Archive | November, 2013

Tahleevision: Nearly Over November

By Tahlee on November 29, 2020 in Tahleevision

Tahleevision is a new monthly feature where I round up the best of what I’ve seen, read and heard.

No no. I’m not ‘over’ November. It was an ahmaaaazing month. But can you believe it’s nearly over?

Thanks to the inspiration from the headmistresses of The Blogcademy, I’ve got a few new ideas that I’ll be rolling out over the next few months.

So welcome to the first edition of Tahleevision - where I share with you the best of the interwebs. So much has happened I’m not really sure where to begin. What the hell. Let’s just dive straight in…

♦ Melissa Sandon is an incredible kinesiologist & coach based in my hometown of Brisbane. I’ve adored working with her AND her shiny new digs.

♦ Bjork has always been my kind of weird. This video is beyond awesome.

♦ Know anyone with dyslexia? Well this coffee table book will show you what reading looks like through their eyes with it’s incredible design.

♦ I would love nothing more than to spend the day with Kate Byrne from Betty Means Business. Instead, we did the next best thing…

♦ The first time I heard Active Child sing, I swooned. But his most recent live performance brought tears to my eyes.

♦ Tears were also shed at this touching tribute to Lou Reed from his wife Laurie Anderson.

♦ And for a change of pace, Kurt Vonnegut’s video about the Shape of Stories made me laugh out loud.

♦ You KNOW I love meditation but if you find it hard, here are 11 Easy Ways to Meditate (Even If It Seems Impossible)

♦ What do you get when you combine sacred geometry, animation & hula hooping? (3 of my fave things btw) You get this MIND BLOWING VIDEO!

♦ Disabled and abandoned turtle gets lego wheel prosthetic leg. Nuff said.

♦ They said it was impossible. These women proved them all wrong! Send to all your cyclist friends.

♦ When she pulls off the labels? I totally fist pumped. You’ll be roaring too! (Tad NSFW)

♦ Jen Saunders from Wild Sister Magazine wrote the article that’s been in my head for years.

♦ The Goddess Empowerment Telesummit is chock full of interviews with inspiring women (*cough cough* like me *cough*)

♦ November 19 was World Toilet Day. But you can say ‘thank you’ to your toilet everyday. Here’s a cute reminder.

♦ It’s been raining A LOT in Brisbane recently. And rain is one of my favourite smells in the whole world. Did you know that smell has it’s very own word?

♦ Stark and seductive. This video has it all. Sensuality, connection, music & dance. It’s breathtaking.

♦ Hot men vs cute cats? Hiliarous!

♦ What’s a humpback whale doing in the forest?

♦ Have you seen the stunning new blog about art & spirituality, Maps To Herself? This post about resistance really caught my attention.

♦ What happens when a drunk wife tells her husband a joke? You get adorableness.

Why I Won’t Be Having an Xmas Sale

By Tahlee on November 26, 2020 in Tude

Bah Humbug - by Sour Taffy

4 weeks to Xmas. Can you believe it? Where has the year gone?!

Look, I’ll be honest. When it comes to Xmas - I’m pretty Scrooge McDuck about it all.

I’m not religious - so I have no reason to celebrate Baby Jesus. And I’m very anti-blind-consumerism - so the idea of frolicking through all the holiday sales makes me nauseous. I am particularly loathsome about Secret Santa.

To be honest - I did think about having a little yuletide sell of the ol’ meditones. “Giving The Gift Of Peace” and all that jazz.

But I’ve decided I don’t want to push the idea of rampant consumerism based on an abstract holiday. If people want to purchase my meditation music, they are free to do it in their own way and time. Give me conscious consumerism.

Let me say that again.

Conscious. Consumerism.

Clearly, I don’t have a problem with people buying or selling things. I’m a business owner after all. And I’m not suggesting that we all start trading hemp and strawberries for massages and hair braids.

My point is there are other, very meaningful ways to celebrate then with mandatory gift giving.

Don’t get me wrong.

Exchanging gifts is a beautiful thing - when it comes from the heart.

But if it comes from a sense of duty or tradition - then it’s time to reconsider how we exchange value.

Gary Chapman talks about the 5 Love Languages. They are quality time, gift giving, physical affection, acts of service and kind words.

Can you see there are four other ways of showing love other than just by giving someone a present?

Now obviously - if your language of love is gift giving, you’re going to get a big kick out of the holidays. Likewise, if you know someone who maniacally claps their hands when they get a present, it’s likely their love language is around gifts too.

Which, of course, is absolutely fine. This post certainly isn’t about shaming you or them. You have a legitimate love language and you are free to use it.

Instead, let’s open our minds so this year, we can make Xmas a loving, conscious holiday.

Make a Healthy Meal For Your Loved Ones

Why not buy a bunch of super high quality, organic ingredients and make a delicious, nutritious meal for your family and friends? You’ll be speaking the language of service and showing them how amazing good food can taste.

Spend Quality Time With Those Who Need It

Got friends who are Xmas orphans? Invite them to spend the day with you. Volunteer at a soup kitchen, sing carols at an old folk’s home, walk the dogs at the RSPCA.

Give Charitable Gifts

Services like Oxfam Unwrapped & TEAR Australia enable you to buy funky gifts (like a family goat or a village well) whilst eradicating poverty. Win Win.

This is a great substitute for Secret Santa.

Instead of spending $10 on some crappy useless gift for a stranger that was probably made in a sweat shop in China and that will get thrown away - why not collect $10 (or more) from your work colleagues and donate a big amount collectively?

Support Artisans

If you really want to give a physical present this Xmas - no problemo. There are a TONNE of cool artists, musicians, jewellery makers, fashion designers, organic beauty therapists, and intuitive creators in my hood alone. Same would definitely go for you.

Look - I know how awesomely cheap you can buy everything from Hong Kong on eBay (I shop there myself too sometimes). Most of the funky entrepreneurs I know ship around the world anyway.

And when you support bespoke art, you not only get something unique that you often can’t find elsewhere - you’re supporting amazing artisans instead of global corporations, sweat shops and other dubious businesses.

What are your thoughts on Xmas? How do you plan to celebrate? And what’s your love language? Hop on over to the Facebook page and discuss!

You Need To Give A Shit About Sustainability

By Tahlee on November 19, 2020 in Do

Why?

Because planet health = your health.

If you’re interested in having the best health and the best life? (Which I suspect you do if you’ve been hanging around here for any length of time).

Then you need to care about how we use the planet. The viability of our earth and your future depends on it.

And no - I’m not suggesting you ‘turn on, tune in, drop out’. You don’t need to sell all your possessions and go live in a tree.

Sustainability and technology are not mutually exclusive.

You totally can have a life full of nourishing food, electricity, wide open spaces to enjoy & exercise in, the internet, your smartphone and every white good you can poke a stick at.

BUT…

All those things come at a price - and I don’t mean the dollars you hand over to procure them.

These costs are called ‘externalities’ and our current economic system is geared towards avoiding them and maximizing profit at the expense of people and the planet. This means those externalities are borne by you, me, trees, our clean water supply, clean air, children in the third world, arable land etc etc etc.

Now, it’s getting dire. We are in the critical decade to take strong action towards having a planet that gives you access to the very things you depend on for your survival. For your thriving.

So if you want vibrant health, then you need to step up and start living more sustainably.

Here’s how:

Go Organic

Sure it costs a fraction more, but the health benefits alone are worth it. Not to mention organic farming practices mean that we can continue to use the land more productively for longer. This means more food, people!

There’s pretty much no excuse - you can buy organic produce in most supermarket chains now. But my favourite way? Is to order it online through Home Fresh Organics and get it delivered to my door. How sweet is that?!

Stop Buying Plastic

You remember a few weeks ago I went to Stradbroke Island for a holiday? Take a look at this.

See all that colourful crud all along the tidemark? Plastic.

Get yourself a reusable water bottle so you don’t have to buy a plastic one on the run. Look! This one has inspirational messages inside!

Use your green bags when you go shopping. Or as Tim Minchin pleads: Take Your Canvas Bags.

Try to minimise as much plastic packaging as possible. Did you know you can even get reusable sandwich bags? So cute.

Solar Power

A bit more exy and probably only an option if you own your own home. But if you can afford the installation and you produce more energy than you use? The electricity company sends you a cheque instead of a bill. Winning.

Invest Wisely

Look. When you’re young, you’re not really giving much thought to where your money is invested. What’s that? Don’t have any investments? Think again.

Superannuation is probably going to be the biggest investment you make in your lifetime. Wouldn’t you love to know that your money is supporting ethical businesses?

I personally use Australian Ethical Super. You can even get them to easily roll all your other super accounts into theirs.

Take Political Action

On Sunday, I went to a Climate Action Day. Over 60,000 people across Australia came out in force to demand our politicians take strong action towards climate change by committing to reducing our carbon emissions and retaining the carbon tax.

5,000 people attended GetUp’s Climate Action Day in Brisbane

Even John Butler was there.

97% of climate scientists agree that climate change is real. I know it can be boring and overwhelming - but please don’t bury your head in the sand or listen to any denialist nonsense.

If you want clean water, clean air, freedom from the threat of more extreme weather events, and a planet teeming with biodiversity and life - then make your voice heard. Join movements like GetUp, Avaaz, 350.org and Greenpeace. Sign petitions, donate money, march on the streets. Whatever it takes to ensure that our future is beautiful.

OUR FUTURE.

Not just our children’s future. Or our children’s children. Ours.

I’m 33 years old and have no offspring. But my future has already been compromised by a lack of action to prevent climate change. You know the Great Barrier Reef? That glorious World Heritage icon that makes Queensland (my home state) so famous? It’ll be gone in my lifetime if we keep on this destructive trajectory.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. These are simple, actionable steps that you can take today to give a shit about sustainability.

What else do you do to ensure our bright future? Let me know over at Facebook - it’s where all the cool kids hang out. Apparently.

10 Days of Inspiration in EPIC Proportions

By Tahlee on November 12, 2020 in Mood

: Yep. I am THIS happy.

The last 10 days have been beyond awesome. I have felt incredibly grateful and blessed for this wonderful life. Living the dream doesn’t begin to describe it.

It began with a Radical Self Love Party, ricocheted through Blogcademy and ended with a week on Stradbroke Island (my first holiday in 2 years).

Radical Self Love Party

It was with starry eyes that I pinned pink streaks into my hair, donned my new fabulous fractal dress, and checked my impeccably done makeup (thanks Dani!) before heading off to the best Earth Events event I’ve ever attended.

Meeting Gala Darling - a shero of mine that blogs about radical self love - was an absolute highlight. She is funny, down to earth, and inspirational. A woman after my own heart.

There was also an incredible panel of self love experts - Gala, Melissa Ambrosini, Rachel Macdonald & Julie Parker who enlightened us all about their ongoing approach to self love (it’s a practice, people).

Plus I boogied my tushi off during a dance party facilitated by the phenomenal Susana Frioni.

The dance party was particularly powerful, as Susana had us dancing through a range of emotions - from joy to anger, sensuality to calm.

The participants’ response to this kind of somatic movement of emotions filled me with such joy, as I’ll be leading a small group of people in a similar fashion during the Wired For Light workshop.

However, instead of dancing - I’ll be showing how simple changes in body posture can be used to enhance positive emotions. Psycho-somatic unity is something I am eternally fascinated by and I can’t WAIT to talk more about it.

The Blogcademy

The VERY NEXT DAY, I headed off to The Blogcademy - a two-day blogging and business workshop facilitated by three fabulous headmistresses - Gala, Kat (aka Rock’n’Roll Bride) & Shauna (aka Nubby Twiglet).

Thanks to a clever entry on my part (if I do say so myself) I scored a scholarship, and boy am I glad I did.

Not only are the three Blogcademy mistresses whip smart, they are super generous with their time and expertise. They’ve all built mega-successful businesses and they aren’t shy to share all the details of how they did it. We covered blogging, branding, technical stuff, business-y stuff, collaborations, design and more.

Plus the workshop was hilarious (check out my tweets from #theblogcademy) and full of like-minded, passionate, creative Blogcadettes.

I have scribbled pages (PAGES) with notes and there will be a few extra tid-bits coming your way because of it. I’ve also updated my site with a fresher look and feel (you like?) thanks to feedback from design-guru Shauna.

My only regret?

That I didn’t hug Gala, Kat & Shauna one last time.

Stradbroke Island

Whenever people told me they hadn’t had a holiday in years, I used to look at them like this.

Bizarrely - and I have NO idea how it happened - two years flew past until I realised I had become that person.

So my rad partner and I headed over the waves to Stradbroke Island - just off the coast of Brisbane. We rented a holiday shack right near the beach for a week and all I can say - if you haven’t had a holiday in years? GO! GO NOW! IMMEDIATELY!!!

It was sheer bliss. Reading books, bush walking, watching kangaroos hanging out in the front yard, eating gelato, swimming in lakes and the ocean.