Some time in the next month or so I’ll become a mother for the second time. I’m currently 35 weeks pregnant, and with my very noticeable, ever-expanding belly, I find myself having regular conversations with people about the pending arrival. My well-meaning friends keep telling me horror stories about their experiences in labour and battlefield tales from the front line of being parents to both a newborn baby and a toddler at the same time. “It’s the hardest thing I’ve done in my life,” seems to be the general consensus from both mothers and fathers that I’ve spoken to.  ... Read full article »

In 2009 I found myself in the South Pacific island nation of Samoa the day after a 3.5 metre tsunami rolled through and killed more than one hundred people. I was there as a video journalist — a one-man band traveling with a light camera and editing kit in order to get to people and places conventional crews cannot. At the heart of my story were the remarkable people from the Australian Federal Police Disaster Victim Identification team who worked tirelessly to find and identify the missing tsunami victims so their families could get closure.   I felt that the... Read full article »

I was sitting in front of my computer screen staring blankly. I’d been writing for three hours straight, without looking up and had just put a full stop on the end of a paragraph that had proven stubbornly difficult to write. With deadlines looming as I race towards the finish line of completing my book, I was trying to work out which was the most pressing of my pressing tasks to move onto. But my brain had turned to mush. I was distantly aware of my aching hips and tight lower back and knew I needed to get up and... Read full article »

There’s a lot happening in the Harvey household at the moment. Between the new book I’ve been writing for the last year and a half, the new film we’ve just received development funding for, the new baby who is due to arrive in late July, working to keep the bills paid, and the general hustle and bustle of every day life, just like many of you reading this post, I’ve got a lot to think about. My head space feels rather full.   At times like this it’s easy to tell myself I’m too busy to cook good food, or... Read full article »

There’s a particular person in my life who is always unhappy. No matter what good things come their way, they always find a reason to be negative. As a person who tends towards the sunny side of life I often feel frustrated when I’m around this person. I want them to be different. I want them see the good in the world. I want them to appreciate what they do have instead of focusing on what they don’t have. Lately, I’ve found myself avoiding them because no matter what I do or say, they won’t change. This got me thinking... Read full article »

Last weekend I found myself standing up in front of an audience of about 1000 people delivering a 20-minute talk, without notes. Big stage. Bright lights. 2000 eyes and ears. Among some of my fellow speakers at the event were world-leading researchers and experts on health and wellbeing for whom I have enormous admiration. Cripes. Just writing these words has awakened the butterflies in my stomach. I was speaking at the Happiness and It’s Causes Conference and despite having done a lot of public speaking previously, in the week leading up to the talk I was still really really really... Read full article »