by Margie | Nov 16, 2023 | Brave Interviews, Latest Thoughts, Podcast
In the 2000’s, the US Armed Forces introduced bulletproof body armor to protect American soldiers in deadly combat zones such as Iraq and Afghanistan. Yet the armor was so heavy that it weighed soldiers down and slowed their speed. General Stanley McChrystal,...
by Margie | Sep 2, 2023 | Brave Interviews, Latest Thoughts, Lead Purposefully, Speak Bravely
NASA Challenger disaster. BP’s Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Volkswagen emissions scandal. What went wrong? Investigations produced multi-layered findings. Yet beneath the complexity lay a common element. Fear. People were afraid to speak the truth. And so, they...
by Margie | Jun 30, 2023 | Latest Thoughts, Live Passionately
It’s been over three weeks since my precious mum left this world and over two weeks today since her funeral. And oh, what a beautiful funeral it was! Yes, it was sad. Yes, we cried. Yes, our hearts hurt. My siblings and I have lost our mum. Our eighteen children, a...
by Margie | May 9, 2023 | Latest Thoughts
After graduating from university I moved back to my parents’ farm and worked two jobs for six months until I’d saved up enough to buy an around-the-world airfare. Then off I set. No cell phone. No credit card. Just a handful of traveler’s checks (remember them?)...
by Margie | Apr 18, 2023 | Latest Thoughts
I felt awash with a swirling mix of anxiety and overwhelm in late March 2020. I was living in Singapore. My husband had just been hospitalized with Covid-19. I was put into a strict quarantine with one of my children, Singapore’s health department...
by Margie | Oct 8, 2022 | Latest Thoughts
Tears. I’ve shed a few lately. While I’ve lived a long way from my parents for many years, the miles have never tugged so hard on my heartstrings than in the last few years as the thickening fog of dementia has rolled in over my precious Mum… and on my Dad...
by Margie | Aug 6, 2022 | Latest Thoughts, Live Passionately
“All right, I’ll go in there for Dorothy,” announced the Cowardly Lion. “Wicked Witch or no Wicked Witch, guards or no guards, I’ll tear ’em apart. I may not come out alive, but I’m going in. There’s just one thing I want you...
by Margie | Jun 1, 2022 | Latest Thoughts, Speak Bravely
Which do you value more: the truth or your own beliefs? Because they are not synonymous. It’s pretty safe to assume that people reading this will have different opinions about many topics. Fiscal policy. Abortion. Parenting. Education. Climate change. Racism....
by Margie | May 23, 2022 | Latest Thoughts, Live Passionately
Dr Brené Brown has shared many insights that resonate with me. Yet one stands apart: “When we don’t work on our shame, we work it out on others.” Sometimes we conflate and confuse guilt and shame. Guilt is an adaptive emotion we feel when we assess that we...
by Margie | Feb 25, 2022 | Latest Thoughts
It’s hard to wrap words around reuniting with my parents in Australia after two years of travel restrictions. Mum has developed dementia since we last hugged. As she dried my tears she said, “Margaret Mary, is it really you? I feel like I am looking at...
