Cultivating the brand of “Australia’s People Gardener” gets some diverse reactions. Some people love it. Others suggest it doesn’t present a good business image, the implication being that business is about playing hard-headed mind games in the battle for the dollar. No place for emotional sentiment.

I find that’s a perception people have of other people, not themselves. Success, not just in business but in life, is about passion, inspiration, determination, anguish, guts and every other emotion you can name. The head plays a role but the heart makes the big decisions. The people who really succeed in business do it first and foremost because they are passionate. Sometimes they succeed and sometimes they fail but their heart is at the centre of everything they do.

Gardeners use their heads when cultivating vigorous plant growth but it’s their heart and passion for gardening that’s driving their efforts. Calling myself a people gardener is just a further evolution of me getting to know and express my true self better. What better example can I give of the nature of my business – my passion for helping people blossom through better knowing and expressing their true selves.

How do I do that? Click here to find out.

Freedom - perhaps the greatest, most positive and potentially the most morale-boosting word in the world today.  To those without it, freedom is a dream they cherish and long for. To those who have it, the greatest danger is to take it for granted.

Perhaps your most basic freedom is the freedom to choose what you enjoy. When it comes to choosing your work, there are many factors to be taken over and above simple enjoyment.

When it comes to leisure pursuits, you are in total control of the choice, the actions, the reasons, the extent to which you want to develop your abilities, who to do it with or to do it alone,  whether it be physical or mental, active or passive,  the place, the time, and more.

Reflect for a moment on the interest you passionately enjoy for its own sake. How does it make you feel? What does it do for your self-esteem and self-confidence? How much does it de-stress you and sustain your resilience to cope with everything else in your life?  

It's a freedom we too easily take for granted, even leaving until after 'all the more important things are done'.  And don't forget that others in your life, including your staff, also have the freedom to choose and enjoy their own leisure interests.

Fear has been described as an acronym – F.E.A.R. False Expectations Appearing Real. Many working people feel fear when it comes to considering life beyond the age of 60-65.

Been there, done that. Let me assure you I am enjoying life beyond age 65. You can find it every bit as fulfilling as any earlier stage of life. You have so many options – paid or unpaid. It’s much like any other major lifestyle re-think you’ve done before, like when you got married, started a family, quit top sport, or reached any of the big ’0’s.

There’s one big difference. You become entitled to choose living life on your own terms. If that includes paid work, choose your own working terms. Whatever you decide, you owe it to yourself, and to those you love, to enjoy allowing your natural talents, passions and unique potential to continue blossoming. It has the potential to become the best time of your life.

One final tip. You wouldn't leave your financial planning until you needed the money. Start thinking now what 'planning life on your terms' means for you.

Still got fears?  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to discuss how I might help you clear the fog.

RUOK? Are you ok mate? It's a simple but potentially hugely powerful question we can all ask a colleague, relative or friend. And September 13th is once again being recognized as National RUOK? day. Find out more on their site at www.ruokday.com.au

And don't just ask it on September 13th. Ask RUOK? at any time on any day of the year you notice somebody you know acting out of character. We are all reluctant to tell others when we are down but we all know the lift it can give when someone takes the time to stop, to show some concern and ask "are you ok?"

It won't hurt to ask...and you might even be triggering a positive turnaround in someone's life.

It's the simplest, most powerful form of stress management I could ever suggest.

People want to listen when you speak about solutions to problems that can keep you awake at night. They sure listened to my keynote presentation to over 300 delegates to the Parks and Leisure Australia National Conference in Newcastle NSW, from which I have recently returned. I had so many people come up to me throughout the rest of the conference - and even at the airport as I was leaving - congratulating and thanking me. Some shared with me passionate personal stories about themselves and their lifestyles. 

The topic was the changing perception of leisure in these frenetic times. My core message was that 'leisure is back in the business of solving global problems so serious that they keep people awake at night'. The audience reactions confirmed that leisure truly is back in the business of solving what is in fact a global energy crisis - people are burning more emotional energy than they are creating. The symptoms of burnout are everywhere.

But I won't reproduce the presentation here. You can click here to see my notes and slides.

I found the whole experience to be humbling, yet empowering. I would love to be able to recreate the experience at your next conference, seminar, staff development event or other business or community event. It doesn't have to be 300+ people. Any size group is fine with me.

The Marmot studies into stress and health levels within the UK Civil Service came up with some unexpected findings. They thought senior executives would be the most stressed because of their high pressure work and major decision responsibilities. In fact lower level staff were found to be the more stressed, largely because they have much less control and discretion in their job. 

There seems little doubt there's a strong link between the increasing levels of stress and the many changes over which we have so little control. It also strengthens the link between mental health and enjoying your favourite leisure/recreation interest - a life-enriching experience over which you have total control.

In every area of life in my business I am finding a huge constant. People are crying out to be treated as human beings. Especially, but not only, in the workplace. And you know what? I see it as much in the lives of leaders and employers as I do in followers and employees.

Systems rather than people seem to be running the world. Emotions are foreign to systems. Emotions only exist, if you are fortunate, in the hearts and minds of people using - and too often abusing - those systems.

It's time to put the human back into humanity.

We are born to be who we are, expressing our unique talents, passions, potential, emotions and desires. Human-ness includes basic respect, mutual understanding and enough reasonable opportunities to see and express what people can do and give and be.

Perhaps I am a small voice fighting an unfeeling system? I see enough to know that is not the case. But it's a battle we have to have.

Happy New Year!

The pressures of daily life have in many ways imprisoned us into leading a life based on meeting the demands and expectations of others. We yearn to escape, at least temporarily.

I've just returned from a holiday aboard the Dawn Princess, traveling around New Zealand. Yes its a tough life but somebody has to do it. The cruise slogan  - "Escape Completely" - was very apt. It was a great way to escape from the daily pressures and responsibilities of life.

It got me thinking. People in need of escaping don't want so much to escape from but escape to.  Escape to an experience in which they can breathe naturally and do what comes naturally, enabling their natural potential to blossom.

Click here to read more on this..

Wherever your passions in life are found - at work, home and at play - there you will fiind the real you, your true self, your reason for living. No matter what else you must do in your life, allow yourself the joy of living your passion and loving the invisible you, the person you really are.

Probably the key reason you subscribe to my ezine or follow me on Twitter (@enjoybeingyou) is because you value above all else your pride in doing things your way. You enjoy being you! It has become the key to everything that makes life worthwhile for you.

I have just watched a You Tube presentation of one of one of the  most inspiring pieces of music I have heard in praise of that trait.  A wonderful presentation by Andre Rieu of "My Way".

Stop wherever you are and whatever you are doing. Use headphones, ear pieces, or a good set of speakers.  Click on the link below and absorb this most empowering rendition.  Be sure you listen right through to its conclusion.

I kid you not - I believe it is worth sending out this special message to you and anyone you know who loves dealing with life in their own unique way.

 http://www.youtube.com/embed/e-y581HdWfY?rel=0

Keep on doing it your way in 2013.

Letting people know about good recipes seems to be all the go on TV, at least in Australia. As Australia's People Gardener, I have created an excellent recipe for ensuring strong personal growth and development.

For strong personal growth, take all or any of your natural born talents and fertilize them with your passionate interests. Then mix often with positive like-minded people.  

The more often you follow this recipe, the better your future life is going to be.  Try it and see how good it tastes.  Share the recipe with your family, friends and work colleagues.

Two centuries ago the work ethic relegated fun and leisure to a status of meaningless, idle frivolity. Fun got into bad company, spending its time hanging around slackers, time-wasters, malingerers and other undesirables.  Managers felt fun wasn’t just unemployable,  they saw it as a direct competitor to work.

Sound familiar? You may well know some managers and workaholics who still see fun and leisure that way. Until recent times, when discussing projects with a potential client, I tended not to mention the ‘l’ word until well into the discussion. 

The massive changes, pressures and stresses of 21^st century living have put paid to all that. Leisure is now back in business. It’s providing natural solutions to some of the biggest problems facing business today – stress management, sustaining high staff productivity, self-esteem and resilience, and stimulating creativity and innovation, to name just a few.

All this is nothing new in the course of history. Leisure has always had a core role to play in the natural order of personal growth, talent development and the realization of personal potential.  The mad way we live today has provided the kick in the guts we needed to remind us that fun and leisure offer much more than simply having a good time.

High self esteem, strong self belief, talent development, creativity, energy, enthusiasm and engagement. All key words in business jargon to get the best out of people. All vital in the battle to attract and keep the best people, sustain high productivity, keep staff costs down and manage stress. 

These are also key words in describing the benefits of passionate leisure experiences. Even more importantly, the benefits ripple through everything in life - at work and in personal life.

So why do we still regard work and leisure as separate, unrelated, even competing elements of life (see "The Kick in the Guts We Needed" Blog) ?  Why not join forces?

Tell your people (nicely!) to "get a life"  outside of work. Encourage them to enjoy at least one passionate leisure interest, because you want the benefits to ripple through to the job.

The very message itself will impress your staff.   

They will be even more impressed if you offer them the opportunity to re-discover which interests give them those benefits, by experiencing my Lifestyle Review process. Go here for more details, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or phone 0417 817 027.

 Some further reading:

   "Get a Life. You work better and live longer"

   "Promoting Positive Human Behaviour"

I love watching The Voice on (Australian) TV.  We all get a thrill when a contestant is chosen for one of the teams.

However, it’s the unsung qualities of The Voice that I especially love.  It engenders recognition and encouragement of the talents, passions and unlimited potential  of every contestant - chosen or not. As one of the judges said, “we are changing peoples’ lives”.

I am reminded of King George VI’s life-changing realization, in the film The King’s Speech. In a climactic scene he is finally baited into exploding those powerful words, “I have a voice!!”, acknowledged so knowingly by his speech coach, “Yes you do”.

We all live for opportunities to voice our unique natural talents through passionate interests, be it at work, home or play.  For only some will it be singing or speaking.  Whatever yours may be, you and the world will benefit when you can voice it publicly.  

The ultimate however is to be, like The Voice, encouraging and enabling others to give voice to their talents. You can encourage your staff, spouse, children, friends, or people in your community.   The microphone in The Voice logo symbolizes broadcasting that talent widely.

Talent, passion, potential.  Expressed often enough and widely enough they provide all the nutrients that enable human nature to flourish and blossom. 

Yes, you too have a voice.

If you enjoyed this message, you will love my manifesto: My Dream for the World 

Are you too busy to take care of your health? Most of us are guilty of that as we hurry from one urgent responsibility to the next. For many it's a badge of honour to tell people you are so busy. But I haven't heard anyone express praise that so-and-so died because of their love of being busy.

Busy-ness is in fact at the crux of virtually all lifestyle issues today - stress, work life harmony, health, unexpected major  life changes and especially when it comes to life after fulltime work - even if you opt to keep working.  

It's amazing the difficulty I have in getting people to give time to themselves and their own needs - especially their own emotional needs. Our society has become so hung up on the belief that life is about meeting the expectations of others. We have been carefully taught for generations by the work ethic that it is wrong to give time to self, that giving of self to others is the honourable way to go.

Interesting how people still have a negative image of leisure, as a period of time in which people "slack off and waste good working time".  This image was created in the Industrial Revolution when they painted leisure as evil (“idle hands are the work of the devil").  The IR took us from home productivity to factory productivity.  The factory became the centre of life’s value and importance.

Leisure today isn’t a period of time. It’s an experience of the mind, the opportunity to creatively express your talents, passions and potential, for the enjoyment of doing so. 

“Work is killing off the great Australian weekend and starving kids of family time”, (Adelaide Advertiser August 3).The article quotes research done by The Social Policy Research Centre at the University of NSW:

• Weekend work has nearly trebled over the past 20 years
• Half of all business owners, 42% of contractors and 30 per cent of employees now spend their weekend in the workplace, to the detriment of family life.
• One in four workers are on call or on standby, “as technology contaminates leisure with messages and emails from the boss.”

Ten years from now…and later

• what will give you your continuing joy of living life to the full?
• what passionate interests will be getting you out of bed each day?
• what energy-draining parts of your life will you have stopped or eased back?
• what will be the core features of 'living life on your terms'?

Fascinating questions. Is ten years too far ahead? Not if you are over 50. These questions become very important, perhaps even ones you fear because they could affect your work. But they must be addressed and the sooner you do so, the more satisfying and healthy your life will be ten years from now...and later.

Where are you currently putting your energies - energy in and energy out? What would you like to stop, ease, or develop? Such changes won't happen overnight. Recognition and decision is a good starting point.

Swedish research indicates choir singing is good for the heart, slows the pulse and eases mental stress.  I knew that all along but its good to have it formally recognized. An interesting aspect is that it seems to synchronize the heart beats of the singers  so everyone gets the same benefits. Some interesting key phrases in their report, including

• shared emotions,  intuitive co-operation,  joint action,  collective consciousness,  sensitive ability to co-operate,  help people connect and open up to each other.

What more do you want out of an interest than all of that?! And think what it does to improve the rest of your day - at work, home and play.

It's the play bit that I want to focus on. I suggest all of the above applies in full or part not only to choir singing but to almost any other form of group passionate interest you care to name - playing a team sport (for fun), playing music, art classes, indeed any activity that the members of a group freely undertake for the sheer joy of it.  

Work provides that for you? I hope it does but there is a key element that work rarely offers - total control over one's participation, absolute free choice about taking part, for no other reason than sheer enjoyment, to whatever skill level that satisfies you and numerous other "state of flow" emotional benefits.

Did you guess I sing in a choir? Two actually. And as much as I love my work, I abslolutely prize my involvement in both choirs.  Whatever your group leisure/recreation passion, its nice to have it confirmed its doing your heart good.

Taking the optimistic view on an issue is often regarded as naive or not being in possession of all the facts. Such a belief suggests the opposite of optimism is realism.

The fact is that it's impossible to base true progress on negative, pessimistic thinking. Genuine sustained progress can only thrive on an outlook of optimism, positive thinking, resilience and determination.

The fact that we are riding on a massive wave of negative, pessimistic thinking is therefore gradually strangling real social and economic progress - worldwide. It's essential to start developing a belief that optimism in fact means realism, that it is something far deeper than the shallow, keep smiling, "she'll be right mate" (Aussie slang - everything will be ok) casual form of optimism.

Optimism Australia, under the guidance of Adelaide Business Interventionist Ken Wood, is building a program of positive action. It doesn't have a fanciful aim of changing the world. More realistically. it focuses on specific areas of business and community development that exemplify where the community can start to 'turn the ship of negative thinking around'.

If you are in or near Adelaide on 2 October, you are encouraged to attend the next

Optimism Australia seminar, "Building a Resilient Community", Wednesday 2nd October, 5.30 - 7.30 pm,  in the Star Room, Adelaide Entertainment Centre.  

I am delighted that Ken has invited me to be one of three speakers at the seminar.

Here's the link for full details of the seminar, including bookings.

We spend our lives trying to avoid our most certain future event - our eventual death. At some stage in our lives we each experience a "mortality jolt" - a sudden recognition that we aren't going to get out of this world alive.  When you get that jolt, you can choose to drop your bundle, or decide you still have much to do to achieve your natural reasons for living.  These include:

• you are a part of (not above) nature, created to grow, mature and blossom 
• you were born with natural talents and passions - assets that enable you to achieve something uniquely magnificent
• no other person in human history has had, or will have, your mix of talents, passions and potential. It implies a`responsibility to use those abilities to do something new and different towards the world's progress
• you form part of a natural ecosystem of like-minded people in which you play an integral and essential role if that ecosystem is going to flourish. 

Life is an absorbing journey of magnificent uncertainty, exploration, highs, lows and self-discovery. A mortality jolt simply reminds you who you are, where you are on the journey and where you want to be, while you can.

When you lose yourself in an interest that you love, you find yourself. Your talents come to the fore, your imagination creates a riot of colour, your self esteem soars and your heart, soul and mind sing in harmony. Believe in your true self and forever be proud of who you are.

Passionate leisure experiences provide a natural, free and unlimited resource to meet perhaps the greatest global energy crisis – the human energy needed to survive, thrive and drive the world’s economy.

Change is affecting everything – including the role and potential of leisure in today's high pressure society. Leisure is back in business, providing solutions to urgent global problems.

Leisure’s had a bad press for too long. It was killed off by the emergence of the 19^th century traditional work ethic which preached that work was ‘the way to heaven and leisure was the work of the devil’.  It wasn’t so much that the work ethic dignified the role of work but that it demeaned the role of leisure. While the religious fervour died out, it has taken until now to reassert its rightful role in the development of personal growth and productivity.   

Stress is killing health by stealth.  There is a global human energy crisis – we are burning human energy faster than we create it, with the inevitable result that burnout symptoms are everywhere – at work and in community life.  The fact that stress has, per se, an important role to play in personal and business development masks the damage that prolonged excessive stress is having on mental health.  The damage caused through workaholism - like alcoholism - doesn’t become apparent until too late.  Depression, stress-related illnesses, broken homes and even suicide are signs of the damage that unrelenting stress is causing in today’s world.

I’ll have what she’s having!!  Don’t you envy those people who not only cope well with stress but positively appear to thrive?  It’s not so much that they have something the rest of us don’t have. Rather they have found a way of generating renewed mental strength, resilience and a sense of being calm in crises. They have a steady resource of natural energy that sustains their resilience, a resource they regularly tap at will.  

I recently attended a seminar on ageism. Most of the speakers and audience were working people, generally in their 40's and 50's.  So much of the discussion centred on whether old dogs can still learn new tricks, can cope with change, especially changes in technology, and keep up with the young pups. 

Finally it became all too much for me and, as fortune would have it, I got the final word for the seminar.

My 'speech' was along these lines:

• I am 73 years of age, still running my own business, managing a comprehensive website, using social media for my business, loving being on the edge of change and enjoying being creative
• most in the audience would have no idea what life is like in one's 60's, let alone 70's because they aren't there yet
• all of them would have been told by their children that they are 'old'
• all of them would agree they have a fuller perspective on life now than they did 20 years ago, have learned more, are more experienced and generally better able to cope with life, and have greater mental capacity and dexterity
• it's all a matter of perspective.

My message drew strong applause, some verbal backslapping and requests for my business card.

I could best summarize their reaction as being one of relief - a sense of 'I want to be having what he's having when I reach his age'. I had verbalised their hopes that longevity isn't just living longer but about enjoying a sense of purpose and identity for many more years to come.

We humans are emotional, often irrational and at times unpredictable and that's how nature intended us to be. Some may see this as a negative. I see it very much as a positive. The magnificent uncertainty of life fuels the energy of living - our creativity, enthusiasm, innovation, hunger to explore, and our determination to advance. It's how we grow - as individuals and as a society.

Positive and negative behaviour play a big part in your progress. Positive behaviour generates energy, negative behaviour drains it. Both behaviours are infectious each in their own way, rippling through everything else in your life and in the lives of people around you.

The emotional energy that drives positive behaviour is found in the passionate interests that fertilize your talents. Usually they are passions far removed from the negative influeces on your life. This can - and often does - relate to dormant passions that you used to pursue and which have long been waiting to revitalize your life.

Don't be afraid to be positively emotional, unpredictable and irrational. It's the spice of a colourful life, offering fantastic opportunities for you to grow and flourish so that your unique potential can blossom.

Ariound 140 stress-related claims per year are being made by teachers in the South Australian education system at a cost of some $10 million per annum.  Another news heading last night on ABC television made reference to a disturbing growth in mental stress issues in the workplace.

When is the business world and the health sector going to stop bemoaning the prevalence of increasing mental illness and start taking notice of ideas for keeping people mentally healthy, building resilience and sustaining mental energy?? When will we start focusing less on the problems of finding cures and focus more on preventing mental illness?

Nature does have a remedy that has existed since Adam was a pup.  You can read about it in detail elsewhere on my website. Click here.

It's a long statement- resist the temptation to read just the first and last para if you want to really start tackling mental health positively and productively. 

It's enough to get you started doing your own program without my help but call me if you want to know more.

 It was someone no less than the Dalai Lhama who said that education today focuses too much on material and economic success and not enough on education of the mind, the emotions and personal growth. 

I was in a gift shop some months ago, looking for gifts for primary school age children. I came across some books with inspirational life messages and thought I would love to give the children something like that when they get a little older.  In fact, I asserted, I could write such a book myself!

From my subsequent investigations I concluded there was indeed a gap in the availability of this sort of book – amazing, given the huge issues of teenage depression and suicide.  Some say there are more suicides than there are road deaths.

So I put my mind to work, culminating in the world-wide release of

“Enjoy Being Proud of Who You Are: 52 Inspirational Life-Skill Messages for Teenagers”.

It is available in print, e-book and e-reader formats through Amazon/Kindle.  

I am not an expert in today’s teenage issues (I vaguely remember being one myself many years ago). It’s simply my attempt to provide a series of thoughts that I have gleaned from my mentor work, my life experiences and from the lives of various other people who gave me some great thoughts they had absorbed sitting at the feet of their own parents and passed down to their children.

Will teenagers read it let alone like it? Who knows? When did you last read a book of inspirational messages from cover to cover? If one teenager who is struggling with adolescence is helped by one message, the task will have been worth the effort.  

If you are a parent, grandparent, guardian, aunt or uncle of a teenager, I urge you to give him/her an opportunity to make their own decisions about reading and, with luck, identifying at least one message in the book that may help them make sense of this mad life.  

I also ask that you heed what is in fact the 53^rd message in the book, directed at you:

“Loving your teenage son or daughter is not enough. He or she needs to feel that you appreciate them as a blossoming human being, whose talents and uniqueness require constant nurturing, support and encouragement and whose dreams are sufficiently intriguing to be worth exploring”.

I would love to hear any anecdotes of outcomes from a reading of my book – by you or by your teenager – or even have you put a review on the sales site from where you purchased your copy.

And I hope His Holiness the Dalai Lhama would approve of my efforts to try bringing some balance into the world of education.

Passionate leisure experiences provide a natural, free and unlimited resource to meet perhaps the greatest global energy crisis – the human energy needed to survive, thrive and drive the world’s economy.

Change is affecting everything – including the role and potential of leisure in today's high pressure society. Leisure is back in business, providing solutions to urgent global problems.

Leisure’s had a bad press for too long. It was killed off by the emergence of the 19^th century traditional work ethic which preached that work was ‘the way to heaven and leisure was the work of the devil’.  It wasn’t so much that the work ethic dignified the role of work but that it demeaned the role of leisure. While the religious fervour died out, it has taken until now to reassert its rightful role in the development of personal growth and productivity.   

Stress is killing health by stealth.  There is a global human energy crisis – we are burning human energy faster than we create it, with the inevitable result that burnout symptoms are everywhere – at work and in community life.  The fact that stress has, per se, an important role to play in personal and business development masks the damage that prolonged excessive stress is having on mental health.  The damage caused through workaholism - like alcoholism - doesn’t become apparent until too late.  Depression, stress-related illnesses, broken homes and even suicide are signs of the damage that unrelenting stress is causing in today’s world.

I’ll have what she’s having!!  Don’t you envy those people who not only cope well with stress but positively appear to thrive?  It’s not so much that they have something the rest of us don’t have. Rather they have found a way of generating renewed mental strength, resilience and a sense of being calm in crises. They have a steady resource of natural energy that sustains their resilience, a resource they regularly tap at will.  

“Loving your teenage son or daughter is not enough. He or she needs to feel that you appreciate them as a blossoming human being, whose talents and uniqueness require constant nurturing, support and encouragement and whose dreams are sufficiently intriguing to be worth exploring.” 

This quotes the 53rd message from my new book "Enjoy Being Proud of Who You Are - 52 Inspirational Life-Skills Messages for Teenagers".  It brings out the fact that no matter how much we might want to influence our teenage children in their life direction, they are going to make their own decisions.

And rightly so!  Whatever our age, we are all unique individuals from birth to death.  No matter how much you try to put yourself in someone else's shoes, you simply cannot do so.  And just like you would with any adult, the way to help people is by focusing on increasing their sense of self-esteem, self-belief, self-confidence and sense of self-worth.

My book brings out many statements that people have learned from their parents and have successfully passed on to their children.  But that is only a start. I want to run workshops and discussion groups with young people and give them the chance to discuss with each other what each statement means in their lives, what has importance to them and - let's be frank - what, to any of them,  is now just so much garbage from us oldies!

 Kids are smart. They want your help but they will make up their own minds. We just need to give them the best possible information on which they can base their own decisions.  

Click on the pic below for information on how you can get a copy of the book to give to your teenager/s as a way of:

• telling them how much you care for and respect them as individual human beings and
• recognizing them as emerging adults who want to blossom in their own way.

This week I have had the honour of my new article "It's Never Too Late" being featured on Keith Ready's A Gift of Inspiration website and distributed as his first InspirEmail for 2014.

Hopefully "It's Never Too Late" will inspire you to treat the start of this new year as the time for letting nature refresh your life.

I encourage you to:

1. click here to read "It's Never Too Late", and
2. subscribe to future InspirEmails through Keith's A Gift of Inspiration website.

We're told we are likely to live longer than previous generations, we want to get the most out of life and we would love to slow the ageing process.  The answer is simple - spend more time creating time-stopping experiences.  

They need to be experiences totally suited to you and your unique life.  Which means only you can create them and only you can choose what experiences to create. The answers will be unique to you but they will come from re-visiting your natural-born talents, passions, skills and the potential those resources could realize.  It needs you to create regular experiences in your week that creatively express your talents :

• in your own freely-chosen way,
• for the sheer intrinsic enjoyment you gain from each such experience,
• in your chosen location,
• by yourself or with positive like-minded other people.

These interests/experiences:

• are unrelated to work or other demands on you
• are energizing, mentally stimulating and spiritually refreshing
• you can pursue whenever and wherever you wish
• could be passions that your busy life has forced you to suppress - but don’t limit your potential to try something totally new and challenging  (perhaps be the first to….?)

How are they time-stopping and age-slowing?  These experiences are so enjoyable, stimulating and totally absorbing that you forget the time - you are 'in the zone'  as they say.  They slow the ageing process because these experiences energize you, keep you mentally fit and healthy and keep you feeling young in mind, body and spirit.

Not convinced? Think how long you will live - or how long it will seem like - if you don't have lifelong interests like these built into your lifestyle.

Mental health, self-esteem, self-confidence, self-belief, commitment, engagement, enthusiasm, motivation, inspiration – all lovely words expressing sentiments that every business wants to see flourishing in every employee.

The common factor is they are all emotional states of mind, realizable only by the individual.  Employers can only cultivate a culture that encourages such emotions to flourish and blossom productively.

Such a culture recognizes and supports respecting the dignity of the individual. It seeks to satisfy individual desires to creatively express personal talents, passions and potential in ways that harmonise (different to duplicate) personal and corporate needs. 

Get it wrong and people will soon be flocking to your door - the exit door.

Recreation planning was my professional work and passion for almost 30 years. I can best describe it as creating places and spaces for a variety of recreational pursuits in which the participants for each of the diverse pursuits go home at the end of the day satisfied that their particular desired experience has been fulfilled.

With the high value/costs of public land set aside for recreational use there is today a growing trend of concern to me. We are now undertaking recreation planning instead of planning for recreation.  

The difference?  My passion to plan for recreation puts the primary emphasis on providing opportunities for the widest possible variety of quality recreational experiences.  What I see happening now however is that such planning is increasingly focusing on getting the  maximum financial return on open space.  In other words, giving priority to recreation and sporting interests that attract funds rather than focusing on satisfying diverse community needs.

This trend also smacks of going back to the bad old days where priority was given to young active predominantly male sporting interests that gain media attention and develop sporting champions. A worthy cause but not at the expense of the majority of an increasingly ageing population who want to enjoy recreational passions for the sheer love of doing so and to keep them healthy in mind, body and spirit.

Balance in all things is vital to personal and community health and wellbeing, including in the provision of opportunities for quality leisure, recreation and sporting experiences.

An amazing level of interest is being shown in my Workplace Mental Fitness Positive Position Statement.  Posted on my website late last year the Statement is getting by far the most hits and comments (all positive and supportive) of any topic on my site. 

It's exciting to find such a keen interest in identifying that leisure has a strong yet simple and cost-effective link with the difficult problem of managing workplace mental health.

If the length and detail of the Statement deters you, go straight to the comments. These will provide any evidence you need to read the full Statement and discuss its potential for your organisation.

And because mental health is, in the final analysis, only manageable by the individual the Statement can be of personal interest too. 

Unless you have retired from fulltime work you cannot know what it is like to be retired. You can only guess.  Retirees might tell you what it's like but your retirement life will be unique to you. 

If you are in your 50's you need to start thinking about these sort of real life issues which will be covered in my upcoming public seminar on 18 June:

• don't leave your retirement lifestyle planning to chance any more than you would your financial planning
• retirement isn't 
  • long service leave
  • a holiday from work
  • a replacement for work
• retirement planning is vital for staying mentally healthy
• Get on the front foot or risk having a lonely, perhaps short, retirement
• beware the 'retired husband syndrome'

If you are over 50 and still in the workforce, you would be wise to come with your spouse to my 

Retirement Lifestyle Planning Public Seminar (the Non-Financials)

     When? Wednesday 18 June 2014 7.30 pm

     Where? Brougham Place Uniting Church Hall, North Adelaide

     Cost? $10.00 pp

   Bookings online - either at my website or at Eventbrite

When batting in cricket, hitting 50 is a milestone achieved but there’s plenty more to be done. It’s no more than an incentive to go for the 100 and beyond. It requires continuing to express one’s talent, passion and the dream of realising a tantalizing unique potential. The only obstacle (in Ashes Cricket)  is The Old Enemy.

Life’s like that. You get to 50 – a significant milestone in life but it’s only a passing stage. A jumping off point, encouraging you to go on to greater things in life. There is still much to be done, passions to be pursued, untapped talents to be developed that will enable you to reach your natural potential. The only thing that can stop you is The Old Enemy – traditional thinking that taught you to stop at 60 or 65 and decide you have done enough, that you are too old, that it’s time to throw your wicket away.

Fine thoughts, but what does it mean for you in your life? What’s going to keep driving you? I have already got 70 runs on the board and still batting with passion! In your case, the answers will be unique to you.

With apologies to readers who don't know anything about the great sport of cricket! 

Buried in the ashes and horrors of the downed MH17 lie shattered not only the lives of almost 300 human beings but also their individual dreams, hopes and plans.

Each of those passengers - from the most experienced to the smallest child - was an emotional person, unique in human history in terms of his/her array of talents, abilities and passions. We shall never know what untapped potential they might have achieved. 

We are each a work-in-progress in making our respective unique contributions to our communities, our families and our professions.  We are all empowered by our differences.

If we can learn anything for ourselves from this tragic episode, it is the fact that we are still here to continue using our talents and passions to make a difference in the world, as much as we can, to as many as we can and for as long as we can.

The world is fighting a war against the rise of mental illness. The battle to stay mentallly healthy is just as tough because there is much more to mental health than simply the absence of mental illness.

Youl know what you can do to stay physically healthy – whether or not you do them is another matter.  But what can you do to stay mentally healthy ?    With the help of some of my subscribers I have compiled a list of some useful indicators of the extent to which you can demonstrate mental health/wellness.

Examples such as:  

• having at least one passionate interest outside of work
•  .
• mixing with positive like-minded people with whom you share a non-work creative interest
•  .
• having a diversity of relationships networks - not just in business
• .
• feeling you have adequate control over your life decisions
• .
• doing things that help other people feel valued

Click here to read the full list and take the opportunity given there to add to the list.

To work smarter, not harder has been a popular catchphrase. Now, in this era of dramatic nd continuing increases in the pace of life, prolonged excessive stress and overwhelming changes in technology, we need to think about living smarter not harder.

How can we live smarter than we do now? Time management was once the answer. But that doesn't work when we try to fit more and more into an inflexible limit of 168 hours a week. What is suffering is the energy output all this pressure is demanding that we burn.

Burnout is a state of chronic stress that leads to physical and emotional exhaustion, cynicism and detachment and feelings of ineffectiveness and lack of accomplishment. Symptoms can include chronic fatigue, sleeplessness, depression, anger, feelings of apathy or hopelessness, lack of enthusiasm to help clients, increased irritability and pessimism.

Like a car we need to regularly refuel our supply of mental energy before the mind burns out and the symptoms of burnout start to appear. Like a car also, it is not enough to simply stop and rest. Active refueling of new mental energy is needed. 

I advocate what I call the "switch off, switch on" approach. Switch the mind off the energy-burning, stress-generating experiences by switching the mind on to any personally-chosen leisure pursuit that you thoroughly enjoy for its own sake and which takes your mind of your problems for a while.  How often and for how long? It's not about the time it takes but about the effect it has. You can deficit-budget energy - a few minutes of a pleasureable interest that is totally your choice can keep you going for hours. Done regularly it can change your whole approach to life and build a strong resilience base.

Now you are living smarter not harder.

Click here for an in-depth paper on the benefits of the 'switch-off switch-on' approach to Workplace Mental Health and Safety.

In your increasingly fast pace of life you put your car under great pressure to perform well. Regular refueling and servicing are essential to avoid any risk of running out of fuel - or worse, the frustration and inconvenience of breaking down in the middle of heavy traffic.

Similarly you put yourself under constant pressure to perform well every day.  You want to sustain the energy - particularly the mental energy - not just to cope but to have some in reserve whenever you have to go the extra mile.  

The last thing you want is your mental energy levels to run down to the point of burnout.  Nor do you want  to break down under pressure.

You regularly go to a service station to refuel and service your car.  Your personal energy service station is any passionate freely-chosen leisure experience, one in which you are in total control, enabling you to enjoy creatively expressing your natural talents for your the sheer pleasure of doing so. No one else can tell you how  to enjoy yourself. It's an experience you can access whenever you want, offering unlimited renewable energy for as long as want to 'fill up'.

Simply switch your mind off from your stresses and switch it on to the experience you want to create.  No time? Just keep checking your various energy gauges and you'll know when it's time to pull over and fill up.

When you get back into the heavy traffic, your mental engine will again be purring.  You are back in charge, knowing you have all the energy you need to drive, thrive and successfully arrive at wherever you want to be. 

THE QUALITY OF LIFE -   extract from Gough Whitlam’s 1972 Election Policy Speech

“There is no greater social problem facing Australia than the good use of expanding leisure. It is the problem of all modern and wealthy communities. It is, above all, the problem of urban societies and thus, in Australia, the most urbanised nation on earth, a problem more pressing for us than for any other nation on earth. For such a nation as ours, this may very well be the problem of the 1980’s; so we must prepare now; prepare the generation of the ’80s – the children and youth of the ’70s – to be able to enjoy and enrich their growing hours of leisure.”

Thus began the development of Australia’s recreation profession – not the first country in the world to do so, as it was well established in the USA and elsewhere at that time. But Gough Whitlam’s 1972 election statement was a significant watershed for developing the modern leisure, recreation and sporting industry in Australia, not to mention the recreational enjoyment of parks, the arts and cultural services.

Australians of all ages and from all walks of life, from the Olympic sportsperson to the local walking club member are now benefiting from the work of thousands of trained recreation planners and developers. How much their efforts are helping to sustain and improve the mental and physical health and wellbeing of millions of Australians is now becoming increasingly accepted and valued.

Yes this is a personal matter to me…I was in the first group to graduate in 1976 from the Graduate Diploma in Recreation Planning established at the then Canberra CAE by the Whitlam Government. It gave me the professional training to structure my life’s passion of promoting the many personal growth and life-expanding benefits of expressing one's natural talents through a passionate leisure interest.

You can get an idea of what I mean by browsing my current business website atwww.australiaspeoplegardener.com.au

Thank you Gough Whitlam. May you rest in peace.

Written on the occasion of the passing of Gough Whitlam Prime Minister of Australia - from1972 to 1975 today at the age of 98.

Every business is made up of people - managers and staff - who are the real self and the business person. It's tough to be both at once if the business is going to make a profit. But there's no escaping the fact they are always the same person.

TV's Australian Story on the Hawke era touched on the 1990 slump. It triggered widespread business decisions that the cost of staff was too high and should be reduced by sackings or outsourcing. There is plenty of evidence that, 24 years later, business still puts profits ahead of the people on whom the profits depend:

• The Australia Institute promoted 19 November as 'Go Home on Time Day' because 2.8 million Australians are unsure what time they will finish work. That's equivalent to one in four workers juggling home life, child care and other commitments with an unpredictable work schedule
• anything up to 70% of workers would change jobs tomorrow if they could do so
• surveys continue to show a divergence of understanding between managers and staff about the working needs of staff
• stress is now the number one cost in business but workers are still reluctant to talk about mental health issues at work
• leaders still tend to be chosen for their professional skills, with people-skills being an optional extra.

What's the talk that your organisation walks when it comes to people-management?  

I can help. Give me a call on 0417 817 027.

A successful business colleague told me recently how he has now adopted a life work balance approach to life, as distinct from work life balance. Instead of a work first approach he now uses a life first approach with his work being just one - albeit still important - facet of life. He is now enjoying a healthy mix of prioritizing his work energies with opportunities he and his wife set aside to enjoy quality outings together.

This exchange gave me a new perspective on the meaning of the word balance - a word I never liked because we can never really balance our work time and personal time. What's different here is my colleague now has a more balanced perspective on the relative values of his work and his personal life in sustaining his health and wellbeing.

Life today is more about the perspectives we have on it than about the time we spend in it.

I took an interest in the news report today of John Kerry, US Secretary of State, being injured while on a bicycle ride during a break in official business discussions.   My interest was in the fact that Mr Kerry regularly enjoys such rides, apparently irrespective of where he is in the world at the time. It's important to note that while he would (normally) get physical fitness benefits from regular such rides, it also provides important mental fitness benefits.

The fact that he does it as often as possible in his busy schedule means he enjoys the experience and the good feeling it gives him. It switches his mind off the constant excessive stresses of his work. It goes further in that it switches his mind on to a positively enjoyable, mentally non-stressful experience of getting out in the open air doing what he loves.  Such experiences re-energize his mind and are clearly a major factor behind his resilience to more than cope with the highly demanding Secretary of State responsibilities.

I am aware of other public figures who create similar enjoyable experiences whenever their work allows. Examples are Mr John Howard, a previous Prime Minister of Australia who went for an early morning walk every day while in office,  Mr Richard Butler who led the investigations into weapons of mass destruction in Iraq adored going to or listening to opera.

Regularly enjoying one’s favourite leisure/recreational interests (mine is, choir singing) has a vital role in re-energizing and sustaining mental health and maintain the resilience to more than cope with the pressures of daily life.  If it's that important to people with the above sort of stresses and time pressures, its important for you and  me.

I love that word empowerment. It gives me goose-bumps every time I feel I have helped a client feel empowered.  I don’t empower them of course…only they can feel empowered, usually by an “aha” moment that I have triggered in their mind.  I would see the word empowerment as really self-empowerment because it is a feeling and feelings are always generated within one’s own self. 

To me empowerment is the positive feeling you get when you are free to fertilize your natural talents with passionate interests - even better with positive like-minded people.  It's what human nature is all about... but life tends to get in the way.

Empowerment is an especially powerful word in the workplace.  Without it, an organisation is held back, the unlimited natural potential of its people being stifled and frustrated. Empowerment energizes everything about a business/team - productivity, commitment, innovation, staff stability and lack of conflict.  Stress is down, mental fitness is up and resilience abounds.  

I was once required to establish an information unit which included taking over the responsibilities of the reception staff. Prior to that they had always transferred most enquiries to a person specializing in the area of enquiry. If that person was out (which was often the case), they would arrange a call back.

I had sensed there was frustrated talent in the reception group. Nonetheless they looked at me aghast when I said from now on they are going to be responsible for providing answers to enquiries. As a team we worked out a process for the change and I encouraged them to use their experience in reception work to come up with ideas.  If I could see that an idea had holes in it, I responded with “what would we do if…?” types of questions and get them to work it through further. 

Within a few months the unit was humming along beautifully, using ideas and systems that the team had largely developed among themselves.  Callers and visitors to the organisation were now enjoying the services of a confident, efficient and incredibly helpful group of people.   They had bonded into a team who felt empowered to not only provide the service expected of them. Of their own volition, they took the meaning of service to a new level, such was their enthusiasm – even passion – to please customers and staff alike.

The power of empowerment is boundless.

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Hit this Re-set Button to arrange a free no-obligation 30-minute consultation glimpse into the future of the real you - we can do it in person, by phone, or on Skype. You will definitely learn something interesting about your true self.

I received an email with the link to an old man singing in a city street. He was singing one of the inspirational songs of our times  - “You raise me up”.  I was greatly moved by the song and his glorious mature voice.

But what moved me more – to tears in fact – was the spellbound expressions on the faces of some of the shoppers. I saw people entranced by what they were hearing, seeing and feeling. For those few minutes time for them had stopped.  The strains and stresses of their day swept away, their minds transported  to all that was good in their lives, their feelings and their hearts .

When an experience touches your heart, everything in your world stands still. Save for the feeling that you are in a state of being rather than doing, enjoying the person you love to be, feeling the way you want to feel, knowing that all you want is for this moment to go on and on.  

Of course it cannot go on.  The experience will end and your life will move on.  But the memory will last, a ripple of peace that will flow on through to everything else in your day and your week. 

These are the moments for which you were born and from which you truly grow, flourish and  blossom into the person of worth you know yourself to be.  

Let time stop for you momentarily right now while you click this link and absorb the experience so beautifully created by this wonderful man.

I received an email with the link to an old man singing in a city street. He was singing one of the inspirational songs of our times  - “You raise me up”.  I was greatly moved by the song and his glorious mature voice.

But what moved me more – to tears in fact – was the spellbound expressions on the faces of some of the shoppers. I saw people entranced by what they were hearing, seeing and feeling. For those few minutes time for them had stopped.  The strains and stresses of their day swept away, their minds transported  to all that was good in their lives, their feelings and their hearts.

When an experience touches your heart, everything in your world stands still. Save for the feeling that you are in a state of being rather than doing, enjoying the person you love to be, feeling the way you want to feel, knowing that all you want is for this moment to go on and on. 

Of course it cannot go on.  The experience will end and your life will move on.  But the memory will last, a ripple of peace that will flow on through to everything else in your day and your week. 

These are the moments for which you were born and from which you truly grow, flourish and  blossom into the person of worth you know yourself to be.  

Let time stop for you momentarily right now while you click this link and absorb the experience so beautifully created by this wonderful man.

How often have you witnessed a great event? An event that has touched your emotions so strongly that the feeling absorbs your mind almost more than the event itself. I felt that way just now when experiencing (not simply watching) that great scene from The King’s Speech (the movie is on YouTube) where the King’s confidence is steadily growing as he delivers his wartime speech without stuttering. Significant for me was the music that flowed gently in the background of the scene, building...building...building as the voice became transformed from “Bertie” the family man to His Royal Highness King George. The music became the voice of the emotion.

Music inspires emotions and emotions can inspire music. Be it the emotions of sadness, triumph, beauty, achievement or joy. In the case of the King's speech, the music conveyed the emotion of overcoming a great struggle and the opening of doors through which he would walk as a great leader.

Next time you experience a significant success or momentous occasion at work, at home, at play or in community life, what music would you love to hear that would give voice to the emotions you are feeling? And any time you feel down, choose some music that would lift you back to being the real you.

For too long there has been a sharp edge dividing work and leisure. While work life balance has become a popular buzzword, most of us feel one is fighting the other for the lion’s share of our time, energy, development and, frankly, our enjoyment of life.

Nature makes no distinction between work and leisure. You naturally always want to enjoy satisfying your insatiable hunger to keep on growing and allowing your potential to blossom. It doesn’t start and stop with your working career.  Typically your fastest spurt of personal growth was in your first five years when all you did was play.

Any interest in which you intrinsically enjoy creatively expressing your talents and passions energises your drive to keep growing. Blurring the sharp edges between work and leisure helps to keep the whole of you growing, not just the working you.

I hope you will enjoy 2016.

"The Enjoyment Factor" will be my 2016 theme. I invite you to journey with me in ensuring 2016 is a year of enjoyment for you, your family, your friends and your work colleauges. I will be offering a range of options if you would like to strengthen The Enjoyment Factor in your life or in your workplace.

The Enjoyment Factor reminds me of the scene in The Beverley Hillbillies. Granny had created her famous elixir. When asked what it cured, she replied "Watcha got??"

Enjoyment - the moment to moment type of enjoyment and the deeper emotional enjoyment of life - are like Granny's elixir. It's nature's antidote for stress, at work and in personal life. More than that it generates all the energy you need to make the most of your life and talents.

Enjoyment isn't just nice to experience. Any experience you create for enjoyment provides powerful and life-changing improvements to the quality of your mental fitness, your workplace mental health and safety, your workplace culture and your work life harmony (more realistic and cost-effective than work life balance). Importantly, it's what will feed your continuing hunger to grow in your dessert years.

Create your own regular doses of enjoyment every day...a little enjoyment goes a long way and guards you against stress-related illnesses.  It doesn't cost a cent and you can get it anytime from your internal emotional care shop.

And if you/your workplace are having difficulty finding that shop, many previous clients have found my particular "GPS system" very effective! 

You are the only person in human history with your particular mix of talents and passions. So you have the potential to achieve outcomes that no other person – past, present, or future – can replicate.

An awesome thought. Makes you pretty special - at least in theory. First though…what natural talents do you know you have and use? What passions do you enjoy pursuing? What turns you on in terms of what you do in your life (not just in your work), for what purpose, for whose benefit?

Return on investment (ROI) normally relates to financial investments with the aim of increasing the value and benefits of the investment.  What if you applied the term ROI to the use of your natural-born talents and passions?

The 1930 Australian penny is worth a fortune because there are so few.  Since your talents and passions are unique in human history, imagine the potential of their value to you and to the world – but only if developed and used wisely.

You will finally be valued not for your money or financial success but for the extent to which you have developed, maximized and contributed to others your unique talents, passions and potential. 

It’s never too late to start making a difference. Is the world getting full value from your unique talents and passions? If not, the world is losing something very special that only you could provide.

Enjoy being you 

(NB my email address is now This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.)

My book The Hunger to Grow will help you make a difference. 

Go to amazon.com to download the audio or ebook version or to order the printed book. Details on my website.

My barber died last Saturday – sudden, unexpected. I had been going to him for some 25 years. The shock and disbelief cut through me. Visiting your regular barber is one of those odd friendships. You see each other only occasionally, your time together often silent, punctuated only with the occasional conversation. The sense of mutual respect peculiar to the relationship between a man and his barber.

My sadness was of course nothing compared to the wave of grief that flooded over his extended Italian family and friends. I turned to what I do best - write. Like a lone wolf baying to the moon, I unloaded my feelings on Facebook. ("More than my Barber").

What happened then was beyond my wildest belief. My post was shared and shared and shared…over 50 times. It reached over 500 people – Paul’s immediate family and their vast enfolding Italian community. “I don’t know you Peter but thank you for your healing words”… “had to share this touching status, thank you Peter”… and the ultimate compliment: “suggested the family print, laminate and display your amazingly appropriate verse…your words are heartfelt and healing”.

Healing. Words that did more than express my feelings. They offered healing to a family and community in their darkest hours of grief and loss … at a time when healing would seem distant.

There are times for each of us when we know why we are on this earth. For me this has been one of the most powerful of them.

Never ever underestimate the healing potential of heartfelt words.

A busy time for me lately. Here’s a brief summary:

• Invited to participate in a KPMG Adelaide Workshop on Ageing Well as a precursor to the State Government’s State Forum on Ageing Well.
• My input to the workshop resulted in KPMG inviting me to lead one of the Chat Rooms at the State Forum – my topic was “Re-Inventing Self / Encore Careers”.
• More to come as a result of the Forum. The intensity of discussions clarified the fact that age is irrelevant when it comes to contributing productively to the knowledge and wellbeing of society
• Gave a keynote at the 2016 Disabilities and Ageing Expo in the Goyder Pavilion at the Adelaide Showgrounds over the loudspeaker system. Interesting experience talking to nobody in particular and everyone in general. Was delighted to get enthusiastic applause from a wide area of the Expo including one stand holder coming up to congratulate me on a wonderful presentation.
• Held an “Enjoyment Experience” at The Nest Bistro in suburban Walkerville, with the key event being a Conversation between Nicola Lipscombe of “Powerful Listening” and me. It was a highly successful event in collaboration with The Nest, the Walkerville News Shop and Powerful Listening. While my book “The Hunger to Grow”was the central theme, the event was of benefit in many ways to all the businesses involved. A feature was the production by the Nest of a dessert which was an excellent representation of the book’s cover.
  
• Now in discussion with the Catalyst Foundation, Adelaide to conduct a series of 2-hour workshops on a variety of topics linking Lifestyle and Business.

Lifestyle issues are increasingly affecting business engagement, productivity and mental wellbeing (to mention just a few issues). My approaches are simple, realistic, purposeful and cost effective. Of special value to SME’s. Give me a call on 0417 817 027.

Last night I was privileged to see the wonderful Australian documentary film When We Sing. The hauntingly beautiful song Never Turning Back (by Pat Humphries) behind the credits rounded off the film’s powerful message that music inspires us to enjoy the fullness of life in all its glory.

There have been times in my life (as I’m sure in yours) where I have thought about going back to a situation or a person that I left behind for whatever reasons. Sometimes it was a situation outside of my control, the passing of which left me sad and wishing it didn’t have to end.

The song reminded me that the past is past and cannot be changed. I only have now, from this moment on to value and use beneficially. The value of the past is in what it has taught me about how to deal with the now and the future. It’s a past that I gratefully acknowledge has presented me with unique rich knowledge, experience and wisdom.

The real positives lie in the magnificent uncertainty of what my future still holds, what teachers are still to appear when I, the student, am ready and what doors are waiting for me to open if only I will but knock. I to continue to enjoy playing out my unique role in life with this aim, quoting from my book, The Hunger to Grow:

“You will want to feel that at the end of “Your Life” the rest of the cast and your audience will give you a standing ovation, acknowledging you have given a performance they will never forget”.

The world is crying out for people of integrity. People you trust, whose word is their bond. People who enjoy the life they were born to live, developing their natural talents and following their passions in the cause of a better world.

Ever since I re-invented myself as a lifestyle mentor in 2003 my core theme has been to enjoy being your true self. It’s the cornerstone of everything I do, say and write. An unchangeable principle in an otherwise ever-changing world.

The fact that I have had so many subscribers to my newsletters throughout my 15 years inthis business says a great deal in these days of email information overload. A friend recently told me, “Peter you are a person of integrity who sells integrity in your messages”.   A compliment that I humbly accept, knowing enjoying being your true self is a rock on which all meaningful advances in life are founded.

Allow yourself the freedom to enjoy being your true self no matter what life throws at you. It’s your right to enjoy being true to your real self. It‘s what makes you a person of integrity. 

If you would like to join my list of subscribers, click on the subscription option to the right of this page.  Especially so if you are looking to take a new direction that will enable you to live your life on your terms.

Ageing, old, over the hill, or suggesting my life-glass is steadily emptying are all energy-draining words. I relate better to the big bang theory of the universe continuously expanding. Energy drives that process. Energy also drives the growth of nature and certainly energy drives my growth as a person.

It doesn't just happen of course. Personal energy is released each time I express my natural-born talents and follow my passions. The experience triggers an energising chain-reaction, linking with all of the other energising moments I have experienced over my lifetime to date.   Oddly perhaps, it builds a pattern, bringing together everything that will help me realize my unique life potential.

The bonus is that this process also gives me the inner strength and resilience to work through the tough times.

It's working for me. How about you? Your comments (below) are welcome.

May 2017 be a truly energising, life-expanding year for you and yours.

I have just noticed the following review (the 3rd one) on amazon.com regarding my book "The Hunger to Grow":

"Customer Review

5.0 out of 5 stars This book was the first to point me in the right direction to find happiness in the second half of my life, January 9, 2017 
By Amazon Customer
This review is from: The Hunger to Grow: How to Enjoy the Dessert Years of Your Life (Paperback)

A breath of fresh air. This book was the first to point me in the right direction to find happiness in the second half of my life. Thank you so much Peter for sharing your thoughts, knowledge and ideas. I'm now eager to read all your books."

Yeahhhh!! 

Have you got your copy yet? It's available in hard copy, audio (my voice) and ebook at amazon.com (the US site)  And please put a review on the site after you have read it (I can show you how if you have trouble inserting your review). I am totally confident your review will be positive because every bit of feedback I have had so far from many readers has been totally positive.

Always enjoy allowing the real you to shine through.

There is little doubt that we humans like to make things complicated. We think of all the pluses and minuses on issues, the potentials and the drawbacks and, based on our best knowledge, we come to a decision.

Ask a child and you will get a direct answer – and so often it's the best answer.   We men dismiss women’s use of intuition but again so often it produces the right answer.

For example, who is your clientele? You do surveys, talk to lots of people, sort the answers and still you’re not sure you have come up with the right target market. Who’s bought your product/service lately? Isn’t that your target market?

Ok I am simplifying complex issues – which is exactly my point.

In much the same way as the positive point of view is often seen as unrealistic so doing and saying things as simply as possible is dismissed as being “too simplistic”.

Watch any other part of nature (yes we are a part of nature, not above it) and it will simply do what it does do well.  It just follows the law of nature and flourishes – unless of course we complicate things because we think we know better (have you checked lately what we are doing to nature??).

Television advertising promotes its products to the 8-year-old mentality. Those that don’t leave us wondering “what was that all about?”

Next time you need to make a decision, compare the simple “go with your gut feeling” (the male version of intuition?) option with your researched complex analysis option.  I suggest over time your gut decisions serve you better than the complex analysis decisions.  Would you agree?

My People Gardener philosophy has always been based around developing your authentic self - the person who looks out at the world through your eyes. Your strength is in your personal mix of natural talents, passions and potential to contribute something new and different to the world. 

The trouble is, life gets in the way, diverting us in directions we think an economic rationalist world demands us to take if we are to survive.

Through all of this however, your unchanging authentic self is your natural energising resource that drives your personal growth, resilience and enjoyment of life.

The natural way to be in charge of your life's direction is to assert your authentic self. More than just strengthening your ability to cope with whatever comes your way, it's the way to positively create the next chapter in your life.

One of the factors causing working people to fear the prospect of no longer being engaged in a full-time job is the perception of spending all your time doing things you used to call leisure. This fear is even greater if, during your working life, you had little time for or interest in leisure activities. Thirty years or more of nothing but the ‘leisure interests’ you have pursued to take your mind away from your work can be a pretty depressing thought.

It’s a perception of leisure that has existed since the 19^th century Industrial Revolution. Interestingly it is historically a wrong perception. The Latin derivation of the word ‘recreation’ is recreare – to create anew...to re-create yourself.

I have long advocated that leisure in the 21^st century is not ‘free time’ but rather an experience of the mind and recreation as the creative expression of your natural talents and passionate interests, for its intrinsic enjoyment.  Add to this the potential to use those talents to contribute meaningfully to something bigger than you (with or without payment) that you freely choose to do. Now you have the basics of a much more acceptable vision of the potential those many years left can offer if and when you decide to quit full-time work.

From today I am pouring all of my professional knowledge, experiences and insights of the past 40 years into the theme of “Don’t just retire….re-invent your life…re-create your true self”. I am preparing a range of services around that theme.  It is my way of giving back.

Try my free, no obligation, 30 minute consultation in person, by phone or via Skype. You will learn something interesting about your true self.  Email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Burnout is a product of an imbalance of energy in and energy out. We all need a harmonious mix of what we have to do (energy-burning) and what we love to do (energy-generating). An energising leisure interest in today’s world is one that creatively expresses your natural talents for the sheer intrinsic enjoyment of the experience. Such an interest can generate sufficient energy to cope with long periods of stressful responsibilities (which is why I don’t use the word ‘balance’ that suggests equal time).

We talk about a fifth of the population having mental health issues. My focus is on keeping the other four-fifths mentally fit - the sort of mental fitness that sustains strong personal growth and positive behaviour. People who say they love their job so much that they don’t need leisure interests need to have a good look at the literature on the effects of workaholism. Work contains an energy-burning stress factor that needs to be regularly countered by a mentally-energizing complementary leisure interest.

A harmonious mix of energy-in and energy-out interests is the way to go. It's not how long a vacation should be but what it does for sustaining your mental fitness.

It happened a few months after I found my Recreation Planning career had come to an end. I was  sitting in my home thinking "if I sat here all day, no one would give a damn". The only person who could do anything about it was me.  But what?

I had recorded some of my leisure philosophies in my book "Enjoy Being You".  A team leader for a large private company said she loved the book, that she was having real stress problems with her team and could I run a workshop based on my book?  'Why not?' I thought. I said 'yes' and hastily put some material together.  The workshop was an outstanding success in every way. I had not re-invented my life, life had begun to re-invent me.

From your mid-life on, any life change is going to be significant, one you will consider with great care. You will be considering not so much  what you have done but what you have the potential still to achieve. You will want to be aware of all your talents (known and latent), abilities and passions that creatively express and drive the real you. Only then will you be ready when a new road opens along which you might travel -   and perhaps, as I did, 'a road less travelled'. 

Click here to read more about my services and about my free no-obligation 30-minute “A Glimpse into the Future You” consultation.

There has never been - nor will there be - another person exactly like you. Your uniqueness is your strength and the core of your life choices. It's the essence of everything that drives your deepest sense of life enjoyment, satisfaction and purpose.

A key principle in my years as a Recreation Planner was never to impose my values on a client's recreation preferences. Your right to choose what you enjoy is fundamental to what makes you different. This led me to the principle in my lifestyle mentoring services that everything you enjoy in life (not just recreational) reflects the real you.

This challeging world desperately needs your unique first-in-human-history differences, strengths, abilities, drive and perspective.  These express what you truly enjoy in life.

Enjoy asserting your difference.

Are you, or someone you know, planning for retirement or experiencing a yearning for a lifestyle change?This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. how I can help you. Or click here to read more.

To understand your true self, your abilities and your significance in the world, look no further than a mature tree in your neighbourhood. As a rule of thumb the root system of that tree is one and a half times the height and width of what you can see. The hidden root system means everything to that tree:

• the breadth and depth gives the tree the stability it needs to withstand the constant battering of winds and storms
• Is ever-searching far and wide for everything the tree needs for its energy and nutrients to live a flourishing life

The tree doesn’t stop growing at some pre-determined age. It continues for as long as its health and supporting ecology allows and makes no work/leisure distinction for its growth. It provides a home, shelter and resources for all in nature that need it. A tree that ages well is called significant - a guardian of wisdom and dignity, inspiring us all.

You were born with unique natural hidden strengths on which the real you depends for your resilience, growth and the right to flourish. Like the tree, your seed carried all you need to become a person of unique significance.  It's a process that never stops, for as long as you remain healthy and have the support of those who love you.

As you decorate your Christmas tree this year, I trust that the joy and peace it brings to your home reflects something of your own life's continuing development and significance.

Have a great stress-less holiday break :)

I will be live on Adelaide Radio 5AA on Boxing Day. I have a regular half-hour segment each Public Holiday on Michael Keelan's Weekend program on Adelaide Radio 5AA. (AM1395). If you are anywhere in the world outside of Adelaide you can pick it up live on the 5AA website:https://www.fiveaa.com.au/fiveaa-player  (the livestream doesn't work with Firefox browser).

As parents of teenagers/young adults, we so often sit back and let them take over the high-tech responsibilities in the home or in other family situations.  We like to encourage them to learn and gain confidence in their abilities.  But in doing so are we at the same time affirming the concept of ageism? that we are in effect saying to them "I am too old for this?" Or "I would rather leave it to the enthusiasm of youth"?  It takes little for the younger person to quickly believe they know better than the older people not just in home high-tech but in everything. 

Maturity brings with it the responsibility to teach and lead the younger generation on how to exist, grow and manage their lives in this rapidly changing world.  Ageism feeds not on the enthusiasm of youth but on older people who decide its all getting too hard!

Cultures are built not on the major breakthroughs but on the subtleties of our daily actions and beliefs.

Stress, Mums and Coffee Shops

I spend a lot of time working in coffee shops – one in particular but often in others. Fascinating to watch the changing of the guard at various times of the day. This blog focuses on the changes that occur soon after school commences and the other soon after school finishes for the day.

Morning shift. Mums (sometimes dads but usually mums) with children whom (I assume!) are not yet old enough for school or kindy. Babble of mums /children discussing what they want to eat or drink (usually both). Choices discussed (argued?) selections made, table chosen. Noise continues until the order arrives at the table.   Peace reigns while selections consumed. Paper and crayons appear and art classes begin (basic, but creative).

Afternoon shift. Same scenario, just older children – discussion (definitely more arguments than in the morning shift), choices made, table chosen (by the children), noise continues but this time unabated when order arrives. Books and pens emerge. Homework has these days become CoffeeShopWork as parents and children go into study huddles (Memo to coffee shop: “Do Not Disturb” signs could be popular).

My point?   On almost every one of these occasions there is a moment where I see mum visibly relax, perhaps even give an audible sigh of relief and peace. Even if it is only for a few minutes they are precious “me time” moments in her constant 24 hour day. Of course even more so if she is sharing the coffee shop experience with other like-minded parents.  

My message? Time cannot be deficit-budgeted but energy can. A little re-charged mental energy goes a long way. Spouse to note that the more often the primary care-giver has chances to generate renewed mental energy (not just in the coffee shop!), the greater her/his resilience to cope and the stronger the family bonds.

I am all for happiness! We need lots more of it.  Yet I don't see it as the right word for the feeling that comes into my mind when people talk about happiness - especially as we come to the International Day of Happiness.

To me the better word is contentment.  Not the sort of contentment that says I have had a good meal and a glass of wine and ready for a nap.  I mean contentment with where I am at in my life, who I am and with adequate chances to express the real me in my way, at my pace and with/to like-minded people.

Contentment describes the journey I am on, not some goal ("I will be happy when...") I am hoping to achieve at some time in the future. The circumstances of my contentment can - and do - constantly change but the feeling it brings is something I can constantly adjust according to the changed circumstances.   Even in unhappy circumstances that require me to adjust my thinking. ("They can control what they are doing to me but they cannot control how I respond"- Victor Frankl).

Contented workers are content with where they work, what they do and the recognition they gain from all around them, clients, bosses and colleagues.  It's the sort of place where we would all like to be employed.  We feel all those good feelings like acceptance, commitment, productive and stable.

When the peoples of the world are content with who they are, where they are at in life and the way society is progressing, that is when, I suggest, The International Day of Happiness shall have achieved its aim.

What do you think? (there's plenty of comment space below)

I have recently finished reading Evan Carmichael's "Your One Word" in which he suggests that, for each of us who have a passion for what we do, there is one word at the core of it all. I used his process to probe the passion around which my business revolves. One word kept repeating itself. The further I probed, the more it popped up.  The word? "Valued".

Valued as in relation to:

• Your unique natural-born gifts/talents and passions that make up the authentic you
• Your value of the people who love the authentic you and other like-minded people who energize your day and your life
• My unique gifts, abilities and passion to do all I can to help ensure you invest your life in the most valuable resource you have - your uniqueness, your difference, your strengths and your passions
• the sheer enjoyment you get out of expressing your authentic self in your own way - at work and in your personal life.

For further examples, simply read "valued" into anything on my website. 

The beauty is that, far from changing anything, it strengthens it, enhancing and connecting every aspect of my mentoring services.

So when next you want to, or have to, make adjustments to the direction of your life I urge you to back your most valuable assets - who you are, the talents you have and the difference you can make.

If you want further convincing of the importance of valuing yourself, think about the word "de-valued" and what that can mean to your self-esteem, sense of worth and true enjoyment of life.  Devalued is a product of what you think others expect of you.  Valued is totally within your power to build within yourself and in the life of others.

I have been invited to speak at the World Urban Parks/Parks and Leisure Australia International Congress (iplc2018) in October in Melbourne.  My topic will be “Backing Leisure to Win”. The presentation will realize a key dream in my passionate journey that began with a one day seminar in 1974 on the potential of leisure to resolve major emerging social issues.

Leisure has long struggled in a work ethic dominated society. It was ok in my career life dealing with leisure-conscious people who wanted better quality recreation facilities and opportunities. However when I reinvented myself as a Lifestyle Mentor in 2003 I quickly learned that to sell the benefits of leisure to business I had to couch them in terms of personal development, stress management, mental fitness and ageing well.

It’s a tough battle because leisure still wears a stigma of being frivolous and even a competitor to work productivity. Supportive people suggest I may be ahead of my time as society moves toward an uncertain future for the nature of work. (There is a whole presentation in that topic alone.)

What can I hope to achieve by speaking to the converted at a Congress of leisure professionals? Simply, it’s a great chance to sow the seed of what I have learned and experienced over many years so that it might progressively grow and flourish in communities around the world.

If you would like me to speak to your people – before or after the Congress – about the benefits of creative leisure interests for improved personal development, mental fitness and stress management I would be delighted to do so. Email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or phone 0417 817 027.

I hope you gain value from at least one of the following points I gleaned from an excellent range of speakers at the “Ambitious Leaders, Radical Change” Newday Summit at the Adelaide Oval, July 4.

• What makes us great? 1) A reason to act; 2) a growth mindset; 3) Grit and resilience; 4) The courage to act. (Phil Nosworthy).
• Go forward 5 years: What are you seeing yourself doing? What are people saying about that? How do you feel? (Phil Nosworthy).
• When asked to define “who am I?” (not what I do), my personal response was “I am what makes me valued by others and makes me different to anyone else”. Works for me.
• The brain is a work in progress. Interactions affect the brain of both persons, positively or negatively. Meaningful interactions don’t just grow our own brain, they grow the brain of the people we affect. Trust is a big factor in the effectiveness of these interactions. (Fiona Kerr)
• Beyond the verve ignited by your passions comes a ‘stillness energy’, a sense of ‘sway’ or ‘heart energy’, the state in which the outputs of your passions start to flow meaningfully to others. (Sally Rundle)
• List in order your three top passions in life. Extend the list as far as seven (still in order). Now consider the potential of re-arranging their order. Say ‘no’ more often to low priorities and those negatively impacting on your health and mental fitness. (Shivani Gupta)

Lastly some philosophical pondering. Phil Nosworthy asks “Is there something really important about ‘learning’ to being human (is learning woven into the human fabric)? Today is all we have, tomorrow isn’t promised”. What came out of that for me is whatever we have achieved through our learning to date could well become the legacy we leave behind. Hopefully we still have time to hone the quality of that legacy.

'In a world that wants to control your every move, steal your ideas, squash your initiative, crush your hopes and stifle your passion . . . In you there will always be a flame burning, a dream that dares not to die, a love refusing to be diminished, a hope that will never be denied  . . . You know you were born with wings to fly, a sky that begs you to soar, a horizon that knows no limits . . . All you need is the courage to back yourself, lift your sights, spread your wings and fly'.

I had written these words earlier this year as part of my efforts to help others see their lives anew. Sometimes I wonder which comes first – the growth, or the experience/event that causes you to see life differently. That question was to be answered in a small but life-changing way - the removal of cataracts from both of my eyes.

Only if you have had the same thing done for your eyes can you understand the seeming miracle of my vision being dramatically cleared after decades of wearing glasses and experiencing the increasing issues of ageing. Glasses discarded, colours brightened, contrasts sharpened and detail more precise.

What I didn't expect was for my new vision to be extended far beyond what my eyes could see and encompass what my mind could envisage . . . 'You know you were born with wings to fly, a horizon that knows no limits - lift your sights, spread your wings and fly'.

I felt younger, in awe of the fact that removal of cataracts could trigger a fresh chance at life, a renewed desire to spread my wings and fly.

Yet not even there did the magic end. I had endured six months of leg problems culminating in a total hip replacement and in need of new fitness and mental energy. 'In you there will always be a flame burning, a dream that dares not to die'. A clear vision is vital but it's the call to action that spurs the dream.

Is life like that? Do we see clearly in our youth, only to have the demands of daily life cloud our vision, like clouds dulling a clear horizon? The wonders of modern medicine are doing more than giving us the ability to live longer. 'In a world that wants to control your every move' I feel a sense of rejuvenation, a lifting of the pressures of others' expectations. A fresh perspective through which I can filter my years of experience and my continuing dreams.

New eyes through which to see more clearly not just my 'who' and my 'what?' but also my 'why?'.

Featured in the July 2018 issue of Gifts of Inspiration  as the Featured Positive Inspirational Story of the month

I have always wanted to be accepted by people, to be the nice guy that everybody likes and respects. I’ve had lots of professional recognition, been president of more organisations than I care to remember, captained sporting teams and generally hold the respect of my peers. All good pointers towards success in life.

As we all know though, life has much more depth and meaning than being liked or seeking popularity. So much of our wisdom, depth, insight and understanding of life becomes progressively embedded in us through the teachings of those two disrespectful disrupters: rejection and failure. They have indeed taught me well, especially in the years since I made the quantum leap from secure public servant to self-employed lifestyle mentor.

Yet it had not resolved an ongoing battle between the mature me as a lifestyle mentor and the passionate little boy in me who still craved acceptance of who he is and what he’s good at. That this battle was largely resolved by events in recent weeks has, as you can imagine, had a deep and profound impact on my whole psyche.  

I refer to a number of recent very public situations where the little boy had self-doubts about me saying what I genuinely felt. The mature me decided to ignore the little boy and "just do it". 

The outcomes have gone way beyond the emphatic positive success on each occasion of me doing so. I had in effect taken a series of small steps which, combined, form a great leap in uniting the passionate boy and the mature man as one authentic self.

While this message still hasn't been easy to write, it's been a cathartic experience. :)

She was sitting quietly by herself, facing the window looking out, it seemed, at nothing in particular. A glass of wine cupped in her hands. Nothing obviously out of the ordinary. It was in a bistro where I often write. I became alert to her not by the length of time she sat there but by her clearly sombre mood. So it caught my eye when she went to the counter and returned with a second glass of wine.

“Are you ok?” I quietly asked. A nod of the head was her response. Minutes later tears began to roll down her face. “You’re not ok are you” was my statement more than a question. “No” was her quiet response. She talked…I listened…who knows for how long….her tragic problems pouring forth, releasing pent-up pressures in her mind, heart and soul. She eventually started to relax, even smile a little. I took the chance to lighten the discussion . Her face softened, her eyes shone a tad more brightly and her body eased. Soon a laugh emerged…nothing hearty but genuine and warm.

A friend of hers arrived and they prepared to leave together. She turned to me. It wasn’t her words that made my heart leap…it was her look of soft thankfulness , her head a little higher, her shoulders a little easier, a warmth flowing in my direction. I had not solved her problems one iota - nor, importantly, did I try to do so - but I had eased her pain, even if only temporarily. My contribution was caring, empathizing and non-judgemental. The change in her was of her doing…a new perspective, perhaps a little hope, certainly a new belief in herself that she is indeed a woman of dignity and respect, a person of worth.

I never saw her again. All I know is how powerful , valuable and uplifting that simple, non-invasive question, ”Are you ok?”, can be - as much to the asker of the question as to the person being asked.

My business can be described in one word : 'ease'. (Not 'easy'.)

When you lose yourself in an interest that you love, you are at ease. My clients say I put them very much at ease and that my messages exude a sense of ease.  We can't feel at ease all the time, but it is essential to be mentally at ease often.

Literally, the opposite to living with ease is one of feeling un-easy,...

ill-at-ease, or experiencing dis-ease... words that are very definitely recognized as being unhealthy states. It can be a silent, subtle feeling, perhaps one of just going through the motions, itching to find a new spark in your life's journey.  A prolonged state of unease can lead to depression, burnout, chronic illness, even suicide.

Thesaurus synonyms of 'ease'...

include words like calmness, composure, contentment, enjoyment, free, liberty, naturalness, peace of mind, readiness, satisfaction, tranquillity, simplicity. The list goes on to put 'ease' in a slightly more expressive perspective; skilfulness, improve, expertise, efficiency, dexterity, make easier.

When you look at these synonyms ease becomes a more realistic goal to achieve when reviewing what sort of lifestyle you want in terms of achieving true self-actualization (Maslow's term for the ultimate in self-development).

I see living with ease as...

a life in which the authentic you is alive and flourishing in your personal life and your working life.  If not, I suggest something is out of kilter about linking who you are, the life you lead and/or the work you do. 

If you are feeling uneasy about quitting full-time work,...

it's likely your fears are less about the money and more about what is going to get you out of bed each day with a sense of valued long-term purpose.  This is the time for you to clarify who is the real you, what other people value in you and what makes you different to other people.  And then back yourself!

I've been through it and loving the freedom of now living my life my way. It's not always easy but I enjoy feeling at ease with who I am, what I do for others and for my own sense of life satisfaction.

I can help you work through all of the talents, gifts, passionate interests and abilities you have enjoyed using throughout your life. These form a realistic, practical and positive basis on which to re-create your life, one centred around expressing your authentic self.

Easy! :)

I am excited to be presenting at the World Urban Parks and Leisure Congress in Melbourne on 15th October 2018 at the MCG. My presentation “Backing Leisure to Win” will outline a strategy for changing the way we plan for parks and leisure development in a highly uncertain future world, especially with the future of work being under threat.

It will be a return to my professional association Parks and Leisure Australia, of which I am a Life Member and a past National President. I retired in 2002 after 30 years of service to that profession.

Time is a concoction of human beings. We like to  time measure everything, be it in seconds (if you are an Olympic athlete), minutes, hours, years, lifetimes. Your mind has trouble understanding let alone answering the question “how old do you think you would be now if you didn’t know when you were born?”.

The concept of time began to annoy me years ago when I became a Leisure and Recreation Planner. People could only think of leisure as free time, even a waste of time…and who has free time when you need to work for success, money and the mortgage?

So I decided it’s time to do something about people’s obsession with time.

Nature doesn’t work to a clock. In fact it doesn’t ‘work’ …it just naturally grows, flourishes, matures and (flora) blossoms. Trees, plants or animals don’t retire and stop growing at some predetermined time.  Yet nature is busy – reeeally busy (even though you won’t see much movement unless you have a time lapse camera (damn I said time again). There is untold and unseen co-operation and collaboration going on (it’s called ecology) plus rain and all that activity that goes on below the ground.    

And when you realize we are in fact part of nature (not something above or in charge of it) you get a different perspective on human existence…we be (which is why we call ourselves human beings…funny that). For humans to grow and mature we have to be seen to be actively doing things. If we just stood there like a tree we would keel over and die (if we haven’t been hit by a car).

I prefer the word experience. We experience living so long as we keep at it and our health lets us keep at it. The ingredients contained within your seed are different to those of any other person, in the form of unique gifts/talents, passionate interests and potential achievements/contributions to others. Your seed naturally grows into the person you are today,  through the active development of your talents and passionate interests.

You are identified not by the work you do but by what others value in you and make you different. Your growth is based not on how long you have lived to date but by the depth of your knowledge, experience, insight and wisdom. These in turn are the product of your expressed and developed natural-born talents and passionate interests.

Leisure becomes the creative expression of your natural abilities for the sheer joy of the experiences you create. It becomes an integral part of a productive, meaningful and therefore successful life. Leisure differs from work only in that the product is totally yours while the product of work is subject to the expectation of others who cannot know the real you – the person only you know , the natural abilities unique to you and the potential only you can realize. Would that the world could be the product of such freedom of creative expression. How much better would be your mental health, how much better you would age and enjoy life, how much saner you would become and collectively how much real progress would society achieve.  

And when you are totally absorbed in an enjoyable experience, you forget all sense of time. My case rests.

Got time to make a comment below?

I like the saying. “Be yourself, everyone else is taken”. It’s a guard against the frustrations that come from trying to be someone you are not. However I think it can be said more positively, “No-one else can be you”.

There is something in you that sets you apart. You were born with a unique mix of talents/gifts the potential of which is best maximized by following your passions. Even others who share your passion do so from perspectives different to yours.

When you reach your 60's you enter an exciting era, a new freedom to open up the potential for you to ‘live younger longer’.  Work or not, it's time to back your true self, to focus on doing what you're good at and how that can enrich your life and that of other people who value your abilities.  Your difference becomes your strength.

While I enjoyed my structured career as a Recreation Planner, I now love the freedom of lifestyle mentoring, to do things my way on my terms and enabling me to realize my personal goals.

For a deeper understanding of your unique potential, my book "The Hunger to Grow" is your essential first step.  Click here to get your copy.

The Weekend Australian on October 27/28 published a laudable article in its Magazine concerning the depression experienced by Australian cricketer Moises Henrique.  I lit on to his reported comment about how much he enjoyed swimming, walking the dog and playing golf as his way of escaping from his dark place.  My  reaction is summed up in the following response letter which the paper published (unedited) last weekend. 

"Forty years as a Recreation Planner have taught me the power of the Enjoyment Factor in managing stress – enjoying creatively expressing any interest that switches your mind off your problems and switches it on to energizing experiences. In Moises Henrique’s case it’s swimming, walking the dog and playing golf. For me it’s choir singing.

The power of the enjoyment factor is the tugboat that gradually turns excessive stress around. Yet few psychologists give enjoyment it’s due credence to energising the mind to better cope with depression."

I fully endorse health professionals' normal suggestion of "exercise".  It's just that I see the enjoyment factor as being crucial - be it a physical or mental activity.  Without enjoyment, the essential "switch off from your problems" experience is greatly diminished and interest in the activity soon fades.

Exercising the body keeps you physically fit (and helps the mind). Exercising the mind keeps you mentally fit (and helps the body).

I have just seen a video in which Professor Michelle Simmons (Australian of the Year 2018) is encouraging people to make the most of their lives. She concluded by saying: "Learn about yourself, what you are good at, what you enjoy and then push the boundaries of that to find out where you can excel".  Here's the link: https://twitter.com/i/status/1080665975769333760

It expresses - much more simply than I - exactly what I do. So, naturally, I am promoting it as much as possible. 

But my interest goes much deeper. Professor Simmons doesn't distinguish between work or leisure to pursue your goals.  She simply talks about learning who you are, what you enjoy, what you are good and how you might excel in life.

The work ethic is the product of 19th Century thinking (even earlier!) and totally out of date with 21st Century progress. The distinction between work and leisure is rapidly blurring and disappearing. With the future of work undergoing massive changes and uncertainty, I foresee the distinction disappearing totally.

The emphasis I believe will be, exactly as Professor Simmons says, on who you are, what you enjoy, what you are good at and what you can do to excel in life. 

I will go further and suggest that in future, the concept of a work ethic will evolve into a development ethic, in which we all use and develop our natural abilities through our own chosen connections with like-minded people, to be part of something bigger than self in advancing human progress.

I welcome your comments (below).

And I hope 2019 will be your best year yet - at work, home and play.

I have just seen the film “The First Man” (the Neil Armstrong story). For me, perhaps the most emotional moments were two views of the earth - one when circling the earth and the other from the moon.

Distance gives everything a perspective like no other. Circling the earth high enough to be able to be truly in awe of this beautiful world we call our home. It’s human inhabitants – even In our collective billions – become invisible from that distance. Mere mortals who come and go in the blink of a celestial eye.

Awesome then must it be to stand in the utter silence of the moon, the earth becoming just another white orb in the endless blackness of the universe.   Subject totally to the unfathomable whims of first the sun and then…who knows what?

Beings from another planet would naturally wonder, “is there life on earth?”. They would readily come to appreciate the nature and role of the millions of flora and fauna that keep our earthly environment healthy. But the humans? Are they a life-giving part of the earth’s natural growth, or a pandemic that exists to destroy? We wonder. 

We are part of nature, not above it.  Nature demonstrates so much to us about how we humans can truly grow, flourish, mature and blossom, each to our own unique natural potential.

Human nature is not an oxymoron.

The Internationally-renowned Gifts of Inspiration website has just published my article (below) as their feature article for February 2019 and distributed it world-wide in their February 2019 issue of InspirEmails:

I was waiting at a coffee shop to meet a client for the first time. She was late and after about fifteen minutes I sent her a text message asking if there was any problem. Almost immediately she responded 'oh my gosh I have just realized I am at the wrong coffee shop' (about a block away). She apologized profusely and said she would come straight down. No problem I thought and sure enough she soon appeared coming towards me very hurriedly. Her first words on arrival however were most unexpected.

'Peter I was so flustered about my silly mistake and hurried to where you are. But the moment I saw you I felt at ease. You were more than calm and untroubled by my mistake. You had an aura that put me immediately at ease'. I could have decided this was just one of those alternative thoughts we so often hear . . . except for one thing. She was not the first person to say so. Only weeks before my personal branding adviser simply said 'Peter I can sum up your branding in one word - ease'.

I am telling you this not to puff my ego but to convey what I believe is a powerful way we can all look at life. I don't particularly like the word happiness or the suggestion that we all want to be 'happy'. I had preferred the word 'content'. Content with where I am in life, what I am learning and my way of contributing to human progress. Then along came this word 'ease'.

Professor Michelle Simmons, Australian of the Year 2018, recently said . . . 'Learn about yourself, what you are good at, what you enjoy and then push the boundaries of that to find out where you can excel'. To me that encapsulates living life with ease. It's very different to living 'the easy life' - something that is in fact very unsatisfying and unstimulating. It also accepts that we all have our ups and downs. Ease is more the way we can describe a satisfaction that we are at our right place, at our right time, doing our right thing.

Wherever you are along your life journey, Professor Simmons' words give you and me a sound and positive basis on how to live today and in planning the next phase of life. You don't have to be the best at what you do, or even be wealthy. It's enough to be you, to learn about yourself, what you enjoy, what you are good at and to keep pushing your boundaries to excel in your way within your resources. That, to me, is living life with a sense of ease.  

Think of the person who left your organisation after many years of faithful service. You lost so much more than the skills in their job specification. They might have been the person who could solve computer problems, or who organised the social functions, counselling skills when tragedies struck, had good artistic skills for designing flyers and brochures, the problem solver, provide music for a business event, the “mr/ms fix it” when something goes wrong with the equipment… the list goes on.

You know what it does for your self-esteem to become known as the “go to “ person in your workplace to meet certain needs that are not part of your job but which you are renowned for providing. Of course your “go to” talents aren’t reserved for the work place. You developed them in your own time because you enjoy being good at them.

Having meaning and purpose in life tends to generate lofty-minded thoughts of being able to change the world in some way unique to you…and if that’s your passion, go for it! Yet it’s the “go to” skills that we all develop over our lives that make the world go round each day. Your “go to” skills can be made more widely available come the day you are no longer chained to the limits of your working day. And the thanks and admiration you get will never lose their value, giving you a true sense of purpose in your life.

Be proud of what you are good at doing.  Your value as a "go to" person will always be needed.

I am shortly to announce details of my forthcoming “Alternatives to Retirement” half-day workshop in Adelaide. I am also available for one-one consultations. Call me on 0417 817 027 or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

One of the great fears of people (especially men) when they consider leaving fulltime work is the prospect of “losing their identity”. The traditional work ethic has had a powerful influence on the way we think…and not just at work. It implies (wrongly I believe) that your work should be at the centre of who you are.

Your job may well express something of who you are…and the more you love it the greater that self-expression may be. If, however, your work is your only way of expressing your authentic self, you have a burnout problem building.

My core business statement has long been” when you lose yourself in an interest you love you find yourself”. It’s when the real you comes to life, you are at ease with your self, your mind alert, your self-esteem high and, put simply, you are enjoying being you. It’s a feeling you should often experience, including throughout your  working life to keep your resilience levels high.

It’s the feeling you should be having every day after you leave the inhibitions of your working life and not just for fun. You are free to build the life you want around doing what you love, what you are good at and helping people who need your abilities.

So what might you say when asked ”And what do you do?” after you've quit fulltime work? An intriguing discussion-starter would be: “I was (e.g.) an accountant – now I am enjoying being (rediscovering?) the real me ”.

Your further reading should include my books "Enjoy Being You"  and "The Hunger to Grow - How to Enjoy the Dessert Years of Your Life"

Can you imagine how you would feel if one day you woke up and found your identity had been stolen by an online thief? No money, no bank account, no credit rating, a ghost walking around in society? May it never happen to you or to me.

Yet it’s that sort of thinking that can keep you awake at night when you think of the prospect of retiring from fulltime work - after the obligatory trip overseas. Perceived loss of identity, self-esteem, becoming invisible, unwanted….the perceptions go on. The more professional and purposeful your current career may be, the greater your likely fear.

Let me end those fears right here…no-one but no-one can steal your authentic self, the person who is unique in human history, with your natural talents and your developed skills, experience, knowledge, perspective and depth of understanding. The self you have created to date , loved by your family and tribe and respected for who you are, not for what you do.

The 21^st century world is crying out for people with your talents and (especially!) your depth of understanding humanity. Some thoughtful re-creation of your authentic self and you are on the way to finding a new sense of place, value, purpose, self-esteem and deep enjoyment. Just stay as the positive opportunist you have always been.  It may not be an easy life but you will definitely be at ease with the fact that you have done it all for the sheer joy of valuing yourself and being valued by perhaps a whole new tribe of like-minded people.

Not sure what that might be? This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

The idea of making a leap of faith during your working life can be exciting but, for most of us, you are likely not to do so because of the "what if it doesn't work out?" question. Yet, unless you are self-employed, its almost inevitable that one day you are going to be faced with having to make the leap of faith into a life that doesn't include a full-time job.

When it comes to helping people work out what they will do when they leave full time work, it's rather strange selling people a future they cannot know nor can I predict. In a sense I am trying to sell a product that the potential buyer knows nothing about. Financial planners can at least work with what’s in your pocket /bank but I have to work with what’s in your mind - a mind which is likely to be negative about a future without fulltime work.  No matter how many positive concepts I can put to you, its’ hard to shake the many outdated images of “retirement” – old, invisible, valueless, loss of identity …you can add a few of your own I am sure.

It’s now 16 years since fulltime work and I parted company so let me say very clearly about the old concepts of retirement – they are now all bs! Life after work today is about a very important step forward and no different to any other major change in life you have faced – when you started work, got married, had children, when the kids left home, whatever. What you did then was totally up to you (with the support of your life partner). Nothing’s different about leaving work. I had to make my own decisions and here I am thoroughly enjoying being a life mentor.

The beauty of life after work is that I was released from obligations and external pressures of bosses, corporate policies, clients, shareholders, workplace cultures and the like. I became free to be me, to do what I love, to mix with the people I choose to be with and to help people in my way, using not just my skills but my depth of understanding life. It is a most exciting and releasing feeling!

What you do continues to be your choice. You have been ageing since the day you were born …’old’ is an optional choice and I chose not to be old.

Only you can decide your future. My job is to help you remember all of the strengths your life to date has been built on, creating your own foundation on which to choose and build your exciting future. Not when you retire…now! I can help you.

Now read my next blog, "What Life is Like Beyond Age 65"

An important first step is to get your copy of my latest book "The Hunger to Grow".  It contains so much of what you need to know in mentally preparing yourself to enjoy a full and satisfying life after you leave full-time work.  Click here for further information.

Book me to speak on this or related topics - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or phone me on 0417 817 027.

Why are we sucked in by this word "old"? Who decided anyone was old or at what stage of life one becomes old?  It’s a fact that we age from birth to death but old has always been a matter of perception.  And usually perceptions of other people, not of self..."whether you think you are old or think you are young, you're right!". Nor do I know of any health or social issue that is solely age-related.

Perhaps it didn't matter in the past when life was short. Now we are being told that, despite our increasing longevity and medical advancement, employers are shrinking the working lifespan to as low as age 40! Why? "Because you are 'too old'!" Oddly, many of the people influencing the existence of age discrimination are themselves over 60...interesting!

It's time to stop perceiving society as divided into "us young people" and "those old people".

It's not just a matter of current age discrimination issues.  Globally the numbers of people over 65 are growing faster than those under 65. Sooner or later we shall reach the tipping point beyond which age discrimination of any sort will become totally unworkable.

The good news?  In a world where the "them and us" age division no longer exists 'we young people' will never be old unless we want to.

Now in my 70's, I can and do enjoy my life-long ageing process without being old.

One of the biggest problems I face in helping people who are considering making the transition from full-time work to a new life adventure is their perception of life beyond the age of 65. It’s essentially true that you cannot know what it’s going to be like until you get there yourself, but a lot of negative perceptions don't help. Having been through it myself and in helping clients do so, I would suggest you can put to rest many of your perceived fears and doubts about your life beyond 65.

I base this on the fact that the authentic you, the person who looks out at the world through your eyes, never changes. In my presentations I often use a slide of me at the age of 14 and me now. I look totally different and much has changed in my life in those intervening years. But in both pictures it is the same me – the authentic me who has never changed since birth. 

Try this yourself with a picture of you in your youth and now. No matter what life has thrown at you in the intervening years, the inner you has never changed. Nor will you do so after you turn 65.

Forget the perceptions you have created about people who have aged for many more years than you. Forget the perceptions of those who think that only people under 40 can cope with the pace and change of modern business life. Forget the perceptions of 'old', a word that I will only use here for the sake of the article’s purpose. 'Old' too is a perception – usually yours of others or others of you. If you think you are old or you think you are not old, you are right! That we age from birth to death is a fact. 'Old' however is an optional choice.

So how will life look like to the authentic you when you go beyond 65 years? You will continue to review and modify your thinking and priorities as you do now. Importantly you will also continue to deepen your understanding of people and life, your insight, your perspective and your wisdom. And you will enjoy continuing to do so for as long as your health permits. A tree doesn’t stop growing at 65 nor do you.

If you know someone considering finding a new adventure in life after leaving full-time work, I would be pleased to chat with them over a coffee. Absolutely no obligation.  0417 817 027.

All the publicity on life after work is about how much money you will need. Very little attention is given to the emotional and mental impact such a transition can have on you. Many people have died from retirement within months of leaving work purely because of the impact it had on their very reason for living.

Our rapidly ageing society is a global issue and we need to take a much more modern 21^st century approach to ageing. We all want to make the most of our statistical expectancy of living a longer and healthier later life.

Your new life adventure after you leave work needs to embrace all of the following emotional factors – expressing your authentic self, creative enjoyment, unique abilities, emotional energy (interests that energize you), passions, a positive outlook, connecting with like-minded others, and a desire to keep growing.

I myself remember, a few months after I left work, sitting at home thinking “if I sat here all day no one would give a damn”. There was no-one specializing in helping me work out what I would actually do with the rest of my life. It was up to me to figure it out for myself.  You however now can access my subsequent personal and professional experience in helping others make the emotional leap into a new life adventure.

Importantly, the fact that you are different to everyone else continues for the rest of your life. Only you can know the real you and your emotional needs. Talk to me about my program that respects that fact. It gives you a structure that enables you to come up with your own custom-designed plan.

Long service leave may seem like a taste of life after you leave work. In fact the two experiences are very different.

Leaving full-time work is a bit like the astronaut who leaves the space ship and breaks the ship’s umbilical cord. It leaves him/her to float in space, out of reach, never to return to the home ship. You have left the security of a structured working life. In the context of finding your daily purpose and meaning, you are on your own.

However you do have your own personal energy pack, containing an accumulation of all the energizing experiences you have enjoyed storing over the years, ready to tap at just such a time as this. Thoughtfully and carefully unpacked, it can empower and propel your life in any direction you want to go.

Talk to me about my program on how to purposefully unpack all of your stored potential.  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

I love the analogy of a full life being like a big dipper water slide. A wild journey packed with bumps and thumps, ending finally with a huge splash as you yell “WOW!! what a ride!”. The question for you is….will the final splash come for you at the end of your working career or at the end of your life?   

 The 20th century (19th century?) idea of “retirement” as a time of effectively shutting the door on your life and value is totally out of place in a 21st century world of rapid social changes  and a healthy expectation to continue growing and blossoming as a person for many years beyond 65.

 Yes I thought I had retired in the tradional way when my career came to an end.  But 21st century events soon told me my career skills were still highly valued and needed by people very different to the ones I served in my career. In reinventing myself as a Life Mentor I built my own new water slide, one I could enjoy riding as much as I wanted. Designed to provide bumps and thumps that accord with my skills and experiences, taking me in the direction of people who value me and need my skills. I plan to keep riding that slide until my health tells me “Last ride Peter…enjoy it”.

The traditional work ethic is rapidly changing into a growth ethic. It’s a bit like the tree that doesn’t stop growing at 65, knows no distinction between work and leisure and instead of getting old it becomes increasingly significant.  

21st century living needs 21st century thinking. You are at the cusp of a global ageing revolution that has already begun. A revolution firmly based on valuing your continued accumulation and expression of your experience, knowledge, perspective, depth and wisdom.

If you are within ten years of retiring (voluntarily or enforced) you will want to ensure you continue living a long and fulfilling life after you leave work.

The problem is, if you wait until you retire to work out what you want to do next, you will have left it too late. For a seamless transition to life after work you need to start today. How?

You are no doubt regularly investing, say, 10% of your money for your superannuation – perhaps more if you salary sacrifice. Why not also invest 10 % of your week to build on and develop those natural talents and lifelong passions you have always enjoyed (or wanted to enjoy)?  And right away it helps you manage your stress levels too.

A simple first action is to download my brand-new free ebook “A Tree Doesn’t Stop Growing At 65 Nor Do You”, to gain some 21st century thinking on how you can start the process right now towards enjoying a new life adventure after leaving work.  Click here to go to the download page

I made a successful transition and am still passionately enjoying life. You can too. But make it a long steady transition from today rather than a shock stop 'n start.

Being able to see past the public persona of people is a bit like being able to break a concrete block with your bare fist – you have to look beyond the block. My ability to see beyond the public persona of people without judging their vulnerabilities is a major factor in why I am (and love being) a Life Mentor.

We all wear our public mask (usually a blank look) when out in public. It protects our vulnerabilities – especially in the workplace. However it’s the person behind the mask – the private self - who makes all of the decisions about what you do with your life.

For most of us, the private self gets battered around during our 50’s. It sure was an emotional roller-coaster decade for me. The prospect of nearing the end of my career wasn’t in my thinking but I say now that events during those years dramatically changed my thinking about the sort of longer term future I wanted to have.

This post is by way of encouraging you not to let your public persona influence your heart's wishes. Your 50's is the time to back your true self. Your experience and natural abilities have been deepened by your accumulated wisdom. That's the self who wants to take you forward into your future.

Never more than now have you wanted to feel truly connected with people you value ...and who value you.

People who open doors to experiences you were meant to have, to interests you were born to explore, for successes you needed to share to achieve. It's not the number of connections but their depth and meaning. Mind to mind, heart to heart, soul to soul, passion to passion.

You enter and leave this world alone. Connection with like-minded others is the magic that gives your life purpose, develops your growth and sparks the love that fires you.

Connection is the mirror that synchronizes body language, develops trains of thought, triggers the aha moments that change your world... and mine.

Only when you meaningfully and mutually connect with like-minded others do you truly discover and enjoy being your true self.

Enjoyable experiences are much more than simply having a good time. They actually energize and expand your growth.
The enjoyment factor is at the centre of the seven features because when you are enjoying life, the other six fall into place.
Experiences you truly enjoy express the real you. Only you can decide what you enjoy.
Enjoyable experiences lift your self-esteem, self-belief and self-confidence. Enjoy them often to sustain your resilience to cope better with the stresses of life.
The enjoyment factor has to be present in any physical exercise intended to meaningfully improve and sustain mental fitness.
Any workplace culture that doesn't include the enjoyment factor is facing problems, especially in these dramatically changing times.
The enjoyment factor generates the energy that drives your life forward.

The Enjoyment Factor – Energizing experiences that expand your growth

Gifts/Talents – the natural strengths that make you different

Emotional Energy – the source of your desire to grow

Passion – the unquenchable desire to use your talents to enrich your life

Connecting with others – the sense of sharing sparks the magic of living

Positive Outlook – looking beyond problems in search of solutions

Continuous development - all the above interacting for the rest of your life.

No matter what age you are, Covid-19 has caused you to wonder what impact the world today and in the years  to come will have on your life.

It's time to get back to the basics of what it means to enjoy being your true self. The real you who wants to:
• Enjoy a fulfilling life of purpose,
• Stay mentally fit for a long healthy life
• Never let age get in the way of continuing to grow as a person
• Be always valued for who you are and what you do
• Confidently say what you really believe
• Know how to sustain the energy to cope with problems, and
• Know when to say yes to opportunities put to you.

What you will learn in my Zoominar 2 is based on my 50 years of professional experience helping people improve the quality of what they enjoy in life. Thirty years in recreation planning and development and 20 years as a Life Mentor. You will enjoy a refreshingly different and positive perspective on your continuing potential.

You naturally control what you enjoy. The 7  Key Features of Enjoying Being Your True Self will give you clarity of everything you need to know to unpack your strengths and repack those you want to take forward to your future.

Full details appear in the image below.  Register your place now at
https://lnkd.in/gPGT4an

I look forward to meeting you on the call.

2020 brought us probably the most significant life shift we will ever make in our lifetime. Totally unexpected. Life - indeed time itself - stopped...globally. Yet we did have time – time to stop and think like we have never done before.

We think about what’s most important to us when we get married, pass a 'Big 0' stage of life, or have a midlife crisis, . Usually it’s a measured process of planning the change while life rolls on around us.

In the eerie silence when Covid first hit, we wanted to get back to the way things were. Eventually we began to realize we never want to go backwards. We want to keep going forward. But how?

More than ever we need to focus on the basics of what makes us tick as individuals. It’s time to realize our identity isn’t found in the work we do but in who we are, what we love doing and our natural-born gifts that no-one else on earth can duplicate.

It's become vital to enjoy being and backing our authentic selves.

 Go here for information on my  "It's Vital to Enjoy Being You" Program. Three 90 minute sessions - in person (Adelaide only) or via Zoom. 

In a work ethic world enjoyment was seen as separate to work – some fun or pleasure that gives you a rest from the realities of an economic rationalist world. Bosses often saw it as a competitor to work – slacking off in a world where “time’s money!”.  

Enjoyment is in fact the desire to live the life we want and love – work and personal life. It’s about why we are here. We can have fun for a day. Enjoyment however activates our life of purpose, fulfilment and service to others. Enjoyment drives our self-esteem, self-confidence, taking control of our lives, developing talents, unleashing  passionate interests, growing the person we were born to be as distinct from playing roles we think others expect of us.

If you are feeling that the life you lead is out of sync with what you would love to be doing, you would enjoy my structured self-review of what you have enjoyed over your life to date, especially those experiences that triggered new growth in you. They are the ones giving you the foundation you want for a new life adventure of enjoying being your authentic self. 

Click here for more details.

Every enjoyable experience is a positive step in building your natural life journey. A journey made doubly exciting by the uncertainty of where you are going , but with an assurance you are traveling in a direction you were born to take.      Click here for information on my "How to Enjoy Being You" Program (online or in person (Adelaide only)

The unquenchable yearning to follow our heart is there in each of us. Some of us know it and live it to the full. For many it’s more often in our personal life. It can be buried at work by the desire to earn enough money to more than pay the bills.

So it was for me for my first 12 working years. Enjoying my personal life was enough to satisfy me. At 30 I wondered, “thirty-five more years of this? And then what?”. The yearning had stirred. No answers. Simply a realization from deep within that I was born with a natural unquenchable yearning to follow my heart.

Four frustrating, searching years followed, with still no answer. “I wonder if I would be any good at….?” was my ever-present question. Suddenly my heart, mind and life came together in the form of a one-day seminar on Leisure as a Social Issue. I went on to gain my Graduate Diploma in Recreation Planning (with Distinction). From then to today has been a wondrous journey of transition and revelations.

Have you resolved your unquenchable yearning to follow your heart? It’s there and it’s never too late. Perhaps start searching for it by asking “I wonder if I would be any good at….?”