Bad choice battles are a tough gig. You know what I mean. It's been a difficult day: work pressure, people behaving badly, things going wrong. You've just got in the door. Theoretically you will cook a healthy meal/spend time with people you love/tick a few jobs off and relax. Instead you find yourself scoffing chocolate or chips, yelling at your kids and spending …
E-mazing tweaks to rebalance your life
I'm old enough to remember when mobile phones were first released. I was in youth work, and most of my peers were raving about "how convenient" these devices were. Then came internet: fancy being able to access information at any time! Facebook: now we can keep in touch at every moment! Amazing! Every new technological development comes sold to us with the inherent promise …
Life tweak #3 Stop sometimes!
Hands up who's been running recently? I don't mean the exercise type, I mean through life. Yes, I see you all. Me too. Exhausting, isn't it? How many of you parents are hanging out for school holidays so you can have a break from the constant routines? (Of course, you've already filled your time plans with something else!) Research tells us you …
How to change myself in 7 small steps
There’s a few ways I’d like to change myself. Not that I’m bad, I’d just like to be better! I’d like to be thinner and to tell funny stories. It would be useful if I could sell with confidence. I wish I didn’t dislike conflict so much. How about you? Can you see areas either in yourself or your life you’d like …
Sleep solutions for busy people
Last week I posted on five tweaks each of us might consider taking to resolve some craziness of the lives we're living. I called them tweaks rather than hacks, because it seems to me that a hack is rather more extreme and deliberate than a tweak, and small changes may be all we're up for. Nonetheless, I thought each of …
Five tweaks to improve your life
I'd like to think that you and I have time to put into improving our lives. That we have enough energy to be inspired to do so. But I get that life has a way of stopping us. These past few weeks I’ve been so busy it's been hard to get anything done! Yes, I see that irony!! This got me …
Why all relationships need some boring!
It's the trend these days to assume everything worthy must be eternally interesting and exciting. After all, we're always rushing off to the latest concert or buying the latest clothes or gadget. It's only natural, I suppose, to fall into believing that relationships should go the same way. Unfortunately, the only way to have constant excitement in a relationship is to …
The cost of not dreaming
“Without a vision people perish.” Someone said that to me recently. They went on to say they don’t mean you literally die, just slip into a kind of walking dead where life becomes ordinary and without boundaries or purpose. And as I listened, it struck me that the cost of not dreaming is actually very high. I don’t think I’d thought of …
Has FOMO infected you?
Do you have FOMO? Apparently it’s rising to epidemic levels in the western world, and many of us are going undiagnosed. Are you one of its victims? FOMO, or Fear of Missing Out, is a mutation of the old “keeping up with the Joneses” or “the grass is always greener on the other side” behaviour presenting in a social media …
Mum’s the word
This Sunday in Australia, mum's the word! That's right, it's when we celebrate Mothers Day. My mum's one of my faithful readers – Happy Mothers Day Mum! I think mums are great, and becoming one was high on my bucket list from a young age. Family's a crticical connection place and mothers are a key part of that. But I'm conscious not everyone …
Stop crying and other useless directives
“Stop crying!” The words were blurted by a very frustrated man in response to the ongoing wailing of two little boys. The pair were hanging over an upper verandah whilst he was just below them packing something into a car. The older one – perhaps four -was genuinely upset – he sounded heartbroken. Mr Two-ish’s crying, though loud, perhaps had overtones of …
Stress busting
We’re in the car this morning and my kids ask me about the day I have planned. I tell them I need to get a post out and I’m not sure what topic to do. My daughter puts her head against the seat and, shutting her eyes, says, “How about something on stress?” Stress?? It’s the first week of a …
A secret to happiness
Would you like to know a secret to happiness? You’re in luck. Over the past 20 or so years a new field has opened up in psychology looking at people with a healthy approach to living. (It was seen as a necessary balance to all the study going into the ways we can be/are broken.) One of the areas …
Advice for you as land owner (even if you don’t own your home!)
Owning your own home has long been considered an Australian dream, though much debate is raging whether we’re losing this cherished ideal as housing affordability rises. If you’re a land owner with a plot of ground you call home, well done. If you’re not prepared to give up on that dream just yet, good luck realising it. Whether you hold …
Quiet!
The last three days I’ve had no voice, thanks to some awful virus that’s hit our household. It’s strange to be forced to be quiet for so long. I can’t call anyone to come, can’t yell to stop behaviour I don’t like; can’t even ask anyone to help me. This morning a bunch of noisy council workers came to cut …