Toronto The Beautiful ~ Under Assault #G20
The G20 summit is happening is Toronto this weekend. It has turned Toronto into a war zone. Over 400 people arrested so far, damages to businesses and our city property will take months to clean up. Toronto’s reputation will be further impacted, already not one of the more loved cities in my fair country, mostly because of its size. It is the immigration hub of the country; all nations from the world are represented, for the most part, peacefully. I would argue to say that no matter where this summit was held, it would have attracted the anarchists, some even speculate these are the same people who trashed Montreal during a recent playoff game, and they weren’t even Montreal fans.
I just call them ‘the angry people’. I have been at a lot of protests in my life, and many of them included the angry people. Angry people are generally under educated and without purpose – they are all ramped up on anger, so much so that they can’t think straight. The angry people NEVER SOLVE ANYTHING, they don’t lend any purposeful ideas, they aren’t even there for the protest per se, they are there because it is a good outlet for angry people. We are what we think! They have created the perfect angry world for themselves, going from one targeted place to the next expressing their anger. Do the leaders need to meet? Yes, more so than ever, the leaders need to meet. Could they have done so somewhere where the anarchists would have less to damage? Of course they could have. There are already fortresses all over the world where these leaders could have met that would not have caused the host country to spend over a billion dollars in prep for the summit and an undetermined amount to clean up. Canada showed the world this year that we can open our doors and welcome the world population into our humble midst. We also showed that, like the rest of the world, we are victims of purposeless anger, anger without a solution, anger that contributes to world anger, and really nothing else. So what is the solution?? Again, it comes down to what we’re willing to tolerate. Everyone who participated in the negative knows someone who didn’t – someone who thinks it’s wrong. It’s time to start reporting the angry people who are terrorists that get their glory from destroying things. We’ll all be better off once they realise they are the source of their anger, not the world. Nothing heals more than helping. When they learn to help, they will change the world. As for Toronto, it will be a beautiful place of tolerance once again. Even today it shows signs of peace in the aftermath of chaos. Toronto is a place where people can come from their war torn countries and set up a new life of their choosing. Toronto is a soft place to land in an angry world. It is a city I love. Wishing you a week of peace.  Father's Day - Peanuts, Birds and Music
It’s the third Sunday in June – that makes it Father’s Day. I can remember a lot of Father’s Days, usually involving a family get together of some sort and some peanuts, bird books and music. My Father has always been difficult to please, but peanuts, birds and music have always been his soft spots.
For the best part of the last year my Father has been in an institution because his mind is failing him. In his state of confusion (he was a professional musician) he thinks he has a gig there that he is not fulfilling and he lives in fear of being kicked out and apologises to us daily for his worry, his inability to do the gig and his condition. Today as a family we will try to bring even a tiny bit of joy to his anguish. Mental illness is something that not many of us know much about. If I think back on the part of my Father’s life I was exposed to, I can see his illness clearly was there for a very long time. We saw it as a short temper, a difficult personality, a perfectionist that couldn’t be pleased - and we navigated around it, sometimes successfully, sometimes not. My Father was aware of it too. His library is full of books on calming the nerves through martial arts, food choices, and meditation. Even with all of the reading and experimenting, he never really made the connection that it was his physical body making him feel that way, not his life. So he kept busy. When he was busy he was able to get away from the ruminating thoughts, the torture of anxiety, the self loathing. Unfortunately the thoughts won and now we are unable to care for him as a family. There have been several suicide attempts and eventually the institution was our only choice. If you know someone struggling with a personality disorder, mental illness, depression, panic and anxiety, it is critical that you begin to understand what drives their behaviour and forgive them for it. Forgiving is the first step to healing for all parties. If you are suffering, it is critical that you forgive yourself and move toward a healthier place. I’m not a huge supporter of pharmaceuticals and given the choice personally I would NOT go that route, but understanding what is happening in the body, even just understanding how chronic stress feels and affects you – will take you miles closer to being able to manage its affects. The biggest point being it is not your surroundings making you feel that way; it is your body and its coping mechanisms. With clarity brings choice – and there are many ways to combat stress including life choices, food choices, yoga, volunteering, surrounding yourself with positive, optimistic people that truly care about your well being, limiting time with people who drain you, orchestrating a paradigm shift to positive thinking – in effect training your brain to let go of thoughts and feelings that have no value to you in real life. If YOU are suffering, let me be the first to forgive you for your condition. If you know someone suffering, go to them, forgive them, love them and find help for them. To all of the men out there who have taken on the role of mentor, guidance counsellor, coach or provider to anyone on this fair planet, Happy Father’s Day. May we all have the strength and coping mechanisms to overcome the stress of the world and to remember the most important things. For me today those would be the peanuts, the birds and the music.  Climate Change or Climate Gate? Either way, it's just a distraction from what matters most.
Because I am an artist who covers topics such as Climate Change and Peace people are compelled to argue with me. I am a seeker of the truth, so I listen.
I want to make it clear though – I am not an expert on either of these topics. I write about them because I am touched by them. I am a student of these topics. As citizens of planet earth we should all have our eyes wide open. On the agenda this week was Climate Change. There are people who believe Climate Change is real, and people who do not. The thing I find most interesting about the argument is this: 1) If it’s true – the human race had better make some changes quick, we’ve reached The Tipping Point 2) If it’s not true – carry on – as you were! Let’s put the temperature of the planet aside for the time being and have a look at human behaviour of late. If we look at our relentless search for fuel to propel our machinery alone, we see some deplorable situations like the current oil spill, mountain top removal and dirty oil extraction leading to contaminated communities and wet lands as well as species extinctions. My question is: So what if C02 emissions from our vehicles, industry and factory farms are not to blame for the increase in temperature? The behaviour is still wrong, the behaviour is still unsustainable, the behaviour is still showing complete disregard for the planet – our planet. The argument that Climate Change is not real seems a bit like a 'get out of jail free' card to me. It appears to be a hate fest against Al Gore, intimating the only reason Al Gore is fighting this fight is because he stands to make millions in green technology. Please, I think Al Gore could choose to make millions doing just about anything, why would he pick such a hard battle to fight? Why wouldn’t he just go into mountain top removal? He certainly could do whatever he chose to do. Besides, Al Gore only jumped on this band wagon a few years back – people like David Suzuki have had an entire career studying the subject and have done their best to coach us to a better and more sustainable way of life. What we know for sure is there is some controversy as to what is causing our earth to warm – but let’s ensure that argument doesn’t muddy the waters so much that we fail to see what is going on today on our earth – real travesties caused by real people for no other reason than greed. You call this progress? You call this civilized? There are people who want to live a life of excess and a life of greed. In order for them to do so they have to convince the rest of us we need to “PROGRESS” i.e. we need more stuff, we need to go faster, further, higher and let's keep the business of war afloat too while we're at it. Well, no matter who is right – I still like my vision better. I like the people and I like the air, the fresh water (enough for all human beings), the animals and of course the mountain tops. Maybe we could all stop arguing long enough to see what we’re missing.  Let’s lift the insanity.
As people’s anger grows at the escalating crisis they see around the world, there is a call to action, a standing up and holding people, countries and industries accountable. We have run out of tolerance for big business ruining our environment and our sense of financial security and future health whilst they enjoy the riches of their industry. This is all very progressive and right, we SHOULD BE MAD!!
At the same time there are thick dividing lines in terms of politics, religion and beliefs in general. There are some people who believe the earth has only existed 6 thousand years even though we have PROOF it’s been here for hundreds of millions of years. Not only do they believe it, they will argue with you about it for as long as you can tolerate! I can tolerate about 1 minute. I don’t see any value in arguing this point; I don’t see how it’s helpful to humanity in any way right now. I have had people blast me and turn their back on me ‘even though they love me’ for writing a song they viewed as occultist even though the song was about waking up and learning from our past mistakes, making the world a better place. I even had someone blast me for not doing enough; they think I’m just making pretty pictures and songs. They really didn’t know I have lived a life of service to humanity and nature, they felt they knew everything about me from my facebook page. Well you know what? Even if I am just making pretty pictures and songs, what is the crime in that? Isn’t that better than sitting back and judging our fellow human beings? Isn’t it time we let go of judgement all together? Hasn’t judgement without knowledge been our single most fall from grace as a species? We do need to hold people accountable for real travesties being created. In order to do that, we need to come together as a human race, not create deeper dividing lines based on perceived differences, or based on the ‘I’m better than you’ mindset. Let’s level the playing field and come up with some new game rules for the human race where everyone gets to play. I think one thing is important to remember. Every single word on this planet, every religion, concept, border and barrier we have has been invented by people just like you. You can choose to follow or you can choose to lead. I think instinctually we know we are one, but sometimes our beliefs tell us we need to hate another person, so we do – without as much thought as what we’d have for dinner. Does that make sense to you? If we did only one thing – let go of hate and judgement for our fellow human beings and our perceived differences, we would have the biggest quantum leap we’ve ever experienced. So much fog would be lifted we’d clearly see the real people doing real things to destroy our planet. When we take love out of our world and replace it with hate, indifference, greed and judgement, we create the world we see today. So now we know! Let’s make it impossible for the real perpetrators to hide amongst all of this non value added hate and judgement. Let’s lift the insanity. Let’s try a new experiment, one based in knowledge, love and tolerance. (WARNING! Pretty picture!!) Making small changes for Planet Earth
It was approximately a year ago that I made a concentrated effort to reduce my personal paper use. I was still dependent upon that paper copy, the filing system, the copy for safe keeping.
I had already made drastic changes to my business life. People I work with know I’d prefer an email in advance of working together to share any pertinent material. I have eliminated all paper redundancies with passion. I have transformed entire departments to be more eco friendly. It was time for me to really make a personal commitment. Since I made the decision, what I have backed up to date has replaced 3 banker’s boxes of stuff. And those are just the documents I had filed. When I think of the trees I have used in my lifetime, I can easily overcome any fear of transitioning to a completely soft world. We have soft copies of nearly everything now, and very simple ‘IT idiot friendly’ ways to back up important documents. Sadly, it wasn’t the environmentalist in me that made the shift. I put a concentrated effort into it because I needed to be flexible. I need info at my finger tips and I never know exactly where I might be. The shift was made out of necessity, and made possible because of technology. I realised I met my personal goal when I looked in those file folders and there was nothing left that I cared about and nothing new coming in to put in them. I am paper-free, short of a few businesses that have received emails from me indicating that not providing an entirely digital experience has become a deal breaker for me and asking for an ETA on when they will be fully transitioned. I have some choices to make. My new commitment to myself is to spend 30 minutes a week on making small permanent changes that can further reduce my impact here on Planet Earth. I fear part of that may require I become a better cook, or worse, gardener (look out world!) but I’m willing and ready to take a closer look. Wishing you a week of graces for Planet Earth. Everyone has critics! Only you know your personal truth.
Everyone has critics, no matter how low key our life might be. There are people who don’t like how we dress or speak or look or drive or decorate, or live. If we were to pay attention to these critics, we would never make a decision for ourselves. We would never know our own truth.
And make no mistake about this – you have a personal truth, and only you know what it is. I thought I had reached the pinnacle of my career in the 90s. I had a major label deal; I was living in LA, working with some top notch producers and talent. At that point, I had the embrace, the ‘endorsement’ of all of my friends and family, I was the apple in the eye girl, the one living my dreams. But you know what? I was in exactly the wrong place, at the wrong time – it was an illusion of success. It wasn’t real, it wasn’t my truth. Today I am living my truth, and if you told me ten years ago what I’d have to go through to get here, I would have hid under the covers. How did I get here? I lived my truth every moment and let it lead me. It led me to people who taught me tolerance, people who taught me hard work. I learned how to love, both myself and every single person on the planet. It led me to feel compassion for the hard working; I learned the generous spirit of giving and helping. I became integrated in society. A very good friend told me that in her opinion the biggest mistake I made was to walk away from a scholarship to study classical music in Montreal in my early 20s. I tried the course, I really did, it didn’t feel right, and it wasn’t my truth. I knew that at 20, but my friend was probably just thinking had SHE had the opportunity, SHE wouldn’t have walked away from it. So remember, people are going to give you advice, and most of it will be out of love, but all of it will be from an outsider’s perspective, only you know your own personal truth, only you know what is best for you. How do you know what your truth is if you’ve never listened to it before? What I do is I ask myself – on a scale of 1-10 how ‘right’ does this feel? How ‘happy’ am I in this situation? How ‘engaged’ do I feel here? If it scores an 8-10 – it’s a pretty good indication it’s what I’m supposed to be doing, where I should be. When I know I’m where I’m supposed to be, doing what I’m supposed to be doing, I can give it my 100% loving and compassionate focus, and THAT is a great feeling of truth, one moment at a time. I’m wishing you a week of truthful moments. To your critics you can say, thank you – you flatter me with your preoccupation of my life!  Connections in The Technical Age
This week I had to travel to meet people that I work with every day. I have met these people face to face before, and we will meet again, but the majority of our interactions are online – video conferences, conference calls, emails, and communicator chats.
We live in The Technical Age. This allows me to do the majority of my work from home, it allows me to record and collaborate with people from around the world without ever having met them face to face, it allows me the freedom to not take on the energy of the world through a tiresome commute everyday, and it allows me time for creativity. So why did I make the trip? ….because it was time. Even though we can connect on line 24/7 and often do – there was enough stress built up from not meeting live that we needed to meet. We needed to have a few meals together and play together and work together to really get to the gist of how we’re feeling today. As a result of my trip, I will have a better working relationship with a few people for a few months, until we NEED to meet again. You can coast on a relationship with 140 character sound bites for a period of time, but it is no replacement for going for a walk together or even just sitting together. The online relationship doesn’t replace the offline one; it only sustains it through periods when we can’t be together. So with my To Do list put aside, I made the time to connect and I am tremendously grateful I did. It’s the people in my life that make me wake up every morning and want to take on the world, and having the chance to clink glasses and hear some personal stories was well worth my time and energy this week. May your connections in this coming week be meaningful.  An End to Packaging - The Possibilities
This week I had to purchase two pieces of electronic equipment. One was a back up hard drive for my office; the other was a wireless mouse for my writing set up.
I was disappointed to see that both of these items, regardless of what brand I chose, came in thick plastic theft deterrent packaging. They make these items basically indestructible so that no one can rip open the package in the store and run out the door without paying. (The packages are embedded with a device that will set off an alarm if it’s not deactivated at the cash). So… Let’s think about this. Every single electronic item is in this type of packaging, because a small number of people have chosen a life of crime. We pay more for products because a small number of people have chosen a life of crime. We pay more for the packaging too. We also have higher unemployment rates than we’re used to coping with. So here’s my vision: For high theft items, let’s give people jobs to work electronic counters. Let’s make it so that we have to go and actually talk to someone to 1) see what options there are 2) understand the features and benefits of each 3) purchase from, without the plastic packaging. Personally, if I’m going to pay more for something because it gets stolen a lot, I’d rather that money go into someone’s pocket to feed their family or build their life, than to fill that gap left at the store due to theft. There are options to rebuild that are based on growth and positive momentum. I trust one day we’ll wake up and start moving in the right direction. I wish you a grand week this middle of May, may it encompass all you desire (and very little plastic).
 The Quest for Satisfaction
This morning the Dalai Lama posted something on facebook that caught my eye. (I know….we live in an age where the Dalai Lama has a facebook page!!!!)
*** Dalai Lama - The interesting thing about greed is that although the underlying motive is to seek satisfaction, even after obtaining the object of one's desire, one is still not satisfied, it becomes limitless or boundless and that leads to trouble. On the other hand, if one has a strong sense of contentment, it doesn't matter whether one obtains the object or not; either way, one is still content. *** To be content, seems a life long journey for most. Yet, look around us, look at the sense of purpose in the animal kingdom, witness the sense of satisfaction amongst them. Where did we go so wrong that the majority of human beings have a ‘wish list’ ~ ‘things’ that are somehow going to make our lives better? If we focus on and celebrate the natural good, we will suddenly feel the importance to protect and cherish it. If we really see how much Mother Earth has to offer, we will put away the wish list and sit back in wonder at how we missed so much. My thoughts are with those affected by the oil spills in the Golf of Mexico. May we find the insight we need to stop this travesty of oil drilling. May we stop the relentless search for satisfaction and realise we have been given so much already, we only need look at our systems and redevelop ways to live that focus more on the beauty that surrounds us instead of obliterating it. If what we think is what we become, may we conjure up a world free of destruction and build one full of compassion. More importantly, may we finally be satisfied.  The Business of Green
When I woke up this morning it was freezing in the house. The house was built in the early 20th century and it’s always cold. I have a big supply of sweaters I avail myself of. There is a beautiful breeze that blows up the creek valley behind me. When I’m cognizant of it, I’m reminded that people and even the creatures before the people, have likely enjoyed that breeze for millennia. Fabulous Planet Earth, I am forever camping upon you. I picked a good site this time. Thank you for the free air conditioning over the past few years.
Today I attended The Green Living Show. I had intended on riding to the train station but I was late, so I drove my car. Not very eco friendly, but at least I wasn’t driving the entire way into the downtown core alone in my car.  The show was packed, as was the parking lot. It was comprised of vendors who had something there to sell. Really what I saw was an industry that is saying ‘have all of the same stuff, the same comforts, maintain the same consumption, but use our products and be green’. There were hundreds of options to purchase eco friendly wares. The slow food market - if I were vegan I would have been glad to have snacks in my backpack but there were some half decent vegetarian options. You could also talk to people who could take you to a green lifestyle right down to the house you live in. That is exactly why I wanted to attend the show, to learn a bit more about straw bale houses. We will move the studio in the next few years and I’m doing the research now on how to make our new location as eco conscious as possible. It will take a lot of study and planning. I was happy to see many eco architects and builders at the show. I learned a lot! I have a lot to learn. I got to chat with some of the organizations I support and learn about some of the great things they’re doing to protect habitat, nature, water, the air. I lingered longer at those kiosks. I wasn’t at the show as a consumer as much as a student. I'm a vegetarian. I boil cloves on my stove for air freshener. I wear an extra sweater when I’m cold and skip most of the products we’ve been told we need, including the drugs. When I buy something, I buy it for life. I don’t do disposable. These choices feel greener to me than simply switching to green products, but switching to green products is a start, for sure. So I guess I could say I was feeling a bit too green myself for The Green Living Show, but I was happy to see so many people at the show, even if they did drive their cars there, even though the train stops right there, and you can park for free anywhere along the train route. We have a long way to go before we can call ourselves green. Be careful of how you view the business of green. We should all stop and learn. REDUCE, REUSE, REDUCE, REUSE, REDUCE, REUSE 
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