Apparently about 3 in 10 of us stopped our lives to watch a certain horse race in the past week. Last year we wagered $657 million over the four day carnival. That’s a lot of bets we were hoping to win! As an article I found in the online Age this week pointed out, that amount’s only a drop in …
Is your pause button broken?
So, the question for you today is about stopping. Do you know how to stop and – the wriggly bit – do you actually ever do it? Or is your pause button broken? I mean, we’ve just had a weekend. Hands up who’s been running the whole time? I don’t mean exercising, I mean through your ‘days off.’ Yes, I …
Where you’re looking determines what you feel
It was a crazily bright Winter morning. The sky was intensely blue and the sun shining, though the air was admittedly cool. Not far into my walk a guy strode towards me wearing a coat and beanie. He was under a canopy of big trees, therefore in the shade. As he passed he nodded and muttered, “Mighty chilly day!” His …
Sure bet ways to improve your life
The ‘Race That Stops the Nation’ has just been run, and thousands of us will have had a lot of fun betting money on a potential winner and enjoying the fairy tale wound into this year’s outcome. The Melbourne Cup is one of those iconic Aussie traditions many of us indulge in, regardless of whether we live in Melbourne or not! Whether …
Where you look determines how you feel
It was a crazily bright Winter morning. The sky was intensely blue and the sun shining, though the air was admittedly cool. Not far into my walk a guy strode towards me wearing a coat and beanie. He was under a canopy of big trees, therefore in the shade. As he passed he nodded and muttered, “Mighty chilly day!” His …
The balancing realities of life
Have you noticed there are balancing realities in all parts of our lives? Some days it’s sunny and others its stormy. There are times life is so good you feel like you’re walking on a cloud. The next month or year everything’s so hard you’re over it. This is true whether you’re thinking about work, family, relationships or anything else. My …
Five reasons to smile
Although we can’t be permanently happy, a lot of us spend far too long with a frown on our faces. It’s not helping you and it’s not doing much for the rest of us either. Today if you’re feeling a bit flat, I’ve got five reasons to smile for you to ponder: It lowers stress In our crazy, fast paced …
Remember to Breathe
Many of us have been suffering from bad weather lately; sometimes from the sky and sometimes from other people. It’s kind of easy to feel depressed when that happens, and dull our living down to avoid the intensity of emotions raised. But then we’re sad without feeling the pain. If that’s you, the best thing to do is take a deep breath …
Seven reasons to walk
Late yesterday afternoon I stepped out of my house to go for a walk. I was tired and had a lot in my head and a full evening ahead of me. I was just around the first corner when a gentleman with a fierce look on his face crossed the road and stepped onto the path right in front of …
Inside Out in an emotional world
Inside Out has been a big hit over the school holidays. For those of you who aren’t loaded with young ones (we borrowed some friends as our way of justifying seeing the film!) or weren’t young enough at heart to go alone, Inside Out is a film by Disney/Pixar directed by the same person who created Up. The film is …
Bad choice battles and how to win them
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 …
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 …