by Heather Plett | Dec 16, 2011 | Joy
1. The lacy pattern the sun is painting on the wall right now, aided by the tree outside my window.
2. The eclectic, chaotic Christmas tree decorated by my daughters with the ornaments they have hand-picked each year from the local fair trade store.
3. The miles of prairie roads that held hours of conversation between my friend Randy and I as we drove out of the city to explore.
4. Having a friend like Randy whose eyes light up over many of the same things that make my eyes light up – a good bookstore, books that deepen our spirituality and mindfulness, any opportunity to wander to a place we haven’t seen before, a glass of wine in the evening, deep conversation, art, etc.
5. A husband who loves to cook delicious food when friend visit.
6. More opportunities to teach than I expected would come my way when I started this journey a year ago.
7. The way creativity is showing up in unique ways in each of my children.
8. A day of Christmas baking with my mom, sister, niece, nephew, and daughters. And all of the tasty eating I’ve done since.
9. New ideas that keep popping up and inspiring me.
10. Partnerships with talented and wholehearted people that will result in some wonderful offerings in 2012.
by Heather Plett | Nov 14, 2011 | Beauty, change, Community, Creativity, fearless, journey, Joy, Leadership, Passion, personality, Spirituality, things I've learned
* I would rather teach people to think beautiful thoughts than to create grammatically correct sentences.
* I believe that beauty and justice are inextricably intertwined and I want to bring more of both into the world.
* I believe that the greatest inventions, discoveries, and solutions emerge when people start asking the right questions.
* I believe that you have to ask a lot of questions in order to get to the right ones.
* I am happy when I can help bold creativity blossom in those around me.
* A little part of me shrivels up inside when I find myself stifling creativity with too many rules and judgements.
* I am easily distracted by colourful markers and clean white paper.
* I believe that personal leadership is more important than positional leadership.
* I choose community over team, circle over hierarchy, and family over corporation.
* I believe that shared stories open doorways to transformation.
* I am less productive when I haven’t had time for deep contemplation and equally deep play. The two go hand in hand.
* I believe that our differences are important but that they should not divide us.
* I delight in making new connections with people whose ways of looking at the world intrigue me. I am open to letting them change me, if it’s for the best.
* I am committed to hosting and being part of more conversations and inquiries that follow spiral patterns (moving inward to deeper wisdom) rather than linear pathways.
* Deep and soulful listening is often the best gift I can give anyone, and so I strive to keep my mouth shut and my ears open more often.
* I believe in walking lightly on this earth, and hope to some day use fewer resources for my own personal gain.
* I want to be open-minded and open-hearted and to live with delight as my constant companion.
* I believe that vulnerability and truth-telling can serve as catalysts for deep relationships and profound change.
* I believe that in order to create one great work of art you have to be prepared to create at least 100 mediocre ones first.
* I believe that time spent in meditation, prayer, and body movement is never time wasted, and I hope to some day live like I believe it.
* I believe that God created each of us to do good work and that we cheat our Creator and our world when we let our self-doubt and fear keep us from doing it.
* I want to bring more colour and light into otherwise dreary spaces.
* I strive to be more courageous tomorrow than I was today.
* I believe in daily transformation, continuous learning, and growth that doesn’t end until the day I exhale my last breath.
* I am committed to doing my best work, which is at the intersection of creativity, leadership, community, and story-telling.
by Heather Plett | Aug 26, 2011 | Joy
1. This magical summer. Beautiful weather and a lack of bugs – almost more goodness than a “proud-to-be-hardy” Winnipeger can handle!
2. My feet. Oh my – they have carried me so far this summer! Walking, walking, and more walking. Yesterday – 18 km. The day before – 14 km. I love my feet.
3. Discovery. Wandering around my city on foot makes for a lot of interesting discoveries – things I’d never seen in a car.
4. Work. More of it than I anticipated. So much that my calendar looks full from now until April.
5. Teaching. Oh how I enjoy being in a classroom and teaching and inspiring and helping people remember their own sense of wonder and delight!
6. Confidence. A sense of self-assuredness that my intuitive path is a better one for me to follow than the well-trodden path others are following (especially when it comes to teaching).
7. Support circles. People who show up when you want them to. People who let you cry when you need to. People who celebrate with you when that’s what you need.
8. Movies in the park. Popcorn, cold drinks, lawnchairs, a little Indiana Jones, and people I like to hang out with.
9. Iced tea. Especially the glass my husband brought me an hour ago.
10. An upcoming adventure. A road trip, a three day walk with interesting people, and some time to connect with my favourite people in 2 different cities.
11. Kites and swings and suction cup arrows. Or more specifically, the two evenings this week Maddy & I have hung out in the park making each other laugh, trying to fly kites with little wind and shooting each other with suction cup arrows.
12. Anticipation. The really cool & diverse people who’ve already signed up for my creative writing class and the fun things I’ve got in mind to do with them.
13. Wanderers, edge-walkers, fringe-livers, freaks, misfits – and all of those lovely souls who are wandering with me on the path.
14. Cheerfulness. More specifically, a shift in tone in my mom’s voice after the ravages of surgery and chemo have subsided somewhat.
15. A shift. More hopefulness in our family, even though not all of the hard things in life have been resolved (ie. the fact that Marcel’s job offer turned out to be a dud that he turned down).
16. Notes on the whiteboard in front of me, from sneaky visitors to my office. “Julie is boss. Nikki is gorgeous. Maddy is awesome. Dad is silly. Nikki rocks. Julie is a beautiful girl.”
by Heather Plett | Jul 16, 2011 | Beauty, journey, photos
1. Ignore the fact that there is laundry to do.
2. Grab your camera and a journal. (And sunscreen and a bottle of water if necessary.)
3. Wander down the street.
4. Get totally distracted by the fascinating paint strokes of the clouds against the sky. Imagine the Creator having fun with a paintbrush.
5. Stop to stare at some flowers.
6. Stare a little closer at the flowers, and notice that there’s a spider on one of them.
7. Take the road less traveled.
8. Stare at more flowers. Be thankful for the people who had the vision to protect this piece of nature despite the development all around it.
9. Get even further off the beaten trail.
10. Be utterly amazed when you find a deer staring at you. Stop to stare back. Get lost in its eyes for a long, long time.
11. Follow the deer into the meadow, and stare in awe at the beautiful shape of her body.
12. Leave the woods and step into the prairies. Marvel at the depth of the colours all around you.
13. Walk a little further and notice even more colours, shades, and hues.
14. Follow a butterfly around for awhile and try to capture it in flight. Give up and simple watch in awe.
15. Notice how stunning the wild grasses look against the blue, blue sky.
16. Stop to look a little closer, and notice a bug on one of them.
17. Stop by a stream and marvel at the way the light and shadow play with the reflections on the water.
18. Stare at a wooden fence for awhile and imagine yourself setting up an easel in that very spot to paint what you see.
19. Get captivated by the artful way in which plants dry up and release their seeds.
20. Stare at foxtails for awhile and remember the fun you had with them on the farm when you were a kid.
21. Find a bench in the shade, put down your camera, and just stare at the beauty all around you. Pick up your journal if you want to, or just stare. Give yourself over to the moment.
22. Say a little prayer of gratitude to the Creator of all that you have seen.
by Heather Plett | Jul 11, 2011 | Joy, Uncategorized
The last three weeks have been full of so much… ummm… I hardly know how to describe it… BIGness. FULLness. GOODness. Happiness. Inspiration. Love. Fill-in-the-blanks-with-superlatives.
First there was ALIA, and then there was my annual (26th year!) trek to the Winnipeg Folk Festival with various members of my tribe. Both were amazing places to spend time, where I was surrounded with beautiful words, passionate people, shake-the-world ideas, take-my-breath-away moments of wonder, and so much inspiration I’ll still be writing about it for weeks to come.
I wish you all could have been there.
I feel so very, very blessed to have experienced so much goodness.
These are just a few of the random things that brought me joy in the last few weeks:
1. Sitting alone at the Little Stage on the Prairie, listening to Ray Wylie Hubbard lead the audience in a “Snake Farm” sing-along, while cotton ball clouds drifted by overhead.
2. Late night talks with Ann Badillo and Kathy Jourdain, two ALIA soul-sisters.
3. “Nothing to do but hang out and listen to good music” moments with my family at the Folk Festival.
4. Standing on the roof of a beautiful victorian home with interesting new friends, watching fireworks on Canada Day (even though I was in the U.S, and they called it the Red, White, and Boom festival).
5. Eating a spinach, goat cheese, and balsamic vinegar crepe in the North Market in Columbus.
6. Wandering off the beaten track along the river (in Columbus) and discovering the most amazing skatepark someone had made by hand out of packed mud in the middle of the woods.
7. A brief but inspirational after-dinner conversation with Darcy Winslow that reminded both of us of the importance of personal stories, especially for women in leadership.
8. Seeing Shane Koyczan and the Short Story Long perform This is My Voice.
9. Maddy’s tattoo and her dad’s sense of humour. 
10. Being hugged by my family in the middle of the night in the airport and knowing I am deeply loved.
11. Delicious food and good company at Alana’s in Columbus.
12. Many, many moments of light (both kinds).
13. Throwing various things in the air (hats, balls, glowsticks) with my exuberant nephew Jack. And sharing a popsicle & sucker with him.
14. Doodling on my arm and leg. And not worrying about whether I looked foolish doing it.
15. Dancing with my daughters, niece, nephew, and sister.
16. Being witness to love and the circle of life as I watched my oldest daughter carry my nephew back to the car after a long day.
17. Sitting with several people at different moments and offering them safe space and a listening ear for their stories.
18. Fireflies. Thousands of them sparkling along the river pathway.
19. Fearing & White. One of my favourite Folk Fest moments, and the cd I took home at the end of the weekend.
20. Being fully present in this wild and precious life.
