Stepping out of the shade

by Jill Schroder “When day comes, we step out of the shade…” is an excerpt from Amanda Gorman, the youth Poet Laureate’s contribution at the Biden-Harris inauguration. This phrase landed with me and then rippled out. It does seem like we are stepping out of the shade now, in January. The days are getting longer,… Continue reading Stepping out of the shade

Waiting it out: patience in a time of COVID

by Stan Hirst Another year almost gone. Only 7778,582 seconds left to the end of 2020 says the doomsday app on my computer screen. There is a morbid fascination in watching seconds tick away on a coloured clock face. To think that somebody actually took the time (ha!) to programme an app like that. To… Continue reading Waiting it out: patience in a time of COVID

Finding balance amidst the tumult

by Jill Schroder Finding balance amidst the tumult – a challenge at any time, and particularly now that we are into the year-end holiday season and also into almost a year of Covid. The countless roller coaster restrictions affecting many people and many countries are at bending and breaking points, financially, physically, emotionally, and in… Continue reading Finding balance amidst the tumult

Living with uncertainty

by Jill Schroder Our southern neighbour is in the throes of a vital election which affects almost everyone on the planet and has created a lot of uncertainty.  In addition it’s a hugely challenging time for many of us in Canada and elsewhere.  There are risks of disastrous losses, multiple concerns, and deep uncertainty about… Continue reading Living with uncertainty

Cultivate Joy — we sure need it now!

by Jill Schroder Joy and delight, enthusiasm and lightheartedness are good for our health, our immune systems, and have trickle-down benefits for everybody and everything we come in contact with. I find that when I focus on joy and delight, love and light, my energy changes… the energy that I bring to whatever is in… Continue reading Cultivate Joy — we sure need it now!

Stepping beyond uncertainty

by Lillian Ireland There’s a dull ache from not knowing when these COVID days will end. I wake up each day from dreams of how I feel suspended and trapped inside a sea of strange disbelief and grief. It’s like a fictional foreboding from which I want relief. It feels like a hammer has pummeled… Continue reading Stepping beyond uncertainty

Life is in the transitions: mastering change at any age

Life Is In The Transitions: Mastering Change At Any Age by Bruce Feiler Penguin Random House LLC  2020| 368pp. Believe it or not, we are now in the ninth month of the COVID-19 crisis. According to the WHO the present epidemic raised its spiky viral head for the first time on 31 December 2019. It… Continue reading Life is in the transitions: mastering change at any age

Ladies and Gentlemen, a Supper Club

by Dan Kingsbury Recently the Suzuki Elders hosted a Grief and Praise Luncheon/Supper Club online in the Zoom environment for our Spring Social Event in these COVID times. It was attended by about 20 Elders who shared a virtual meal and then worked with the theme of both Grief and Praise as one word, i.e.… Continue reading Ladies and Gentlemen, a Supper Club

When I was a boy

by Diana Ellis When I was growing up, the utterance from my father of the phrase “when I was a boy…” usually at the dinner table, inevitably resulted in a combination of interest and eyeball-rolling, depending on how many times we had heard the story before. Now in my mid 70’s, this is one story… Continue reading When I was a boy