Lifelong Learning

Lifelong Learning I like to write. I’m a lifelong learner, and an occasional muse who believes we’re never too old to ask better questions or explore a little deeper.

Let’s chat — about life, politics, love, and the tangled beauty of the world we share. ABOUT ME

I’m a writer and storyteller shaped by decades of work in leadership and learning. For over 30 years, I helped others navigate growth in corporate and community settings—now I write to explore what that journey looks like from the inside out. What began as a career in structured programs has become a q

uieter, more reflective practice—driven by curiosity, memory, and a deep belief in the power of story. These days, my work lives on the page: in journals, essays, speculative fiction, and books that ask how we live, learn, and care for one another. At the heart of it all is lifelong learning—not as a program, but as a way of being. I write for those who are still learning to listen to themselves, to history, to what’s changing, and to what matters. A LITTLE ABOUT LIFELONG LEARNING

Based in Perth, Western Australia, I’ve moved from consulting rooms to writing rooms—developing tools, ideas, and stories that honour the lifelong work of becoming. Lifelong Learning isn’t just a framework I once taught; it’s the thread that runs through everything I now write. If you’re seeking a slower, deeper way to grow—through journaling, reflection, or simply paying attention—you’re in the right place. Let’s keep learning, together.

An introduction to Flo.Florence Scovel Shinn has been a quiet influence on my thinking for many years. Not as a doctrine...
27/12/2025

An introduction to Flo.

Florence Scovel Shinn has been a quiet influence on my thinking for many years. Not as a doctrine or a set of rules, but as a tone — calm, kind, and steady. Her work has shaped how I think about kindness, listening, and learning to trust what unfolds.

This post is a little story about why she still matters to me, and how her ideas continue to weave through my writing, my teaching, and my conversations.

https://lifelonglearning.com.au/book-club/flo/

A gentle introduction to Florence Scovel Shinn.

Part One is live: The Daisy 🌼I was fifteen, in Narrogin, just after my grandmother’s funeral. I wandered into the bush b...
26/12/2025

Part One is live: The Daisy 🌼

I was fifteen, in Narrogin, just after my grandmother’s funeral. I wandered into the bush because I didn’t have words yet for what I was feeling.

A neighbour noticed. He didn’t try to fix anything. He simply offered a paper daisy — and a small reminder about being gentle and resilient.

That moment stayed with me. And it’s where this series begins.

This is Part One of The Little Book of Kindness — a set of short, true stories about everyday moments that quietly shape us.

If this resonates, you can tap the little bell on my website to receive gentle notifications when new reflections are published.
No email. No noise. Just a quiet nudge. 🌼

Where has kindness shown up for you in a small, unexpected way? Link to Part One in the comments 👇

Through curiosity, connection and self-reflection, lifelong learning nurtures growth, wellness, and meaningful living.

MERRY CHRISTMAS 🎄Sending warm wishes for the Christmas season — to you and yours — and trusting you find a little time t...
23/12/2025

MERRY CHRISTMAS 🎄

Sending warm wishes for the Christmas season — to you and yours — and trusting you find a little time to rest and restore.

Over the holiday break, I’ll be sharing a 10-part series drawn from my Little Book of Kindness.

Small reflections, quiet reminders, and gentle ways of bringing a little more softness back into our everyday lives.

No pressure, no perfection — just kindness in small bites.

If the world feels a bit sharp lately, this might be a nourishing place to pause.

A MOMENT IN TIMEI recall coming across this piece years ago while running a leadership session for a client.It was a pos...
17/12/2025

A MOMENT IN TIME

I recall coming across this piece years ago while running a leadership session for a client.

It was a poster tucked on a side cabinet — nothing special, yet it caught my attention.

Funny how certain ideas just appear when we need them, even if we don’t realise it at the time. It stayed with me.

And with everything happening lately, I found myself going back to it — trying to remember the author, the exact phrasing… but that first impression was still there.

The Four Agreements: A Gentle Reminder

It was Don Miguel Ruiz’s The Four Agreements — such simple ideas, yet they shape how we move through the world.

1. Be impeccable with your word.
Our words can harm or heal. Intention matters.

2. Don’t take things personally.
Most reactions aren’t about us at all — and that realisation is freeing.

3. Don’t make assumptions.
Curiosity softens misunderstanding. Ask instead of guess.

4. Always do your best.
And your “best” will shift day to day. Honour that.

These agreements aren’t rules — they’re invitations to show up with more awareness and kindness.

Little shifts, big impact.

Some days the world feels heavier, and the sharp edges show. When this happens, I ask myself:What does kindness look lik...
14/12/2025

Some days the world feels heavier, and the sharp edges show.
When this happens, I ask myself:
What does kindness look like here?

Not the big kind—the small, human kind.
A pause.
A softer tone.
A moment of seeing the person, not the argument.

On days like today, those are the choices that steady us.

THE THINGS WE CAN'T UNSEEI’ve been thinking a lot about kindness lately — you know, the way something gets stuck in your...
11/12/2025

THE THINGS WE CAN'T UNSEE

I’ve been thinking a lot about kindness lately — you know, the way something gets stuck in your craw and won’t leave you alone.

You know I journal, right?
Well, I flicked back through entries from those strange COVID years, 2020–2022, and I noticed something I didn’t expect.

Kindness.
Or the lack of it.

Every few pages I’d written some version of the same thought:
Where did our softness go? Why are we talking to each other like this? Surely we can do better.

And once you notice something… you can’t unsee it.

I see it now in world events — leaders rising and falling on waves of outrage.
In communities — people pushed to the edges instead of pulled in.
Here in Australia — debates that stop being conversations and become battlegrounds.

Paulo Freire wrote that liberation requires “profound love and dialogue.”
Not polite conversation — real dialogue.
The kind where our words humanise, not harden.

Because words matter.
They shape how we see people — and that shapes how we treat them.

Call someone a threat, and you stop seeing their humanity.
Call them weak, and you stop seeing their story.
Call them “other,” and you stop seeing yourself in them at all.

And that’s where unkindness grows.

So lately I’ve been asking myself:

What happens when we choose words that restore, not reduce?

What changes when we speak to connect, not correct?

How would our politics look if dialogue was the starting point?

What if kindness was a practice of seeing clearly?

I don’t have answers.
But I do know this:

Once you start paying attention to kindness, the world shifts — not all at once, but in small, steady ways.

A bit like daisies. They grow wherever they can, take whatever light is offered, and quietly, reliably, return.

WHY DAISIES FOUND ME AGAINWhen I lived in Toodyay, I filled my garden with daisies.I didn’t plan it — I just kept gravit...
11/12/2025

WHY DAISIES FOUND ME AGAIN

When I lived in Toodyay, I filled my garden with daisies.
I didn’t plan it — I just kept gravitating toward them.
Something about their quiet cheerfulness, their unassuming beauty, the way they self-seeded and returned each season… it felt right.

The paper daisies popped up everywhere — unexpected, persistent, determined to bloom.
Looking back, I think I admired that about them.

Now, years later and back in Perth, I find myself thinking about daisies again — this time as the motif for my kindness stories.
Funny how life comes full circle.

Out in the bush, where wildflowers grow freely, the daisy has always stood out to me.
Not because it’s the brightest or most fragrant, but because it quietly thrives wherever it lands.

The daisy has a story of its own. Over time it became known as the flower of the people — a small, steady bloom that could soften a moment, spark connection, or offer a hint of comfort without asking for anything in return.

That’s what I love about them.
Their strength is quiet.
Their resilience is humble.
Their presence is simple but grounding.

And kindness feels much the same.
Not loud.
Not grand.
Just a steady way of being — waiting for us to notice it, and choose it.



Pics from my Toodyay garden: 👇

Is it just me, or does it feel like the world is losing a little of its softness — its willingness to be kind?You can fe...
09/12/2025

Is it just me, or does it feel like the world is losing a little of its softness — its willingness to be kind?
You can feel it in the news, in politics, even in the way we speak to one another.

Lately, I’ve been paying closer attention.
Because every time someone holds a door, checks on a neighbour, or listens without rushing, I’m reminded that humanity isn’t gone… it’s just quieter.

Maybe the work now is to amplify it.
To practice it on purpose.
To be the person who notices, and chooses kindness anyway.

Sometimes the smallest rebellions are the ones that shift the world.

CREATIVE WELLNESS: You know wellness isn’t just about not being sick — right? Here’s me nourishing my creative wellness....
23/11/2025

CREATIVE WELLNESS:
You know wellness isn’t just about not being sick — right? Here’s me nourishing my creative wellness. One of the Nine Dimensions in the wheel of life that ensures ‘all parts of YOU’ are well, and looked after.

Oh, and that’s the NEW title of my nine dimensions of wellness book. Coming soon. Stay tuned.

What have you been upto lately?

17/11/2025

This is my long time friend — Donna McGeorge — latest book. Stunning interview on Weekend Sunrise.

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Perth, WA

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Our Story

Lifelong Learning is about embracing learning; by seeing every life event and challenge as an opportunity to learn. It is a continuous improvement approach to enabling potential.

We operate out of Toodyay in Western Australia and offer products and services in three (3) key areas: wellness, workshops and tours.

WELLNESS: focuses on the mind-body connection, using a 9-dimensions model for exploring overall wellness. There is a Book of Wellness, a Journal and many workshops to enhance well-being and optimise wellness.

Our Wellness, Witchery and Wonder approach explores the 9-dimensions, awakens the magic within (witchery) through spells (our contemporary take on affirmations) and opens our minds to the wonder of possibilities and potential.