Being the youngest of a large family had its challenges. One of these was protecting my plate of food from my big brothers at mealtimes. We would be sitting round the dining table, pushing the tastiest bits of food to the edge of our plate keeping for the last mouthful, so we could really savour […]

If you want to pursue your dream, comfort is not your friend. Your dream belongs to you and because you are special and unique your dream is going to be a little bit different to all the 7,000,000,000 people on the planet right now. Being different is risky. You risk rejection, humiliation and ridicule. You […]

People often wonder how I recovered so fast from an accident that left me paralysed and close to death. They think that I have ‘special powers”  and that it was a Miracle.  They are right.  I do have special powers, and the thing is, you do too! It simply may be that you don’t know […]

“Things often fall apart before they fall into place” is one of my favourite quotes that’s been tried and tested (by me) and always proves true. It is very comforting to have up my sleeve. I mutter it to myself and utter it to my clients. Sometimes there are so many challenges and unexpected turns […]

We often remember the Big Bang events that define our past. Like last year when I had to say farewell to my dad. In July, we got a call from Scottsdale to say that my dad was very unwell and when I saw the accompanying video of him Cheyne Stoking (alias ‘death rattling’) I knew […]

I am parked outside the Forth shop waiting for Pete to emerge from the Postal section, when an enormous B-double starts heading in the direction where I am sitting like a duck in the passenger seat of our Territory. I start to sweat… what if he doesn’t stop in time? What if his brakes don’t […]

I have just read an article stating: “1 in 400 children have Type 1 diabetes. 1 in 166 has epilepsy. 1 in 40 has a potentially deadly peanut allergy. 1 in 25 boys is on the autism spectrum. 1 in every 12 kids has asthma. Our generation of children is the sickest it’s ever been […]

Lucky for me I have been exposed to fermented foods since an early age. We often found home-made Sauerkraut lurking in mum’s cooking, Kombucha was a staple in our house after curing my sister’s shingles and home-made yoghurt was on the dessert menu every night. And of course, being Dutch, we ate our fair share […]

Did you know that for every human being alive today another 30 have lived. That is over 200 billion. That’s a lot of mothering! The theme of this post is ‘mothers day’ and I can’t help thinking of all those women in history who have given their lives over to motherhood. Who were they? Most […]

“Can I tell you a story about the Ancients who lived on earth many many years ago?” I ask my 9-year-old twin grandsons Elijah and Cohen.We are standing near the edge of the Forth River. Peter and Cohen had just washed the stinky eel goop from their hands in the cold sparkly river water. Only […]

Its official: the latest research shows that there is a direct link between the growing obesity epidemic and unhealthy gut bacteria due to the overuse of antibiotics. Since 1950 antibiotics have been given to livestock to control infections. At first farmers were just happy with the fact that antibiotics kept their livestock alive, which meant […]

I am on a mission. I am stuck in the supermarket taking photos of killer products for this newsletter. Every day I deal with well-meaning mums and dads who are  injuring themselves with so called healthy foods and they expect me to be the fairy godmother and make everything better when things go wrong. Well […]

Many people take excellent care of their car and ignore their own body. And yet you can trade your car in after so many years while you only have one body. Your car only drives you around for short periods of time and your body works for you every second of every day of your […]

‘More than one million Australian children live with a parent who has depression, putting those children directly at risk of developing depression and anxiety themselves,’ I am reading in the newspaper today.   Often people have no idea how to talk to their loved ones and children about their mental condition and anxiety, and when […]

We adopted two ducks towards the end of last year. They waddle around inseparably, each mimicking the other in whatever they do. If one quacks the other quacks. It’s like “Old MacDonald’s” farm, a quack quack here and a quack quack there, a quack quack everywhere! Whenever we open the back door we hear them […]

ARE YOU READY TO JOIN ME FOR SURGE TO SUCCESS ON THE 30TH AND 31ST MARCH? There are still a few places left so check out this link if you are interested.  These days, I avoid situations where I feel inauthentic.   Pete and I live a very simple life. We enjoy the peacefulness of […]

Surge to Success Weekend Hi! Pete (from the Purple House) here with a very special and exciting invitation for you. Have you heard of our Surge to Success weekend? In case you haven’t, I would like to invite you check it out by clicking on this link. http://bit.ly/yourSurgeToSuccess Grada created this event specifically for new generation […]