• If I Only Had a Brain

    • November 18, 2009 10:55 am

    Dearest Readers,

    Time is very tight this morning so a short blog it will be.

    An article in the Saturday Globe has me now feeling wonder, awe, amazement and all good words that mean “holy moly”.

    Brain surgeons no longer have to saw open a human skull to perform certain kinds of surgery. They can now feed an instrument, called a micro-catheter, which is about the thickness of a single human hair, through a blood vessel to seal off an aneurysm and save a patient’s life.

    The technology is astonishing! Not only am I stunned by the neurologist’s ability to perform this feat of medical wizardry but by the person who actually invented and built such a device.

    Inspiring Message for the Day: We can do anything! We really can. If we refuse our limitations and let our imaginations take us higher there is no telling what can happen.

    I’m a Big Job

    • November 17, 2009 8:39 am

    Dearest Readers,

    (Thank you to those of you who joined as followers after yesterday’s blog.)

    Last night I was speaking with a friend who has had some health issues in the past but is now much improved. She has been working very hard in the last couple of years on getting her physical well-being back and she is now able to do certain things that she previously couldn’t do.

    She talked about looking forward to getting back to work one day in the future and not for the reason that one might think. She was anticipating being able to have a real answer to the question, “So what are you doing these days?” There is such a stigma attached to not having a job and she feels it acutely whenever she is asked about “work”.

    I encouraged her to think of her life as her work. “The next time you’re asked that question,” I said, “Simply say, “My life is a full time job.””

    Because looking after ourselves really is a full time job. Self-care takes time and energy. There was a time in my life when I didn’t even know what self-care was! Though I do not do it perfectly I do my best to make self-care my top priority. I have to. Without it I’m no good to anyone.

    Self-care involves putting my Self first. People may mistake this for selfishness but there is a big difference.

    This computer’s dictionary defines selfishness as “a lack of consideration for others; to be chiefly concerned with one’s own personal profit or pleasure.”

    It does not even have a definition for self-care.

    Dictionary.com, however, describes self-care in this way: “care of the self without medical or other professional consultation.”

    Not exactly what I’m talking about.

    Self-care is about taking care of our needs first so that we may be of maximum service in the world. It’s about looking after our inner life so that our outer life can thrive.

    It takes commitment and vigilance. Taking time to pray and meditate, making sure I get enough rest and exercise, working with the team that keeps me on track (coach, mentor, spiritual director, support groups), clearing out Old BS’s (Old Belief Systems) and practicing new behaviours, letting go of control issues, facing fears etc.

    This is deep work and it’s not easy. I said to another friend with whom I was sharing on the same subject, “I’m a big job!” and she laughed so hard she had to write it down and post it on her cork board.

    I do all of this work because it enriches my life. I do it because when I put my Self first everything else becomes first class.

    With self-care being my full-time job, my “work” as a writer/performer becomes the service I do to give back for the great gift of my life. It’s the Christmas bonus all year round.

    Inspiring Message of the Day: When I put my Self first, everything else flows from that. I don’t have to “work” as hard when I am working on making self-care my number one priority.

    No Person is an Island

    • November 16, 2009 8:52 am

    Dearest Readers,

    I’d like to start off today’s blog by inviting you to become an official “follower.” I spoke to a woman yesterday who told me she’d been reading the blog but wanted make sure she’d informed me of this fact before she posted a comment. She didn’t want to be seen as “lurking”.

    I wonder how many other people feel this way? If you are reading the blog on a regular basis, please don’t be embarrassed about posting a comment or becoming a follower. I would love to know who you are. It inspires me to see your little pictures up there, even if there is an empty frame.

    Speaking of an empty frame, I have posted my picture on the blog today as a way of practicing what I preach. Anonymity is great, I’m a big fan of it. But sometimes we need to open the door to being a little bit more “public” about ourselves to create a deeper feeling of community.

    Believe it or not, I’m an isolator. I always have been. I’d rather be by myself and hiding from the world. I know it doesn’t make a lot of sense for a person who lives much of her life in the public eye but there you go. Fear is not logical.

    And my desire to isolate most certainly comes from fear. I don’t want to be vulnerable, hurt, or rejected. By putting myself out there as a writer/performer I’m doing the thing I think I cannot do. I’m walking through my fear. I’m refusing to give the fear the power to control my life.

    When I look at the reasons behind the fear I discover an old belief system. “I’ll be safe if I protect myself from other people. If people find out who I am they won’t like me.”

    Old belief system. Old BS.

    So how do we squash the Old BS? We practice new behaviour. In my case, opening up to people, getting involved in community activities, inviting people to join me for events to which I’d normally go alone. Posting my photograph on the blog. Scary stuff!

    But as a result of these changes I have expanded my experience to include so many wonderful things, this little blog being just one of them.

    So if you’re afraid of being seen, you’re not alone. Click “Follow” and let us know who you are. Be a part of an Inspiring Community!

    Inspiring Message of the Day: We need each other. When we support one another our lives grow richer and more complete.

    Say A Little Prayer

    • November 14, 2009 7:55 am

    I’ve blogged before about prayer being a powerful tool for personal change but I find the subject endlessly inspiring, which suits well the primary purpose of this blog. So keep an open mind because it’s going to come up a lot!

    I heard a great story once from a man who had major reservations about praying. He was not a religious man and he thought if he prayed it would mean he’d have to become a Bible Thumper.

    Part of his story was about the woman who taught him how to pray. She showed him that prayer doesn’t have to be connected with religiosity. It can simply be a request followed by an expression of gratitude.

    This man was having a very bad time in his life. The woman suggested to him that he go to the window each morning upon rising, open it up, stick his head outside and yell, “HELP!”

    She then went on to suggest that before turning in at night, he return to the window, open it back up, stick his head out once more and yell, “THANKS!”

    The man said that the more he asked for help, the more he received it, in untold ways, and the deeper and more truthful his thanks became.

    Love this story! It shows not only that we do not necessarily have to believe in anything to begin to use prayer as a tool but that even a process as rudimentary as this man’s can be effective.

    I always say, “I don’t know how prayer works, I just know it does.”

    A while back a gentle reader posted the following comment after a post that mentioned prayer:

    “… Prayer gives you conviction and a new perspective in life…”

    So true! I’ve heard it said that prayer isn’t for the one being prayed to, it’s for the one saying the prayer.

    The same reader also commented on the idea that people generally resort to all sorts of problem-solving rather than using prayer as a tool to work things out. This was certainly my own experience before I began yelling out the proverbial window.

    I was always trying to figure it out. Whatever “it” was. I still try to do that.

    But I have learned that there is nothing more effective than asking daily for help and guidance. When I pray for solutions to problems, when I pray for courage, acceptance, forgiveness, whatever, it comes to me.

    And then I stick my head out the window and yell my thanks.

    Inspiring Message of the Day: I do not have to figure everything out by myself. If I ask for help today I will receive it in untold ways.

    Attitude of Gratitude

    • November 13, 2009 7:23 am

    I’m in the middle of a 2-day video shoot for a project I’m working on for the 2010 Olympics and I’d like to use this blog today to express my gratitude.

    I and a 3-person crew drove around Whitehorse yesterday interviewing Yukoners of all different ages and cultural backgrounds about what it means for them to live in this magnificent place. It was a mild day, thanks weather gods, and the sun even came out in the afternoon, giving us warmth and great lighting options. All went very smoothly.

    One of the people I interviewed was a First Nations Elder, a man who is greatly respected by his own people as well as the larger community. He grew up in a small northern village where traditional ways are still practiced and though he likes Whitehorse he says living here makes him lazy.

    “I can pick up the phone and someone will bring food to my house,” he said, chuckling. For a man who grew up living off the land, the “Delivery” option was a luxury that deprived him of exercise and outdoor activity.

    When I asked him to sum up his experience of living in the Yukon in one word he said, “Gratitude.”

    According to the dictionary on this computer, “gratitude” means “the quality of being thankful; readiness to show appreciation for and to return kindness.”

    To show appreciation for kindness and to return kindness.

    The kindness I experienced yesterday was extraordinary. So many people willing, despite their reservations about being in front of a camera, to give. In turn, I was able to give back through kindness by being patient, enjoying their presence and encouraging their individual answers.

    What gifts! The words “thank-you” fall short.

    Inspiring Message of the Day: When I am full of readiness to show my appreciation for kindness and to return it, the gift of gratitude enriches my life. Thankfulness breeds joy.

    Walk Through the Fear

    • November 12, 2009 6:44 am

    I have a full day of shooting ahead. No, I’m not going on a duck hunt, I’m creating a video about the Yukon for the 2010 Olympics and we’re filming a segment today.

    I’ve got a small crew assembled and we’re heading out into the urban landscape to talk to Yukoners of all ages and races about why they live in this magnificent place. It’s going to be an adventure.

    Trouble is, I have woken up feeling extremely exhausted. My energy is very low.

    Now, this could be because I am, in fact, tired. Although I have been averaging between 7 and 8 hours of sleep a night, I have been waking up at five and putting in long, full days. I’ve been resting during the day, taking cat naps if and when necessary but it’s been a marathon week.

    My low energy could also be due to fear. Fear baffles me. How is it possible that I can have a crackerjack team that is well prepared for the day, a track record of successful shoots behind me, and a deep, abiding faith in the loving and supportive energy of the Universe and still feel fear?

    It makes absolutely no sense.

    So I have stopped trying to figure it out. I simply say a little prayer and walk through it. I do not let it stop me. I say, “Yes, open the door.” (See the blog post entitled Into the Mystic, dated 9/29/09)

    I’m feeling better already. Another amazing tool: share your fear. It reduces it, removes its power, returns us to a calm and steady sureness, readies us to move forward.

    There are a few really great acronyms for the word fear:

    False Evidence Appearing Real. I like this one because it addresses the baffling nature of fear, as I just described it. It makes no sense that I would be afraid of something known to me but there it is anyway. I’m anxious. Why? This little phrase answers the question. My fear is a false interpretation of the way things are. There is actually nothing to fear. I’m creating it and I can, just as easily, let it go.

    F$%& Everything And Run. This is generally what fear makes us wish we could do. It’s too much! It’s easier to retreat. Let the fear win. Give up. But no…

    Face Everything And Rest. Rest in the truth. The truth is, I am okay. No matter what, no matter where, I am okay. The only thing to fear is fear itself.

    My favourite quote comes from Eleanor Roosevelt and those of you who know me, know it: We must do the thing we think we cannot do.

    So I’m going to do that today, trusting that everything will unfold exactly as it should. I’m feeling the fear and doing it anyway. (Thank you Susan Jeffers for the best title of a book ever.) I’m going forth with strength, continuing to cultivate my courage one day at a time.

    Guess what? My energy is back. Thanks, readers!

    Inspiring Message for the Day: Share your fear. Remove its power. Ask for courage and step into the adventure of your life!

    All We Are Saying…

    • November 11, 2009 6:35 am

    It is Remembrance Day in Canada today, Veteran’s Day in the US. In many countries around the world, today’s slogan is “Lest We Forget.”

    “Lest” means “for fear that”.

    For fear that we forget… what?

    How atrocious war is. How many die. How many are wounded. How war destroys the very core of a nation, its culture, the will of its people.

    Today is a holiday. We are supposed to be taking this day off to remember these things. Why? For fear that we forget them.

    But how can we “forget” them when we are still at war? We haven’t stopped fighting each other long enough to forget anything. We haven’t stopped starting new wars. We are still at war, here, there, everywhere.

    Sometimes when I see clips of different male species attacking each other full force in the animal world I think that fighting really is just a part of our nature and that it can’t be avoided. Even ants battle each other!

    But human beings have Reason. We have the ability to discern. We have the capacity to forgive. What is our excuse?

    When John Lennon and Yoko Ono staged their bed-in in Montreal in 1969 and Lennon was asked how he expected countries and politicians to stop war he simply said, “Declare Peace.”

    Declare Peace! Can you imagine? It’s so simple it’s ridiculous. What if we declared Peace in Afghanistan? In Iraq? What would happen?

    There is a saying: “What isn’t tried won’t work.”

    We will never know unless we try it.

    Part of me believes that our endless warring with one another is simply a reflection of our massive inner conflict. How many of us have peace in our own lives? Is it possible for a country to Declare Peace when its own people have no sense of what it means to have inner peace?

    These are big questions and I do not have the answers. I do know that having peace of mind or peace in my heart does not come easily. It involves letting go of expectations, practicing non-judgment of others, and forgiving my enemies.

    It’s a heck of a lot of work. But I still strive for it. I am doing my best to live out these principles today. Why? Pure joy. Having peace makes life worth living.

    Inspiring Message of the Day: Striving for inner peace is to have a great purpose. Perhaps if we Declare Peace in our own lives the dream of World Peace can become a reality.

    Foxy Lady

    • November 10, 2009 8:05 am

    I moved back to the Yukon five years ago for many different reasons but the biggest one is that I feel most at home here. I’ve lived in a lot of different cities and towns all across Canada and in Europe but when I come back to Whitehorse I feel like my skin fits.

    The next biggest reason is the land. We’re surrounded by majestic mountains on all sides and that not only means we get to look at beautiful views it means we get to see wildlife on a regular basis.

    Last night I arrived home and picked up the cat to give him a snuggle. As I was petting him in my arms I looked out the kitchen window. I hadn’t closed the blinds before I’d gone out and the pitch black yard suddenly became illuminated by the porch light, which is activated by a motion detector.

    There, on the snow in front of my window was a bright-red, bushy-tailed fox. He did a little spin, perhaps confused by suddenly being in the spotlight, and then took off, trotting down the sidewalk and into the cut-through on the other side of this building.

    This past weekend, I went for one of my usual walks, which takes me along the Yukon river, up a bank of low lying cliffs and along a trail bordering the airport and overlooking the downtown core. I saw a big bird sitting on one of the streetlamps lining the road that runs parallel to the river for a stretch.

    I knew it was a bald eagle. It was too big to be a raven and I thought I could see a white head. As I got closer it lifted its head and turned to look toward the river. Yes, an eagle.

    As I approached, it did not fly away. Extreme close-up! I was just about underneath the streetlamp before it lifted its wings and swooped down toward the water.

    “It’s going to dive for fish!” I thought. But as it dove downward I saw 3 ducks bobbing in the river. The eagle flew right over top of them but instead of scooping up one of the tasty birds it flapped its wings and flew on, landing instead on a strip of ice nearby.

    It’s not like you can’t see wildlife in the Big Cities. As a matter of fact, when I was on the streetcar in Toronto recently I overheard a conversation between two young women during which one told the other that she’d seen a fox on her street the night before.

    So I can’t very well say, “We get foxes and you don’t!”

    But to look out the window and see foxes and coyotes (often happens) or leave the house and in less than a minute be walking alongside a mighty river where eagles and ducks hang out, well, there’s nothing like it.

    Inspiring Message of the Day:

    The wings of an eagle,
    The fine snout of a fox,
    Make life worth living
    Despite its hard knocks.

    Patient Practice

    • November 9, 2009 6:38 am

    My mother is a great writer. Her novel, written in the eighties about her life in the Yukon, makes me weep every time I read it. For years she wrote a personal column for both the Toronto Star and the Montreal Gazette and she had many fans.

    Every so often I’ll get a long email from her about the Great Dane she and my father are raising. One of my sisters suggested she start a “dog blog”.

    Yesterday I helped my mother set up a free blog account, much like this one. It was challenging. Her computer is a dinosaur and my parents live in the sticks outside Chicago, which may or may not have something to do with their Internet connection being as slow as molasses.

    I sat patiently on the phone with her as we went through the procedure, step by step. There were lots of hiccups and she almost gave up a few times but we persevered and finally achieved success.

    The miracle of this little story is that I was able to stay calm throughout the process and be kind and helpful. Believe me, when I use the word miracle I am not being grandiose.

    I used to be the kind of person who would lose my temper in an instant. Lose it.

    Example: I’m moving house. I’m trying to get a wicker chair through a door. It’s too big. Instead of turning the chair on its side and taking the time to manoeuvre it slowly, which would have surely worked, I pull and I wrench the thing so hard that I shred the edges and, once through the door, whip it across the yard.

    That was years ago but a pretty standard illustration of my life-long inability to act in a patient manner.

    I haven’t just willed my way into becoming a patient person. I’ve done a heck of a lot of inner work and I have had a great deal of help. Therapy, support groups, spiritual direction. I’m not perfect and I fall short all the time but yesterday I spent an hour on the phone, with my own mother, helping her start a blog and I did so cheerfully and with lots of love in my heart.

    Hallelujah, brothers and sisters.

    Inspiring Message of the Day: Change is possible. We do not have to remain bound to who we think we are. We can let go of old behaviours and practice new ones.

    BTW, become a follower of http://doggedblogchicago.blogspot.com

    An Octopus’s Garden

    • November 7, 2009 8:46 am

    I’ve never gone deep sea diving. I have a family member who is a diver and her stories from the world below have made me long to try it someday. I have gone snorkeling, which is supposedly a lesser experience but I thought it was fantastic nonetheless.

    There is a large flat screen TV in the doctor’s office where I go for check-ups and it always plays the same movie, an IMAX feature about underwater life called Deep Sea. As I waited for some test results yesterday I watched some of the film and, as always, was absolutely mesmerized by what I saw. There are creatures living on the ocean floor that will positively blow your mind.

    Here are some snapshots:

    Something shaped like a human heart and resembling a woman’s dress made of ornate red feathers moved through the water by continually bending itself in half, from front to back.

    A creature that looked like a cross between and octopus and a starfish crept along the sea bed sucking up its food like a vacuum. It would occasionally bump into little yellow clams that would then frantically swim away by opening and closing their “mouths”. At one point the octopus-starfish lifted one of its “arms” to reveal thousands of little legs underneath, which propelled it forward.

    A shrimp-like creature with an expressive face that made it look almost human. At one point it reared up on its tail and roared, its jaw a sudden, gaping trap, its multiple arms splaying open, its colours changing from matte to florescent. This thing went from quirky-looking crustacean to menacing disco-predator in a blink.

    There was no sound coming from the TV so I watched all of this and more in silence, the underwater camera moving slowly and gracefully through this magical world. By the time I was called in by the doctor I was in a kind of meditative state, full of wonder and awe.

    At one point during the film, the amazing fact that all of this was taking place underwater hit me anew. What is a hostile environment for us is a natural environment for these sea animals. Without a breathing apparatus, we die underwater. Likewise, the air we breathe would kill them.

    Yes, this is totally obvious. Big deal. We know this. But, no. Isn’t it something? Is this not an astonishing truth? Their air is liquid!

    Maybe you had to be there…

    Inspiring Message of the Day: Nature can provide the deepest inspiration. When I encounter yet another aspect of Nature’s portfolio I am reminded that I am a part of the whole, not the whole part.