My family and I went to Balsam Chutes with our cousin Sarah
and her daughters Izzy and Josie. They immediately jumped into the
water (life-jackets on of course!) and were swimming against the current.
All I could hear was hysterical laughter. Good clean fun!

It reminded me, once again, that we can create our own fun.
We don’t always need to be entertained. Of course, not everyone has rapids
close by. But connection is what matters; to nature and each other. Go to a
park and kick a ball around or get on the swings. Enjoy Nature.
There’s so much joy to be had. Listening to the kids and
adults having such a great time was just awesome.

I am so grateful.  So remember, get out there, and create your own fun!
Find a park, nature, walk, something.

Kids don’t need you to do everything for them.
They need you to do something with them.


Thank you for being part of our community!
Purchase your copy of Love Your Life to Death here,
 our Audio, From Avoidance to Resilience or your
#IJustShowedUp bracelet.

I had the pleasure of interviewing my friend, Gael Bishop on Hunter’s Bay
 (airing Saturday August 25th at 8am then available on the podcast). Larry the bernese mountain dog lay at her feet. Gael shares her story of addiction,
in hopes of helping others. I am just so proud of her. Here’s Gael:

Thank you, Yvonne, for reaching out on Facebook. I had broken my
anonymity two years into my sobriety. I try to be as open as I can through
social media. So today I wanted to talk about my journey and how difficult
it was for me to reach for help.

Many times when we hit rock bottom,
 it’s because we can’t see that there is actually something
on the other side that is going to help us
from the place that we’re in.

I clarified that it was a battle with alcoholism and Gael replies;
Absolutely, 100%! It has such an incredible grip on me that I experienced
that feeling of being completely imprisoned and not being able to break free.
Just the thought of not being able to live without alcohol—especially you
see it wherever you go—it’s glamorized. You wonder, “What would my life
be like without it… my social life?”But I was so broken that I had no other
choice but to leave alcohol behind. And now I can speak today, that I am in
a life that is worry-free because I am not held back by anything. I have no
filter. I have freedom. I want to reach out and help others, so they don’t’ have
to go down the same rabbit hole after rabbit hole after rabbit hole. Because
you’ll replace it with something else…

I interject: If you don’t develop coping skills, strategies, acceptance and forgive yourself!

And do your inventory. Go into your life and figure out, “Where is this
coming from?” It’s not your fault and it doesn’t necessarily have to be a fault
of anyone or anything. It can just be something that gets fixed, addressed.
Then you need to acknowledge that alcohol is not something you need in
your life. It’s destructive and it’s destroying millions of lives.

I can attest to the fact that alcohol has certainly negatively impacted
my family. I’m glad that you are creating a life you love every day and I
thank you for sharing. So, if you drink and it is not interfering with your life,
great. If alcohol has a grip on you or someone you love…reach out.
Find help. Find support.

This is the book I read and loved:
https://www.the30daysolution.com/.

Find Gael on Facebook. Gael can confirm and so can I…

You can live and love a sober life!


Thank you for being part of our community!
Purchase your copy of Love Your Life to Death here,
 our Audio, From Avoidance to Resilience or your
#IJustShowedUp bracelet.

​

As Geordie and I are creating our global movement--I Just Showed Up--
and sharing Love Your Life to Death with the world, we decided that as we transform our lives, we’d transform our home as well. Our kids went to camp,
and instead of relaxing and enjoying our time we ripped our house apart.
But it’s all good!

We have found wonderful painters and we’re going to have a new floor installed. We’ve spent our time unscrewing thing like switch covers with power tools
(they are fun!). We ripped out our carpet and it’s been a whole lot of work.
And of course, when you start really looking and seeing how awful the
doorknobs and hinges are, there’s so much more to do than we anticipated.
Isn’t that always the way?

But for the first time—we’ve renovated three houses before—we have actually
hired help and we are loving it!! They are Just Showing Up and doing a great job. It’s amazing!
​
We’ve shared every part of our journey with you, so we wanted to
share our home renovation too. We’ve posted the “before” pictures and we’ll
post “after” as well. And please just tell us you love it, even if you don’t. haha.
We love it and we want you to love it too so we’re excited to share.
We’re into renovations! Renovating our lives and our homes and everything!
Wish us luck!

And if you’re in a renovation project,
tell us all about it.
And good luck to you!


Thank you for being part of our community!
Purchase your copy of Love Your Life to Death here,
 our Audio, From Avoidance to Resilience or your
#IJustShowedUp bracelet.

I am so excited today, because I went to have coffee with my dear friend
Sandra Holdsworth. She shared that she had been to the Transplant Games
in Vancouver, BC, in July (2018) and excuse me… she came home with not
one but two medals and a beautiful trophy!!
“Sandra, I’m so proud of you. Tell us the story!”

S: The medals are from table tennis. It was a special day for me because
it was my 54th birthday. I received the gold for women over 50 and the silver
for mixed doubles! It was a lot of fun to participate with everyone. It’s my 9th Transplant Games. I think I’m the only athlete to compete in all nine!
The trophy, I was the recipient of was at the Gala. It is in memory of Gloria,
one of the founders of the Canadian Transplant Association. And what is
special to me is that previous recipients are past friends of mine—mentors.
So it’s a real honour to receive and help promote awareness.

Y:  You are so passionate about creating awareness and you are an organ
recipient—a liver transplant almost 22 years ago. You’ve always been grateful, sharing the message; “Let’s all be organ donors!” Because it saves families
and it saves lives.

S: It’s my way of giving back and it’s a way of saying thank you to my donor family, and to give people the opportunity to become part of the transplant community and attend the games where you make friends for life.

Y: Amazing! I attended the Transplant Games two years ago in Toronto and
it was magical! I loved every minute of it. Sandra, thank you for everything that you do to raise awareness. Congratulations on your medals and trophy.
And what does everyone need to do?

S: Please register your intention to be a donor (here)
and discuss your wishes with your family!

Organ donation saves families, saves lives
and it is an incredible gift!
We should all be registered organ donors.
I’m am. Are you?



Thank you for being part of our community!
Purchase your copy of Love Your Life to Death here,
 our Audio, From Avoidance to Resilience or your
#IJustShowedUp bracelet.

I’ve just arrived home from the grocery store and I have all kinds
of wonderful food to unpack. And I realized as I’ve done many times in
the past—I had been complaining:

 “Oh I have to go grocery shopping.  I don’t feel like shopping.
I’ll have to put all this stuff away and I have SO much to do.”

Then I stopped myself, and felt ashamed. I thought of all the people
who don’t have enough to eat, do not have food in the world—even in my
own community! Possibly in the same block as the wonderful grocery
store packed with food, so many things to choose from, anything and
everything you could want.

 I stopped myself and decided to be very grateful—grateful for groceries--
because it is a privilege to be able to go into a grocery store and come home
with an abundance of food. How many people wish they could do that?

So, if you’ve ever complained about shopping, forgive yourself, and choose
to be grateful each and every time you unpack groceries and pack your fridge.
 
Are you grateful for groceries?

​I certainly am!


Thank you for being part of our community!
Purchase your copy of Love Your Life to Death here,
 our Audio, From Avoidance to Resilience or your
#IJustShowedUp bracelet.
​

Together we are creating a culture of change!