Maggie Hamilton

What's Happening to our Girls? is an interesting and informed study of today's girls and the lives they lead, and it is essential reading for any parent. The facts in this book are very scary. As a mother, I knew before reading this book that my daughters are growing up in a world far different from the one I grew up in. I knew that they are being marketed to. I knew girls are sexually active earlier. I knew that bullying is worse and the forms of bullying changing. I did not know just how bad it has become, or just how ill-informed many girls are as to the hazards of indiscriminate sex and drug-taking. That this is the case is a sad indictment of our society.

We all need to stand up and say NO MORE!!! It is time we put our foot down. Refuse to spend your money on inappropriate items, and write to the manufacturers, expressing your displeasure. Companies are only able to market sex at our girls because we allow them to. Remember, the power is in the hand of the consumer - there have been many products withdrawn due to consumer pressure. Additionally, we should overcome our embarrassment and ensure our girls are informed. Teach them to recognise when they are being marketed to. Give them the confidence and support they need to withstand peer pressure and bullying. Allow them to use you as an excuse if they need to. Find someone closer to their own age group to talk to them about drugs and sex - oral sex is not a safe option, as many girls seem to think.

Ensure your daughters have other trusted adults in their lives. We all need someone other than our parents to talk to! Make sure that your daughter knows the difference between intimacy and sexuality. Teach her that a relationship where she suppresses her own sexuality to please her partner is not a healthy one. Be willing to discuss what she wants when she needs to. There can be no taboo subjects if you want to keep your daughter safe. Teach your sons to respect girls, and that they have needs within a relationship as well as boys. Above all, be there there for your children.

Growing up has changed dramatically. The way we parent must evolve to meet the challenge if our girls are to survive.… (mais)

This audio book was an inside look into....well... What Men Don't Talk About! and why they don't talk about it. It was written and read by an Australian so to just listen to it was quite enjoyable for me but I did learn a thing or two along the way. The author conducted many interviews with a lot of different types of men. Some of the stories they told went from sad to downright horrifying. I did find myself shaking my head several times thinking how something I heard made a lot of sense in regards to the men in my life. Being a woman that gets really frustrated with men and almost everyone else that isn't good at communicating, I really appreciated this book. Many of the ideas in it related to most people we come into contact with that can't always "share" themselves. I could see me listening to this again in a few years when some of the ideas lose their shine.… (mais)

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin once said, ‘We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience.’ I’d like to believe this. If you believe it, or if you’re just interested in spirituality, Coming Home is a worthwhile read. Written in simple terms, even if you’re new to the spirit world, you’ll have no trouble grasping the ideas in the book. Also, if you’re seeking the Light, you’ll gain from this book too. To further help the reader understand her concepts, a number of the author’s own experiences behind them are included in the book.

The chapter, ‘Where do we live?’ was particularly interesting to me, covering aspects of spirituality such as spiritual energy, soul vibration and what to make of coincidences in our lives. For those whose ego is too big to fit in your body, there’s a chapter for you called ‘Who am I?’ If owning a Skyline is the most important thing in your life, this chapter will help you. It makes us understand that happiness cannot be gained through material possessions but from a contented soul, which is a lot harder to achieve than saving up for a new car.

Coming Home outlines meditation practices in most of the chapters, prayers for those who are into that, and some trippy instances of the author’s own meditative experiences that are very inspiring. In one, she says that she was taken back to the womb in a highly meditative state, where she experienced all the negative energy that surrounded her mother’s pregnancy. From this she established that the thoughts and attitudes of the people surrounding a pregnant woman can heavily impact on the life of the unborn child. Such revelations are abundant in the book, which will open up your mind.
One objection I have is that although this book claims to be a tool that can guide us through life or on our spiritual quest, there is no index at the back. There are distinct subject headings within the chapters, but if you needed guidance in a specific area, it would be hard to find it.
Otherwise, this book is full of helpful hints to sponge off, as well as real life experiences that the reader can relate to. The author is on her own spiritual quest and has travelled to places that have inspired her on this quest, which in turn, inspire the reader. And for anyone trying to feed their soul, inspiration is worth more than money.

This review was originally published in On Dit, the student newspaper of Adelaide University.… (mais)