Most cultures acknowledge the truth that adults have a child within. You can see it when adults forget themselves in laughter or play and become lighthearted. Indigenous cultures also acknowledged that every human has a child inside.     They differed from us in that they also knew the other side of this truth: that […]

Contentment is defined as “resting satisfied, with ease of mind.”  Doesn’t that sound lovely? Happiness flows naturally when we are contented. With contentment you can live gloriously, even magnificently!! but its not easy in a world constantly peddling something new you have to achieve. These achievements are supposedly a gate we have to go through […]

STRENGTHENING THE BOW Part 2: A SAFE LEARNING SUB-WORLD If your child is to develop strong adult learning capacity it is important that it is not snapped while their learning string is young. You can protect the bow of your child’s intelligence. One of the biggest challenges to strengthening the bow is that children quickly […]

ALOHA ALOHA I love the Hawaiian language. It is one of the simplest and yet most complex languages on earth. One phrase can have many meanings embedded in each word (rather like a conversation with your teenager!). The word Aloha is commonly translated as LOVE. One of its literal translations is sharing affection, joy and […]

THE POWER OF REVOLUTION Mothers often feel powerless and worthless in a society that values power and wealth. Consider these closing comments made by the Governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia in his address to the rich and powerful at the Banking & Wealth Summit: “In the end, though, you can’t legislate for culture […]

A hunting we will go…. Christmas and Easter – two of the seasons where you are in intimate contact with the oddities of the clan that raised you. Just as the child raised by wolves thinks that walking on all fours is the speediest way to move, many of us learned awkward ways to move […]

“A rich child often sits in a poor mother’s lap.”   This Danish proverb can help us think about the assumptions behind our decisions. Tibetan Khampa people are materially poor. Does that mean the nomadic Khampa child is poorer than the Western child? Materially? They have fresh air, the freedom to move and explore and […]

When the dog bites… Poor old Julie Andrews. She had to play a singing nanny AND a singing nun. Its amazing her sex life ever got off the ground. She did have a point though. There ARE days where the dog bites (or worse, your dog bites someone else!), you get a speeding ticket and […]

At the moment our home looks like a cross between Winter Wonderland and one of Pink’s rock concerts. At this time of year I find myself asking,      “Why don’t I live more like this the rest of the year?” At the end of the Christmas celebrations it is like watching the circus be taken […]

      When Dolly Parton was asked by a smart alec reporter how she felt about being called a dumb blonde she replied, “I don’t mind because I know I’m not dumb and I know I’m not blonde!”   That was such a kick-ass way to say, “I don’t care about your shallow ideas!” […]