TEMPUR Teddy Bear Charity

This 28cm teddy bear is soft and cuddly—perfect for hugging, no matter what your age. For every Teddy Bear sold, Tempur donates $10 to the McGrath Foundation.

Tempur is working with McGrath Foundation which raises money to place McGrath Breast Care Nurses in communities’ right across Australia and increase breast cancer awareness in young Australian women.

Devon the Teddy Bear is made from unique Tempur pressure relieving material, originally developed in the early 1970’s at NASA to relieve G-force pressure. The gorgeous teddy bear reacts to body temperature, contouring to the shape of your hug – providing the best cuddles ever!

Meet Devon raising funds for the McGrath Foundation – Bless!

Children sometimes dream of receiving things that they want. These wish-fulfilment dreams can reach heights of absurd fantasy, but mostly they are simple things – clothes, a new game, a pet, delicious food – that the child values and desires. This can be a difficult dream for parents, who want to give children the things that make them happy, but often do not feel that the gift is possible or even wise. You may want to discuss your reasons with your child, and perhaps come to a compromise. In the end, these dreams are pleasant ones, and much should be made of that. You could point out that, like bad dreams, good dreams don’t necessarily come true!

DREAM:
I dreamt I was wearing a long, white lacy silk dress. My hair was down to my waist. I was slim. I walked up the stairs like I was in a trance. At either side of the stairs were turrets like those of an old castle. When I got to the top there was nowhere else to go. I looked back and the wind blew my hair about. I awoke peaceful and also amazed for I am overweight, not slim. LEANNE – 11yrs old.

This is a wish-fulfilment dream from a girl on the verge of puberty. She is a princess in the dream, going upstairs in a castle, and at the top, there is nothing else to attain. The image is of fairytale and myth.

It seems the dreamer may need to keep the lovely, peaceful aspect of this image in the front of her mind. She obviously wishes to lose weight, and this is a positive dream showing her that this is possible. However, her parents should caution her that in the real world, slimness is not the most important quality for a young woman.

LUCID DREAMING

Lucid dreaming has been a controversial topic for some time, but there is really no longer any doubt that it is a perfectly natural and frequent phenomenon that occurs spontaneously. The process is quite simple, a lucid dream is one where the dreamer is aware he or she is dreaming, and can, to a greater or lesser extent, control what happens in the dream. Most prolific dreamers have experienced lucid dreams. The greater challenge is to exert control over the events and symbols of the dream. But why is this important?

Apart from the fact that some may find this a stimulating night-time hobby, lucid dreaming can heighten the awareness of the messages and images that the unconscious is formulating in the dream. So, by becoming ‘conscious’ during our nocturnal journeys, the integration of dreaming with waking life is facilitated to a greater degree than it would otherwise.

Lucidity brings with it some degree of control over the outcomes of the dream. Practice can contribute to the ability to achieve this. At the very least, lucid dreamers can choose how they wish to respond to their dreams. For example, if encountering an ominous dream figure, the dreamer may decide to confront and examine its nature. Similarly, a joyful dream experience can be relished and prolonged. This is possible only if the dreamer is aware that he or she is dreaming. In this way, it is possible for the dream to become a sort of therapy: unconscious messages are filtered through what I will call the sleeping consciousness and can be comprehended with less equivocation.

In short, by according consciousness more power while we sleep and dream, we accord the consciousness more power while we sleep and dream, we accord the unconscious a more powerful role in our conscious (waking) lives. If we accept that harmony between inner and outer states is a desirable human goal, then lucid dreaming is a useful aid for integration.

One of the world’s leading exponents of lucid dreaming is Dr Stephen LaBerg (1990) whom I met in Stanford University – he has chartered many ways to achieve lucidity in dreams. These include variations on Tibetan yogic techniques, as well as techniques he and other modern researchers have developed through rigorous experimentation. The broad thrust of the techniques is to encourage recognition of oneself in the dream state. Other techniques involve stimulating the mental conditions for lucid dreaming before sleep, methods of entering sleep and developing special sleep patterns.

The most important step is the first one: developing your sense of dream recall and dream awareness. LaBerg then goes on to recommend ‘reality testing’ accessing the environment to test whether you are asleep or awake. Reality testing can   be practised during waking hours.  When testing while in a dream, the dreamer will notice things out of place, or shifting or surreal in some way.  This identifies the dream state. The dreamer can then work on exploring the dream, in which she or he is aware.

“Our truest life is when we are in dreams awake” Henry David Thoreau

Prince William’s 21st Birthday

Well how wonderful it is to know that now Prince William has his own little baby Prince George!

How proud his mother, Diana, would have been and I am sure she looks down on them and smiles with complete love and joy!
Rosie Fisher and Adam Dale comments from Larry King’s “The People’s Princess”…..

Rosie Fisher, founder and owner of Dragons of Walton Street, which is a successful children’s furniture store in London, which was frequented by Diana during William and Harry’s early years.

Dragons of Walton Street, London, were lucky enough to receive an order for our then tiny Prince William’s nursery. How exciting!

What an honour. I was longing to shout it from the rooftops, but I was sworn to secrecy. Discretion was vital. The design we were to paint on the furniture was very appropriate as it depicted Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s most loved hobbies. The design to this day is still a secret!

My best artist, lovingly hand painted the items with extra-special care. A labour of love for our future king! It looked perfectly gorgeous, and I hoped that little William would enjoy the pieces. Later, Princess Diana became a regular visitor to my showroom.

Always arriving unannounced and behaving in the most natural of ways, she would leave her private detective in the car. One October, she came in clutching a big book full of the names and ages of her friends’ children, godchildren, nieces and nephews to buy their Christmas goodies. We would duly paint the presents and deliver them to Kensington Palace. Once she came into Dragons to talk about having chairs decorated for one of her godchildren and while we were wrapping various other gifts she had chosen, she sat and chatted with us, confessing that one day she would love to have a little girl. I feel so sad that was never to be.

DIANA by Adam Dale
Beguiled by her innocence
Intrigued by her mystery
Bathed in her sunlight
Smiled at her triumphs
Cried at her anguish
Buoyed by her hope
Humbled by her greatness
Moved by her honesty
Heartened by her courage
Enveloped by her life
Dazzled by her beauty
Embraced by her love
Haunted by her tragedy
Emptied by her absence

SONIA GHANDI ….comments from Larry King’s “The People’s Princess”…..

In India, the abiding memory of Princess Diana is of her genuine compassion and empathy for the marginalised. Princess Diana’s interactions with the underprivileged – be they slum children, Aids victims, the physically or mentality challenged, or people on their deathbed – were always warm, direct and human. She approached them unflinchingly, with love and humiliation, wanting to share their burden and deepen her own understanding of their deprivation and pain.

We remember Princess Diana too, for her radiant beauty and grace, her vibrant natural charm, and the enthusiasm with which she embraced new experiences and encounters. These qualities enabled her to strike up and easy rapport with people from all cultures ad walks of life and left an indelible impression on those whose paths crossed hers even briefly.

THE DUKE & DUCHESS OF CAMBRIDGE now begin their journey with their darling baby boy and I feel so happy that Prince William had such a wonderful upbringing that he and his gorgeous Kate will continue Diana’s love of family and happiness.

Whose knows what fantastic stories we will hear over the years as Prince George makes his mark on the Royal Family!

Diana’s dreams were very similar to our dreams    and one that is especially connected to us all is her dream of childhood insecurity.

Diana was a very fit person. She especially loved swimming and going to the gym, so I was surprised when she told me of a recurring nightmare she had suffered from as a child. Where she couldn’t walk or run anywhere and was only able to move in slow motion.

The setting of the dream was a hot summer day. Diana was standing alone on a long deserted road, with a heat haze shimmering in the distance. She could feel the sun blazing down upon her as she noticed a sinister figure running towards her through the haze.  Diana felt that the figure was going to “get” her; she tried to run away but found that she couldn’t – her legs wouldn’t work. It was as much as she could do to slowly drag herself into the grass verge on the side of the road to hide, forcing her unwilling legs to move painfully slowly.

 ‘I don’t know when I first had this dream’, she told me. ‘Probably around ten or twelve years old, but even remembering it makes me feel heavy with anxiety’. Now that she was older Diana told me she thought the message from this dream was that she was powerless when confronted with other people’s hostility. I told her, ‘That may have been the case when you were younger, but it’s not how it is today, is it?’

I went through the aspects of the dream and told her that as a child we all have the insecurity dreams of running and slow motion and fear. These dreams seem to hang around with us until we face up to the fact that we can conquer problems ourselves instead of having to rely upon our family or friends. The positive message in her dream was her strength to move to the side of the road to get away from the danger she felt.

I know that Diana had had a long battle to establish a healthy ego and to design her persona exactly as she wanted it to be.

Diana told me that she had had some dreams about her teeth falling out around the time of her engagement.  ‘It was a horrible dream’, she said. ‘I didn’t like it. I was so relieved when I woke up and found that my teeth were all still in place!’.

I replied, ‘People have that dream all over the world. The details vary from person to person but usually it includes the sensation of catching your teeth as they fall out of your mouth.  Did you catch your teeth?’

‘Yes, and it wasn’t very pleasant at all,’ she said.

‘Our teeth signify our independent self-image, our communication and our nourishment. When teeth fall out in a dream, the image may be connected to a deflated self-image or a fear of old age or impotence (not in your case though).  These dreams can also alert us to insufficiencies in our diet. Actors and actresses experience this dream quite often and its thought that it relates to them having to change identity so often – and also that this identity is so often expressed through different ways of speaking and different accents.

In your case, I would say that it’s to do with your sudden visibility in the eyes of the world – you would have been feeling very aware of your image and how you appeared to those around you who were scrutinising your every move.  It could have represented your concerns about your lack of communication skills at that time and perhaps an unconscious fear of ageing, too.

Ma’am I would also suggest that you should have a dental check-up because this could be the subliminal message from your dream!’

During my second visit to Kensington Palace, Diana remarked on my Chanel boots, which had the CC’s intertwined in a badge pn the front. She said to me,’Well, Joan, I am glad to see that you have worn your Charles and Camilla’s!’

I laughed and said ‘What about your shoes Ma’am?’

‘These are my tart shoes’ she replied. They were high heeled Christian Dior sling backs. ‘They are my Charles and Diana’s!’ she said, laughing.  She then told me that she often dreamt about shoes, and asked me what it meant to see them in your dreams.

‘Were they women’s shoes?’ I asked and she said ‘Yes, and they were all lined up in twos and they were in a huge department store window – they were all different colours and there were two pairs that attracted me very much but they were odd, the colours didn’t match.’

‘What do shoes mean to you?’ ‘I love them,’ Diana said ‘and I have oodles of pairs of shoes!’

“Just like Imelda Marcos?’ ‘No, not as many as her’, she said giggling.

‘Well it must have felt frustrating in your dream if you couldn’t get the shoes you wanted?’

‘Yes, it was and I was getting quite annoyed.’

Shoes in dreams symbolise our external image. You more than most people must always be conscious of how you appear to the outside world. Your dreams reflect this. The shoes in the shop window were somehow not available to you and this could indicate that you were not taking the opportunities that surrounded you at the time of your dream.  Shoes are very feminine dream symbols and are related to sexuality. Hats and gloves are the same.  You are a fashion icon, so let’s face it; You always get the shoes you want! But in your dream the shoes you liked were not paired up properly .Dreaming of things in pairs signifies a matching up, a balancing of male and female. In your case, Ma’am, the pairs didn’t match’.

After this analysis, I also offered a little practical advice: Always try to remember what happened on th

e day of the dream – this helps sort out the subliminal messages from the subconscious messages. You may have been out shopping for shoes on the day of your dream and this dream was just a “pick-up” on events that happened that day.’

Women’s shoes are sometimes associated with a dominant sexuality on the part of the dreamer – but if the shoe or shoes are uncomfortable, then there is something in the dreamer’s life that just does not ‘fit’!.

From Larry King’s book “The People’s Princess” Manolo Blahnik comments that Diana was beautiful in every sense, inside as much as out, and had an aura that made her unique.

Princess Diana with Sonia Gandhi (L), wife of assassinated Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, at her New Delhi residence February 11, 1992.

It was a privilege for me to have seen her working with charities, and they was she addressed the people she cared for will stay with me forever.

I feel honoured to have served her in her lifetime.

Yesterday was the sad anniversary of her passing away

 on the 31^st of August (1997)

The Peoples Princess

When I read that Naomi Watts, who stars in the film as Diana, had dreamt about Diana before she took on the movie role, I remembered the many letters which I had received when I was the Dream Columnist for the Daily Mirror in London.

I was going to include some of these letters from readers but when I re-read them they were very sad and so I decided to let them be! So many others dreamt about Diana, particularly after her death, just like Naomi Watts did.

Ticket to world premiere in London for Diana the Movie

The movie “Diana” will star Naomi Watts playing Princess Diana

I hope you enjoy my tribute to my beautiful lady! 

Princess Diana at a charity event

In 2007, Larry King, the famous talk show commentator launched his book “The People’s Princess” in memory of the ten years since the untimely death of Diana.

Among his many recollections from world figures who had had the experience of knowing and befriending this amazing lady of our times.

The movie “Diana” will star Naomi Watts playing Princess Diana

As you well know Sir Richard Branson is the founder and chairman of the Virgin Group of companies – an immensely successful entrepreneur, philanthropist, and television star, Sir Richard was knighted in 1999 by Queen Elizabeth.

In 2002 Sir Richard was voted one the “100 Greatest Britons” in a poll sponsored by the BBC.

Princess Diana with Sir Richard Branson, CEO of Virgin Airlines

Princess Diana with Sonia Gandhi (L), wife of assassinated Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, at her New Delhi residence February 11, 1992.

Sir Richard Branson wrote:

I was fortunate enough to know Diana for most of her adult life.  For most of those years, I saw the sunny side of her personality.  She was great fun, she was very caring, she did much for charity, and yet she was no saint and certainly wouldn’t have wished to be portrayed as one. On her death, the outpouring of grief was understandable, but she would have smiled wryly if she had seen the deference paid to her in the weeks following it.

Of course, Diana knew the importance of the publicity she generated for charity – who will ever forget those incredible photographs of a lonely figure in the midst of a land-mine field- but I don’t believe she was ever truly aware of how many people in the world loved her.  Diana may not have known, but through their grief, I’m sure Harry and William could not have failed to be moved by the public display of emotion over the loss of their mother.  Millions of arms across the world were hugging them close.

As a mother she certainly was – with William and Harry, Diana would holiday on our island, Necker, in the British Virgin Islands.  She loved it there because by and large she could pull up the drawbridge and frolic with her kids away from the eyes of the photographers.

She was a very loyal friend. When British Airways tried to drive Virgin out of business, I took them to court and won a celebrated victory. Lord King, BA’s chairman, stepped down, and later a handwritten note from Diana was delivered to me. It was just three words: “Hooray! Love, Diana.”

She also named one of our planes Lady in Red. We took a flight in Lady in Red with Diana commentating from the cockpit with William on her lap. As we flew past Windsor Castle, her voice came over the loud-speaker: “On our right, you have Grandma’s house.” Everyone on the plane fell about laughing.

Eighteen years later, my daughter Holly was enjoying Prince William’s twenty-first birthday party at “Grandma’s house!” A giant elephant had been constructed out of ice, and “shots” were being poured down its trunk and young ladies were drinking from it.  Holly found herself kneeling with her mouth around it, glancing upward to see the Queen looking down at her disapprovingly.

If Diana had still been alive, she would have laughed until she cried.”

Diana and the boys