Wow, we just came through quite the experience- an ice storm, which led to a power outage which lasted for four days for us, and is still ongoing for some folks in our area. It was a time of returning to basics. We have a woodstove, so we spent our days within a few feet of the stove, trying to stay as warm and cozy as possible. It was VERY quiet. Our cell phones weren’t working well at all, and we had very little access to the internet, so we didn’t know what was going on in the outside world. That was actually a blessed relief. I ended up deleting several Youtube subscriptions to political videos because I could see how much calmer I felt not knowing every new detail about American politics.

Although we didn’t have access to using our microwave or oven, we were able to use the stove top burner, because it’s fueled by gas. In order to keep our spirits up, I started thinking about what kind of treats I could create in one pot on the stove. Do you remember Rice Krispie squares and Chocolate Noodles? I rustled up the recipes for these old favourites in an old recipe card box that I had started when I was in my teens and twenties. The Chocolate Noodle recipe was the one I used to get my Girl Guide cooking badge. It is good and chocolatey- great for raising the spirits during a long power outage! In case you don’t have the recipe, here it is:

Chocolate Noodles

Melt 3/4 cup chocolate chips and 3/4 cup butterscotch chips on low heat. Stir in 1/2 cup of chopped peanuts. Stir in 1 and 1/4 cups of chow mein noodles, til they are coated with the chocolate mixture.

Place a spoonful of this delicious mixture on a sheet of waxed paper. Let cool. Eat and enjoy!

When the power came on, we felt so relieved. We also felt closer to our neighbours, more grateful for all that we normally take for granted, and happy to have found that good old recipe box of directions for how to make old fashioned yummy treats!

I have been feeling out of kilter today, though I wasn’t sure what it was about. Last Friday, I turned 70! I had a wonderful party with female friends and my two daughters. I thought that’s what I needed- to go through this big transition in the company of other women. It turned out to be so true!

So in light of such a beautiful day last Friday, I have been wondering what’s making me feel so unsettled today. Finally it hit me- tomorrow is the first anniversary of my Mom’s death. I have just spent the afternoon reading over the approximately 20 blogposts I wrote in 2024 after Mom passed away. What a journey it has been. I do feel like I have reached the place of well integrated grief, at last. This week a new book came out by one of our favourite authors, and I said, out aloud, “Mom, I sure wish I could share this book with you.” It now feels kind of sweet and comforting to talk out loud to Mom about things like this- a new book, a beautiful bouquet of flowers, plans for my 2025 garden. I wish she was here with me to celebrate these things, yet I know she is at peace, with Dad, and I am feeling pretty happy and at peace too.

So I don’t know how I am going to honour Mom tomorrow, but I know I will. Likely, some friends and family will get in touch with me, and I will get in touch with some of them too. Mom feels like an ancestor, who is there to guide me when I need advice, and I can talk out loud to her now and then. She’s with Nana; she’s with Dad. She’s where I will be one day too, and that is a deeply comforting thought.

Hallelujah!

As soon as I can in the New Year, I buy a pot of daffodil bulbs, to remind me of new life and hope. It is a wonderful thing to place the pot on the kitchen counter, and then observe the daily growth of the stems and the gradual opening of the daffodils themselves. I love that you cannot stop the cycle of life, no matter what is happening in the world around us. It’s so simple, yet so beautiful, to observe growth going on in the plant world and to enjoy the hope it inspires in our hearts.

If you are experiencing the January blahs, I highly recommend purchasing and enjoying a pot of daffodil bulbs. Hallelujah!

I love the way we have a built in reminder each December 31 to take some time to look back on the year past, and to dream some dreams for the year to come.

This morning I was reading an article in the Globe and Mail entitled What Happy Canadians Can Teach Us About Flourishing in 2025. The article spoke about the practices of people others have found inspirational in the area of being able to find a way to flourish in challenging circumstances. One of these people was a man living with a chronic disease that could be managed, but not cured. His motto is: “Tomorrow is not today.” Wow! I loved that, and as I pondered it, I could think of a few ways to look at that quote:

1) If we spend time today worrying about tomorrow, we are going to lose out on noticing and enjoying today’s gifts, pleasures, and opportunities.

2) If today is tough, tomorrow might not look the same once we get there. It might be a far better day!

3) Living in each moment of today, seeing it as a gift, and a jewel of opportunity, seems to me to be the way to go. In the past year, I spoke to a couple of people who spent significant time in a hospital emergency room or in the hospital proper, as patients. They both told me that as they looked around at other patients or interacted with staff, they had opportunities to serve them or offer words of encouragement. They felt their time was redeemed by doing so. Wow!

4) I love that this quote is short and sweet and easy to remember. I am going to try living it by it for the next few days, and see what positive gifts emerge!

Happy New Year to you all! May 2025 be characterized by many moments of inner peace and contentment, and may you be able to meet most of the challenges that arise, with skill and grace.

PS I am hard at work on my next book, More Tent Pegs: How to Live with More Skill and Grace! I am hoping to be able to offer you a new book that will provide you with more strategies for how to interact successfully with the challenges that come our way in our increasingly tempestuous world. May it be so!

PSS Have you noticed that the days are getting longer?? YAY!

This week I read an article about how to age gracefully. The author stated that aging is a privilege. Wow! That statement stopped me in my tracks. To age is not a right! It is, indeed, a privilege to be enjoyed to the full.

It’s all too easy for me to think of aging as a process of gradual decline, and on a physical level, this cannot be argued. Yet, it’s also true that each additional day is a gift to be lovingly received, a pearl without price, to be treasured and lived with beautiful intention. As I have reflected on this the past few days, I decided to do a few things to lock in this new and lovely perspective.

1) I made a little sign to put on my bedside table that says “Aging is a privilege”, so I can see it each day when I awaken. I take a few deep breaths and let this truth sink in, even before I pick up my smartphone!

2) Taking my journal in hand, I have been thinking about the day ahead, and asking myself how I want to live my day-what intentions I want to set- then writing them down.

3) Then I list some activities I want to do, aiming to really slow down and enjoy these simple pleasure as they occur. For instance, I have been trying to really treasure that I get to sit with a good book and a cup of steaming coffee in hand, for yet another day!

4) After that I write myself a little blessing that begins with the words “May I…..”

5) The next morning I reread my journal entry from the day before, to remind myself what my intentions were, then set some new ones for that day.

I have been enjoying this practice so much, I wanted to share it with you!

Hoping your Advent season is going well so far, enhanced by the first snowfalls of winter. Not long now until the days begin to get longer- 16 more days to go!

The past few months I have been obsessively focused on the US election. I couldn’t seem to stop reading about it. Now that it is over, what’s next?

Somehow, I had gotten off the mailing list for Richard Rohr’s daily meditations. A friend commented recently that he had been finding them really helpful, so I re-subscribed. Wow! I have been finding them to be really comforting, grounding, useful, and practical. This morning’s meditation was written by Rev. Michael Curry. He points to a truth which we all know, but which bears repeating, because it orients us in the direction we want to go- a direction which we know from our personal experience does work to both satisfy our soul and help our world around us. Rev Curry says:

“Love is a firm commitment to act for the well-being of someone other than yourself. It can be personal or political, individual or communal, intimate or public….. Love as an action is the only thing that has ever changed the world for the better... Where selfishness excludes, love makes room and includes. Where selfishness puts down, love lifts up. Where selfishness hurts and harms, love helps and heals. Where selfishness enslaves, love sets free and liberates. The way of love will show us the right thing to do every single time. It is moral and spiritual grounding— a place of rest— amid the chaos that is often part of life. It’s how we stay decent in indecent times. Loving is not always easy, but like with muscles, we get stronger both with repetition and as the burden gets heavier. And it works.”

Thank you, Rev. Curry for reminding us of this beautiful truth. We can decide to follow the way of love, and we can know that when we do, we will feel grounded, and satisfied deep within our souls, no matter what’s going on around us, no matter how wild the storm.

Hallelujah!

I realized today that it’s been quite a while since I have written a blogpost. My new book is launched, Thanksgiving is coming, and my Mom’s birthday, which was September 9th, has passed. I have started up another year of teaching Sunday School, my fall workshop offerings are about to begin, and it’s almost time to put the gardens to bed for another year. In other words, time is rolling on, as it always does.

I feel like I am pretty nearly finished processing and integrating my Mom’s death. I have been helped the past few weeks with this by reading a book by James Hollis that was written in 2018, but that I missed at the time. I find his writing about the soul, about individuation, and seeing it all from the Jungian perspective, to be really helpful for getting the big picture view of my own life, and my life within the context of my family of origin- both when I was young and now, as I prepare to turn 70 in January. I highly recommend this book, published when Hollis was 78. It seems to me to include all the important topics he discussed in the many books written before this one. The title is Living An Examined Life: Wisdom for the Second Half of the Journey, A 21 Step Plan for Addressing the Unfinished Business of Your Life. Sound interesting?

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to all!

I have exciting news! I have finished and self-published, with Sheri’s help, my new book Tent Pegs: How to Live With More Strength and Stability. Usually, it takes me two years to research, write, and edit a book. This time is was only nine months. It was a quicker process this time because much less research was needed. This book comes more from my own life experience, rather than synthesizing others’ research and writings. I’d say it’s my most practical book so far. I hope you agree, and find something in it of use for your own life. Someone said of the book, “It’s a boots on the ground book.” YES!!

Tent Pegs is up on Amazon now. To find it, select ‘books’ in the search bar, and then enter Susan Gleeson Tent Pegs. That way you will be taken to the book, rather than to a wide selection of camping supplies!! You can also click on this link: https://a.co/d/4iHh4KF.

All the best to everyone as we approach the end of another summer. I hope you enjoy your Labour Day weekend, as we get ready to enter another busy, and hopefully, meaningful and fulfilling ‘new year’!

Lately, I have been reading a book called Wellsprings: A Book of Spiritual Exercises, written by Anthony De Mello. Father de Mello was a Jesuit priest, a psychotherapist, a spiritual teacher, a writer, and a public speaker. For me, the exercises he proposes we do are really intriguing. I think I will start tackling them this winter as contemplative journaling prompts. As I was skimming through the book I came across an exercise titled The Center. It begins this way:

“ I imagine that I walk into a desert place. I spend some time exploring the surroundings, then settle down to contemplate my life. I see how frequently I rush outside myself —to people, occupations, places, things—in search of strength and peace and meaning, forgetting that the source of all is here within my heart. It is here that I must search” (31). He then presents a series of things to ponder, beginning with this one:

“Each person carries thoughts that have the power to bring instant peace. I search for mine” (31).

WOW! That stopped me dead in my tracks. For sure, I carry thoughts that have the power to bring instant peace, but I have never thought of them that way, nor taken the time to list them. I stopped to begin to think about what they are, and to list them. I think once we take the time to list these thoughts, and really be consciously aware of them, they will become a huge source of strength for us during times of confusion, chaos and trouble. The thought I came up with first was:

1) No matter how uncertain at any given moment I might feel about the truth of this, I do know for sure that each and every path I take, and have taken, leads me to the center.”

That’s why I gave this blogpost the title ‘P.S.’ I realized yet again why I love walking a labyrinth so much. Every time I do, I am comforted and reminded that in my life, all paths I have taken have led me to the center. No experience is lost; I think we can grow, and learn from every experience we have, even the most painful ones.

Hallelujah!

For about two years, I have wanted to visit a labyrinth that is located not too far from my home, about twenty minutes away in the countryside near Ennismore. I love walking a labyrinth. No matter how many twists and turns a labyrinth path has, you know for sure you will always end up in the centre. This is what differentiates a labyrinth from a maze, which is meant to confuse us, and has many dead ends.

Today, I finally made it to the labyrinth near Ennismore. It was a beautiful eleven circuit labyrinth, a full replica of the labyrinth located in Chartres Cathedral in France. As I walked, I felt more and more at ease and settled. I noticed the times I was facing away from the centre, on the outmost circuit, and felt so happy to know that despite that, I was going to eventually end up in the centre. What a metaphor for the twists and turns of life we experience, and the times when we feel we might be off course, and far from being centred and on track.

Mrs. Deslauriers came out to welcome me and invited me to go on a walk through the woods to the secret garden she and Mr Deslauriers created, with the help of the Ennismore horticultural society. It was a magical, comforting, joyful time. To get directions to this labyrinth, go to the world-wide labyrinth locator website and enter ‘Ennismore’. No matter where you are when you are reading this, you can go to this website and find the labyrinth located near to you.

Enjoy!!