This week a good friend of mine said goodbye to her 45-year-old sister Yola who lost a brave battle with cancer. At the service there was standing room only in the chapel, in the hallways and in a big double overflow room. What a testament to a life well-lived. Continue reading
Tag: Brave
I saw an anonymous meme on Facebook that said, “The trees are about to show you just how beautiful letting go can be.”
This really made me pause as I turned the calendar to start the crisp, colourful month of October. It must be so freeing for the trees to let everything fall away and realize that they can face the world with nothing to hide behind. Because their roots are strong enough to withstand anything the world brings. Continue reading
An excerpt from my book, The Treasure You Seek, highlighting the Invictus Games happening in Toronto this coming week. May we cheer on these epic heroes who are inspiring us all.
May 4, 2016
The captain of my soul
Prince Harry was a soldier fighting on the front lines in Afghanistan. When the media got word of this and shared it, he was forced to come home and leave his fellow soldiers behind. It would have made it more dangerous for everyone if he’d stayed. But it devastated him to go.
On the flight home, he saw a soldier’s coffin being loaded onto the plane.
Harry said, “Once in the air, I stuck my head through the curtain to see three British soldiers, really young lads, much younger than me at the time, laid out on stretchers in induced comas. All three wrapped in plastic, missing limbs, with tubes coming out of them everywhere. It struck me that this was just one flight of many carrying home men and women whose lives would be changed forever. And some who had made the ultimate sacrifice.”
It got him thinking. How could he do something to help these heroes live the new life they would be living, to help them feel valued and validated?
And the Invictus Games were born. This is an opportunity for wounded soldiers to find a new meaning in life after being injured. To pour their energy into competing against others just like them. To fuel their soul.
The second annual Invictus Games starts shortly in Orlando, and the third Invictus Games will be in Toronto in 2017.
William Ernest Henley said in his poem “Invictus”: “It matters not how strait the gate, how charged with punishments the scroll. I am the master of my fate: I am the captain of my soul.”
Being the captain of your soul is the ultimate goal in life: to have a purpose and to put one foot in front of the other with that purpose in mind.
Harry’s creative solution has changed lives and given our heroes their power back. What can we do to make a difference in our own lives and in the lives of those around us? How can we be the master of our own fate?
Author Brené Brown said, “Owning our story can be hard but not nearly as difficult as spending our lives running from it. Embracing our vulnerabilities is risky but not nearly as dangerous as giving up on love and belonging and joy—the experiences that make us the most vulnerable. Only when we are brave enough to explore the darkness will we discover the infinite power of our light.” Continue reading
Last night was a milestone for our family. Our oldest son graduated from Grade 8. It was a beautiful evening of group pictures and awards, friends and celebrations, dancing and swimming. I know he’ll never forget it. Continue reading
This past weekend we attended an epic celebration in honour of my mom who was named Toronto’s Mayo Person of the Year. As I watched her friends gather at the banquet tables, her family who flew in from Ireland, and her grandkids putting on an Irish dance show on the floor, I thought to myself, “Isn’t it grand when we gather together for good reasons?” Continue reading