Insights on Contemplation
 Expecting the Best
The Benefits of Going Deep
Hope Blossoms
Beauty is an Experience
The Flow of Time
“I can see myself sometimes as a single drop of water, clear and beautiful when it gurgles up from the source, guided by choices to the vast oceanic oneness.”
Daring to Step Out of the Chrysalis
Part III - The Butterfly Effect
Daring to Step Out of Our Chrysalis
Part II
Daring to Step Out of Our Chrysalis
Part 1
Only ESSENCE survives Transformation
Adding Value: Raising Someone's Stock
Autumn ~ Another Word for Letting Go
Journey from Attachment to Worthiness
Listen to the Whisper of Your Heart
The Self Care Evolution Series
Cultivating Balance...One Small Thing at a Time
The Self Care Evolution Series
Committing to Living with Principles
MARI SELBY: Thich Nhat Hahn teaches, that the principles and practice of being mindful is a commitment to walk in the world fully present. “Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the world earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future. Live the actual moment. Only this moment is life.” Read more >>> Passion, A Different Take
Practicing Perception
Seeds of Perfection
Reborn and Moving Forward
Giving into Change
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LIANNE SNOW: I think that this business of expectations creating our reality is comforting somehow. It means to me that perhaps I expect nothing from the world but much from me and my responses to the world. 
BRENT MARCHANT: Most of us are probably familiar with the football term 'going deep', but it’s a notion that can be applied in more than a sports context; it can be employed as a metaphysical practice for personal growth as well. So what does it mean? 
MARI SELBY: This is a story of survival and two fruit trees. One is a Callery Pear and the other is a Japanese Cherry. Both are survivors of man-made disasters. They radiate beauty in both their endurance and in their ability to give us hope. 
RORY KELLY CONNOR: We cannot truly know beauty until we use all of our senses to find the truth of something. Then, and only then, can we know it, know if it is in fact beautiful to us individually – versus beautiful because someone else has convinced us that we should think or feel it is beauty-ful...
LIANNE SNOW: Over time, the flow of life will guide every drop of water to the ocean. Every life will return to the vast oneness where individual water droplets will seem inconsequential anymore compared to the awesome power of one. Put like that, I take comfort in the miracle of my journey.
MARI SELBY: With the crow and crone calling encouragement saying, “It’s time Eve! It’s time for you to make a change.” To demonstrate her point the crone transformed into what Eve saw as an angel. 
MARI SELBY: Where does it say that Angels are always beautiful, kind, and ethereal? Angels take human form. Our true friends emerge as the angels we need in that exact moment. 
MARI SELBY: Taking the first step out of your chrysalis is a heroic act, a leap into freedom. Risk failure in plain view of those who wait on the sidelines safe in their cocoons. 
ADRIANA STORY-HILL: I want to suggest that in everyday life, Transformation is a Universal Law. We go on our quests and like to think we are designing journeys of special destinations, but in truth Nature works quietly and with no announcement or special fanfare. 
LIANNE SNOW: When something appreciates, it increases in value. Perhaps then when I show appreciation to someone, I in some way, add value to them. 
MARI SELBY: Do you think a leaf ponders what it means to let go of the branch? Or is the process for them similar to when we can let go of someone’s hand? Suddenly they aren’t there - suddenly the leaf is falling? 
ADRIANA STORY HILL: Poverty in my family in a rather poor Eastern European country, was a legacy we had inherited. And yet, even as a small child I can recall the sense that there was choice regarding this outlook. I could see the range in the small village of people who, despite the circumstances carried themselves with dignity. 
TRACI TRIMBLE: Why is it that many of us search everywhere else but within for the answers to our challenges? Instead, we listen to friends, family and even strangers. We often neglect the most influential and important voice ~ our own heart whispering to us. 
SALLIE FELTON:
LIANNE SNOW: I want my world to be rich for everyone. Is it rich in diversity. Does it provide me opportunities to experience the complexity of the physical world? Most importantly does it reinforce my values of beauty as inspiration? 
ANDREA THIEL CONNELL: We have no choice but to grow into what we start out being. We are what we are. A marigold seed must become a marigold. A sunflower has no choice but to become a sunflower. 
LIANNE SNOW: I am surrounded now by people who see the possibility of our humanity being reborn into a symbiotic existence. They envision a shared world in which we waste nothing and live enriched lives outside of a profit driven model. 
JANICE CHRYSLER: Perhaps the reason we use the word love so much is because we long for it so greatly. We are born knowing that we require unconditional love in order to survive. Our parents and caregivers are the first humans that we rely on to provide us with this type of environment in which to grow. 
JANICE CHRYSLER: Now is the time to begin manifesting what you desire in your life. You cannot change the past but you can learn from it. By doing so, you help yourself lay plans for the future; not with worry but positive desires and strategies. 
LIANNE SNOW: I am content to allow the universe to reveal itself to me. Deepak Chopra speaks of this. He describes Bliss as a stillness of mind in which the universe cannot help but roll at your feet. 
LIANNE SNOW: "Where was I?" is a question that's been coming up over and over in the last few years. It implies that I got lost. Clearly I am somewhere but like any path that has detour options (and non options) we can meander far and wide. 
When we hear God calling and follow that clear small voice, we recognize synchronicity as a divine plan. We can experience synchronicity almost constantly as a thread that guides our next steps when we are open and aware of all the messages surrounding us. 
Preparing to meditate I settle in and begin breathing deeply. My feet are flat on the floor, my back pressed up against the cushions of the chair. 
My partner Dave is a strong man. The kind you want around when it's time to move the piano or lift the car wreckage off someone in an accident. We've been discussing strength in all its varieties. 
was a phrase that we heard over and over. It was the holy grail of our Psychology of Mysticism class when I was in my second year university. 
In a world as busy as ours is today, with its myriad elements competing for our attention at seemingly every turn, stillness often seems like a rare commodity. The distractions that pervade our existence make the pursuit of this elusive state of mind quite a challenge indeed. 
At the Moment of Death, you are instantly surrounded by high consciousness. At that same Moment, your Self is suddenly moving all around. A feeling of incredible freedom and lightness overtakes it as it becomes accustomed to all of the movement that takes place with every thought you have. 
What comes to mind when you think of Mother? The woman who gave birth to you? Mother Earth? A woman who nurtured and cared for you, like a teacher, a grandmother or a nanny? Or perhaps your mom was your 2nd father, as is true in gay male households? 
It's tricky to know whether or not we are headed in the right direction because we don't always 'know' what's right for us. 
One recent morning I was grappling with my existence, my purpose for being here. Wondering who I am. What I am. I was later explaining this to someone at lunch and at one point I intolerantly said out loud with my hands gesturing wide up in the air, "Ok, oh great grand Universe, who am I and what am I doing here?" 
It's the middle of your day; do you hear your magnificent life calling you? Life is more than paying the bills, managing a job, surviving your family. You are a magnificent being with a fulfilling life before you. Are you settling for what you think you can have rather than what you fully deserve? 
Digging out my car is finished. The sidewalks are clear, but the roads are still treacherous. There is nowhere to go, so I sit by my office window and contemplate one hundred year old pine trees, their branches bent with snow. 
I'm not a big fan of HOPE. I can feel you shutting down, but hear me out. 
Recently, two important people in my life have suddenly passed away - my friend Kevin Carlberg (the brother of my girlfriend from college) and Gail Cohen (my dad's first wife and my half-sister Rachel's mom). 
Have you ever listened to yourself and counted how many times in a given day you utter the words "I'm so busy! I'm too busy! I'm crazy busy!" or any variation thereof? I would guess that "I'm busy" ranks amongst one of our most commonly used phrases on a daily basis. 
How often do you find yourself worrying these days? When I was a kid my mom used to say to me, "95% of what we worry about never happens." She recognized that I was the 'worrying type' and was trying to help ease my mind. Although this rarely worked, I appreciated her sentiment and know now that she was right. 
The ways we deal with the dying process or loss and with grief are fundamental to how we develop and live life. 
Our time here on earth is a journey of discovery in diverse areas of life. Every challenge has a meaning and a purpose. Perhaps there is a pattern that needs to be examined in order to stop it from repeating, every triumph a stepping-stone guiding us through rough waters, changes leading us down a new and exciting path. 
I once heard a revered sage speak. He took a question from a man dressed in a three-thousand-dollar suit, wearing classy shoes, and dripping with gold jewellery. The man asked, "What do I need to give up to experience true happiness and inner peace?" 
Can you picture yourself lying on your back in a swimming pool just taking in the buoyancy and relaxation this provides. Have you ever laid on your back swimming at night looking at the stars. 
Today I sit watching wave's crash against the shore, their sound rumbling and pounding against the beach. Whenever I go on retreat to the ocean I feel relaxed and filled with wonder. For me there is nothing like the ocean to sort out the neural paths in my brain, and soothe nerve endings often too stressed. 
While setting up at a local wellness fair, I was asked why I had chosen the name 'Mindful Journey' for my services. I have to confess it took me back a bit as no one had ever asked me this before. 
Over a year ago I left Ottawa in my RV, Miss Daisy, with my only mission to be that of "following my heart wherever it took me", simply trusting it would take me to the right place, back to finding me and the life that I wished to create. I had no idea at the time how the trip might unfold, what might happen or where I might end up. 
The word truth itself is complex in meaning. In order to provide a definition of the word truth various conditions need to be met. According to one such definition, truth itself is as follows: