Tag Archives: be enough

Be a Grower or a Grumbler

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.

Be Savouring the Seasons

One of the secrets sauce of life, I believe, is savouring the seasons. Both the physical and metaphorical seasons that we go through.

We can’t change the climate where we live, so unless you are planning on moving, we all need to embrace where we live.

We can’t change what happens around us, so unless we can time travel or have out of body experiences, we all need to embrace where we live.

The amount of discourse on the weather, right now, I find slightly overwhelming and mildly humours. The physical season is affecting many people’s metaphorical season.

Do we not have better things to dialogue about?

Is it really that interesting that one of Canada’s cities was the coldest place on the planet for one day?

How’s your heart doing today? Isn’t that a gooder!!

What about snow? There are places in southern Canada that have had snow this week and their schools have been closed because of it. Welcome to Canada my friends.

This northern girl grew up in cold and with snow piled up to the roof. She had to embrace it all with big heavy mitts.

Now, I live in a balmy four seasons utopia where I truly can say I enjoy each and every season.

Winter.

Deepness.

Spring.

Growth.

Summer.

Flourishing.

Fall.

Gathering.

To embrace this season, this winter wonderland a friend and I flew away to the ski hill on Wednesday.

To hike…

To cross country ski…

And to skate…

As a friend once told me, there truly isn’t bad weather, just bad clothing.

Put on that bikini, hat and sunscreen.

Or those gumboots and rain jacket.

How about that comfy scarf and tall boots.

Or those wool socks and long johns.

Four seasons.

Winter.

Deepness.

Spring.

Growth.

Summer.

Flourishing.

Fall.

Gathering.

Embracing them all.

Creating freedom.

Controlling what I can.

Choosing to embrace and release the rest.

Being free.

Each day.

As the sun shines, snow falls, wind blows or rain rolls in.

Blessings poured over each of you as you live life in the season you are in.

😘 Joanna

Be Sharing a Song

🎵 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!

I am ENOUGH 

Well folks… it has taken slightly more than seven years and a weekend in a narrow hotel conference room to come to the realization about this blog and my life.  These last seven years have been about feeling like I am never enough and the journey to be enough.  Yup, all these post have been all about me trying to figure out what the f*** is going on from the inside out but my lense was focused from the outside in. 


I was trying to figure out how to be enough, do enough and to truly find fulfilment and meaning while being enough. 

But I was blowing in the wind. 

By others. 

By circumstance. 

By the season. 

Without any reason! 

Two and a half weeks ago, I was sitting in a hotel conference room at a weekend event with my nutritional company and incredible teammates.  (And as you read this you will realize that my business is built on so much more than a brown box of super foods but the super foods were what got it all started three years ago.)

This weekend, for me, was about getting honest with who I really am and how I wanted to show up in the world every single day.   The little sister, the high performance athlete, the mediocre student who wanted to be enough was going to be found that weekend and transformed from the inside out. 

At the beginning of the weekend, I shared how I always felt bad. Really bad! Truly, feeling like I never could be enough to anyone nor myself.   I spoke this out loud.  

I was brave. 

I dove all in. 

I shared my journey. 

Always striving. 

Always seeking. 

Always driving. 

Always trying to figure things out. 

Well folks, I figured it out!  The heavens parted and the light poured in.  I saw this Vision Triad: 


Three sides of a triangle and wham, I had figured it out. 

My identity was broken and a burden to me! I hated myself and who I perceived myself to be through other people’s lenses.  My vision and my purpose have always been strong and joy-filled with thinking about where I want to go with my life and why.  

I am a wife to Sexy Neck and a mama of boys. 

I am a jock. 

I am a wordsmith who loves to play with words and record peoples stories.  

I am a heartfelt friend who is very loyal.  

I am a child of The Father. 

I am a growth junkie.  

I am business builder for the most integral health and wealth company in the world. 

I am a guide in seeing people be set free. 

I am a millionaire who is a reservoir and river of money. 

BUT, why was I feeling held captive and why was I feeling bad all the time? I was missing my identity.  The third corner of my triangle was a crumbled mess focused on broken relationships, performance, perfection, peoples words and never being able to be enough.  

Cue angels signing. 

Cue butterflies fluttering. 

Cue laughing children.  

Cue zoom shot to my face. 

IDENTITY discovered!  Yup, that’s what this smirk is about.  

I found my fulfillment and meaning through many years of playing with words here with you alongside intentional growth all brought together in one weekend. 

What MUST I do in my life? What MUST you do in yours? 

I MUST be with Sexy Neck and my three boys creating magical memories and peaceful, joyful mundane moments.

I MUST express my energy with movement and set goals with a little bit of competition intertwined. Do you want to make a bet on it? Yup, always a competitive jock! 

I MUST share my love of words, my teacher’s mind, my growing mama’s heart by sharing my stories and others. 

I MUST surround myself with likeminded heartfelt friends who are honest and loyal

I MUST remember my ancestry, my scrolls and that I am a child of The Father. 

I MUST always be growing. 
I MUST always share mine and others transformational stories as a business builder for the most integral health and wealth company in the world. How is it possible the same systems can help people release a hundred pounds or gain twenty pounds in lean muscle mass? Yup, that is integrity. 

I MUST help set captives free as I know this former prisoner life. 

I MUST be a multi-millionaire who creates change in the world starting with our family, city, province and country. 

I am a strong, kind, intelligent woman. 

I am a shit disturber. 

I am significant. 

I am valuable to others. 

I am standing. 

I am grateful.  

I am a lighthouse. 

I am a Big Spirit. 

Success is lovely and I am having the time of my life. 

Being free.  

Being enough.  

I am freeeeee! 

I am enough! 

The bathroom mirror at Cafe St. Germain told me too: 


Thank you Rod, Ashley, my fellow Top 50 teammates and especially to Sexy Neck and my brood of boys for giving me grace and enthusiasm to be catapult me into exponential growth.  

✨🙏🏻Glory to God who’s power in us is infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. 

And that’s all folks.  Til we meet again on the other side of being enough. 

With gratitude for this journey with you. This isn’t goodbye, it’s a see ya later alligator. 

Xoxo 😘 Joanna 

I am ENOUGH 

Well folks… it has taken slightly more than seven years and a weekend in a narrow hotel conference room to come to the realization about this blog and my life.  These last seven years have been about feeling like I am never enough and the journey to be enough.  Yup, all these post have been all about me trying to figure out what the f*** is going on from the inside out but my lense was focused from the outside in. 


I was trying to figure out how to be enough, do enough and to truly find fulfilment and meaning while being enough. 

But I was blowing in the wind. 

By others. 

By circumstance. 

By the season. 

Without any reason! 

Two and a half weeks ago, I was sitting in a hotel conference room at a weekend event with my nutritional company and incredible teammates.  (And as you read this you will realize that my business is built on so much more than a brown box of super foods but the super foods were what got it all started three years ago.)

This weekend, for me, was about getting honest with who I really am and how I wanted to show up in the world every single day.   The little sister, the high performance athlete, the mediocre student who wanted to be enough was going to be found that weekend and transformed from the inside out. 

At the beginning of the weekend, I shared how I always felt bad. Really bad! Truly, feeling like I never could be enough to anyone nor myself.   I spoke this out loud.  

I was brave. 

I dove all in. 

I shared my journey. 

Always striving. 

Always seeking. 

Always driving. 

Always trying to figure things out. 

Well folks, I figured it out!  The heavens parted and the light poured in.  I saw this Vision Triad: 


Three sides of a triangle and wham, I had figured it out. 

My identity was broken and a burden to me! I hated myself and who I perceived myself to be through other people’s lenses.  My vision and my purpose have always been strong and joy-filled with thinking about where I want to go with my life and why.  

I am a wife to Sexy Neck and a mama of boys. 

I am a jock. 

I am a wordsmith who loves to play with words and record peoples stories.  

I am a heartfelt friend who is very loyal.  

I am a child of The Father. 

I am a growth junkie.  

I am business builder for the most integral health and wealth company in the world. 

I am a guide in seeing people be set free. 

I am a millionaire who is a reservoir and river of money. 

BUT, why was I feeling held captive and why was I feeling bad all the time? I was missing my identity.  The third corner of my triangle was a crumbled mess focused on broken relationships, performance, perfection, peoples words and never being able to be enough.  

Cue angels signing. 

Cue butterflies fluttering. 

Cue laughing children.  

Cue zoom shot to my face. 

IDENTITY discovered!  Yup, that’s what this smirk is about.  

I found my fulfillment and meaning through many years of playing with words here with you alongside intentional growth all brought together in one weekend. 

What MUST I do in my life? What MUST you do in yours? 

I MUST be with Sexy Neck and my three boys creating magical memories and peaceful, joyful mundane moments.

I MUST express my energy with movement and set goals with a little bit of competition intertwined. Do you want to make a bet on it? Yup, always a competitive jock! 

I MUST share my love of words, my teacher’s mind, my growing mama’s heart by sharing my stories and others. 

I MUST surround myself with likeminded heartfelt friends who are honest and loyal

I MUST remember my ancestry, my scrolls and that I am a child of The Father. 

I MUST always be growing. 
I MUST always share mine and others transformational stories as a business builder for the most integral health and wealth company in the world. How is it possible the same systems can help people release a hundred pounds or gain twenty pounds in lean muscle mass? Yup, that is integrity. 

I MUST help set captives free as I know this former prisoner life. 

I MUST be a multi-millionaire who creates change in the world starting with our family, city, province and country. 

I am a strong, kind, intelligent woman. 

I am a shit disturber. 

I am significant. 

I am valuable to others. 

I am standing. 

I am grateful.  

I am a lighthouse. 

I am a Big Spirit. 

Success is lovely and I am having the time of my life. 

Being free.  

Being enough.  

I am freeeeee! 

I am enough! 

The bathroom mirror at Cafe St. Germain told me too: 


Thank you Rod, Ashley, my fellow Top 50 teammates and especially to Sexy Neck and my brood of boys for giving me grace and enthusiasm to be catapult me into exponential growth.  

✨🙏🏻Glory to God who’s power in us is infinitely more than we can ask or imagine. 

And that’s all folks.  Til we meet again on the other side of being enough. 

With gratitude for this journey with you. This isn’t goodbye, it’s a see ya later alligator. 

Xoxo 😘 Joanna 

Be Wondering About Writing

As I wonder and wander through my daily life and hangout with my peeps, many of you have asked, “What are you going to be writing next?”

A few of you might now be wondering, “What do you mean next? What happened to the book that I have been editing for the last year?”  Well this happened:

i-am-free-book

I decided that this beautiful book about finding freedom on the inside and outside as a human being was just for ME!  And here is the book cover:

i-am-free-book-cover

Yup, it took me slightly over a year to edit and I decided to put this little baby into the filing cabinet.  And I feel free!  It was just for me.  It has been an incredible year of growth and seeing it written on the pages of a book over twelve chapters has been humbling and freeing!  I released it into the filing cabinet and for the last two weeks I have been wondering what WILL I be writing next?

I write every morning to pray and meditate over.  I write to hold and create my vision.   I write to pour out from within.  I allow my words to come out from pen to paper without judgement and without stopping.  It just flows from within, uninhibited, flowing wherever it wants to go.  I write to edify others.  I write to pour out inspiration on facebook.  I write because words do matter, they are the sword of the spirit.  They come from within and wield power.  My sword is covered with white chocolate and is meant to be sweet and easy to savour.  I pray my words always fill the sweet spot in your soul!

img_9135

Now what am I going to write, I wondered? And then I remembered these beautiful journals!  Letters to my boys that I started writing when I was pregnant with each of them.  Letters that I wrote daily or weekly about what I was observing as I have the privilege to watch them grow.  Writing between a mama and her boys, from my heart to theirs.  I stopped writing when my mom was living with cancer and since 2013 these journals have moved homes and sat in a cupboard.   And now as I have been set free from the book I completed, I am now going back to my boys.  Backwards to move forward.  Slowing down to speed up.  Writing to them, for them and with them as I watch them grow!

If writing isn’t your thing, what will you wonder about and where will it take you?

Wonder.

As you wander.

Be a human being.

Be present.

Be awake.

Be.

Enough.

img_9138

 

Be Saying Goodbye to the Backup Boyfriend

You remember in high school when you dated that guy?

That guy that you kind of knew was not the ideal match for you?

That guy that made you look around and think, “Well, if this doesn’t work out, no worries, I could date  _______________ (insert name of another guy)!”

Do you remember your backup boyfriend?  That OTHER guy that was your friend and that you knew you could always fall back on.  Perhaps its the same backup boyfriend that you made a pact with to marry if you were both single at thirty?

Well tonight, I am saying goodbye to a whole bunch of backup boyfriends.  There are no more backups for me.  I am taking 100% responsibility for my life.   My decisions are mine.  I run my thoughts.  I create my actions.  I can do whatever I want.  I am closing the book on a whole bunch of backups in my mind!

IMG_5331[1]

Goodbye to my beautiful backups:

  • My job that was ‘safe’ but not fulfilling, but had a good pension and benefits too!
  • The stuff I keep holding on to because I may “miss it”!
  • A mindset with certain family members that they will always be there if I “need them”!
  • Clothing or workout equipment that I keep around because I may wear it or use it one day!
  • People in my life that are beautiful to look at, but really don’t add any value.  People who aren’t fun nor stretching themselves.
  • Food that stuffs me down, rather than fueling me to rise up.
  • Trying to swim close to shore because “you never know”.
  • Any backups that you could add as you let this land on you?

I can no longer doubt my abilities relying on the backups to help me move forward.   I need to believe 100% in myself, letting go of the backup mindset!

Doubt and belief cannot live in the same space that I am creating.

Growing.

Without backup.

With excitement.

With gratitude.

For all that I am and all that I can do.

Being enough.

Being me!

Be Rich! $$$

What would it mean to you to be rich?

Could it be possible for you?

I knew it was possible for me but I didn’t ‘know’ how.

Until now…

Rich can mean having a great deal of wealth or assets. It can also mean being plentiful or abundant.

I have finally figured out that I am rich!  Yup, ME!

⭐️ I have space in my life to create the days I desire.

⭐️ I am privilege to look into the eyes of these beautiful souls on a daily basis and to witness my children’s childhood.


⭐️ I am present with intuitive friends like Ned, Isa, Ang and Mich and talk about healing, dreams or life.

⭐️ I watch our four year old love up his dog while Summer lies in the snow.


⭐️ I smile at people as we walk by each other, sharing time and space.

⭐️ I talk about water, sleep, protein, minerals and poo with people.  (Ah the richness of health!)

* I believe money is a river that flows as we help others around us.

⭐️ We are able to create a suite in our backyard to invite new people into our lives.


My eyes are opened up to how rich or abundant my life is.  I just didn’t see it before.  I lack nothing.

I lack NOTHING!

I have more than enough.

I live in abundance.

I am enough.

With great richness surrounding me everyday.

Look, what riches do you see around you?