Women: There is no point in reading any further on in this entry. It has nothing to do with you.

Steve Biddulph writes in his book Manhood "Most men don't have a life." They just pretend, doing things that they think you are supposed to do.

At middle age many men get a suspicion that life might be passing them by, that their life is meaningless and, to a large extent, worthless. The tragic fact is that in most cases they are right. When these men were boys they were vibrant, creative, enthusiastic. What happened? What turned these men into shadows of their real potential, living life vacariously through their wives and children?

In a series of posts over the next few weeks I will be exploring what it means to be a man in todays western culture (particularly Australia, but the same applies to NZ, UK, US etc).

Drawing unashamedly on current thinking in the mens movement (Steve Biddulph and others) and on my experiences as a counseller of men in crisis I will be looking at who we are and how we can rediscover those aspects of our maleness that we have been taught to ignore/suppress.

I am starting a journey into the dark forest and I am asking you to join me on this adventure. Like any adventure, things will often not be comfortable, there will be demons and challenges to face, but we will be doing it together. A band of men venturing into a lost world where there are jewels to discover. When we get back we will have been changed by the experience. We will have grown, our horizons broader. We will know each other better. We will have learned to talk to one another about things that really matter to us. We will be more complete as men!

Welcome aboard.