Come Alive Come Alive

I bought many FooFighters albums, the last one was in 2007, seven years before I began working for Pandora, a place that made albums a distant memory as it generated made-for-you playlists from your favourite songs. Through my latest streaming app, I got introduced to a song off an album I own. Hilarious right. A song that turned out to be Taylor Hawkins' favourite and is now mine too. I didn't think 'The Pretender' could be toppled and have no idea how I missed this song the first time around, but 15 years later here we are. 

The song is Come Alive. 

There is a unique power to it that drags you from the present into a dreamlike overview of your existence. I've only flown twice in my dreams but this song gives me that feeling where I am above myself looking across my life from my childhood, to now and into the future of old age and ending. 

It is not for the fainthearted and if you are one that prefers to stay in the happy delusion of the everyday, it's a song to downright avoid. It is powerful stuff and it hurts. But for it's beauty I can't resist it. It draws me in, like a portal to an all-seeing dimension and it gets me as close to transcendental as I'll likely ever get. Of course the one thing we all don't want to see or face is our own ending, our own inability to imagine the day we no longer see the sky or those we love. It is unfathomable and more than distressing...but it is this life.

It is said that Dave Grohl wrote this about the birth of his daughter, which makes sense. But as I saw the pure frenetic and wild spirit of Taylor Hawkins stilled forever last year, I can't help but feel that it has transformed into a cry from Dave to bring Taylor back, who lost more than a drummer in that moment, but also his best friend. It reminds me of how I feel when I think of my friend Kim who died and I know I still think of why and how it could have happened that she was lost at such a young age. If only we could play God and make those we love come alive again. The repetition and the build only make the desperation for life over death to be true... please! 

If only. Instead my only comfort is we continue in a bizarro way in our children, parts of us turning up, surprisingly, in a mannerism or a turn of phrase, us but not really - like a riff stolen and placed in a new arrangement. A whole new unique human remixed from two others. 

Shane Hawkins performed with Foo Fighters soon after his Father's death

We are lucky we have Taylor's words, voice and music recorded for all to enjoy and for him to endure for us, but for him and for Kim I am broken that they can't hear our voices anymore, see our faces or wrap us in their arms. Come Alive Come Alive Come Alive!

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A lifetime of beauty in a song

I can't say that this song is going to make your day because it makes me sad yet it inspires me at the same time. But It somehow captures a lifetime in minutes and I am at the same time grieving the end as much as celebrating the wonder of what is now and possible. 

Because life in all it's forms always contains at least elements of beauty. The unique outlook each individual has, what they see is what no one else ever will. We are all watching our own movie and whatever scene you are up to, one thing is for sure it is yours and yours alone, to cherish and keep, locked in your beautiful mind. 

Townsville has obviously been harbouring some deep, mesmerising souls in 'Middle East' 

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Is WALL-E one of the greatest movies ever made?

Creativity is this strange strange entity. I can't work out why it exists. It used to be evidence that God existed; he created us so we naturally created too. But then I started doubting the whole religion thing and my own need to capture beauty and pin it down remains unexplained. But one thing is true, when creativity is allowed to find its true potential, all are left inspired. 

In our time one of the most beautiful and inspiring works of art is the motion picture. Some may say it is a lazy person's novel but I believe it is a platform for every kind of artist. It is where visual artists cross over with musicians, actors and writers amongst so many others, all to do one thing well - tell a story. I have worshipped this art form for many years and have listed my favourite funny movies and even dedicated whole posts to some of my faves. But today's list is a must see of serious yet unmissable works. Welcome to my gallery of creative genius. 

• WALL-E
• American Beauty
• The Descendents
• The Piano
• Cinema Paradiso
• Léon
• The Unforgiven
• Amelie
• Million Dollar Baby
• The Green Mile
• Up
• Blade Runner
• The Shawshank Redemption
• Good Will Hunting
• A Beautiful Mind
• The Sixth Sense
• The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
• Kung-fu Panda
• The Matrix
• Life is Beautiful

WALL-E is I think one of my top five and only became so late last year, thanks to having toddlers that began to devour movies for breakfast. It is pure genius how the juxtaposition between robots and human emotion are seamlessly brought together. It's not every day a cautionary tale for humankind disguises itself in an exquisite robot love story, but Wall-e achieves both and more. WALL-E will have you entranced much in the same way he is entranced with the super-slick EVA from the first time she shoots at him with her high-powered laser arm. His quirks, imperfections, and huge heart will capture yours as much as his apple start up sound will have you smirking. This level of creativity astounds me and almost makes me believe again that there is something more to us than simply ending as dust. 

Never stop creating.

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Little arms, BIG hugs.

Someone asked me today to close my eyes and imagine a place where there is love. Of course I'm sure like most people my mind flashed my hubby's face up, but I settled on the best feeling in the world...that of small arms that can't quite reach around you yet, but still surprise you with their loving strength. 

My two boys are now nearly 3 and 4 and so their little arms do reach around my neck, they can pack a punch which often lands in my stomach, they can dive on me rock and roll wrestling style with no concept that 19kg in flight causes quite a lot of pain. But when those little arms lock around my ribs and squeeze while they bury their head in my chest I just melt. 

Gone are the menacing memories of the spilt smoothie, the punch up over a ninja turtle, the refusal to eat, bathe, get dressed, go to sleep, say yes. And if they add a "whove you Marm" they could have spewed, pooed and drawn on the walls all day, and I'd still be a mess of "my gorgeous little man, I love you too". 

I never imagined finding this kind of love, I never could have pictured the experience of stroking a luminescent forehead in a way that sends it's owner to sleep, or meeting these little people that are just crashing into life with insatiable curiosity, raw emotions and ever-stretching limbs. I never imagined being asked to "sing me 'close to you' Mum" or "look at my p00!" or to be told "my wil1y goes up like magic, it's really big.... hehehee". But these are the things that have made my life. These are the things that come to mind when someone asks me about love...and I am loving every sleep-deprived, deranged and chaotic minute. 

The most comfortable sofa is seemingly me!

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Happiness is love. fullstop

I just read about the longest-running longitudinal study into human development. The Harvard Grant Study started in 1938 and followed 268 Harvard graduates for 68 years. And it is one of those crazy moments where you watch someone else's life flash before you, but more than crazy it is absolute gold. It is like finding proof of God, when with that amount of data is collected, over that period of time, the findings prove that if the men had a warm relationship with their mother and a happy marriage, their lives were not only happier and healthier but also more financially successfully. It basically shoots "the nature vs nurture" argument squarely in the head too. 

Wow! just wow! 

Wow because I am a Mum to two toddler boys, wow because I know a man that didn't get on with his Mum and wow, I suddenly feel really terrified. 

I know this is all a good thing, because I am determined to love my boys and maintain a warm relationship with them, but life doesn't always work that way and people sometimes get it wrong. 

The good news for Mums struggling with their relationships with their sons is this though, the study also found that happiness can be found later in life, by things like finding the right spouse, a health scare or finding a new community, like three examples from the study did. 

Christopher Croke wrote in The Australian, "The journeys of the Grant Study men show that most people's lives are more authentically stories of growth and change than they are tales of demographic or genetic destiny."

Scott Stossel wrote in The Atlantic, "Vaillant’s key takeaway, in his own words: “The seventy-five years and twenty million dollars expended on the Grant Study points … to a straightforward five-word conclusion: ‘Happiness is love. Full stop.’ ”

It seems apt to end hAPpyRIL with that final note. Loving others is the most powerful and fulfilling thing we can do in this life. 

Love your family, love your friends, love the humans you've never met, 

but most of all LOVE your children. 

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5 peculiar habits of happy people

Shawn Achor said there were five things you had to do to every day for 21 days to change the way you view the world. Well I'm stealing two of his and adding three that have been verified in countless studies I'm sure, unfortunately though they are studies no one has ever read nor heard of. In any case I'm convinced they are little things that will improve your life and at the very least will be good to wheel out at dinner parties! 

Chores

This is definitely the weirdest on my list, but from one that has avoided a lot of chores in my time, when I get in and just do them I know it is a path to happiness. I think it is not the chores themselves but what they represent - i.e. a barrier, a blockage, a weight, a burden. My husband is an expert at relieving himself of this particular kind of unhappiness, by just getting in and doing it. Now to complete his happiness, he needs to get me to do the same! Trying dear promise, I've got to the first state of chore happiness, I've written the list (I'll give it to you later...as proof I mean, not because I know you'll get to them before me...seriously). 

Pilates

This is not that strange and any doctor will tell you exercise of any kind releases endorphins (happy hormones) in your brain and creates wellbeing far beyond just being physically healthier. I have singled out Pilates because it is like this quiet achiever that not only gives you a work out without you noticing, but has the bonus of fixing anything from a crooked walk, to a lower back issue, to bad posture etc etc. The thing is a cure-all - it may not have the buddha on a mountain-top-ness of Yoga, but I assure you it is all that.... now I have to just start doing it again! 

Flossing

Can you believe that flossing, that little habit that very few people bother with can completely change your life. Not that you would notice straight away, lack of flossing is a slow burn to unhappiness, rather than a rocket to your head as such. The bacteria that lingers in your mouth from literally rotting food travels through your body and has been shown to contribute to heart disease and stroke! And you thought bad breath was the biggest issue here, when in fact being alive rather than having a raving social life is the issue. Ok so have freaked myself into flossing, be back in a mo. 

Meditation

I met someone that went away for a week somewhere and didn't speak the whole time. He said that the result was he had a clearer brain, a week of just meditating if you like meant he could clear all the white noise that had been humming in his brain. I personally think about half my problems would be solved if I had clarity of mind, the sheer volume of thoughts that I connect up every minute is exhausting just thinking about it, and it is easy to see why my own brain simply overwhelms me sometimes. Add a bit of quiet non-interactive time to your life, they say 10mins will do it and it is meant to change your life. 

Oats

I used to ride horses a lot and when I was helping mix their feed, I suddenly got a real insight into the whole "we are what we eat" cliché. If you had a flighty horse that had thrown a few school girls in the morning classes ( you can't really blame him can you though) you had to down his Oats and mollases. Oats is basically like rocket fuel for horses, it really does get them going, and I figured it was a real shame that most of us were brought up on processed stuff like Corn Flakes, which basically has the nutritional value equivalent to a similarly sized piece of cardboard. 

Oats conversely are classed as a superfood, because they are: 

• the only grain proven to reduce blood cholesterol lowering the risk of heart disease
• low G.I. and therefore give you long-lasting energy
• high in insoluble fibre in other words laxative ads are irrelevant to oats eaters (have you ever met a constipated horse? colic is not the same thing btw)
• high in soluble fibre which is great for Heart health
• they fill you up so you don't fill like eating a mini-Cherry ripe with a coffee at 10am
• packed with essential vitamins and minerals such as Calcium, Magnesium, Iron, Phosphorus, Manganese, Vitamin B5 and Folic acid

Is it any wonder I am writing this series as I am currently doing one out of five of these and I wonder why I am stressed out! 

What one are you doing? or are you a super happy person doing all five!?

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Love not war...

I am so grateful today for what others have done. I hope their sacrifice is remembered and felt for years and years to come so that we can continue to live in peace and never let War take and ruin the lives of fathers, sons, mothers and daughters again. 

Have a great Anzac Day, rest and remember xx

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Children make me happy...

Today's post comes from someone that needs little introduction as she is awesome, both for her work as a child behaviour consultant and for the what she shares on social media and her blog Easypeasykids. I was lucky enough to connect with Nathalie in person when I was down in Melbourne for a blogging conference and we had a gorgeous day making each other laugh in between the occasional tweet and instagramming of toes. Her post today is exactly like her: wholehearted, LOL funny and inspirational all at once. Enjoy. 

What makes me happy?

Children make me happy, and I have the great fortune to work with them everyday. The

world through their eyes brings happiness to the simplest of moments. They make me

laugh out loud, help me see the bigger picture and they show me that a happy moment

can be anything that makes them feel good inside.

These are the moments that they have shared with me that make them happy. It really is

the simple things.

Mr 5 “When I wipe my own bottom and don’t get poo on my back”

Miss 4 “When mummy blows raspberries on my tummy”

Mr 7 “Having pop off competitions with my brother”

Miss 8 “When I read a hard word on my own”

Mr 9 “Playing footy with my mates especially went it’s muddy”

Miss 6 “Snuggling on the couch with dad watching TV”

Mr 8 “Every time my mum says I love you”

Miss 5 “When my mummy reads to me”

Mr 6 “Digging for worms”

Miss 6 “When mum says I can jump in a puddle”

Mr 10 “When dad plays minecraft with me, he’s not very good but I don’t care he’s with

me and we laugh at how bad he is”

Miss 3 “Kisses on my nose”

Mr 4 “When mummy chases me like a big monster”

Miss 9 “Being with my dad, he makes up not very good jokes but that makes them even

funnier”

Mr 11 “Mum’s hugs although I’m older now, her hug makes me feel on top of the world’

Miss 7 “Singing in the car with mum, we pretend we are Divas. I’m not sure what a Diva

is but it must be something great because mum loves doing it and it is so much fun”

So keep looking for those happy simple moments, they are there. Make your kids laugh;

a child’s laughter is the tonic we sometimes need to get through the next hurdle. Ask

your child what makes them happy; you may be surprised at the simplicity of their

answer.

Nathalie Brown x

www.easypeasykids.com.au

www.facebook.com/easypeasykids

@easypeasykids

pinterest.com/easypeasykids/

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Working Mum aka losing your mind

Ok so I am still a little in shock here, sitting in my pjs, as only two days ago I confirmed the change in date to tonight, for a girl's night out with two smashing Mums from my neighbourhood. It's a night out we've been discussing for probably four weeks as we all have varying degrees of work, not to mention two toddlers each so finding a night we were all free and then moving it the week before was pretty lucky. 

But luck ran out for me tonight as I entered the twilight zone and completely forgot I was going anywhere. When my hubby opened the door and I heard my lovely yet "my-forgiveness-is-running-low" friend ask innocently "is Nicole ready to come out?", I screamed 'Oh my god". 

Mortified I unravelled myself from a toddler-turned-puppy-dog who had settled into my chest as only a puppy can, and stumbled to the door, my racing mind stopped by my beautifully dressed, made-up friend, confirming my fears and throwing me into the realisation of my ridiculous absent-mindedness. 

She conversely was treated with a vision of shapeless grey marle, in my comfy and oft-stained pjs, the grey tinge of an unmade up hungover and exhausted face, distorted in horror. "You are not quite ready then" she giggled, I think still hoping I wasn't a complete ar5e and was going to rush and get my act together. 

An x-ray of my brain taken tonight

The truth is I was actually lucky to be awake as I was contemplating passing out about half an hour earlier but was staying up to help with bath and bedtime for the boys. When she did note the suitcases that had taken up residence under my eyes I think she knew I was in no condition to join them.

This really isn't a happy post, it is kind of a scary post, obviously my life is a little bit too congested at the moment and maybe I need to work out how to give my mind a break ... and if I do that, fingers crossed my lovely friends will forgive me and invite me out again.... please! 

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Human Connection

I struggled so much with the choice to return to work, especially fulltime given I had two gorgeous toddlers, but what I found in my new role at Adshel were people that you only dream about working with. I feel assured now that I am a better person and indeed a better and happier mum from knowing and working with some phenomenal people. One person in particular has had such an amazing influence on my life, and she has kindly agreed to share what makes her happy. I think you will see from her words how wholehearted her approach to life is and how inspirational she is to those lucky enough to cross her path. 

Every night this month I have thought about what happiness is and have after 17 days realised that happiness for me is all about people and moments I've shared with someone this month:

• Chatting to my sister for 1.5 hours on the phone about anything and everything and laughing a lot
• Driving home on a Sunday with my husband and feeling enveloped by the love of a great man, content and complete
• SMSing with my Goddaughter about The Voice and some of the singers
• Chatting with my son about our day as we make dinner together
• Helping my beautiful mum pack up 25 years of her home and breaking the back of her sense of overwhelm
• Listening to my 11 year old nephew tell me about his latest school project on mouldy bread and his dreams to do well in a cross country race the following day
• Finding just the right birthday card to send to an old mate that is guaranteed to make her laugh
• Sharing the ache in my daughter's heart as she shares news that her ex has a new love interest
• Feeling a silent heartfelt connection just with a hug
• To notice in a fleeting moment of silence in the home that my aching daughter is singing & humming once more. She will be okay my beautiful warrior woman
• Hi-fiving when a complex work challenge ended on a high note
• Knowing something I have done has made a difference to someone else
• And lastly, having a lovely long black delivered to my desk and realising I had missed that person around the office for a few days and the importance of their presence

Joanna x

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Dedicated to Boston

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What makes you happy?

Other than The Bloggess I have had some generous tweeps share what makes them happy, and as we are half way through #hAPpyRIL I thought it fitting to share the first of I hope will be a few posts from others and what makes them happy. Sas Loos even shared a gorgeous piccie of her son, and his gorgeousness explained her heart swells! 

@_wideeyedgirl the boy in question :) twitter.com/SasLoos/status…
— Sas Loos (@SasLoos) April 10, 2013

@_wideeyedgirl running #hAppyril
— Elen(@EllyfromOZ) April 10, 2013

@_wideeyedgirl Family love and good time spent with them best describes happiness:)
— Campee Australia (@CampeeAus) April 2, 2013

@_wideeyedgirl i like things that smell good.
— Claire Hewitt (@ClaireyHewitt) April 10, 2013

Ahhh white wine you make me so happy! Almost as happy as a big cuddle from my daughter that almost chokes me!!
— Jade Evans (@Jadey85) April 10, 2013

What makes you happy?

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How to catch a star

We have reams of books for the boys, partly because I read to them from when they were five weeks old, and partly because my lovely mother-in-law makes a point of buying them both a book every time she sees them. Like everything there are varying levels and purposes for these books, some are jigsaws, some are colour books, touch and feel, numbers, first words, animals or nursery rhymes but by far my favourites are those that have a good story and beautiful illustrations. And arguably the king of, in my view the best kind of children's book, the illustrated story book, is Oliver Jeffers. 

My favourite has to be The way back home, followed closely by Lost and Found, that is also a most beautiful short film too (see trailer below). But really whatever Oliver Jeffers I pick up, I have yet to be disappointed. The beauty, humour and adventure of each one moves me to a better place every time. 

Which book makes you happy? Do tell...

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The Oatmeal...that is all

If resting on the 7th day is good enough for God then I'm in too, so here's a cartoon that is so true it makes me laugh until I cry... 

On that note The Oatmeal and an early night are going to make me happy. 

What are you grateful for today?

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Poetry rocks! no seriously...

I didn't know spoken word poetry would make me happy, in the same way interpretive dance or performance art normally doesn't, unless you count sniggering at someone else's unfortunate career choice as happiness. I didn't know this despite Poetry and I having quite a history - in all those black hard cover journals in the attic there are so many poems, some quite bad and others woeful (when I am doing my month on misery, Maysery, I will share some of them...my pleasure), but I wrote a lot of poetry as only a super-drama queen can. 

I remember receiving an unpublished book of poems from an aspiring poet(snigger) and he misguidedly wanted my feedback. Even back then, (my late 20s aka the decade of mega-delusion), I knew what made a bunch of words on a page, magical and it is the simplest and the hardest thing in the world: BEING REAL. Who you are, how you feel, what you think has to scream from the page loudly and genuinely to make words sing. Otherwise it is an essay, it has been said before, heard before and sounds awfully like someone trying to be someone they're not... and that gets boring real fast (I oughtta know). Of course earnestly believing in "being real" I didn't hold back and let him know in no uncertain terms how lacking his cryptic words without heart were. 

The truth is it is REALLY hard to be REAL, poor guy. It is scary! I am constantly thinking, "what if so and so reads this or that, they will think I am mental!", then I remember that if they know me they already think that so the game is sort of up already.  

Seriously though, it does take courage to be real in writing and about ten times that to be real to someone's face. And that is why I love this particular spoken word poet - Sarah Kay. In her Ted talk she says that "the number 1 rule of being cool today is to appear unphased" and she quite rightly goes on to imply that sort of fakeness ends up cutting you off from life, and more importantly doesn't allow you to connect with people. Connecting with people is in our DNA, it is what we truly crave and what makes us very happy. She would rather be truly engaged with the world, the good and the bad....even if that means being "uncool" (does that mean being daggy is at last cool? - did I just write that - oops). 

Here is the last poem from her Ted talk (full version here), that shows that there is one thing she does know about life and that it is worth trying at, it is worth being a little phased, life is like that, so just be, but be IN it. 

I also found this one after watching  the one above and it is gorgeous in it's truth and whimsy. I hope Sarah Kay makes you happy too. 

P.S. Thanks to Mike for suggesting I watch this - you were right she rocks!

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The Bloggess! that is all.

Ok so was going to do a selection of posts from any number of wonderful bloggers that have made me happy or made me p1ss myself laughing or preferably both. Then someone called Jenny Lawson happened and despite being inspired by her and her 5ft metal chicken in the past, I realised I had to dedicate a whole blog post to just her blog posts - so today is about THE bloggess - another day in Happyril, that mythical and weird place in time that some people just call April, I will share the love amongst other very humourous bloggers. 

The reason Jenny Lawson makes so many people happy is because (as if I know!?) she is not only an amazingly talented writer, but she is also real in an extreme sense and SO generous. I know this because if you have over 300,000 tweeps following you and you sometimes get over 3000 comments on your blog, you don't have to answer inane questions from small mummy bloggers from Australia... but she does! And that's why I love her, that and her stuffed squirrels, warm my little heart. 

This is what happens when Plato and The bloggess cross paths! Source here

Today I give you: 

1. The one about the meth lab and the first post of Jenny's I ever read

2. The one where you realise why Jenny suffers from anxiety . 

3. The one about jizz

4. The one with random phone messages that make me feel strangely comfy

I'm going to stop sharing now because once you go to her site you'll get stuck - it's like Pinterest for people with no taste who can't go a day without craving and then failing to resist imperfection and wrongness. Hopefully you'll get stuck there too, hopefully that is not an insult hmmm? 

Is there a blogger that makes you happy... or is Jenny all that for you too?

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5 steps to happy goggles

This amazing TED talk by Shawn Achor not only knocks the lid off the misconceptions around happiness but gives you a methodology that takes only 21 days that promises to help change your outlook on life! That means by the end of #HAPPYRIL you'll definitely be HAPPY!

Namely every day for 21 days: 

• Write down three new things you are grateful for
• Record one positive experience in a journal
• Exercise
• Meditate
• Do random acts of kindness, like a positive email to someone

But worth watching the lot as this guy is on to something here and it is a damn sight more interesting than our trained existence.

I am going to try it out - let me know if you are too.

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Never Give Up

When I was seven I took Piano lessons. Like most seven year olds I didn't like to practice. My teacher, Mrs Thomson, was pretty hard core and was perpetually frustrated with my lack of practice at home as I made little progress between lessons. I did learn to read music and I did learn to play at a basic level. I lasted about two years but the thought of taking exams paralysed me with fear. You see it wasn't just laziness, even at such a young age I was terrified of failure, so much so that I sabotaged myself so as to stay in control of the situation. If I was going to fail, I wasn't going to fail while trying, so I didn't, I quit instead. 

It was a safe existence, but a soul-destroying path I was venturing down, and unbeknowns to me I was in the early stages of avoiding disappointment and pain really well. I don't know what part of my childhood did this, but I became acutely aware that on the other side of trying was supposedly devastation. Devastation because the world would find out you weren't perfect. 

Recently my three old started to cry badly before swimming lessons. He definitely wanted to quit. I saw hideous fear in my little boy's gorgeous blue eyes, and I fought hard with my instinct to wrap him in my arms and take him home. The one thing that stopping me was the massive flash back to my own fears in childhood and I knew if he faced his fear, instead of quitting, it would be a better outcome and not just for his ability to swim. 

The first week was the worst, so much so the lifeguard asked me to leave the pool area so Bang would stop crying and staring at me. Only 7 mins of the 30mins had smiles. The week after he arrived back home with Dad who had brought him home straight away, feeling that it was disrupting the class too much. Back in the car Bang and I went, me coaching him all the way there on how good he would feel after he overcame his fears. The tears started again as we neared the pool but this time only lasted 10mins, and were quickly replaced by a broad smile of accomplishment. 

Facing fears requires concentration...calm before the big smiles!

The week after that Bang bravely let his swimming teacher pour water over his head. Four weeks in he poured water over his own head in the bath for the first time, the experience of which created an expression that in the three years I have known him I had never seen before. With the biggest smile ever, pure joy erupted from his face as he looked up at me and shook the water off with pride and a renewed sense of his own ability and strength. 

This proved to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that courage and happiness are closely related. Understanding your fear and accepting it as normal, and then pushing past it with no expectations of success or brilliance, just getting past the fear and doing something you're scared of - it is an amazing thing and we underestimate its power. We also overestimate how hard it is to help someone persevere.  We only had to endure approximately 30mins of anguish to get to those big gorgeous smiles.

"All it takes is 20 seconds of insane courage and great things will happen. I promise"
Benjamin Mee, zoo owner (His story in the movie "We bought a zoo")

What I realise now is that those little choices to quit instead of try are like taking a small pick to your self-esteem, knocking little bits of self-belief off every time. And luckily I have realised in time for the beginning of my own children's lives that if I can help them face their own fears, and instil in them a sense of courage and resourcefulness, then they will always know that anything is possible. And hopefully for me I will still have half a life to lead with courage and passion.

What fears would you like to face? 

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