<![CDATA[Gayle Cue

<![CDATA[Gayle Cue - Blog]]>Thu, 30 Apr 2026 01:56:34 +1000Weebly<![CDATA[Why work - at my age?]]>Wed, 14 Jan 2026 13:00:00 GMThttps://www.gaylecue.com/blog/why-work-at-my-age

A few months ago, I was approached by someone I knew about coming to work for them. They have a small but busy trade business and needed administrative support. I was initially surprised, given that I’m past ‘retirement age’. However, I wasn’t getting an immediate ‘No’, so I asked to sleep on it overnight. There wasn’t much of a decision involved because I knew I was getting a ‘Yes’ in my body and that is how I gauge my responses nowadays. I wish I had been on to ‘listening to my body’ when I was younger but back then I was still trying to ‘think my way through life.’

Anyway, I called the next morning and confirmed the details of when I would start. I didn’t tell anyone for a few months that I had gone back to work. Why? Exactly! Because that would have been the question. Everyone would have asked me “Why - would you go back to work at your age?”

At the time, I didn’t feel like having to explain myself. I didn’t even want to talk about the business I was going to work for or what I would be doing there. If I mentioned I had gone to work, there would be lots of questions and conversation around it, so it was actually effortless just not to mention it. It wasn’t like I had to be super secretive about it. If I didn’t bring it up it was easy to not have discussion about something no one knew anything about.

I also suspected that I complained a lot about the various jobs I had over the years. I imagined my friends would be nervous if they knew I went back to work, out of fear of the forthcoming complaints!

I had the practical reasons, of course, of why I should say yes to taking the job. I liked the ‘style’ of the person I would be working for. I wanted to support him and his business and I wanted to get to know him better. After hearing him talk about what he truly offers through his business, which was so much more than appears on the surface, I knew it would be interesting and I saw it as an opportunity to evolve, in more ways than one.

And then there is always the issue of money. Although administrative positions have never paid well (one of my many complaints over my working life), a little extra money is always helpful when stretching the pension years, especially in the current economy.

But even more significant to me than those reasons were, I wanted to be engaged in the ‘work chamber’ but do it in an entirely different way than I had spent my whole working life. My well-established pattern was to work hard, inevitably taking on more responsibility than was expected of me in my position and certainly more responsibility than I was being compensated for. During my working life, I was always striving. Striving to be the best employee that person would ever have. Striving to not make mistakes. I was often the first one to arrive at work and the last to leave. And in the end, I always felt under-appreciated and under-paid, because, well, because I was ‘working’ in the wrong energy. I wasn’t working in consideration of all equally. I was working for myself, my gain, my image, my ambition, my goals, my, my, my. Oh my, so much individuality.

There is nothing wrong with working hard, being a good employee, going the extra mile etc. They could / would even be considered attributes. The energy of striving, however, says loads about the stress and tension I would have been delivering ‘the best employee of the year’ in. So, this new job offer in the later years of my life represented an opportunity to be in a working environment without all that striving. I’m at an age now where I have nothing to prove to anyone. Whew! Such a relief.  I know I can do admin work in any business, and I can do it without contributing any stress or tension to the business world. So, the true question became “Why not go back to work - even at my age?”

With reincarnation being an element of my understanding of what is going on here on planet earth, I am now not only living this life but considering what imprints I am leaving behind for the next life. Dedicated as I am to being the best person I can be, I doubt if I am moving free of the Wheel of Rebirth just yet! So, what will I be bringing back next lifetime, what imprint am I leaving in the world, what kind of imprint am I leaving for myself to return to? I see this little part-time administrative job as an opportunity to contribute, to care, to be efficient, to not strive, to not need recognition, to not complain about any of it!

Having said all that, I’m also aware that the ‘silver’ work force brings a skill set and attitude to ‘getting the job done’ that seems to have gotten lost over the decades. Hiring baby boomers is actually good value for most businesses.

Work is a big part of everyone’s life.

Most children respond well to work, they like helping mom or dad or the neighbour. They get a sense of satisfaction having ‘worked’ and contributed.

Work is often our first true step of independence as a teenager, we have somewhere to go that isn’t controlled by our parents, we have our own income.

Remember (for those of you who are as old as I am) the Dobie Gillis show in the 1960s – there was a character named Maynard G. Krebs, a beatnik, who had a strong aversion to work.  He would squeal “Work! Work! Work!” as he ran out of the frame. Somehow, it was really funny to see a person so freaked out about work – because no matter how old we may have been when watching that television show, we knew that work was an essential part of life.

There are people who choose a career and love what they do, there are others who just go to work because they have to pay the rent and then there are those who manage to get through life without working. Think how much work that must be – avoiding work! Maynard G Krebs put a lot of energy into his day to avoid working.

So here I am, not really ‘needing’ to work financially and my days and weeks were always full, so why would I rearrange my rhythm to make space for a part time job? There’s something about work that is essential to our evolution. And not just our own evolution but work is a place where you are responsible for the evolution of others.  How we interact with others, be that with the boss, colleagues or customers, we can either elevate the other or bring them down, we either heal or we harm. Work gives us the opportunity to engage with others, to bring our best selves, to hold the space for others, to benefit all.

Work is another word for
collaborative-togetherness.
See it any other way and it will be for you
the process of effort driven labour.

Serge Benhayon
Teachings & Revelations Vol IV pg 458

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]]><![CDATA[How's Your Latin?]]>Mon, 29 Sep 2025 14:00:00 GMThttps://www.gaylecue.com/blog/hows-your-latin

Well, I don’t read or speak Latin either and none of the people in my circles know Latin except for common phrases like ‘Carpe Diem’ and ‘Et tu, Brute?’ So, I was surprised to discover that I could squeeze out meaning if I became still and looked at each word individually.

I found this inscription, ‘Virtus Junxit Mors Non Separabit’, on the inside of my deceased father’s ring.

My father died many, many years ago, and my mother had kept some of his things. So, when my mother passed away in recent years, I found myself going through her drawers and boxes, mostly discarding or giving away items. His ring was one of the things I was drawn to keep. Only later did I notice the tiniest inscription on the inside of the gold band. Even with a magnifying glass, it is quite difficult to read. His name and a date of significance for him, although I don’t know what it signifies, is also inscribed inside the gold band. Such delicate work.

After finding my father’s ring, I tried wearing it. It fit on my middle finger, although he had worn it on his ring finger. But, alas, I broke out in a rash underneath the ring every time I put it on. I reckon there was a message in that (Don’t wear it!) so I put it in a box and nearly forgot about it again. About a year ago, I rediscovered it and decided to give it another go - this time I can wear it without the resulting rash.  Hmmmm.

A couple of weeks ago, I remembered the inscription inside of the ring. This is when I sat with the words. “Virtus junxit mors non separabit.”

Virtus = that’s close enough to Virtue, to be a possibility

Junxit = I was a bit dubious about this one but maybe, junction or joined?

Mors = I was lost on this one, remorse? When I looked it up I found it meant death, and started to see some modern day references as in ‘mortician’

Non = Easy, eh. Obviously, no or not

Separabit = How could this not mean Separate?

Putting it together in a sentence, with my guessed-at interpretation it read:
Virtue joined with death does not separate.

The smoother interpretation, which I ‘googled’ is this:

What virtue has joined together death shall not separate.

The ring was something my father wore for years. I actually remember him wearing it and I don’t have a great memory for details of the past. I see from the date on the inside of the ring, he possibly wore it from the time I was 4 years old. On the outside of the gold band is the triangular symbol of the Free Masons.

Father’s Day in Australia is celebrated in September so there were reminders everywhere about the importance a father has in one’s life and appreciation for all those men who fill the role of a father, often to children they have not sired. My father has been dead for over 35 years, so my memories are very distant. What I was thinking about this year was that: I wish I would have made more of an effort to know my father, to really know him. The man I knew was a functioning alcoholic, hard-working but damaged from having served in the trenches of Germany in WWII. After returning from the war, he met my mother, they married and had a family. He was a travelling salesman and not home much while I was growing up. He never went to church, although my mother went and took us kids to Sunday School (which I did not like). As I understood it at the time, my dad didn’t believe in God because God wouldn’t have made people live through a war. And yet, all these years later, I discover that the ring he always wore was a Free Mason ring with the inscription “Virtus junxit mors non separabit.”

What virtue has joined together death shall not separate.

A friend of mine, whose father was also a Free Mason, tells me that Freemasonry could be described as a secular, fraternal and charitable organisation whose members are united by a belief in God as the Supreme Being. Key tenets include thoughtfulness for others, kindness in the community, honesty in business, courtesy in society and fairness in all things.

I wish I had known that man, the one who wore a Free Mason ring.

A few years before my mother died, my brother and his family had taken her out to dinner at a nice restaurant. It was somewhere they went on special occasions as it was a bit more expensive than what they would normally do. While they were eating, a well-dressed man approached their table and introduced himself as someone who had worked with my dad many years earlier. He apparently recognised my mother. He said he just wanted to say hello and pass on his well wishes. He said he wouldn’t be where he was today had it not been for our father. When my brother went to pay the bill after dinner, he was told that another customer had already paid the bill. I have always loved that story. To think that my father’s kindness had left an imprint on another man’s life to such an extent that they remembered him many years after his death, and as a return of favour or a show of respect, that man paid for my family’s dinner.

I wish I had known that man, the one who had been thoughtful of others and kind in the community. But I didn’t. Instead, I occasionally put on his ring knowing that what virtue has joined together death shall not separate.

PS  I’ve since learned another Latin phrase; ‘pater meus' meaning ‘my father’.

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]]><![CDATA[Miracles Come in All Sizes]]>Sun, 14 Sep 2025 14:00:00 GMThttps://www.gaylecue.com/blog/miracles-come-in-all-sizes

Going shopping with a friend seems an unlikely scenario for a miracle to happen but the thing about miracles is they are always unexpected. I had asked a friend to go shopping with me on Wednesday. I have never been a ‘good’ shopper because I don’t like shopping. Consequently, I know nothing about which stores to go to for what I need. Then once I’m in a store I can rarely find what I’ve gone there for and I even have trouble finding staff to help me once I’m in the stores. Really! Shopping doesn’t come naturally to me.

So, if I ever ‘need’ to go shopping for something specific, I will usually try to find a friend who either likes shopping or has a special interest in whatever it is that I need to go shopping for. In this instance, I asked a friend to come with me in order to find some new outdoor patio chairs. I had her help me a few years ago when I was trying to buy furniture to match wallpaper. (I was in way over my head on that one!) Anyway, she had a proven track record of being the right friend to have along on a furniture shopping mission. I’m so glad I asked her to accompany me. We only had to go to three stores to find what I wanted and the store we found the chairs in was one that I didn’t even know existed so would not have thought to go there, if left to my own devices. I really love how using the buddy-system always brings better results than going it alone.

On the way home, we stopped at another store for a few grocery items. My friend picked up a small bunch of bok choy, while I had several items. We happened to be going through a check out aisle because this particular store doesn’t have self-service lanes.  The clerk rang my items all up and my friend’s lone bunch of bok choy was sitting on the conveyor belt. I said to the clerk, just add that to my groceries which he did and I paid for it on my credit card. My friend got out her $3 and attempted to pay me for her bok choy but I said, “Let me buy it for you as a thank you for coming along with me this morning.”

My friend had this momentary internal struggle – she wanted to insist on paying for her bok choy because it is (or was) a long-held belief/pattern of hers to always pay her own way. This may have been a value instilled in her from childhood. And on the surface, it certainly does appear to be a good value to have. Always pay your own way!   But, like EVERYTHING, we need to ‘read’ the situation in the current moment.

What was the right thing to do here? Should she insist on paying me for her bok choy or should she let me buy her bok choy as a small gesture of thanks.

Out of the corner of my eye, I could see her internal struggle but I was most likely the only one who would have been able to detect the battle going on within her. She made one more effort to pay me and I said to her, “Could you wait here with the groceries while I go check out an item I have forgotten?”  She cheerfully agreed and as I walked off, she put her money away.

Now for people who don’t know my friend, you may not be able to fully appreciate that this was a small miracle. There have been many instances in our friendship where I’ve paid for a pot of chai, or grabbed two of something and she has always insisted on paying her share, even against my wishes. Yes, it may have been something she learned from a young age but there was also always a sense of needing to pay in order to be liked or ensure her value. So on this day, when she put her money away, I knew it was because she had passed a big milestone in which she was able to accept that someone appreciated her presence.

Later that evening my housemates and I were talking about miracles and I shared my shopping story. One of them offered us a piece of wisdom that she had recently been gifted with.

“No miracle is too big or too small. Heaven celebrates them all equally.”

Don’t get me wrong. I love a big miracle! But there is something so sweet about the small miracles that I can totally get behind celebrating them all equally. Sighting of small miracles can be contagious. Once you recognise one, you are more likely to spot another.

No matter where we live in the world, all of us most likely have had an enforced ‘quiet-down’ time imposed on us. It’s a great opportunity to become still enough within ourselves, that we can see the small miracles that normally go unnoticed.

Yesterday, I emailed a friend that I had not talked to in some time but I had a specific reason for contacting him. At the conclusion of my email I said something about ‘trusting he was well in spite of the new level of crazy in the world.” I received his reply the next morning in which he was able to give me the info I had requested and he concluded his email by saying: “Yes, it’s a very interesting world play at the minute. I'm enjoying going deeper and being more settled with-in myself. I'm having a good time of it all actually.” The ability to stay centred within our inner heart in spite of the world being in a calamity is yet another small miracle that is being celebrated in heaven.

In spite of - whatever is going on with and behind - the hyperbole, most people I know are using this time of life to deepen within themselves. They are spending quality time with their partner and children or grand-children, utilising the time at home to undertake projects that they normally can’t find time for, engaging in on-line exercises classes because they finally have time to build it into their daily rhythm, or planting a vegetable garden. Thank heaven (literally) someone deemed hardware stores and garden nurseries essential services during imposed lock-downs! Another small miracle.

May you be settled enough within yourself to notice all the small miracles that are sprinkled throughout your life. – Oh, and celebrate them!

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]]><![CDATA[Unity in Humanity]]>Wed, 14 Dec 2022 13:00:00 GMThttps://www.gaylecue.com/blog/unity-in-humanity

Recently I was invited to be a speaker in a webinar called Unity in Humanity. It is an American based Interfaith Celebration with speakers from different religious backgrounds. This year’s theme was about relationship with the Divine Creator, giving the audience an opportunity to hear about the differences but, more importantly, to hear about the similarities in different religions.

Although my niece, Jill VanHaren the convener or the webinar, and I live in different countries we have spent quite a bit of time together the last couple of years, thanks to zoom. While we don’t necessarily focus on our religious practices during our zoom calls it does appear regularly in our conversations because of the importance that this has in both of our lives. So, when she started to organise this year’s webinar, she invited me to be one of the guest speakers. I said ‘yes’ rather casually, you know, sort of a ‘Sure, I'd be happy to.’

Then as the day of the webinar drew closer, I started to contemplate how could I share anything meaningful about The Ageless Wisdom in a 30-minute slot. I knew I would have to be succinct! It was a great exercise in looking at the basic principles. One thing I realised in preparing for the webinar is that as Students of the Ageless Wisdom, we don’t make a lot of public appearances talking about our religion or our way of life. We are not door knockers, so to speak. Our focus is on living what we realise, knowing that when others are ready, they will find their way, a magnetic pull if you like.

I became a student of The Ageless Wisdom over twenty years ago, so it is very much my daily life. I don’t spend a lot of time ‘thinking’ about it but I do spend every moment living it, to the best of my ability. What could I say that would give others a glimpse into The Way of the Livingness which is what we (the students of the Ageless Wisdom) call our religion in the 21st century. I invite you to watch the YouTube video, if you are curious.

The Ageless Wisdom presentation starts at 1:41:52 into the webinar.

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]]><![CDATA[Musings on Self-Care from a Dental Chair]]>Sun, 26 Jun 2022 04:11:05 GMThttps://www.gaylecue.com/blog/musings-on-self-care-from-a-dental-chair

I recently went to the dentist to have some minor restoration on the edges of my front teeth that had worn down with age. Because I’ve been seeing the same dentist for over ten years and because I truly love my dentist (he is the gentlest dentist I’ve ever had!), I was a bit carefree about the whole process. He had recommended I have this work done and he does an excellent job of my oral care, so I just said yes, and I didn’t even think to look in the mirror after the procedure. I had momentarily dropped my level of self-care. For all those same reasons, I’m a long-standing patient who has always had excellent results, he also didn’t think to offer me a mirror before I left the dental chair.

I was all the way home before I actually remembered to have a have a look.

Oh my! I got a bit of a shock as the restoration work made my teeth appear too long and I didn’t like the look of it at all. So, the next morning I emailed my dentist telling him I was unhappy with the new look – and we would have to take them down a bit. Within a few minutes of sending the email, his office called to arrange for me to come in.

I said it could wait until Monday but my dentist insisted I come in straight away. He wouldn’t be able to sleep knowing I was unhappy or self-conscious about the new look teeth. Anyway, I couldn’t make it that day but agreed to come in first thing the following morning.

When I arrived at the dental practice, my dentist greeted me at the door and ushered me into the chair. It was a Friday but the practice was closed. We were chatting away while he was organising the instruments. It seems that they (he and his wife are the two dentists at the practice) decided they only wanted to work a four-day week. I made the comment that “well, having Fridays available might help with emergencies.”

And he replied, “Oh we never have any dental emergencies.” He must have seen the puzzled look on my face. I thought dental emergencies would be a very common thing. He went on to say that their practice was a ‘client referred practice’ – meaning that they don’t take new patients, unless they come as a friend or family member of existing clients of the practice. I probably still had a contemplative look on my face at that point! How did this prevent dental emergencies?

He explained further. He and his wife had made a decision that they wanted patients/clients that took good care with their dental hygiene. Self-care is important to them as a working family and equally important for their patients. They had set the standard of the quality of patients that they wanted to provide care for. Under the model of practice that they have set up, all of their patients have regular check-ups and cleaning with the dental hygienist who has worked with them for a number of years. She spots any potential problems and then she refers the patient on to one of the dentists for work, if/when needed. This way there is never any dental emergencies because everyone is taking responsibility for their own oral health.

My dentist said he wouldn’t want to take money from someone who neglects their health, someone who hadn’t been to the dentist in six or ten years and suddenly has an abscess that needs immediate attention. "Please, I don't want your money, take it to some other dentist." The neglectful patient is in pain and the dentist then becomes involved in the milieu, becoming part of the painful problem and required procedure. Its an experience they don’t want to have, honouring their own sensitivity to other’s pain that is brought on by their own disregard.

My dentist is not a Student of the Livingness, in fact has probably never even heard of my community that understands everything is energy. And yet, his lived experience is that everything is energy. He knows that how someone takes care of themselves creates an energy. He is aware that money is energy and that money carries the energy of the quality of the person paying the money.

I appreciated the reward of having this extra time with this man, who happens to be my dentist. Even though it meant another trip – and at the cost of petrol nowadays that is a serious consideration – I felt like I had been enriched by hearing how he and his wife had set a standard for the patients that they are willing to care for, people who take responsibility for their own health.

This simple story illustrates a large problem we have in society today, especially in ‘developed countries’. Humanity is not taking responsibility for their individual state of well-being. People drink, smoke, do recreational drugs, eat processed food, overeat, undereat, don’t get enough sleep, don’t get enough exercise, watch violent dark movies, or isolate themselves, withdrawing from life. There are all manner of ways that we can abuse ourselves. And then we trot off to the psychiatrist, doctor or the emergency room and expect them to fix us up, so we can go back to our old ways of being. Just imagine what a different world it would be if we each took responsibility for our health. The doctors and nurses wouldn’t be exhausted and burned out. The hospitals wouldn’t be overflowing. Health care might even be affordable. So much would change if we all took responsibility to exercise self-care, emotionally and physically.

Anyway, just some musings on self-care from a dental chair.

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]]><![CDATA[THAT SENSE OF HOME]]>Sun, 10 Jan 2021 02:23:01 GMThttps://www.gaylecue.com/blog/that-sense-of-home

Living in Australia, it is not at all unusual to find a great number of immigrants in any given situation. Recently I was at a dinner party in which a large portion of those in attendance were originally from some other country. One of the women was talking about how, finally, now in her mid-70s, she had a sense of home here in Australia. Funnily enough she was one of the few Australians in the group!

She had been gripped by wanderlust for the last twenty years. She probably would have donned her backpack earlier in life but she was busy raising children. As soon as they left home, she put on her hiking boots and off she went for two restless decades, looking for something, perhaps herself.

Others who contributed to the conversation were saying that when they are in Australia, they miss their homeland. When they go back to the country of their origin, they miss Australia. And others shared that if they live on the west coast, they miss the east coast. If they live in the south, they miss the north. And so on.

I didn’t contribute much to this conversation as I’ve never been one to experience ‘home-sickness’. I’ve always stepped fully into wherever I found myself, be it this country or that, this neighbourhood or that. Perhaps it is because I am not interested in the past. For much of my life I’ve practised a variety of ways of being in the here and now, with varying degrees of success, until in recent years when I’ve become completely settled within myself.

In the generations before us, such circumstances weren’t part of our collective malaise. Travel wasn’t as easy, taking months to cross the ocean in life threatening conditions. Commercial airlines weren’t making non-stop flights around the world. Cars and highways weren’t the standard they are today – and who could afford the petrol, or the time, for regular cross-country travel?

But now in 2021, this sense of not being satisfied with where one finds themselves appears to be quite common. This will most likely be exacerbated by the travel restrictions imposed upon humanity and the planet by the current pandemic.

However, I realised that there likely was more to it than a longing for the past. This always-wanting-to-be-somewhere-else, feels like it is anchored in not being at home within ourselves.

Not to diminish the journey inward, it can be a long and winding road, searching for the truth of who we are as individuals. Perhaps that is where many of us have taken the wrong fork in the road. It will never feel ‘good’ to be looking out for ourselves above the other. Looking for the next promotion at work meaning someone will miss out, the next larger house, the next shinier car, the next partner who will love us more. Perhaps we will never feel satisfied when we move through life as an individual, in separation from the All.

To have a sense of being home, to live in true union within ourselves requires us to recognise and honour our divine origins. Once we have discovered the truth of what we are, we can then see that in everyone around us. We see everyone as equal. We see ourselves as part of the One Song.

I can hear some readers asking, “But how do we find this sense of home within ourselves?” Fortunately, 2021 brings a new resource with the just published website A Case of The Livingness. Like life, there are many roads but only one destination. You may find some signposts on this website. Look at the top menu bar and start with the What is… section. What is love? What is family? What is work? What is integrity? And many other important questions pointing us towards home.

May 2021 be filled with  love, joy, harmony, stillness, truth – and a sense of home, for all of us, wherever we may be.

~ Love is the vibration that yokes into a vast tapestry the multitude of circumscribed beingness. Love is the defining awareness that enriches such that we are given vast understanding so that, nil division, but full universality is not only known, it is moved with conclusive purpose. On this same day, the echoes of all that dwell within God’s with-in-ness, can be heard. Move to the tune of the One Echo and, with light, and by light, reflect union to wherever division has entered”. ~ Serge Benhayon

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