BlissDom Canada, you've literally blown my mind

Friday morning, Blissdom Canada 2013
Originally uploaded by Julep67

A little over a week has now passed since the end of BlissDom Canada 2013. This year, more than others, I had a tough time processing everything I learned and experienced over the weekend. Last week, when I returned to the “real world,” I felt very vulnerable. Silly things like commercials or photos I’d see online would cause me to well up far more often than they normally would.

Over the past week and a bit, I’ve not felt very articulate. I’ve started this post many times and have several unfinished versions in my draft folder. If I’m honest, I don’t know if I have the words to describe the change that I’ve been experiencing. I do know though, that those drafts are going to find their way onto these pages in the coming weeks. This particular BlissDom Canada weekend has inspired far more than one post from me this year.

So this isn’t really a wrap up of what happened to me over the weekend, that will come later on. I see this post as a jumping off point for me as I continue to make some changes in my life. For the sake of brevity, I’m going to leave you with three of the many lessons I learned:

1. I have already started making changes in my life. I attended Gillian Duffy’s “Taking that First Step” micro session as I was looking for inspiration to change. I had met Gillian last year at BlissDom Canada and so admired how she was able to box up her life in Canada and follow her bliss around the world. What I discovered during the micro session was that I was already actively making changes in my own life. Speaking with Gillian and the other participants made me realize that I too was being courageous and was actively working to improve things in my own life.

2.It’s okay to say no. The hands on workshop entitled “CHANGE: What Do You Stand For?” with Jennifer Hunter and Tania Carriere reinforced something for me that was very important. Jennifer & Tania reminded me that there are things you need to say “no” to, to leave room for the “yeses.” I don’t think I’m alone in not wanting to say no. I like to think that I am competent, confident and capable. Somewhere along the line, I think I told myself that saying no was equal to admitting I was weak. On some level I knew that this wasn’t true but hearing Jennifer & Tania state it was like a slap in the face and I realized that it’s absolutely okay to say “no” sometimes.

3.Leadership is not how much money you make or what your title is. I feel like I could write an entire book on the things I took away from Drew Dudley’s closing keynote. One of things that resonated most with me was the idea that “Leadership is not how much money you make or what your title is.” Drew was right when he said that most of us don’t want to identify ourselves as being leaders and yet, we are. There was a lot of talk about the power of kindness over the weekend. Personally, I’m trying to be kinder and it’s not always easy to do. Doing positive things for ourselves and for those around us, especially when they aren’t aware that we are doing them, is very rewarding.

Thank you BlissDom Canada, for once again rocking my world and blowing my mind. Thank you to the speakers who inspired me. Thank you to the friends I have made through BlissDom Canada for listening to me, for sharing your stories, for making me laugh, smile and sometimes cry. Thank you, most of all, to the amazing BlissDom Canada team (not to mention their generous sponsors) for doing all of the heavy lifting and creating something really very special and uniquely Canadian.

Come Together

Just helping in my small way, to spread the word!

From: Canadians for a Progressive Coalition

Hello everyone,

All of the chips are on the table. This grassroots movement does not have the budget of the Conservative party. Instead, we we have each other. We can cut through the Conservative counter-offensive to make sure that the voices of over 60% of Canadians rallying for a progressive coalition are heard! There are 10,000 of you on this listserv. So many, that this message may not reach some of you until after Harper's message. So - this message assumes he does not resign and let the coalition govern.

We need everything you have to reach our goals for this week: winning the struggle in the media for the hearts and minds of Canadians uncertain about a coalition and showing the progressive parties that Canadians support them. In addition to usual - letters to the editor, call in radio, forwarding this message - we need you to:

Sign up 5 Friends

We are going to submit the petition on Friday and it needs to be absolutely massive. In order to increase our already impressive numbers on our petition, we are challenging everyone on the mailing list to get 5 of their friends to sign the petition. The petition is at: http://www.progressivecoalition.ca/

You can email them the direct link by clicking on the "share" button at progressivecoalition.ca/form.php, then clicking on "email". Alternatively, you could forward them this message!

Join a rally, Bring a Petition!

There are a variety of rallies happening on that day. They are listed on our facebook event page, www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=55449301160, and on our website, progressivecoalition.ca (Under the "Show your Support" link), and others at makeparliamentwork.ca. These rallies are great time to collect additional signatures for our petition, which we are aiming to present to the Leaders of the Opposition on Friday.

If you are attending any of the rallies posted, or any other events, please bring along a copy of the paper petition, which can be found at the following address: progressivecoalition.ca/petition.pdf Please get signatures only from those who have not already signed our online petition at progressivecoalition.ca. After you have collected the signatures, please add them to this spreadsheet: progressivecoalition.ca/petitioninput.xls , and send the completed excel files to events@progressivecoalition.ca.

Light a Candle for the Coalition!

We want to spark a new spirit of cooperation in Parliament.

On Wednesday night at 8PM, light a candle in front of a street-facing window and turn off the light in the room for 20 minutes. (Make sure to keep the candle away from anything that can catch fire!)

On Thursday, at 5PM we are organizing Candles for a Coalition events across the country. We are going to take pictures and show Canadians from coast to coast support a coalition. If you can't attend a major event invite some of your friends over to light candles or do it yourself. Send us pictures!

Bring your own candle! And spread the word!

Rally locations:

VICTORIA Candles for a Coalition – Thursday Dec 4 5:00 PM
Location: Hillside and Douglas Street

VANCOUVER Candles for a Coalition - Thursday Dec 4 5:15 PM
Location: in Front of the Trades and Convention Centre
Will join the Make Parliament Work Rally afterwards

GUELPH Candles for a Coalition – Thursday Dec 4 7:00pm
Location: St. George's Square

GUELPH RALLY - Saturday, December 6th 12:00pm
Location: St. George's Square

STRATFORD MARCH TO CITY HALL - Stratford, Ontario Candles for Canada - Thur Dec 4 5-7pm
Location: Meet Ontario St between Downie and Waterloo Streets
Walk to city hall at 7pm

GREAT VILLAGE, Nova Scotia - Candles for Coalition in the Village!
When: 6 pm, Thursday, December 4th
Where: 33 Lornevale Road

Cheers,
Canadians for a Progressive Coalition