Background
I was born in the Philippines and our family then moved to Hong Kong. My maiden name is Mosley and I have 3 brothers, John, Michael and David. Michael died tragically on Wednesday 5th June 2024, after going missing on the island of Symi, Greece. There are no words.
I was sent to boarding school in the UK at the age of 11 and then came to live part-time in the UK from the age of 13 (parental divorce causing this). later I went to university to study English and Philosophy but on arrival changed to Politics, Economics and Theology. I thought it would be more ‘useful’ and that I would read books like ‘Paradise Lost’ in my spare time… ( I didn’t)
In the early 1980s, after a summer volunteering in a Vietnamese refugee camp in HK and meeting a woman called Jackie Pullinger who introduced me to a radical christianity which welcomed ex-addicts & the homeless, I did a stint in a christian community and then worked with people with alcohol and drug issues. After marrying Tim (who’d I met at the christian community) I became part of the strange and extraordinary church he attended, which slept the homeless and provided them with a place of acceptance and welcome.
A few years later, Tim became a vicar and I followed my beloved around the country, had three children and having always loved acting, finally discovered a passion for writing drama and eventually completed an MA in Dramatic Writing – hurrah!
Drama and Film
For twenty years I created drama with adults and children in the community: churches, schools and on the streets.
I also made several short films, one of which won some awards and myself and the director/producer, Andy Carslaw, had fun attending various film festivals
Mindfulness
In 2011 I discovered mindfulness and it has helped me to fall awake to my life. It was and is a pearl of great price. Since then my writing and my mindfulness practice have developed together and so has my spirituality and philosophy of life.
A teacher and a book
In 2012 a man I’d got to know, who I shall call Stephen, told me ‘my life is a complete and total waste of time.’ He had struggled all his life with mental health issues and perhaps primarily with how people treated him. He’d been on psychiatric wards for 25 years and only diagnosed with autism in his late 40s. I decided that I would write a book about his life and show him that his life did matter. I later realised that I was also doing it to show myself the very same thing. Stephen became my teacher in many ways. I used to visit him and record our conversations and then transcribe them, edit them, and read chapters back to Stephen. Unfortunately I didn’t managed to complete the book before Stephen died in August 2018.
Leaving the church
By then Tim and I had left the church we were in. Tim is no longer a vicar, that is his story. I not only left the particular church we were in but after 35 years of loyal and passionate commitment, I left the Church of England. I have not attended a church service (apart from a wedding or funeral) since July 2018. I left for many reasons and would have left several years before but hadn’t found a way out. Tim had worked hard to bring a more radical and inclusive approach but there was resistance and also the Church of England narrowly proscribes what wording can be used in main services. Increasingly as years went by, the narrow, exclusive dogma became unacceptable to me, the male language about God created a sense of alienation as did the prevaricating about the role of women as priests and then bishops. I find the C/E’s refusal to become more accepting of gay people unacceptable and cruel. Perhaps the Church of England can never be radically inclusive – certainly not as long as it is established.
Another way of living
Our children have now left home and we live in East Oxford, teaching mindfulness and exploring a broader, more inclusive, spirituality. I have found a deep connection with nature – aware that everything is connected in a very primal way. The cells of my body have come from the earth and will return there. I finally feel I belong to this earth.
Falling Awake to Life - Through Story, Myth and Mindfulness 