I’m writing today’s tip in a cosy living room in the Richmond District with an attention-seeking cat on my lap. I just made myself a cup of tea and later on will make myself dinner. The UPS guy just came to the door to deliver a package. ‘Coraly?’ he tried to pronounce the name on…
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The thing about humans is we want all the wrong things. We want what we can’t have, we want things that are bad for us, and we even want things that don’t exist. Take certainty, for example. We are practically programmed for certainty. We crave it. Some of us want it more than others and…
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I hate to be a burden. At the supermarket register I frantically grab my groceries, change and receipt and bolt away somewhere less conspicuous to organise myself. I know that when someone asks, ‘What do you want to eat?’ answering ‘I don’t mind, whatever you want’ is NOT helpful. So instead I will try to…
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I spent two weeks in an ashram in India earlier this year. While I was there I wrote a few tips. * On my first day in the ashram I enjoyed the yoga, I enjoyed the vegetarian dinner and I enjoyed the chanting. I took in the statues of Shiva and the swamis and contemplated…
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I spent two weeks in an ashram in India earlier this year. While I was there I wrote a few tips. * Today as my karma yoga I cleaned a fridge. Karma Yoga, or selfless service, refers to the duties each person in the Ashram must carry out each day. When I arrived here last…
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When I first arrived at the ashram, I was surprised and pleased by how social it was. Solo travellers had converged from across India and chatted in that eager way one does after a period of solitude. We had all arrived at the same time to commence a two-week “yoga vacation”. The director of the…
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A man named Sudesh is rubbing oil onto my completely naked body. It begins about an hour after I arrive at the Ayurveda Health Resort in Kerala, India. I am shown to my cabin and am introduced to the only other guest in the resort. May is the low season in India. ‘Hello!’ she calls…
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When I left my office job about six weeks ago, I also pretty much left Twitter. Perversely, when I had no choice but to look at a computer screen all day, in my free time I chose to look at it some more. Now that I don’t have to look at a computer screen all…
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Yesterday, I sat and watched a kingfisher on the banks of a creek. When I first spotted the chocolate brown and blue bird, I didn’t know what it was. I wondered whether it was a kingfisher, and instinctively leapt up to check the Internet. But I couldn’t, because there is no Internet where I am….
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On my first day in India, my aim for the day was to get my bearings. I wanted to figure out Cochin, the historic trading port in Kerala, which was my first stop. I would study road names and monuments and landmarks that would help me find my way home. I also wanted to log…
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A few weeks ago, an owl came to live at my house. I had just arrived back to my hometown where I grew up, which would be my landing spot for a few weeks between leaving work in Melbourne and beginning my overseas travels. Shortly after I arrived home, my mum commented on the racket…
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A couple of months ago I decided to go travelling for a while. Two weeks ago I took leave of gainful employment, packed up my lovely little apartment and sketched out an itinerary. In between clearing out my office and getting on a plane, I have a few weeks of hanging out back in my…
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You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do. – Eleanor Roosevelt This week my nephew Reuben faced his fears and had swimming lessons. We all cheered and glowed with pride. Apart from…
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“Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” This is so well-known to us it has become a cliché. How about “gotta be in it to win it” or “life is short”! We know that leaps of faith are part of a well-lived life and that in order to succeed we must “grab the bull by the horns”. And…
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