February 2012
3 posts
"I Woke Up in Paradise" -- Now Available
10 tags
My Next Adventure
I had one of those defining moments today. I felt a hesitation as I pushed the “return” button to submit my book for publication. My book seemed to spring from nowhere and suddenly, seven months later it was out. Now on to my next project. This may seem sudden, but as I practise what I preach, inspiration seems to be flooding over me and encouraging me to indulge in those things that...
My Book is Out!! My Book is Out!!
Well, it has finally arrived. After seven months of writing, editing and learning the ropes around publishing, my book is now available for sale. I can’t tell you how excited I am to be able to share this with you.
This is how it came into being. During the summer, I was trying to write blogs that would be appropriate for my life coaching website and there was a story stuck in front of...
January 2012
2 posts
7 tags
Right Brain/Left Brain
I am in my office again. I just finished a pretty easy week at work. I was only covering my own desk, which meant that I had a reasonable amount to do. There are definitely ebbs and flows of work and this was a particularly light flow. It is 6:00 p.m. EDT and it is pitch black outside. I wish that they would recognize that there has not been justification for Daylight savings time for over a...
8 tags
December 2011
3 posts
7 tags
5 tags
I Wrote A Book!
I have been writing a book since July and I plant to publish it early in 2012. I would like your opinion on a book cover. I have designed nine covers and they are all in a ONE question survey. The photos have the front cover on the right and the back cover on the left. The single question follows the nine photos and is on the second page of the survey. Let me know your favourite! Thanks. ...
5 tags
I Woke Up in Paradise: Point of No Return →
wokeinparadise:
It is Saturday morning. I spent Friday writing, editing and posting blogs on another topic and did not end up writing any of this story. I am sitting on my deck at the back of the house on a lounge chair. The deck is a half story above ground level and gives the feeling that you are elevated…
November 2011
6 posts
6 tags
I Woke Up in Paradise: Hill in the Park →
wokeinparadise:
My first kiss is another story. I mentioned my friend earlier that just happened to be the only girl my age on our block. She had found herself a boyfriend. I don’t know the details of how they started speaking but she had secured a time to meet him at a large park near our houses. Actually,…
5 tags
I Woke Up in Paradise: Admission →
wokeinparadise:
The only thing that still remained unresolved was my application for veterinary medicine. In order to apply to veterinary medicine there were several things that you had to complete. First, you had to fill out the paperwork and sign a release saying that they could access your marks. Then, you had…
9 tags
I Woke Up in Paradise: Crushing →
wokeinparadise:
It’s Friday evening, which I’ve mentioned before. It seems to be the day of the week that I need to take stock of where I am before I begin writing. Not a busy week this week, work wise. It was however, a very stressful week, but that’s another story.
I am up on my balcony. I will sit up here…
6 tags
I Woke Up in Paradise: Absence of Parents →
wokeinparadise:
The remaining memories of Oak Street were mainly of being alone. Unlike in the A-frame house, I have no memory of having a family dinner in the kitchen on Oak. I have no memories of watching television with my parents and I only have a few memories of playing outside. I don’t know if this was an…
9 tags
I Woke Up in Paradise: Oak Street →
wokeinparadise:
That was the day that I moved out of Oak Street, but I was there, off and on for six years. These years saw me through public school and into my first year of high school. By grade 10 I was too far away to walk to high school, but from Oak Street, the high school was only a couple of blocks away.
6 tags
I Woke Up in Paradise: The Only Thing Constant is... →
wokeinparadise:
I am in my office again. I just finished a pretty hard week at work. I was covering at least two desks, and three for a little while, which meant I had to constantly stay focused on the work. This is not normally necessary. There are definitely ebbs and flows of work and this was a particularly…
October 2011
9 posts
6 tags
I Woke Up in Paradise: New Friends →
wokeinparadise:
I’m in my office again. We’ve had hot sunny weather for most of July and I’m taking this cool, cloudy day as an opportunity to sit at my computer. The rose of sharon is now in full bloom and bits of the lawn are starting to turn green. We’ve had a little rain and that is helping.
So I started my…
It is only a week till Halloween. This time of year brings thoughts of candy, lots of scary movies on television, decorations and costumes. It can be fun to dress up as your alter ego or simply something that makes you look fantastic. While costumes can be fun, pretending to be someone that we are not can be exhausting. We have all learned that it is important to act a certain way in a certain...
7 tags
Why Are You Pretending?
It is only a week till Halloween. This time of year brings thoughts of candy, lots of scary movies on television, decorations and costumes. It can be fun to dress up as your alter ego or simply something that makes you look fantastic. While costumes can be fun, pretending to be someone that we are not can be exhausting. We have all learned that it is important to act a certain way in a certain...
I Woke Up in Paradise: Everything Changes →
wokeinparadise:
The most discreet and defining change in my life was about to happen shortly. My mother was very socially conscious and living in a wartime home was simply not good enough. She wanted to be looked up to, envied and seen as having it all. With this in mind, my parents set out to buy a new home. …
I Woke Up in Paradise: The Swing of Things →
wokeinparadise:
I have moved back into my office. It is a Sunday morning and the Rose of Sharon in my yard has recently begun to bloom. The flowers out front are all associated with bushes or plants that need little or no care. I had stipulated this when I had the gardens done. I also said that I enjoyed flowers….
Forgiveness
What does it mean to forgive? It seems to have a lot of different meanings to a lot of different people. In some circles, it means that one person forgives another person. I personally was not very comfortable with this definition because it didn’t feel right to me. Who was I to determine that I was in the right and they were in the wrong? Who writes these rules? Is there an appeal process? ...
Whether it is expediency in parenting or preparing us for the reality of our world, we all learn before we are too old that it is not OK to express all emotions in public, if at all. The phrase, “If you cry I’ll give you something to cry about,” was commonly used when I was a little girl. It was common knowledge that boys were not allowed to cry at all, because, “Big boys...
10 tags
Big Boys Don't Cry
Whether it is expediency in parenting or preparing us for the reality of our world, we all learn before we are too old that it is not OK to express all emotions in public, if at all. The phrase, “If you cry I’ll give you something to cry about,” was commonly used when I was a little girl. It was common knowledge that boys were not allowed to cry at all, because, “Big boys...
5 tags
Jump Start My Life
This is the Final Opportunity to Jump Start Your Life
Come and join me for six classes, given over ten weeks, that will give you the skills to find your passions, discover what is holding you back and give you the tools to create a fulfilling life.
Are you struggling with overeating? Do you find it difficult to get up in the morning? Have you lost your drive and...
September 2011
9 posts
I Woke Up in Paradise: Jumping to Conclusions →
wokeinparadise:
The experiment with the razor was not a unique event in my life, and for that matter may be more representative of how I have conducted my life than I care to freely admit. I’ve moved now. I am now sitting on my back deck, which overlooks a public green space. In July, which it is now, it is…
9 tags
I Woke Up in Paradise: Point of No Return →
wokeinparadise:
It is Saturday morning. I spent Friday writing, editing and posting blogs on another topic and did not end up writing any of this story. I am sitting on my deck at the back of the house on a lounge chair. The deck is a half story above ground level and gives the feeling that you are elevated…
We have been told repeatedly that we must fight against time; fight against our appetites and to fight against our bodies. Actually, wouldn’t it be nice to just stop struggling? How many people do you know that have themselves scheduled so tight that they barely have time for their family or friends? What are they told? You need to schedule time for yourself. Make dates with your partner so...
9 tags
No Pain, No Gain
We have been told repeatedly that we must fight against time; fight against our appetites and to fight against our bodies. Actually, wouldn’t it be nice to just stop struggling? How many people do you know that have themselves scheduled so tight that they barely have time for their family or friends? What are they told? You need to schedule time for yourself. Make dates with your partner so...
12 tags
I Woke Up in Paradise: Perpetual Motion →
wokeinparadise:
We did not stay in the apartment in the house for very long. Soon, a townhouse where my mother wanted to live became available and we moved into it. It was a clean, two bedroom unit that was small but was so well designed that you could have privacy and space all at the same time. We had the…
I Woke Up in Paradise: Only the Edges are Sharp →
wokeinparadise:
I’m sitting at my new MacBook Pro looking out the bay window of my office, which faces exactly east. I can see into my front yard, which is in terrible need of water. It has been a gorgeous July if you like to swim and sun bathe, which I do, but a terrible one if you are into water conservation….
I know that I hardly contacted you over the summer. That’s likely to happen again. I have decided to be true to myself and even though I was hoping to get newsletters out about once a month, it would’ve been in conflict with how I wanted to spend the summer. As Martha Beck says, “You have to live it to give it!” I wanted to sit by the pool and read magazines, swim and walk...
6 tags
Happy New Year 2011
I know that I hardly contacted you over the summer. That’s likely to happen again. I have decided to be true to myself and even though I was hoping to get newsletters out about once a month, it would’ve been in conflict with how I wanted to spend the summer. As Martha Beck says, “You have to live it to give it!” I wanted to sit by the pool and read magazines, swim and walk...
I Woke Up in Paradise: Crushing →
wokeinparadise:
It’s Friday evening, which I’ve mentioned before. It seems to be the day of the week that I need to take stock of where I am before I begin writing. Not a busy week this week, work wise. It was however, a very stressful week, but that’s another story. I am up on my balcony. I will sit up here…
August 2011
5 posts
9 tags
Two and a Half Men
I sat down in the family room to watch television and noticed that “Two and a Half Men” was on. I flipped to that station so that I could have it on in the background while I checked the listings to see what else was on. It was the episode of “Two and a Half Men” during which Alan is desperately trying to make extra money because Charlie has hit a dry spell. Charlie is...
10 tags
I Woke Up in Paradise: The Only Thing Constant is... →
wokeinparadise:
I am in my office again. I just finished a pretty hard week at work. I was covering at least two desks, and three for a little while, which meant I had to constantly stay focused on the work. This is not normally necessary. There are definitely ebbs and flows of work and this was a particularly…
10 tags
Stress Eating?
You are on your way to check out the new fish that are arriving today at the pet store and a car rear ends you at a stop sign. Then, you get there to find out that they haven’t arrived yet and you see your lover petting kittens with someone that you don’t know. You rush out of the store and run into an old nemesis and exchange comments and then you rush home and dive into the...
10 tags
I Woke Up in Paradise: New Friends →
wokeinparadise:
I’m in my office again. We’ve had hot sunny weather for most of July and I’m taking this cool, cloudy day as an opportunity to sit at my computer. The rose of sharon is now in full bloom and bits of the lawn are starting to turn green. We’ve had a little rain and that is helping. So I started my…
9 tags
There is More to Life Than Avoiding Death
I was sitting on my balcony, enjoying the warm air and how the twilight deepens the colours and ushers in a peace that used to precede sleep in those days before lighting, when a clutch of little girls walked by. One of the girls said, “My mother won’t let me sit in front of the television for very long, no screen, she’ll say after about an hour.
“I’m a...
July 2011
3 posts
Some like it Hot!
Summer sunshine brings life and colour to the landscape. Let it make your life beautiful as well.
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Especially in North America, we are all about the logical, scientific mind. We are quite confident that if you can measure it, test it and quantify it, “It” is real and worth our attention. We are driven by accomplishments and the accumulation of stuff and it feels like we are all in a great race to be the biggest, best, richest or most powerful. These “goals” are often...
13 tags
A Good Reason to Make Meditation a Part of Your...
Especially in North America, we are all about the logical, scientific mind. We are quite confident that if you can measure it, test it and quantify it, “It” is real and worth our attention. We are driven by accomplishments and the accumulation of stuff and it feels like we are all in a great race to be the biggest, best, richest or most powerful. These “goals” are often...
June 2011
1 post
10 tags
Are you Avoiding your Feelings?
Do you find yourself shopping when you don’t need anything and spending more money than you have? Do you eat when you are not hungry and past the point of being full? Do you need a drink in order to face your day, or perhaps several? People do many things to distract themselves from their feelings. If you do anything habitually, that you know you probably shouldn’t be doing as much as...
May 2011
5 posts
Group courses offer a lot of advantages over individual coaching. First, the overall price can be lower; second, you get to learn by hearing what other people have experienced and finally, you become part of a group that can be supportive as you work towards your best lives. I am interested in knowing what type of courses you would be interested in. There are so many factors to consider like...
9 tags
What type of Life Coaching Telecourse would you...
Group courses offer a lot of advantages over individual coaching. First, the overall price can be lower; second, you get to learn by hearing what other people have experienced and finally, you become part of a group that can be supportive as you work towards your best lives. I am interested in knowing what type of courses you would be interested in. There are so many factors to consider like...
Spring a Time for Renewal
Spring is a time of growth and expansion. Are you creating the life that you want? http://wendypowell.ca I know that many of you have no idea what life coaching is and what it means to be coached, so I am offering a free monthly telecourse. On the third Wednesday of every month: May 18; June 15th, July 20th….you get the idea, at 8 p.m. EST. You can call in and see what coaching is all about....
When was the last time that you were so eager to do something that you couldn’t wait? I’m not talking about getting to the end of work so that you can relax, or worse looking forward to retirement, I’m talking about looking forward to actually doing (rather than not having to do) something. This is not “living for the weekend”. I’m talking about actually having...
6 tags
What are you Passionate About?
When was the last time that you were so eager to do something that you couldn’t wait? I’m not talking about getting to the end of work so that you can relax, or worse looking forward to retirement, I’m talking about looking forward to actually doing (rather than not having to do) something. This is not “living for the weekend”. I’m talking about actually having...
April 2011
2 posts
It is no surprise to anyone that we live in a culture of fear. For the first time we actually have most of our needs met. Good housing, excessive amounts of food and few predators. However, having a low level of fear has been selected for in our evolution. Our brains were designed that way to keep us safe. There is a part of our brain called the amygdala that is ancient. When I say ancient...
6 tags
What are you Afraid of?
It is no surprise to anyone that we live in a culture of fear. For the first time we actually have most of our needs met. Good housing, excessive amounts of food and few predators. However, having a low level of fear has been selected for in our evolution. Our brains were designed that way to keep us safe.
There is a part of our brain called the amygdala that is ancient. When I say ancient...
March 2011
7 posts
Spring a Reminder of Change
Today is the quintessential first day of spring. Not the calendar month or the day with the highest temperature, the first day of the season. It is no longer winter. There may yet be snow but the snow that is here is melting. There is a slow rhythm of the drips as winter washes away.
The birds are back. The sky is filled with flight and sound. It is funny how much I’ve missed the beauty of...
Remember to take it. I shouldn’t have said that. I wonder what it will be like next year. And on and on it goes. There is a part of your brain that does nothing all day except generate words. This is similar to your digestive tract that spends its entire day processing food. You don’t need to be paying attention to your brain or your stomach for them to continue doing what they do. The...