Oh, the things I've done!

Here are a few of the rad gigs I've worked on over the last two months. Thanks so much to all of my rockstar clients--in particular Claudia Redfern of Webology Email Marketing and Leah Goard of Organized to Thrive (who, among other things, needs to be credited for my frequent use of the word "rockstar"). It's an honour to work with all of you! Thank you for being fabulous.

32spokes Technology Blog
Edit and compose ongoing technology-related blog

Cole Campbell Construction Identity Design Package
Logo, business card and web design for this full service construction company in Vancouver BC.

Holycrap Weekly Blog
Write & research the weekly health-related blog on this new website for an amazing breakfast cereal

JB Consulting Postcard Campaign
Marketing copy and design of two postcards for a contest to win a free laptop.

Kalijo Pilates Marketing Materials
Design and marketing copy for promotional postcards, ads, Facebook event and free pins for this wonderful Pilates studio on the Sunshine Coast.

Kundalini Dance, The Manual
Currently editing the book for this transformational practice founded by Leyolah Antara.

Libre Tea Media Kit
Design & edits for their online and printed media guide. Coordination of printing in San Fran.

Moda Photographic Postcard
Promotional postcard for this creative family photographer.

MPA Project Management Identity Design Package
Logo, business card and web design, plus website copy and tech support

Organized to Thrive Book Cover
Blueprint for Success book cover and powerpoint templates

Pine Rock Cottage Vacations Identity Design Package
Logo, business card and web design for my mom's cottage rental business in Ontario. I love you, Mom!

Query letter and Book proposal
Edited book chapters and proposal letter for a BC-based lawyer.

Sidestix Marketing Materials
Design and marketing copy for product tags and brochure

Sunshine Coast Wellness Studios
Marketing and ad campaign (design plus copy) for this collective of BC yoga and Pilates studios.

Tessa Rand Jewellery Identity Design
Logo and business cards for this super chic custom jewellery designer on the Sunshine Coast.

Webology Email Marketing Guide
Designed and proofread Claudia Redfern's free Email Marketing Guide for travel and tourism businesses. Check it out!

Wheatberries Bakery Monthly Posters
Design and copy for monthly promotional posters and magazine ads. Copy for seven of the 12 posters was created by Sonya MacDonald.

Yoga by the Sea Promotional Materials
Quarter-annual schedule, plus event posters for this community yoga studio in the super-cute village of Roberts Creek.

Why light looks better when the dark mixes in

Yesterday a miracle: sunshine on the Sunshine Coast and an afternoon off. A walk at Bonny Brooke, then to Roberts Creek pier for sunset where a magenta-purple fire bloomed across the sky. "It doesn't get more beautiful than this," I said to a gentleman walking his dogs past the mandala.

His response: "It was more beautiful five minutes ago."

Surprised, I kept walking. Was it really less beautiful now? I worried he was right and I had missed the best part, that the sky would only get more dim from here on in and that thought made a wee tiny knot in my belly. I felt an uncomfortable gurgle, a tightening. I kept walking.

In the past I would have silently admonished the stranger for his word-seeds and pretended everything was cool even though my stomach was telling me something different. Yesterday though, I tried something different: I talked to the knot. I brought my attention to my stomach and stilled my mind. I asked the knot, "What purpose do you serve?" The knot started babbling. Up from my gut bubbled a fear that things really were better in the past. In the past I was younger, I made more money, I had a hot man in my life, everything was new.

It was hard for me to hear the knot's whining paranoia, its pain. The knot was in opposition to the cheery me that says, "What you focus on will grow so don't give negative thoughts room to breathe or they will take over!" I didn't debate. Instead, I practiced a great new skill I am learning called "listening."

I kept listening and a moment later a strange thing happened: the wee knot quieted itself then loosened. It appeared that this listening thing was a magical enzyme! A probiotic that allowed me to digest fear! I felt better. I looked up.

Something in the sky had changed. I not only felt the significance of being a human who comes to watch the day's light leave--who takes a moment to notice the cyclical changes in life--but now I did not miss the dying fluorescence. Light had mingled with its absence and those subtle tones echoed the place I was in. I, too, am a spectrum of fading then brightening hues. I harbour a sunset inside of me--a real place between light and dark.

I loved that sunset. As light was leaving, the sun sang a bittersweet goodbye.

Image from the shadowy film The Black Swan

Being angry sucks (and what to do about it)

A few weeks ago I blogged that there was a wee teeny tiny angry part of me, and how I'd had this brilliant idea that it was time to express it. Shortly after that post, I saw someone get beaten up. Then a stranger tore a strip off me because he was having a bad day. (Actually he tore the strip off, put it back on, then tore it off again. See the waxing scene in 40 Year Old Virgin for visuals.)

So...this where the angry life leads, is it? It leads to angry people. Whether you believe in karma or in science, both profess that "like attracts like." If we are angry, we will attract anger. All you have to do is stop being angry and life will be ducky. Easy.

Unfortunately, curing anger is about as simple as curing chronic stomach problems--the solution is complex and different for everyone. For what it's worth, here was my approach to anger:

Age 9 - 20: Christianity and denial.

Age 21 - 26: Copious amounts of red wine and raving.

Age 27 - 31: Blame: my partner, my parents, my education, my government.

Age 32- 35: Yoga, dance, exercise and yelling into a pillow when no one was around.

Still, sometimes anger just appears out of nowhere. Unfortunately though, anger is a chicken. It often surfaces with someone who just happens to be in the right place at the wrong time and kerblammo! Like customer service reps, or slow traffic, or mothers, or the barrista who made the latte with insufficient foam.

In the book Practical Psychic Self Defense for Home and Office, Master Choa Kok Sui suggests that the only way to avoid anger is to send a blessing out to everyone we have intentionally or unintentionally been angry at. To send a blessing: open your palms, visualize the person or say their name, focus on your heart, feel love and send the person love. This, he says, will not only heal that relationship, but will change what a person is attracting. Sounds easy enough. No deposit or self-flaggelation required. So ok. Sure. I'll give it a whirl and get back to you. Maybe my life will become a petrie dish of love? Maybe I will become a human care bear?

The logic of strange days

About a week ago three strange things happened. 1. I saw a kid get beat up. 2. I saw a woman fall off her bicycle and onto her helmetless head. 3. I fell in a hole.

When I told people about these events their reactions varied. Most people said something like, "Whoa! Sorry you had to experience that stuff." Others said, "Good for you for standing up for that kid." A few said, "Hope your ankle gets better soon." One friend wrote on fb: "The universe only gives us as much as we can handle; this is a testament to your strength."

Here's my take: I am moving toward the void.

The void is what some spiritual people focus on when they meditate--i.e. nothingness--and when I look into the eyes of the only enlightened person I know (Amma), I see an expanse of space and stars.

I move toward emptiness in a physical way: I whittle down my possessions. I eliminate objects and desire. And what those three events provided  was an opportunity to discard some emotional baggage. Allow me to explain.

We all know what happens when we experience stress at work: we get tight shoulders. This is a simple example of the principle any yoga practitioner can tell you about: we store experience in our bodies. Often, as kids, if we experience something we cannot compute, it is stored in our hips or hearts or low backs or necks. The experience sits there, like hibernating bear in a cave. But... if we are given an opportunity to re-experience something similar at a later date--and the conditions are such that we react and process that similar event differently--then we have an opportunity to move the old ache out too.

In dance therapy they call this "cycling through." A kinesthetic person can cycle through a distressing emotion by following these steps: 1) notice where they feel the discomfort in their body, 2) feel it/be present with it, 3) watch the sensation and notice how it wants to move. Maybe it will move into the eyes through tears, into the mouth through sound, into the arms or legs through movement. Watch and react.

Click to read more ...

How to shorten long pieces of writing

Nowadays we wade through so much information that it's handy to have some parameters for cutting text in length. Here are a few tips:

1. Search for repetition and eliminate it. Could be repeated words, phrases or ideas.

2. Use only the best examples and quotes, the ones that really stand out.

3. Shorten the introduction and the conclusion. Make sure they relate to each other and that the conclusion reiterates or resolves the issue (or question) that was raised in the introduction.

4. Scan the article for adjectives, adverbs or ornate descriptions. Cut them. Chances are, what’s left is not only a shorter piece of writing, but a better piece of writing.

5. Simplify! For example, use the word “use” instead of “utilize” or “think” instead of “conceptualize.”

6. After gathering your research, take a break and do something else. Make a pot of dahl. Go for a walk. Then think about what you really want to say and tell someone or jot it down in plain terms.

7. Use specific nouns. For example, instead of “dog” use “chihuahua.” Instead of “road” use “expressway.”

8. Avoid jargon, insider catch phrases, buzz words or overused words that have become meaningless. For example, a value-added service. (Note: If you are interviewing someone who uses a lot of jargon, there’s nothing wrong with asking them: “What do you mean?”)

9. Improve tired language. For example: "seriously consider," "in the wake of," or "grind to a halt."

I was going to write ten tips, but for the sake of brevity, I'll quit here.