Your Story : Audio Stories of Interesting Lives

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Megève’s a stunning place to see Snow and Ice, something I don’t know!

I’ve always wondered what it’s like to be in the Alps in winter. The cold, the snow, the strong biting sun but I’ve never had the chance, until now!

Megève from high up on the slopes

What we call mountains in Australia doesn’t really compare to what is the real alps scattered around the rest of the world. When I finally saw those mountainous rocks piercing the sky on my first visit to Megève in the summer of 1992 for my sister’s wedding I thought to myself, “these are real mountains!” …And as I left I wondered what it would be like in winter.

Now I’ve seen a real winter scene.

Megève at night

Coming from the sub-tropics, a real winter as experienced by most people is something that I’ve always wondered about. Sure I’ve experienced some cold moments in my life but never the ice and snow of the French Alps and all that it entails. It’s far too easy for me to have no idea what to do and how to live in this environment but there is also the fun of seeing for real what I’ve only every seen in film and images. Continue Reading »

 

Megève's a stunning place to see Snow and Ice, something I don't know! I've always wondered what it's like to be in the Alps in winter. The cold, the snow, the strong biting sun but I've never had the chance, until now! What we call mountains in Australia doesn't really compare to what is the real ...

Tags: France, Megève, Skiing, Snow, Travel

Letting life unfold as it will…

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What will happen, will happen and we can do nothing about it because we don’t have any control despite the illusion that we do.

This, to my understanding is the way of life. We live an illusion that we make decisions about all manner of things but the reality is every decision we make is based on the sum total of experiences that we’ve had in our life. At the most fundamental level we are our genetics and our totality of experiences, nothing more. And those two criteria are all that we are and every decision is based on those things. We make our decisions based on this criteria but who are we, if not our genetics and our experiences which drive our decisions?

Todays Your Story Addendum episode is from the departure gate just prior to boarding my flight to Europe.

I’m off on a trip to Europe for 2.5 months. Initially I’ll be in Megève in the French Alps as a guest of my sister and her family then I’ll be heading north to spend a couple of months in Berlin.

Did I make the decision to go?

On My Way to Europe

Well, I may think and feel like I did but the reality is I simply reacted to the situations as they presented themselves with the final upshot being I’m now on my way as I write this somewhere over Indonesia. But more to the point this trip is about creating situations that could provoke opportunity.

In my everyday life I have a routine of situations and people who are a constant with little variation and without breaking away from the status quo I’ll continue to have the same opportunities.

It’s crunch time!

For five years now I’ve been working on Your Story and Create Your Life Story, to learn the skills and develop the sites to where they may be able viable as more than just hobbies. I’ve tried a few things to develop them but to date these things haven’t worked and it’s time to see if there may be some other opportunities that I haven’t considered.

Staying in my home environment will maintain a similar situation to what’s been the case for these last five years but travelling to Europe may, just may, create an environment that is different and present opportunities that I couldn’t find at home. Continue Reading »

 

Letting life unfold as it will… What will happen, will happen and we can do nothing about it because we don't have any control despite the illusion that we do. This, to my understanding is the way of life. We live an illusion that we make decisions about all manner of things but the reality is ...

Tags: Megève, Travel

Some people have a passion for food that goes beyond what most of us have.

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Do you love food?
I mean really love it, in all the different ways that it can mean. The history, the preparation, the eating, the sharing! Or do you just eat food because you have to, as the cooking is more of a task that has to be put up with in order to eat.

Charmaine O'Brien

For some people food is more than just simple sustenance and for Charmaine O’Brien food is far more than just that!

We all eat but it’s rare to find someone who embodies food in more than just the simplest body nurturing way. Occasionally I come across someone who eats, breathes and sleeps food, and recently at the Oral History Association of Australia conference in Melbourne, I had the good fortune to meet and ask Charmaine to come onto the show and tell us about her interest in food, based on the stimulating presentation and menu she prepared for the dinner.

What’s on the menu? – 100 years ago!

It’s not often that we get to taste a historical menu from post colonial, Australian cookbooks and discover that food reproduced from 100+ years ago is not just boiled mutton and lard with damper. Continue Reading »

 

Some people have a passion for food that goes beyond what most of us have. Click to share on Twitter Do you love food? I mean really love it, in all the different ways that it can mean. The history, the preparation, the eating, the sharing! Or do you just eat food because you have to, as ...

Tags: Australia, Colonial, Cooking, Food, Melbourne, Victorian, Writing

How does an entrepreneur see the world?

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Are you one of those rare individuals who see the world differently? You see opportunities where others only see problems!
Do you then have the skills to action those opportunities to make something of them? Maybe a business!

Mike Boyd

If you are, maybe you’re what is referred to as an entrepreneur. But the curse of the entrepreneur is seeing too many opportunities and maybe working on so many of them that the efforts are fragmented and none are given the effort that is necessary to make a success of any. Or maybe you don’t have all the skills in place to make a success of your ideas even though you see the opportunity. There are so many components to get right to have a successful business personality.

Today we talk with Mike Boyd who has already started drawing attention to himself as a young “go getter “, making a name as someone who can think and motivate with his enthusiasm for business. We talk about:

• Stating business in childhood Continue Reading »

 

How does an entrepreneur see the world? Click to share on Twitter Are you one of those rare individuals who see the world differently? You see opportunities where others only see problems! Do you then have the skills to action those opportunities to make something of them? Maybe a business! If you are, maybe you're what is referred to ...

Tags: Attitude, Career, Coaching, Entrepreneur, Skills

Interview on GeneaBloggers Blog Talk Radio & Podcast²

It sometimes becomes a deluge but recently I’ve done two interviews.

The first published was with Thomas on GeneaBloggers – BlogTalk Radio about the advantages of recording a life story and how that will become part of the history for future generation.

The second was with Andrew at his podcast review site Podcast² which is all about letting you know what is out there in the world of podcasting and winnowing out the wheat from the chaff. Recently I was interviewed but Andrew about how I got started in podcasting and a bit of the back end story of me and podcasts. Continue Reading »

 

Interview on GeneaBloggers Blog Talk Radio & Podcast² It sometimes becomes a deluge but recently I've done two interviews. The first published was with Thomas on GeneaBloggers – BlogTalk Radio about the advantages of recording a life story and how that will become part of the history for future generation. The second was with Andrew at his podcast review ...

Tags: Audio, Family, Genealogy, History, Ian, Interview, Personal, Skills

I’m not big into self promotion so I’ll let Adam do it for me!

I like to let the work that I do here at Your Story and over at Create Your Life Story speak for itself. But the way the internet works is that you need to be noticed, shared and recommended or else you disappear into the mire.

Fortunately for me there are people out there who appreciate what I’m attempting and are happy to blow the trumpet for me. One of these is Adam Daniel Mezei who we’ve heard from on Episode 25 and Episode 58 who I regard as a good friend but recently he produced this unprompted video that I thought I’d share with you. Yes it is a huge compliment that I appreciate and am humbled by his comments and if what he is saying is true it only means that I’m producing content of the standard that I strive for. But still I know that I continue to learn and improve

Thanks Adam

 

I'm not big into self promotion so I'll let Adam do it for me! I like to let the work that I do here at Your Story and over at Create Your Life Story speak for itself. But the way the internet works is that you need to be noticed, shared and recommended or else ...

Tags: Compliment, Context, Opinion

Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door – NOT!

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**BLAM!… Out of nowhere you have the inspiration of a great idea.
You’ve just dreamed up a new and novel way of doing something that everyone will want and now all you have to do is show it to the world for the fame and fortune to be yours. Too easy! Now to make it happen…

How many times have you heard or thought this yourself?

OTTO Espresso

Good ideas are like grains of sand on the beach, very few will ever find their way to an oyster to become a pearl. Continue Reading »

 

Build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door – NOT! Click to share on Twitter **BLAM!… Out of nowhere you have the inspiration of a great idea. You've just dreamed up a new and novel way of doing something that everyone will want and now all you have to do is ...

Tags: Art, Atomic, Coffee, Design, Development, Industrial, OTTO, Podcast, Product, Sydney, Technology

Every generation thinks that it’s all new and then you see something that comes from the past in the case of this from 1940 reminding us that nothing changes and the same issues are around today as have been part of civilisation for a long time.

**Start and play both videos together, Chaplin video starts 54 seconds in.**

Although The Great Dictator was a film of it’s time this closing speech by Charlie Chaplin is still relevant today as we deal with the infernal War on Terror.

 

Every generation thinks that it's all new and then you see something that comes from the past in the case of this from 1940 reminding us that nothing changes and the same issues are around today as have been part of civilisation for a long time. YouTube Doubler **Start ...

Tags: Dictator, Great, Inception, Speech, War

Using their pleasure for tango to help others who desperately need it

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We’ve all had the experience where we’ve gained so much value from people or an activity that we feel a need to return something. It called reciprocity  – the desire to do something in return.

Cheryl & John

In this episode of  Your Story we talk to John and Cheryl Lowry about how they have fulfilled this desire in themselves for all the pleasure that they’ve had from being involved in learning and dancing tango. They’ve returned the favour not to the greater tango community but by using that communities desire to dance tango socially as a means of generating income to support disadvantaged children in Argentina by setting up Para Los Niños children’s charity.

Internationally supported

The charity is supported internationally to enable income to be generated through milongas (tango dances) which is then used in Argentina to support many desperately in need children to have what we would call the necessities of life. Continue Reading »

 

Using their pleasure for tango to help others who desperately need it Click to share on Twitter We've all had the experience where we've gained so much value from people or an activity that we feel a need to return something. It called reciprocity  – the desire to do something in return. In this episode of  Your ...

Tags: Charity, Children, Disadvantage, Tango