Over the Thanksgiving Day long weekend, one of the many activities I did with my wife and kids was heading out into the countryside to go apple-picking.  After spending some time foraging for the best apples from the wide variety offered within the orchard’s groves, we decided to take a short break at one of the many playgrounds found around the orchard.  While my wife went off to purchase some of the local, freshly made treats being sold at one of the farm’s shops, I found us a picnic table on which to place our sizable share of apples as our children ran off to enjoy the large wooden playground nearby.  Waiting for her to return, I soon found myself mesmerized with watching my girls play; of seeing them taking turns sharing the rocking-horse swing and leading each other in and around the playground fort.  It was a simple moment and yet at the same time, it helped to shine a light on what all those daily struggles during the work week were for. Click here to continue reading »”Savouring The Bounty of Our Lives”

Last week I read a blog post from a fellow blogger which started an interesting conversation about rude behaviour in our society.  On the heels of the infamous “You lie!” outburst during President Obama’s speech to Congress and Kanye West’s interruption of Taylor Swift’s acceptance speech during the MTV Video Music Awards, she wondered if these are signs that our society is becoming more disrespectful of others. Although this question initially brought forth memories of my own encounters of churlish behaviour while driving, walking in shopping malls, and interacting with others on various social outlets on the internet, it also made me realize that there’s some hope to be found in these examples of uncivilized behaviour.

No, I’m not a magician. Just read on and you’ll see. Click here to continue reading »”Is Our Society Becoming More Rude?”

This past weekend, I had the opportunity to listen and participate in an interesting discussion that took place following a presentation by CT Moore at the latest edition of PodCamp Montreal.  Although his talk revolved around whether a particular character from the drama series “Mad Men” would consider writing a blog, the conversations it sparked got me thinking about the stories that we tell.

Without question, we all have stories that we choose to share with others.  When we meet people for the first time, we often share with them the story of what we do for a living.  With those we’re more familiar with or comfortable talking to, we share stories about what we did over the weekend or what latest feat our child recently accomplished.  As the years roll on by, we share stories from our past that remind us not only of the good times we’ve had, but also of how far we have travelled since then.  With the growth in online social networking sites, our ability to share such stories has unquestionably grown, if not along with it the size of audience we might draw in with our tales.  But what about the stories we now share?

Click here to continue reading »”Telling The Story Of Ourselves”

If you’re like me I’m sure you’ve had days where the size of the To-Do list looks insurmountable, the weather outside is dreary and uninviting and basically, you find yourself without any motivation to get your day going.

On some of these days, when we’re stuck trying to figure out how we’re going to get our momentum back, we receive this unexpected but welcome distraction – an email from a friend thanking us for what seemed to us to be a simple effort, a congratulatory note about some recent work we shared on Facebook or Twitter, or perhaps just one of our friends sharing some humourous anecdote that makes us laugh. On the surface, these gestures are simple and unassuming; however, on those days where we’re facing down a bad case of the blahs, they have the power to make us suddenly bound forth with renewed enthusiasm and verve.

Without question, on those days where we feel uninspired or weary, these simple efforts are a welcome arrival, the emotional equivalent of Click here to continue reading »”Making Life’s Little Moments Count”