A much needed reminder...

Today I received and important phone call and an equally important email connecting me back to my past.  Both came from women with whom I had significant relationships not so long ago.  Last year however - like it has been for many others - was a devastating year for me.

Gladly - I have left 2011 and jumped eagerly into new opportunities in 2012.  Oh what a difference a day can make in terms of how we view the world.  I mean really - what could really be the difference between December 31st and January 1st 2012?

It wasn't so much as a change in the year as it is a change in how I feel and my attitude towards the future.  Interesting huh?

As eager as I was to leave 2011 behind I did take time to reflect on what made that year in particular so difficult for me.  And then I realized after the call and the email - that I had left behind many good things without realizing it.  And in just a few moments in the new year - two of those good things (relationships) came back  into my life.  And in a moment- I brought forward all the good things that I had left behind!

Tara - a client and friend was first to connect.  She too has had her share of 'stuff' in the last couple of years.  One of the decisions she made in the new year was to reconnect with important people in her life.  I hope she realizes the importance of her reconnection - how healing it was for me.  I see that when those important connections become broken - we lose a little of ourselves.  So thank you Tara! (please see her site here)

The other reconnect was with Deborah.  Her company designed our site - and has been instrumental in encouraging me to continue moving forward in my business no matter how much it hurt. (yes I do have bad years too)  Deborah is in re-invention mode - stretching her entrepreneurial reach into the hotel business!  Pretty soon I expect her to 'rule the world'.  She already rocks it!

Lesson for me?  It could be summed up in "don't throw the baby out with the bath water".  But in all seriousness, the second lesson is about staying connected.  In order to become the best 'us' we can be - we have to remain connected to the good bits - because every time we leave one good bit behind - we lose a little of the best of who we are!

Deborah and Tara bring out the good bits in me - and I am glad that they have found me again!  Makes me feel like orchestrating group hug... or joining the one below!

Lessons from my brown furry business partner

It seems that 90% of all things good that I have learned in the last three years about balance in my business - I learned from my dog.

Time off - the need for encouragement and non-judgmental acceptance are only a few of the lessons Finnegan has taught me.

I realized it this week - when at 6 am I was up and working on some things to get caught up.  He walked up to me and with a sleepy look in his eyes nudged my arm off my keyboard.  He waited patiently - nudged again and then lay at my feet. I petted his head, scratched him under the chin and went back to work. Several minutes later he went back to bed - which at 7:30 I realized I should have done because all I had accomplished was a little work and a lot of changing of my mind - causing rewrite after re-write!

Later that day - around 10 am - Fin decided we both needed  a good walk. As I drove us both to the dog park - I could see him in the rear view mirror - his Labrador laugh and his tongue hanging out.  As I turned the corner to the the local off leash dog park - his ears went down and he seemed to slump.  He realized we were only going to the little dog park - he knows it well.

Then like lightening - a thought crossed my mind.  (some would call it a flash of brilliance!)  I turned the car around and headed to the highway.  He immediately sat up - tongue out - and began to laugh again - we were going to the woods by the Bow River!  I smiled as I realized how much he loved our long walks together.

He bounded out of the car, chased sticks, laughed, jumped, walked calmly beside me, nudged me for treats,  perched on rocks like a trick circus dog and tracked elk and other wildlife.  He was in his element - and he had taken me there with him.

I took long deep cold breaths of the woodland smells. Pine, Aspen and wet earth.  When we got to the river - Finnegan lay in the icy water and I smelled the freshness of the rushing water on the rocks.  The sun shone - the blue sky winked at me and 'Three Sisters" mountain wrapped her arms around me in a spiritual hug - holding me near to her greatness.

As I looked around me - I realized that I was experiencing the universe in all its splendor - right where I was standing.  Finnegan instinctively came to my side and sat there  - just looking forward, around and up - totally at peace.

There were no sounds except the winter birds chirping,  the fragrant pine boughs rustling in the wind and the whooshing rushing sounds of the river.

Nothing and everything was important - all at one time.  There was no need to make decisions - no need to say anything, no need to move.  All I needed to be was to BE.

Three Sisters Mountain - Canmore AB

On our drive home I began singing at the top of my lungs to a song I loved that was on the radio.  I didn't know all the words - so inevitably sang the first ones that came to mind.  They made no sense at all - and I began to mentally chastise myself for singing the wrong words.  Funny thing was - Finnegan didn't even protest - or remind me the words I just sang were the wrong words.   He just knew that the sounds I was making - was a joyful noise - and he accepted it just as that.

I realized as I got back to my desk - that it was time to relinquish some of the reigns of power - and turn them over to Finnegan.  He knew how to just BE - and enjoy BEING.  He did not have to achieve anything before 7:30 am, and did not require accolades have the 'need' to make the sale.  He was happy in the experience he was in - wherever that was.

I think it is time I began listening more to my dog and less to myself!