Category Archives: words

friendship, fun, radical sabbatical, words, Wordsmith, writing

Be a Great Pyrenees (Post about Friendships)

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As a dog, I would previously have been seen as a fluffy, golden retriever.

I love human beings and can talk to anyone, anywhere. I have made friends after a 4 hour plane trip and even made a lifelong friend in a checkout line in Nashville. She complimented me on my shoes. We stayed in contact and then I ended up finding her the same pair of shoes and sent them to her.

My boys often ask me to stop “chitty chatting”!

I might be weird as I will talk to anyone, but I won’t be someone’s friend just because our kids do the same activities , our kids are the same age, we teach in the same profession or we live on the same street.

I love every ONE, but my friends are people who are authentic, straightforward, family-oriented and passionate.

These last three years as I grew through deep loneliness and even discrimination as I wouldn’t share or talk about the greatest science experiment our generation has gone through. My golden retriever spirit died. I have happily morphed into the ever-watching guardian dog, the Great Pyrenees.

I still see you, but I am not going to chase you to hangout with you.

Watching.

Looking for what will happen next, but not engaging.

Watching.

Waiting to see who will “see” me back.

Watching.

I have gotten more mellow, more calm and more still.

Moving from an every chasing Golden Retriever to a watchful Great Pyrenees shifts things up in the friendship realm and many of my friendships fell away in the last three years.

I guess when you are doing a lot of chasing, you can think you have lots of friends, but it is truly the friends that will stand with you in the calm and the storms as a Great Pyrenees that are here to stay.

Thank you to my salt of the earth friends from the past and those to come in the future. I love you and I send you a big virtual lick!

Have an epic Friday folks and love what you do.

xoxo Joanna

author, blogger, toastmasters, words, Wordsmith, writing

Be Finishing a Pathway in Toastmasters

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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, women, words, Wordsmith

Be Observing International Women’s Day

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What is a better what to observe and notice International Women’s Day than with words and photos.

This wordsmithing woman threw together some words and founds some pics to show you the faces of the inspiring woman surrounding me.

May the women around you stand by you.

Lift you up.

Hold you up.

Pray you up.

And never stand you up.

The woman in my life that is ALWAYS very present was my Mama.

She made me a better mom to my boys, a more thoughtful friend, a more forgiving wife and always helped me to get over my temper tantrums.

I am grateful for all the women in my life.

If you are the sum of the people you surround yourself with, I am kick *ss.

These are the women in my life.

The ones that truly care and you know that they are there.

Ones that help you with your babies and your business.

Those who nurture your mind, heart and spirit.

Women that help you grow, that you may not even have in a photo. 😉

Thank you to all you wonderful women!

😘 Joanna

blogger, Communication, poetry, psychology, words, Wordsmith

Be Knowing the Opposite of Love 

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I am a feelings girl. 

I no longer apologize for this. 

I feel things deeply. 

I am impacted by the words and even vibe of the people around me. 

I know this. 

Now, I harness this. 

People are powerful. 

We have emotions that fuel behaviour. 

We have passions. 

We have love!  

In my personal journey that I entered into as I walked through the gift of grief, the loss of my mama, I saw love.  

Pure love that no amount of pain could suppress. 

One moment my mama would be writhing and the next moment my boys would walk through the door.  

In that single moment, a smile would come on my mama’s face. Her eyes would open up and she would see them. She would hear them. She would be fully present and LOVING!  


On this journey, I also learned the opposite of love and it wasn’t what I had thought. 

During my four decades of life, I have surmised that the opposite of love was the feelings, thoughts and actions of hate. I realized the untruth of all of this. 

The incongruency. 

The inconsistency. 

I witnessed people, people I dearly love, be silent.  

Be unpresent. 

Eyes closed. 

Ears firmly shut. 

I asked them “why” and implored them to tell me “What could I do differently?”.

I received no responses. 

I had to sit with no answers. 

And then the moment hit me that the opposite of love had never been hate. 

Hate allows for discussion, emotion, action of some sort.  

The opposite of love has never been hate. 

It’s apathy. 

The nothingness. 

The unresponse.  

Love and hate are actions. 

Apathy is lethargy. 

Action and apathy are opposite. 

Apathy is meeting people to go sledding and one person decides to take a nap on the top of the ski hill.  This is not love! 

Apathy is inviting someone over for a two hour birthday party and they fall asleep on the couch in the middle of the party. (Note: The person is in their 30’s!). This is not love! 

Apathy is talking to someone daily and seeing someone weekly and then never being invited over to their house again.  They end up texting to tell you they are selling the house. This is not love! 

Apathy is having your phone in front of your face when someone is trying to have a heartfelt conversation. This is not love! 

Living in my gift of grief and my apathy examples, I implore you to be awake to love and aware of apathy.   


Keep your eyes open.  

Ears ready to hear.  

Be present. 

Be loving. 

I am a feelings girl 

Apathy is brutal! 

I no longer apologize for this. 

Nothingness is worse than hatred. 

I feel things deeply. 

I am impacted by the words and even vibe of the people around me. 

I know this. 

Now I harness this. 
I don’t spend time with apathetic people. 

People are powerful. 

If THEY choose to be! 

Overflowing with love, with action and knowing it’s opposite. 💖

Lessons from a Super Nana who would be celebrating her 75th birthday this week!   I love you Mama. 😘 Joanna 

author, blogger, encouragement, humour, psychology, words, writing

Be Open to Others Stories 

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Our family got yelled at today!

Yup, “retired” guy yelled at us.  

Full on angry ‘yell’! 

Here’s the scenario and you can see the story from both sides: 

Our family of five had skied across the mountain to get to our favourite run almost on the backside of the ski hill.  It was a gorgeous, sunny, slushy-snow kind of day.  

We made it to the run right as the ski patroller was putting up the closed sign.  I spoke to him and asked if he was closing it because of hazards.  He said, “No, I am just closing it because it’s the end of the day.”  I looked at my watch realizing we had plenty of time to get down the run and then asked if we could take the run, even though he had just put the closed sign on it.  He asked if we were good skiers.  I assured him we were.  He told us to go ahead.  

As we stood at the beginning of the run, with its closed signs at the top, a “retired”guy came off the t-bar and proceeded to yell at us saying “Don’t you know the run is closed! It’s closed!”  

We chuckled and floated down the pristine, diamond-flecked snow on our skies.  And we talked about this valuable lesson.  

How often do we judge what others are doing as ‘wrong’ in our minds? 

I know none of us would yell at strangers, but how often to we do this? 

How often do we see what others are doing and create stories in our own minds about what is going on? 

Imagine now, like we did today, if we took the time to be open and get to know others stories.  


Imagine if we lived our own stories and just sat in openness about others? 

Kindly. 

Lovingly. 

Not being yelling “retired” guy in words or thought.  

Sitting in an open posture. 

Living our stories. 

Day by day. 

Being open to others stories. 

Kindly. 

Lovingly. 

Listening.  

Learning.  

Living in our story.  

Open to others stories. 

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, blogger, Book, Grief, musings, words, Wordsmith

Be Off Track

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I was a racehorse running a race on a track that I hadn’t signed up for.

Living the life that I thought was expected.

Trying hard to be ‘good” to all people, but myself.

I was running hard and fast.

I was constantly pushed around the track by the daily winds and the other horse and riders.

Feeling like I could never train enough, do enough or be enough to run the race.

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One day my main cheerleader, my amazing listener, my main supporter, my incredible mama died.

This horse stopped dead in her tracks.

I chose to hit the pasture in the middle of the race course.

I made a decision to eat some of the best food on the planet right now.

I decided to rest with the other horses on the inside of the race course.

I stopped in my tracks.

I went off track!

Yup, that’s me in the middle of the race course hanging out, living out of this race called life.

I am off the track.

AND I FLIPPIN LOVE IT!

My expectations on myself and those I choose to be in relationship with are GONE!

My idea of what my life could look like has completely changed.

My time is precious, the greatest gift that I can share on this earth.

I am full of gratitude!

I am able to be myself.

Full of thoughts tumbling in my head and words pouring out of my fingers as a Wordsmith.

Energy radiating out of my being as I move through my day.

Love flowing from my heart for those I see living life around me and through the beautiful medium of Facebook.

Peace sitting within my being as I hold and allow myself to be imperfectly where I am.

Honest, authentic and often waaaaaaay to blunt for some people’s likings.

Yup, me hanging out off track!

AND DID I TELL YOU HOW MUCH I LOVE IT?

Love a duck, I am the most fortunate woman in the world.

I have found my path in life, the way I am meant to wander.

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Off track.

In the trees, like I am ten years old.

Playing in the powder with my boys.

Full of emotion, wet kisses and lots of hugs.

Having the time of my life as I play, make mistakes, learn and LIVE in all areas of my life!

I am alive!

Off track.

AND LOVING IT!