June Was A Time to Reflect

 Each month I have a different theme that helps me to focus on slowing down and living more rhythmically. 

June's word has been REFLECT. 

As we reach the midpoint of the year, it felt like the right time to stop measuring progress by what I had produced and instead ask a gentler question:

What is this season trying to teach me?

Reflection isn't about criticising the past. It's about noticing what has quietly emerged, what deserves to continue, and what may be ready to end.

Looking to Nature

I paid particular attention to the simple things that have traditionally marked winter.

Bay leaves reminded me that wisdom develops slowly, just as flavour deepens in a pot that's allowed to simmer. Star anise became a symbol of warmth, patience and trusting that not everything needs to happen immediately.

Tea tree, with its clean Australian scent, became part of my winter rituals. It represented clarity, cleansing and the opportunity to create a calmer, more intentional home.

The camellias blooming through winter were a quiet reminder that beauty doesn't wait for perfect conditions. They flourish during the coldest months, encouraging me to do the same.

Nourishing the Season

Rather than chasing complicated recipes, I leaned into simple winter food.

Warming soups appeared regularly on the table, making the most of seasonal mushrooms and slow cooking.I am yet to bake a spiced apple crumble—a comforting reminder that ordinary seasonal traditions are often the ones we remember most - but theres a few days left until June has gone. 

These meals weren't just about food; they became opportunities to slow down, gather together and embrace the rhythm of winter.

Music and Wisdom

My soundtrack for June was The Long Way Around by The Chicks. You can here my whole playlist for June on spotfify here. 

It felt like an appropriate reminder that the most meaningful lessons often arrive slowly. There are very few shortcuts to wisdom.

John O'Donohue's words stayed with me all month:

"Beginnings always hide themselves in endings."

As the Winter Solstice arrived and the days slowly began to lengthen again, I found myself reflecting on what I wanted to leave behind in the first half of the year and what I hoped to carry forward.

Marking the Season

June is rich with natural and practical milestones.

The Winter Solstice reminds us that even the longest night eventually gives way to light.

The King's Birthday long weekend offers permission to pause.

The end of the financial year provides an opportunity to reflect not only on our finances, but on how we've invested our time, energy and attention.

Together, these seasonal markers invited me to pause before rushing into the second half of the year.

Looking back, I don't think June asked me to accomplish more.

It asked me to notice more.

And perhaps that's the greatest gift reflection can offer. 

Did you get the chance to stop and reflect during June ? 

AI is Making Me More Human

 What I intend to do with the hours AI is giving me back

My grandmother never owned a dishwasher. For most of her life there was no washing machine humming in the laundry, no dryer, no microwave, no second car idling in the drive. She kneaded her own bread, hung the sheets on the line, and turned the collars of my grandfather’s shirts when they wore thin so they’d last another season.

By every measure we use today, her days should have been swallowed whole by work. And yet — this is the part I keep returning to — she had time. Time to sit on the back step with a cup of tea and watch the light change. Time to write letters in a careful hand. Time to know her neighbours’ names and their troubles, to preserve the fruit and make jam, to simply be in her own home without the low hum of being behind.

She didn’t have a job I hear you say. Well, in fact, she had many. She was an entrepreneur in her own right- always growing, selling, making, bartering… all day, every day.

I have all the machines she never had. Every labour-saving promise of the last century lives in my house. And somehow I have less of what she had. Less stillness. Less margin. Less of the day that belongs only to me.

When the washing machine arrived, it did not give women back their afternoons. The standard simply rose. Sheets that were once washed monthly were now washed weekly. Clothes that were "clean enough" became not clean enough. The labour the machine saved was quietly poured back into more — higher expectations, finer outcomes, a longer list

Because AI is, quietly, giving me time back. The meal plan that used to eat my Sunday evening takes a conversation. The budget I avoided for a fortnight gets sorted before the kettle boils. The mental load — the remembering, the planning, the holding of a hundred small household things — is lifting, just a little, off my shoulders. And it is making me feel, strangely, more human. More present at my own table. Less like a woman managing a home and more like a woman living in one.

And here is the dangerous, glittering temptation that comes with it: now I can do more.

I can start the other project. Take on the extra client. Add the third offer, answer faster, produce more, optimise the corners that were never costing me anything. The reclaimed hour is barely warm before a dozen worthy things line up to claim it. Be honest — you feel it too. The pull to fill the space the moment it opens.

That is the same mistake, dressed in newer clothes. The washing machine all over again. If I take the time AI gives me and pour it straight back into more, I will end up exactly where the labour-saving devices left my generation: surrounded by tools that save effort, and somehow poorer in time than my grandmother ever was.

So this time, I am going to refuse the bargain.

I am going to use AI not to do more, but to do less — on purpose. To let it carry the invisible labour so that I can carry the things that actually make a life: the long dinner that no one rushes from, the walk without a podcast in my ears, the second chapter of a book before bedtime, the phone call to my friend that I keep meaning to make. I want to use the most advanced technology of my lifetime to do the most old-fashioned thing imaginable. To slow down. To sit on the back step. To be unhurried in my own home, the way she was.

This is the quiet inversion at the heart of everything I believe: technology should make us more present, not more productive. AI is the first tool I’ve encountered that can genuinely serve that — but only if I am ruthless about what I do with what it returns. The machine clears the path. It cannot walk the slower road for me. That part is still, gratefully, mine to choose.

I have one test I hold every new thing against, and I am holding AI against it too: does this create more life, or more complexity? Doing more almost always creates complexity — another plate spinning, another thing to manage, another reason to feel behind. Slowing down creates life. The difference between my house and my grandmother’s was never the machines. It was that she let some things stay undone, and called the rest of the day her own.

AI cannot give me that. No tool can. But for the first time in a hundred years of labour-saving promises, here is one that can clear the path — if I have the courage not to fill it.

I am going to leave it empty. And then I am going to sit down in it. I am going to carve out the time for things that truly belong in my life. Things that I choose. Things that make me more human.

Would you like my AI for life list ? Im putting together ny short guide and prompts built for people who actually want to slow down to get things done. If you want to know whe it is ready hit reply or comment AU below and I will personally add you to my list.

Slow Down. Think. Thrive.

Michelle 

June: A Month To Reflect

June is a time to slow down and reflect. Explore how the second half of the year can be more intentional with simple, meaningful practices.

June isn’t the time to start something new. It’s the time to look honestly at what you’ve already begun.

Half the year is behind us. In the Southern Hemisphere, winter pulls us indoors — and that inward turn is an invitation, not an inconvenience.

Our theme for this month is REFLECT as the long nights invite us inward. 

Reflection isn’t navel-gazing. It’s how you make the second half of the year more intentional than the first.

The early evenings are also a chance for us to SLOW DOWN.

Here’s what I’m doing this June:

✨ Asking one question every day: what is this season trying to teach me?
✨ Cooking slow — soups, broths, slow cooked meals with rich flavours from bay leaf and star anise. 
✨ Letting the evenings be quiet instead of full
✨ Reviewing the year so far before I plan the rest of it

What’s one thing you want to reflect on this month? 

You can join us in the free facebook group OLD WISDOM MODERN LIFE if you'd like to continue the discussion or comment below. 

 Ten Things My Grandmother NEVER Did

We talk a lot about convenience, speed, and keeping up. But when I think about my grandmother, I see a very different way of living. One that was slower, more deliberate, and far less reactive. She didn’t chase ease or instant fixes. She lived with quiet standards that shaped everything she did. Looking back, it’s hard not to notice how many of those habits we’ve let slip in modern life.

Ten Things My Grandmother Never Did

1. She never ate in the car

Food had its place, and it wasn’t behind a steering wheel. Meals were something you sat down for, paid attention to, and respected.

2. She never went out in her pyjamas

Even a quick trip to town required being properly dressed. There was a sense of self-respect in how she presented herself to the world.

3. She didn’t drink coffee when she was out

Instead, she would come home and have her morning tea. Home wasn’t just a place to sleep. It was where routines mattered.

4. She never paid for plants

She grew them herself or swapped cuttings with friends. There was patience in that, and community too.

5. She never bought magazines

If she wanted something to read, she traded. Beans for magazines. A simple exchange, built on relationships rather than transactions.

6. She never bought anything she could make

If it could be made at home, that’s what she did. Not out of hardship, but because it made sense.

7. She never upgraded her car every few years

Things were used properly, maintained, and kept. Not replaced just because something newer existed.

8. She never bought takeaway food

She couldn’t see the point when she could cook it herself. Effort wasn’t something to avoid. It was part of the process.

9. She never ran to the shops for just one thing

She planned ahead. Thought about what was needed. There was less rushing, less reacting.

10. She never felt caught out if visitors turned up unannounced

Her home was always ready. There was food, order, and a sense that people were welcome at any time.

What This Really Shows

This isn’t just a list of habits. It’s a mindset.

She lived with intention. She valued preparation over panic, making over buying, and connection over convenience. There was less waste, less rushing, and far fewer unnecessary decisions.

It’s easy to look at this and think it belongs to another time. But the truth is, most of these choices are still available to us. We’ve just stopped choosing them.

A Quiet Question Worth Asking

What would change if we brought even two or three of these habits back into our own lives?

Not perfectly. Not all at once. Just intentionally.

Calling you to action

If this resonates, take a moment to reflect on your own routines and share with your friends and family. Where have things become reactive or overly convenient? I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments below or via social media 

You might not want to live exactly as she did. But there’s something in this way of living that still holds value.

Herbs and Spice and All Things Nice

 

Fresh herbs 

The herb garden is one of the most underrated additions to any home garden, balcony or window sill. 

Have you ever purchased the herbs from a supermarket ? I have. Many times. 

In Australia they are carefully wrapped in plastic like a bunch of flowers. They look great in the supermarket and you take the bunch home and use the required amount, only to nurse the remainder of the bunch for as many days as you can in order to get 'full value'. Well.... that's my experience.... and it has never worked out well. I always end up throwing a mushy bunch to the chickens after a few days. 

I even by the organic bunches, but I am never using them all and often wasting most of it. Even fressing them in olive oil after whizzing them in the blender is still.... well, we will say 'not great'. 

Over the years, I have had various iterations of herb gardens, big pots and smaller pots on the window sill. 

The trick for me ss usually putting the plants in a location that I don't forget to water. In permaculture terms we would say zone 0 or zone 1 meaning close by the house and easily accessible. 

These gardens have been the most successful because they are fully overgrown with no space for weeds. 

This style suits me as I am working hard all week and don't give a single thought to the garden... but when that need hits and I get all domestic again.... it's wonderful to walk out and get just the right amount of fresh herbs..... no trip to the supermarket, no throwing most of the soggy left overs away, no cash spent and most importantly... no plastic wrap! 

Ther herbs I seem to use the most are rosemary, oregano, thyme, parsley and garlic chives. Maybe I just use them the most because they are there! 

What I am really missing at the moment is basil and coriander. In years gone by I have had a lot of basil, but something has taken to eating all the leave and I don't have anything but stems left. Coriander is a herb that I really need to get started again because we use a lot of it in the summer in salsa and in the winter we use it in soups and curries. 

Where are you up to with your herbs ? Are you yet to get started ? Do you have the little pots on the window sill in the sun or are you off an running with a healthy supply. I'd love to know!. 

The Messy Kitchen

 My kitchen is rarely clean and lovely like you often see on social media. 

It is often clean and pretty, only to be messed up again by the next cooking session. 

Today, when I was making a chocolate loaf cake, I looked the mess and thought how wonderfully functional it was. 

This kitchen is literally the heart of the home. It is where the cooking and the talking all happens. 

This long weekend, we cooked quite a few meals. I cooked some, our visitors cooked some, Hubbie cooked some and at other times it was all in. 

The containers in this photo are from my baking centre. I realised as I got them out to cook with today that I have had these containers for so many years. The post that I have linked here is from 2007 - that is 17 years ago. 

They may not be the latest trend, they are not the glass pretty ones I see on instagram, but they are functional and hard wearing. Because they are made of plastic, I want to use them for as along as I can. You see, if we followed 'green living' advice it would tell us to buy all new eco friendly containers with no thought of where all the old plastic containers end up. We all know they go to land-fill so we buy new ' eco friendly' ones. Don't be fooled!. 

So... I stand in my messy kitchen with my old storage containers and I am joyful! 

What do you have that you hold onto in your kitchen ? You can leave a comment below. 

April Theme: Re-organise and Transition

In the Southern Hemisphere, April is in Autumn. 

The days here are still warmish, but there is a sneaking whisper in the wind. That whisper is saying 'winter's on its way'. 

This time of year always makes me think about the transition into winter. I start to prepare things for the cooler months. 

We often reserve spring time for cleaning, but there is a also a cleaning energy that arrives in April. It's more of a 'reorganise and transition' type of energy. 

I find myself packing things away from the summer, decluttering, washing bedding and preparing blankets knowing that I can still wash them and dry them in the warm sun well before winter arrives. 

I often think about herbs, oils, foods, flowers and other things around me with a seasonal view. 

It's a time for harvesting lots of rosemary, adding cinnamon to my coffee on cooler morings, using lavender oil on my pillow for a better sleep, baking apple pies and watching my trees turn from green to shades of yellow and then orange. 

My April summary would be:  

Word or Theme: Re-organise and Transition

Herb: Rosemary

Spice: Cinnamon

Oil: lavender

Fruit: apple

Colour: golden yellow

Seasonal Tasks: preparing bedding

Song: 59th Street Bridge Song (Simon & Garfunkel) 'Slow down'.

Garden tasks: harvest the last of the summer crops, prune back any overgrown plants, burn off the garden and tree lopping for charcoal and ash, prepare the soil and plant the winter crops like peas, broad beans, onion and garlic.

Does April bring a particular feeling for you each year ? What is happening where you live ?

Next year I will look back and see whether the April theme comes again on the wind.