Posts by Thea O'Connor

Do you ever talk yourself out of doing the healthy things you plan to? I know many people who would answer ‘yes’. And that’s including me. So I’m going to share here how I did some health coaching on myself to (mostly) stop sabotaging my best laid plans. It involves a simple technique that you…

I don’t know about you, but at this time of year, I get a bit bored with all the advice about how to stop ourselves from overindulging over Christmas. As if calorie-consciousness, discipline and restraint were the only way to save ourselves from our voracious appetites. Today I have a different proposition for you: That…

Witnessing the unbridled energy and joy of a dog running along the beach is delightful. Watching a certain breed of jogger (the determined, grimacing types) can be painful. The dog is more pleasurable to watch. It’s also the one more likely to keep being active for longer. According to sports psychology, the factors that motivate…

During question time at a recent seminar I delivered on Personal Sustainability for Leaders, a professional in the audience asked for tips on how to manage the demands of family life when both parents are working fulltime. I hesitated to give advice. It’s such a personal, and often touchy issue, how couples parent and work…

Have you noticed that whatever type of food you focus on, you can find completely opposing expert opinion about whether we should eat it or not? Dairy or no dairy? Carbohydrates – in or out? Vegetarian or meat-based? How much fruit, if any? Raw food or cooked meals? And what about fat? Saturated fat is…

So, you’ve recently set yourself a goal to embrace a healthier lifestyle or more effective work habit. I’d like to share with you one important strategy that will truly increase your chances of achieving that goal over the next few weeks and months. It involves surrendering the big spectacular health goal and embracing humble beginnings.…

Regulating our exposure to natural and artificial light is one of the modern health skills we need to live well in a largely indoor world. On the one hand we have ‘light pollution’ that results from too much artificial light at night, and on the other, not getting enough sunlight can also cause problems. Research…

In all the self-development seminars I’ve attended over the years, no one has ever recommended that I go and take a lie down to create the life I want. But changing your posture from vertical to horizontal may well be the best way to get ahead, since we’re smarter and more creative lying down than…