Category Archives: Uncategorized

author, blogger, mindset, positivity, Uncategorized

Be Rejected 

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Sit with me today and ask yourself if you have ever been rejected. I mean really rejected, back-turning, door slamming, get the f* out rejected?  I also want to talk about the simple rejections that happen every single day as we live our lives.

Have you ever been dumped?

Rejection.

Have you ever applied for a job and not hired?

Rejected.

Have you ever apologized and had that person never speak to you again?

Rejection.

Have you put in a business or book proposal and received a denial letter?

Rejected.

rejected
In the sadness, anger and humbleness of rejection, what do we find?

A new way.

A new path.

A new resiliency.

A letting go.

Or holding tighter.

A fortitude to persevere.

Or a desire to walk away.

Rejection is a true gift, a branch of the gifts of grief.

It is ready for us to unwrap in every rejected moment.

gift-giving

We can choose our path with rejection.

We can envision rejection as a branch of a metaphorical tree.

Ponder, with me, how this gift of rejection can help us grow!

Perhaps rejection has come into our life because we have been growing roots in places that weren’t in rich soil.  We may have needed more light rather than darkness.  Or maybe something or someone new may have been needed in our life to bring us new living water. Rejection needed to create space.  Our branches may have needed some pruning so that we could have new growth in our life.

Rejected.

Rejection.

Light.

Growth.

Life.

All symbiotic and much needed in our lives.

Gratitude today for EVERY time I have been rejected in word, thought or deed.

Life-giving.

Gratitude-living.

Rejection.

Be rejected.

author, encouragement, Grief, Uncategorized, writing

Be Working Out to Work Things Out 

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It was snowing this morning when I woke up. 🌨

Large. 

Fluffy. 

Snowflakes.  ❄️

It was cold. 

I lifted my head off the warm pillow, put on my work out clothes and headed out the door. 

Gloves and toques on. 

(Sidenote: sending love to Joan and Christina this morning💜) 

And then I ran.  

On the road, around the trails, under the ski lift.  

I ran to work things out this Thanksgiving weekend. 🍗

I work out as much for my body as for my mind. 

I have encountered grief many times in my life through friendships lost, moving, injuries, and the loss of my beautiful mama. 

I have watched people journey through grief during the process of divorce, their children aging, losing a job, gaining weight, not getting a contract and even not meeting a business goal.  

Grief is a daily journey.  It is a daily gift to take us to a deeper place as human beings. 

Awake.  

Feeling. 

Beings. 

In this grief that I have felt and witnessed through others, I see that we have FOUR choices, daily, sometimes moment by moment choices: 

1. First, we can numb ourselves with an outside substances or activity.  I tried nightly alcoholic drinks for awhile after my mom died, my greatest grief journey, but this just numbed me even more, so now I rarely drink.  If what you are doing is not allowing you to feel, then consider taking a break from the substance or activity.  I take rest days now in my workout weeks, thank you Coach Garry.  This has helped me tremendously as I choose not to numb. The greatest gift we have is to feel.  

2. Create a life of busyness and be a human doing is a second choice that I had to ponder and overcome.   This perpetual busyness allows us to keep going, feeling productive, going through the motions, but not living as a human being.  This “get ‘r done” girl knows this one well. I now purposely take time throughout my day to pray, meditate and be. It is important to feel as we live with grief. 


3. A third choice would be putting our ‘stuff’ onto other people.   We need to be 100% owners of our grief journey.  No two peoples will look the same.  We can walk side-by-side momentarily with people, but we won’t always walk together for long.  The feelings and thoughts that grief unfolds is as unique as each individual person.  Be gentle with yourself.  Be gentle with others.   Anger showered towards other people is an energy suck.  Bless and release.  Thoughts about others journeys is pointless.  Bless and release.  Telling others how it will be is a lie.  No one knows what grief will unfold for people. Who knew I would become a triathlete author who loves loves loves helping people be their healthiest selves through a nutritional system I discovered one November day at boot camp? We can only share where we are coming from and then allow other grief journeyers choose what will fit for them.  

4. We have one more choice, that I see on this journey. Sit, lie, walk, workout and stand in our grief.  Feeling it deeply with gentleness. Allowing ourselves to go to a deeper emotional place in whatever ‘position’ helps you grieve.  

My laundry room is my sanctuary.  This is where I lie. A place where I can be alone and lie on the floor, feeling my emotions. I lay there yesterday, crying, feeling, thinking and shifting.  I reached out to a divine-inspired friend, shared my heart, felt, prayed and then shifted my state.  

This morning, I ran. I worked out to give my mind time to churn. Space to think about my mom who always created magical holiday memories.   Time to be in nature and allow myself to feel.  

And now I stand.  I am ready to celebrate this magical thanksgiving weekend with my boys.  I have proactively processed and know I can react to anything that comes my way. 


Numbing. 

Busyness. 

Owning. 

Feeling. 

Our grief. 

Our feelings. 

Our journeys. 

Walking alongside those fellow awake, heartfelt people.  

Keep going my beautiful friends. 

Working out to work things out.  

You are not alone.  

author, blogger, Grief, Uncategorized

Be Living In Between 

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⚡️I had always thought that if you worked hard enough, you will get where you want to go.   Magically, everything would just all fall into place.  Nope I am still living “in between”. 

⚡️I had always thought there was a magic wand where “poof” healing would come after my mom had died and all would be well.  But all isn’t well. I feel things incredible deeply when I find out a friend’s mom has cancer or a preschool friend has cancer or a surgeon treats a friend poorly, just like what happened to my mom.  Sometime “in between” just sucks.  

⚡️I had always thought that if I did ‘my work’, communicated kindly and directly that all would be well.  I thought my relationships would flourish and we would all sing “kombiya” together.   I have some relationships with my family of origin that I couldn’t even consider “in between”, they are non-existent.  

⚡️I had always thought that if I reached certain goals in my life that all would be well.  I envisioned that life would be more fun and that there would be an ease or flow to it.  I have reached those goals, but I still sit “in between” as those goals have now changed.  


THIS I NOW KNOW FOR SURE… 

✨ I am “doing less” throughout my days, but I have never experienced so many more incredible opportunities coming into my life. These “in between” places are BEAUTIFUL.    I have more quiet times, more moments of “no coincidences” where I have to lie down and less ‘busyness’.

✨ My healing is a journey not a destination to be tackled. Actually, I don’t even know where my healing journey is going to take me next! Being “in between” the healing journey creates MIRACLES.   It has deepened my relationships, helped me focus on what’s important and allowed me the privilege to see into the beautiful hearts of women like Heather, whom I met today.  

✨ Relationships are like a game of baseball, each person needs to be willing to catch the ball.  I have been playing a ton of catch with my “people’s” back to me.  Imagine a baseball game looking like that?  You can only apologize so much, talk so much, and try to get someone to play for so long.  “In between” relationships are RAD because they mean I am REALLY free to be me.  

✨ It is truly each moment that makes life sweet…moment after moment.   Every day I love savouring the weather, the age of my boys, the laughter at myself when things go wrong, the watching as our dreams unfold.  Step by step, one lunch box making, wrestling match breaking, toy taking and sheer joy making day at a time.  “In between” is a SWEET place to be. 

Life is powerful when we are awake to the processes “in between” 

To the beauty and spaces that surrounds us every day.  

To people’s eyes. 

To people’s stories.  

To the sheer grandeur of the non-coincidences that unfold before me.  

The presence of God. 

Doing less. 

Being more. 

Healing and… 

Being broken. 

Playing catch. 

Facing forward. 

Leaning in. 

Moment by moment. 

In between. 

Awake. 

Savouring. 

Tasting.  

Enjoying.    

Knowing for sure that RIGHT NOW… 

I am ENOUGH! 

Living “in between” 

author, blogger, psychology, women

Be Getting Untangled by a Weed

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When I was a child, I never wanted to jump off the boat into the water.  The only way that I learned how to water ski was because I was afraid to fall into the weeds, so I decided to never fall.  I wouldn’t swim out to the buoys because I couldn’t see the bottom or I could see the weeds down below.  I am not sure which was worse.

Today, I swam two point one kilometres (1.3 miles) across our local lake with over 1200 other swimmers.  Six weeks ago, I couldn’t swim longer than 300 metres (984 feet) without putting my feet on the sandy, shallow bottom.  Yup, swimming along the kiddy area trying to keep my heart in my body!

Over the six week, I trained with a group who met every Saturday.  I listened.  I watched.  I put my head down into the water and did my best.   Throughout the week, I swam with a new friend who was in a similar place as me.  We made shrill shrieks as we entered the cool water.  We swam together.  We drank some lake water.  We eventually went around and around those buoys, but we had never swam across the lake.

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Until today.

Today, I awoke to the still lake water.  I watched it shimmer as the sun peeked out from behind a cloud.   I watched excited, nervous, wide-eyed people, over five hundred newbies, get ready to swim across this lake.

And you know what happened?  Within a few moments of starting the race, my leg got tangled up with a week.  Right leg started kicking, my mind was annoyed.  I had a choice.

Carry this weed throughout the race or shake it off and move on.

I kicked my right leg and off it slid and on I went.

Full of strength and grace.

Supported and lovingly held by this beautiful water.

Feeling like a dolphin, a mermaid or even a fish heading home.

I untangled more than that weed today.

As I swam head down, stroke by stroke,

I realized that that weed was a symbol of my emotions.

Am I willing to acknowledge where I am at in any given moment?

Am I will to shake it off, untangle the emotion and let it go?

Am I willing to swim my race, allowing the emotions to come, and just continue?

When you are swimming, there really isn’t much choice, but swim.

In life, there really isn’t much choice, but to live.

With our emotions.

Wherever we are in our stroke on the lake of life.

Riding the waves, like I did with my grief.

Finding camaraderie among people on the same journey, listening, learning.

With the strength and grace of practice, mental mindset and allowing myself to be.

Being me.

Being enough.

While getting untangled by a weed.

I am post-race untangled here!  Oh what a beautiful feeling!

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(Note from the author: Thirty-nine minutes swimming in a lake will bring up such metaphors.  I had the most mental clarity and mental “stillness” in that water today than I have ever had in any moment in my entire life! WOAH)

 

 

author, encouragement, poetry, positivity, Uncategorized, words

Be Living Your Light 

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Thrown down. 

Living looking down. 

Feeling down. 

While looking around. 

Eyes darting. 

Heart dying. 

Words cursing. 

Running. 

Playing 

All over my mind. 

BUT NOW LIGHT. 

My light shining. 

Pushing up. 

Living as me. 

While looking within. 

Eyes glowing. 

Heart overflowing. 

Words pouring. 

Lying down. 

Living. 

All over my mind. 

BUT NOW LIGHT. 

 
All our lights shining. 

Pushing out. 

Living out loud. 

While looking around. 

Eyes soaring. 

Heart bursting. 

Words blessing. 

Flying. 

Present. 

All over the world. 

MORE AND MORE LIGHT! 

This night do not allow the light of others to diminish all that you can do.  Allow your light to find strength in their light.  Be strong in who you are and build up those around you also living in their light!  Shine my beautiful friend! Light it up! 

 Smooch, Joanna  
Glory to God whose power in us can do infinitely more than we can ask or imagine! (Eph 3:20)  

author, Business, Goals, positivity, Uncategorized, women, writing

Be Giving a Gift of Being 

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I am in constant flux everyday moving from being a human doing, doing, doing while try to be an awake, present human being. 

  
As I have been journeying through this ‘beingness’, I have pondered and sat, ran and rambled and create a free gift to add value to those that want to wander and wonder as a human being.  

I have created a sixty day set of emails and videos that will be sent randomly throughout the time to your inbox.  Some wonderings may surprise you, others will make you smile and chuckle, but my hope is that as a collective group of likeminded people we will live through sixty days as present, awake human beings. 

Come join us… Checkout www.joannacann.com and leave your email! 

I wonder as I wander…. 60 days together! 

christmas, health & fitness, mindset, psychology

Be Finding Solace on Skis 

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Being present to what we are feeling and thinking takes awareness, especially during the holiday seasons.  

It is easy to let time zip by in busyness, unaware of our body, mind and spirit.  It is easy to get wrapped up in wrapping just doing without being.  

Holidays are often wrapped up in a beautiful package of past memories and experiences that create our present life.    In my book, I talk about my ‘be enough’ mindset and allowing myself space to care for my soul.    

This year, I continue to unwrap past Christmas seasons, grieving the loss of my mom while being aware of my desire to create magical memories for my brood of boys.

I chose to be enough by strapping on my sticks! Heading off in the early morning on cross country skiis, solo. Allowing the thoughts float on by, in silence, in beauty with birds chirping me on as I pass by.  

I chose to be enough by strapping on my boards.  Heading off during the day on downhill skiis with my boys.  Allowing laughter to pour out, looking for jumps, in beauty with my boys hooting and hollering as I go by. 

Creating space to be.  

Exactly where I am.  

In body, mind and spirit.  

Finding solace on my skiis.  

Being me.  

 

author, Book, God, musings, psychology

Be Writing a Book and Remembering ‘How’ to have Big Hairy Audscious Goals 

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As I have the privilege of living with and watching three wee boys grow I am conscious of big hairy audacious goals.  

My five year old wants a jeep. 

My eight year old would like a humongous Lego railroad. 

Our youngest would just like everything that his older brothers want. 

Each day these three beautiful boys share their dreams, large and small. They never worry about how it is all going to work out, but the goal is forefront in their mind and their smiles are humongous. 

I have always wanted to write a book. 

Somewhere in the last ten years, I have realized that I have forgotten about my big hair audacious goals.  I had become caught up in the what and the how of daily life. 

And now I am dreaming again and dreaming BIG.  (Just take a look at yesterday’s post!) 

I am living as a ten year old and recapturing what I used to love to do and how my mind loves to wander and wonder.  

The barriers that were placed in front of me as I grew are gone.  The visions and dreams to create in my life are mine alone. 

I  AM FREE!  

Free to dream. 

Wonder.  

Live.  

Free to be me! 

Free to write a book and publish it on Amazon. 

  
Right before ‘I am Malala’ on the list.  Woah!  I am humbled!