If you are hearing a lot more conversation and posts about meditation in the last few years than you ever have, it’s because there are three times more adults in North America who have made it a practice, and according to thegoodbody.com, as much as 500 million people globally (about 6%) who are meditating on…
For a long time, I believed that the way to improving one’s self, was to set goals, carve out a plan and a realistic timeline to achieve them and then set the plan in motion. Like many, it was my belief that people began the process of changing by focusing on what they wanted to…
Looking at things differently, is a healthy exercise if we want to be empathetic, rational and more compassionate. However, shifting perspective is not merely about seeing things from the point of view of others. We can gain greater insights and gain deeper happiness. An up-side of gaining a new perspective is that it increases happiness…
We’ve often been given the metaphor of making our way down a road or path as a comparison to going though life. I agree that in many ways, there are similarities, for example the final destination is unknown, but we have a map, general knowledge of points of interests along the way, and we have…
I have had the chance to do a great deal of reflection over the last 24 days on the significance of Christmas in our lives today. As I researched and worked on this daily Advent Calendar blog it brought me closer to understanding the true meaning of Christmas, and I believe it is about learning…
Love language is a concept that describes the ways people receive and express love in relationships, According to Dr Gary Chapman who developed this concept as a result of years of relationship counselling, most of us have one or two preferred love languages and knowing what resonates most intensely with the people in your life…
Any event, whether positive or negative, can have an impact on a person’s level of stress and can even temporarily deplete health and energy. While Christmas has long been a stress-inducing event, it has taken a back seat lately to other factors that have become big stressors of modern times. Time will generally allow for…
Good day, good health, the sun shines upon us! Indeed today is a day of celebration for those of us who live in the Northern Hemisphere. While December 21 may be the darkest day of the year in terms of hours of daylight available to us, this day being the winter solstice marks the beginning…
I am not exactly sure when I started noticing reindeer as a Christmas symbol, beyond just the figure pulling Santa’s sleigh but my fascination with reindeer has grown over the last few years, and I have been compelled to dig deeper into its significance and symbolism not just as it relates to Christmas but also…
It is said that a key to living a joyful life is to focus on the simplicity that is life and not get caught up in its complications. That would be the message resonating most with me at this time of the year – that the true meaning of Christmas lies in the simple joys…
Candy is a big favourite around the holidays. We stuff it in stockings, give it as gifts, put it on our dessert tables, and set it out for Christmas parties. I remember when hard candy mixes were standard fare in most homes at Christmas and my aunt’s best china or crystal dishes were filled with…
The sound of sleigh bells, church bells and chimes always evoke warm memories of Christmas and winter for me and whether they jingle, jangle or chime, their sound is distinctive and conjures up feelings of peace and joy within . Long ago, as early as the Middle Ages, bells were part of everyday life and…
As a French-Canadian, I grew up with a slightly different version of the Christmas traditions I have been writing about in this Advent Blog. Nowadays, people recognize the importance of preserving cultural heritage in a fast changing and modernized society and that means, passing down customs, practices and values of our community to the next…
There are few things that can trigger memories the way certain tastes and aromas can, and in an instant transport us to events and places that have a strong connection to an emotion.The taste, smell, and even texture of food can be extraordinarily evocative, bringing back memories not just of eating food itself but also…
Every home I visited at Christmas in my childhood had a nativity scene under the tree, and as children we naturally gravitated towards the miniature scene carefully examining the delicate figurines and rearranging them while the adults enjoyed their visit. When I married, we inherited my husband’s childhood nativity scene from his family and it…
