Justin Robinson

We really thought about who would greatly benefit from the my manifesto experiences but might be challenged by the time involved or potentially deterred by the financial outlay required. One answer was a young adult who is setting out in life and may not be entirely sure of the direction which they might wish to… Read More

Kelly McGonigal PhD is a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University. Her TED talk on the upside of stress has received more than nine million views. Wow! This says a lot about the huge interest there is in this subject. The bad rap given to stress, is met full on by McGonigal; universally, and… Read More

We are currently storing a neighbour’s Christmas present for their eight-year-old son; a new bike! Several weeks ago, our neighbour asked if it would be okay, and then last weekend he arrived with the bike. We found a spot in the shed and covered the sparkling orange bike with an old sheet. This weekend, my… Read More

The current edition of the International Journal of Wellbeing features an article titled ‘Character Strengths and Inner Peace’, and is written by Lobna Cherif, Ryan Niemiec and Valerie Wood. Earlier this year I completed an eight-week Mindfulness-Based Strengths Practice course led by Dr. Ryan Niemiec, who is the long-term Director of the VIA Institute on Character.… Read More

  We witnessed the clarity that having a personal manifesto affords a client when they shared the following story with us: They are in their middle years, productively employed in their chosen field, and happily married with two school-aged children. As a result of some public recognition in recent days, they have been presented with… Read More

The best recommendation I can make for this book, is that it inspired me to write a letter to my sixteen-year-old self! Here are some standout quotes for me in the book … “I realise that you need to just plough straight ahead and make all the big mistakes, because out of them will come… Read More

You could not have missed the floods that swamped parts of Victoria this year, either directly by being a victim to their sweeping invasion or indirectly through living your friends’ and relatives’ experiences vicariously. Perhaps you had the role of onlooker with a few degrees of separation, witnessing in the media the daily stories and… Read More

Kelly McGonigal in her book, The Upside of Stress writes of genuine empathy: “You must be willing to feel their distress and imagine yourself in their experience. You also must be able to see their strength alongside their suffering.” In recent times opportunities arose to practice genuine empathy – as opposed to pity – in… Read More

In a recent blog, Can a step in the right direction be too small? this question was asked and answered with a resounding, ‘No.’ I thought to take up this topic through the lens of a Manifesto Musing, as the small step or action, is at the heart of Mark McKergow’s Six Solutions Tools model… Read More