Joy to our inner world

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While on the bus this week, I watched as a little boy and his nanny got off and the boy turned around and said, ‘Thank you driver for driving us.’ Many of the passengers heard him and smiled, and the simple act of appreciation instantly lifted the mood of the bus.

For me, it was also a timely reminder during a season ratcheted up with commercialized bonhomie and good cheer for us to connect with everyday simple pleasures too. It’s hard to get away from the manufactured hype, as if the flick of the Christmas switch instantly channels us along a cascade of holiday preparations, bespoke gift buying and mirth, while for many, the ‘spirit of the season’ does not align with their current reality of struggles, anxiety and hardships.

It’s interesting that the chosen word for 2023 is ‘authentic’, which is a word we need more than ever at this time of year, to acknowledge what is authentic in our lives and in the world around us. It’s important to take time to detach from the pressures and relentless messaging of ‘getting the holiday right’ to pay attention to what is around us all the time, and to take pleasure from various things that are with us on a day-to-day basis. It could be a simple meal or petting a dog, seeing the moon glowing in the sky or a conversation with a neighbour or friend. These are gifts that are easy to acquire when we tune into our environment and can bring us both immediate and lasting satisfaction.

The real joy of this time of year, as in any other, are the blessings we have in our every day lives and ones we can pass on and share with others. This can also be an opportune time of year to reach out to those we love, those we are thinking about and those who are in need.

Enjoy the holiday decorations and lights, but if this season is about celebrating light, then let’s bring forth our own inner light too. Kindness is in short supply these days and taking time to be kind whenever we’re able and spreading joy are the greatest gifts we can pass along to one another, not just for the holiday season, but for always.

Talk the Walk

I’ve recently started leading guided walking tours for visitors around one of the oldest and most diverse areas of the city. Running guided tours is a venture I’ve often mused about in passing, so when I was recently approached by a ‘free’ walking tour platform, I decided to give it a try.

While I have a background in history and teaching, I’ve never actually led walking tours, and though I’ve been on plenty of them, I really had no clue how to organize one. I decided to choose a multi-cultural, eclectic area of the city, and with much of my family having lived there, I could also weave in some quirky, family stories into the narrative. Preparing the tour ended up being a lot of work to design the route and research and learn the info, while the walk itself took many attempts at tweaking and reframing.

I’ve run a few of these tours now, and like many undertakings, the experience turned out to be quite different than I expected. For starters, walking and talking for over two hours – especially in the cold, while interreacting positively with the walkers – is actually really hard work. It’s also very anxiety inducing, never knowing when you will get bookings, tips or the highly prized positive reviews. And, having started late in the season, tours have been infrequent and group numbers small.

 On the plus side, it’s been interesting to meet people from around the world and to find out about life in various countries, while also getting different perspectives on your own city as seen by other visitors. It’s also given me a chance to hone my ‘thinking on the spot’ communication skills, as every tour has a different feel to it and unexpected situations always arise.

But for me, the biggest challenge has been doing it in the first place – of having the courage and gumption to give it a try, with no idea of whether it would work or not. We’re often afraid to venture out of our comfort zones and challenge ourselves, especially as we get older, so for me, just the attempt itself is a substantial achievement. The more we exercise the muscles of trying, the more we can raise our energy, expand and grow as humans and learn what we’re truly capable of.

And in the meantime – before the cold and snow truly set in – it’s just good to be walking and talking out in the fresh air.

Magic making

In the days leading up to Halloween, our interest in all things supernatural intensifies. It feels like presence of the unknown is all around us and magic feels more potent than ever.

Magic can seem to appear out of nowhere, creating a positive outcome we weren’t expecting. But what is less understood is that we have the ability to make magic happen if we are open to the possibility. If we truly want something and do the ground work to achieve it and put the energy out there, we can draw towards us what we need in the shape of the right people or opportunities. Serendipity is a form of magic.

For example, the other day, I was cycling on a side street downtown when I suddenly saw a large dog dashing up the sidewalk on his own. I thought the owner must be near, but he just kept running and ran straight across a busy main street. Fortunately, the cars saw him and stopped in time to let him get across.

 I was still racing after him on my bike when I saw two cyclists and another passer-by intercept the dog, one man stroking and calming him down. Then a dog walker came along and offered a spare leash. While we were figuring out what to do next, a woman came running towards us, who turned out to be the dog owner. She recounted seeing him jump the fence and run up the road but wasn’t quick enough to catch him.

This story could have ended very differently, but for the serendipity of several people being there and working together, ensuring the dog was safe. There are many stories like this with people appearing at the right time and the right place to effect a positive conclusion, which is magic.  

Magic is also present when an individual or community make something happen through the sheer effort, will and determination to break through an existing norm. And the beauty of magic is that it can grow from small scale efforts to movements that touch and inspire people throughout the world.

Magic is what allows us to hope and gives us something to believe in that a situation can change and conditions can improve.  It’s magic that keeps our spirit alive, making the impossible possible. We all need magic in our lives, but we must take an active role in believing and being a part of bringing it about.

Happy Halloween –  embrace and enjoy the true spirt of magic. 🎃

Queuing for jelly beans

I was passing through the ‘Festival Street’ of a recent international film festival, the pedestrianized zone full of food carts and various other promotions. Among the crowds, there were several long lines of people queueing up for things. I stopped at one of them, which was displaying various candies in jars supposedly relating to ‘attributes of the workplace.’ Perplexed, I asked the man heading up the stall what it was about and he said they were basically giving away free jelly beans.

Other stalls with extensive lines seemed to be proffering various similar promotional items amidst a festival atmosphere where standing in long lines was the norm – to try to get into a ‘hot’ screening or waiting hours for a chance to catch a glimpse of a particular celebrity.

Of course, the creation of a buzz or a trend is a key aspect of its success and we’ve become accustomed to hype driving up the value of any given thing, so long as it is marketed along the lines of scarcity and exclusivity. Media – augmented by social media – continually and perniciously plays on our need to feel special and our desire to be one of the privileged few able to acquire something in limited supply.

Some people will go to immeasurable lengths in pursuit of such things – spending wild amounts of time or money, and in more extreme cases, going into debt or committing acts of violence or crime in pursuit of the desired prize. Of course, often what is being sold is an idea or image, which we in turn re-relate as an image, inflating its wonder on our own social media posts.

For me, it’s not so much evaluating the merit of these coveted objects or experiences, but rather, our diminishing degrees of discernment in assessing their true value for ourselves. I would like to encourage people to take a harder, longer look at the shiny things that we’re going after and ask ourselves – do I really need this?  And what is the true price in my life of acquiring it?

It’s also worth considering whether in scrambling to get that next ‘hit’ of a limited attainable item, we are losing the ability to cultivate slower, deeper and richer experiences and connections. We must learn to judge and evaluate the value of any given experience for ourselves. Otherwise, we’ll find ourselves manipulated into standing in endless lines, only to come away with a handful of jelly beans.

Sinking my teeth into the matter

When I first began writing this, my tooth was throbbing steadily in the background, the pain being caused by a deep filling I’d had done, which had hit a nerve. While investigating what what was physically going on, I learned some other interesting things in the meantime.

Having a sore mouth meant wanting to eat less, particularly anything hot, cold, crunchy, sweet or acidic. I discovered that I can get by with a lot less food perfectly well, and while I’m still waiting for the pounds to drop off (any day now), I can at least say that it’s helped me explore whether I’m actually hungry and to differentiate between what I think I need to eat versus what will actually make me feel nourished and full.

Having this kind of pain also caused me to rest and tune into my body more closely. I think we all undervalue rest, downtime and recovery, and work our bodies hard until fatigue, illness or injury strike upon us and force us to stop and take a break. I now realize how much better I feel after I’ve rested and recharged, putting aside all the ‘million things I could have been doing.’

Perhaps this has been the biggest revelation of all – our relentless desire to be doing things, acquiring things, achieving things, constantly keeping busy. When an illness or injury strikes, it forces us to slow down and take stock and decide what’s truly important and what we can actually live without. When we crave things, what we’re often feeling is our lack of or loss of something else which we are trying desperately to fill with something like food, entertainment or some other kind of stimulation.

Many of us are plagued by a fear of missing out or making the wrong choices but if we give ourselves quiet times to reflect and tune in, perhaps we can work out what we really need that will keep us feeling healthy and whole, nourishing our hearts and sustaining us more completely.

Nobody likes dealing with pain and I honestly wouldn’t wish a toothache on anyone, as it truly is a miserable experience. But in stopping to consider what I could and couldn’t eat, I am now a lot more mindful about the food I take in, and similarly evaluate other experiences too.

Being without an ability to do something can make us hone in on what’s truly important at a deeper level and we can learn to truly feed ourselves, heal and grow in the ways that we need most.

Calling on each other

Recently, I went for two weeks without a cell phone. Technically, I still had the phone, and could take pictures and access the internet via Wi-Fi, but I wasn’t able to use it for calls or texts. I’m happy to say that I not only survived the experience, but actually found it rather liberating.

I didn’t purposely set out be without a functioning phone, as I assumed my Canadian provider would cover the USA, if with additional charges. However, it transpired that my no-frills plan did not include the States at all, so I was limited to contacting people by email, which I usually did via laptop at my accommodation.

I’ve gone for a long time with an old phone, no data and virtually no apps, so other than the odd missed messages and a couple of times when I had to ask someone at my accommodation to call a cab or an Uber for me, the lack of connectivity didn’t really pose a problem for me. I didn’t even think it was such a big deal until an Air BnB host remarked upon it in her review of me.

In some ways, this speaks to the bigger issue at hand – the growing expectation that people and information will be available at all times through our phones. While such access can be an asset at times, not at the expense of losing our ability to be present.

Phone addiction is a proven reality and ‘fubbing’ – snubbing the person you’re with by being on your phone instead – is rampant. Being so reliant upon and immersed in our phones is also causing us to lose our powers of concentration and deduction.

Phones are useful tools – but they’re tools – not something we can’t live without. Let’s not wait for a technological implosion to figure out how to problem solve and communicate with one another. Let’s cultivate being present in our environment and interacting with one another in person in the here and now.

Free flowing

Following up from my previous post, one of the biggest things I’ve learned from my recent trip is how to regularly adapt to new and unfamiliar situations and in particular, what to do when things go wrong or turn out worse than expected. If walking away from a bad scenario isn’t an option, I talked about transforming its energy, but how?

Usually, in a tough situation, the best initial strategy is to minimize your reaction. I learned to stand tall like a tree and observe. If negative energy has nowhere to go, it will usually blow itself out. Staying quiet and still protects your own energy and allows you the space to decide how to interact. That said, it’s best to keep interaction with negativity to a minimum. Of course, it’s important, especially in accommodation situations, to communicate any pressing issues or concerns, but to stick to the facts and keep emotion out of it, focusing instead on the desired outcome.

Other ways to transform bad energy are to engage in higher vibrational spaces, the best and purest of which is nature. Creative ventures like writing, drawing, playing or even listening to music can also raise your energy and give you space. So can helping others or having positive interactions, even smiling – all of these can all raise and strengthen your energy so you can create a buffer between you and the negative environment and be less adversely affected by it.

Overall, the best thing you can do is to let go. Nothing is worth the bad energy it creates and in some ways, your attachment to your expectations is what prolongs the pain. If you let go, you make space for other things to happen instead. This is how I managed to stay resilient and keep going over my two-month journey. I just dealt with each day’s issues one day at a time and left tomorrow’s challenges to deal with then and yesterday’s kerfuffles firmly in the past. Letting go of unpleasant situations brought me the peace I needed to move on and boosted me to more freely embrace my next adventures.

Planning on it

The desire to get things right surges to the forefront particularly at times like embarking on a trip, with its limited parameters or opportunities to change things along the way. With all the research and scheduling we do, we want and hope everything will go ‘according to plan.’ Of course, circumstances sometimes intervene and plans go awry, but worse than situations collapsing that are beyond our control are the things that go south as a result of the poor decisions that we’ve made. What happens when the reality doesn’t measure up to our vision or expectations? What do we do when confronted with a horribly disappointing outcome?

On my current trip to British Columbia, along with many pleasurable surprises, a number of my accommodation or volunteering arrangements have not panned out so positively. At times, the disparity between my expectation and the reality have made me seriously doubt my ability to make the right choices or properly gauge the energy of a place in advance to determine its compatibility with my own.

Of course, the internet makes it harder in some ways to wade through the imagery and hype and to determine if a place is right for you. But I think we also share a portion of the responsibility. For a couple of the situations I entered into, I could sense certain aspects were going to be problematic. But sometimes when we really want something to be a certain way, we bypass our instincts and filter out its more questionable aspects, vowing to deal with them later. And often the good ends up outweighing the bad, but other times, the shattering disappointment of a bad situation can plunge you into serious despair.

What I’ve learned is to be absolutely clear with yourself about what will and will not work for you. Amber flags will flare red in reality and anything that feels wrong will magnify in the actuality. And your wanting something to be a certain way doesn’t automatically make it so in reality.

Instead, putting in the work to raise our vibrational energy and draw things towards us is what makes things happen. When we travel, we’re naturally vulnerable, and it’s good to be open to new experiences, but if you’re too needy, this is what you’ll project, and all you’re going to attract are the energy of other people’s neediness. If you can set off with confidence of always having what you need, through the power of like attracting like, you’re more likely to do so.

 The good news is that if we encounter a bad situation, we can remedy it, either by simply leaving or by transforming it with our own energy of clarity, strength, positivity and communication. It’s hard work, but when you can raise your energy to be your truest and highest self, you can fill the space with this certainty and allow greater things to come along. Then you can get back on track to uncover further opportunities of learning, sharing, exploring and exchanging different ways of being.

Ask in order to receive

I am learning the importance of asking for what you want – not just what you can justify needing – but the things that you truly desire in your heart. This has been fundamental for me in planning my upcoming exploratory trip out West, but I’ve been working on it in my everyday life too and hope I can encourage others to do the same.

I was in a park recently, immersed in the joyful bliss of hand-feeding birds, when a man and his dog stopped nearby, watching and asking questions. I spoke to him, but it was only when he went on his way that I realized that perhaps he was hoping I would offer to let him have a go. I didn’t want to presume or be rejected by his dismissal of my offer, but when I caught up with him later on in the park, he concurred that ‘it would have been cool’. If only he had asked.

We don’t hesitate to ask others for help when we’re in dire straits, as our intensity of need overrides our feelings of caution or inhibition. For instance, I met a woman yesterday from Vietnam, who was utterly lost in the transit system and running late for her first day of work. She didn’t hesitate to approach a variety of transit users to help her in her plight, eventually finding her way to me. Fortunately, I was able to accompany her to the right station and eventually (as I am directionally challenged myself) get her safely on the right bus, while forging a lovely connection as we chatted along the way.

In our post-Covid world of being leery of one another, it’s important to remember that it’s completely okay to ask for help and that we don’t have to know everything to help one another either. It’s enough if we can acknowledge our vulnerability, have an open heart and try. We are all so afraid of rejection or feeling foolish, that it can make us clam up and stay within our own walls, afraid to take the risks needed to see what’s on the other side.

The sad truth though, is that so many of us are lonely and seeking connection, but our fear keeps us from attempting to fulfill our emotional needs. This is why it’s so important to reach out – not to assume other people will figure out what we need, but to initiate contact ourselves and be open to receive. Maybe that person is feeling lonely too and together you can build a healing and impactful relationship.

We are naturally social animals and meant to interact with one another in meaningful ways. And it’s actually a sign of strength – not weakness – to reach out and ask for what you need. Being together and united in purpose is effectively what makes us stronger.

Learning to be happy

Today is International Happiness Day, established in recognition of the importance of happiness as a goal and aspiration in people’s lives.

I fully believe that joy is always the best way to go forward, and while I don’t want to minimize many people’s struggles to be happy amidst a sea of challenges, what I’ve been exploring is that happiness is a state of being that can actually be learned, primarily through changing one’s outlook and reframing of negative thinking. Our minds are predisposed to criticize and make us feel anxious. What if we decided to start from a place of peace – even if we have to construct and work at it?

Of course, this is easier said than done, and like most big changes we want to make in our lives, it takes regular practice. For me, this has been through daily affirmations, positive thinking and actively asking the universe – and people – for what I want. I’ve also learned the value and power of deep breathing and mindfulness, while also feeling gratitude and hope and expressing kindness in action.

 There are always going to be obstacles and setbacks, but just by choosing to be happy – to view experiences with the prospect of a positive outcome – has helped me to try new ventures and has given me more energy and determination to succeed at them.

Most of all, I would say, give yourself time. Our feelings can change by the hour and fluctuate with the seasons, but what better way to start anew on the first day of Spring, also today. By chance (?) this afternoon, I saw my first snowdrops of the year, and after a prolonged, wintry darkness, I feel life is stirring all around, and for the first time in a long time, within me too. Take faith in the return of light and choose a path of happiness and let it lead you to a burgeoning future.