The wheels of time spin faster and faster, seemingly beyond our control. Our "kaleidoscopes" blur into swiftly moving colours with no discernible pattern. May we all find our way to a peaceful perspective.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.

Is the glass half empty, or half full?

I felt adrift and lacking purpose. For months, I waffled between staying or leaving a long-time job (not the one withThe Aquarian!) and ending or continuing a long-distance friendship. I struggled with heightened family conflicts and grieved the second loss in six months of a close animal friend.

Then I found Dawn Brown's book That Perception Thing! She jolted me into viewing my problems in a new light. Intrigued by ideas that resonated with my hurting soul, I read the 130-page book in one sitting, discovering enlightening messages like these:

The irony is that in our haste to protect ourselves from the hurts and disappointments that we think may come, we prevent ourselves from living in and enjoying the present.

As long as she had one foot in the past and the other in the future, she was casting a shadow over her present.

Sometimes what feels like rejection, isn't. Staying curious long enough to find out can make all the difference.

At the start of each chapter, Brown presents a picture and word combination from the "OH Cards" to stimulate the reader’s imagination and a shift of perception. OH Cards (as in "oh!") consist of two decks of 88. The larger deck has a suggestive word printed along the four edges of each card — a word like "hope," "fear" or "appearance." Thematically provocative watercolour paintings adorn the smaller deck. By mentally combining words (left brain, linear thinking) and pictures (right brain, intuitive thinking), the reader’s imagination is spurred into creativity. 

Curiosity piqued, I ordered a set ($49.95) and the companion book ($26.95), The Power of OH: A Path to Growth, Insight, and Appreciation of Self and Others, by Adam Bourgeois. While writing this column, I randomly chose the "Wrong" card and a picture card that shows the back of a person in the foreground facing what looks like three judges. Immediately, I thought that by placing myself at the mercy of other people's judgments, I belittle the wisdom I carry in myself. This served as a reminder to trust and value my own style, intuition and decision-making ability.

Printed in over 15 languages, the OH cards can be used to answer questions, solve problems, act as a story starter or trigger an emotional release. You can interpret them following your own inner guidance or with help from The Power of OH. Bourgeois draws on years of practice to give detailed descriptions of each word and picture.

"Less emphasis in today’s society is placed on education in the classics," he writes, "and as a result fewer persons are conversant with mythology and philosophy or with the etymology of words or the origins of idiomatic expressions and phrases. The purpose of this writing is to include different perspectives in order to showcase the rich symbolism inherent within both the picture cards and word cards." 

Makes sense to me. Everyone seems to be living on the surface of their lives when we could be appreciating the richer meaning underneath.

In The Power of OH, Bourgeois explains how the cards were conceived, who uses them (teachers, therapists, artists — even children) and how they can be applied. The company Eos Interactive Cards (www.OH-Cards.com) produces a variety of other picture decks as well, including ORCA (whale photos), ECCO (abstract paintings), MYTHOS (mythic creatures and places) and PERSONA (people of all kinds for role playing).

My life: an open book

Something else happened this fall: I discovered the Lotus House of Integrated Wellness. For the past three and a half years, the Lotus House staff have promoted wellness through homeopathy (Dr. Tracy Maharaj, DHMS), spirit-life coaching (Perene Maharaj, BA), medical intuitive readings (Dr. Denyse Appelmans, DHMS) and a warm, welcoming atmosphere (Lisa Maharaj).

Like the warm cup of chai tea they offer to clients (see the recipe at right), I found that the services at Lotus House can stir up your life and comfort you through the changes.

As an avid reader of Carolyn Myss, the world-renowned medical intuitive, I wondered what an actual reading might be like, so I booked a session with Denyse Appelmans. 

Appelmans began her career in the mainstream medical world as a registered nurse at Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre. She later became interested in alternative health which led to her becoming a homeopathic doctor. 

Her "alternative" roots actually extend far back to her childhood when her parents took her to spiritual healers instead of doctors. She also recalls how people would come and sit at her mother’s kitchen table for tarot card readings.

"The main event I remember most," she says, "is walking through a graveyard at a young age with my grandmother and stopping in front of a plot of family members. I could ‘see’ what happened [how they died] and told my grandmother. She said it was all accurate. This scared me off for a while, but then it started again when I was a teenager, so I began to work with my visions and the guidance I heard. This eventually developed into the skills I have today."

Appelman’s medical intuitive reading session included reading my aura and chakras as well as conversing with spirit helpers. I sat quietly sipping my tea while she opened to receive messages and intuitive impressions, making notes all the while. Then we discussed what she saw and heard. With so much detail, thank goodness she taped the whole thing!

I was stunned by the accuracy of her reading. It never ceases to amaze me how what I'm feeling inside — the themes and the changes in my life — can be picked up and reflected back to me by a total stranger. Dr. Appelman’s detailed intuitions ranged from my physical problems to scenes from my past lives. She told me about the spirit guides and totem animals active in my life and offered meditations and visualizations to address some of my problems. I guess you could say she put my life into a better perspective.

You can contact Dr. Appelmans or Lotus House (located at 130 Sherbrook St.) by calling (204) 774-2402.

Lotus House 
Chai Tea

Ingredients

20-30 cracked cardamom pods 

20-30 cracked black pepper corns 

6 cinnamon sticks 

20 whole cloves, cracked 

3 inch length of ginger root, grated 

3 litres of water

Lightly crush the cardamom, pepper corns and cloves to allow the flavours to release into the water. Add ingredients to water and let boil for 20 minutes. Turn off heat. Add 6 black tea bags and steep for 10 minutes. Strain. Add as much milk as you have tea or to taste. Reheat to a gentle boil, then sweeten to taste with brown or cane sugar. Unused portion may be stored in fridge for up to 24 hours. Enjoy!

Recipe courtesy of Lotus House of Integrated Wellness, 130 Sherbrook Street, Winnipeg.