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Once upon a time there was a baby snake called Donny who was born into a home of immense wealth. He never had to worry about going to bed hungry or where he would sleep at night. Donny was born a white snake, very high on the pecking order of the empire he lived in so he never knew what it felt like to be picked on for being different or of the lesser order. Donny was a smug young snake and as he grew older, he would bully other animals that were weaker than he. If they beat him at anything he would chuck a tantrum complaining they cheated. Today Donny claims “When I look at myself in the first grade and I look at myself now, I’m basically the same,”  Donny wanted to be like his father who was a successful snake in all the ways that were important to Donny. Donny promised himself that one day he would build an empire bigger and better than his fathers and at any cost. The empire Donny grew up in was considered the biggest and the best but as years passed that changed. Larg...

In the 1960’s film and television were culpable in how they portrayed characters with mental health issues; think Alfred Hitchcock. Five decades on we embrace characters like Sheldon from Big Bang Theory despite his obvious OCD and Asperger’s Syndrome. He is portrayed as having somewhat of a decent social life and definitely a successful career. The wonderful widespread acceptance of conditions like this has paved its way into the workplace over the years but I fear not as much as it needs to. This is a huge problem because mental illness is widespread and affects members of our families, our friends and certainly our workmates. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics (2008) around 1 million Australian adults live with depression and over 2 million have anxiety. On average, one in five women and one in eight men will experience depression in their lifetime. One in three women and one in five men will experience anxiety. Considering the enormity of these figures it’s troubling to...

Walking briskly down a street on the fringes of Sydney one early winter morning I noticed a dim light through the window of a rundown grocery store. Why I stopped I couldn’t say for sure except that I was fascinated by what I saw. There was an old man, perhaps in his eighties sitting ghostly still in his chair as he stared far away into space. Why he wasn’t in bed this early morning was anyone’s guess? I wondered why he fascinated me. He looked like my Pappous and perhaps that’s why I was drawn. But this guy had me hooked. Why was he sitting in this store that looked like something from the 1970’s? A store that had stopped in time. The old iced Vo Vo biscuits and boxes of bushels tea covered in dust decades old, on a shelf likely assembled by him back in the day when he was somebody. Why I knocked on the window is beyond telling but I was compelled to know why he sat alone in the dark by his dim lamp. I knocked louder and still he wouldn’t stir. Suddenly his head turns and I almost...

ONCE upon a time a Wolf was lapping at a spring on a hillside when, looking up, what should he see but a Lamb just beginning to drink a little lower down. “There’s my supper,” thought he, “if only I can find some excuse to seize it.” Then he called out to the Lamb, “How dare you muddle the water from which I am drinking?” and so the famous fable goes. The lamb is doomed because the wolf will find any excuse to blame him and justify his killing. Poor lamb or justified wolf? The poor little white fluff ball is destined for the dinner plate but if the wolf doesn’t eat he’ll starve. Just watch anything David Attenborough films and you’ll understand the wolf must eat!! But the poor lamb did not muddy up the water because he was downstream from where the wolf was so why is the wolf making up excuses? Does he feel guilty? ‘No you humanitarian weakling’, the wolf snarls. ‘This is how I survive and I will do whatever it takes to get my meal.’ Often I quietly wonder if I am wrong to t...

It's all the rage at the moment with the US Presidential election fast approaching; Clinton or Trump on the minds of most Americans. On my mind is how the hell did he get there in the first place?? The mind boggles as I consider some of the vile that has spewed from his mouth in the past year. Trump on Mexicans 'They're bringing drugs. They're bringing crime. They're rapist'. His disdain for African Americans 'laziness is a trait in Blacks'. His misogyny rife as he blabs “My favorite part [of 'Pulp Fiction'] is when Sam has his gun out in the diner and he tells the guy to tell his girlfriend to shut up. Tell that bitch to be cool. Say: 'Bitch be cool.' I love those lines.” and I don't have the stomach to quote from his recently leaked audio from 2005 where he brags that he can sexually assault women. He hates Muslims to boot. I understand prejudice people will happily elect a prejudice president but a candidate with no experienc...

It used to be that if you did well in school more than likely you'd get a good job, have a successful career and make lots of money. You can have a double degree these days and get stuck stocking shelves at Woolworth's and did you know law degrees are now pretty much a dime a dozen out there. So it would seem a degree is not always enough anymore. I hear you ask what's the point of going to uni then? Why build a HECS debt for nothing? Well, I'm not saying those things are a waste of time, but you need something else. You need to be a driving force that's going to stand out in the crowd and that's where the mental strength comes into play. I read a great article in the Sydney Morning Herald yesterday that identified 21 signs of mental strength articulated by psychotherapist Amy Morin. I want to highlight the ones I think may help you not just in your career but also in everyday life. You Balance Emotions With Logic If somebody pisses you off for wha...