I’m a neuro-wellbeing writer and educator, passionate about sharing the fascinating world of the brain and how we can use neuroscience-based strategies to find solutions, build resilience, lower stress and increase health, happiness and creativity.

My Unexpected Journey

In 2007 I graduated with First Class Honours (Communications) from the University of Technology, Sydney after completing a thesis on hope. After Honours, I started working for The Attorney General’s Department as part of their highly competitive graduate program.

I had worked exceptionally hard to be where I was and I believed it was the beginning of a fantastic new career. However, six months into the program I became very sick. I went from being fit and active to not being able to stand up long enough to have a shower. I went from being academically switched on to struggling to put sentences together.

At 23, I was diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. I left work for a month to recover, not for a second thinking it would take me seven years to get better! In that time I lost my job, my income and my independence.

With so much change and uncertainty in my life, I knew I had to think differently in order to re-build my life from the ground up.

Re-Imagining What Was Possible

Three books totally challenged how I was thinking during this time and they were Dr Viktor Frankl’s book Man’s Search For Meaning, Jean-Dominique Bauby’s book The Diving Bell And The Butterfly and Dr John Arden’s book Re-Wire Your Brain.

These books taught me three powerful ideas that allowed me to rebuild my health and my life:

1. The only true power you have is how you choose to respond to the events in your life.

2. What you focus on magnifies – focus on what you have and can do, not on your limitations.

3. Your brain is powerful and can hold you back or propel you forward – you have the ability to influence and change how your brain works and ultimately how you experience your life.