D'Arne Healy shares surprisingly broad wellbeing benefits of jigsaw puzzles. Whether on your own or with others, puzzling can help with loneliness, conquering addiction, giving your brain a break and improving focus, just to name a few.  D'Arne has created inclusive communities, both as Founder of the Australian Jigsaw Puzzle Association and more recently the Inter-School Puzzle Club. D'Arne shares some of the personal puzzling stories she has witnessed, spanning all ages of jigsaw puzzle enthusiasts.  You'll be finding and starting a puzzle once you listen to this episode and be better for it.  Show Notes How to contact D'Arne interschoolpuzzleclub.com LinkedIn: @d'arnehealy Instagram: @interschoolpuzzleclub, @australianjigsawpuzzle   Sponsor Build your resilience and well-being - join Donna's weekly newsletter to build resilience and improve well-being.   

Dr. Vish Ramakonar returns to the DDs to share the life altering change management work she learnt from Joe Dispenza, based on neuroscience. The program, "Change your mind, create new results" focuses on giving people strategies and tools to increase their resilience to navigate through challenging situations, create desirable change and ultimately, change their life. Dr. Vish discusses how we become victims to our environment, how stress can be addictive and how most of our beliefs and behaviours are based on subconscious programming. We can all rewire our brains to create a brighter blueprint of our future selves and who we want to become, rather than acting based on our patterns of the past. Dr. Vish also demonstrates one of the program's tools, a heart focused breathing exercise.  Show Notes Books Vish recommends: Becoming Supernatural – Dr Joe Dispenza Breaking the habit of being yourself – Dr Joe Dispenza  How to contact Vish www.drvishramakonar.com LinkedIn: @drvishramakonar Sponsor Build your resilience and well-being - join Donna's weekly newsletter to build resilience and improve well-being. 

Co-founder of neuro nudges, Tammy Tansley discusses how her small business started. Neuro nudges are packs of 70 self-coaching cards in 7 categories that can help you to build resilience, regulate your emotions, improve your habits and become more self-aware. Each card asks a coaching question, gives you a behavioural nudge and provides background into the related neuroscience. Tools such as giving yourself space and time, relishing small moments of joy and the power of hope are all messages covered in this episode.  Shownotes www.tammytansley.com.au www.neuronudges.com  Discount code for listeners of the Double Ds: DDTEN  Katherine's distillery in Tasmania: https://justbdistillery.com.au    Andrew Hubermann - Huberman Lab Podcast  www.hubermanlab.com    Sponsor Build your resilience and well-being - join Donna's weekly newsletter to build resilience and improve well-being. 

Alastair Milne opens up about his mental crisis five years ago – a journey that led him to spend three weeks in psychiatric care in hospital. Alastair shares how he recovered slowly and eventually started his consultancy, Curam Consulting, where he focuses on developing fearless teams and improving psychological safety in the workplace. Alastair discusses tools and strategies that help him today stay mentally well. He also outlines the steps he would undertake to start the healing process with a team that had been ruled by fear. Show notes If you need help or know someone who does: Call Lifeline: 131114 in Australia  Please seek support from a medical professional or other person  Home | curam consulting Awe by Dacher Keltner - Penguin Books Australia   Sponsor Build your resilience and well-being

Join Double Ds Donna and Di for Part 2 of their first ever live podcast, as previous podcast guests answer the question, "What happened Next?" Hear from previous guests Susan Saleeba (#11), Tara Jeisman (#7), Nio Correa (#5), Steve Cox (#1) and hear about what happened following Wayne Sankey's episode (#8) about surviving the Boxing Day Tsunami. Themes include the power of sharing your story, self-reflecting, connection and community.    Sponsors  Speakers Institute 3-day Premiere Bootcamp: click here to sign up for the Bootcamp and support the Double Ds podcast at the same time: Public Speaking | Donna's Balcony Views   Hybrid Warehouse  hybridwarehouse | Instagram | Linktree Darren's podcast is "Some Elbow Room" 

Join the Double Ds, Donna West and Di Murray, as they do their first ever live podcast in front of an audience, to celebrate the first anniversary of the podcast.  Hybrid Warehouse owner Darren Payne interviews the Double Ds about their first year and how they turned a dream into reality and started a podcast. Their reflections and lessons to date, how they find and prepare guests, the power of podcasting and sharing stories of courage and resilience, communities and connections formed and how their guests have inspired them in their own journeys.  Sponsors  Speakers Institute 3-day Premiere Bootcamp: click here to sign up for the Bootcamp and support the Double Ds podcast at the same time: Public Speaking | Donna's Balcony Views   Hybrid Warehouse  hybridwarehouse | Instagram | Linktree Darren's podcast is "Some Elbow Room" 

Lachlan (Lockie) O'Donoghue, co-founder of 20Talk, a not-for-profit focusing on improving the mental wellness of young people, discusses the origins of 20Talk, following the suicides of two close friends in their early 20's.  Lockie gives tips on how to approach a conversation with someone who may be struggling, what to do if you aren't coping with life and a methodology for creating a personal self-care action plan to build your wellness and resilience.  Lockie also explains the charity event 20Hours and how disconnecting from devices for 20 hours straight is a transformative experience for participants.  Show notes www.20talk.com.au Wheel of life workshops  https://events.humanitix.com/mental-health-maintenance-training Wheel of life download  Donna's Balcony Views - Build Resilience, Improve Wellbeing   Sponsors  Speakers Institute 3-day Premiere Bootcamp: click here to sign up for the Bootcamp and support the Double Ds podcast at the same time: Public Speaking | Donna's Balcony Views  

Professor Rob Donovan is Founder of the Act-Belong-Commit health promotion campaign. This was one of the world's first mass media campaigns to promote being mentally healthy, which commenced in 2005 in regional Western Australia and is still going strong today. Rob shares the background into the project, including the market research he undertook, the development of the Act-Belong-Commit message and how listeners can incorporate the principles to improve their own quality of life. Rob also shares the growth of the campaign internationally - how various Scandinavian countries have embraced the campaign (A: Do something, B: Do something with someone, and C: Do something meaningful) and that he is currently working with several other European countries, including Ukraine, on upcoming launches. He also recounts some of his most memorable conversations with people who have changed their lives due to implementing the Act-Belong-Commit message.    Show notes Home - Act Belong Commit | Promoting Positive Mental Health in WA The ABCs of Mental Health – Department of Psychology - University of Copenhagen    Sponsors  Speakers Institute 3-day Premiere Bootcamp: click here to sign up for the Bootcamp and support the Double Ds podcast at the same time: Public Speaking | Donna's Balcony Views    

Lawrence (Laurie) Brown was born in Scotland and travelled by boat to Perth Western Australia when he was 17 years old, in 1952. A couple of weeks after he arrived, he found work in the North-West of the state. Lawrence recounts his family circumstances that led him to migrate to Australia. He shares some of his tales and adventures from his time living in Broome and Derby in the 1950's and 1960's, imparting a living history lesson for listeners about what life was like there decades ago.      Shownotes Sponsors Helping leaders change the world, one team at a time - Impact Society Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off the Impact Society Leadership cards (52 cards) or any other Impact Society products  Building Personal Resilience - A Guide to Overcoming Adversity (donnasbalconyviews.com.au) Sign up to Donna's (one of the Double Ds) free 2-hour virtual masterclass, Ignite Your Warrior Within Masterclasses | Donna's Balcony Views  

Artist Sophie Mahir takes us on the wild ride of her life, while she sets out to make money as an artist and single Mum. Multiple careers, living in several countries, from success to bankruptcy, from passion to burnout and then rebuilding and redefining herself again and again. Sophie’s enthusiasm for life and her relentless entrepreneurial spirit will inspire you, not only to discover your own path, but to get out and do something about it.   Show Notes   How to contact Sophie: tonesandtextures.com.au Facebook @sophiemahir  Instagram @sophiemahir @weavingtonesandtexture LinkedIn @sophie mahir    Sponsors Helping leaders change the world, one team at a time - Impact Society Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off the Impact Society Leadership cards (52 cards) or any other Impact Society products  Building Personal Resilience - A Guide to Overcoming Adversity (donnasbalconyviews.com.au) Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off Donna's specially designed Coaching Program: Navigating a Lifequake 

Jon Sanders is one of Australia’s greatest ever sailors, holding multiple world records for solo circumnavigations around the world, including a triple circumnavigation lasting 658 days from 1986-1988 and his latest at 81 years old during the COVID pandemic in 2020-2021. In this episode, recorded over 2 sessions, Jon recounts some of his adventures and memorable moments, including smashing into a Chinese fishing vessel and sailing past the Falkland Islands at the heart of the conflict between Great Britain and Argentina in 1982. He outlines the perseverance and preparation required to undertake endurance endeavours no one had ever even attempted, let alone accomplished. Jon takes us back to his childhood, with his author mother and University professor father, growing up at the University of Western Australia on the banks of the Swan River, where Jon developed his love for sailing.  He reflects on sailing now, as an 85-year-old, and shares stories of the decades in between.   Sponsors Helping leaders change the world, one team at a time - Impact Society Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off the Impact Society Leadership cards (52 cards) or any other Impact Society products  Building Personal Resilience - A Guide to Overcoming Adversity (donnasbalconyviews.com.au) Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off Donna's specially designed Coaching Program: Navigating a Lifequake 

Henrietta discusses her early life in Hungary growing up in the post-Communist era, her decision at 20 years old to travel to and eventually settle in Australia and her move to Perth from the east coast. Throughout these experiences, the themes of the importance of community and finding your tribe shine through. Henrietta’s passion for helping other migrants, especially women, and for giving back to the community led her to become the youngest and first ever female President of the Hungarian Association of Western Australia, Chair of Multilingual Australia and in recent months, CEO of Umbrella, delivering home care services to seniors across Perth. Henrietta shares her reflections from a program with Leadership WA in 2021, when she first realised she needed to become more vulnerable as a leader rather than always being so strong. This discovery has been instrumental in Henrietta’s transition as a new CEO, a steep learning curve, but a fulfilling one.   Show notes To contact Henrietta: Henrietta Podgorska | LinkedIn   Sponsors Helping leaders change the world, one team at a time - Impact Society Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off the Impact Society Leadership cards (52 cards) or any other Impact Society products  Building Personal Resilience - A Guide to Overcoming Adversity (donnasbalconyviews.com.au) Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off Donna's specially designed Coaching Program: Navigating a Lifequake         

After bringing up 4 children, upon retiring, Bill and Pina decide to take on the challenge of hiking a Camino pilgrimage in Spain. This journey of nearly 800 kms leads to 2 more Camino pilgrimages in Europe and 2 in Australia, including most recently the Camino Salvado in Western Australia, from Subiaco in Perth to New Norcia, a distance of 150kms.  Bill and Pina share their physical, mental and spiritual journeys along the way. Topics covered include their tips on training and gear, daily life on the Camino, Pina's blog about her experiences, emotional arrivals at the end of the Caminos and bonds formed with fellow pilgrims. They have strong self-belief that if you can put one foot in front of the other, you will eventually get there.  Bill and Pina outline some of the similarities and differences between their Camino pilgrimages in Europe and in Western Australia and discuss with the Double Ds the history of the Camino Salvado and its links back to Spain. Bill and Pina have future travel plans, including another European Camino.  Show notes Pina's camino and travel blog: pindun.wordpress.com    Sponsors Helping leaders change the world, one team at a time - Impact Society Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off the Impact Society Leadership cards (52 cards) or any other Impact Society products  Building Personal Resilience - A Guide to Overcoming Adversity (donnasbalconyviews.com.au) Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off Donna's specially designed Coaching Program: Navigating a Lifequake       

Dr Vish Ramakonar shares her personal story of how dealing with family tragedies eventually led to her own healing and transformation. Vish recounts her happy childhood days growing up in Geraldton, a small regional town in Western Australia, where she and her family were the only people with Indian heritage. At aged 16, Vish’s father became the first manager of Annalakshmi, an Indian community-based restaurant in Perth, with a philosophy of “serving something greater than ourselves.” During those years, Vish formed strong cultural connections, including touring as an Indian classical dancer, while she also studied a degree in engineering telecommunications, eventually obtaining her PhD. Tragedy struck in 1993, when Vish’s father contracted meningitis, requiring full-time ongoing care, which her mother provided. The toll of a being a full-time carer led to Vish’s mother passing away suddenly in 2012. Vish took over her father’s care, but being in constant fight or flight mode for so long, led her body to eventually collapse with chronic fatigue. Vish then began her own healing journey, travelling to India and later to the US, as she embarked on a journey of looking for ways to become more resilient and ‘breaking the habit of being myself’. Now she uses her own transformative journey to help others. Show Notes Books Vish recommends: You can heal your life – Louise Hay Medical Medium – Anthony William Becoming Supernatural – Dr Joe Dispenza Breaking the habit of being yourself – Dr Joe Dispenza The Untethered Soul – Michael Singer The Surrender Experiment – Michael Singer How to contact Vish www.drvishramakonar.com LinkedIn: @drvishramakonar   Sponsors Building Personal Resilience - A Guide to Overcoming Adversity (donnasbalconyviews.com.au) Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off Donna's specially designed Coaching Program: Navigating a Lifequake  Helping leaders change the world, one team at a time - Impact Society Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off the Impact Society strategic planning toolkit.      

Chef, café owner and fresh food enthusiast Simon Naber talks about his career and travels, including as an apprentice in Albany in regional Western Australia, then onto Perth and over to Europe, where he worked in one of London’s most well-known restaurants and then in the south of France. He discusses the fun adventures, along with the long hours and isolation of being a chef. Simon then returned home and became head chef on the luxurious vessel the True North, touring in the remote Kimberley region in the north of Western Australia, for 4.5 years. Throughout, Simon discusses the influences on his zeal for sourcing fresh, healthy produce - including his father, his previous chef positions and recent travels to one of the “blue zones” in Greece, Ikaria. This passion led him to start his own venture in 2008, Moore and Moore café, in an historic building in Fremantle, where Simon is both head chef and entrepreneur. Moore and Moore focuses on providing fresh, sustainably grown local produce to positively impact on the wellbeing of the community.   Show Notes Follow Simon Naber on Instagram @mooreandmoore_cafe @mooreandmooreevents www.mooreandmoorecafe.com   Sponsors  Building Personal Resilience - A Guide to Overcoming Adversity (donnasbalconyviews.com.au) Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off Donna's specially designed Coaching Program: Navigating a Lifequake    Helping leaders change the world, one team at a time - Impact Society Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off the Impact Society strategic planning toolkit.        

Susan Saleeba recounts how she volunteered to go to Nakuru in Kenya when she was 50 years old. Life for her began again as she fell in love with the people and the difference she could make, realising she had a gift for getting things done, despite any obstacles she faced.She returned to Nakuru annually for months at a time, first purchasing sewing machines and paying for a local seamstress to teach local widows to sew, giving them a trade. Since then, she has started a school, now with 300 children, and an orphanage under her charity, Nakuru Hope. Though Africa now feels like home, Susan returns to Western Australia regularly to fundraise, including managing a second-hand op shop to raise revenue. Susan’s story shows it is never too late to follow your dream, find your life's purpose and make the world a better place. Show Notes Follow Susan Saleeba @nakuru_hope_org on Instagram www.nakuruhope.org   Building Personal Resilience - A Guide to Overcoming Adversity (donnasbalconyviews.com.au) Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off Donna's specially designed Coaching Program: Navigating a Lifequake  Helping leaders change the world, one team at a time - Impact Society Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off the Impact Society strategic planning toolkit.    

Donna and Di take time to reflect on their podcasting journey so far, as the Double Ds Discovery Diaries podcast reaches its 10th episode. They discuss how it all began, lessons learnt along the way, how much they are enjoying the podcasting experience together and the positive impact of their guests' stories, on listeners, the Double Ds and the guests themselves. 

Emily reflects on working as a nurse in the emergency department of a central London hospital during the COVID19 pandemic. Topics covered include why she chose not to return home to Australia when the pandemic broke out, the tight bond formed between coworkers in such trying circumstances, how she adapted her own self-care during lockdowns and her media comments that made front page news about anti-vaxxers. Emily recounts how she was one of only 14 Australians to receive an invite to King Charles III’s coronation.     Show Notes  Sponsors  Building Personal Resilience - A Guide to Overcoming Adversity (donnasbalconyviews.com.au) Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off Donna's specially designed Coaching Program: Navigating a Lifequake  Di Murray | Coming up 4 air | People & Culture Business Consultant, Executive Coaching, training, offsite, Facilitator, Speaker, Perth, Western Australia Helping leaders change the world, one team at a time - Impact Society Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off the Impact Society strategic planning toolkit.

It was the morning after Christmas and Wayne and his girlfriend Allison had woken up early in Arugam Bay, on the East Coast of Sri Lanka, after having arrived the previous afternoon. Leaving their beachside cabana, they went for a long walk along the beach. It was such a perfect morning that on the way back, Wayne proposed. Allison said yes.  Only a short time later, a magnitude 9.2 earthquake was recorded off the coast of Sumatra, in northern Indonesia. This event led to one of modern history’s worst natural disasters, the Boxing Day Tsunami, in 2004. An estimated 230,000 people died in 14 countries.  Listen to Wayne’s personal account of what happened to him that day and in the aftermath. An unforgettable story of survival and courage. A tale that has taken Wayne nearly 20 years to be ready to share it publicly.  Show Notes  Sponsors  Building Personal Resilience - A Guide to Overcoming Adversity (donnasbalconyviews.com.au) Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off Donna's specially designed Coaching Program: Emerge from the Pit of an Unexpected Traumatic Life Event and Transform Your Life.  Di Murray | Coming up 4 air | People & Culture Business Consultant, Executive Coaching, training, offsite, Facilitator, Speaker, Perth, Western Australia Helping leaders change the world, one team at a time - Impact Society Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off the Impact Society strategic planning toolkit.

Tara Jeisman talks about how a TikTok video showing her taking a sunrise plunge into the ocean went viral and the community movement Sea Gals was born.  Tara discusses her passion for Sea Gals and how she has found her ikigai as Founder. Also covered are the underlying Sea Gals principles of inclusion, fighting against body shame, providing a safe environment to make new friends and promoting mental health. Tara also discusses Sea Gal’s expansion across Australia and new initiatives in the pipeline.  Show notes You can find Tara on Instagram @ _seagals_  and @tarajeisman  Sponsors  Helping leaders change the world, one team at a time - Impact Society Put in discount code “DoubleDs” to receive 20% off the Impact Society strategic planning toolkit. Di Murray | Coming up 4 air | People & Culture Business Consultant, Executive Coaching, training, offsite, Facilitator, Speaker, Perth, Western Australia Building Personal Resilience - A Guide to Overcoming Adversity (donnasbalconyviews.com.au)