Nancy Love’s Weblog

Today is a day to give thanks. Thanks Giving is a verb and the cool thing about it is if you give you often get back in return. Reciprocity is one of my favourite words. We get back what we give. Sometimes we think we are getting stuff we don’t want from others because they are mean or rude or something else less than pleasant but often we have treated them or someone else like that. What goes around comes around as they say. Although we may have inadvertently taken rather than given in a conversation or a social exchange and we may not have intentionally cut someone off when they were speaking, or allowed our thoughts to wander instead of listening to someone else’s story, that kind of behaviour gets returned to us just as surely as gratitude comes back to us when we give it away.

Today is a reminder to think about how we treat others, who we might be taking for granted and to also notice who thanks you for being a part of their life and how you may have earned that thanks. Get into the act of thanks giving and you will be amazed what comes back to you. Give the gift of listening. Offer a space to be heard. Provide a shoulder to cry on or an ear to be bent. It’s always worth the time it takes for you and for them. Give thanks for the opportunity to be there for someone. Who knows … one day you may need the reciprocal services you provide today.

Smile and listen deeply. There are no better gifts.

Today I had a call from someone interested in taking our PULSE level 2 course.  It is the second 40 hours of mediation training using the PULSE Frame.  We haven’t had much call to offer it lately so it is exciting to see some renewed interest.  Anyone with a basic mediation course could register and if we get enough interest we will offer it sometime in late November.There is some flexibility for us to set up the first 2 days as an online program though Jig saw box and have participants come to the St Albert Office for the 3 day intensive practice sessions.

Please send an email to me at nancylove@pulseinstitute.com if you are interested.

I find myself looking for ways to help individuals get what they need lately.  Coaching and one on one teaching and training conversations provide me with the kind of opportunities to share ways to improve social exchanges in real time.  Our society is moving that way.  Everything is on demand.  Why not training?  I like it.  Individualized learning is not new.  Tell me what you need to learn and I will help you.  If you are working toward credentialing as a coach or mediator, I can help you with that.  If you want to improve your leadership skills I can help you with that.  If you want to improve relationships and conversations at home or at work I can help you with that.  If you want to become a well rounded confident, courageous, competent, compassionate person I can help you with that.  If you and I can’t figure out how to get you to where you are going then I will help you find someone who can.

Teachers have been providing individualized programs for students for years.  Always a teacher, I am moving toward providing that service to my grown up clients.  It’s exciting and practical.  Client directed learning. Contact me today!!!!

Good friends. Cousins. Good food. Great music. Home.

I am sure that most people have a place that they go to where they immediately feel at home. For me it is here in the Maritimes. Of course I was born and mostly raised here so it is familiar, but there is more than that. It’s the salt air. It’s the friendly chatter at the Walmart. It’s the cadence of the language and the stories in the songs. It’s the laughter and the smiles and the people that share them with each other.

I had a chance to attend a show at the Tidnish Community Hall this week. “The Elderly Brothers” was a story and concert performed by local musicians and actors worthy of the Jubilee Auditorium in Edmonton. The Everley Brothers would have been proud of the harmonized vocals, the guitar riffs and the gently told story of their life.

Everywhere in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and PEI talented people play to small audiences on a regular basis. For twenty dollars you can be thoroughly entertained. For another twenty you can have an absolutely magnificent lobster meal, chowder and all you can eat muscles and salad bar and a medium sized lobster. Don’t forget dessert. Pies and crumbles to die for.

Today it is time to go home, back to Alberta, back to my family. I am taking with me wonderful memories that will sustain me until next time. When I return it will be familiar again. Not much changes here and I am glad it doesn’t. The ocean waves, the wind in the trees will be here forever calling those of us who have had the experience back for more.

The Territory is more, much more than the Map.

My girls and I are back on the big island for our mother daughter trip. It is beautiful here. It is relaxing and each time I come I feel more at home. My goal is to learn a few more hawaiian words this trip.

We head home today. Those of you following my girls on face book know we had a great time. WE hunkered down for Iselle but aside from a little wind and rain this side of the Island was spared any damaging impact. It wasn’t so bad. I learned a new card game.

It isn’t just the beauty of Hawaii that calls me back. it is the feeling in the air. The negative ions I have written about before. It has the right recipe for relaxation … equal parts sunshine, salt water and air, palm trees and a sprinkling of birds.

This week provided a stark reminder of what might happen if the weather changes. The south side of Hawaii got hit. It reminded me of last year in Calgary. People without power or water living in shelters. I wish a shorter recovery time for the Hawaiians. I know that many people in southern Alberta are still licking their wounds even a year later.

Sending Aloha to everyone.

Last year I turned sixty. Today I am older again. Where does the time go?
So much has happened in the last 12 months. Its hard for me to imagine that I would be living in St Albert full time with a beautiful cottage at the lake. I am happy to be back in northern Alberta with friends and family although there are special people that I miss in Calgary.

It has been a beautiful month here in St Albert and at the Lake which is only 40 minutes away. The weather has been great and I have been very busy with the move of furniture etc from Canmore to Lac St Anne. My new writing centre is now within driving distance. Work on the books in progress is actually progressing!!

Golfing with friends and family, birthday celebrations for grand kids and children, gatherings around the back yard fire pits and wahshooo tournaments has made for a relaxing and fun filled summer so far. I love being where my daughters and their families can drop in or request help or invite me for lunch.

Next week my daughters and I take our annual trip. Last year we went home to Halifax to celebrate my birthday. This year we head back to the Big Island for a week of mother daughter sister bonding. I love our time together each year. It means a lot to me. This year especially I understand the importance of creating memories together. We lost my mum this year which was hard on all of us.

Birthdays are an opportunity to look forward and back and assess where you are on your journey. I am where I ought to be and headed in the right direction … reason to celebrate. Thanks for all the wonderful wishes.

I bought a cottage at Lac St Anne. I have been here for one week. I love it.

Moving is always stressful and busy but you know when a move is right. I have been so very relaxed since I got here that I don’t really know how to explain it.

At the moment I am sitting at my breakfast bar watching a family of geese float by on the lake. It is quiet except for the birds and the breeze in the poplars. WOW.

For the past couple of mornings I have been working on the new book on the deck. It is so great to have a place to do that and the energy and motivation to work. The work is somehow easier to get to and easier to do.

The history of Lac St Anne is also fascinating. St Anne is known as a healer and this lake attracts pilgrims from all over western and northern Canada to walk in the healing waters each year at this time.

As I write my book “Mapping the Space Between Us” I am reminded that a change in place can mean a change in perspective and I am encouraged to continue, to finally complete a manuscript that I have been working on for almost five years now.

Although I still have a place in St Albert, this place already feels like home. Please come and visit sometime.