Last week I began a two-week hefty travel schedule visiting London, Montreal and Ottawa to deliver Insights Discovery Programs to nurses who specialize in Rheumatoid Arthritis. This is being sponsored by one of my pharmaceutical clients. Next week I will travel to Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Victoria and Vancouver in five days. I am quite excited to be offering this program within health care as it fulfils one of my business intentions to work once again with health care professionals. To date I have had lots of fun.
This past week ended with a day with Leadership Ottawa where I am serving as a coach and cultivator. This has been a special gift to me as I am working in a program which supports all my personal beliefs regarding leadership. The days with this group are very organic and unfold fully through self-discovery.
The Original Authentically You Group
Finally, I received photographs from friend Rita of our fifth Authentically You Reunion (see above), a group who has travelled with me since 1998 and who have always supported my work. When I first began my business, it was this group who gathered to help me test some of my ideas. ME FIRST has its origins from these initial days.
And so it is, I am now officially 60 years old! It is an age, a number, a descriptor – is it me? I guess so – that’s what the calendar says.
I woke up the morning of my birthday and stood naked , looking in the mirror, checking out the physical form that is me. “This is what 60 looks like,” I said, speaking to the mirror. Not so bad, a few noticeable changes for sure, yet all considered pretty darn cute! I am not meaning to be ego-centric – I just believe that making light of this landmark is much more important than taking it seriously. Age is, after all, a state of mind. I have told all my soon to be 60 friends, that I am the trailblazer and that I dare them to follow and to remain young of heart.
Young of heart, wise of spirit- this is where I want to play. I have decided that I want to participate in ‘younging’ versus aging. I have also declared the following intentions:
Things I want in the next decade:
– to live large, from my sense of calling and what makes me tick
– to be as healthy at 70 as I am at 60
– to be fully joyfully engaged in life, living and what has become my/our work
– to grow and expand our business, enabling me to play a greater role in influencing the world of work
– to knock off the items on my bucket list beginning with sky diving
– to love and be loved
– to live abundantly, attracting new possibilities and potentialities to our business
– to be be surprised
– to continue to expand and grow the Tigh Shee Retreat Center and Gardens
– to integrate ME FIRST fully in all work we attract
– to continue to listen, to hear and to write about the ME FIRST journey
– to attract all of this or something better
My May 1st birthday celebration unfolded in a most magical way with 40 or so guests joining us for a labyrinth walk, potluck and drumming. It is these moments in life that I find very humbling, as I gratefully greet each person, acknowledge them, appreciate them and consider how fortunate I am that each spirit has crossed my path. As I study the participants, they are a reflection of me, a cross section of my life. Some have known me since high school, a few from my life in Montreal, most in the decade since we have moved to Glengarry County. A couple of visitors I met 2 weeks ago. One person came because the invitation was forwarded to her. And so it is, each labyrinth event has its own unique texture, and this one, was no different.
Labyrinth Walk
Illiana, Betty, Doreen
I am in gratitude for my life, my family, my best friend and partner – Jim, my community, my home, and finally for myself. Does that seem strange to add myself to the list? No, I acknowledge myself as well, for as I do that I say thank you to spirit, who created me and supports me, and who allows me to be who I am. No more hesitating! It is the time to embrace everyday.
I have been writing about the Journey of Self-Discovery since 2002 in my monthly e-newsletter. It started as a way to test and develop my writing skills. Little did I know that 8 years later the result would also be 3 books.
Despite this, I recognize that I continue to be ‘in discovery’. And this is also the reason I love coaching others and facilitating ME FIRST Workshops and Retreats. Through my work I have the opportunity to witness, everyday, the discovery of others.
This past Saturday, Jan. 16th, I hosted a ME FIRST Renewal Day for those individuals who had previously participated in the ME FIRST Program. The purpose of the day was to remember and celebrate the key events of 2009, to review, and if necessary, revise the PGS (Personal Guidance System), and finally set intentions for 2010. The process was particularly powerful as it built upon each participants self-acknowledgements and the personal work they had previously completed.
The power of intention, which I have written about before in this blog, was evident. Different from goals and objectives, which are focused on a specific outcome and which can contract you, intentions expand you. They allow you to open to possibility. They ask you to trust and, once set, to understand that your life is on purpose. Finally intentions ask that you accept the offers which will appear down the line, even though the results which follow may be very different from what you thought it might be. Therein lies the expansion. It seems the Universe knows better than us what might be in our highest good.
Do intentions work? Yes, and once set, you also must pay attention, watch for the roadSIGNS. When the SIGNS appear, note them and express gratitude – this I have learned is key.
I am enormously privileged to be called to this work. The roadSIGNS Coach is my passion, working with individuals and teams to assist them in being clear on what it is they want, setting intentions and following how their life responds and unfolds.
In discovery, every moment of everyday. This might be the title of a new book!
Yesterday we celebrated the 60th anniversary of Ron and Dorothy Healey, my in-laws. Jim and I hosted the event, an event which has been in the planning for several months now since Mary, my sister-in-law, first asked if we would consider having the celebration here. We were thrilled as hosting a family event has long been in our ‘attraction plans’.
It was only a couple of days ago that we solved the biggest dilemma – how to seat everyone, 24 in all, when our dining room table only seats 12. With my question out to the universe, the answer came in a flash of inspiration as I returned from a meeting in Ottawa. So simple – move the couch! Push it to the side of the room. All the pieces fell into place in that one moment, the other tables we had could then be placed around the room and voila, we could create a café!
I was still uncertain about the plan until Jim and I actually moved the furniture. And then the miracle, we began setting the tables, tablecloths, napkins, cutlery, name tags, flowers, candles, wine goblets, and when we looked up my café vision had been realized.
I have found that there are those special moments in life which I do not want to end. Yesterday was one of them, from creating the environment, to the scent of Julia’s wonderful meal wafting from the kitchen, to the arrival of the guests. As each of Jim’s siblings arrived, followed by his parents, and finally their friends, I savored each minute. Is it just me, or do all of us love to have our home graced by those whom we love?
I watched the enjoyment on my in-laws faces as the party began. The raucous laughter from the dining room during the meal, made this group of 80 year olds sound more like a bunch of teenagers. The room radiated fun and joy and memories. The groupings around the living room were engaged in their own conversations, looking up on occasion as another round of laughter rippled through the house.
Mom and Dad, their Children and the 'Out-Laws"
Moments – special moments. They make up the fabric of our lives. Miracles – 60 years of marriage, family, stories, friends, laughter – they are with us everyday. I am in a moment of extraordinary grace as I reflect on yesterday. I want to hold onto these moments and miracles of life. These moments are our legacy.
Yesterday we celebrated the 60th anniversary of Ron and Dorothy Healey, my in-laws. Jim and I hosted the event, an event which has been in the planning for several months now since Mary, my sister-in-law, first asked if we would consider having the celebration here. We were thrilled as hosting a family event has long been in our ‘attraction plans’.
It was only a couple of days ago that we solved the biggest dilemma – how to seat everyone, 24 in all, when our dining room table only seats 12. With my question out to the universe, the answer came in a flash of inspiration as I returned from a meeting in Ottawa. So simple – move the couch! Push it to the side of the room. All the pieces fell into place in that one moment, the other tables we had could then be placed around the room and voila, we could create a café!
I was still uncertain about the plan until Jim and I actually moved the furniture. And then the miracle, we began setting the tables, tablecloths, napkins, cutlery, name tags, flowers, candles, wine goblets, and when we looked up my café vision had been realized.
I have found that there are those special moments in life which I do not want to end. Yesterday was one of them, from creating the environment, to the scent of Julia’s wonderful meal wafting from the kitchen, to the arrival of the guests. As each of Jim’s siblings arrived, followed by his parents, and finally their friends, I savored each minute. Is it just me, or do all of us love to have our home graced by those whom we love?
I watched the enjoyment on my in-laws faces as the party began. The raucous laughter from the dining room during the meal, made this group of 80 year olds sound more like a bunch of teenagers. The room radiated fun and joy and memories. The groupings around the living room were engaged in their own conversations, looking up on occasion as another round of laughter rippled through the house.
Moments – special moments. They make up the fabric of our lives. Miracles – 60 years of marriage, family, stories, friends, laughter – they are with us everyday. I am in a moment of extraordinary grace as I reflect on yesterday. I want to hold onto these moments and miracles of life. These moments are our legacy.
A day consists of 1400 minutes, and each minute is filled with many moments. Each moment contains the essence of a miracle. Most miracles go unnoticed.
As I joined Jim and my neighbours for our morning walk, I tuned in to the miracle of the frost lined surfaces of every element of nature, the crowning glory of the many dead flower heads, turning their browned edges to diamond studded tiaras. As the sun rose above the trees, the morning glittered. A train whistle blew in the distance, one of my roadSIGNS, reminding me of the trainloads of abundance that exist in my life. The chocolate colored llama, who usually greets us with a nasty hiss, stood placidly in his corral, his back glistening from the frost. I wondered, had he been outside all night taking in the star showers predicted in the news. Arriving home, I walked our garden labyrinth. Still in the shade, nothing had melted and I took delight in studying the geometric patterns created by the coolness of the night before. In all, it was a buffet of gourmet delights, stimulating my senses and waking me up to the miracles of the day.
I find it is so easy to be complacent, to wake up haunted by the night’s dreams or the early morning worries that filter through my head. I remind myself that my thoughts and feelings are what I will attract, yet I seem unable, at times, to ‘flip’ them to a much more perfect place, that place of abundance and joy. I ask my higher power for help, and then, as if answering my prayer, there is the glory of this morning. When I return to the house, my own miracle has happened, my spirits have lifted and I feel renewed and awake and fully alive.
Moments – I am learning that I need only to be in them fully. Allowing myself to ‘BE’ with the miracles that surround me, lifts me, and once again I can fly. Inhabit you moments and witness your miracles.
