Story to tell....Veronique

 « There is no need to be scared little one. » she said.  « How can you know? » the little girl asked.  « Because you are stronger than you think, not as lonely as you think, and definetely have the spirit and wisdom of an old soul. » she said. « But I am scared that I won’t be able to do it on my own. That I won’t know what the right path is and get lost along the way. » the little girl said. «  You might get lost along the way but who says it’s going to be a bad thing. Perhaps it will be the greatest journey of your life! » she said, «  Facing your greatest fears will bring you freedom and love beyond measure. » « I really don’t know how to do it and I don’t want to get hurt. » said the little girl.  « I understand, more than you can ever imagine. I’ve been there before, and I really thought I was not going to find a way out. I was looking for a solution that was external to me, a miracle. A miracle did appear, but it wasn’t in the way I thought it was go...

If you like me, you dread the arrival of the fall, the darknest, the lack of sun and warmt, the shorter days, the wind, the rain and the feeling that you are going into hibernation, your whole body wanting to shut down from the world. The motivation eludes you and you have a hard time adjusting to it. For me, it’s feels like heaviness! Maybe it’s because I enjoy the summer so much, with all it’s possibilities and sense of freedom. This time last year was perticulary tough, for all of us. Most of our countries government sent us in the hardest winter most of us will have gone through in our life time.  As I am going into this fall and winter, I feel an extra heaviness. Perhaps it’s related to the residus effects of the pandemic, of all we had to endure since last fall, even though the mesures have relaxed quite a bit. I feel the world is tired and it holding on for dear life, that this winter will not be the same as the previous one. I’ve been thinking the last few days, that I have...

It had not always been this way.  Sitting on the sidewalk, broken and frail, the skin of his face aged by the weather and cold from all those nights spent outside in the later part of his life.  Life had been so full of possibilities, yet, it was now reduced to the judgement of those passerby, who barely gave him a look, far from the connection he used to share with them in his early life. --- Jean was young, living with his parents and 3 siblings in Montréal, in the borough of Hochelaga. The house they were living in wasn't the biggest on Pie-IX boulevard, but it was confortable.  Jean's dad was a doctor, and worked very hard to provide a full life to his family. Getting a formal education was very important to him, and Jean, the oldest, was a few years prior enrolled in a private school were he could perfect his knowledge under the tutelage of the best teachers of the city.  A well rounded education was a priority for Jean's father.  In school Jean's became on...

Armand l'a trouvé longue la criss d'hiver. Assis sur son perron, dans sa chaise berçante qu'il avait déménagé depuis le salon, Armand réfléchissait.  De l'autre côté de la rue, les enfants du voisin s’amusaient a sauter dans des flaques d'eau. La mère, avec son bébé dans les bras, surveille les enfants en berçant son bébé d'environ 6 mois dans ses bras. Elle avait l'air fatiguée. Armand ne les avait pas vu souvent de sa fenêtre cet hiver. Habituellement ils étaient toujours dehors, hiver comme été, mais c’était différent depuis Octobre dernier.  Armand pensa a sa propre famille, qui était loin et qu'il n'avait pas vu depuis plus d'un an. Maudit virus se disait-il. Pas qu'il les voyait si souvent auparavant, mais maintenant que c'était presque impossible, ça lui apportait une lourdeur au coeur. Armand n'était plus jeune, il ne se faisait plus d'histoires ça fait longtemps. Sauf peut-être cet hiver! Olive, sa femme, était entrée l...

The journey to inner peace is not an easy one, but certainly one that is possible. I’ve experienced inner peace, at multiple moments in my life. My latest inner peace moment filled me with a wave of happiness, hope and relief.  I have been working for years on myself, going through ups and downs. I had periods of great clarities, and others where I’ve felt lost and disconnected.  I always knew that inner peace was attainable. I could witness it in some people that surrounded me, close or afar, that truly exuded this magical aura. I was attracted to that inner beauty, and every time I would witness it, it reminded me that this is what I was working for. Yes I got lost on the track a few times, but now I know that getting lost was my soul telling, with a figurative baseball bat to the forehead, ‘Hey girl, time for you to stop ignoring all the signs I’ve been sending you, and put in the work to solve those inner conflicts! » It’s amazing how much I would be fighting it, and hopin...

International Women’s Day has always been very meaningful to me. It’s a cause for celebration, for all the progress that we have made as a society towards gender equality, diversity and inclusions. We’ve seen in the past year, that this progression is at risk and being put into question! As a country, Canada has made great progress, towards equality.  In 1918,  all white caucasian women get the right to vote to the federal elections. Only in1960, 42 years later, do all minority groups are finally allowed to vote, including aboriginal men and women. Quebec, in 1940 and the Northwestern Territories, 1951, were the last to grant women the right to vote in provincial elections. Before 1928, the Supreme Court of Canada, decided that women, could not be considered a « person ». However, in an appel to the Privy Council, women were finally considered as a « person » under the law, starting in 1929, giving them the right to hold political offices and have the right to possessions....

The first snow flakes are falling from the sky.  For some folks, it’s the first time of a long winter ahead. For others, it’s a sign of nature. A reminder that everything in life needs to slow down at some point, to regenerate itself.  We’ve all had to slow down to some degree in this past year. Slow down from this rat race that can sometimes become life. Normally we need to schedule time in our life to slow down. We plan this grand vacation, to go lay down on a beach, or to travel to a country that we’ve never been. We set our sights on this reward, and it encourages us to keep going and keep pushing in the day to day, thinking that « yes! Only a few weeks lefts before.... » to motivate ourselves that we will finally be able to get a breather. To breathe, to slow down, to enjoy the moment and admire all that surrounds us. We were scheduling that time. This year, we didn’t need to schedule. The ability to slow down was given to us, on a not so pretty platter, but it was. It ha...