I’m excited to share details about a project that I’m undertaking this coming year, beginning this week. It’s called E=mc2 which stands for “Engaging Women in Meaningful Conversations Makes Community”. I’ve created a logo that captures the essence of the project. Every week I’ll be engaging a woman unknown to me (a stranger) in a meaningful conversation with 10 questions. I’ll post about the conversation in my blog every week. It’s part of my commitment to inspire more meaningful communication among women. Hopefully the questions I ask will have people intrigued and wanting to carry on the conversation with friends and loved ones. My posts will paint a varied picture of women’s insights into themselves and what’s important to them.

This project was inspired by a man named Jayson Krause, who has recently completed a year’s worth of conversations with 52 strangers. He has since begun a Crusade for Meaningful Connection, inviting the conversations to continue. I’ve tweaked his approach a bit, changing the questions and focussing only on women.

I am excited and curious as I begin this quest. I don’t easily engage in conversation with strangers on this level. It’s uncharted territory. And it’s important. It’s important to me because I’ve discovered through my work and in my life that so many women have a deep desire to engage in meaningful conversations, to foster that feeling of intimacy that we all crave on some level and to be known and witnessed. I’ve been exploring a lot lately about the dis-connect that is so pervasive in our society today – we are too busy, spread too thin and moving too quickly to engage. We are afraid of having our true selves be known and yet it’s what many of us deeply desire.

E=mc2 is an attempt to bridge that gap. It’s a beginning place. It’s an opportunity to begin a conversation that I hope will continue. I’m excited to see where this will lead and invite you along on the journey week by week. Buckle up as I prepare to leap!

"Bee" in The Moment

Welcome Spring!

I took this photo in my garden last week.  We’re having an early start to spring here in the Toronto area and it’s such a treat!  If you look closely at the photo you’ll see a bee with its head tucked inside a flower, totally obvlivious to the fact that it was on camera.  I’d say it was fully engaged in its relationship with the flower: gathering the nectar it needs to thrive and giving the flower what it needs to reproduce by carrying pollen to another flower.  Nature is all about relationship.  The beauty that we get to enjoy is often the result of partnerships in nature, undertaken for survival and propagation perhaps but what is created is often breathtaking.  We can learn many lessons about relationship when we look to nature. I wonder what can be created when we as humans create partnerships in service of what’s possible.  Hmmm… What do you think?

I’ve just finished co-leading a clinic through our local running store (The Running Room) that teaches people how to run. It’s their standard Learn to Run program that has participants running from 0 to 5 km in 10 weeks. What? Teaching people how to run? Doesn’t everyone know how to run? Believe it or not there is a strategy that works to inspire newborn runners and to keep them from being injured by building a slow and steady foundation. Basically we play with the ratio of running time to walking time, gradually increasing the running time and decreasing the walking time.

I entered into this role with some hesitation I must admit. Afterall, I had no training as a fitness specialist; I’m not a personal trainer. And I love running. I’m a running veteran, with 2 marathons and 2-many half-marathons to mention.  Most importantly I just love getting out there – breathing in that fresh air and witnessing what my body is capable of.  I quickly realized that’s all that was needed to inspire these new runners – and of course delivering the technical expertise already built into the program.

I loved my first experience in working with this program. I loved hearing the words “I didn’t believe I could do it and now I know that I can” and “I’m so proud of myself” and “I’m inspired by what my body can do at this age”.

Here’s what I know: When you’re passionate about something, you are inspiring. When you have an opportunity to lead from that place of inspiration, you are engaging. Others will follow.  Imagine what’s possible.

Congratulations to all the participants of my first group. Congratulations on running your first 5K race.

Welcome to my new group that began this past week. You can do it. You are doing it.