Sue Wong

Come October and it is Show Time in Geelong. My grown daughter happens to be home recuperating after a surgical procedure. This is her fourth week here. She remarked as we walked slowly around the big block – fast pace or lifting is still prohibited at this stage of her recovery – that she loves… Read More

“Man is pushed by drives, but he is pulled by values.” Viktor Frankl, quoted by Ryan Holiday in, Ego is the Enemy. “Let values lead. Understand your emotions without letting them direct the dialogue.” Susan David, Emotional Agility. “Healthy values help us to connect with a zoomed-out view of our lives, because they orient us… Read More

In Blog #177, we explored the simple but powerful habit of asking yourself, “Am I sure?” Since then, several of our manifesto mates have shared how valuable they’ve found this question – while others have asked for a deeper dive into its purpose. So, let’s revisit the idea and unpack why it can be such… Read More

I have returned to this book to rediscover what it was that resonated so much with me when I originally purchased it some years ago. I am delighted and amazed that its wisdom still speaks volumes and aligns so well with our own book, My Manifesto. I am reminded of one of those awarenesses that… Read More

This past weekend, Jeanette and I headed off with her two sisters, her brother, and everyone’s partners – eight of us in a cosy house, a dodgy weather forecast, and plenty of time. The skies didn’t play nice, but it hardly mattered. Conversations flowed. Meals stretched. A few rounds of table tennis got competitive (in… Read More

Have you ever paused to notice what your environment is quietly saying to you? Not in the loud, obvious ways – but in the gentle whispers that shape your thoughts, choices, and mood each day. Research affirms what many of us intuitively know: our environments matter. A study in Health & Place found that even… Read More

I have had occasion to reflect upon my Signature Character Strengths again this week. When I joined Toastmasters International over two years ago – to retain my confidence in the public arena after retiring from classroom teaching — I decided to deliver my Ice Breaker speech focusing on my Signature Character Strengths. I entitled it,… Read More

Every so often, a book arrives that feels less like new information and more like a deep exhale – a reminder of what we already know, but too often forget. Oliver Burkeman’s Four Thousand Weeks is one of those books. Burkeman begins with a sobering truth: if we live to the age of 80, we… Read More

“One of my great loves is having deep and fulfilling conversations. So I plan to continue unpacking people’s lives with them, and sharing that with as many people as possible because as we turn more inward and feel more fractured, being reminded we’re all kind of the same, that we’re all here for a similar… Read More