Every single one of us is a space holder. Every single one of us takes up space.

If there is one thing that we can do in this lifetime that will make a difference, it is to be present in the space that we share together.

Often missed, though blatantly obvious, the core of humanity is the quality of our relationships- from start to end.

When bringing mindfulness into schools became a “thing” a while back, it arrived like it was a fancy new concept…. And yet, it is one of the most fundamental remembering’s that has existed as long as we have walked on Earth.

It is a reminder of how we so often complicate the core of what we all need and what makes us human.

It is the space from where we innately know what is needed and how to respond.

It is the space from where being anything other than who we are, how we are and in our own version of genuine-ness, compassion and empathy is not required. We immediately let the masks fall away and we see one another as we truly are.

And our experie...

''I was told that the best way to handle being a Social Worker was to choose a tree on the way home from work and to stop thinking about work each day when I drove past. This is what a lot of us were told, and still are told. 

I have always found this perplexing, as it does not make sense to me in how this helps any of us to grow into people centred work or navigate it. 

Over the years, and a few rounds of burn out later, I have learned and figured out a bunch of things that have really helped. And so many of them are the pieces that have become The Societe.

The thing is, that each time I have burned out, I have asked myself if this really is for me… and every time, a big fat solid yes has been the response. 

If it hadn’t been, I would likely be a florist by now.

This means that I have had to become much better at navigating what I do. 

Change is successful when it is sustained, and we are sustained as leaders. 

Yes, we can do epic things in the world. 

Yes, yes, yes we can!

A...

“Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world” – Marianne Williamson.

I was in my early 20’s and at a conference for work. My name was chosen out of a hat to be the only staff member to travel interstate with Senior Management to attend this event. At the time I could count on one hand how many times I had left the state I lived in my lifetime. 

A key note speaker shared this poem. I had not been exposed to anything like it before. She had given every person a page full of motivational quotes and told us to put them everywhere. 

I still had this little scrap of paper with this poem on it on my work desk when I left in early 2020. The language that this woman used and the way that she spoke, it was so foreign to me, and yet something in my fumbly early adulting ways began to shift and re-orient itself.

This is the thing, playing small isn’t going to create the c...

We are here not only for ourselves, but to be both a beacon and soft landing place for others, and to leave the world better just by us being here. 

The best bit about this is that there are things that we can do in each and every moment that contribute to this. Each and every act and way of observing our world confirms this. 

We can do all of the self care and inner work in the world.... yet, in isolation we can only ever be so affective. Isolation, I believe, is the greatest social problem there is.

In the words of Thich Nhat Hahn “we are all collaborators in creation. What you and I are becoming, the world is becoming”.

We have no idea how long we have left, and how much time we have left to do what we feel called to do. One thing is this, I know that we are so much more capable than we even know.

I have felt a deep sadness attributed to the reality that we all have so much more in us than we actually give. 

And so much of what is needed in the world is tied ...

“You’re afraid of being separated from the grassroots, aren’t you?”

I was asked this a week ago. And a soft realisation set in... yes, I am. For it is in the “grassroots” where our connection with humanity is the most profound.

This is where we find the purpose of what this is all for. This is where we remember that when we dare to almost get lost in the high level thinking, the innovative processes and peace treaties, or lack thereof....

These are the moments that bring us home, when we are face to face with another and we bridge the gap of who we are and we see ourselves in a simple act that reminds us of the true purpose of it all.

As I answered this question a week ago, it was with a gentle bringing of light to the fact that this is what I built a career around... bringing light to and bridging the gap between the way that we think that change happens, and the simplicity of what is often needed more than anything else. That which we cannot afford to seperate oursel...

A BELATED CELEBRATION FOR SOCIAL WORKERS

From March 16th

“Happy International Social Work Day to all of the Social, Community and other humanitarian workers in my world.

What does it mean to be a Social Worker?

It means to give a sh*t when most people have long disbanded

It means to test your own sanity over and over, while holding and reinforcing others

It means seeing through a lot of what happens in the world, and to still know that you won’t ever see the full picture

It means to listen to things that you never imagined possible and deal with things that you never knew that you were capable of

It means to question over and over and over again and know that there will likely never be an answer

It means to create “resources” out of thin air and to make the impossible happen on a daily basis

And it means to hold humanity at a standard that most never contemplate

...... And a million other things

This years theme is:

Ubuntu: I am B...

Who am I in this world?

First up, I am many many things 😉✌️

I am from Melbourne and I live in Bali- I found myself making a super quick decision to abort all travel plans and jump on the next flight from Hoi An in March last year and to hightail it to Bali, and to move in with a local family only a few days before borders closed and about a week before flights off the island stopped. I’ve always been best at navigating crisis 😳😁 While I now live independently to the local family, it has been a year that has been unlike any other in my lifetime. I had packed up life in Melbourne to begin a new and very unknown chapter, after being a Social Worker and Coach for around 14 years.

I had a few dreams about what I wanted to create for myself, and my re-launch of Aspire is a big piece of it! I originally launched Aspire two years ago to explore lots of ideas that had been brewing for a long time, while I was working full time. At the time, it was largely experiential and it afforde...

I am watching magic unfold before my eyes. Two years ago I was in the final stages of my Yoga Teacher Training. The training itself was intense. Over a year I spent five hours every Thursday night sitting cross-legged in a circle with about 15 to 20 others, mostly women, and we spoke about the human body, Yogic Philosophy, connection and the whole purpose of it all. I remember being told by previous graduates that the teachings in that space had only just begun and that a huge period of growth and learning was on the other side of our graduation night. 

In the months that followed my graduation, I found that the thing that I missed most from my whole training was those Thursday nights sitting in a circle. This perplexed me a little, given that I had felt a little nervous when we first began meeting in that space 12 months previously. In these first six months post my training, I found myself searching out similar spaces where I could sit in circles of women. By the time it reached lat...

I found myself chatting to a woman a few years younger than me recently. She commented that she is loving what I’m creating with The Aspire Series. I thanked her and commented that I loved a post that she created recently. I felt that there was something more in this. She shared with me that she is trying something new and she appeared a little sheepish. I asked her what this was all about.

She responded with “well, you know how I’m studying counselling? Well I have all of these ideas and dreams and I don’t know what to make of them or what they’re even about. But I thought that if I just post one thing a week with my thoughts, then that’s something and I’ll see where it goes”. I congratulated her.

She responded with “Yeah, but I don’t know, because who am I to post stuff like this?’. I suggested that this is perfect and all that she needs to do is to begin, and to trust that the rest will come to her when it’s ready.

I remember sitting in a workshop 18 months ago. We did a meditati...