reading is everything

The Archive

Welcome to the archive. Here you’ll find pages of life advice on personal values, emotional intelligence, relationships, finding purpose, and much more.

GET MY LATEST WEEKLY(ISH) "OBSERVATIONS ON LIFE" IN YOUR INBOX

Subscribe now and join all those who have already subscribed to get my writing!
You will also instantly receive “The Five Books to Change Your Life”. Some of the best books I have read, that you’ve probably never heard about.

a simple line to change life

Quotes That Changed Life Part Two

On January the 1st, 2017, I sat down to read the first page of The Daily Stoic. A book that features 366 meditations on wisdom, perseverance, and the art of living. The first day held a quote that summarised everything I’d learnt in the previous twenty-five years. So simple, powerful yet can change a life, The ideas written nearly 2000 years ago contained inside are helpful at any time, but now more than ever – Enjoy.

Read More »
Owen Looks at three quotes that change life for the better

Quotes That Changed My Life

Many quotes from famous thinkers have been splashed on the internet and social media in the current cultural landscape of vaccinations and pandemics and ensuring economic upheaval. They have been used as verbal grenades to lob at the other side in arguments that have been polarised into straightforward black and white world views. Yet my history shows – it is all too easy to neglect the substance of the quote and its equal vitality to our viewpoint. 

What is the quote that changed my life and could you use it too?

Read More »

Life’s Foundations

For any building, the foundations can take the longest to build, but if faulty, they will cause the greatest problems. So it is with life. How do we work out what foundations we have to play with and build strong foundations that will last a lifetime?

Read More »
This Method Will Improve Any Problem By at Least 78%

Perspective

Most of us can have problems that sometimes seem insurmountable. Is there a way of looking at them that can allow for more solutions and a happier and more meaningful life?
I believe so…Enjoy – Let’s get into it. 

Read More »

Three Actions To Feel Good…Today

Not feeling Great? Want to do something about it? Here are three simple practical things you can do today to change all that. They’re fun and sometime in the next few months you’ll even get more clothes. Interested?

Read More »

The Day That Turned My Life Around

What could the day that turned my life around mean for you? Was there something I did that you could use to progress your life forward today? What was I so afraid of that could make it easier for you to act today on those dreams or emotional needs if you knew it? Could this be the day that turns YOUR life around?

Read More »

Perspective

Most of us can have problems that sometimes seem insurmountable. Is there a way of looking at them that can allow for more solutions and a happier and more meaningful life?
I believe so…Enjoy – Let’s get into it. 

Read More »

Three Actions To Feel Good…Today

Not feeling Great? Want to do something about it? Here are three simple practical things you can do today to change all that. They’re fun and sometime in the next few months you’ll even get more clothes. Interested?

Read More »

The Day That Turned My Life Around

What could the day that turned my life around mean for you? Was there something I did that you could use to progress your life forward today? What was I so afraid of that could make it easier for you to act today on those dreams or emotional needs if you knew it? Could this be the day that turns YOUR life around?

Read More »

Pressure

Right here we go, and don’t worry it gets easier….Pressure is the force applied perpendicular to the surface of an object per unit area over which that force is distributed… Well, that’s the start of the technical definition anyway. We all know what it feels like to be under pressure, use it to motivate someone to action, or see our doctor smile when our blood readings are AOK. But what happens when that pressure is changed suddenly ? What are its impacts? And how can we use it?

Read More »

Storms of Reflection

Machiavelli first said, “Never waste the opportunity offered by a good crisis.” In the modern era, this sentiment has been wrongfully attributed to Winston Churchill and used by politicians and leaders worldwide to spur us to action on the intransigent. Popularised in this century by Rahm Emanuel, chief of staff to former US president Barack Obama, it sentiments remain valid today. On June 9 of 2021, my part of the world was rocked by storms causing damage not seen before. During its aftermath, I reflected on our reactions to a crisis and what we may learn that we may find helpful in the next one. There will always be another crisis to navigate.

Read More »

Myths and Symbols

“Two Hundred and Fifty Thousand dollars per annum is what you should earn, at least at the start. We will pay for the setup, finance the business, it will be your show, but we will be the foundations if you need it. We want this set of clients, and you are one of the few people with the skill level we would trust to make this happen.”

Read More »

The Power of The White Coat

A visit to the dentist is never the same after seeing the 1976 movie classic Marathon Man. The famous torture scene, in the dentist chair, with Laurence Olivier playing the Nazi war criminal Szell, leaves your next visit to the dentist even less appealing. If you are afraid of dentists, I suggest you don’t watch it. You may never go again. Yet for me a very powerful image was able to reduce my pain and bring me comfort.

Read More »

Three Fundamentals

Interviewers have numerous techniques for getting the guests to talk, and it begins with how they ask questions. One trick they learn is to refrain from asking questions that only require a yes/no response; they end up where they started with no conversation and the risk of “dead air”.
Hence a prepared interviewer will avoid this at all costs. One of their most common techniques is to ask the list type question. What music would you take to a desert island? Top three books you read this year? And on it goes…

Read More »

Considered Trust

Trust is one of the essential foundations of human society. It holds families and worlds together, and when broken, disaster follows. Families can fall about, and countries can go to war. We often see trust as a black and white concept. We can either trust or not but perhaps considered trust is a mature option. Something to ponder…

Read More »