If you know someone who always has to have the last word, you are watching a performance of control, not confidence. Needing to close every conversation, correct every detail and win every exchange says less about how right they are and more about how unsafe it feels for them to leave anything unresolved. What it looks like when someone must have the last word You know the pattern. You say something simple and they correct your wording. You share an experience and they explai

Emotionally mature people are not the ones with the loudest opinions or the quickest advice. They are the ones who can stay quiet long enough to really hear you. Letting others speak first shows how comfortable you are with yourself, how much you value the person in front of you, and how willing you are to sit with what is true rather than rush to control it. When someone else’s story keeps disappearing There is a kind of conversation where you can feel yourself slowly vanish

I have a friend who has been yearning to return to the coast and has decided to relocate from Johannesburg at the end of October (2018). She would most probably prefer me to be the type of friend who shows some level of remorse at her departure but I simply cannot contain my excitement at the prospect of a good old garage sale! Admittedly, I go gaga for these type of sales. There is something that screams ‘success!’ at finding a good piece of vintage furniture, or simply a “b

On this third day of the Month of Gratitude 2016, Respect! and thank you to all those wonderful women and men who have passed through my life and selflessly imparted a bit of their wisdom, skill, knowledge and a great deal of time to help save me from myself (and possibly save others in the process). I loved my schooling because of the great start I had with Mrs Dawson. Sr. Theresilla, Sr. Roberts and all the other nuns at the Convent. (I am deliberately not going to mention

This blog series has been one of the best for me personally so far. I have learnt so much from my friends, about their religions and way of life. The friend who I’ve asked to share his story in this post is honestly one of the nicest people I’ve ever known. I remember, very clearly, 20 years ago when my then boyfriend, now husband, was admitted to hospital over the Christmas holiday period while we were stationed at one of the Sun International properties where we used to wor

Preetika Ajoodha My friend Preetika Ajoodha was born and raised in Johannesburg Fordsburg into a Gujarati Hindu family. She is one of few remaining people who really love LONG phone calls and will always volunteer to call you back – she works for a major Telecomms network which apparently affords generous privileges in this regard. This is Preetika’s story about how she celebrates the holidays: I strongly believe that religion in any household is led by the mum in the home. I

Let’s kick this post off with a dash of Penelope Cruz shall we? I’m not exactly the target audience for the beautiful Ms Cruz but I will be the first to admit that I love the way the multi-syllabic-NESPRESSO sounds when she says it. First there was the “Breakfast Gang”, namely; myself, @CliveSimpkins, @AkiAnastasiou, @BarrieBramley and @Angelo2711. As time progressed, and Twitter evolved, the “Coffee Club” emerged around the Nespresso culture. Every morning I am greeted on my

I’ve always been curious about how the faithless approach Christmas and the December holidays in general. Is Christmas not a rather confusing time for atheists? I mean, not being invited to a Christmas party because if you don’t believe then it doesn’t exist? Do their children not get presents as their parents have rejected any religious sentiment associated with the period? Do atheist kids kindly excuse themselves from participating in school Christmas concerts? Are atheists

Kim Feinberg I was introduced to Kim Feinberg about 6 years ago when the corporate I worked for had sponsored one of the 94.7 Highveld Christmas Wishlist wishes. If I recall correctly, it was Simon Parkinson from Primedia that got me into a meeting with Kim and The Tomorrow Trust. We had the opportunity to grant a wish but, in line with our sustainable and empowering views, we knew we had to do more beyond a simple donation and once-off annual contribution to a cause. The cha

Last week I posted Christmas with a capital C which is how I sum up my approach to this religious event. In the article I wondered how other people regard and enjoy the overall December holiday period. My husband is not religious. I don’t think he’s an Atheist but committing to a religion, or spirituality in general, is not, and never has been, a priority for him. In fact, whenever we are asked to complete forms requesting “Religion: Father” on any forms, we have inserted jus

That’s the headline of a Tweet that caught my attention today. It’s for a competition being run by Real Time Wine. Real Time Wine is a new app for everyone who enjoys wine, not just those who understand it. Their website says “Capture, rate, review and share those amazing moments you have with a wine glass in your hand.” – so essentially making #drunktweets legit in some sense then? (“#drunktweets” is a popular hashtag used on Twitter when social moves to real life and the po

The people I know are strangers I was at a function about 6 months after I left my insanely hectic corporate job when a friend mentioned to me that this was the first time we had had a real conversation – not in real life, but beyond the polite niceties that we had grown accustomed to. It was also the first time that I had asked him about his family. We’ve known each other for 3 years since the launch of the first Twitter Blanket Drive. What on earth had we been speaking abou