On a good day, I hope to be as kind to all others as often possible, and am far more conscious of the benefits of being pleasant to random others than I was when I was younger. So, when I am out and about and (probably, unfairly) make judgements about people, I often have to […]

There are a few memes on the internet about surviving growing up in the ‘60’s and ‘70’s, long before the “Nanny State” reared its ugly head. Certainly, some of the things my generation did as kids were dangerous, and, maybe, some sort of regulation to minimise the “Darwin effect” is needed. However, in Australia, at […]

The past week has reinforced 3 basic truisms of life (mine, anyway) 1. You cannot predict the future 2. Timing is everything 3. Most of us spend too much of our lives not questioning Truism 1 – Yang to yin in an instant: Sunday began really well. I’d had a reasonably good sleep after my […]

It’s a bit difficult to reflect on things when you’ve spent most of your life reacting to opportunities rather than creating them. However, the past year has been both uplifting and sobering. Moving back to Australia was exciting, enhanced by “camping out” in our new home. Working in Dubai, Malaysia, Australia and Indonesia was stimulating, […]

I know that Rolf Harris, Jimmy Saville, the Catholic Church and co. have made us realise that young people have never been safe from the sicker members of our societies, but it was brought home to me on Friday night that a number of us over react about child protection, not to mention a lot […]

Moving back to the “real world” has been relatively painless. Australia, despite the current caretakers, is still one of the best, if not the best, places in the world to live. It’s clean, and most things work. The technology leaves a bit to be desired at times, but we are on the NBN (which was […]

There’s nothing like being in the right place at the right time. Three weeks ago, working here in Dubai, I developed stomach cramps. I returned to Jakarta, and, after a couple of days, I was reasonably okay. I felt good getting on the plane to return to Dubai last Saturday. However, about an hour before […]

We finally got to the eastern end of Indonesia, courtesy of SMP YPJ, a Freeport junior high school for Indonesian students. We did a one-day workshop, which ended well and we followed up with small-group coaching the next day. On arrival, we were the only two travellers who had to go into an office and […]

  We had a brilliant day on Saturday that showed us what human beings are capable of when we are “on song”. TEDxUbud lived up to expectations and we were informed, entertained and inspired by some wonderful speakers and performers. There were talks about teaching young people to be happy or become media literate, talks […]

Like folk in many parts of the world nowadays, we are over the weather. In our case, in Jakarta, it’s rain. Normally, the rainy season has ended well and truly by now, but it is doing more than just persisting – the past two days have seen as much rain as we have had at […]