Category Archives: blogger

author, blogger, toastmasters, words, Wordsmith, writing

Be Finishing a Pathway in Toastmasters

Leave a comment

16 months

13 total speeches

5 levels

8 blog posts

4 elective speeches

3 public speaking events in Kelowna

1 Visionary Communication Toastmasters Pathway DONE!

From fear, sweat and heart palpitations to peace, fun and a heart of confidence.

This has been my journey over the last sixteen months after I pressed the “launch” button on my Visionary Communication Pathway through Toastmasters International.

This was sixteen months of digging deep within myself as I dealt with health issues, death of three family members and our beloved Labrador retriever.

It was sixteen months where I committed to actually working on my Pathway consistently and doing one speech per month.

In July and August, I had to get over myself as I went two months without giving a speech because I was incredibly afraid of my speech on the benefits of communication. Isn’t that ironic?

In March and April, I was so ill that I missed many meetings and didn’t complete a speech for another two month period.

Once I hit level five, I was finding my rhythm and enjoying every single second of my Pathway and speeches. I could see my words were inspiring my audience and adding value to their day. I also had been invited to speak to audiences in my city about my passions.

My mentor and inspiration for joining Toastmasters, Vic Lindal, now encouraged me to work on the introduction for my speeches. The introduction that would be read before I even started speaking. The words that the Toastmaster would speak before I had a chance to speak.

We were going deep.

I was finishing strong.

Over these sixteen months, I have been blessed with the very best feedback from my fellow Toastmasters and the beloved guests that come see what we are about.

Imagine getting feedback every. single. time you speak. Yes, this is what Toastmasters is all about, helping each of us grow and become more confident as communicators and people. I have been blessed.

When I do receive feedback, I don’t read it right away. I will go home, put my speech notes and feedback sheets together with a paper clip. Once I begin work on my next speech, this is when I look back at the feedback that was given on my last speech. My heart was to make every single speech better than the last whether it was by improving my clarity, volume, gestures, posture, or even my ability to tell a story, I believe this feedback made me better.

Here’s a few of my favourite pieces of feedback from all of my speeches:

Level one: I did my Research and Presenting speech on Toastmasters International and spend time learning more about this organization we all belong to. Toastmaster and DJ John gave me some invaluable feedback, “Your speech was broken down and laid out nicely in a way that was easy to follow and enjoyable to listen to. The only room for improvement is a couple of times you were gripping your hands in a way that seemed slightly nervous.”

Level two: During this speech, I sat everyone around the metaphorical campfire to talk about My protege story. Toastmaster Starshine Girl gave me feedback that I still think of today, “You excelled at keeping the audience interested and you were well organized. You may want to work on your pauses, vocal variety and pacing. Don’t forget to breathe.”

Level three: From my fellow Toastmaster, Rob, and the person who started the OC Toastmasters Club over two decades ago said “Work on smoother transitions and insert some humour” when giving feedback on my Four Flowers and One mother speech.

Level four: Toastmaster Wenbo gave me insightful feedback on my speech about my blog (www.beenough.me), “I always love your beginnings, you bring energy to your speeches and engage the audience.

Level five: One of my level five speeches embraced Shakespeare and was titled To volunteer or not to volunteer, that is the question. I was fortunate to have Toastmaster Laura encourage me to “Use the stage. Own it and to go to other areas of the stage to impact my points”. I didn’t know but I was rocking while I was walking.

16 months

13 total speeches

5 levels

8 blog posts

4 elective speeches

3 public speaking events in Kelowna

1 Visionary Communication Toastmasters Pathway DONE!

From fear, sweat and heart palpitations to peace, fun and a heart of confidence.

Where will your Pathway take you?

author, blogger, Grief

Be Uncomfortable (Dealing with D’s)

Leave a comment

Nope, not talking about bra size!

We will all deal with grief from death, divorce, despair, and distance!

This grief is uncomfortable. It can metaphorically push your face into or feel like you are walking through mud every single day.

For me, my metaphor for grief is like being in a rowboat on the ocean. You never know what the weather will be or what waves will come upon you in your boat of grief every single moment. The weather can change at any moment and your boat can become swamped. The weather can be beautiful and you can rest in your boat and see the beauty all around you. And other times you can barely see the finger in front of you through the fog of grief.

Grief looks differently for everybody at different ages and stages. It is an incredibly personal and individual journey. We can hold space for and with each other, but no one can row the grief journey for you. I am sorry to say.

It’s uncomfortable.

It’s work.

It’s dealing with sh*t.

It’s looking your heart and soul straight in the eye.

It’s being present.

Moment by moment.

Feeling the feels.

Dealing with the deal of:

Death of a family, friend of fur baby.

Divorce from a short or long term partnership.

Despair from situations around us.

Distance from people or places you love.

Whatever your D may be.

As I write this, I hold space with my fellow grief journeyers. I want to encourage everyone to embrace the grief, feel it deeply and surround yourself with surroundings and support that help you!

This is what my very personal grief work looked like for me today..

Spending time on my own.

Surrounded by nature.

Pedalling my bike.

Finding support with people at my gym.

Nourishing my body with super food nutrition so that I don’t gain forty pounds like I did five years ago when my mom died.

Riding the waves of grief

Being uncomfortable.

author, blogger, Business, psychology, Wordsmith

Be a Grower or a Grumbler

Leave a comment

Last night, I was talking to an old student of mine about her new job working in a retirement home for the local health authority. I used to work full time in education. Both of these union jobs are where wages are not determined by your performance but dependant on how long you have worked there and what level of education or specific job title you have. Again, how much you are paid is not dependent on how well you do your job.

In this type of occupation where the monetary value is not determined by performance, I have personally witnessed that we end up with two types of employees: Growers and Grumblers.

Growers have their focus on always learning first and growing themselves then they have their eyes focused on exactly who they are there to serve. They embrace visionary leadership that may be different to how they do things. If they see problems, they have solutions to go along with them, plus they take action to solve those problems. Growers live in a constant state of being able to adapt, see the change and be the change. They overflow with gratitude and enjoy 99% of their time in their position.

Grumblers have their focus solely on how things “used to be” or how things “ought to be”. They love talking about what’s wrong. That’s it, they just love talking about what’s wrong. Leadership that involves any type of vision, change or growth is not embraced, but rather seen as another thing to add to the “what’s wrong” list. They live in a constant state of stress, worry and fear. Grumblers clearly do not enjoy most things about their jobs and they are sure to let everyone know when it’s almost Friday. I have been both a Grower and a Grumbler so I speak these words from personal experience.

Three things I discovered reflecting on these two types of employees were:

~ Grumblers tend to stick together. Growers seems to stick together. It appears they don’t often have a high tolerance for each other.

~ Inside this type of employee structure, the Grumblers are often the loudest and have the largest amount of influence.

~ Outside of this employee culture, Growers prevail. The Growers are the ones that most people gravitate towards, even the Grumblers. Where performance matters, Growers shine. Grumblers fall behind.

Since leaving the education world full time, I have full embraced and now thrive in the performance-based structure of creating income. As an entrepreneur, I know, with certainty, that my business will only grow to the rate that I grow myself. As an entrepreneur, I am paid by the value that I provide to my customers and the world around me. I don’t have a set income. I can choose who to surround myself with. Truly the opportunities are endless.

I loved education. I was passionate about learning alongside my students. And I still use the skills and knowledge that I received in that profession, but I am very happy to be outside that environment and surrounded by Master Growers every. Single. Day.

Growers.

Planting.

Looking.

Open.

Seeking.

Finding.

Grumblers.

Harvesting.

Talking.

Closed.

Sitting.

Found.

Take a look around you today and see who you are surrounded by. Are they Growers or Grumblers? This will tell you exactly where you are. Believe I know. I have been surrounded by both and lived as both. And like I said, now that I am surrounded by Master Growers. I can never go back into the Grumbler culture.

Find freedom my friends.

Exactly as you are.

Exactly where you are.

Never stop growing.

Surround yourself with Growers.

Be.

Enough.

Joanna 😘

<come hangout with me on Instagram @cannjoanna)

Dedicated to all the growers that surround me, inspire me, share what they are learning about and what they are grateful for.

author, blogger, mom of boys, Wordsmith

Be Writing a Blog about Your Blog

Leave a comment

Have you ever thought about writing a blog?

If yes, what would your blog be about?

I started writing this blog over ten years ago. I believe that there is value in every person writing a blog about one thing they are passionate about, just one thing they are passionate about. It can be anything. A blog is simply a post with a title, two or more pictures and some words strung together in a personal way.

My blog is about my passion to see people living as human “beings” not just as human “doings” on the hamster wheel of life. I want to see people:

⭐️ live AWAKE

⭐️ feel ADEQUATE

⭐️ know ABUNDANCE

⭐️ be ASSURED they are “enough” exactly as they are right now.

In my time as a blogger, I have written over 750 posts. I have had over 17,000 visitors visit my site.

A few of my recent and memorable posts have been:

⭐️ Be Learning Lessons from a Lab where I shared lessons our family learned from our dog as we reflected on her life.

⭐️ Be Savouring the Seasons was a blog I wrote when I kept hearing people complain about the weather. This is one topic that human “doings” love to discuss.

⭐️ Be a Toastmaster was a blog I wrote about my experience in that organization. The post was inspired by a task I needed to complete on my Visionary Communication pathway. I needed to write eight blog posts in under one month. I completed this is February, 2019.

I am very grateful that over ten years ago I took the time to start writing down my thoughts, my poems, my song lyrics as well as journeys of people around me through this “beenough” place. Blogging is one tool that has helped me survive and thrive through the death of my beautiful mama, becoming an entrepreneur, leaving my teaching job and being a mom of boys and wife to Sexy Neck.

Tonight, this process of sitting and writing about this blog has reminded me why I blog. As much as I love blogging, I want to see my blog become a book. Why? For me personally, being a daughter of a librarian, growing up with weekly public library visits and being surrounded by shelves of books in our home, there is something about books. I love the smell of them. I love holding a book in my hands and feeling the pages between my fingers. And the sound of pages flipping is one of the most peaceful sounds I know.

Now, I wonder who will join me in this blogging world from my group of readers. I am very curious to see what you would choose to write about.

Blog away.

You are enough.

Exactly as you are.

Be enough.

😘 Joanna

<come hangout with me on Instagram @cannjoanna>

author, blogger, mom of boys, Wordsmith

Be Writing a Blog about Your Blog

Leave a comment

Have you ever thought about writing a blog?

If yes, what would your blog be about?

I started writing this blog over ten years ago. I believe that there is value in every person writing a blog about one thing they are passionate about, just one thing they are passionate about. It can be anything. A blog is simply a post with a title, two or more pictures and some words strung together in a personal way.

My blog is about my passion to see people living as human “beings” not just as human “doings” on the hamster wheel of life. I want to see people:

⭐️ live AWAKE

⭐️ feel ADEQUATE

⭐️ know ABUNDANCE

⭐️ be ASSURED they are “enough” exactly as they are right now.

In my time as a blogger, I have written over 750 posts. I have had over 17,000 visitors visit my site.

A few of my recent and memorable posts have been:

⭐️ Be Learning Lessons from a Lab where I shared lessons our family learned from our dog as we reflected on her life.

⭐️ Be Savouring the Seasons was a blog I wrote when I kept hearing people complain about the weather. This is one topic that human “doings” love to discuss.

⭐️ Be a Toastmaster was a blog I wrote about my experience in that organization. The post was inspired by a task I needed to complete on my Visionary Communication pathway. I needed to write eight blog posts in under one month. I completed this is February, 2019.

I am very grateful that over ten years ago I took the time to start writing down my thoughts, my poems, my song lyrics as well as journeys of people around me through this “beenough” place. Blogging is one tool that has helped me survive and thrive through the death of my beautiful mama, becoming an entrepreneur, leaving my teaching job and being a mom of boys and wife to Sexy Neck.

Tonight, this process of sitting and writing about this blog has reminded me why I blog. As much as I love blogging, I want to see my blog become a book. Why? For me personally, being a daughter of a librarian, growing up with weekly public library visits and being surrounded by shelves of books in our home, there is something about books. I love the smell of them. I love holding a book in my hands and feeling the pages between my fingers. And the sound of pages flipping is one of the most peaceful sounds I know.

Now, I wonder who will join me in this blogging world from my group of readers. I am very curious to see what you would choose to write about.

Blog away.

You are enough.

Exactly as you are.

Be enough.

😘 Joanna

<come hangout with me on Instagram @cannjoanna>

blogger, health & fitness, mindset, positivity, Wordsmith

Be Finding Food For Fuel (4 Pillars of a Healthy Fuelling System)

Leave a comment

Isn’t it funny how a few days flat on your back allows you the privilege to reflect on health? February flu season is wafting through the house and it happened to grab on to me last Friday. The weekend was spent trying to breathe, staying warm and lying in a slightly upright position. Fun time for this jet engine energy girl. One thing about me, though, is situations like this help me grow.

These last seventy- two hours have afforded me the opportunity to think deeply about what I put into my body. Over four years ago, I was forty pounds heavier than I am today. Over four years ago, I was on a deep growth journey working through the grief of my loving mama. Over four years ago, I discovered, by my own willingness to never sit or lay in a pit too long, the best fuelling system for my body. And I want to stress “system” because there are no miracle products. Sorry. There are no one week detoxes that are going to fix your eating habits. Sorry again. And there are no amount of counting calories or points that will teach you how to nourish and listen to your body. Truth.

I now have partnered with the company that formulated this system over fifteen years ago. I have left my full time teaching life that I was very passionate about because I think all children are a gift from God. I now help match people’s personal goals to a system of products that support the systems that work within the body. And yes, we even touch on poo! After my mom died, as well as weekends like I just had, I know with 100% certainty that if we don’t have health we have nothing. If we don’t get a handle of how to fuel our bodies, we don’t have energy. If we don’t understand what our individual bodies need, we will have “dis ease”.

Here are my few gems from lying in the couch with “dis ease” if you truly want to learn how to fuel your body:

First, before you even try to uncover the food dilemma, how is your water intake and what amount of sleep are you currently getting? Furthermore, are you drinking enough water and sleeping enough for your body? How is your sleep hygiene? Are you able to sleep without your “handheld computer comforter” beside you?

Second, what do you LOVE to eat? Do you enjoy plants, meat, soups, fruit? Just because the current rage is to eat no fruit (no carbohydrates) or only eat meat (protein), you decide what is best for you personally and build your fuelling system around that.

Third, are you moving between the eating habits of starvation and overindulgence. Most people do. My company’s name literally means “balanced life”. This is your ultimate destination with your fuel. Eating every couple of hours with a balance of variety of foods that nourish you and bring you energy.

Water.

Sleep.

Love.

Balance.

Simple.

Isn’t it!

The four pillars of a healthy fuelling system.

One that doesn’t rely on feelings or emotions.

One that doesn’t flutter in the wind depending on the current ‘famous food’ that you can’t pronounce or diet plan you really only can follow when motivation is high.

Something that relies on you nourishing and listening to your body.

Something that allows your body to become more alive as you age and continue to grow.

Until we breathe no more.

Fuelling with water.

Recovering as we sleep.

Nourishing with lovely food.

Finding balance in all areas of our life, but especially with our food.

Comment below with your favourite fuelling tips.

Follow me on Instagram: @cannjoanna

If you need support in your fuelling, be free to ask me for more information at jj_cann@yahoo.com

With gratitude for feeling healthier,

😘 Joanna

author, blogger, music, philosophy, school

Be Sharing a Song

2 Comments

🎵 This is what I do! 🎵

I love seeing Mama’s who live “on purpose” in their day whether it is at work or at play.

They plan, schedule and make it happen and when someone gets sick their is no more lapping.

They shut things down, they hold the fort tight and just hold their baby knowing it will be all right.

No striving or goals will be checked off on that day, they just sit still and maybe have a play.

With the ones they love.

That override it all.

With the ones they love.

That they help hold tall.

With the ones they love.

They see them through and through.

With the ones they love.

They know inside what to do.

When things are flowing, the checklist may be long, but us Mama’s know that we need to be strong.

We need to hold space and show up with grace.

When we are focused and fierce and know exactly what to do, there is nothing that will stop us, not even the loo.

We need to have goals and show up as we are.

This is what I do!

With the ones I love.

That override it all.

With the ones I love.

That I help hold tall.

With the ones I love.

I see them through and through.

With the ones I love.

I know inside what to do.

I love being a Mama who lives “on purpose” in my day whether it is at work or at play.

There is no shame in doing, as long as you are being you!

There is no harm in being exactly who you are.

Show up.

Be you.

With the ones you love.

Show up.

Be you.

With the ones you love.

(A song written in the gift of grief, with fond memories of our Lab, Summer. May this bless you to be present and to live fully as a human being, not just as a human being. Be enough. Be free. 😘 Joanna)

NOTE: I started writing songs after my annual conference for my nutrition business in NASHVILLE in August. These songs just started pouring out of me there. What fun writing songs are… cannot wait to hear someone sing them!