Welcome to edition #7 of e-News.

Our final edition of 2008.

We've combined our November/December editions and will be taking a break over January. Look out for the first edition in 2009 sometime in mid February.

It's often clichéd to say that 'It's been a big year!', but I'm sure for many of us it has been and what better time than now to really sit back and reflect on everything that's transpired. There is such an opportunity to gauge where you have come to over this time, take a big breath out over a well earned break and return refreshed to whatever your endeavours are in the new year with energy and renewed focus. The natural cycle of the calendar year allows us all to share this journey.

For our teachers who are completing their accreditation at the moment we send out a big 'congratulations'. The stories filtering back in are confirmation that there are many of you doing a wonderful job and we hope you have enjoyed the coaching aspect of your work this year.

To our coaches, congratulations on another successful year. It is your expertise that allows us to train our teachers and provide the students with such an enjoyable and rewarding experience each time they visit the schools.

To the students, we hope you have enjoyed your time with your Bluearth coach and teachers this year and have a really nice break over the summer.

To principals, thank-you for the ongoing support of the Bluearth coaches and of your teachers. We trust you are reaping the rewards of your involvement with Bluearth through the shifts and development you are seeing in your student's and teachers.

And to our supporters, stakeholders, champions and all other involved with Bluearth. We appreciate your interest, support, involvement and all round energy involved with keeping Bluearth in the forefront of peoples minds.

From the team at e-news and Bluearth Merry Christmas and we hope you enjoy an active and enjoyable break.



And, as always we are interested in your feedback, let us know how we are going: enews@bluearth.org.

Enjoy
e-News

Did you miss it?

Just in case you've missed it or haven't had a chance to read it the latest issue of Bluearth's quarterly publication 'Insight Shared' is still available via the Bluearth website.

It covers a range of topics that are contributed by our coaches and staff and provides an in-depth view on what is informing us in our living/coaching/teaching/being.

You can view the latest edition of 'Insight Shared' on the Bluearth website at www.bluearth.org. Alternatively if you would like to be sent a copy, and be added to the distribution list, send an email to: enews@bluearth.org

This is the final edition of 'Insight Shared' for the year, it will be back during Term 1, 2009.

Want to get involved with Bluearth in 2009?

There are many ways to get involved with Bluearth and what better time than now to plan 2009.

• Want to train more teachers? You might have trained a teacher/s and want to train more. By letting us know now, we can look at preferred times / days that suit your school.
• Are you interested in sustainability visits? If you have teachers that have completed the training program in recent years and are looking for additional guidance and support, coaches can visit schools to provide this.
• Does your school have special needs around workshops or staff training that you would like us to look at tailoring for you? We can come in and assist in a range of situations in regards to staff welfare and practical sessions around physical activity.

Contact us to organise next year: mail@bluearth.org or (03) 9820 6300

Righteous Pups – Australia

At Bluearth we're all about working with kids and when we became aware of this organisation we thought it would be great to share it with you all and the amazing work they do.

Righteous Pups trains Labradors to perform a range of tasks but primarily to work with children who are living with Autism. Anyone who has been around animals knows the special bond that can form with a pet and for those with disability this can be life changing.

This organisation trains the pups who then go into a variety of settings to provide a range of important tasks for those individuals, from practical things around safety and communication to basically just being a great friend.

Check out their website. We thought it was pretty special and are sure you will too.

www.righteouspups.org.au

Just completed your teacher accreditation?
Looking for something to remember your time with Bluearth?

Then a bluearth teacher polo, water bottle or hat may be just the thing for you. And if you would like more manuals we have those as well.

To get your hands on some Bluearth apparel go to Bluearth Merchandise, and be the smartest dressed in the yard! (Bluearth cannot guarantee you will be the smartest dressed, obviously).

Hills you say? What's so Ultimate about that?

In a world where we are increasingly avoiding any sort of undulation the humble hill stands out as a beacon, not to be avoided, but with the right mindset, to be embraced.

The variations in using this as a training/exploration tool is limited only by imagination from very simply providing an overload opportunity to flat terrain through to bounding, hopping or descending at great speed.

You might pick a small mound to explore right through to scaling something requiring a degree of endurance, it might be sand based or 'off road'.

Enjoy the challenge it provides and what it asks of you and if you pick the right one make sure you take the time to enjoy the ultimate gift that a hill affords:

The view.

Submit your ultimate physical activity challenge: enews@bluearth.org

The ancient art of Tonglen, which in Tibetan means 'giving and receiving' is one of the most useful and powerful portholes into practicing compassion. The following extract is a beautiful summary of how we can bring this into our everyday living to benefit ourselves and others.

Compassion: considering yourself the same as others.

One powerful was to evoke compassion, as I have described in the previous chapter, is to think of others as exactly the same as you. "After all", the Dalai Lama explains, "all human beings are the same – made of human flesh, bones, and blood. We all want happiness and want to avoid suffering. Further, we have an equal right to be happy. In other words, it is important to realize our sameness as human beings."

Say for example, you are having difficulties with a loved one, such as your mother or father, husband or wife, lover of friend. How helpful and revealing it can be to consider the other person not in his or her 'role' of mother or father or husband, but simply as another 'you', another human being, with the same feelings as you. The same desire for happiness, the same fear of suffering. Thinking of the person as a real person, exactly the same as you, will open your heart to him or her and give you more insight into how to help. If you consider others just the same as yourself, it will help you to open up your relationships and give them a new and richer meaning. Imagine if societies and nations began to view each other in the same way; at last we would have the beginnings of a solid basis for peace on earth and the happy coexistence of all peoples.

Compassion: the wish-fulfilling jewel: From the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying: Sogyal Rinpoche.

If you like what you've read and have friends or colleagues you think would like to receive a copy of e-News, you can now use our new 'Forward to a Friend' facility to add them to our monthly distribution list. And of course we'll send them a copy of this issue too!

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FEEDBACK

Here at Bluearth we often receive stories from schools around how our program is progressing and significant experiences that students or staff may have had. We invite you to send these stories through and we'll publish them here. Pictures are welcome as well.

www.bluearth.org
enews@bluearth.org

Bluearth, Level 5, 1 Bowen Crescent
Melbourne VIC 3004, Australia