Michael's Home

The one thing I have always loved is music. From my early years I have always found that music provided comfort in the storm. I found that music could take me to another place and still do. I guess many of us remember times in our lives by the songs of that time, and can go back there just on hearing a song. But music can also take you to entirely new places, particularly meditative music. 

I started meditating in a class given by the Melbourne Sri Chinmoy Centre. The music that they played was by Sri Chinmoy, it instantly transported me to a beautiful place of peace and I felt like I had found my way home. I have now been meditating for a few years and find that I am spontaneously feeling more and more peace and happiness, and that I do not need anything external to me to feel this. I believe that meditation allows us to release our need for anything external to us for our own happiness, and by doing so it frees us from the desire to fill our lives with things allowing us to know what we truly want. You can find more about the Australian Sri Chinmoy Centres by following the link.

I am also a great lover of "the beautiful game" known as football in most of the more civilised parts of the world, and soccer in some other places. I became a fan of English team Leeds United back in the early 70's when they were one of the greatest teams in the world. They were not known for high spiritual values on the pitch and occassionally attracted the tag "dirty". However, they made an effort to cut out the dark side of their game and when they did were unbeaten for the first thirty games of the season and became champions. There must be a moral in that somewhere... After that they went into a sad decline until the beginning of this millenium when they rose again for a few moments of brilliance where they played some football of breathtaking excitement, reaching its peak in the Champions League campaign, before it all fell apart and relegation out of the Premier league and near bankruptcy followed. I often wonder if this club has some huge karmic debt, as it has so often been dogged by terrible bad luck.

And on to food, the other great love that has persisted in my life. I learnt to cook when I spent ten years living on my own after I left home. It was a matter of survival really. My inspiration came primarily from Delia Smith whos recipes have transformed my culinary life, and my waistline! I get a lot of joy out of cooking, even when it takes hours to prepare and only ten minute to consume. I have been known to serve and even to make Neatloaf (yum) at the Rainbow-Silence-Heart Vegetarian Eatery in Melbourne, Australia. I recommend a visit, it is an Oasis of peace and scrumptious food in the midst of the bustle of Bridge Rd. Richmond.