Today on the set of Georgian Bay Life I spoke of Vision boards and achieving goals. Having the opportunity to be the resident life coach for the viewers of the show has been a really exciting experience for me. It has taught me to stretch, to grow, to move beyond my limits and try new things and that is always a good thing.

Which leads me to my point. This Saturday I will strike off the last goal I had on my vision board from 5 years ago. That goal was to be a guest on the Oprah Winfrey show. You may know the show has changed in format and there is now a Canadian version. Yay!

I was invited to be a guest on a new show they are running in Canada called the Truth Project? The shoot is in Toronto in two days.

That’s the thing about dreams, they shift, they change, they become clearer as you move closer to them becoming reality. You have to work at it, you have to hold onto the vision at all times, you have to believe when everybody else gives up: especially then!

Close your eyes, get very quiet, listen. Can you feel it? Can you see it? Can you hear it? That’s your dream calling you. Are you ready to answer?

Here’s what I know for sure….you cannot change something in your life with the same gps you’ve always used, it’s programmed to take you to all the same places you’ve been before. You know, the familiar places like “woe is me Ville” and “why me town” and a favourite stop for many people
” WTF, who the he**does (s)he think (s)he is? ”

I am heading out on a trip in a few days. It is a rare family event these days with all of us scattered all over the continent. I am looking forward to hugging my daughter, and her puppy, in real life. We have our maps, we have our GPS, we have an address: hopefully that’s all we’ll need but, here’s something I guarantee you, if we get lost we will be asking for directions. No trying to figure it out on our own, no guessing, no hoping we’ve picked the right road, I want to know for sure so we’re asking for help, plain and simple.

We don’t know the areas, we don’t know the roads and we don’t know the lay of the land, why would we try to make it hard for ourselves when all we have to do is ask for help…easy peasy right?

Shifting your perspective about something is like that too. It really is simple to shift but if you’ve always looked at things a certain way you may not know that there is another option.

Welcome to your best life. Welcome aboard, this may be a bumpy ride from time to time but, if you know that ahead of time, you can handle it. Things will be just fine, of that I am sure.

Now, fasten your seat belt, relax and listen to what your tour guidehas to share with you..you won’t regret it.

April 16, 2012 is a date I will remember for a very long time. It’s a gratitude full date from start to finish because that was the day Oprah Winfrey brought her lifeclass tour to our fair city.
Tony Robbins, Iyanla Vanzant, Bishop T.D.Jakes and Deepak Chopra all shared the stage with Oprah. They all shared their wisdom with the 8500 people in the audience and the millions watching from around the world. ! !!

Sitting beside Misty, Shelley among others was hilarious and exhilarating and slightly surreal. Every one in a while I would look over the row just to be sure we were all really experiencing this love in with Oprah and her team.

Truly the evening was rather a blur, there was just so much to listen to and pay attention to, but a really good kind of blur. You know the ones where you reflect later and can’t help but smile..that’s what this was.

I am not sure what it feels like to float on a cloud. When I was a young girl I used to pretend that I could fly into the sky, catch a cloud as it passed by, hop on it and float to wherever I wanted. I believe that just may have happened at the #OinTO #lifeclass tour.

I am still, ten days later, writing in my gratitude journal, all the amazing things I am grateful for.

What a thrill. What a rush, what a ride this has all been. Thank you Oprah and all your team. Brava and encore!

Wow, what a week it’s been in my world. I have intentionally taken a few days off from my writing to process every thing I have been exposed to in the last two weeks: if I wrote what was in my head the very first day it’d be something like. …”Wow: Wow: Wow”.  That doesn’t sound very  profound and allowing the space of what this all was just felt necessary and comfortable.

So what’s been going on you may ask. First off: April 15 I checked into the stunning and always elegant Fairmont Royal York hotel to spend a couple of nights there. A few nights prior to the check in my email inbox included an invitation from OWN Canada to join a group of OWN Ambassadors for tea at the Royal York. High Tea at the Royal York hotel is not just tea it’s an event and it’s not just any event it’s a fantabulous event. China tea pots, we each had our own, matching cups,  beautifully crafted sandwiches and oh so much more. But wait, even before the tea started the luxury had begun. Wandering around the lobby, checking out the beautiful furnishings, enveloping myself in the energy of the moments felt just yummy.

I’m a book girl, love to be around them, lose myself in them, write them, stack them, sit beside them, share them out so when I found out the tea was being held in the Library Room  on top of all the gloriousness well: heaven on Earth had arrived. Soaking up the moments with my roomie Julie was so much fun. While we wondered what to expect we were approached by our own personal host for the event who escorted us to another area set up for the group. Champagne all around! Introductions to each of the OWN Ambassadors led to hugs and cheers and so much laughter. It felt to me as if I had known many of these folks for more than just a short while.

To think that this was just the beginning of something much larger than the group of us was so exciting. Tomorrow we were all going to go see Oprah, Deepak Chopra, Tony Robbins and Iyanla Vanzant in Toronto at the Life Class tour! Tomorrow we were all going to be part of a global televised show. Tomorrow we were all going to be part of a movement: an Oprah movement of love, of joy rising, of inspiration and compassion.

For now though the light was shining on these moments with new friends, new experiences, new memories and I wanted to be present to them all.

It is said that the reason they were so fearless was because they had  a truth about burning boats in battles. They would board their boats and make ready for the battles on shore knowing full well they were to burn their boats as they exited them. Burn the boats meant they would conquer or die trying. No other options were offered.

I believe life is like that in my humble opinion. Be fearless, burn your boats BUT don’t burn your bridges behind you.

This week I am going to see Oprah in Toronto with her Life Class tour. It is going to be awesome. I am also going to be meeting a bunch of people, own ambassadors, at the Fairmont Royal York for high tea at the invitation of Own Canada. Wow!

The energy level has risen exponentially as the day draws near and the social media excitement is hot hot hot. I have made the choice to support women along the way in my life and some of them will be at the event too. I am so excited to meet them all in person and to share a hug or three.

My belief is this: if you have the ability to make someone happy do it and be fearless with your gifts. There is no value in creating bad feelings. Leave that behind. Deal with it, speak up, process the feelings and move on. Don’t speak poorly of others because it could come back to haunt you later. In other words: don’t burn your bridges but do burn your boats.

The event? High tea at the Fairmont Royal York (http://www.fairmont.com/royalyork) hotel in Toronto with other Oprah Winfrey (http://www.owncanada.ca)  fans the day before the live screening of the Oprah Life Class tour. The reason? I mentioned my excitement, oh probably a gazillion times, on twitter and facebook. Why? Because I am excited. I am excited to see Oprah Winfrey (www.oprah.com)  up close and personal. I am excited to see Tony Robbins and Iyanla Vanzant and Deepak Chopra and T.D. Jakes.

I am excited to be in the presence of so many like minded people, visionaries and dreamers and goal setters and inspirers of dreams. I am excited to see the crowd, feel the energy, absorb the truth, bask in the joy rising. I am excited to see the “aha” moments: and there will be many of that I am certain.

Ms Winfrey is the creator of  her own destiny, she does not stop when she hits roadblocks, she surrounds herself with people who are willing to work hard to hold her vision strong, she is committed to Stedman, to Gayle and to  her puppies. She is committed to living her best life, her highest life and, in so doing, is committed to sharing her knowledge and her teachings with all of us.

I think that is the piece of this that is the most exciting for me…to be in the presence of one person who is so willing to see vast change in the world : a woman who is truly living her purpose so that we may all live ours. What a gift she is. I accept with open arms. Thank you Oprah. See you in Toronto! Safe trip.

I was taken aback by this feeling and knew I had to explore deeper to uncover the “why” of  it.

“How could you not be happy for her? Geez what an ungrateful b*** you are Jan. C’mon are you kidding me, look at what she’s been through, she deserves some joy, ” All these thoughts, and more, ran through my head.  Alternately, sitting on my other shoulder, ungrateful gremlin kept saying stuff like “Well I’ve been through a lot too. I work hard, I deserve it too”

Welcome to the pity party that was in my head. Geesh. Thankfully, because I’ve learned so much from my coaching, I recognized my insecurity and called it out fairly quickly. “ok pity party’s over folks, move on, nothing to see here” That was basically the conversation in my head after I took the time to process my feelings.

Flipping the perspective allowed me the ability to share in her joy and to be grateful for her gift. I was putting negative energy out into my world and it was coming right back to me like a magnet because, of course, what you reap you sow.

I felt rather ashamed of myself for my feelings but, hey, I am a human being human and there will be mistakes.

My big take away on this whole thing? The universe is a most glorious place and every breath we take offers us a choice on how we want to show up. Me, I want to be authentic, mistakes and all.

How about you?

Today I want to share what I have learned from one of my favourite teachers. We have never met so all of our teaching/ learning relationship has been  virtually based, you know social media has it’s place in my humble opinion.

You may have heard of her but just in case you have been living somewhere other than Earth her name is Oprah Winfrey.  Ms.Winfrey has been teaching, and sharing her lessons in a public platform for more than 25 years and she has affected millions of lives. Wow, talk about having an impact in creating change in the world

And so that’s the biggest take away for me, through all the lessons…one person can make a difference. There will be challenges, it will be hard, people will mock and jeer and be rude and mean but keep holding onto that vision. Do not veer, do not sway, do not give up, never never never give up.

My goal is to teach a million women how to turn their passions into profit, empower themselves financially and take their power back. I do this through my coaching programs but, taking a page from Ms. Winfrey, I decided to take my platform to a higher level. Approaching my local cable tv station with an idea for a monthly segment was really pushing myself out of my comfort zone. What was I thinking? I don’t know anything about hosting a show…yikes.

Plan sent, fingers crossed and wait. Tv is a lot of hurry up and wait.

Happily the answer was yes and I now feature my life coaching lessons on Georgian Bay Life with Rogers TV in Collingwood. The retail value of this contract is in excess of 20,000.00  I am so grateful to Ms. Winfrey for her lessons. By taking her lessons to heart I can now share out my lessons to a much broader audience. Lesson taken, with gratitude, Oprah.

See you in Toronto on April 16! http://www.olctoronto.com/bio.aspx

My intention is to be able to meet in person and, given the teacher I have, I am allowing that dream to take it’s place in my heart.

What is also true is the mess that has been my life. Abused as a child I tended to often live in a world of pretend. I would pretend I lived in a big castle and wore beautiful clothes and would always be safe. This was my way of escape and it’s why I love to read and write and tell stories too…they took me out of the truth, of the pain, of the fear.

I never lived up to my true potential and I always knew it to be true although I did not accept that truth until very recently. These were the reasons I held to be true for me not living my best life: abuse: chronic illness: unfaithful business partners and a murder. absolute and utter betrayals in my life: I was justified to live a life cloaked in fear.

It took a misdiagnosis of Parkinson’s disease for me to really know what love was even though I was married and had children. I thought I knew. I was wrong. Being told you have an incurable disease at age 40 is devastating,  heart breaking and life changing.  Falling apart meant those who loved me fell with me or held me up or just stood close by and waited. That was when I found out what true love is.

I learned about the value of riches six years later when a specialist concurred with my own feelings that the diagnosis was wrong. Taking meds for something I did not have for six years, losing my business, spending our savings on travel with our kids left me with a bitterness that permeated much of my life until a friend who still had PD reminded me that I truly had won the lottery. I got the “get out of jail free”card. He still had his disease, I did not. He said he would pay a million dollars to be in my shoes. That was humbling to say the least. I stopped whining that very minute.

I learned the value of living every day to the fullest on November 8, 2008 at noon.  I was on my own and the phone rang. A very frantic voice on the other end asked me if I was ok, and I was, until she explained her reason for calling. We had a mutual friend, a dear friend named Sue Ryan. Sue had been murdered just hours before in her own home. Her husband, a retired police officer, would eventually be found guilty of second degree murder. I loved Sue, we had big plans together. She was going to run for mayor, I was going to run her campaign. We were going to do workshops together for battered women. All of that ended with four gun shots to her head. In an instant everything I thought I knew shifted again.

I share all of this with you so you know my mess but the truth is, in all of this, I have been lying to you and to myself. If you’ve asked me how I am I probably said life was great. I have always held, and presented, the illusion that I have all my shit together and I am just fine thank you very much. But, truth now, I don’t. I didn’t want people to know I was vulnerable. ( sounds crazy right?) I believed that vulnerable meant weak. I believed that vulnerable meant people would judge me. (ironically I was judging them.) I believed that vulnerable meant meek.

I speak of living fearless all the time and yet I am the one who has been living in fear.  I’m not proud of that truth but I accept it and I take my lessons from it with humility  and compassion.

And so, I apologize for lying to you. I have not always been fine. There are days when I’ve wanted to crawl back into bed and sob, I have cursed and sworn and thrown things around, I have stomped my feet and huffed and puffed and hollered at those who love me.

I am sorry for not being honest with you about my feelings and my emotions. Mostly I am sorry if I led you to think being vulnerable was wrong…it is not. It is honest and open and powerful.

Thank you for your compassion. Thank you for your honesty. Thank you for speaking out even if your voice shakes. I am grateful to all of you who have taught me this lesson.

She left because she was tired of being screamed at and being told she was not good enough: the eggshells she walked on were beginning to cut through her skin.

There was nowhere to go and no money to be had but she left anyway knowing this was the only way she could stand up for her truth. Talk about courageous and scary!

When we began our coaching, yes this single mom with no money knew she had to find a way out,  she knew two things for sure. She could not rely on her ex for support and she loved animals.

After spending time on her ( you are never in need of being fixed but you may need help shifting your beliefs) we shifted into the creation of turning her passion into profit.

Her love of animals was the start point but that could mean any number of jobs from zoo keeper to vet tech so we worked on her perfect day. Visualizing what that looked like, having time to volunteer at her son’s school, working from home, having time for new relationships to flourish,  led her to the realization that she wanted an artistic outlet included in her work. Working even deeper with that knowledge she decided  pet grooming  was the perfect blend of work, life balance for her and her son.

I was hoping to have coffee with her last week while I was on the road but she was too busy grooming pets in her home! In fact she is so successful she does not need to advertise and, if she wanted to, she could tell her ex to f*** off and keep his money because she doesn’t need it!

How cool is that?  Next time I am on the road I will bring my dogs, at least then we will have some time to catch up.