Joe pickle had traversed thousands of miles, trekked over treacherous mountains, slid down slippery slopes and pricked his bum on a cactus.And he had finally arrived. He pinched himself. He wasn't dreaming. He was well and truly in front of the one and only Placana (that was pickle talk for wisest of them all).'Oh omniscient … Continue reading Pickle’s meaning of life →

Jonesy' weakness is weakness. He can't handle it. He's allergic to it. His motto for adversity has always been accept it and learn from it. Quick, easy, one and done. But now with his witness protection programme, Jonesy has to be exposed to new people. People who wallow. People who mope. People who cry for … Continue reading Jonesy and weakness →

If ever you needed evidence of the state of the nation when it comes to body image you can visit the local sauna. I posit that hundreds of years of fat shaming has not yet been undone by the recent positive body image movement and that most women will be wearing one piece bathing suits … Continue reading Belly nation →

The team is great except for this one player. This one player is on their 8th team because no one wants to play with them. And from the way they're acting it looks like they haven't learnt their lesson either. They began ok but now they're starting to act up and show all the traits … Continue reading Culture protection →

I wonder, do those, with conditions that shorten their lives, have much more fun and joy for life than those without. They appear to anyway, in my opinion. And I imagine it stems from death being top of their mind so often. Reminding them to enjoy the present.

Spite can be a powerful motivator. I never want to enter cold water but today I did so quickly and pretended it was nothing to me. All to prove to someone that I wasn't a wuss.

Joan's ideal weekend is reading. Just reading, nothing else, for 48 hours. But now she's feeling the pressure to change. She gets the feeling she's being labelled 'boring' by others. And she's getting bombarded with messages about living life to the fullest and that means leaving no time to non adventure. March to the beat … Continue reading Braving boring →

You always forget the grappling part of learning. Your ego seems to erase that crucial period before competence when you were trying to cling on to any knowledge, any fact, any thing at all, for dear life. But if you cast your mind back hard enough you'll remember that progress does follow, if you stick … Continue reading Grappling stage →

There's the theory, then there's the limitation of resources. "I know that's the right thing to do but there simply is not enough hours in the day" You can see this everywhere. That's why theory remains an ideal and practice and reality are the realms to live in.

The key to a challenge is taking a leaf out of Goldilock's book. Not too hard, otherwise it feels insurmountable and we don't bother trying. Not too easy, otherwise it doesn't feel worth our time. Just the right amount of challenge to get the motivation and engagement up.