I’m sitting on the deck of my Mornington Peninsula home trying not to despair at the pitiful state of my lawn. All the bald patches make it look like it’s been scalped with a blunt hatchet. Hastily averting my eyes, I try to focus on the pleasant twitter of the birds. They’re just about discernible, right behind the drone of the power tools from the construction site next door.

I’m striving to channel Perth doctor Jenny Brockis, who dedicates time every morning to sit quietly in her garden and observe its natural wonders. “It’s just for five minutes on my own,” she says. “But it sets me up for the day.”