At the start of the year I decided to set myself some achievable goals. I’ll not bore you with the details but personal growth; self-development and establishing a sense of life balance were the common theme. I’m kind of an ‘all or nothing’ kind of gal, and have a tendency to be very single minded when I put my mind to something – choosing to focus on one project at the expense of everything else in my life. Balance is something that is often missing from my world.
However, that said, I’m Northern Irish and we tend to be ‘no nonsense’ sorts who have little time for airy-fairy ideas. I wouldn’t consider myself to be remotely spiritual, so when I was invited to spend a day at an event called Karma Connect, I was a little hesitant. I’m not a big follower of the “West Coast” lifestyle…meditation…kale…soymilk…hiking – not my bag, so to speak. So I was pretty certain this event wouldn’t be for me. However, I’m big enough to admit that I was wrong.
After braving the torrential rain on a particularly grim Sunday and heading to The Pipe Shop at the Shipyards at Lonsdale Quay I was amazed to find a full roomful of enthusiastic people who had done the same. What followed was a fun day with an interesting selection of motivational speakers, practical workshops and activities peppered with easily digestible little gems to help us navigate our lives and expand our spiritual practice.
Carefully organized by two lovely ladies (Michelle and April) the event was well thought out. Each talk and activity was just the right length and the speakers were all engaging enough to keep the attention of the audience.
They even had a cure for the post lunch slump that often kills daylong events stone dead by scheduling an active interlude with Tree Robin Walsh – a humanitarian artist who uses dance, education and the arts as a tool to inspire and help people to be more of the people they want to be. She successfully had 95% of the room up dancing and “moving as if nobody is watching” – something I only ever do on Saturday mornings, alone in my apartment, as I clean to the dulcet tones of One Direction hits. I’m afraid, I wasn’t brave enough to join them but it sure looked like a lot of fun. Next time, perhaps.
Another highlight of the day for me was listening to the personal stories of Dan Harrison (eMoneyCoach) and Ryan John Philips (Return to Happiness). Both students of Bob Proctor of The Secret fame, both men had an inspiring story to share. Both echoing the key messages of gratitude contained in The Secret, a book I voraciously devoured when I first moved to Vancouver and had the “I love this city but I don’t think this city loves me” feeling.
While Harrison had a rags to riches story, Philips’ was quite different. A former Canadian pro Hockey player for the Vernon Vipers, Philips life was on a downward spiral that found him incarcerated in the US after his athletic career ended. Philips encouraged the audience to use adversity in their lives as motivation to improve themselves and to help others. A lesson he practices daily though his charity work.
‘Motivation through adversity” was a lesson that less than 24 hours later I reflected on when I experienced some bad news of my own and really needed to believe that positive thoughts and lots of gratitude could brighten up my life, regardless of how things looked in the moment.
I definitely felt a lot more optimistic and positive as a result of attending Karma Connect…and for that I am grateful.
