I was giving a talk recently to a group of people interested in hearing more about my road to good health after being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease. The audience was made up of people looking for ways to get healthy and find balance in this crazy-busy world. During the question and answer session after my talk, one woman spoke of her difficulties in making healthy choices while holding down a high-stakes, all-or-nothing job. She loved her work but she wanted to know if I thought she needed to quit in order to reclaim her health.I’ve lost count of the... Read full article »

I was standing on the side of the road while my three-year-old son was kicking his legs and screaming his lungs out. While Theodore usually loves walking to his childcare centre, on this particular Monday morning he did not want to go to school, and he felt that the whole neighbourhood should know about it. To my mortification someone came out of their house to see what was going on. Another person walking by gave me a strange look. “What is she doing to that poor child?” the look said. With a To-Do list as long as my arm waiting... Read full article »

As a journalist who writes extensively about finding the connection between our mind, body and health, and who also shares publicly my personal story about recovering from an autoimmune disease, I’d love to tell you that I have found a single magical key to balance, harmony, health and longevity. I’d like to say that after a blissful nine hour sleep each and every night, I rise with the morning chorus of birds to perform an hour of yoga, followed by an hour of meditation. I’d love to tell you that all my food is made from scratch, that my relationships... Read full article »

Like most people, I’ve experienced some pretty challenging times in my life (reporting in the aftermath of natural disasters, live broadcasting, and jumping into an open ocean in front of a 30,000 kilogram whale immediately spring to mind) but by far the most difficult thing I’ve ever done is be a parent. It’s an unrelenting occupation involving sleepless nights, tantrums, childcare juggling, meal planning, sibling rivalry, constant vigilance, potty training, endless cleaning, and schedule management – all of which are things that occur multiple times a day, on a good day. It is, of course, all worth it, but in... Read full article »

This time last year I had an endless loop of names buzzing around in my head. Everyone from my husband and kids, to my parents and in-laws, to my siblings and their kids, to our extended family and friends, my son’s childcare teachers, neighbours, colleagues, employees, and even the cleaners. For each name on the list, I was wracking my mind trying to come up with a meaningful holiday gift.   I appreciated these people. I wanted to give them something to say “thanks for a great year,” “I hope you have a happy holiday,” and “I wish you well... Read full article »

I was sitting in front of my computer screen staring blankly. I’d been writing for three hours straight, without looking up and had just put a full stop on the end of a paragraph that had proven stubbornly difficult to write. With deadlines looming as I race towards the finish line of completing my book, I was trying to work out which was the most pressing of my pressing tasks to move onto. But my brain had turned to mush. I was distantly aware of my aching hips and tight lower back and knew I needed to get up and... Read full article »