Friday, March 22, 2019

Introducing my NEW Blog





My New Business Venture - GraceandSimplicitySociety.blogspot.com


Hello friends. I am starting a new business venture and thought I would share what I am up to and why, on earth, at this point in my life I would choose to go back to work.

Almost eight years ago, I retired from my position at Sir Sandford Fleming College and began the next stage of my life. As many of you know, I married the love of my life and we settled into a quiet, loving existence sharing our lives and doing whatever pleased us. For the last 8 years I have practiced yoga, learned to cook and bake, welcomed children and grandchildren into my heart and made a home with my husband. I took to retirement ‘like a duck to water’ and have not been bored or unsettled for even one moment. There would have to be something very dear to my heart to make me change my lifestyle and take on a project or business venture, and that is just what happened.

When I was working, I was eating an unhealthy diet, carrying too much weight, feeling stressed most of the time, balancing work, life, ageing parents, travel & obligations and the most exercise I got was getting in and out of my jeep! Over the last 8 years I have, learned to cook (we make most everything from scratch…including mayonnaise and butter), bake (I make all our bread, buns, rolls etc.), become a yoga enthusiast and learned to see life from a perspective of serenity, simplicity and grace. I am healthier, happier and more content than I have been in a long time, if ever. I decided to take yoga teacher training, with a focus on ayurveda, I am learning to take photographs, mostly of serene nature, and as I have always done….I have been writing. One day it occurred to me that I could put these things together, along with what I loved best about my career….counselling….and my educational background of psychology and biology and create…..a web site! Well, given my limited tech skills, a web site was a little out of my league (for now) so……I decided to begin with a blog!

So that, my friends, is what I am doing. Thanks to some dear friends, a helpful library lesson and a lot of trial and error, I will shortly be creating my dream job. This will be a blog, with some awesome photographs (I hope :) ). The articles will focus on Lifestyle Coaching, a section for ‘aging with serenity, simplicity and grace’ where I will share the benefits of yoga as well as other insights. My philosophy of life is that our body knows how to care and repair itself, how we can help our body by eating whole foods to get the nourishment that our bodies and lives need to stay healthy. In a perfect world, this would be my only focus….but we do not live in a perfect world. We live in a world that has pollution, depleted soil and stress. I have listened to the science and the opinions on both sides of this issue and this is where I fall….Sometimes, in life, we struggle just to get through a day, we wake up at night feeling anxious and fearful of what the next day or days will bring, the world is changing faster than our ability to cope (just think Apple iPhones!), people are ‘communicating’ more with devices and less with face to face conversation, we buy fast food because at least our families can eat and we can go to bed and get ready for the next day to begin. Our organs are stressed because we are stressed. We all have changes that we want to make, but no one I know can make those changes over night or all at once. There are many options out there, programs, supplements, retreats, ‘don’t eat this’ ‘do eat this’ the latest superfood etc. Have a healthy dose of skepticism. Skepticism, is healthy, especially in these times where the internet and information overload is our reality. Skepticism should encourage research not distrust. Be skeptical, but not negative or dismissive.

I am sharing my blog with you and I invite you to look it over and hopefully there will be something of interest for you there. The site will focus on living a life with serenity, simplicity and grace….from the perspective of a 60 something retired baby boomer who looks in the mirror and sometimes wonders who that old lady is who is staring back at her. My blog will include insights that I have made on how to enjoy this life we have been given with as much joy and contentment as we can at any given time in our lives. It is not always easy, I believe that the key is to know yourself, acknowledge who you are, without apology or judgement and follow these simple words, which after much research, I have been able to attribute to Ellen Burstyn….1. Show Up. 2. Tell the Truth. 3. Pay Attention. 4. Let Go of the Outcome. (It has taken me years to digest that last one, but I am getting there). That is it for now my friends. If you are interested in learning more, feel free to contact me at terriblairmaracle@gmail.com or on my Facebook page.

Wish me luck….and please……join me for the ride!