Taking the week off to attend Art Camp!  Hope you get to participate and enjoy something fun this summer.

There are a lot of things we know about dealing with stress just from reading magazines: eat well, sleep well, think positively, exercise, surround yourself with a supportive group of people, and create balance between work and play. Yada yada yada. Nothing new here. However, I think that one of the most important things that often get missed is the idea of hope. Hope is like faith; it exists in our spirit and not in our tangible reality. I’m guessing that that’s why there aren’t theories and therapies about it. It is positive and in the future. And it’s an idea, not a reality. When we have hope, it can pull us out of that darkness and into the light. Without it, it is hard to bother to look toward the future. And it gets ignited differently in each of us. What is inspiring and creates hope in one person may do nothing for the next person. So we need to become like researchers looking for inspiration from the outside world but listening internally to see if that flame of hope has been ignited.
I think one of the most important things for your relationship with yourself, with your family and in the workplace is that you've gotta have hope and you've got to be focused on the things you have control of and not the things you don't in order to be really happy!!!!   
I get together on a regular basis for peer supervision with my colleagues. We all have different styles and each use different therapeutic techniques but the one thing we have all agreed upon regarding whether people heal or not is whether the person believes that there is hope for them to make the situation different.  I think you can make it different if you decide to make it different, have the proper support and a little hope.   Sometimes creating that ‘doable’ first step is the thing that ignites it. Jack Layton said "You can wait forever for perfect conditions or you can make the best of what you've got now."  He had hope during one of the most physically challenging times of his life and I think that ability is in all of us. I guess that is why I am writing this blog. I want to support people to create resilience and hope…..one day at a time.

Friends of mine recently posted a beautiful picture onto Facebook of a gorgeous double rainbow that they saw on the way to their cottage.  Their cottage is their sanctuary, their safe haven and personal shangrila.  They are conscientious about focusing on abundance and living in the moment in a positive way. Good for them.  That's the way to do it.  Their focus is on appreciating each other, what they've got and noticing the beauty that is around them.  The NEXT DAY they posted pictures of the wreckage that a storm had made of their cottage property having torn down trees on it's path through Southern Ontario.  Thankfully, my friends and their cottage were okay.  Their following facebook post is one of gratitude to the friends and neighbours who helped them clean up the debris.  That's all there is folks.  Mindfulness and being positive isn't going to bring 'good luck' or magical solutions.  It will bring deep appreciation for the lessons and support when things don't go well.  And, eventually, hard things happen...... to everyone.  Their story is an important lesson in mindfulness.  Pay attention to rainbows, 'good days' and good fortune.  And remember....they will pass.  They will come and they will go.   Pay attention to the storms and your pain and get the support you need instead of isolating.  Remember to appreciate those that have supported you.....that's the 'up' side of hard times.  And remember....it will pass.  Pay attention to your LIFE and remember.....it will pass.