Today, if I feel like it, I intend to go out wearing something my fiveyearold daughters might have chosen - even if it makes me look as if I'm auditioning for a post as a clown.
What other people think of me is really not my concern - it is entirely up to them, not my business. My business is to 100% experience myself and my own life, in this vibrantly alive universe. How on earth can I expect to be in good contact with my own spirit, if I'm busy angsting over how that spirit - my soul - will look to other people, if I'm preoccupied by how I'll be perceived as a 'soul-conscious person'? That's just SO up myself!
When I get lost in worrying about what other people might think, I spend all my time attempting to manage what I imagine they might be thinking... whether they are thinking it or not. My mum used to say sagely, 'you wouldn't worry half as much about what people thought of you, if you knew just how rarely they did'.
As someone with a natural tendency to self-absorption, the opinions of others can rule me if I let them. In fact, fear of them robs me of my very direction in life. They can keep me from living as I might like to live. But they don't have to.....The opinions of others belong to them, and that's where they should stay.
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Tuesday, 6 December 2011
What an absolutely blindingly exciting time to be alive!
...albeit a tad scary too.
I'm trying to stay tuned in to the massive amounts of creative and spiritual energy that can be seen and sensed all around us right now. It feels to me as if we're a world in the middle of a great cleansing - the walls that once threatened to divide people forever are falling, repressive nations and states are being proved to be no longer viable, the evils that people do to one another are out in the open where their darkness can be bleached by the sun.
It's just great. People's creativity is everywhere in evidence. Is it just me, or is the spirit of this age changing things on the level of person, community, country and world? Everywhere I look, people are coming into the awareness of soul and self - I've heard it called 'conscious living', and that goes some way to describiing it. It makes me want to join this call to revolution, this new and joyful battle against evil fought first in the confines of the heart and next in the world at large.
Thursday, 1 December 2011
Today my project is - to stop trying to run the show!
Attempting to control the outcome of events does nothing more than set me up for disappointment!
By this I mean that it crystallises my expectations in a single direction - with the result that I miss all the living in between. It makes me want to manage people and events in such a way that they can't do anything to threaten my idea of how things should to go.
When I try and manipulate or manage people, I set up a tension in the dynamic between us. I make events in my mind more important than the people who are participating in them. I drain myself, other people and situations of their spontaneity, and this in turn inhibits all of our connections with spirit and soul. Creativity and spontaneity have to have a free run to flow in and out of my time and space, so's they can breathe life and energy onto the stage of my life.
So today I'm going to keep reminding myself to let go of my need to control outcomes; in fact I'm gouing to try and not even be invested in those outcomes. I'm just going to enjoy doing the next right thing on the journey.
There is only one way to happiness and that is to cease worrying about things which are beyond the power of our will.
Epictetus
Epictetus
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Friday, 18 November 2011
Solving today
Solving Today
I only need to solve today's problems today.
How much of precious time and energy do I spend trying to "solve my life" months and years hence? Quite a lot, that's how much!
But whilst it IS important that I do some forward thinking - for example, that I live prudently and intelligently so as plan responsibly for my future, and that of my lovely daughters, it's equally important that I recognise this truth: that today well-lived is the foundation upon which I build my tomorrows.
The life I am so busy planning and worrying about will, in all likelihood, not be as I'm imagining it. I will have forgotten something (quite possible), or an unforeseen circumstance will alter my plan (very probable!). After all - did I know ten years ago that this is what I would be doing now?
If only I can train myself to let go of the constant low level of anxiety I nurture, about my unknown future, I know that today will feel longer, deeper and less complicated. I can only solve today - it is the only time that is actually within my reach.
So today's project is, to live in the present moment as fully as I can.
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Major currencies were in consolidation mode overnight, drifting sideways in narrow ranges against the US Dollar, as another lacklustre set of economic data gave traders an opportunity to digest the recent volatility. A similarly uneventful set of scheduled risk events in European trading hours put the spotlight on the speaking docket today, as a series of European Central Bank officials take to the wires. The Australian and New Zealand Dollars narrowly outperformed, as periphery Euro zone yields corrected to modestly lower levels - triggering mild relief in traders' risk aversion. Traders will be mainly focussing on from ECB President Mario Draghi and German Bundesbank President Jens Weidmann, and they'll be hunting for guidance on the evolution of the central bank’s position on taking up the role of a true lender of last resort for the Eurozone. The markets have been pining for this, in the hope that policymakers will openly offer a backstop for debt-strapped members of the currency bloc by pledging to use the strength of their balances in an effectively-unlimited capacity, to purchase bonds and cap sovereign yields. Such an action would buy afflicted Eurozone member states the time they need to reform their budgets and implement austerity measures. The ECB has leaned on its narrow mandate to provide price stability as a way to avoid outright QE so far. Investors are thus keen to get a reading on the degree of pain that bond markets will have to inflict on Eurozone sovereigns, before the monetary authority will begrudgingly step into the breach. With that in mind, Mr. Draghi’s comments ought to be very potent, as they'll presumably represent the position of the bank as a whole. Any noticeably stark contrasts between his position and that of Mr. Weidmann – an ardent critic of ECB intervention into bond markets – will be interesting to monitor, in that it'll reveal any widening of the already-emerging rift between Germany and the remainder of the currency bloc. Needless to say, any indication that the ECB is inching closer toward a more aggressive support role would naturally prove supportive for the Euro, as well as for risk appetite at large, weighing on the USD against its sentiment-linked counterparts. Alternatively, a clear message ruling out more forceful actions from the central bank - or hints that the subject is fanning the flames of dissent among officials - is likely to have the opposite effect. |
Wednesday, 16 November 2011
Engagement
Ooh. Well, that 'activism' riff seemed to make the day go quiite well, think I'll keep it up....and build on it.....so, I will engage in the process of living today.
Thinking about life is not living it. Jane Austen referred in her writing to "the healing waters of action", and she wasn't wrong. Participation in living is the key to feeling a part of the world, valuable, seen, heard and known.
When I withdraw from the world, I withdraw from what nourishes my soul - because the world is of the spirit, not just the physical. Being a part of the process of living is what comprises being, and growing, with spirit.
The many precious times I have of of quiet, and meditation, are not examples of my dropping out of life - rather, they are me dropping into it, contacting it at a deeper level. Withdrawing or hiding would, of coruse, be altogether different - they're my fear-based actions and all too easy for me to slip into!
But participation, hmmmm...... yes. Participation is forward-moving and interactive. It gives my life a lovely feeling of buoyancy and purpose.
I will engage fully in my day today in whatever it is that I do. I will be a participator!
The USD Extends Its Rally on European Contagion Concerns
The USD extends this week's strong rally, as markets' focus is back on the contagion risks of the European debt crisis. Italian Prime Minister designate Monti will unveil his cabinet today, but markets seem to be quite unconvinced by his appointment so far. There are still concerns as to how Monti might overcome the current debt and fiscal problems. Italian 10-year yields broke above the unsustainable 7% yesterday, while 5-year CDs made new a high above 600bps. The worry over contagion also pushed German bund spreads with Spain, Belgium, Austria and even France to new euro-era records. The main focus will now turn to Spain and France’s bond auctions. Spain is scheduled to auction EUR 4bn of 2022 bonds today, while France will sell notes maturing 2013 to 2016 tomorrow.
Technically, the USD index's break of the 78.16 resistance level has confirmed a resumption of its recent rise from 78.16, and the index could now move towards the 80 psychological level in the near term. A similar picture is seen in EUR/USD, where a break of the 1.3483 support confirms the resumption of the near-term fall, and could pave the way to a low of 1.3145. EUR/JPY's fall has also accelerated to as low as 103.45 thus far. The AUD and CAD also edged lower against the USD, but momentum is weak so far. Markets' main focus remains more on the selling of European majors against the USD and YEN.
In respect of the YEN, the Bank of Japan has left rates unchanged at 0-0.1% today (as we expected). Its asset buying size was also left unchanged at JPY 20 trillion. The bank downgraded its economic assessment, noting that economic activity has picked up "at a more moderate pace" because of the slowdown in overseas economies. The bank warned that the European debt crisis could result in weaker growth in the "global economy, particularly through its effects on global financial markets". And, Japan is facing an "adverse effect" from the global slowdown, the Yen’s strength and the impact of Thailand's flood. Meanwhile, I don’t expect Japan to emerge from this deflationary period before the end of fiscal 2013.
Looking ahead, UK jobs data and Eurozone inflation will be released in the European session. But the main focus will be on the Bank of England inflation report. From the US, CPI, TIC capital flow, industrial production and NAHB housing market index data will be featured.
Economic Indicators Out Today
GMT | Ccy | Events | Actual | Consensus | Previous | Revised |
23:30 | AUD | Westpac Leading Index M/M Sep | -0.30% | 0.80% | 0.70% | |
4:15 | JPY | BoJ Rate Decision | 0.10% | 0.10% | 0.10% | |
9:30 | GBP | Jobless Claims Change Oct | 21.0K | 17.5K | ||
9:30 | GBP | Claimant Count Rate Oct | 5.10% | 5.00% | ||
9:30 | GBP | ILO Unemployment Rate 3M Sep | 8.20% | 8.10% | ||
10:00 | EUR | Eurozone CPI M/M Oct F | 0.30% | 0.80% | ||
10:00 | EUR | Eurozone CPI Y/Y Oct F | 3.00% | 3.00% | ||
10:00 | EUR | Eurozone CPI - Core Y/Y Oct | 1.60% | 1.60% | ||
10:30 | GBP | BoE Inflation Report | ||||
13:30 | USD | CPI M/M Oct | 0.00% | 0.30% | ||
13:30 | USD | CPI Y/Y Oct | 3.60% | 3.90% | ||
13:30 | USD | CPI Core M/M Oct | 0.10% | 0.10% | ||
13:30 | USD | CPI Core Y/Y Oct | 2.10% | 2.00% | ||
14:00 | USD | Net Long-term TIC Flows Sep | 63.4B | 57.9B | ||
14:15 | USD | Industrial Production Oct | 0.40% | 0.20% | ||
14:15 | USD | Capacity Utilization Oct | 77.70% | 77.40% | ||
15:00 | USD | NAHB Housing Market Index Nov | 17 | 18 | ||
15:30 | USD | Crude Oil Inventories | -1.3M | -1.4M |
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