Self-portrait

Chances are, somewhere in your home you have a picture or a portrait of yourself that is framed and hanging on a wall or sitting on a shelf somewhere. You probably picked this picture because you liked how you looked in it, and you may occasionally stop and have a good look at it, and think about the time or event when it was taken.

Did you know that there exists another self-portrait that only you can see? And that whether you realize it or not, you refer to this portrait many, many times a day?

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You Gotta Pay the Price

I am working with a new group of Triumph! coaching clients, and like every group I have ever worked with, there is always resistance to making the changes needed to have a different life.

Every goal, in any area of life, has a price you have to pay in order to achieve it. Read the rest of this entry »

Jan 26, 2009

Today, instead of lamenting about how I don’t like winter, I am going to focus on what’s positive about it. I need to do this for my own sanity, otherwise I am going to do something really rash, like pack the dog, the cats, my husband and I into the car and just keep driving until we find somewhere warm….somewhere where I won’t see my breath with every exhale, where the only salt I see is on my Margarita, (not on the sidewalk) and where I can expose some of my winter-weary-white body to the fresh air! Oh how I long to shed the layers and layers of clothing that are necessary to survive winter in Canada! Read the rest of this entry »

The Days are Getting Longer

Many people comment that February is the hardest month, but I beg to differ. In my experience, January is the worst month of the year. It’s not only cold in January, but the days are so short and the nights so long and dark. It takes a real willing of self to get my behind out of a comfy bed on a January morning when it is still pitch black outside. And January is a long month, with a full 31 days. In Canada, January 30th is traditionally the coldest day of the year. So I say, bring on February! Read the rest of this entry »

Lessons I’m Learning from the Dog

Tater, our new dog, has been learning all kinds of new things — how to walk on a leash, how to sit, stay, come and fetch, even how to let us know when she needs to go out. But surprisingly, I am learning a lot from Tater too! Here are some highlights: Read the rest of this entry »

Winter. Why?

Not sure where in the world you are reading this, but as I write, I am sitting in Toronto, Canada, a part of the world where winter takes hold, and like a dog with a bone, won’t let go. And we are firmly in the middle of a long, cold winter. It’s many weeks till the groundhog checks his shadow and we can even start to think about spring. Read the rest of this entry »

Looking back

Ah! It’s almost the end of the year. A significant time which has most of us reflecting back on the past year, and looking forward to the new one. And for many of us, we want to change and improve on things, so we make resolutions. I resolve this year I will __________(fill in the blank).

There’s a saying you’ve probably heard: The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over, yet expecting different results.

And how many of us start out the New Year with thoughts like “This is the year I am going to get my weight under control. This is the year I will stick to my diet and exercise plans. This is the year I won’t let stress drive me to the fridge. This is the year I am going to really be good and get the weight off.” Read the rest of this entry »

Old Habits Die Hard

This past weekend I had a fancy Christmas party to attend, and so I reached into the back of my closet to inspect my “not worn since last year” party clothes. And while I was looking forward to the party ahead of me, I found I actually had some anxiety as I took the clothes off the hangers.

And the anxiety increased as I undid the zipper and buttons, preparing to try on the first outfit.

But once I put the outfit on, and realized it “still fit”, the anxiety completely disappeared. Read the rest of this entry »

Dog Training

My husband and I recently adopted a young dog (8 months old) from the local Humane Society that we called Tater. And Tater is a lovely girl, very affectionate, but completely untrained. So we decided that in order for us to have more enjoyment of the dog, and even for the dog to have more enjoyment of her life, that puppy school was the way to go. We’ve all heard the saying “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks” so I figured we were good to go with our young dog, and expected puppy school to be a breeze.

Ha! Boy was I wrong! Read the rest of this entry »

Holiday Foods

Today I am going out for my first Christmas lunch of the season. I think the best thing about this time of year is reconnecting with people I haven’t seen in a while. There’s something about Christmas that brings people together, and usually these get-togethers involve food. Now I don’t know about you, but I love traditional Christmas foods…even the fruitcake! Read the rest of this entry »