Life by the Sea

You’ve Got To Sew The Seeds To Reap The Harvest

November 1, 2016 1 Comment

November Of all twelve months, this one is my least favourite. The beautiful leaves are being shed, the light is edging itself closer and closer to the winter solstice, the sombreness of Remembrance Day hovers. It is the “between” month – stuck between the autumn beauty of Canadian Thanksgiving and Halloween and the upcoming festiveness of Christmas. It sometimes feels like a holding spot of nothingness. This year I’ve decided to make something out of this void and plan a month of good things to look forward to. Writing The biggest project on my radar for this month is NaBloPoMo. Nablo-what? National Blog Posting Month. In the month of November I’m endeavoring to write one blog post per day for the entire month. It is a sister project to NaNoWriMo or National Novel Writing Month. I don’t have the time to devote to writing my novel just yet but I […]

Memories, Mental Health, Reflections

Kindness costs nothing. So why don’t we extend it more often?

October 23, 2015 7 Comments

Extending kindness has to be part of your to do list I’ve been making a point of extending kindness to those I encounter this week. This came about because we always seem to be in a hurry wherever we’re all going and very rarely do we make a point to STOP and acknowledge other people we meet along the path. Traffic has been horrendous this week in Halifax due to a big project that will be ongoing for the next year or so to replace one of our lifelines across the harbour – the MacDonald bridge. Everyone has been late for work, tempers are being tried and we all feel very sick of being in our cars on a commute that should take a fraction of the time it has actually been taking. How many times have you sat on a side street trying to turn onto a busy street […]

Marriage, Mental Health, Parenthood, Photography, Reflections

The Happiness Quotient – Finding Balance Amidst The Chaos

January 26, 2013 14 Comments

Identifying your true passion in life Passion is defined as “a strong liking or desire for or devotion to some activity, object, or concept”. There are things we encounter in our lives that we are inexplicably drawn to. We seek them because they provide us with an overwhelming sense of fulfillment and joy. We tend to think of a passion as something we do in our “spare time”. Something we wish we could do on a constant basis and get paid to do it. Sadly, we spend many hours of each day doing something we’ve become complacent about and that pays bills but does not bring us that innate sense of pleasure. Eventually, something acts as the catalyst for you to pursue your passion further. After weighing the pros and cons of it all you decide to jump in, feet-first and take the plunge. You take a leap of faith, […]

Reflections

2012 – A Year In Review

December 31, 2012 2 Comments

My word for the year Looking back over 365 days of memories and trying to properly pay tribute to all of them is impossible. Thankfully our brains have a neat little organization system in place. Using dates as benchmarks it allows us to pick out the highlights reel of the wonderful and the challenging moments so we can reflect and then refile them in our big filing cabinet of life. Like most, I had my share of visits to each end of the virtual spectrum of emotions. I had moments of jubilation and moments of despair. I experienced joy and I experienced heartache. I laughed and I cried. I was hopeful and I was hopeless. My word for the year The contrast between two opposing forces shows, for the most part, a sense of balance and ironically that was the word I had chosen for myself in 2012 – BALANCE. […]

Holidays, Parenthood, Reflections

Lives Unfinished – When the Unthinkable Happens

December 15, 2012 2 Comments

It started like any other week day Yesterday my alarm went off. I got up, got dressed and rushed out the door to catch my bus. It was the last day of the work week and I knew that despite having to leave for work before the rest of my family gets out of bed that at the end of the day I would be picking my kids up from daycare with their dad and we’d get lots of “Mama…Daddy!” as well as big hugs and kisses. I knew that we’d have the weekend before us full of possibilities of activities together as a family. Maybe some baking of Christmas goodies. Perhaps a walk in the park. We’d no doubt cuddle up as a family and watch a holiday movie together. Share some popcorn. Have breakfast together. It was these thoughts that got me through my work day… …until lunch […]