The Breath Prayer
In testing times, where can we find the inner strength to cope with the anxieties we face while also rising to help others? This Breath Prayer can help.
Friends, I Beg You: Stop Passing on Covid Information You’re Not Qualified to Understand
I'm not here to convince you to get a Covid-19 vaccine, as I have. I am however, begging us all to stop claiming to be immunologists, vaccinologists, public health experts and medical statisticians.
Ready for a New Adventure? Make Sure it Has These Four Things
If the pandemic has been good for anything, it’s been good for my local park. During the first lockdown, kids made a line of hand-painted rocks that snaked for yards and yards. Fairy houses with tiny doors, windows and picket fences appeared at the base of tree trunks, and recently a community library was set
The Day I Broke Social Distancing Rules
I’m not one for breaking rules. In fact, when I found myself walking my dog in a ‘No dogs allowed’ park once, I went and handed myself in! And when it comes to wearing masks and keeping to social distancing rules during lockdown, I've been about as stringent as you can be. So as you'll
When You’re Lost in the Wilderness, Remember this
Much of my work is public speaking—a job transformed by the pandemic from one of hotels and conference stages to loungerooms and laptops. Recently I Zoomed in to speak at Walsall Community Church. My topic was going to be joy, but that all changed when a few days before I was to speak, one of
The Bird That Lost its Song. A Parable
The regent honeyeater bird is in trouble—it's losing its song. Once an abundant species in south-eastern Australia, now just 300 remain, and with so few mates to learn from, the males are forgetting their own song and trying to mimic the songs of other birds instead—leaving the female honeyeaters confused and their numbers in decline. Losing
Six Ways to Tend Your Soul in Times of Turmoil
How can we cultivate, care for, tend our souls in these difficult times? Here are six strategies and practices.
Let’s Turn This Problem into a Quest
A few years ago I wrote a book about starting again after broken dreams. Any naivete I still had about the world and its problems was soon dispelled as hundreds of readers shared their own broken dreams with me. To this day, the hardest part is replying to these stories without resorting to cliché. What Good
You Need to Play More. Here’s Why
If there’s one member of our household taking these uncertain times in his stride, it’s our black-furred, silver-pawed cockapoo, Rupert—whose playfulness is getting him through heatwaves and lockdowns alike. Rupert’s joy seems based on the fact he has legs and he can run, and with his tongue out and ears flapping, he dashes through the
Here’s Why You’re So Tired Right Now – and What to Do About It
I thought I was getting through this Covid crisis OK—until a couple of weeks ago. That’s when chores started taking longer to do, broken by spells of staring at walls. Articles took longer to write as I doodled instead of typed. I stopped posting on social media because I couldn’t focus my thoughts, and I