Day 28

This morning I was grateful that the snow storm had finished and my flight wasn't cancelled. There was a mechanical and de-icing delay so I missed my connecting flight in Halifax. Unfortunately all the remaining flights were full so I had two options: stay the night in Halifax and get a flight out in the morning, or take a taxi to PEI. I chose the taxi, and four of us travelled home together this afternoon.

My colleague Steven was on that flight as well as two other public servants from Ottawa. We had great conversations and the 4 hour drive flew by so fast, nice to catch up with Steven and get to know the other two people. It was their first time in Atlantic Canada so this taxi road trip allowed them to visit three provinces (NS, NB and PEI) in one afternoon. It was wonderful to hear their comments as they looked at the surroundings with fresh eyes. The sun started shining as soon as we reached PEI :) It is always nice to travel, but there is no place quite like home.

It is hard to believe today is the last day of my “28 days of gratitude” blog, the month flew by at lightning speed. This was a very fun little project for me, and I received some nice comments and feedback from friends, and a few even started their own gratitude journals as a result. I will continue to be grateful for the little things (and of course the big things) and not take a moment of life for granted.  I will miss this blog project, but I will continue with my daily hand written gratitude journal. My journal is one of the most favourite parts of my day – having the opportunity to reflect on all the great things that I have had the opportunity to experience. I also may start a gratitude jar, I saw this neat idea on pinterest:

For all of you that are reading this, I am grateful that you took the time to follow along on my "28 days of gratitude" journey. Your support and encouragement means more to me than you will ever know. Thank you for your kindness.

~~~~~

I found Danielle LaPorte’s  “How-To's of Small, Specific, Genuine (and Publicly Declared) Gratitude” very inspiring so I wanted to share it as part of my final post:

1. Post as the spirit moves you, but definitely post before you go to bed. (I'm sure it's scientifically proven that appreciation before you sleep is good for your neurons. And stuff.)

2. Only express gratitude if it's genuine. Do NOT post "just to get something on Facebook" or for recognition.

3. See the obvious gifts of the day. And then...

4. Look for what you might be taking for granted. So many of us have systems of love and consciousness, governance and privilege that underpin our everyday lives. What and who keeps your life running?

5. The profound and the seemingly trivial live side by side in the day to day. Put it all in the mix.

6. Personally, I use "Life" as a term to cover God, Goddess, The Cosmos, Nature -- all of it. Thank whatever greater force you most relate to.

7. Even if your day, your week, your year has sucked, dig to find something to appreciate. Did you have to walk to get clean water today? Do you have a telephone? Does one person on the planet love you just a little bit? Are you still here? Muster it if you have to. You'll feel better. You will inspire someone.

When you specify what you're grateful for it becomes more real and sensual. And from that sincere feeling you will become more emotive -- and what you emote, you attract.

Envision this: For every piece of negative news that is broadcast, for every snarky-critical tweet and gossipy-link ... a hundred instances of Small, Specific, Genuine (and Publicly Declared) Gratitude.

Here's to a revolution. -- Danielle LaPorte

Day 27

This morning I had breakfast with a great friend, it was so nice to catch up as I hadn’t seen him in a long while - I also had one of the most delicious smoothies I have ever tasted.  Then I had a day of incredibly productive meetings. Whenever I come to Ottawa it seems like the days are stock full of awesomeness, getting the opportunity to work with such engaged individuals, where their energy and enthusiasm is beyond contagious. I just love it.

 Tonight was the w2p (web 2.0 practioners) mixer at Aulde Dubliner. Despite the stormy weather there was a great turnout. It was so nice to see everyone and also get to meet some new faces I had not had the pleasure of meeting before.  Jess, Erin and I have been chatting about getting together for cupcakes and champagne. Tonight Jess made the most amazing neapolitan cupcakes with tricolour icing, what a fantastic baker, extremely talented. We then had some champagne, what a perfect combination - so much fun.  I love w2p mixers, and getting caught up with everyone, I always leave at the end of the night so inspired by everyone I’ve spoken to. I am grateful to be part of such an amazing community of dynamic individuals. They all have such a sparkplug of energy and passion, and are doing such incredible things to improve the Public Service. 

Day 26

Today was a very productive morning of meetings, and a wonderful sushi lunch with a great friend. I spent the afternoon at the Champions Official Languages session, it was very interesting and Nick did a great job presenting.

I glanced out the window a few times throughout the day and saw these workers repairing a roof. It was neat to watch them work as they each had their own little job and worked together as a team. I am sure it must be very rewarding for them to take a roof, remove the shingles, place the new tar, roll out the new shingles and see the efforts of their labour come together in a neatly, completed project. They seemed very at ease and relaxed as they worked, almost like artists painting a canvas. I was grateful to watch them work at various times throughout the day and see the pride they took in each phase of their project.

Tonight we went to Vetta Osteria – a new Italian restaurant on Bank Street that opened in November. Such a wonderful evening of deep conversations, lots of laughs, expresso cup traditions, and wine toasts :) It was a really enjoyable, grateful for such a fun evening.

I received a surprise thank you from a friend today, very thoughtful and of course delicious.  A little hand written note and a batch of cookies was really appreciated, it was such a kind gesture.

Tonight as we were leaving our meetings I looked up in the sky and saw three Canada flags moving in the breeze, it felt like a fresh spring day and the sky was so blue. A sense of pride washed over me, realizing how lucky I was to work for the government serving my country, and being a Canadian.  I never want to take this for granted, I think being in the NCR makes it even more surreal.

Grateful for my sweet Mom calling me tonight at 1130 to make sure I made it to the hotel safely. It is nice that she worries so much about me, it really shows how much she cares. I am so very lucky.

Day 25

Today I attended Career Boot Camp at the Ottawa Convention Centre. There were over 500 people in attendance, I really enjoyed the day and learned a lot from the sessions.

The “Engaging our Stakeholders” panel in which I was a presenter went well; it was in an ignite style format where panelists are given five minutes to speak about experiences with stakeholder engagement, accompanied by 20 slides. Each slide is displayed for 15 seconds, and slides are automatically advanced. The Ignite format is similar to Pecha Kucha, which features 20 slides displayed for 20 seconds each. The presentations are meant to "ignite" and generate awareness and to stimulate thought and action on the subjects presented. It definitely can be challenging as you would like to elaborate further on topics but the 15 seconds only provides you a glimpse in time – like a mini elevator pitch. They then had a questions and answers session with the audience and webcast participants following the presentations.

I met so many engaged, dynamic and enthusiastic public servants today. I wish I had have been able to meet them all but sadly it would have taken a full day of networking breaks to meet all 500. We had lunch at the Exchange Pub, it was nice to be able to eat a “hamburger” with the group, the whole time I kept thinking I was eating meat instead of a veggie burger. It was the most realistic looking burger I ever had, and after 4 years vegetarian, I completely forget how a hamburger tastes.

Tonight we went out for an Italian supper with our FYN group and our Champion Graham Flack. It was a really great evening, lots of stimulating conversations and it was so nice to meet everyone face-to- face as we are so used to connecting via teleconference and email. Sadly we missed the Career Boot Camp post-event as it was all wrapped up by the time we finished supper.

Grateful for such an incredible day of learning, networking and fun!  I took tons of notes and can’t wait to read through the golden nuggets of information and various quotes from our speakers today. The stories were very inspirational. A huge thanks to the fabulous @ CBC_CDC organizers and volunteers who made today a tremendous success.

Check out Robert Emmons: The Power of Gratitude video:

Day 24

Today was a perfect day for flying - sunshine, clear skies and spring-like temperatures. Jerry and Deuce drove me to the airport, Deuce always acts sad when he sees my suitcase as he never knows where I go when I travel, so this time we decided to show him by taking him to the airport. I'm not sure he fully understands but at least we tried :)

My 27 minute flight to Halifax arrived 15 minutes early as we caught a jet stream. I had my favourite treat when I arrived at the airport - a matcha monsoon smoothie at Booster Juice. I look forward to this every time I travel, since PEI does not have a Booster Juice shop. My friend Jaclyn and I just ordered a bunch of different matchas, can’t wait to try all the flavours when I get back – I made a matcha mint coconut latte before I left, and it was beyond my expectations - so delicious.

I arrived in Ottawa around noon and had a great afternoon of shopping and skating on the canal. I haven’t skated on the canal in a few years. It was a warm afternoon and lightly snowing; I felt so free gliding along the ice.  I did a three month assignment in Ottawa a few years ago, and for the month of February I skated on the canal twice a day - such fond memories.  Tonight I had the most delicious sushi I ever tasted, the wasabi was incredible.

Just finished up my presentation prep for my Career Boot Camp ignite session and caught on some reading, grateful for a very relaxing and fun day in the Nation’s capital :)

Here is a "moving poetry" video called "Gratitude is..." 

Day 23

Today was a lovely spring day with lots of sunshine. We had the windows open all day and it was so fresh and breezy.  Grateful for Deuce who let me sleep in a little bit this morning, grateful for Jerry who cooked me a nice supper, and grateful to be back to PEI to see the beautiful sunset, I can never get tired of watching those images of beauty from my window.

Tonight I decided to do a little random act of kindness, I went up to shoppers and bought the homeless man who looked so chilly, some water and a box of granola bars. He was very grateful, and didn’t even ask me for any money. On my way there I saw the lady that makes and sells coat hangers, she said she was trying to make enough money so she could buy a McDonald’s pop tomorrow, as they have free refills. I told her I had to go to Shopper’s first as I didn’t have cash but that I would come find her. I almost wish I had have been able to buy her a winter coat but none of the stores were open, she wasn’t dressed very warm :( They didn’t have the cash-back feature so I decided to buy her a big bottle of pop and a bar instead. The first thing she said was "you didn’t have to buy me two things", but the smile on her face showed how grateful she was :) I sure love doing the little things that make people smile. I can hardly wait for my 31 Random Acts of Kindness blog that I will be starting in May, now that is going to be so much fun.

Hanging out with Jerry tonight, watching Sens and excited for the Rousey v Carmouche UFC 157 main event :)

I love this starfish story, a simple act of kindness can make a difference.

Day 22

Today was my first day back to work after vacation. I was surprised at how energized and refreshed I was from only a week off. I was able to focus on my work and get through all my action items by the end of the day. I am leaving for Ottawa Sunday so I really only had today to catch up on everything, so I was thankful to have utilized the full day.

I received some very sad news today. Lexie, my colleague's guide dog was diagnosed with lymphoma, there were a lot of tears shed as she is loved by everyone. Kathy indicated that the vet said she had about 3 weeks to live. I was at a meeting this morning and Lexie was under the table by my feet, I wanted to reach down and pet her, but didn’t want to bother her. I was hoping I would have more time to give her my love throughout the day but didn’t get the opportunity. My manager texted me tonight to tell me that Lexie was gone :(  Beyond heartbreaking. It feels like I lost a co-worker as she was so special to us all, and brightened each day at work.  I am grateful to have had the opportunity to have had special moments with her over the past couple of years.

Today I am also grateful for friendships, friends that are there for us through good times and bad, who embrace our uniqueness, our idiosyncrasies; who love us for just being who we are. Sometimes friendships come and go, but I am grateful for all of them, as they have impacted my life and made me who I am today. I received a really nice note today from a wonderful friend, she has been following my blog and she said although we don't get to see each other often, we always pick up where we left off. I will always love her, she holds a very special place in my heart.

This is a beautiful video where a dog is reunited with her "Mom", a soldier who has been in Afghanistan. Brings tears to my eyes every time, that pure unconditional love the dog feels for her.