Meanderings with Trudy

This is our first episode in this “Grief Busting” series with special guest and expert on grief and bereavement, Dina Bell-Laroche. You’ll remember Dina from her chat with me back in November, 2022.  For her, the death of her sister Tracy was life-changing and we heard about that in our first meander together. In this new series, we tackle some of the common myths around grief, in service of acces...

The Enneagram.  It's having a moment in personal development circles. Angie and I will explore this personality framework in the winter coming episodes, dropping every second and fourth week. The Enneagram is a framework for looking at people. It can help and guide people as they look at themselves, providing insight and structure to the exploration. In this way, it's got personal development bake...

There are always such gifts for me coming out of these meanders, and this one doesn’t disappoint. I have a date to go see the City of Ottawa blow up a part of the Rideau River this spring… something I plan to enjoy this year with my friend Nancy. She’s always up for adventure, and this is one I’ve had on my books for years.  Nancy and I are roughly the same age although her kids are a few years yo...

Today’s episode, with my friend Peter McGaugh, is about community, place, and home. There is a silent partner in this conversation too – his big stone house.  Peter, and Angie Arendt, our regular guest from the "PauseCast", live in this gorgeous stone house in Almonte, Ontario. In this meander with Peter, we spoke about how they found this place, and what it means to him to finally put down roots...

“It all goes back to framing – we can go through something wonderful and see everything as bad, or we can go through something horrible and see the goodness in it.” For Chaviva Lifson, as she says, how we experience things, and how we hold them afterwards, is all about perspective, as she tells us in the story of making the Purim cookie, Hamantaschen. “There is a whole lot that we can reframe from...

Such a gem of a meander with physiotherapist and co-owner of Bloom Integrative Fitness and Movement Centre... Lisa Flanders. This is one of those awesome conversations that really light me up!  Lisa had been go-go-go since her days in university. This way of being led her ultimately into burnout just as the pandemic hit in March 2020. Her new clinic had just opened, and she welcomed the quiet that...

“I never tire of it,” said today's guest, Roberta Gal, her mischievous eyes all a-twinkle. Born into a creative family, Roberta worked as a graphic designer for 25 years (work she also loved) before pulling her first love out of her back pocket – photography – and landing a job as photographer for Public Works Canada. While she took a pay cut for this job, it included shooting the renovation of th...

As we enter the season of light, I thought it might fun to dive into the deeper meaning of joy. We often conflate it with "happy!", but as this week's guest tells us, "...joy is that still small space inside each of us." It's a rich and nuanced place, informed by our lived experience, the highs and lows of life. My good friend Angie Arendt joins me for this deep meander. With her background in the...

There are people in my life who drop in and out occasionally through time. Stephanie is one of them for me. Each time we meet up, it’s a gem of a conversation, and such is the case with this meander. I’ve known Steph for 20 odd years and while we don’t live nearby each other, nor do we talk often, I always appreciate when we do.  Steph lives with MS. Diagnosed at 26, she’s lived with the arbitrary...

As I'm on break, I'm replaying some of my past Meanderings... this is one that I found particularly uplifting and it seems fitting for the first week of December: my meander with Jennifer Hollington.  Not only is Jen an effervescent soul, she's my model for positivity in the face of adversity.  Now retired after 33 years from her post as Assistant Deputy Minister for Health Canada and the Public H...

My friend Bernie is eclectic – now retired constitutional law expert born in Canada’s far north whose hobby is handmade guitars. He’s still got his first guitar, bought at the age of 13 with money made from selling his own paintings - landscapes from his childhood in the far north.  Guitars have been in his heart for his whole life. About twenty years ago, he was able take up the hobby of building...

Community and belonging… this is a story about heartbreak, and heart healing. Angie’s first US Thanksgiving here in Canada was not a smooth one and she missed home BIG. To meet her ache, she invited neighbours over and the tradition of pie-palouza came to be. It is a ritual she follows with her Big Stone House community to this day. This story is our way of wrapping up this fall season, weaving to...

It’s not often that any of us get to see the inside of science and policy work but today’s episode with Robert Day is just such an opportunity. Robert has recently retired from his management responsibilities in the Government of Canada where he spent more than 20 years in fisheries and oceans management, which included a lot of environmental and climate change discussions, many with international...

Angie is all about storytelling, she always has been. On today’s PauseCast, we’re diverting from what we’d planned (funerals and permission) into storytelling and why that matters. This is a theme we keep coming back to because it’s in stories that we see ourselves, others, and other possibilities for us to be. As usual, we share of ourselves, so that you can see yourself more clearly. It’s in see...

Chapman Coaching Inc. Dina’s company is Grief Unleashed Attachment Theory Theory of Loss Megan Devine and Refuge in Grief What's Your Grief a website about grief and loss 5 Love Languages She mentioned the wonderful BC poet Caroline Miskenack Royalty free music is called  Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma Please send thoughts and comments to  meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com As always, this podcast is sp...

Chapman Coaching Inc. Big Stone House John Grogan's blog , author of the book Marley and Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst Dog Dog movies Angie mentioned: Benji , Old Yeller ; Marley and Me Royalty free music is called  Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma Please send thoughts and comments to  meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com As always, this podcast is sponsored by the guests who give of their time,...

Chapman Coaching Inc. Natalie Bedard’s company is Lift OneSelf , you can find her podcast on this site Focusing Resources Gabor Maté on Compassionate Inquiry and healing trauma Deb Dana and regulated breathing Royalty free music is called  Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma Thoughts and comments, send to  meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com As always, this podcast is sponsored by the guests who give of their...

Here are some of the things we referenced in our meander today: On Parker Palmer and the foot rub story Pharell Williams, Happy National Truth and Reconciliation Day in Canada Music is called  Sunday Stroll - Huma-Huma As always, this podcast is sponsored by the guests who give of their time, and by my company, Chapman Coaching Inc. Royalty free music is gratefully received and is called  Sun...

Chapman Coaching Inc. Peggy’s blog features recent and past blogs, feel free to look around Camino Association of Canada The Bruce Tour Agawa Canyon Train , Sault Ste. Marie, ON Canada Comfortable Hiking Holidays , Tour du Mont Blanc Royalty free music is called  Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma Thoughts and comments, send to  meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com As always, this podcast is sponsored by the...

Chapman Coaching Inc. Big Stone House Please support your local bookstore where you will find Brene Brown and "The Gifts of Imperfection" All comments to us at meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com Royalty free music is called  Sunday Stroll by Huma-Huma As always, this podcast is sponsored by the guests who give of their time, and by my company, Chapman Coaching Inc. Royalty free music is gratefully rec...

Chapman Coaching Inc. Visit Margaret Anne on Instagram And to see where she is teaching felting, visit the Saint John Arts Centre for her workshops   David Whyte poetry and Three Sundays workshops and leadership coaching Canadian poet rupi kaur Royalty free music is called  Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma Thoughts and comments, send to  meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com As always, this podcast is sponso...

Chapman Coaching Big Stone House Robert Fulghum and lessons from kindergarten   Royalty free music we use here is called  Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma As always, this podcast is sponsored by the guests who give of their time, and by my company, Chapman Coaching Inc. Royalty free music is gratefully received and is called  Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma Live life joyfully, and always let kindnes...

Chapman Coaching   Royalty free music is called  Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma As always, this podcast is sponsored by the guests who give of their time, and by my company, Chapman Coaching Inc. Royalty free music is gratefully received and is called  Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma Live life joyfully, and always let kindness guide you.

Chapman Coaching Inc. Big Stone House Royalty free music is called  Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma Thoughts and comments, send to  meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com As always, this podcast is sponsored by the guests who give of their time, and by my company, Chapman Coaching Inc. Royalty free music is gratefully received and is called  Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma Live life joyfully, and always le...

Brené Brown’s  TedTalk on shame and vulnerability The Enneagram Institute , this is the lineage that Angie and I follow. If you’re interested in the enneagram, we invite you to start here. Purple spoa Chapman Coaching Inc. Big Stone House Royalty free music is called  Sunday Stroll – by Huma-Huma Thoughts and comments, send to  meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com As always, this podcast is sponsored by...