Blog
“I want to see communities in which our interactions consistently demonstrate what I call the ‘other four-letter words’: kind, hope, care, love.”
The Ros-Lyn
When I was a kid growing up in Woomera, my dad filled his weekends building a wooden boat. Ros-Lyn, he named her. Half of my name, half of my sister's. I watched him on and off, this man in the desert building a boat. I didn’t think too much about what motivated him...
Moments & Droplets
The kids are back at school and settling in. I was walking through the grounds of a school on day three of term, on my way to a meeting. I had to wait for a minute while a single file of prep-aged children, following their teacher, crossed my path on their way to a...
The Poets
Using just a few words, a poet can shift how we sense ourselves, and tune us to something we’ve never heard before. Author and activist Parker J. Palmer refers to good poetry as a ‘third thing’. It brings a presence that has a voice of its own. This voice is not the...
Authenticity Paradox
Brilliant sky, searing sun and red horizon. Glittering water, floral profusion, waterbirds, and fish. These are both the authentic desert. I started school in the arid and isolated little town of Woomera in South Australia. While living there, my dad built a boat....
Courage to Create Change – Spring
We can spend our lives running toward change, running from it, or running around in some mix of the two. It can be tiring. Yet every year, spring flows in and shows us grace in change. She has some lessons for us. After winter darkness, spring brings joyful, vibrant...
Snails
When I was six, Mum and Dad were building a house and for a year we all piled-in to live with Grandma and Grandpa in country South Australia. Grandma loved roses, although growing them was a bit of a feat in SA summers. Looking back, I suspect the roses might have...
Bowling Alone, Making Cider Together
Waaaaay back in 2001 I read a book that influenced me enormously. If we’ve met over a cup of tea since then, you’ll probably know its title. You certainly will if you’ve come for dinner. My two sons say all the dinner parties of their teenage memories were punctuated...
Thank you, Unsplash.
In the last couple of months I've had a few presentations to prepare and it has been blessedly wonderful to draw down on the incredible images that one can find on Unsplash! I'm a relative newcomer to Unsplash. I love it. My dear friend, photographer and all round fab...
Teams of Teams
By golly, some of the work I've been involved in these last few years has been noticed across the Pacific with reciprocal shared gratitude - it's just grand! The wonderful crowd at Circle of Security International have given me a shout-out here. Can I just say, it's...
How’s that Grace Tame, eh?
How’s that Grace Tame, eh! What a stunner. Amazing Tasmanian Grace – you little beauty! Did you see Our Australian of the Year pack her punches up on that podium? You go, our woman of strength and power! You change this world! You take paternalistic domination and...
Australia: Days of Celebration & Remembrance
I’m writing this on 26th January. I’m working. As usual. I actually don’t want this public holiday on this date. So I’m very happy to be at work. And because I own my own business it is easy for me to make choices to conscientiously object to the date. That said,...
Power of the Circle
Big circles of purpose and serendipity seem to move around us all the time. Sometimes we get to see them clearly loop around or close; and at other times their arcs are very long, and they move undetectably until we sense a coincidence and can trace a thread back. Not...