Meanderings with Trudy

Angie and I regularly look at what we consider are the ingredients of joy. Ritual is one we go back to again and again. 

Today, I ask: what happens when ritual becomes empty? When Easter weekend, past just last month, is no longer connected to its Christian origins? When Christmas is all about the presents, not the love we all have capacity to share or the birth of a child, born to die for our sins (again, a Christian idea). And what does religion have to offer anymore anyway? Angie would say religion offers a container of teachings and practices that ground us in our belief; rituals help us remember what that’s all about.

This is a good wrestle between Angie and me. And we don’t wrap it up in a bow, but come at it from different places, landing in a more explored place of seeing ritual and its importance.

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Episode links:

Chapman Coaching Inc.

You can read more from Angie on her Substack, called “the bigger picture”

Royalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma

As always, this podcast is sponsored by the guests who give of their time, and by my company, Chapman Coaching Inc.

Royalty free music is gratefully received and is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma

Live life joyfully, and always let kindness guide you.

Today, you’ll hear from me as I launch this month of May. I recap a bit of where we are going, and I leave with you a taste of summer to come… via a walk on the beach I took in Lagos, Portugal.

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Episode links:

As usual, this podcast is sponsored by my company,Chapman Coaching Inc.

This month’s book to be reviewed will be: “A Walk on the Beach” by Joan Anderson

Royalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma

As always, this podcast is sponsored by the guests who give of their time, and by my company, Chapman Coaching Inc.

Royalty free music is gratefully received and is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma

Live life joyfully, and always let kindness guide you.

The forest across from us teems with life all year, but no time is more magical than the spring when the frogs mate in the forest swamps. We don't always time it right to hear them, but this year we got lucky! 

I hope you enjoy this bonus episode...

Episode links:

This podcast is supported by my company, Chapman Coaching Inc.

Royalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma

As always, this podcast is sponsored by the guests who give of their time, and by my company, Chapman Coaching Inc.

Royalty free music is gratefully received and is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma

Live life joyfully, and always let kindness guide you.

Cleats bite into the icy path and the ice snaps in response. The forest path, packed down by months of winter boots, is slick, and slippery, even with the cleats on.

It always amazes me how the different types and depths of ice and icy snow make all kinds of crunchy sounds as I walk. You can hear the stream as it flows, coming to life with all the water running off the forest and into the creak. It’s lovely, and kind of magical. Just a wee taste of life in Ottawa as the world reawakens, birds tweet and geese honk.

I hope you’ve subscribed to us wherever you get your podcasts; please, share my work widely, give us a review or a drop us a few stars, it really does help. If you have comments or questions, please send them to [email protected].

Episode links:

This podcast is supported by my company, Chapman Coaching Inc.

Royalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma

As always, this podcast is sponsored by the guests who give of their time, and by my company, Chapman Coaching Inc.

Royalty free music is gratefully received and is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma

Live life joyfully, and always let kindness guide you.

It’s a relevant topic for our stress-filled times of economic and political upheaval, and for our every day “hurry hurry” lifestyle, so the topic seemed apt. I’ve faced burnout in my past, and I talk about some of that here as we unpack the stress cycle and what to do when you’re stuck in that space. I haven’t talked much about this before, so this is a new experience for me. I hope you’ll find this helpful, and will pick up this book by the Nagoski sisters, “Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle.” They go into the science and the “how to” of restoration in much more detail than I do here.

I hope you’ve subscribed to us wherever you get your podcasts; please, share my work widely, give us a review or a drop us a few stars, it really does help. If you have comments or questions, please send them to [email protected].

Episode links:

This podcast is supported by my company, Chapman Coaching Inc.

Nagoski sister’s website

Interview with the Nogoski sisters on “Unlocking Us,” Brené Brown’s podcast 

Royalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma

As always, this podcast is sponsored by the guests who give of their time, and by my company, Chapman Coaching Inc.

Royalty free music is gratefully received and is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma

Live life joyfully, and always let kindness guide you.

These novels are seeped in Canadiana – set in Montreal, Quebec in 2012, the novel explores the emerging fentanyl problem in Canada and the havoc it wrecks on people in Denny’s life. The first in a series of detective novels, this is a great tale, I read it in a few sittings. With a background in poetry, Chris has a deft hand in painting scenes, truly bringing us into feeling the scenes he's painted. It’s a good read.

We also talk “inside baseball” about the process of publishing a book, independently. The big benefit – you have total creative control. There’s good insight here if self-publishing is on your mind.

I hope you enjoy this episode. Please, share it around, and if you’re of a mind, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts; and give us a review. If you have comments or questions, please send them to [email protected].

Episode links:

Chapman Coaching Inc.

If you’d like to buy his book, look for “The Freelancer,” by C.J. Fournier in your favourite independent bookstore

One of the authors Chris mentioned was Graeme Greene

“May 2-4 Weekend” in Canada is a play on words. 2-4 refers to a case of 24 beer. And the weekend celebrates the birthday of the colonial British Queen, Victoria. The weekend also marks the beginning of summer in Canada.

Book cover designed by award winning designer, David Drummond of Salamander Hill design studio

Some background about Canada’s war in Afghanistan

Royalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma

As always, this podcast is sponsored by the guests who give of their time, and by my company, Chapman Coaching Inc.

Royalty free music is gratefully received and is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma

Live life joyfully, and always let kindness guide you.

On today’s PauseCast, we catch up with Angie as she shares with about her father’s passing. And in this conversation, we talk about all the things that make life precious to us – love, loss, community, ritual, grace, honour, and so much more.

Please, share our work widely, give us a review or a drop us a few stars. If you have comments or questions, please send them to [email protected].

Episode links:

Chapman Coaching Inc.

The music here is offered joyfully by Olive Tree Hymns, and I so appreciate their offering. They are a small team of young Christian volunteer musicians from Australia devoted to the worship of God through song and you can find them on YouTube. The song: "God Be With You Till We Meet Again."

Royalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma

As always, this podcast is sponsored by the guests who give of their time, and by my company, Chapman Coaching Inc.

Royalty free music is gratefully received and is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma

Live life joyfully, and always let kindness guide you.

So, I decided that this month, I’d look at the issue of burnout. 

In Canada, like the rest of the world to varying degrees, we’re facing a sea change with America no longer willing to play the role they’ve played since the end of World War II. With tariffs applied to our long-standing trade, and threats to annex us, Canadians feel this new threat to their core. And people simmer in the stress of it without any real awareness of the havoc this is playing in our nervous systems. 

In today’s episode, I’m sharing a few thoughts, and some found music from Lisbon, Portugal. I hope it helps you find some calmness in your day.  

And a word of gratitude for street musicians all over the world, but particularly those in Lisbon who have unknowingly contributed to this episode. You all Rock!! And you make the world a better place as you share your talents. Thank you.

Please, share this episode around, and if you’re of a mind, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts; and give us a review. If you have comments or questions, please send them to [email protected].

Episode links:

As usual, this podcast is sponsored by my company, Chapman Coaching Inc.

Meander with Maddalena Molina from December, 2022, and her company, Comfortable Hiking Holidays

Inside Lisbon was the company our Lisbon tour guide Pedro worked for, and learn more about his work in Ukraine with UNESCO

Royalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma

As always, this podcast is sponsored by the guests who give of their time, and by my company, Chapman Coaching Inc.

Royalty free music is gratefully received and is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma

Live life joyfully, and always let kindness guide you.

This gentle book explores the deep knowledge coming out of the Indigenous way of living on the land. Using stories coming from her Potawatomi ancestors, Dr. Kimmerer shares traditional ways of gardening and harvesting, as well as some of the origin stories of her people. She then weaves these together with knowledge from botany and Western Science, showing us that both traditions have legitimacy. She underlines practices of gratitude in how we live on the land, and reminds us that we live in reciprocal relationships with our world. I especially love the chapter on language and how it holds the world view of the speaker.

Dr. Kimmerer lives in Syracuse, New York, where she is a SUNY Distinguished Teaching Professor of Environmental Biology, and the founder and director of the Center for Native Peoples and the Environment. 

I hope you enjoy this episode. Please, share it around, and if you’re of a mind, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts; and give us a review. If you have comments or questions, please send them to [email protected].

Episode links:

Chapman Coaching Inc. and the blog post I mentioned about how to find balance

Here’s Dr. Kimmerer talking about the spring, and in it she speaks in her Anishinaabe language

“Braiding Sweetgrass” by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Royalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma

As always, this podcast is sponsored by the guests who give of their time, and by my company, Chapman Coaching Inc.

Royalty free music is gratefully received and is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma

Live life joyfully, and always let kindness guide you.

While he'd started soaring as a teen, Ian sought it out again when he immigrated to Canada from Scotland in 1980. In reconnecting with the soaring community, he built lifelong friendships, now more than 40 years old. His life is richer with soaring in it - the connection to nature, the challenge of an ever-changing environment of wind and temperature, and the alchemy of mixing science and creativity, art and whimsey, keeps bringing him back to the sport year after year. It truly lights Ian up to be in the air, travelling with the birds, that much is clear. It was such a joy for me to chat with him about his passion.

I hope you enjoy this episode. Please, share it around, and if you’re of a mind, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts; and give us a review. If you have comments or questions, please send them to [email protected].

Episode links:

Sole sponsor of this podcast is my company, Chapman Coaching Inc.

Gatineau Gliding Club at the Pendleton Airdrome near Wendover, Ontario, the small club from where Ian flies

Soaring Association of Canada

2023 National Soaring Competition

Jonathan Livingston Seagull, by American author Richard Bach 

Royalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma

As always, this podcast is sponsored by the guests who give of their time, and by my company, Chapman Coaching Inc.

Royalty free music is gratefully received and is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma

Live life joyfully, and always let kindness guide you.