Year: 2010

sunday life: in which I commit random acts of kindness

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This week I give away stuff… randomly.

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Have you been ROAK’d yet? I know four people who have in the past fortnight. My friend Kerrie was walking to the servo to buy toilet paper and a woman she didn’t know handed her a bunch of jonquils. Just like that. A reader on my blog wrote to tell me some guy in front of her in the cafe queue paid for her coffee last week. Another two had their parking meter topped up by a stranger. In all but one case, they were handed a little note or card that informed them they were recipients of a Random Act of Kindness and that encouraged them to do the same to someone else. To pay it forward.

Americans are all over this odd little practice of guerilla dumping niceness on random strangers. Oprah has her Kindness Chain project. Her fans are invited to do a kind deed and write it down in a little journal that has their name and address on it and a request for the journal to be returned when full. They then invite the receiver of their RAOK to pass on the love – and the journal – to others.

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In Line Behind Me is a Washington-based blog dedicated to people who’ve been shouted coffees by strangers. They’re slipped a card inviting them to post a heart-warming story about the RAOK on said blog. The “shouter” can then log on and read about their amazing altruism the next day. Which, I suppose, means it’s really a blog dedicated to people who want to read about themselves on blogs.

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The three “life better” tips that get the most chatter

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I’m in Bali on holidays… So I’m posting in advance a short best-of series. I hope you don’t mind. But it’s really something I need to practice, since I preach this kind of thing (shutting off, creating space), right? Part three is  mini-list of the tricks and tips that have grabbed people the most. It’s … Read more

The three best efficiency tips I’ve ever found

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So, this week I’ve packed up and racked off to Bali for “annual leave” (are such things relevant when you work for yourself?). I’ve vowed not to work. So I’m posting in advance a short best-of series. I’ve been on this experiment…trying different tricks and meeting various gurus for just over a year. Some work. … Read more

The three most authentic gurus I’ve met

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So, this week I’ve packed up and racked off to Bali for “annual leave”. I’m here with four boys – Jim, Sam, Jason and Karl (a little more handsome than the lot below). Boys are funny on holidays. They arrive at consensus in crazy cruisy ways. All cool, so long as they get a surf in.

Anyway. So I’m posting in advance a short best-of series. I’ve been on this experiment…trying different tricks and meeting various gurus for just over a year. Which have worked? I’ve narrowed my take down to a mini-list of three.

It’s also the first day of Spring. Sniff some wattle for me!

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1. Marketing guru Seth Godin. We chatted about giving art as a gift. The guy is very much the real deal. There are a lot of efficiency experts out there who preach only answering emails once a day and who – magically – reply to your correspondence within 5 seconds…. It kind of shits me. Or makes me have a little heart sink.

So how do we start giving gifts? How do we become remarkable? “The aim is to elevate connecting and sharing to the same level as breathing or eating lunch every day,” he says.  By which he means, we start giving and then give some more and eventually it becomes a way of life. Seth walks his talk. He makes money from public speaking and his books. Then he spends the rest of his time giving freely. He intentionally doesn’t monetise his blog or any online webinars he gives and he expends a lot of energy connecting and helping people. I can vouch for this personally. Read more here.

2. The Dalai Lama. Yep, met the guy and chatted about how to stop head chatter. He’s a man true to brief. But who has the common touch. He knows how to tell the Western world what they need to hear.

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tuesday eats: kale pesto

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Everyone has got a little excited about kale. Every time I write about it I get stacks of emails. So I thought I’d post a great kale pesto recipe. Healthy as. And you can freeze it...which I’m radically into right now.

kalepesto.WEBThere’s a lot of recipes out there. I like this one.

1 bunch kale
2 Tbsp hemp oil
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
2 Tbsp fresh basil
1 lemon, juiced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp Celtic sea salt

Add the ingredients to a food processor and whip with an S-Blade until finely chopped.

This one for quinoa with walnut kale pesto from glutenfree girl also looks good.

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organising your things neatly

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I love patterns. I get a kick out of arranging the accouterments on a cafe table (sugar dispenser, fork, napkin) in lovely stabilising shapes. I’m not a neat freak. I just like patterns and seeing if things can be placed more pleasingly. Which is why I whooped when I found things organized neatly.

tumblr_l7h46ajoH81qbycdbo1_500It simply posts pics of things placed “just so”. It’s a delightful human quirk…this need to order things artfully. And I like how certain things appeal to us more…like having a thicker border at the BOTTOM of a painting than at the top.

I like arranging rolled up sugar packets and beer labels in patterns on bar tables. You?

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Sunday Life: on the importance of having space

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This week I clear for myself some space.

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On Tuesday I was walking to the post box while talking to my accountant and reading an email attachment on my phone. I passed an old lady in a pink beret sitting at a bus stop. Just sitting in the sun. Fifteen minutes later, she was still sitting there, staring into space. She wasn’t compulsively filling the space with music or texting or twittering. Or, to be generationally appropriate, knitting. She kept her space a vast, unhindered void.

I’m not sure if it’s because it’s become a tired cliché, but “time poor” just doesn’t quite cut it in summing up the collective yearning these days. Instead, I’ve noticed we now all ache for “space”. Space is something my generation hasn’t had since we hung out in sandpits building racetracks for our HotWheels.

This week I played with this ache. I mean, it’s not something you can go out and buy, or bottle. You have to play with it conceptually.

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Me doing the Good News Week thang

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Not sure if you saw it… I was on Good News Week on the Ten Network on Monday night. It was a bit of an election wrap-up. I had a lung infection. And stupidly took a “night” cold and flu tablet. So I was strung-out-dopey all night. Who does that?? I actually don’t remember much of the night. Apart from being stupified by Akmal and getting choc chips down my bra.

Here’s the links (I like how this first one paused on my “Yeah, right, as if elephants fly” expression):

TBH, it was one of the most terrifying things I’ve done. I live in fear of being asked to 1. dance 2. sing 3. do a Theatre Sports-like performance in public. I ran a very real risk of this happening. I ran to the loo all day.

Also – I’m not funny. I mean, I roll with punches and have a good sense of humour, I reckon. But I don’t do gags. In my head I do. And often they’re really bloody funny. But I think my outward awkwardness means the execution will always be dorky. The timing is not syncopated.

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tuesday eats: chocolate, green tea and red wine

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Yep, all of the above. I love them all. They are an injection of happiness. My body actually smiles when I have them. Same with zucchini, oddly. And brazil nuts. It’s funny-but-totally-get-able: because all three are great sources of antioxidants, I have a very healthy attitude to all three. I don’t binge on them. I … Read more