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.

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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?

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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.

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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.”

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The psychological impact of symbols and images.

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.

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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…

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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…

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Fortune On Four

According to the Oxford Dictionary: a Parlay is a cumulative series of bets in which winnings accruing from each transaction are used as a stake for a further bet. Today I look at four of life’s winning strategies that, if used together, can multiply your chances of coming out on top in the game of life.

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Thoughts By Owen Thomas To Ponder

Thoughts To Ponder

On a recent podcast, Prof Yuval Noah Harari discussed the concept of boredom and how we avoid it at all costs and yet it can be one of the most valuable experiences. To have time to wander around topics of interest without looking for a particular answer or end game – can lead to creating space in our minds to discover the new.

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Fortune On Four

According to the Oxford Dictionary: a Parlay is a cumulative series of bets in which winnings accruing from each transaction are used as a stake for a further bet. Today I look at four of life’s winning strategies that, if used together, can multiply your chances of coming out on top in the game of life.

Read More »

Thoughts To Ponder

On a recent podcast, Prof Yuval Noah Harari discussed the concept of boredom and how we avoid it at all costs and yet it can be one of the most valuable experiences. To have time to wander around topics of interest without looking for a particular answer or end game – can lead to creating space in our minds to discover the new.

Read More »

The Two Dogs

This week I explore the legend of the two wolves inside of each of us. If you know the story I have a different take, and if its new too you – it has great power.

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FEAR

At a dusty, outback, isolated Australian truck stop, two men leap out of their tent, preparing for the biggest fight of their lives.

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Even More Fast Three

Good things come in Three’s.. .so here we are the third and last of The Fast Three ( at least for the moment) tips and ideas that can impact your life. Lets Get Into It!

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More FAST THREE

Life itself has three parts – birth, life and death. Our bankers ever afraid of fraud created a banker’s 3 with a flat “top” to stop it being changed into an eight. And for those of us who are religious in nature many religions have Triple Gods – The Father, The Son and The Holy Ghost, in Christianity and the Hindu Trimurti with Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva.

So today again we have three fast, easy to read, potentially life changing ideas to ponder, raise questions and absorb or reject. You won’t be bored.

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Three Tragedies, A Laugh – Part 2

As a follow-up from last week, we complete our Three Tragedies and a Laugh. Four stories and ideas to reflect on. Three serious & one to laugh at ourselves. Here are the final two. This week we get the laugh…

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