I have received the most extraordinary gifts, and I just had to share the story with you.
A wonderful woman who lives in Russia, named Tatiana met the Howell family in Sochi in 2014, when Dara was competing in the Olympics (and of course won the Gold in slopestyle!).

Tatiana spent some time with the Howells and even got a Canadian flag from Dara’s grandmother, Jackie. She loved the Canadians (of course) and cheered for Dara.
She later started following Love Your Life to Death and would often comment
and I would reply. She mentioned that she wanted to send me something and I said,
“sure”, never really expecting anything to arrive.

Well… a couple of days ago, I received a big box in the mail, sent from Russia with love.
You wouldn’t believe all of the goodies; beautiful pictures from the Olympics and
Paralympics, Russian dolls, towels, maps, an apron (for Geordie!!), a great red t-shirt
with Russia, Sochi 2014. And it doesn’t stop there; she sent two long-sleeved, awesomely colourful shirts that were worn by the Olympic volunteers. Can you believe all of this??!!
I was blown away! There’s also a bag of stuff to be delivered to the Howell Family!

Tatiana, thank you/Спасибо from the bottom of my heart, for believing in my message
and for your beautiful gifts. We will treasure them always.

Extraordinary!

Suzanne Witt-Foley is another contributor to newly-released book, Anxiety Warrior, a wonderful speaker and a woman on a mission; teaching mental health first aid! She shared:

Mental health first aid is a two day course anyone can take.
In a word, it’s about connection; learning how to support one another, to be there,
to connect and not be afraid when people are struggling with mental health issues.
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If we talk about these things before we are facing them, we can empower ourselves.
We can do better! Suzanne shared a great and humbling story in Anxiety Warrior;
one that we could all learn from:

5 years ago, I went on a mission trip to the Dominican, to support people who lived in dire poverty. I thought I needed to prepare myself for what I was going to see; despair, hopelessness, mental health issues and addictions.
What I saw what quite shocking, quite the opposite. What I saw was love, hope, connection and people caring for one another. That culture protected them from mental health issues and other health issues.  It helped me to recognize the power of connection.   

  Amazing! There’s a lot to learn from this story.
Mental health first aid, something we should all empower ourselves with.

Never underestimate the power of Connection!

Easier said than done? Yep, most of this stuff is!
But it is certainly something worth striving for, something to look at and take a step in the right direction. We have created a culture of consumerism, high debt and living above our means… but, that means we can “uncreate” it too!

In writing the book, Anxiety Warrior, Elke Scholz understood how finances cause anxiety to so many people. She invited Ryan Brown and Julie Bissonette to shed a little light on the subject. I met with Ryan and this is what he shared:

I help people get out of debt. One problem in our industry is people don’t know
where to turn for help. There’s a lot of marketing out there—so you have to be careful. Unfortunately there’s not a lot of transparency as to who is working for who and how everyone is getting paid. We have our clients’ best interest in mind when considering
future goals. So get help… but do your research first! When people finally make the call, sometimes after years, they sit down and unload!

What can financial anxiety cause? Destruction of marriages/relationships, serious health challenges, failed businesses… Ryan has seen it all.

We can do better. We can create a culture of change, starting right in our world, in our house. Watch the documentary Happy…the most content and joyful people in the world are those who live in community, often have few belongings and their happiness has very little to do with the pursuit of money or how much is actually in their account.

A few tips from the chapter Financial Anxiety in the book Anxiety Warrior:

• Be honest with yourself about the cause of your debt (forgive yourself too!)
• Don’t be afraid of dealing with debt (one small step at a time)
• Understand your options (ask around)
• Avoid day-to-day temptation (the drive through coffee shop!)
• Be wary of easy solutions (it takes years to get in debt, it will take time to get out)
• Take charge of your  cards (credit cards make spending too easy)
• Love what you have (stop comparing to others)

Is the pursuit of money causing me anxiety or happiness…
Something to think about!