In this episode:

Leonard Cohen, ‘Anthem’; Film Chat, ‘How to be a Good Wife’ (France); Doc Morris, ‘Take Care of Yourself’; Film: ‘Strathewen: The Chook Project; Three Christmas Cultures: Cilene Dion, ‘So This is Christmas’, Jordan Copeland, ‘Holy Bronx Night’, The Late Late Service, ‘Image of the Invisible’; Poem, ‘Kindness’ by Naomi Shihab Nye, read by Emma Thompson.

I hope you will allow me a little indulgence in this end of year edition.
I am including two of my favourite songs .

The first is by the late Leonard Cohen, simply entitled ‘Anthem’. I first heard it at a Richard Rohr retreat in Canberra some years ago. In the context of self-reflection, it made a big impact on me: I was completely blown away!
It is a denunciation of perfectionism and contains such poetic wisdom. So beautifully done!

The second is a song from the Late Late Service in Glasgow, which I visited in 1995. I play it every Christmas morning.
It picks up Leonard Cohen’s theme in the context of the paradox of the Christian assertion that ‘God’ expressed God’s self in space and time as a human being. Could Christmas be thought of as Cohen’s crack in the Universe – to let the light in?

The centre-piece of this edition is a YouTube video that was shared with me. A beautifully filmed, heart-warming story that begins with a woman returning to a bushfire-ravaged part of Victoria for the funeral of her next door neighbours, who lost their lives in the fire. What happens next is amazing; I share my reflections on the process that unfolds; surely an excellent example of how one person’s intuition leads step by step to unexpected places. A copy of my commentary is below the video.

I hope you have a safe and happy Christmas and enter the new year with inspiration and hope.

The process of acting on intuition: Strathewen