Author Archives: gmjc1966

“The real bravery in today’s world is doing for each other what is right and proper.” This is a quote from the character Billy O’Shannassy in Bryce Courtenay’s novel “Matthew Flinders’ cat.” In the book, Billy is a once-upon-a-time successful barrister whose marriage falls apart when he takes to the bottle. Billy had demons fromContinue reading “A Brave Life”

We go through life having interactions with others in many different situations. From all of these interactions we can learn something new, things that can help guide us through our increasingly complicated lives. All of these interactions – what I call “life events” – have the ability, possibility and potential to be life CHANGING events.Continue reading “Friendship”

Well it’s been a while since I’ve posted and there’s been a bit going on. Life presents each of us with many a challenge, and it is how we face these and come through scarred but stronger on the other side that makes the pain seem worthwhile. For me, themmain thing is the debilitating stressContinue reading “What’s important”

As a great lot of us do, I was trawling through Facebook the other day and one of my FB friends had posted a link to one of those “try this and see what it says” kind of things. As a curious fellow – and with my search for self improvement never ending – IContinue reading “Get to know the real you … and embrace them”

Over the years, and especially in recent times, I have come to define my life as a crisis of confidence and a fear of failure. For whatever reason, I have invariably and inevitably devalued myself to the extent that I miss, sabotage or completely destroy any opportunities for success, happiness or anything good. I’ve alsoContinue reading “The cutting of noses and spiting of faces”

Well I guess it had to happen eventually. I finally tested positive to COVID yesterday morning! I could feel the aches and pains coming on the night before and thought “I’m getting the flu” but I was sadly mistaken. The kids had tested positive on Saturday evening and Monday morning respectively, so despite the isolationContinue reading “Da da da da dada, I’ve got ‘Rona!!”

Life can be and often is damn hard. We all have our bad times, misfortunes and sadly some absolute tragedies. These events test us to the limits of our human emotional, physical and psychological beings. They can break us. The secret to surviving these darkest of times is – as hard as it may beContinue reading “To struggle is to strengthen”

4 years ago today, Sunday 22nd of April 2018, my life’s dream was shattered. My wife at the time came outside while I was working in the yard and she said to me “I can’t live like this.” She was in tears and pretty soon afterwards, so was I. We had a talk and whilstContinue reading “If You Know What Is Good For You…”

In today’s modern society, value is placed on many different things and sadly it is most commonly the materialistic things that spring to mind when we think of value. Not all that long ago, kicking a crushed can around in the street with your mates gave untold hours of joy and guess what – itContinue reading “What is worth?”

As the saying goes, you never know what you had until it’s gone. I’ve just returned from dropping my 2 teens and their mother at the airport for a trip to Hawaii. They will be away for 12 days. Whilst I do not envisage them never returning, it is still nonetheless extremely difficult emotionally toContinue reading “Love My Life”