Category Archives: Member Blog

At this time of a pandemic spread of anxiety and a shared knawing of fear, we turn more and more to our own emergency kit. We turn inward to those things that we believe and hold on to no matter what.

I was led to go back and reread: How to Change Things When Change is Hard by the brothers Chip and Dan Heath.

They taught me a great deal about discipline fatigue when I came across their book several years ago.

Freud saw the battle between the Id which is the selfish manifestation of the individual and the Superego, which is the conscientious self, focused on the greater good.

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Here is a story you don’t hear every day! A full time high school teacher turns holistic practitioner turns mortgage broker…and sticks the landing!

I love being happy and making others happy. As a child loved playing house, school, and playing Monopoly. I was the careful one, the saver of money, the happy kid, the energetic one with frizzy hair, hand me down clothes, skipping rope, roller skating, wanting to learn EVERYTHING. I knew no bounds! I was the weird kid who wanted to be a Dentist when I grew up, because I wanted everyone to have a beautiful smile.

The year was 1984, and my absolute DREAM was to be an Olympic Gymnast, just like Mary Lou Retton. When I saw her on TV I was enchanted! Her smile lit up the stadium. Her  determination and sheer power captivated me as she flew through the air. I had never seen anything so beautiful! I cheered her on to that Gold Medal. Everyone was happy when she nailed her routine! She had all happy powers that I wanted too! She made it look easy.

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Have you put your dreams on hold and stopped dreaming completely?  Do you even have a list dreams … aka – bucket list?  If you need to bring those dreams back to life – there is an easy TWO step process to realizing ALL your dreams, even the biggest dream you have hidden inside you and are afraid to say it out loud!

1. Journaling
2. Affirmations

Write in your journal EVERY single day.

The first page of your journal is where you will create your dream list.  Don’t hold back as every single dream must be written down. Dream BIG and then dream even BIGGER (don’t hold back). Itemize the list in no particular order. Once your dream list is written out you will get more specific clearly outlining each dream in detail.

When you write ‘I’ in front of your dream it now becomes your affirmation – clever right?

I live at the ocean (Which ocean? For how long? All year long? With who? Do you want to work there too?)

I travel first class all over the world (What countries? Learn a language or how to cook? Hiking? Meditation?)

I am an actor and a movie star (Action or comedy? Drama or a musical? Do Voice overs for audio book?)

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Being in quarantine the first three months had a lot of people talking about how much weight they were gaining and setting goals to reduce it. It gave me extra time to set some new goals as well.

As an author, I always wanted to write a best-selling book, which is not easy, then it occurred to me that the best-selling books are diet books, cookbooks, and of course, sex sells everything. If I could include all three in one book, it would be a sure winner.

Cookbooks tell men how to make meals romantic enough to impress her so she will jump into the sack at the mere taste of your, flambé.

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Ghost stories amuse me, but I didn’t believe in the occult, so I don’t write them either.

Then the following story happened, it is true, so l wanted to share the experience.

The wife and I planned to visit the East Coast on a business trip at the end of October. We added an extra week so we could explore Nova Scotia, staying at various bed and breakfasts.

I have always been intrigued by lighthouses, so when the wife found a B&B in one on a property, we booked it.  Arriving late in the day we explored the 150-year-old building then later, we spent the evening with the owners, Mr. and Mrs. Kent, who related the following story to us.

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In the recent months some of us were working from home and not able to go out to restaurants, may have had kids at home, couldn’t get to the gym. People have been telling me that their partners are getting on their nerves or the things that they have been avoiding in their relationships can longer be side stepped. Of course other couples may have already been really distressed before the lockdown happened and now they are talking about separation. Our current circumstance can cause some distress and conflict as we have all been under more stress and not able to have our daily routines that help us all stay on track. Since we are in the same boat for a while longer, it might be a good idea to take steps that will keep your relationship on course and possibly make it stronger.

Avoid the 4 Horsemen which breakdown relationships!

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It was a clear warm evening that Summer Solstice of the bear visitation. A small group of friends and a watchful dog gathered outside around a campfire to connect and share conversation as life rolled through pandemic times. (What’s important about this so far is the gathering and connection.)

Part way through the evening an unusual scent drifted through the air, reminiscent of skunk – but not really. Mention of a bear sighting in the area in the past days stimulated a lively discussion as to the course of action in case there was more to come than scent. As a group it was decided there was no present danger. Then, bonded together in shared trust and focus they carried on with the evening, unhampered by the unknown Continue Reading

I take great pride that others see me as someone who tries hard to find the “win-win” in most conversations, whether that is at work or with my family.  So I was shocked to realize that by trying to minimize or avoid situations that might involve conflict, I was making things much harder on myself and others!

How do you handle conflict?  Like me, do you try to limit your interactions with people that you find frustrating?  Conflict at home and at work is common, and in these uncommon times of working from home it is more important than ever to build your ability to handle conflict in a healthy way. Continue Reading

This Covid thing has brought on several questions and old memories.

When I was growing up many families on our block, right in town, did not have indoor plumbing, instead they had an old fashioned out-house with a moon cut into the door for light, at the back of the lot.

In one of my humour books, I went to some length explaining that there was no toilet paper in most of these out houses, but rather old Sears and Eaton’s, newsprint catalogs. In the spring they were a little ratty after spending the winter as shin guards for young hockey players but then they went right back to the out houses.  This was recycling at its finest.

These catalogs were in most out houses until both companies went out of business and Canadian Tire took over but provided high gloss flyers, which was not a good replacement in the back house.

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