The Many Colours of Happiness

No matter what part of the world you’re in; whether you’re breathing in the fresh scent of honeysuckle as the world blooms around you, or crunching your way through piles of leaves with a pumpkin spice latte in hand; no doubt you are starting to feel the travel bug come upon you once more. With the New Year approaching, a sense of anticipation is in the air. We are filled with a yearning to take more chances, learn new things, surround ourselves with like-minded people and explore every inch of this beautiful globe of ours. The time is ripe for exploration – both of the external world around us, and of our own complex and intricate internal world as well. And what better way to do that than to pack a suitcase and go on an adventure? Whether you’re planning to head to a different country, or simply go on a weekend road trip down to the beach, I have complied a little list of travel tips to take with you into the glorious new year that we’re all going to have. Go witho...

If there’s one thing that anybody knows about me, it’s that I love to set goals. Love with a great big capital L. While I’m not entirely sure where I would be without them, having never actually given it a shot, chances are I would spend my days lying in the sun with a good book (by good book I mean re-reading the Harry Potter series for the 10000000000 time) and drinking my body weight in earl grey tea. Now on the surface that doesn’t sad bad at all (actually it sounds amazing), but as I get older I am starting to learn more and more about how vital it to nourish your mind, body and soul in a variety of different ways. While I usually reach the goals that I set in regards to my mind and soul, I have never quite gotten the hang of the body part of equation. It wasn’t until midway through this year that I realised why those goals weren’t as achievable at the others, even though they weren’t any more difficult: the intention behind them was not the same. Most of my goals are...

Joel and I are finally saying goodbye to one-bedroom apartment life and are making our way on up into the world of houses and having room to breathe. In anticipation of our upcoming move, I have been going through all of my stuff and throwing out as much of it as possible in an attempt to curb the hoarder habits that I seem partial to. I have managed to keep the most random things over the years (post-it-notes, beer mats, weird little knick-knacks that I completely forgot about as soon as I shoved them into a drawer somewhere), and amongst this junk that I was certain was important when I stowed it away because ‘it holds memories’, I found my old diaries. While I never managed more than ten entries, I did start a new one every year from the age of eleven onwards, so it was interesting to see how I grew and changed up until my last diary at age fifteen. Of course by interesting I mean horrifying. I was not a very nice person at all, spending most of my time complaining a...

Without exaggerating in the slightest, I can honestly say that in the last year I have come across hundreds of articles that encourage the reader to ‘follow their dreams’. I myself am guilty of writing pieces of a similar nature. After all it’s good advice, isn’t it? It’s far better to aim for what your heart really desires than convince yourself that it will never happen and live a less fulfilled life as a result. These articles are supposed to make you act; first by deciding what your dream life is, and then by devising a set of goals designed to help you reach that dream life, if only in teeny tiny baby steps. While at first glance this all sounds great, I am starting to take umbrage with the entire idea of ‘dream life’, as it implies that the life you’re currently living isn’t good enough as it is, and is simply a waiting room for the life you want to be living. Too often these articles ask the question: ‘are you stuck in a nine to five job?’ knowing that the answer to tha...

Ahh so it’s that time of the year again. The skies are grey, the icy cold wind is digging its way through your thick jacket and heading straight to your bones, you have become used to sludging your way around the office in rain drenched shoes, and the faces around you are glum at best. Now I love Canberra. I am the first to sing the praises of this beautiful city. But Canberra winters are the worst. The. Worst. Clearly I’m not the only one who thinks so, judging from the stormy faces around that only seem to brighten up on unseasonably sunny and warm days. Most years I hibernate, only emerging from my apartment when the cherry blossoms start to come out. However, despite my refusal to go anywhere without adequate heating, and ingesting more tea than should be humanly possible, I still find myself hit hard by the winter blues. This year, rather than sit on my butt in front of the heater with an angry expression and a mouthful of complaints, I have decided to  embrace tolerate ...