FUN-video: Canada – Dinosaurs & Polar Bears
October 31, 2018 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-video: Canada – Dinosaurs & Polar Bears
- This is the movie trailer of our trip. Enjoy!
FUN-fact – Not only is Churchill known as the Polar Bear Capital of the World – it’s also a beluga whale watching hotspot, a birder’s paradise, & one of the best places to experience the northern lights.
FUN-photos: Canada – Dinosaurs & Polar Bears
October 30, 2018 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-photos: Canada – Dinosaurs & Polar Bears
- Quick 3 day Getaway!
1st Adventure – Drumheller for Dinosaurs – in search of the world’s best-preserved armoured dinosaur at the Royal Tyrrell Museum – located in Canada’s Badlands & a 90 minute drive from Calgary.
- Actually it’s a nodosaur – likely resembling a cross between a lizard & a lion – but covered in scales – petrified from the snout to the hips – originally 18 ft long & weighing in at about 3000 lbs – this armored plant eater is 110 million years old!
Polar Bear @1:30
2nd Adventure – “Up Close & Personal” Polar Bear Safari – long day starting at 0’dark:30 – with 2 hr 15 min private charter jet to Churchill – for 6 + hrs in a tundra buggy – in search of polar bears migrating toward the coast – awaiting the deep freeze-up – to get access to their favorite diet of ringed seals. YUMMY!
- Saw 12 bears of varying ages & lots of activity – & our “Big Bonus” was seeing young males spar on the icy rocky terrain just in front of us! Some just sat lazing in the balmy 30 degree fall day under cloudy skies – & the forecast for snow flurries never happened!
- Our day ended with a short stop in town before boarding our flight & arriving back in Calgary at 20:30.
FUN-fact – In 2014, we spent 2 weeks on an arctic cruise and didn’t see anywhere near as many polar bears let alone get as close as we did here!
More FF – Polar Bears International live streams the polar bears from the shores of Hudson Bay every fall!
Word-Of-the-Week #742: Ideal
October 25, 2018 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #742: Ideal
Ideal – that which is perfect and most suitable for you.
Would you say that your job is perfect and most suitable to your values? Have you ever felt you were in a rut? Do you want to make a difference in people’s lives?
“Search for ideal job may evolve along with you,” by Phil Blair is filled with great career advice.
“Mary had just finished her sophomore year of college and was under pressure to declare a major for her last two years. As a result of her father’s request — networking at its best — we met for an informational interview. Mary was still in college and fairly young so our conversation began very generally.
When I asked about her ideal job, she struggled at first for an answer, saying she’d never really given it much thought. After a 
few seconds, suddenly excited, she declared that, yes, she wanted to be “the next Dr. Freud and discover the cure for addiction!”
Wow, I thought to myself. That sounded pretty darned impressive. But what did she really mean? And where did those goals come from?
Of course, aspiring to become the next Freud was beyond ambitious. And I couldn’t help but wonder why would Mary want to tackle the scourge of alcohol and drug addiction. Intrigued, I asked her to explain. As it turns out, Mary’s father was a successful physician and she’d always been impressed with his desire to ability to help people. More to the point, her father had told her countless stories about patients he had treated for physical ailment, but whose real problem was an underlying addiction to drugs or alcohol.
As we talked, I learned more about Mary and her career goals. She was bright, engaging and well-spoken. Talking to people she didn’t know very well didn’t make her uneasy. In fact, she enjoyed it.
- Undaunted by new situations or sudden challenges
Indeed, she was clearly undaunted by new situations or sudden challenges. A few years earlier, she had been a lifeguard at a local public pool and helped save a child from drowning by using her first-aid and rescue training. She told me that was her proudest “life moment.”
Then we talked about how her selfless, giving personality might evolve into possible career goals. I offered a few suggestions: How about nursing? School teacher? HR professional? Drug and alcohol counselor?
Though they were all different, requiring varied career paths and degrees, she was self-aware enough to see the common thread of what I was suggesting – that of encouraging and helping others succeed.
I advised her to learn as much as she could about each of those fields. Do intensive research, I urged her. Talk to experts, ask questions, listen to the answers. One by one, she pursued each of the suggested career paths. Sure, they were my suggestions, but she seemed motivated enough to check them out, if only to make me happy.
And soon enough, she realized that each of them had fairly unpleasant, disqualifying aspects. Nursing meant she had to endure too much second-hand pain and suffering. To be a school teacher required more baby-sitting than actual teaching, especially when the little ones got rowdy. And the idea of becoming an HR professional wasn’t all that exciting to her – though, of course, I’d take exception to that.
- Helping people who desperately needed her advice
To her surprise, largely because of a recent crisis with a family member, she was drawn to the final choice – drug and alcohol counselor. After pursuing a summer internship at a community clinic, she later told me, she felt fulfilled. She was helping people who desperately needed her advice.
Because she was making a difference in people’s lives, as well as in her own, that’s when her future suddenly came into focus. At long last, she had a plan: She’d pursue a degree in addictive behavior counseling and make that her career. She was certain that’s what she wanted to do, so she did it.
While Mary might never find a cure for addictive behavior, I’m happy to say that she’s now a professionally fulfilled therapist these days. Plus, her patients have the benefit of someone who’s truly devoted to her calling.
What’s the lesson? Don’t be afraid to discover what – and who – you are meant to be. And always keep your radar out for the next best opportunity. You evolve as your career evolves, so don’t get yourself into a lifelong rut. Not now, not ever.”
This week’s focus is all about your ideal. Do you love your job? If not, what would the perfect job be? Does it feel daunting just thinking about it? Is it important for you to have a job that makes you feel fulfilled?
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Word-Of-the-Week #741: Legacy
October 18, 2018 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #741: Legacy
Legacy – what you leave people with.
How do you want to be remembered? Is it simply a memory or a profound impression? Are your achievements extraordinary and lasting?
This week I want to honor Katie Elsbree who was my dear friend and a mentor over the past 20 + years. She passed away from pancreatic cancer and this is the word that came up for me. She was extraordinary and her memory will last forever. As one of the founders and President of Fostering Opportunities Scholarships she has left a legacy that all of us on the board will have to live up to. And we are totally inspired by that!
I found this by Bruna Martinuzzi, “What Type of Legacy Do You Want to Leave?” and sharing here first of six ways you can have an impact after you’re gone.
A legacy isn’t only about leaving what you earned but also what you learned.
“If I am not for myself, who is for me? And when I am for myself, what am I?” is the well-known aphorism from Hillel, a famous Jewish rabbi. Throughout history, we have been conditioned to look out for ourselves, or no one else will. But if we’re consumed with pursuing only our selfish interests, what are we? And more important, what legacy will we leave?
There’s a lot of criticism today about people’s lack of civic responsibility, but stories of altruism and generosity also abound. For example, there are countless people who abandon a comfortable lifestyle to help those during major disasters. And more and more, we see people who want to make a difference, who are looking to leave a positive imprint on the world and a legacy of goodness.
But a legacy isn’t only about leaving what you earned but also what you learned, and we all have an opportunity to make a difference. It doesn’t call for wealth, fame or even taking giant steps—you don’t have to be a Gandhi or a Martin Luther King to leave a positive mark right now, one that will linger long after you’re gone.
So where can you start?
- Identify What Matters to You
What’s important to you? What are your values? How do you want your life to touch others? What would make you proud? If you had to do one thing to improve your world, what would your contribution be? How can you increase the well-being of those who depend on you? How can you leave your mark on whatever you do?
The answer to these introspective questions will help you develop a meaningful philosophy of life that goes beyond just creating financial wealth. Your words become the building blocks of your legacy. Knowing what’s important, what drives you and how you want to be remembered creates tremendous clarity in how you should live your life.
As Jim Kouzes and Barry Posner remind us in “A Leader’s Legacy,” by asking ourselves how we want to be remembered, we plant the seeds for living our lives as if we matter.” Considering your legacy gives you a compass to help you move with purpose and determination even in the most uncertain times. Creating a legacy statement will help you commit to what you wrote down and live your life in line with your higher values.”
This week’s focus is all about your legacy. How would you want to be remembered? Do you want to leave this world knowing that you made a difference? Are you looking to leave a positive imprint and a legacy of goodness?
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Word-Of-the-Week #740: Fate
October 11, 2018 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word-Of-the-Week #740: Fate
Fate – a circumstance or situation outside of your control.
Do you think that fate is predetermined? Do you believe that forces outside of your control make things happen? This is an interesting word as it has both very positive and negative meanings!
This week’s WOW is the polar opposite of last week’s Comfort Zone with this UT article by Phil Blair “What to do when flames of fate come your way.”
“I’ve always enjoyed not knowing what each new day will bring, what fresh issues or crises will arise. And I like the thrill of finding solutions to whatever comes my way.
No matter what happens, I try to glean something positive that might help me deal better with any similar experience in the future.
All of which is my way of reflecting that it’s been nearly 15 years since the Cedar wildfire of October 2003. In my community, the devastating wildfires covered more than 280,000 acres and claimed a total of 232 homes, including our family’s home.
I remember how we felt as we stared hopelessly at what used to be our home, now charred and virtually barren. Only chimneys, flower pots, burnt-out dishwashers and a murky swimming pool remained. Everything else was ash, much of it still smoldering.
Our home had quite literally disappeared and with it decades of memories and mementos of a happy, fulfilling life shared with my wife and two sons. I knew things would never be the same, but then I realized: There was nothing any of us could’ve done to prevent our house from going up in flames.
I happened to be away when the flames swept though. My wife was able to grab the dog and cat, but that was all. Firefighters worked valiantly and saved more homes than were lost, but ours couldn’t be saved.
- There was nothing else for me to do
The next day I decided to go to work. There was nothing else for me to do at that time. Of course, the fires were the big topic of conversation around the office, through only a few people knew about the fate of our house. I remember a colleague at a meeting that morning lamenting that thick ash from the fires had drifted over to his neighborhood that was otherwise unaffected.
To him, it represented a messy clean-up job, a real pain. But to me, it represented my children’s art projects, my grandfather’s rocking chair, much of our personal belongings, so much more. I was not alone. There were 231 other families whose homes went up in flames who were forced to go through those same emotions.
I know my colleague would’ve been mortified if he had realized how his comment affected me. At first, I was going to say something but quickly realized it was an innocent remark, one that was forgivable and did not warrant a response.
Because inside, I was already looking forward to a new life for me and my family, which would now need to rise up from those ashes. We were very fortunate to have had strong support from our friends, family and community. And good insurance.
Rather than dwell on our losses, we asked ourselves: How could we make our future even better and more fulfilling than the past?
- Each dawn brings a new opportunity
Of course, all of us have sudden obstacles thrown at us when we least expect it. But as I say, each new dawn brings a new opportunity, a chance to do something good, new, even better. You can never change the past, but you can choose how to react to it.
What does all that have to do with losing my home to a fire 15 years ago?
Only this: As I think back to that challenging time for me and my family, I’m reminded how suddenly our every-day lives can turn inside out. In a flash. Think unexpected illness, injury, job loss, even death. Bad stuff happens all the time.
Yet I constantly meet people who have lost a job and six months later they are thrilled with their new job and acknowledge they never would have left the old job without the boost of a merger, downsizing or just plain being terminated.
I never thought I’d lose my home to a fire, but I’m convinced that our family’s positive outlook helped create a better outcome. I’m glad I went to work the next day, kept the house fire in perspective and moved on”
This week’s focus is about dealing with situations outside of your control. Would you see it as an opportunity to make your future better? If something bad happened to you would you be able to keep it in perspective and move on? Can you say you have a strong support network of friends, family, and community?
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