Redfern photo walk with a Photo Meet Up group

 A relaxed stroll around Refern, braving bouts of rain, with a lovely, friendly group.

Well-being (2022)

Total:  7.14 

Spiritual connection (2022)

 Total: 7.16

Krissula's birthday lunch at Thelma and Louise (Neutral Bay)

What a location for a lovely meal!

 

Bell's Creek Canyoning with Srini and John

An amazing 8 hour hike including 3.5 hours in the canyon.  The hike involved climbing up a sheer cliff which caused me a bit of consternation.  Srini and John were great and guided me through it. I discovered my wet suit had a big hole in it but thankfully the canyon water was not to bad. Some of the pools we had to swim along were over 100 metres long!

Matt gets 5 A's for matric

 What an extraordinary achievement made even more incredible when one considers the difficult circumstances with COVID and distant learning.

Event highlights (2022)

Away

• Dunn Swamp
• Weekend in Alpine
• Carcoar in Jan
• Carcoar for Xmas 

The Arctic

• Getting ready for Arctic (research, purchasing)
• Singapore & Oslo on the way
• The Arctic (Svalbard)

Bird photography

• The Arctic (especially Puffin)
• Sydney birding: Barton Park
• Cape Town (Rondevlei, Kirstenbosch, Strandfontein, Intaka Island)

Cape Town

• Cedarberg hike (Wolfberg Cracks)
• Hikes in Houtbay & Silvermine
• Ndlovu Choir

Malabar Headland walk with Shushann

 

Hypnotherapy with Nic

To thank me for the site I helped him create for his hypnotherapy practice, Nic did a hypnotherapy session with me.  Here is the audio from the session.

Using Google Sheet and Google Docs

For some time now, I have been using Google Sheets and Google Docs instead of Microsoft Word and Excel.

There are a number of reasons:

• Google Docs can be setup so there are no page breaks; just continuous scrolling. This makes so much sense if you are planning to read the doc online and not print it out.
• Easier to share content with others and collaborate if required.
• Easier to provide a link in Evernote than attach a file.
• No need to remember to save; it automatically saves for you.
• Past versions automatically archived.
• Easier to embed onto Life Trove if I want to share the contents.
  
  

All in all, I much prefer it. I have migrated all my documents now to Google.

Google Sheet

Google Docs

Progress (2022)

Being & Spiritual Connectedness

• 30 mins per day average of Being (Sit & Be, Lie & Be) for Nov & Dec
• Time tracking of Being
• Presence, Spaciousness, Surrender wisdom deeply reviewed & understood

Compass: Evernote, Chrome

• Evernote shortcuts with divider headings
• Chrome bookmarks folders with favicons & spaces
• Old Account Evernote notebooks culled: History & Links work when move
• Icon links on my desktop and Dock to Evernote
• Chrome new tab photo & reminder of "Presence, Spaciousness, Surrender. On desktop too.

Compass: Task management

• Day Checklist: Daily review
• Todoist for out and about tasks, shopping

Compass: Tracking

• Habits (including Being)
• Dex usage
• Work time allocation
• Walking distance

Compass: Guiding Wisdom & Practices

• Daily Wisdom Reminder
• Assurance reviews & in order
• Thinking & Problem solving: Curated wisdom & put into order
• Task management: Principles & practices
• Being, Spaciousness, Surrender extensively reviewed & the relationship between them deeply understood.
• Guiding quotes moved into relevant wisdom & practices pages

Computer

• Macbook Pro arrives and set up
• Files in order and backed up
• Very fast: Allows huge Lightroom catalogue
• Battery check: Long life
• Added "Show desktop" to the dock

Finances & Accounts in order

• New bank account (Macquarie) with good interest.
• Update payment details for all suppliers
• CMC Trading Account for investments
• Apple Pay on phone
• Finances in order: Spreadsheet:  Annual review, Regular commitments
• Annual review: Group large purchases by category
• Analyse large purchases. Which unnecessary?
• New wallet with Apple tracker
• Key documents scanned and uploaded to Evernote
• Start sales project.  Camera stuff sorted for selling.

Purchases

• Glasses
• Mirrorless R5 and lenses
• iPhone 14
• Clothes for Arctic
• 4 Air tags
• Air Fryer 

Dex in order (?)

• Calculated how 8 much more productive than 12

Photography

• Canon R5 with RF 100 - 500 (eye detection)
• Fotojet Premium desktop app (large canvas size)
• Photography in The Arctic: Massive mojo back, confidence from feedback
• Back into photography (birding)
• All photos in one Lightroom database (except current)

Bird photography

• The Arctic
• Barton Park
• Rondevlei, Kirstenbosch, Strandfontein
• Life Trove birding in order & life list

Life Trove

• Take underlines away
• Surprise me 
• Add search field
• Change "surprise" me to "random memory"
• Video content
• Add Clicky
• Hone labels
• Up to top improved visually
• Going through spiritual journal by year and honing and adding.
• Add school photos.
• Add Jenny, Cannon, Mr Suttle
• Add "Ode to things I love": Mountains, beaches, icecream, river swimming
• Birding & Hiking in order
• Add more priceless moments
• Arctic photos, South Africa bird photos

Health

• Neck massage at physio (Jessie). My mind at rest. After massage, so much better.
• Lie on back and be

Movies

• The Flixster & other Youtube like sites to stream movie
• Movie spreadsheet: Movies to watch
• Life Trove: Movie diary in order (with dates, grouped by cinema & at home)
• Find more movies with a twist and watch
• Add twist summary to movies with a twist and create movie twists sheet

Food

• Filter coffee coffee plunger
• Air Fryer

Wisdom Trove

General

• Replace Excel and Word with Google docs and sheets (with ability to split screen)
• Topic: "Life is God's experience": Traffic and high duration.
• Daily traffic reached 200 per day with over 10% repeat visitors.
• Edit replace:  Testing 

Life is a Movie (book)

• Scrivener
• Structure and flow
• Fantasy experiments
• Quotes in Scrivener
• Source quotes on dreaming
• Working on Daily Wisdom Reminder, Presence, Spaciousness, Surrender. Increased my understanding a lot.

Life is a Movie (topics)

• What makes a character in a movie or book interesting?
• Imagination contains unlimited possibility and potentiality
• Imagination contains immense creative power
• See your ego as the hero of your life story
• The purpose of life is to become a lover of life
• Is life predestined or predetermined?
• Conflict and its resolution adds interest and profundity to both movies and real life
• Amor fati: Love of fate
• The purpose of life is character development
• Fiction, fantasy and myth can point to deep truths
• Identify not as an ego but as awareness
• Depersonalisation
• The world as "maya" or illusion
• Be the witness, the watcher, the observer
• We are not the mind or its thoughts. We are consciousness.
• We are not the body or brain. We are consciousness.
• Sit back in the seat of awareness and enjoy the passing show
• Stay open by never closing
• Purchasing experiences tends to bring greater happiness than buying things
• Experience brings greater happiness than possessions
• Consciousness is the ultimate scientific mystery
• Gnosis: An indisputable knowing knowing experienced beyond the mind
• The observer effect: The observed cannot exist independently of the observer

More topics

• Everything in the universe is vibration
• String Theory
• God and imagination are one
• Emptiness (Sunyata)
• The purpose of life is to create
• Entropy and the tendency towards disorder
• Our purpose in life is to lower entropy
• The universe and life is governed by randomness and chance - or is it?
• Determinism
• Scientific and nondual arguments for causality being an illusion
• Knowing and being are one
• The experiencer and experience are one
• The power of metaphors
• How are happiness and meaning related?
• The purpose of life is to minimise pain - or is it?
• Hedonic verse eudaimonic happiness
• The purpose of life is to maximise pleasure - or is it?

Gratitude (2022)

Macbook Pro with M1 Max chip

• Incredibly fast (e.g. Lightroom,  Excel)
• Touch authentication
• Battery is amazing: 1 hour used 3% !!

Canyoning trip

• Managed to do scary bit - not stop the trip

Health

• Avoid COVID after weekend away, in the Arctic, with mum and Mike
• Neck after physio: Muscular only
• Blood test and tool test negative
• My hand is ok

Movies

• The Flixster etc: Movies, movies for free
• An abundance of movies with twists
• My movie list, so many movies seen. Get to share it.
• Francisca recommendations

Floors

• In my room, faded - can hardly see them
• My room better without mat

Finances

• Mum's $8000 + $5000 gift Arctic.
• Issues with house.  Mum ok to contribute
• $11,000 + $6000 dividend payment
• Give up dex: Save $960 per year
• $5000 interest income (Maquarrie Bank)
• Extra $1200  per year for small room
• Found a housemate before going to South Africa for a month (save $1470)
• Martin not have cancer
• Didn't crash my car when changing lane (so close)
• Finances in order
• Car overheated but not a problem.
• Realisation mum gets all income, feel fine re her donations.

 

Arctic photography

• Got R5, not R6 - allowed cropping. 
• R5 and animal eye detection
• 100 - 500 lens.
• I had the funds for camera.  If had invested, would I have bought camera ?  Was sinking very fast.
• Richard asked for gear list. I got to mention Canon R5!
• Back button focusing.
• 16 mm lens cheap - decider
• iPhone takes amazing wide shots and people photos.
• Back into wildlife and birding photography with a vengeance. I’m good at it. 
• Mount works with other canon lenses
• Success of Taronga gave me confidence
• Tanya helped me select photos.
• Nailed first polar bear with R5.  Mum and cubs. Great for confidence. 
• Polar bear & cub,  Boat on shore,  Puffin,  Guillemots in 
• Slideshow on ship. Amazing feedback.

The Arctic

• Gavin making it happen
• Wonderful team: Gavin, Tania, Richard
• Time to prepare and research
• Expedition not effected by strike.
• My MacBook Pro - Lightroom lightning fast with big files
• Got flight out of Longyearbyen by refresh
• Got flight back landing only 1 day later (ok for Liza) flying partly with Quatar (gold so put bags through, lounge, use credits so Gavin not need to pay)
• Chris look after Mack.
• Only one in group not to get sick.
• A triumph photographically and socially
• A time I wondered if I could. Dark night of soul. 
• Pulled the lessons off using experts.
• Not delayed in Arctic for extra weeks: Liza not off side. 
• Richard not snore much.
• Richard not scary at all.
• Come home: finances 170 k, expecting 150 k
• None of us had COVID before

The Arctic:  Strike and meds 

• Not think about possibility of strike at end effecting meds. Or at beginning (would have ruined the start.)
• Got meds in The Arctic. Had in stock. Friendly Dr. 
• Only 1 day of low dex and a day of stress in Longyearbyen. 
• Gavin find out about meds - mind easier, allow to go to dose of 7. 
• Gavin researched and assured.
• Got 100 Dex in Longyearbyen

Affirmation (2022)

 

Wisdom Trove 

Gavin

• An hour on freedom (freedom of the mind). Know to get rid of haters.
• Really uses sections. He used "choice" as an example.
• Shared with Justin who loved it
• You don't talk about it much but its really great.
• Person I showed it to very impressed with right side-bar
• Used Wisdom Trove for list of values.

Xenia

• Loved your Wisdom Trove

DIY

• Erecting Christina's bed

Photography

• Elna used my photo as Facebook pic (Panarama)
• Back button focus on R5.
• Malachite kingfisher mating.  Many comments. Dani liked.
• Cedarberg photos

Courage

• Canyon cliff climb with Srini
• Leaping at Mermaid Falls:  Facing fear,  Dani liked video

The Arctic 

My bag coolest.

Ways I was invaluable in The Arctic

• Photos (Upschool blog, slideshow (use in conference), lesson videos, media articles, my blog. )
• My photos in New York post.
• Google expenses spreadsheet.  
• Insurance claim spreadsheet. 
• Richard:  Plugs and power bank. Camera battery. Memory card. Charged GoPro.  

The Arctic blog  

• Blog great success.  Work well with Tanya.  
• The guy at the presentation night who loved it. "Show Graeme’s photos."

Mum

• So proud
• Shared video with her friends, lots of likes

Gavin:  

• Why I chose you to come to Arctic. Reason 1 is I always feel so happy and inspired after spending time with you.
• Research for Gavin:  Thank you sooooooo much for all of this work.  It's astounding.  I'm printing the research and reading it tonight. Thank you so much for doing all this stuff. You are saving my life. The research is phenomenal.  Basis for Anusha to do fact sheets.
• You look really young for age (Tanya first). You laugh all the time. 
• Know so much about cameras.
• Life long friends.
• Seen how you are driven and applied. 
• Very thankful for research. Anusha using. 

Photography & Blog feedback

• Photo slide show in the Arctic: Polar bear cubs, puffin, abandoned ship, guillemots in V,  polar bear looking. Tanya and me deciding on photos.  
• Photo slide show feedback: Ben: You were the best. Peter Eastway impressed. Most oohs and ahs.  Gavin and Richard: You got biggest reaction. 
• Thank you for sharing this Jo. It fills me with wonder and emotion. What a beautiful planet we live on and this part of the whole world seems so mysterious to me. I would love to visit one day.
• Richard: Hi Graeme Finally I got to sit down and watch this beautiful slideshow.  It's absolutely stunning. The images are incredible - you are such an talented wildlife and landscape photographer.  Reliving it a couple of months brings it all back into sharp focus but a completely different perspective - through your lens So many of the photos I haven't seen.... certainly not in this format on a big screen with music. It was very moving .. well done!
• Justin and polar bears. “You didn’t take that!”
• Jo on my Arctic posts:  You should be writer - not Tanya. You write with such passion and kept me engrossed.
• Elna:  Incredible photos from on your blog… words fail me!  Would love to hear all about it.
• Richard on my blog:  Love this graeme!!  Really enjoyed re-living such magical memories!

Richard

• I enjoyed your company so much on the trip and have told everyone how great it was to spend all that time with you and get to know you.  A new friend for life I hope!
• Intimidated by you and Gavin. Both so bright.
• You and Gavin know so much about everything.  Your intelligence is humbling.  You’re quite a catch.  You are enlightened.  Love your passion for photography.

Weekend to Southern Highlands

• Philosophical discussion with Derek. Kim: that's so beautiful. Lauren and Christian listening in.
• Lauren re Derek.  "Do not know him well but I really like him. Feel like our values align."
• Jasenka:  You do amazing hikes with Mountain and Srini. 
• Jasenka:  Wowza great quality pics. Were they all taken with your phone camera? Impressive!
• Fantastic pics and blog in general. Thanks for sharing! Have already shared it beyond our group with my mum

People

Elaine on Cedarberg photos  and Bonnum Pic hike

• NEVER seen anything like this! Wot an amazing experience, talk about living life to the full. Very few people will have seen this fascinating landscape. Your photographs should be a coffee table book. Really awesome. x
• Awe inspiring! Loved seeing it all. You are really living life to the full in a unique way.

Gavin

• I love hanging out with you guys so much. You re-energise my soul. You are amazing friends to have.
• Gavin loved my photos of Bonnum Pic.
• You are a good story teller (interesting, good inflexion, vocabulary)
• What a hike! I feel lucky to have such great friends!!!
• Would have you and Srini as my pages at wedding

Chris

• "You're the most creative person I know."  Book, photography, Wisdom Trove.

Srini

• That's what I love about you. You still have lots of mojo (after leaping).

Shushann

• Shushann: Beautiful buddies. Gavin: With beautiful bodies.  Shushann:  Hahaha you guys rock! 
• "You’re the ultimate manifester."
• You're great to have around.  In demand.

Dani & Chrisel likes

• Arctic trip, Cedarberg hike, Kingfishers mating, Antarctica to come

Life Trove

• John (Srini's friend) in blog: Graeme is an open book. Feel like I know him.

Nic hypnosis site

• Without you, I'd just have images on Microsoft Drive
• 9 clients in a day