Good to be back!

Wow. It’s been a while since I’ve done any blogging, and I’ve missed connecting with you! It feels good to be back.

What have I been up to? Well, two things come to mind. First, I’ve been extra busy slowing down! I was moving so fast this past spring, summer and fall – and then Maui and the Universe worked their magic on me. Since then I’ve been relaxing into spring and a pace and rhythm that feels much more balanced and peaceful. In short, I’ve been practicing extreme self-care. Every time a voice inside my head would say “you should write a blog”, I’d notice a deeper voice inside my heart say “not now”. And so I would ask “what now then?” and the answer has typically been something like “have a bubble bath” or “go for a walk on the beach” or “meditate again”. And I’ve listened, knowing that that is the voice of wisdom and feeling grateful that I am once again clearly connected to it! Let me tell you my friends, it’s felt like coming home, only to a home that feels better to me than ever.

The second thing that comes to mind when I think of what I’ve been up to is “where would I start?” So many unique, special and wonderful things have happened in the last few months of this year – along with a few things that really shook me to my core and broke me open! And of course, in most cases, they were one and the same thing. I’ve felt a lot of pain and a lot of love, healing and opening up. Love in doses I hadn’t experienced before – the kind of love that has frankly overwhelmed me and taken me by surprise. And I thought I was pretty great at taking the love in! It’s been a big learning curve indeed, and the learning continues.

So, in short, big things have been happening. And for those of you that know me well, you can just imagine how many stickies I have in my “Blog ideas” file. Are you smiling? I sure am (lol).

Thankfully my inner wisdom is perfectly designed to cut through all the stickies and stories and makes things simple. I tune inward and I hear it telling me to start with something fun, simple and fascinating. That I can do. So here goes ...

First, I want to tell you that my newest coaching client is lighting my life up in a big way. She is 89 years old and committed to feeling truly happy. She is willing to do whatever it takes to spend the last part of her life feeling better than she has in a long time. She inspires me in every sense of the word! She is so very bright, authentic and absolutely honest. When I heard her chuckle for the first time, my heart nearly burst with joy, gratefulness and adoration. She is so proud to have her own life coach and I am so grateful for our connection. Life is short and this is one of the many things that make it meaningful.

And speaking of meaningful, the other day my Postman knocked on my door and when I answered he let me know right away that he didn’t have any parcels for me, but he was wondering if I’d ever heard of Dr. Deepak Chopra. Yes, I said, feeling quite curious to see where this would lead. So, he said, I have an extra ticket to see him tonight at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre – it turns out that my friend can’t come and so I wonder if you would be interested in joining me.

Right away I heard that very wise voice inside of me say “Go”. So I did. I hadn’t seen Deepak Chopra for at least 3-4 years and he is one of my favourite teachers and speakers. I knew this would be a great opportunity to hear him again, a great opportunity to get to know my wonderful postman a little more, and a great opportunity to see what else showed up to make life special. So I patted myself on the back for being spontaneous, thanked the Universe for fun surprises and my postman for the fabulous offer and off I went.

I could share a lot about that special evening and its off-shoots, yet I’ll stick with this one little gem of research that Dr. Chopra shared with us all that night. The research was conducted by Dr. Nicholas Christakis of Harvard, who’s been researching social connections for decades. And what he has discovered is truly remarkable.

Dr. Christakis’ research reveals that if you have a friend who is happy, the probability that you will feel happy increases by 15%. And if that friend has a friend who is happy (someone you may not even know), the probability that you will feel happy increases by 10%. And if that friend’s friend has a friend who is happy, the likelihood that you will become happy increases by another 6%. In fact, it takes four degrees of separation (in other words, your friend’s, friend’s, friend’s friend) before there is no measurable difference in your happiness!

Happiness is so contagious that people we don’t even know have an impact on our happiness and vice versa. Think about it. We have the ability to really impact the happiness of the people we interact with every day by being happy ourselves - whenever we are spending time with our family members, friends, or colleagues we have an opportunity to lead with happiness (even though Dr. Christakis’ research didn’t directly address a family or work context, imagine the link). A simple act like giving someone a compliment, recognizing something they’ve done, or smiling as they pass by could make them happier, which according to this research, may in turn cause others well beyond your immediate social circle to feel happier.

If this fascinates you and you want to learn more, stay tuned for the summer edition of my newsletter, where I share more on this and provide valuable links to videos and happiness tools you can use to boost your happiness quotient.

That’s it for today my friends. Thanks for still being here when I connect, for listening and sharing any comments (here or via email) and for sharing this journey with me. You make it meaningful, for sure!

Here’s to our collective happiness,
Lee