Do you know someone going through a cancer journey? I’ve worked with all sorts of clients who’ve had cancer and I’ve even had close family members go through it and come out on the other side. 

I’ve witnessed that it can be a time where there’s fear, doubt and discouragement. I’ve also seen incredible people embrace the experience as an opportunity to get clarity on what they really want and shift their priorities in order to experience ultimate health.

One of my remarkable clients, Tanya West, is courageously hosting a summit this week (November 2-4) with a variety of exciting speakers (including yours truly) and I wanted to share it with you because it takes the cancer journey and fills it with hope, inspiration and an opportunity to cultivate a deep sense of trust that all is well, even though circumstances may appear otherwise.

Click here to register for the You Are Stronger Than You Realize Summit, or feel free to pass along the link to...

The other day, I was making dinner and pasta was on the menu. I reached into our (spectacularly organized and visually appealing) pantry (three cheers for everything I learned about creating beautiful spaces from the Home Edit) and pulled out a package that my husband must have picked up at a local Italian market, because it was the first time I saw that brand of pasta. It was a curious combo of orecchiette (ear shaped pasta which is admittedly, a little weird) and some rolled up tubes.

Because I hadn’t seen this kind of pasta before, I checked out the instructions and was so delighted that I have to share them with you. 

The important things to note:

I felt differently about this pasta than any other time I’ve prepared it, because the instructions mentioned the care that was taken to create the pasta, along with some of the other people involved. Because it was brought to my attention, I treated the pasta with more reverence.

Cooking this pasta was described as an...

Every so often, I’m sharing my favourite Self-Care products with you, because I’ve put in a lot of leg work to find the best of the best, and I thought you might like to know about the products that have come out on top. Welcome to this month's instalment of the CSC List. We're talking toothpaste.

When it comes to things I put in and on my body, I’m super picky. I don’t tend to buy products at drug stores or grocery stores (unless they’re health food stores) and I’m wary of big brand names because they tend to use all sorts of chemicals and ingredients that are good for their bottom line, but not good for our bodies or our precious ecosystem.

Today, I want to share my favourite toothpaste with you because what you choose to put in your mouth twice a day is pretty important. 

Before the big reveal, here are a few common ingredients in regular toothpaste that don’t belong in bodies:

>Artificial Sweeteners (knows to cause all sorts of...

For my Canadian friends, I hope you had a splendid and glorious Thanksgiving. At one point, we had 5 pumpkin pies in our fridge, so I declare our celebrations to be a success. At another point, my family burst into collective song around the dinner table (Let It Go from Frozen because my niece is currently captivated by Elsa) and it was such a sparkly eyed, glowing hearts, radiating smile kind of moment. I hope you also had some heart warming experiences in your weekend.

Onto the yoga highlights:

For 6 days last week, I attended an online yoga retreat with my mentor, Dr Sue Morter, as part of the certification I’m working towards. There were so many powerful, delightful and teachable moments, and I learned so much, so I wanted to pass along a bit of the goodness.

Highlight #1

In our condo, we have floor to ceiling windows that look down over a T intersection, and the street that stretches out in front of us is currently draped in magnificent bowers of bright yellow leaves. My...

Have you ever wondered how you’re supposed to get it all in? (work, family, nutrition, exercise, meditation, journaling, pets, community, etc, etc, etc)

Sometimes, it can feel like self-care is just a whole other list of stuff to add to your already-packed day. 

When I first started paying attention to this thing called self-care, it took me around 90 minutes to do my routine in the morning. My kids were little at the time and they woke up early, so I decided to get up even earlier. That meant I had to get up at 5:00am to get it all in. My son, Oakley, had some sort of 6th sense, though, and he would hear me sneaking downstairs. 

That meant that many mornings I would be trying to meditate while Oakley would nestle in my lap and stroke my eyebrows, sucking away on his thumb. (He had this weird but endearing thing for eyebrows and brush cuts.)

Then I would try to do some yoga and he would crawl all over me while I attempted to breathe deeply, be patient and get the...

2 things to share with you today. 

First, I’m hosting a complimentary community call on Saturday October 2nd enticingly titled (insert fanfare noises) The ¾ Year Review.

If you feel like: 

• you’re always on the go 
• that your life is very busy and stressful
• there don’t seem to be enough hours in the day 
• you kind of have that ‘wind-blown look’ just from day to day living;

this call will help you get a handle on things.

One of the key teachings in Courageous Self-Care is to create a better relationship with time, and one way to do that is to look to the past with gratitude (rather than regret) and towards the future with anticipation (rather than fear).

During this 90 minute workshop-style call, you’ll get practical experience in honouring what has already happened and then we’ll set some intentions for the final quarter of 2021 so that you finish strong, clear and content.

You can expect to leave the call...

If you make your own smoothies, you’ll know that it’s more of an art than a science. I mean, sometimes I use the exact same ingredients on consecutive days, and one day it will be a lovely shade of enticing bright green and the next it’s some weird shade of brown. Kind of like Yoda’s bog. It’s inexplicable.

My husband, Paul, and I alternate who makes breakfast, because we generally like a hot cooked meal like a veggie stir fry, oatmeal or avocado toast. We include smoothies as often as possible. In our house, it’s a well known fact that my smoothies generally taste better than Paul’s. After all, I won the food studies award all three years in high school (which I thought was completely embarrassing at the time but now seems to come in handy).

Paul’s smoothies tend to be more on the experimental side, as in raw broccoli or cauliflower mixed with some fruit and maybe some almond milk. If you’re thinking that sounds gross, then,...

As I gaze out our front floor to ceiling window for inspiration, I see a gorgeous tall tree that’s turning from green to glorious yellow. It’s hugging the side of a stylish brick building where the sun is casting its leafy shadows. The sky is bright blue and it feels like a day full of promise.

I’ve got some medicinal teas percolating on the stove and the house to myself. What riches.

Now that you’ve got a good idea of my whereabouts, I’ve also got 3 things to tell you.

Thing 1

Tomorrow (September 15) is the end of the Earlybird Special for the book study that’s starting soon. It’s the most influential, game-changing book I’ve ever read, which is why I’m so keen to share it and you’re invited! All the details are at this link. 

Thing 2

One of the most important tenets of self-care is learning how to listen to your intuition and then trust it enough to act on it, even (and especially) when it’s...

Do you try really hard but don’t get the results you would expect for all the effort you’re putting in?

Would you say you’re a good student of life but you’re kind of (secretly) disappointed in how the Universe shows up for you?

Are you on a spiritual path but it just seems to be going reeeaallllly sloooooowwwwwllly?

That’s definitely where I was a few years ago. Pre-pandemic, really. I was doing all the things I’d been taught to do (meditation, gratitude, yoga, breathwork, journaling, etc) and yet it felt like A LOT of effort for kind of mediocre results.

Then we went into isolation and it was a huge gift because all of a sudden, I had time to do a course I’d been gifted called The Energy Codes, with Dr Sue Morter. It had sat in the ethers for many months but with us not going anywhere, Presto! - I made it happen.

And I fell in love. It felt like I had finally come home. Like everything I’d done up to that point had led me to that...

A few weeks ago, I had one of the scariest experiences of my life. My daughter had an unexpected medical emergency in the middle of the night and it sent me into a panic. (As in I couldn’t even remember how to dial 911 panic. I totally forgot about the “send” part to connect the call.)

As someone who doesn’t normally panic, it was a humbling experience. My husband is highly trained in first aid, so he attended to Zoe in a much more level headed way. At one point, he told me to get dressed so I could get in the ambulance when it arrived.

That clicked and I ran downstairs. It was then that I remembered my choice to trust in the Universe. In the midst of the nightmare, I decided to trust that everything was working out for our highest good. 

Once I remembered to trust, I was able to take some slow deep breaths and become more helpful and less of an issue.

Everything worked out better than we could have expected and Zoe is totally fine, thank goodness.

The...