"What should my resolution for 2026 be?", I mulled as I cooked dinner last week. *Relentless Positivity* were the words that flashed in my mind. Not being an optimist by nature, I was somewhat excited by the prospect of experimenting with a different mental mode for the ensuring 12 months but then, I read the news ... It's not going to be easy, I realised. The world events inspired me to get clinical about positive thinking; what it means in practice and how to deal with a mi

Life is ebbs and flows - but how to navigate it all? A video popped up on my tiktok feed recently - featuring a middle aged school teacher sitting at his desk correcting assignments, with the following caption: "My students are asking me, how come I have an email address with my actual name?" His response (sanitised version), "Because I was around for the birth of the email ..." Who else remembers being alive in the late 90s - at the dawn of the internet? A fad for kids and n

Our strange predicament Eight billion people, hurtling through space on the same piece of rock, have ended yet another trip around the sun seemingly, more divided than ever. You have to wonder, how can this be, especially now when we are more connected to each other than we've ever been? Misinformation, disinformation, algorithmically driven feeds (so we all see a slightly different version of reality), inequality, old and new prejudice ... the list of possible causes goes on

Feeling at one with the world - Willow the Wonderer, Space Odyssey 2024 has been 'the' year of elections 64 countries which make up 49% of the human population headed to the polls in 2024. As the year comes to an end, we find ourselves on the eve of perhaps the most consequential election of them all : The US Presidential Election.   Why should an Aussie care? Whether we like it or not, the decisions taken on Capitol Hill, greatly impacts all our lives. This time around, the

2024 has a nice futuristic ring to it, does it not? To my ear at least it sounds like the distant future we grew up hearing so many fantasies about has just now come around, and landed right at our doorstop. But does it feel futuristic? To those who have lived through several decades at least, it surely feels futuristic - what with the internet and the miniturisation and digitisation of all things in our lives, it's hard to deny that much in the way we live has changed.   Ind

Yours truly turns the big 40 this year. As one of my statistically inclined colleagues put it at his 40th, 'half way there!' I've never been one to celebrate birthdays and in fact have no recollection of ever having a birthday party. But I remember musing once in my 30s (when turning 40 seemed like an abstract construct) that I will mark my 40th with a huge party. There would be no half measures either : I'd hire out the iconic Wylies Baths in Coogee with it's gorgeous rock

Just as we thought we were over the worst, the next wave of COVID starts and we find ourselves in another indefinite lockdown or in my case lockout... The impact of health orders being issued on the largest population and business centres of our county has widespread social and economic impacts - where one lives almost doesn't matter. Getting restless and agitated at times like these is unavoidable it seems, and as I saw the launch plan of our new business and picture book go

I am currently on the first ‘gap year’ of my life. It has turned out to be quite ‘the gap’ as thanks to COVID, I’ve had to shelve all my plans as it all involved travel! I started to work on other projects close to my heart instead. Most days I find myself happily self-employed in these but from time-to-time I feel a sense of utter restlessness and discontent set in. It is during one such ‘episode’ that I penned this article, in real-time, as I worked through my restless mind