How can you find peace and healing despite great suffering? 

According to the traditions of both the Native American and Australian Aboriginal cultures, we must gather together. Sing songs. Play instruments. Listen to each other. Hear each other.

As I flew from Australia to the 4th National Gathering of American Indians in Chicago, I wondered at how two cultures, separated by thousands of miles, seemed to be on the same page when it comes to finding peace.

Read the full article

Around 2000 I was a junior manager at ANZ as well as a single mother raising two boys. Talk about full on! Balancing a career along with the responsibilities of home and family life was taking its toll on me. Still, I continued to chase high expectations for myself in the office.

It wasn’t that long ago that I wore a suit everyday– and I liked my suits! As a Senior Risk Manager at ANZ my job was formal, structured and based on the typical compliance hierarchies of corporate life.

But one day, I found myself needing a break.

Have you ever felt like you were walking across hot coals in life? Determined to succeed, willing yourself to go onward. All the while saying to yourself, “WHAT AM I DOING?!”

I know the feeling well because I ACTUALLY WALKED ACROSS HOT COALS.

Give a child a pack of crayons and by far one of the most popular drawings is a rainbow. That elusive arch of colour is so exciting to spot! As we grow older we are taught that rainbows are present at all times, it’s merely certain atmospheric conditions that enable us to get a few glimpses of that other worldly colour.

It never occurred to me that I couldn’t be a senior manager in a corporate bank– it just isn’t in my DNA. My Sicilian parents arrived in Australia in the 1960’s.Two short years later my father was a successful manufacturing jeweler, my mother producing evening and wedding gowns.