Do You Pull Others Down, or Lift Others Up?
Brisbane was confirmed this week as being the host of the 2032 Summer Olympics. It made me think of the athletes that have a goal to be there and what ...
Do You Know WHY You Do What You Do?
At the end of last week’s post, I touched on the concept of finding our WHY and as promised this week I want to unpack it a little. If you ...
How Hungry Are You?
I think I may be becoming predictable in the way I start a lot of my posts – ‘I had a conversation with someone recently…’ This time it was with ...
Do Great Expectations Lead to Greater Judgements?
Here we are again Benny. You on your side, me on mine. I have been sitting here almost a nutcase trying figure out what to say to you. I don’t ...
Are the Hurts of Your Past (or Passed) Bleeding All Over Your Future?
Sometimes we don’t know how capable we are of doing something, until we are forced to. Covid has probably taught us this better than any other recent example I can ...
Why Don’t We Talk About the ‘D’ Word?
I was asked recently if I ‘enjoy talking about death’. 😊 Well, I wouldn’t say I ‘enjoy’ it, but I am very comfortable and do speak about it. Perhaps I ...
Are We Really a Society That is DEvolving?
“… People are so consumed with themselves. If they just thought about each other for a change, they could provide support and would learn so much about gratitude!” “You are ...
Life After Death – Part V – Baby Steps Forward
Over the last few weeks, I have given you a glimpse into what it’s like to lose someone close to you – more specifically to lose a child. Perhaps you ...
Life After Death – Part IV – The Road Beyond
I spoke with a friend recently and we discussed what the next 12 months might look like. I wanted a sounding board and some clarity on what my next move ...
Life After Death – Part III – The Challenge Intensifies
As we continue our journey, I want to take a minute to reiterate my intention for this series. It is purely to open a window into what it’s like to ...
Life After Death – Part II – Living in The Fog
Losing a child is not like anything else. It is different to losing a parent, or grandparent, a sibling or a spouse. There really is no other loss it can ...
Life After Death – Part I – The Creation of You 2.0
Disclaimer: I write this post purely from my lived experience. My qualifications are a Masters in being a mother and a PHD in dealing with losing my child. This does ...
When does losing my child get better?
‘All connections we have in life serve a purpose…’ she wrote. I had coffee recently with a gorgeous woman. It was one of those ‘six degrees of separation’ meetings and ...
Do You Miss the Old You?
You know those people that after spending even just a few minutes with, you can’t help feeling good? Something inside lifts you up and it doesn’t seem to matter what ...
Reflecting in December
Wow! December 1st. Time to face the fact that another year has almost finished and we’re on the downhill run. For many of us it’s the final burst, wrapping things ...
Vision Quest – Part III – Collateral Benefits
Have you ever experienced something that was so incredibly powerful it literally changed you? By change, I mean it changed you on such a deep internal level, a core level ...
Vision Quest – Part II – The Journey Within
Dear Self (Continued from last week…) The walk was short but the mental and emotional baggage you carried was incredibly heavy. It seemed to weigh you down and slow your ...
Vision Quest – The Decision to Go Within
Dear Self Some months ago, you made a decision guided by what can only be described as a need or an inner calling, to go on a journey. I watched ...
The Wounds That Time Can Never Heal
On 30th September 2017, I lost my only son Ben. He was fifteen years young. I have learnt much over the last three years. Things I am glad I know, ...
Sanctuary Yoga Retreat – Inside and Out
“Anyone who wants to walk up to Reception, there’s a beautiful trail through the rainforest. Just be aware though, it’s steep and rugged in places…” – Ruth Campbell I smiled, ...
Some Perspective On Death Please
Is it just me? Am I alone in having a different perspective on what’s happening in the world today? Death is not a new concept people! It has been happening ...
Change in Your Life Begins With Change In You
Sometimes you have a week where upon reflection there was so much in it. Life lessons, a range of emotions, realisations and decisions. When you decide to live a certain ...
New Year New Growth
Here we are, January 5, and 5 days into our new chapter. I was about to write that we have 360 days left before we can assess how 2020 was ...
A Lesson From Space
I was busy wiping down shelves in my study as the dust that has come in my windows this week has been ridiculous. The mercury has been consistently in the ...
The ‘Cowardly’ Lion – A Lesson on Bravery
The fourth member of the party on the journey to see the Wizard is the Lion. He is often referred to as the ‘cowardly’ Lion but in the story, he ...
The Power of Lessons Through Stories
I love how much power and value there is in stories. Not just listening to them or reading them, but really hearing the hidden messages that we are supposed to ...
The Tin Man – Matters Of The Heart
As we continue our journey to see the Wizard, the next character we meet is the Tin Man… Ah, I have been looking forward to writing about him. Like me ...
A Mindful Lesson From the Scarecrow
As promised, let us begin our journey down the yellow brick road. The first person to accompany Dorothy on her quest to the Emerald City is the Scarecrow. We know ...
Lessons From The Wizard of Oz
Who remembers the classic movie The Wizard of Oz? The story of four unlikely characters that crossed paths. A Tin Man, a Scarecrow, a Lion and a young girl called ...
Good Grief… Two Years On
It’s every parent’s worst nightmare. On 26 September 2017 that nightmare became my reality. It was around 8.30pm and I was standing in the hallway of the gym, in shorts ...
Two Spaces, Two Opportunities, Two Choices
I found myself in a small room of like-minded people. Whilst everyone had a different background and a different story, there were two things that brought us all together. Each ...
Signs From The Universe, You Are Not Lost – You are Here
I was waiting for a lady to park her car so I could get into mine at the supermarket when she rolled down her window. “Excuse me, were you at ...
Energy Flows Where The Attention Goes
A class of students waited for their professor to distribute an exam. As each student turned over their papers, they saw there were no questions on the sheet. It was ...
What If People Just Do Things – Not actually TO us
What a time of learning, growing and realisation. Welcome to life. I commented to a girlfriend ‘just when I thought I nearly knew everything …’ There is a phrase ‘Hurt ...
Real Is What Some of Us Become
“Real isn’t how you are made,’ said the Skin Horse. ‘It’s a thing that happens to you … It doesn’t happen all at once, you become. It takes a long ...
Every Day Can Be New Years Day – It’s A Choice
Another week down and we are half-way through the year. I wonder who kept their New Year’s resolutions … I wonder who even remembers what they were 😊 If you ...
Mind Flu
I recently had the delightful experience (not really) of the Universe reminding me to be grateful and not take for granted what I have. Apparently, I was becoming complacent! I ...
It’s How People Feel, Not The Words That Are Said, That Is Remembered
Hi All It’s pretty amazing how we always hear exactly the right message at precisely the right moment we are supposed to. I suppose it highlights the importance of being ...
Freedom – Belief – Hope – Power
I was playing around with this week’s post trying to include the topics of Freedom and Belief. It came on the back of a story I heard recently about a ...
The Purple Truck
I picked up my 3-year-old nephew from day care/pre-school recently and before getting in the car we stood for a few minutes watching some workers load a big purple catering ...
The Benefit of Hindsight – An Awesome
You know those days where you sit down at the end of it and find yourself thinking ‘man that was such a good day!’ Or perhaps it’s the last day ...
Your Life Movie Always Attracts The Right Cast
I met someone ‘randomly’ once 8,000 km from home. We were both drinking coffee and we struck up a conversation. I remember him asking me what brought me to town ...
Life Lessons We Can Learn From Animals
There are generally two camps for pet lovers, the dog lovers, and the cat lovers. All the other animals, guinea pigs, birds, fish, lizards etc. seem to fall into the ...
All Seasons Will Change, Regardless of the Weather
I hung a load of washing out on the line in the early evening of a Friday. My theory was if I did it late that day, it would all ...
Life’s Journey – The Spiritual, Physical And The Airport
I am sitting in an airport and my mind is thinking about a million different things but more than anything, what I have learnt (and continue to learn) about life ...
The Compass
It’s amazing how fast technology is moving, it seems there is a new gadget or widget being designed or invented every day. This week I was reminded of the Spot ...
Life Is Precious
I had the privilege of speaking once again this week to another school group. It is fast becoming my favourite audience to engage with. I guess because they are roughly ...
Life is a Gift
I watched a movie called The Childrens Act. Great movie if you haven’t seen it. I would recommend keeping a couple of tissues handy though … or maybe that’s just ...
The Dinner Guest Story
It started out just like any other day. The hard-working father of three, two girls and a boy, sat at the dining table drinking his morning coffee. It was strong ...
The Giraffes
I was in the car recently and as it does when I am on auto-pilot, my mind drifted off across a multitude of topics. I could have been well on ...
An Attitude of Gratitude
It’s been a huge start to the year for many of us and it’s hard to believe the first month has slipped by already. Some of us are feeling refreshed ...
Departures and Arrivals
I was going through an airport recently and as I headed for Departures, I thought about the difference between the Departures area and the Arrivals area. You may first ask ...
Our treasure box
I sat down with a marketing guru and after dumping my brain on the table and using the disclaimer that it was in no order whatsoever, she looked up from ...
Defining Time
I read once “Your most valuable lessons will be learnt in the most unexpected places from the least expecting people and often at the worst of times.” During a trip ...
Opportunities and Choices
I heard a story last week of a woman who committed suicide. Her ex husband shot and killed her two teenagers in front of her and then turned the gun ...
Your Life Your Story
I read an article recently entitled ‘How to Know If You Are Having a Mid Life Crisis.’ It had 13 tips and I was surprised as I read them, I ...
‘Tis the Season to be jolly… unless it’s not
‘Tis the season to be jolly fa la la la la, la la la la …’ Unless it’s not. December and this holiday season in general are not experienced by ...
Be You – Be Great
Hi All Have you ever woken up and wondered “How the heck did I get here?” For my younger readers, or the not so young, I mean how did you ...
Do you see what I see?
I recalled this week a conversation I had with a friend years ago. We were discussing a potential drug that could erase your memory and whilst we agreed this could ...
Who do you see in the mirror?
I noticed on the wall of a preschool class once a page explaining the reason behind the children creating self-portraits. These were typically drawn at the beginning of the year ...
Changing your Latitude
Anyone that has ever had a bad day, a bad month or any bad period in their lives knows today that they got through it. I think I am safe ...
Down the rabbit hole
There was a famous novel written in 1865 that told the story of a girl who fell down a rabbit hole into a world of fantasy populated by anthropomorphic animals ...
Perspective from the Moon
Every day we make decisions in our lives for ourselves and sometimes for others and many of these decisions are made never really knowing what the bigger picture is. It ...
Choices and Consequence
I was asked recently how I write my blog each Sunday. I replied that it is usually something that has happened during the week, or a thought that I had ...
Who Am I?
Many years ago, I was involved in a networking marketing company and as part of this I subscribed to an education program. To this day, some of the lessons and ...
The Concept of Giving
The concept of giving seems to have been a recurring theme in my last week so I am taking that to mean that’s the preferred topic for today’s post. I ...
It’s all about the dash
I left home early yesterday morning and headed for the club for Presentation Day and the ‘Bag Your Boots for Ben’ collection. As usual, I looked at Ben’s picture and ...
Real Love is Unconditional
She sat there quietly, eyes blurred with what had seemed like a never-ending ocean of tears. She stared at the screen, it felt like it had been blank for the ...
90% of Life is How We React To It
I mentioned last week that people will see and do things based on ‘who they are’ and not necessarily what it is. We have all experienced ‘bad things happening to ...
Will you make things happen?
Today, I want to acknowledge an extremely special bunch of guys. I had the privilege of being part of an amazing team last Sunday as the Under 16s, Ben’s footie ...
Making the Obstacle the Reason to Achieve
Another Sunday is here, and the world will once again go about their Sunday business. Today I get to watch my son’s U16’s team play in their grand finale. It ...
Emotional Intelligence
I recently attended a one-day business workshop and I was surprised at what I took away that not only applied to business but to every-day life. Two of the key ...
Lift up or Bring Down?
I was sharing recently with someone how once upon a time, when I was a teenager, and around the same time as dinosaurs roamed the earth, we didn’t have the ...
Resilience
I have continued to receive the most beautiful messages from many of you who were close to Ben, sharing how your lives have been changed as a result of having ...
An attitude of Gratitude
Another week has gone by and it’s that time to take stock (for me). What did I learn? What did I achieve? What did I want to accomplish and did ...
Time
I wrote in an email earlier this week: “I have learnt many things this past year including that time goes fast … except when it goes really slowly”. After I ...
It’s always too soon to quit
I had a moment this week where I questioned why we seem to have to conduct an ongoing investigation in our life in order to get answers. What am I ...
Reality vs Reality
I heard of a speaker recently who was talking about how we each have our own version of reality and how we each create them. He went on to say ...
Finding the silver lining on the darkest clouds
I lay quietly in the very early hours of the morning, contemplating my world and the universe, thinking about my day and my week and my life and the future. ...
Forever Ben Shaw
Today’s post is a special one and a bit longer one so you might want to get a cuppa. I have decided to dedicate it 100% to my angel Boo. ...
Once Upon a Time
It has been an amazing and somewhat surreal week on so many levels. This story began back in 1999… Well, really, many years before that as you may read in ...
Elephants
Has anyone ever had an elephant or several elephants living with them? You know, those topics that everyone is aware of, but no one really wants to discuss. I have ...