I love to be very active and although I take pride in my fitness, I can’t say with any amount of confidence that I can lift very much.  Not in weight at least.

This week, however, I’ve had a chance to witness two instances of lifting that have been most impressive.

The first came on Monday afternoon.  I had volunteered to dance with my dance group, the Chinook Country Dancers, at a local senior’s residence.  Often we perform at locations that are ‘less well funded’.   Sometimes we have a peppy audience, other times it is quieter, and other times it can be hard to tell.  But we are reminded to bring our own energy and enthusiasm.  And we do!  This performance was scheduled to be part of the party celebrating all of the January birthdays.  When I say part of the party, I mean a big part; the other part was the little cup of ice cream that each resident was given to enjoy.  It was during the ice cream portion of the show that I witnessed my first act of lifting. 

An elderly woman was sitting, but reclined, in her wheelchair, just to the side of the dance floor.  Other residents were sitting at tables; some in chairs and some in wheelchairs.  There were about 40 or so altogether.  The woman in the wheelchair at the side of the dance floor slept through some of our first act and opened her eyes a bit at other times.  When it came time for ice cream, she could easily have slept through the event and she would never have known she had missed anything.  However, one of the workers at the residence quietly pulled a chair up next to her and gently awakened her.  She put a small bit of ice cream on a spoon and tenderly nudged her mouth open enough that she could get a taste. The resident did not fully open her eyes, but clearly she loved the ice cream.  She was willingly fed little spoonful after little spoonful by this thoughtful, sensitive support worker.  I found it hard to watch as my eyes seemed to keep filling with tears.  When I got home I said to Jim that I hoped that we each had someone to feed us ice cream when we get old.  Watching that support worker was such an example of lifting up; such a tiny gesture with such a huge impact. 

The second time that the idea of lifting up appeared this week was on Tuesday.  I was privileged to be invited to be a note-taker at St. Mary’s University as they hosted the National Education Roundtable for Truth and Reconciliation.  The room was filled with Canadians who came from coast to coast to report on what is being done in their districts to implement the Calls to Action in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report and to plan for next steps.  This closed door group was made up of what I call ‘The Big Wigs’.  They are people who work for Ministries in their provinces, Deans of universities, heads of government projects and others.  These people have huge influence on the audiences they speak to.   We heard incredible stories throughout the day, not only of work being done under the leadership of these people, but also true accounts of incidents that took place at residential schools.  We were reminded that part of what we are being asked to do is to ‘Lift Each Other Up’.  It is such a simple, powerful concept.  Throughout the day, participants lifted each other up as they honoured the stories and the work being done to implement the Calls to Action.

Mayor Naheed Nenshi of Calgary, has initiated a program called ‘3 Things for Canada’.  He quite simply asks each resident of the City of Calgary to do three things of service during this 150th celebration of Canada’s birthday.  In other words, he is asking us to think of three small ways that we can lift each other up this year.  I already witnessed two of those acts this week.

And it is very remarkable, as I have said before, once you think about something, and put your attention on it, opportunities appear.  Just this week my friend Sheri Bruneau, of GITYYC, sent me an invitation to be part of a Habitat for Humanity Women Build house-building in May.  For me, Mayor Nenshi, - that’s one!

My inquiry for you this week is this:  How am I lifting up? 

Please contact me to help you create your best year yet.  Living a life that matters is a matter of choice.  Choose well this year!

This year, 2017, Canadians mark the 150th birthday of Canada.  By world standards we are a young country.  By human standards, 150 years is a long time to be alive.  I was a young girl when Canada celebrated her one hundredth birthday.  People of my generation can remember well the lyrics to songs like C-A-N-A-D-A by Bobby Gimby .  By singing that song we all knew that we were 20 000 000 strong.

I’m such a proud Canadian.  I am hoping that all Canadians take time this year to celebrate our incredible country; not only the majesty of the landscape but also the freedom granted to us as citizens.  It’s pretty easy to take it for granted while we are slogging through our daily lives. 

One of the things I am privileged to do as a coach is to listen to clients answer the question, ‘If time and money were of no concern, what are the things you long to do?’  This question can be answered in the context of business or personal life.  The answers always inspire and amaze me.  Then even more inspiration comes when I hear the answers to my next question: What else? The trouble is that once people have voiced their answers, they can always think of many, many reasons why they could not possibly achieve these dreams.  Or sometimes, they think they can achieve them, but not right now; sometime in the future perhaps.  My challenge as a coach is to help change that limited thinking.

I lived a great deal of my life, quite happily I might say, thinking that if I could not see solutions to all of the problems that could arise with all of the steps required for me to achieve a goal, then the timing must not be right.  I believed that this was a message to me letting me know that sometime later in my life might be better. I realize now that I missed out on a lot of opportunities because my saboteur got in my head and convinced me to play it safe.

This year, the earth will circle the sun exactly once.  I have decided that my mission this year will be to embrace Canada and as many of its treasures as I can during that one trip around. 

When I am planning something my natural tendency is to get all of my plans down on paper, including the “how to” part.  However, for this trip, I am going to focus less on how and why, and more on what and who.  Two great questions I can ask myself are:

At the end of this year, who will I have become in the achieving of my Canada 150 goals?

And

What are the Canada 150 pictures I want in my Canada 150 Photo Album?

It is remarkable to notice how often, once someone declares that they are going to do something, people and opportunities appear (doors open) that help them along in their journey. You’ve likely had the experience of purchasing something like a new car, and then suddenly noticing all of the other similar vehicles on the road!  Or if you mention that you heard about some obscure fact, sure enough someone in your group will have something to add to that fact.  In just the same way, once people hear your goal, they will have tools to help you along.  I know from experience that stating my intention and taking firm steps in the direction of those intentions is enough to set this Canada 150 odyssey in motion. 

Last week I had been thinking about what we could do to kick off this adventure.  My mind was running all over the country and my active saboteur was sensibly reminding me that this is all too much!  But then I remembered that all I need to do is to take one step forward; one step in the direction of my dream.  I opened the Calgary Herald and read that hiking up Johnston Canyon to see the ice falls was rated the #1 Winter tourist activity by one of the tourism companies. I have since since seen it ranked #7 out of 127 things and #3 out of 73 things in Banff National Park.  We have hiked Johnston Canyon in the summer but had never thought of doing it in the winter.  We hatched a plan to make our first day of Canada 150 Critchley style, a trip to Banff National Park.  This National treasure is right in our backyard!

So last Friday, Jim and I played hooky, left early in the morning and drove west, watching the full moon set behind the mountains’ in front of us as we glimpsed a spectacular sunrise  in the rear view mirror.  We hiked Johnston Canyon, and then headed to Lake Louise to skate on the lake and to do some snowshoeing.  Talk about celebrating Canada: it was a perfect start!  Even my saboteur wasn’t able to convince me that -22°C was a good reason to abort the mission! 

 I haven’t figured out any of the details yet but I am adding to my list of Canada 150, skating on the Rideau Canal, seeing icebergs in Newfoundland and hiking at Whistler to name only a few.  I have many, many ideas on my list.  I am nervous even putting them in print.  I am however, more excited than nervous.  I know for sure that there is a great power in both saying things aloud and quietly writing them down.  I’ll keep you posted.  I have no rules about when or how or why; just inspiration based on what and who.

My question for you is, “What is it you are longing to do?”
 My challenge is: Before the end of the first month of 2017, what one step will you take to get you closer to achieving it?
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Be brave, my friends.  Canada 150 may not be your thing, but surely life is!
 
A friendly reminder about the new workshop I am offering next month.  The workshop is called. “2017:  Passport to Loving Your Life”.  I invite you to join me for the day of Saturday, February 11th, from 9:00am -3:00pm.  It could be a year changer!  See below for details. 

Jim and I went to see a wonderful movie this past week:  Hidden Figures.  It was based on the true story of three African American women who worked at NASA as ‘computers’ (math whizzes).  The story takes place in the 1960’s, during the time of the great space ‘race’.  It had elements of people overcoming obstacles: colour of skin, gender, technology, knowledge and more.   It was excellent!  I highly recommend it.  (And not just because of the math!)

While we were sitting in the theatre I was thinking about why I like to see some movies on the big screen.  We all know that through the magic of On Demand, and Netflix, we can see just about anything we want from the comfort of our own armchair in our own home.  However, the movie theatre still calls to me for certain movies.  I realized that this is because while I am in a movie theatre, I am fully present with whatever is happening on the big screen.  At home I can fix a snack, wash dishes text, and check email, all while I watch.  I can even pause a movie and come back to it when it is convenient.  I began to think of the connection between the ‘Big Screen’ and the ‘Big Picture’.  At the movies, they are the same thing.  When I am watching the Big Picture, I am making a choice to be present; to trade some of my time for the purpose of watching a movie.  When I do this, I tend to follow the plot more carefully, care more about the content and retain what I see.

And of course that got me thinking about life.  So often in life we get caught up in the little picture.  While we do that we are distracted by a myriad of little things.   These things keep us so busy that we really can’t even see our way to doing things differently.  We are so busy ‘doing’ that we can’t take a step back to think about what we really want to be focused on.
Just as the big screen focuses me on the ‘big picture’ in the movie theatre, taking time to step away from the details of my life helps me focus on the ‘big picture’ of my life.  I know, from experience, that the times I when have really identified what the big picture is for me, have resulted in the most rewarding times of my life; not always the easiest times, or the most popular times, but the most rewarding times.

One example of this was when we were raising our children.  I worked full time from when Kaitlyn was just under four months old.  That is just how it was then.  When she was in lower elementary school, (about grade 5 or 6) and Greg was two years behind her, I was offered a chance to take a job in administration.  This would have given us more money, it would have given me more ‘status’, and it was flattering to have been sought out for the position.  My big picture at that time was very, very clear to me.  When I stood back and looked at my life as a whole, I realized that in the big picture, I had very few years to ‘be there’ for my children.  This was the North Star upon which my life was guided.  Saying no was not that hard.  This decision aligned perfectly with my values.

Having said that, another person in the same situation may have made the exact opposite decision and assuming that their big picture was to do all they could to provide the best for their family, they may have felt very peaceful taking the promotion.  Neither choice is right.  Neither choice is wrong.  The key is to understand our own personal ‘Big Picture’ and to keep it in clear focus.

This coming year, 2017, I plan to keep my ‘Big Picture’ in very clear focus.  I may even ‘buy’ a new lens for my inner camera to make sure that I don’t miss any details.  I want to look back on this year as one where I made deliberate choices to do things that matter to me now, and that will have mattered when I look back on my life.  I challenge you to do the same.

With that in mind, as promised, I have created and am offering a new workshop next month.  The workshop is called. “2017:  Passport to Loving Your Life”.  I invite you to join me for the day of Saturday, February 11th, from 9:00am -3:00pm.  It is a day of putting lives in focus.  See below for details.

As a thank you for being a faithful reader of my blog, I am offering you special pricing for the workshop.  This special promotional code is valid until January 28.

Where did it go?  A mere week ago we were ringing in the New Year and the week before that we were sitting in the living room, fire in the fire place, wrapping paper strewn about, Christmas music playing spending time with each other. 

This week, Greg and Cara have returned home, Kaitlyn and Matt have finally taken a few moments to themselves after a whirlwind Christmas week and Jim and I conducted our annual ‘boxing up Christmas’ afternoon.   I must say, I kind of love that afternoon.  I do also love bringing out the decorations and getting the house ready for the holidays, but I think I might love the ‘boxing up Christmas’ part even more.  There is something about setting things in order that feeds my soul.  Maybe getting rid of the ‘clutter’ helps open up space for me to do creative thinking about the new year, about new goals and about what business and personal ventures I want to partake in.

This year, as we were boxing up, I did feel a bit melancholy about marking the end of our season.  We had such a great family time.  We were so lucky to have both kids, and their new spouses, with us this year.  We fully understand that this will not always be the case, as they have other families to consider and they will be creating their own traditions too.  So we understood full well that this year was a very special one.  We understood this going into the season and we tried to think of ways to make this year special and to create some new traditions that would include everyone.  Hence the Dog Sledding morning in Canmore and the seafood feast along with the homemade pasta on Christmas Eve.  I tried to live right in the middle of each moment (never more true than when I was driving the dog sled!), and to appreciate our time together.  And still, I was ok with getting the house back to normal.

As Jim and I were cleaning up though, I got to thinking.  We were chatting about how much we had enjoyed the holidays and remarking how lucky we were.  We were thinking about how long it might be before we are all back together again.  And I began to think that as I put our Christmas decorations in boxes, and as they each made me think of a memory, that in some ways I was boxing up Christmas figuratively as well as literally.

I realized that this did not need to be the case.  Why, I wondered, do we only bring out the best of ourselves for such special occasions?  At Christmas, not only do I think about each meal I will serve, I also make sure that I create a welcoming atmosphere around it.  Not only do I wrap gifts, I make sure that I have found a gift I am proud to give.  I bake items that I know are favourites of our family.  My brother loves my cinnamon buns and since I typically make them for Christmas morning when he is not here, I always make him a special batch on Christmas day that he can take home for Boxing Day breakfast.  Around the holidays, I also make sure that I serve generous portions of welcome, of lightheartedness, of ‘don’t sweat the small stuff’, of smiles, of attention to detail, of laughter, of memory making and of time with friends and family.

This year, I have decided, I will not box up all of Christmas.  I did, of course, box up the garland and the tree, the nativity and the Christmas mugs but I chose not to box up the person I was ‘being’ at Christmas.  I have chosen not to box up the feelings I had at Christmas.  I have chosen to remember to make time for friends and family this year, to think of things all year long that will become wonderful memories, to pay attention to little details of things that I know matter to others, to create a welcoming and warm atmosphere in our home and to ‘keep the front porch light on’.

As you embrace this New Year of 2017, what parts of your Christmas do you need to retrieve from your storage?  My challenge for you this week is to decide what element of Christmas you can bring to your life all year long.

Happy 2017!
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As I mentioned in my last blog, I have committed to making some changes to my business.  It’s funny how just writing this in last week’s blog has kept me accountable.  And it is more interesting to note that some new business opportunities have already come my way.  You’ll note that I have changed my business name to ‘Critchley Coaching’.  I’ve also thought of the title for my next ‘public’ workshop, that I will offer in early February.  Keep watching for details.  And please contact me to help you create the best year yet.  Living a life that matters is a matter of choice.  Choose well this year!