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Seeking nature as self-care and as a marker for self-care planning

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This week I visited Kakadu National Park.  It was a reset, a marker for a personal and self-care plan aimed at redirecting some habits that don’t serve me towards ones that do.  I needed to get away.  I needed time by myself to reflect and adjust.  New environments and senses and places away from home can uplift.  An uplift can carry the momentum needed to maintain focus.  My greatest source of accountability is myself.  I needed time by myself.   Sometimes people travel without making plans.   Some people go overseas with this approach – book a one-way ticket and arrive at the destination and go from there.   This time last year, and in the wet season, I went to Kakadu with my children.   The wet season is known to have fewer tourists, but we are all encouraged to visit because the experience is so different to other seasons.   Last year our first stop was the BowaliVisitor Centre and although many of the parts were closed due to COVID, there was a person to assist us with advice o
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Journaling about being 'in the moment'

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Energised by a conversation online and an inspirational person who showcases abstinence of alcohol through her posts, I set out this weekend to engage in an experience, journal it, and try my best to 'be in the moment'.  This blogpost is my journal entry.   Mentally I've been on this path before, but for a much longer period (and wrote about it here and here ).  Reflecting back, I never journaled the more detailed and individualised experiences.  If 'being in the moment' is a practice of deep and personal connection and reflection, I didn't leave a written mark.  During a time of no alcohol and in a place where the culture is rife with alcohol there was no 'on-paper' reflections of moments.  And if sobriety is assisted by an active and lived experience without the mind being influenced and altered by a substance, I didn't describe and transcribe it.  Long ago, and 6 months after quitting, I wrote  that 'what I realised from quitting is that ther
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2018 & what I'm grateful for

I haven't done a yearly grateful piece since 2013, and so here goes.  Five years is a long time in a person's life.  A lot can change.  As I reflect on why I haven't? Life has been busy.  In recent years I've been too busy (a cliche; everyone is busy but we can all re-arrange and find time if we make priorities).  In recent years I've seen what I read once that when we ask each other how we are we're busy.  Sometimes the emphasis changes.  "I've been really  busy", " soooo  busy", "it's crazy", etc.  If there's a holiday coming up we can laugh about it.  And then in November everyone is so busy it is a little crazy (and there are hints of exhaustion) and then the holidays hit and it's another year gone by.
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Eulogy for Nana Joyce

Within short walking distance from Joyce Gullick's house at Riyala sits a vertical wooden stump with a small flat surface on top. This is the place where Lorikeets’ feed. Each morning and evening when Nana Joyce was able, she prepared bread, honey and water inside a large plastic bucket. The honey and water soaked and seeped into the bread. This was the Lorikeets’ meal. From afar the colourful Lorikeet birds soared high in the sky and across the landscape in search of Riyala. As they arrived their wings stretched for a soft landing. One by one they flew in and took their place on broad branches in tall trees. Watching. Waiting. The bread, honey and water sat in an old and used honey bucket. There were no decorations. No resplendent designs. The old labels on the side were used and worn. The bucket was large and had a handle, and so it was useful. It was simple, practical and served its purpose. In the kitchen, as she prepared the meal, Nana Joyce could see and h
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"We are not an island" - reflections of Hawai'i

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A photo I took at Waikiki beach In 2011 I visited several cities in the United States as part of a leadership program.  This post includes my observations of my visit to Honolulu, Hawai'i. ************************ Intro and history I spent about five days in Hawai'i, mainly the Honolulu city area and some time at Waikiki.  The cultural exposure of the islands to the world, expressed mainly through surfboarding, flowers (lei) and 'Aloha' (hello, love), is a phenomenal story.  Like many people of my generation I came to know these things from a young age and Hawai'i deserves credit for its marketing and tourism success. The success of the islands from a tourism perspective is partly attributed to the sheer size of the US economy and its consumer base (Hawai'i is truly unique and has been able to capitalise on this as a State of the US).  Exposure globally, though, shows credit should go beyond this fate in history.  Experiencing Hawai'i in person an
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2012 & what I'm grateful for

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This post is to highlight what I'm grateful for in twenty twelve. Above all, I'm grateful for my family and the time I've spent with them this year.  In recent years I've been involved in a few things and found myself too stretched.  This year I re-adjusted and am better for it. I remember some years ago a parent of adults telling me that all ages were enjoyable for raising children.  As she told me I remember the pleased expression on her face as if all her memories of this time flashed before her.  In other conversations I hear of the difficult transition one faces when they raise children and then they leave home.  As my children get older I appreciate this, and as my own work through the 'middle' childhood age I anticipate the final stages of childhood before them.  I am grateful for being able to spend more time with them and my wonderful wife, Anita. Photo courtesy of Justin Brierty and the Centralian Advocate This year I was admitted to the roll
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Book Review - Barack Obama: the making of the man by David Maraniss

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Although I have read only a few Obama books, and within the range of middle-of-the-road authors (as far as can be), if ever there was a book which could delve into the narrative and detail of Obama's life pre-politics, this is it.  Nearly 600 pages long, this book offers a forensic account of each stage of his life, starting with his grandparents from both sides and across two continents to the honest and open accounts of family and friends. What impressed me most about this book was the research.  David Maraniss uncovered direct stories of people who knew and experienced Obama's various connections and brought it together in a single piece. Maraniss travelled to each location where Obama lived - Chicago, New York, LA, Hawaii, Indonesia (and Kenya where his father is from) - and went to great extents to learn of the history stretching back generations.  To understand Obama this is important, because the strands of his thinking and persona, like all of us, find common thre
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