Peace and Love

Happy Friday

After a full, busy and sometimes overwhelming year, I’m in a reflective mood as we approach the end of 2024. For the past 12 months our family has experienced the loss of friends who have passed, life threatening illness, the incredible joy of weddings and welcoming new babies. All the things, all at once, as they say!

Beyond our shores, life has been unimaginably difficult for many around the world. Family, community, place and safety – things most of us in Australia take for granted every day – are only dreams for too many people I meet and work with here and elsewhere.

I am deeply grateful for our stated and declared Australian values: treating every person as we find them, with care, compassion and support where needed. We stand for freedom, tolerance and a fair-go. We stand against racism, anti-semitism and discrimination in all forms.

For generations, people from across the globe have chosen to come to Australia to escape war, oppression, conflict, discrimination and threats against their life, identity and culture.

I know a good number of Be Well Members, and their families, have gained refuge in Australia for a diverse range of reasons including safety and new opportunities. This includes my husband, David, who came to Australia as a political refugee from Apartheid South Africa.

These experiences can be both lifesaving and deeply traumatic. They can impact our mental and physical health for decades, and unexpected events can trigger traumas we have long thought repaired.

One of the excellent books in the Be Well library is The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma. The author, Bessel van der Kolk, M.D is one of the world’s foremost experts on traumatic stress, offers a bold new paradigm for healing.

As his book’s title indicates, our bodies store past traumas, so to achieve true healing its essential to involve the body. Dr van der Kolk focuses on the integration of body and mind. He emphasizes the importance of regulating the body’s physiological responses to trauma through practices like yoga, mindfulness, meditation, and other activities that promote equilibrium and self-awareness.

Trauma or not, the weeks’ leading up to the end of the year can be particularly stressful, including anticipation of family time. Not every extended family revels in spending up close and personal time together!

However and wherever you land this Christmas or Chanukah, please be kind and gentle with yourself.

Be Well will be Open for you so you can take timeout to look after you whilst you look after everyone else 🙏

Happy holidays from our fabulous team to our wonderful Be Well Members. And from our family to yours, we sincerely wish you peace, joy and love this holiday season.