.
We don't allow nudity—photos that show breasts, buttocks or genitalia—on Pinterest. This applies to pins on both public and secret boards.
Please remove any other pins you've added that contain nudity. If you don't follow our policies, your account could be su...

One man, three witches and a hell of a lot of sex, magic and…steak.

Remember my anti-guru?  The guy whose book Symphonic Bridges kickstarted my ‘rejuvenation’ –y’know, the whole weight loss/exercise/meditation/spirituality malarkey?  Well, he’s written another one.  The Cave.   To be fair, he wrote it a while back but, up until now, it was only available in Polish. And now – it’s been translated into English.  Here’s what I had to say about it…but don't take my word for it - check it out yourself.  
The Cave by Marek Stefanowicz
I’ve...

I am water.

So. I got told I was water.  I stuck out my lip and pouted, feeling somewhat offended. Watery? Not terribly exciting, is it? I mean, it’s a bit like being told you’re a pig in the Chinese year thingy – when really you wanna be a dragon or a snake or a tiger or…anything really but just not a solid old pig.  And, well, water is so...wet.  
Water? WATER? I mean, I’m a Capricorn, for heaven’s sake. Well, not so heavenly. Cardinal Earth. Okay, so the Capricorn goat is a sea goat...

Thieves cured my belly button

So, going back to my navel.  It got cured.  Just like that.  By thieves.  Or should I say, Thieves. No, really.  See, I went to see this wisewoman.  A true witch, a healer, someone quite out of the ordinary, actually.  But that’s another story.  Anyhow, by the by, in passing, I told her about my infected omphalos.  Actually I showed her.
‘Ooh,’ she said.‘I know,’ I said. ‘Isn’t it awful?’‘Well, it’s…not good.’
The Fortune Teller by Georges de l...

On undyeing

I decided to undye my hair. I didn’t even know you could do that until I had not lunch with my friend Rachel (font of all hairdressing knowledge) and she told me you can get this stuff that just take out all the fake colour from your hair leaving it…virgin. 
So why did I want to do it? Why now?  Well I’m not entirely sure but maybe it’s because I’ve been looking through old photographs again and I just sort of wondered what the hell colour my hair is now – cos, s...

My mother, my navel, Joyce, the Sea Life Roadshow and, er, bacteria

So. Lately two odd things have been happening. Firstly I have been dreaming about my mother. A lot. Every night nearly. And she is so cross with me. So irritated.  And secondly I have, of all things, a problem with my navel. An irritation, to put it mildly.  And, if one thinks symbolically, as I am wont to do, they are quite obviously connected.
Cos the navel, the umbilicus, the belly button – is our birth scar.  A reminder of our attachment…and our separation.  And so I wo...

Horse meat? It's yummy...in comparison...

About the horse thing.  I’ve resisted commenting cos I run the risk of sounding like a smug vegetarian (and, let's be honest, there is little more irritating than a smug vegetarian) but, the more it goes on, the more I puzzle. 
First up. People are upset because they’ve been eating horse.  Well, honestly, meat is meat, isn’t it? I’ve said it before but really, I don’t get why one kind of flesh is acceptable while another isn’t.  When I ate meat, I ate anything – pretty muc...

The universe giggled back...

Are we hardwired for God?  Is a belief in a greater power or something larger than ourselves slotted into our programming? I found out the other day that apparently there's now a name for the study of religious experience – neurotheology.  There’s a name for everything nowadays. 
When we’re young we easily believe in the mystical.  I knew there were fairies that lived in the wall; I equally knew there was something Very Bad at the very end of the garden.  Bad things s...

The Lost Art of Listening

You don’t often meet someone who really listens.  You don’t often meet people who ask the right questions.  It just doesn’t happen.  Unless you happen across one of life’s natural psychotherapists (generally not the kind who’s trained or the kind you pay) - or a real journalist. 
Back in the old days, journalism was not just the science of reporting facts – clear and clean –  but also the art of listening.  It was something I was lucky enough to be taught ea...