Pen and Paper

To sit at a computer-free desk with a pen,

to pull out a sheet of your hand-printed headed notepaper,

to write those first two words "Dear Friend",

and then to pause a while before letting the ink flow onto the page with tales of your doings and your worries,

to fold up the paper,

slip it into an envelope,

write the address out,

stick on the stamp,

drop it into the letter-box,

and then imagine the pleasure that your letter will bring,

the physical pleasure of opening it and reading it at the other end.

- ah, is this not happiness?

"To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart."
~~ Phyllis Theroux



An old Sculpture by the Sea photo from 2007 taken at Bondi Beach, Sydney, Australia.

Take the Leap - Go Forth

Often the more money and material goods we have, the more we want - and the less they bring us satisfaction. I've come to realise the real key to feeling good is to give and keep on giving. When we stop putting a monetary value on what we do, it can be immensely liberating.

We also have an obsession with happiness as though it were yet another purchasable product.

As a child I once tried to stand in the end of a rainbow to feel the colours on me. I ran back and forth across a wet field with friends shouting directions across the cow pats.

But rainbows can't be seen from close up. The irony of happiness as a product is that it disappears when we look directly at it, as ephemeral as that rainbow.

When we are young we jump into a pool whether we can swim or not. We have no fear.  Either we swim or we drown.
Before the age of 30 important things happen to us which shape the rest of our lives.  We become aware of ourselves and our own thinking.  We reach the age of reason.  In our new-found maturity we begin to think in a more adult way. We become grown up! Recklessness and risk are not compatible with age.  Risk becomes something which must be carefully considered.

Or is it!!!

We all have a negative voice in our heads that stops us from taking risks. Ask yourself what you really have to lose. Most of the time it's about ego and less about any real loss. Go first. Have the courage to do something before waiting to see if others are willing.

“Two bubbles found they had rainbows on their curves.
They flickered out saying:
"It was worth being a bubble, just to have held that rainbow thirty seconds.” 
~~ Carl Sandburg

I was out walking with a friend around Palm Beach in Sydney and this Magpie came up to us and seemed to have some advice to offer.

Writing a Letter

To sit at a computer-free desk with a pen,

to pull out a sheet of your hand-printed headed notepaper,

to write those first two words "Dear Friend",

and then to pause a while before letting the ink flow onto the page with tales of your doings and your worries,

to fold up the paper,

slip it into an envelope,

write the address out,

stick on the stamp,

drop it into the letter-box,

and then imagine the pleasure that your letter will bring,

the physical pleasure of opening it and reading it at the other end.

- ah, is this not happiness?

"To send a letter is a good way to go somewhere without moving anything but your heart."
~~ Phyllis Theroux



The other day out walking I came across a carving of a lizard in a rock...isn't he beautiful - 8 February 2012, Sydney.

The Greatest Speech Ever Made

Charlie Chaplin's final speech in "The Great Dictator".

What makes this even more amazing is the fact that this is Charlie Chaplin, a comedian. He wrote this movie. And within the comedy there is this message, a man's powerful message. He drops the comedy for a few minutes to spill this.

The passion he has is just amazing.

2:05 "Machine men, with machine minds, and machine hearts. You are not machines. You are not cattle. You are MEN." I love how he says that.

"Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness"......


"Make sure you have finished speaking before your audience has finished listening."
~~ Dorothy Sarnoff

Choosing Happiness

I can honestly say right now I am the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. And what I know for sure, is that happiness is a choice.

I did a lot of work to get where I am. But before the reading and research, before packing a camera in my purse every day in the hope of capturing interesting images, came making up my mind to be happy.

The first step, in everything in life, is making a choice. We make choices in every moment. Right now, you are choosing to read this article rather than fold laundry, watch TV, or give the dog a bath.

Right now, because I want to spread joy, optimism and inspiration, I am choosing to write this article rather than wander into the kitchen and fill a bowl with chocolates for a late night snack, which would really only bring joy to me (at least until regret sets in and I begin calorie counting).

The point is, we choose every second. Even when we lay about doing nothing, we are making a choice every moment to continue to lay about, rather than getting up and doing anything else.

We seem to equate choosing with changing. Often when we stay the course we feel as though we’re not making any choices at all, yet we are making choices - we’re just not making different ones.

It has been said that we think 60,000 thoughts every day. And ninety percent of them are the same thoughts we had the day before. With that kind of habitual thinking it’s no wonder choosing different thoughts can be challenging.

What you have to ask yourself is, are you happy now? And if not, what are you willing to do to be happy?

For me it was a matter of becoming so uncomfortable where I was that more than wanting change, I felt it was necessary. I got to the miserable, prickly place where staying the course I was on was no longer an option. I didn’t like myself depressed and feeling worthless. At the moment that realisation overtook me, I made a different choice. I chose to be happy instead - to enjoy my life and be a joyful person.

It is through choice that we begin to create our lives. Through choice we grow and feed and prune our days into the life we want.


"Choose your friends by their character and your socks by their color. Choosing your socks by their character makes no sense, and choosing your friends by their color is unthinkable."
~~ Anon


I came upon this ancient Moreton Bay Fig tree while walking in the Botanical Gardens in Sydney on 28th August 2011. I stood and admired its beauty for some time.

Rainbows, Happiness and Risk

The more money and material goods we have, the more we want - and the less they bring us satisfaction.

The real key to feeling good it seems is to give and keep on giving.

When we stop putting a monetary value on what we do, it is immensely liberating.

We also have an obsession with happiness as though it were yet another purchasable product.

As a child I once tried to stand in the end of a rainbow to feel the colours on me. I ran back and forth across a wet field with friends shouting directions across the cow pats.

But rainbows can't be seen from close up.

And the irony of happiness as a product is that it disappears when we look directly at it, as ephemeral as that rainbow.

When we are young we jump into a pool whether we can swim or not.

We have no fear.

Either we swim or we drown.

Before the age of thirty important things happen to us which shape the rest of our lives.

The first is:

We become aware of ourselves and our own thinking. We reach the age of reason.

The second is:

In our new-found maturity we begin to think in a more adult way.

We become grown up.

Recklessness and risk are not compatible with age.

Risk becomes something which must be carefully considered.

Or is it!!!



Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, Sydney, Nov 2004 - Learning to fly