2017's Power Word - Change

Each year I opt to not make resolutions but have a word that I try to live by throughout the year.   This word is used to focus or refocus my energy and direction throughout the year to try and live more authentically and with my whole heart.   

This year I am choosing the word Change.

Last year I embodied the word courage and worked through loads of my personal junk to get to a new place that leaves me ready to embrace the changes in direction my life needs in 2017.

 

Change… We don’t like it, we fear it.  But we can’t stop it from coming.  We either adapt to change, or we get left behind.  It hurts to grow.   Anybody who tells you it doesn’t, is lying. But here’s the truth: Sometimes change is good. Sometimes, change is…everything.

Blogging Hiatus Explained

It’s been a very long time since my last post…There have been many life events and issues that have got in the way of the blog the last 6+ weeks.   Maybe a little something more thought provoking next post...this one will be a news update.

As a short summary…

My FIL passed away On Nov 3rd.  Pop will always be remembered as the happiest man on earth.   Always a kind word, a friendly smile and encouragement for family, friend or stranger.

 

I then had a major extensive outage at work that kept me busy for 18 straight days.  The chaos was incredible to say the least but we have the best team of guys at 4CPL!    I am so fortunate to be part of such an amazing crew of guys and work with them on such major projects and for extensive hours and challenging circumstances.   They are a family to me…A fun dysfunctional one but one I would never want to trade.   At the end of that down we were all very tired and fully spent from long hours, trying meetings and ongoing schedule challenges but we are a closer bunch now for living through it together.   As the saying goes, those who experience a certain degree of suffering together create lasting friendships. 

 

The new tank installed after 18 chaotic days and some of the crew of a lifetime!

(Yes - We eat pizza A LOT...hence I need to run!)

 

My laptop was upgraded to the new OS and that has turned into a completely separate ordeal on its own.  The upgrade was supposed to include saving all my files and restoring them to the same locations after the upgrade…well that never happened!   Enough said on that topic!

Over this space of time we have had heated automatic watering installed at the farm.    It too came with some issues from contractors but they are now functional and in use.  Erla gives the single bowl a test.   Papa Bear has helped clear up the mess from the barn yard and pastures.   Still more work to do in the spring but it’s at least passable and a path to #1 is mucky clay free.

 

This beauty found her way into my heart.   The farm welcomed Tigger!   She will be staying mostly in the house for the winter and then we may let her venture outside as an indoor / outdoor cat for the spring and summer.

 

Erla had a bit of a hiatus from work during the extended outage.    But we have got back to schooling now and are having fun with the pedestal.   She got all 4 feet on this time; after some convincing!   Not able to get her 4 feet on when I am mounted yet but we are getting closer!

We have also enjoyed some late fall and early winter rides through the back 40.

Nothing new to report on Stewy…he’s still a handful!  Maybe will measure him in the next week to see if he has grown again.   He certainly is filling out and the bone in his legs is getting thicker.   Still all legs tho!

Spent the weekend with these women.  These are my life long friends from grade school.   These are friends that cannot see each other or talk to each other in months and pick up right where we left off the next time we see each other.  I am so lucky to have these wonderful childhood friends and I never for one second take how much they offer me in support and genuine love for granted.   Love you girls from the bottom of my heart.   xo 

 

Running has been on going throughout the last many weeks.   A couple of half marathons, two Santa runs, an Elf run and the Boxing Day 10 Miler.   Theresa and I have kept fit and sane because of our choice to run.   What great adventures and heartfelt conversations we have had on course…Thank you Theresa for always being there.   No one left behind! Xo

Niagara Falls Half - Brutal cold wet weather, but bettered my PR in the half marathon.

 Kit pick up day was much nicer than race day!!

 

Road to Hope Half – Beautiful weather for this one and Theresa and I stayed together to finish together.   This journey in life is about who it’s with. 

Hamilton Santa Run with North Shore Learn to Run crew – Great finishes for the LTR runners!   I bettered my time from last year in just over 24 minutes and ended up 1^s in my age group! 

Burlington Santa Run – Ended up second in my age group at this one.

Santa Shuffle – Elf run with Theresa supporting the Salvation Army.   Loved this course on the Dundas section of the rail trail.

Boxing Day 10 Miler – Ran off the turkey coma and a first for me on course, Theresa and I ran past a beaver that was 3 feet from us!!!

 

Have had some great runs with friends on Saturday mornings with NSR.   Looking forward to continuing the Around the Bay training with the crew over the winter.   ...Because running with friends when it’s cold and dark sure makes it a lot more fun!

The LTR group that I was helping coach also finished up for the fall session.   The crew only lost one runner from the start.   This is a pic from Grad night 5K.   So proud of this bunch for making this commitment to themselves for better health.   Three Cheers!

Now we reach Christmas!

Mom surprised me while I was on the shutdown and decorated the entire outside of the farm.   Here are just a FEW of the beautiful arrangements that she put together throughout the farm.   Love the horse heads at the gate!    AND the added touch of joy that the pots to the entrance to the arena add.   Thank you so very much mom….they are all  beautiful and much appreciated.  Xo

 

Christmas dinner was at the farm again this year.   The family feasted on turkey…both conventional and one from the smoker!

 

Energy, Josh Nichol Clinic, Engagement Party

Starting this blog just a tad deeper than normal but it's something that has been on my mind for sometime and I just can't let it rest.

Energy is in, around and left behind by everything on earth.

Some energy we hold with us.  We don't let it pass through our hearts.   We hold tight to this energy as we try to process it.  We let it disrupt our energetic vibrations.

This past year I have come to recognize that energy is meant to be felt, processed and then let go.  Energy needs to be experienced and passed through us, not blocked by our hearts.

Blocked energy has a way of turning up over and over again in our lives as a way for our minds to process it and let it go.  

I have come to realize that my entire life experiences change as energy gets blocked by my heart.  

Blocked energy changes your entire life.   Life in the now competes moment by moment with the stuff that didn't make it through.   Life in the now is clouded by the noise created by blocked energy.   Because blocked energy doesn't just sit silently waiting for you to process it!   It starts that dialogue within you.   It drives you crazy.   Blocked energy patterns that don't make it through your heart stay with you until you are ready to process them and let them go.   This energy is real.  It's packed full of details and emotions.   Blocked energy wants to be processed through the mind and when it can't get mentally processed...it goes to the heart.   This creates emotional turmoil.   This unfinished energy pattern leaves an impression of the past.   

I have come to learn that unfinished energy patterns end up running your life.  They do this by changing your day when an event that triggers an energy pattern you have stored and blocked in your heart resurfaces.   Something inside you changes.   You may become moody or emotional or irritated or your temper is short.   An event with tremendous detail is triggered by a single detail that replicated the events of the blocked energy.  It may have nothing to do with your current day but that blocked energy changes the flow of the energy in your heart and mind on that day unrelated to the day it was blocked.  That unfinished energy pattern is stored and reactivated until it can be let go.   

So...as much as I know what to do with unprocessed energy...I know it has to be let go...it's sometimes a hard choice...even when the mind knows it's how to clear it and let the heart be open.

On to lighter things!

Josh Nichol Clinic

I got to spend my Thanksgiving week being grateful for wonderful friends, open learning and no judgment.  We also got to spent a few hours together in a sharing circle where everyone let go of their egos and stepped into vulnerability.    We got to see our own horses and the horses of the people on this journey with us improve with greater connection and reverence.   

I am personally grateful that this energy connection I share with Josh has been able to grow and guide me...with horses; with being a better human.   

Sometimes the smallest of gestures to both horses and humans that can change a thought; change the energy.

Group - Oct 2016

Erla settling in

Erla in the arena

Thanks to both Barb and Dianne for taking these shots...She's a special horses.   She has a wise, old soul eye that has so much healing within it.

Horses

Izzy needed some maintenance work at her tree.

Before

After

Erla and I got the pleasure of seeing the sunrise on a day off in Oct.   

The horses have been enjoying fall grass after we have had a very dry and virtually grass-less summer.

I also spent a day out with one of my truest and best friends Reta at the Charlotte Dujardin clinic.  For those who do not know the queen of dressage, she is the British dressage rider who is the double Olympic gold medalist from London and Rio.    She is a delightful trainer who was focused on the lightness we need to achieve in the bridle not through pulling but by using our body and weight as the primary aids.   Her comment of the reins are for steering and not holding the horses head up or holding the horse back from running off.  YES, Yes, YES...

Reta and I took a cruise to the back on the RTV into the woods along the trail.   This is a place we both love...the forest.   Surrounded by the trees, the smell of the earth, the cycle of life.

I was able to show Reta the "round-a-bout" tree that my dad currently has marked as the dead end in the trail.

The Front Garden

Papa Bear helped me cut out the front lilac.   He cut and I hauled away the brush to the back.   Then he took out the old hydro pole and the stump.   Big transformation...all inspired by Mama Bear's vision and horticultural background.

Before

After

Running

Lots of running in the last while.    The fall racing season is here!   Hurray!

Sunrise run on a Saturday's long slow run with Carla and Tony.

One of the best parts of running with North Shore in Port Dover, after the wonderful group of people; is the lake.   How lucky to have this view over my shoulder as I celebrated working limbs, breathing lungs and beating heart.

Raced the Turkey Trot 5K with Theresa.   Ended up 1st in my age group and 3rd female overall.

Took home some great prizes from a well run country community race that was super inviting and friendly.

Cooling Runnings 10K Trail Race

Finished this one in a good time 11th overall and 5th place female.

Ran a second 10K loop with Theresa after the race since she got stuck working that morning until after race start.

Enjoying the Learn to Run (LTR) Coaching.    This is an enthusiastic, motivated group.   I am really proud of how far they have all come already on their running journey and I look forward to seeing them through to Dec when they run their first continuous 5K!

The trails are stunning right now.  Lucky to have 3 different perfect running trails right near me.   

This is the Chippewa Trail.

And saving the best til last....

The Engagement Party!!

DH and I hosted an engagement party at the farm for my niece Bell and her fiancee Jon.   Chilly but fun evening as we celebrated the love of a young couple.