people are funny (some diptychs)

One of my favourite words is diptychs. So it happens I stumbled upon a few by photographer Mark Laita from his book Created Equal,  thanks to Brain Pickings. We humans do the same kooky things. We all want to belong, make a stamp, stand over and above each other. We want to be the “us”, to the “them”.
We pomp and perform and trick ourselves up. But under it all, even under the separatist thinking, we are the same. I find this comforting. Joyful. We’re funny little things, don’t you think?

createdequal3 people are funny (some diptychs)Ballerina / Boxer
createdequal9 people are funny (some diptychs)Homeless Man / Real Estate Developer

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Sunday life: I quit sugar

This week I quit sugar (part 1)

* Dear reader, most of you have read my “I quit sugar” posts over the past few weeks and are probably wondering ‘why’s she going over this again’? Well, this should give you an insight into the turn-around times in publishing. I wrote this Sunday Life column at the same time as my first post. It just takes this long for it to be subbed, fact-checked, laid out, printed and distributed. It’s a nice little refresher for those of you who’ve been following things on this blog…If you’re new to this blog, you can catch up on other “I quit sugar” posts my interview with David Gillespie is here, the reasons why sugar makes us fat here, how I quit sugar here and some breakfast ideas here.

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It’s not that I’m a sugar junkie. I’m just wedded to the stuff in a tortured, forever-self-moderating way. As a kid, growing up in a drought-ravaged backwater as part of a social experiment in subsistence living (which largely consisted of skirting the breadline and tending goats), we didn’t eat much sugar. Sometimes, though, Dad, in a scene reminiscent of Charlie Bucket with his gold-foiled slither of chocolate, would bring home a Chokito bar and split it between us. Invariably we’d wind up spinning the ceiling.  And so it was I got a highly attached taste for the stuff and its maximum (!) fun times (!) effects.

As I say, I don’t eat a lot of sugar. But it’s a struggle not to. I do seductive things like convince myself that a slug of honey on yoghurt every night is wholesomely Nigella Lawson-ish – annoyingly cloying, but not harmful per se. But the trouble is, if I get even a wafer-thin taste of sugar, something wild and wooly comes over me and I have to eat the whole damn upside-down almond meal and pineapple loaf. Sugar does that; it makes us demented and we turn into Mirandas, as one friend said. Remember that Sex and The City scene when she dumps a cake in the bin, then douses it in water so she won’t keep eating it?

I’ve avoided quitting sugar for ages. Mostly because I’ve known it means never touching it again. One French study found it’s more addictive than cocaine. And must be treated as such. But lately it’s made me crankier, puffier, foggier, sicker and more attached than normal. I’ve reached saturation point; it’s time to become a nice person again.

But why quit, you might ask? Sugar’s natural. Well, yes. But so is petroleum. And surely you don’t mean fruit and honey? Yes, yes, I do.

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do nothing for two minutes

Dearest Reader of This Blog, Should you find yourself today: agitated, bossed about, distracted, thinking that you’re crap and you’ll never be able to get task X done, that you don’t have enough time, that there’s too much to do…do nothing for two minutes. I’ve found a link that will help. I just swear it … Read more

i cultivate confusion

I like this quote just now as I frenzy myself up in a writing maelstrom: You have to systematically create confusion; it sets creativity free. Everything that is contradictory creates life. – Salvador Dali Further to my anxiety post last week, I think confusion in the creativity process is really gut churning. It throws me. … Read more

Question: how do you exercise?

Reader Amy recently asked what I do for exercise.

This is a really good question. Because I’ve shifted the way I do things in the past six months or so. Dramatically so. And I think what I’ve learned (the hard way…always the hard way with me) works. For everyone. It’s not that complicated…and it’s kind.

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To start, I should tell you what I used to do. I would run 10-14km every few days, run to yoga class twice a week, run to the beach to sand run, run to the gym, run 10km to work…oh, and go mountain running most weekends. I’d also go mountainbike racing…I’d compete in 24 hour races.

Got a picture? I’m not boasting. I’m kind of embarrassed.

I ran. From? Not sure…mostly myself and my fear of stillness.

In the end my adrenals couldn’t handle it any more and I collapsed. Bam! I ground to a halt and couldn’t walk for several months. I’ve written about this before. Quelle irony, hey! Our bodies do this. They teach us the perfect lessons we need right now. My lesson: stop! Rethink!

As I got better, I tried to go back to my old ways. Stubborn goat girl that I am. Each and every time, though, I’d get an injury – in my neck, my toe, or a cold or whatever. My body was rebelling. It was super shitty.

I finally got the picture. So. Now. I take a far more gentle approach. Below is what works now.

my principles

* Exercise/move every day. It’s the “every day” part of that statement that matters, not how much, or what you do. Once you start allowing “off” days….you allow the “off” days to grow. And, really, exercise should just be about moving. It should be part of life every day. Not a regime you shirk from. Treat it as such.

* Sometimes I just walk. Or stretch in the morning.

* I just commit to doing 20 minutes of something. I get out the door and move.  If I start moving and want to do it longer, great. If not, 20 minutes is cool.

* I exercise in the morning. Then it’s done. I also exercise/move to feel fresh. To get energy. This is the point. My day feels dull without this kick-start. THIS is what gets me out of the bed. Any incidental walking on top of what I do in the morning is a bonus.

* I don’t make a fuss. I tie on my shoes and get out of the house. No fancy gear or water bottles or towels. Driving to gyms and groups across town are just hurdles that can stop you from just moving. Keep it as simply and as close to home as possible. I put my key down my bra and carry nothing. No ipod, no phone. Out the door!

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Tuesday Eats: a sugar-free breakfast idea!

How’s this. I post about how tough it is to eat breakfast when you’re on this sugar-free challenge. And hello! I’m emailed this rippa recipe. Randomly.

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I met Samantha Gowing randomly a year or so ago. She’s a therapeutic chef who travels the world creating “Surf Spa Cuisine” for luxury hotels and spas. This is her “Emperor’s breakfast”…fit for kings.

Red quinoa with goji berries, macadamias and vanilla

  • 1 cup red quinoa (plain is fine too…remember to rinse well!!!!)
  • 2 cups water
  • 1⁄4 cup macadamia nuts, roughly chopped. Or almonds.
  • 1⁄4 cup goji berries (which contain sugar…but not so much)
  • 1 vanilla pod, split and seeds scraped
  • 2 teaspoon chia seeds
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • Pinch cinnamon
  • ½ lime, juice only
  • Yoghurt for serving if desired

Cook the quinoa in 2 cups of water until boiling. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes
Transfer cooked quinoa to a mixing bowl, add goji berries, macadamia nuts, vanilla seeds, chia, ginger and cinnamon
Spoon into serving bowls, add a squeeze of lime and your favourite yoghurt

*Quinoa cooking tip: If all the water has not been absorbed, cover pot with a tea towel then place lid on top. The remaining moisture will dry, leaving lovely, fluffy quinoa

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this is how it’s going to be from now on…

As many readers of this blog might have gathered, I’ve recently packed up and gone north for a few months to write a book. To be starting a new chapter feels fresh under the armpits and frolicky in my soul. As you might have gathered from posts of late, I’m also very anxious. It’s the biggest project I’ve set out to complete.

It feels like I’m stepping into a brand new field.

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To answer a few questions:

Why north?

I’ve come to the Byron hinterland (the trees and hills back from the coast) because it’s 10 hours from my distractions. I say this a lot here – these days you can’t whinge about being interrupted or bombarded and not getting anything done. Because you will be constantly. This is life now. So it’s up to to put up your own parameters. And install the barbed-wire fencing. I tell everyone I’m away for a few months, they leave me alone and will forgive me for not returning emails. Also, I won’t be tempted to take on a quick MC job, or help some charity launch an appeal or duck out to have a coffee with some guy working on a cool project who wants my thoughts etc.

Also, I love heat and steaminess and trees and hills and up here I’m myself. I’m not a city girl.

Finally, up here, on my own, I’m scared. I have no mobile reception. Which I love. Being scared is good. It jolts. It forces the mind to grasp at new things.

What’s the book?

I was commissioned a year ago by a publisher to write a book. It’s due this month. I’ve not started. I have an extension (ergo, I’m getting serious and heading north). It’s a bit like my Sunday Life column, a bit like this blog, but includes all the bits in the background. It’s not memoir, it’s not self-help. It’s…well, it’s yet to be written.

Perfectly, I have to be my truest self to write this damn thing. I have to be my message. And, so…

This is what I’m doing with my blog…

It will be business as usual, mostly.

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sunday life: a reality check with Nick Vujicic (and a lesson in helping others)

This week I get over myself

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Is there anything more refreshing than a good ole “get over yourself” whack to the noggin? There you are having some first-world, self-righteous, control-freakish throw down  – your latte arrives cold and made with non-chemically decaffeinated beans, you have under-thigh burn because one of the kids left the heated car seat dial on high – and someone mentions their baby has cancer. Or that they’ve lost their business. It makes us pull our head in. And get perspective.

Recently we got a collective whack. There we were, complaining about a $179 parking ticket (as I was) or a broken toaster or whatever, and footage started rolling in of Queensland families who’d lost everything – the car, the toaster, their livelihoods and loved ones. It was insta-perspective.

I think we enjoy these whacks. They pull our greed, our negativity and our listlessness into line and remind us what life’s all about. They build a bridge so we can get over ourselves and onto more grounded pastures.

This week I enjoyed such a whack. On Tuesday I chatted with Nick Vujicic, a Californian-based Australian motivational speaker. Vujicic ‘s 27 and has no arms or legs. He was born this way and now travels the world trying to remind people how to get over themselves.

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I chat with Sweet Poison author and get answers…a video (yes!)

My first video*. Rather thrilled. Especially since it’s an interview with David Gillespie, the author of Sweet Poison, who inspired me to quit sugar almost three weeks ago. It was a stinker of a day when we did this in the garden of one of my favourite Bondi cafes, Greens. It’s a little long. We … Read more