Yesterday, June 23, 2010 was a first for most of us in Ontario. We experience our first earthquake!  A 5.0 magnitude quake with an epicentre just north of Ottawa was felt from Ottawa, west to Toronto, north to Waterloo, south to Detroit and even all the way into Alabama! A quake of this magnitude is not big enough to cause any real damage, but big enough to be felt. I’m not sure how this is possible but I didn’t actually feel it. We must have a very solid building. The reason the quake reached so many places is because it was “conducted” by the Canadian Shield.

As many of you may know, we don’t have a tv or cable and I rarely listen to the news.  So how did I find out about the quake? First, my husband called and the very next thing I did was to check the news on Twitter.  It’s pretty amazing how quickly news spreads on Twitter. I read tweets about people feeling the quake all over Ontario and south of us in the US. There were hundreds of tweets in just a few minutes.  Who needs the news when you can just log on to Twitter?

Interestingly, one of the first thoughts that popped into my head when I heard the news about it hitting Toronto was that maybe it was something more sinister – with all of the security and fear-mongering that has been going on with the G20 summit this weekend, I thought it might have been a bomb. Luckily Twitter cleared that up quickly.  This week has been a very interesting one in these parts, not only with the weather and natural disasters but with all of the different challenges people have had with the G20 preparations. Many of my friends are working from home this week, people are staying out of Toronto today and Friday. It took my sister over 2 hours to get home last night from Brampton to High Park (the outskirts of Toronto) because of highway closures. I can understand why people are choosing to stay home.

My question is – haven’t all of these news people heard about the Law of Attraction? The more we talk about the possibility of something happening, the more likely we are to attract it! It seems like it’s the only topic of conversation these days – and in a way it would almost be anti-climactic if nothing actually did happen. At this point, we are all just waiting for the other shoe to drop, metaphorically speaking.

It has been a challenge to stay away from the news this week – it seems to be everywhere and on every radio station as soon as there is a lull. Do you find it informative or simply annoying to hear all of the potential things that could happen with the G20? Do you feel safe going into Toronto or living in/near the downtown core?  Check in on the comments below.

Have a great day everyone and enjoy if you are working from home!

And if you did survive the earthquake and would like to buy the t-shirt – click here.

This morning, I thought I was having a bad day.  A few things caught me off guard and shook my faith in the universe. Then I heard about the disastrous earthquake in Haiti and realized that it is all a matter of perspective.

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and is also politically unstable.  Combine that with a magnitude 7.0 earthquake, with an epi-centre very close to the capital city and that spells disaster.  Certainly the death toll will be in the thousands and will likely increase exponentially as survivors struggle for food and water.  This is a country where basic needs are not met, and in the wake of a disaster, even with countries pledging their aid, they will be challenged to make it through the next days and weeks, if not months.

Let’s compare with most people’s situation in Canada:

First, most people are able to fulfill most, if not all of the Physiological Needs at the bottom of the pyramid (Maslow’s hierarchy of needs).

If I look around my home, I have a fridge and cupboard full of food (and the means to refill it), running water for both drinking and showering (even though we buy reverse osmosis water). I have clean toilet facilities and am usually able to get 6-8 hours of sleep each night on our pillow-top queen size mattress. For the most part, we all have a place to live and a roof over our heads.  Less than %0.5 of people in Toronto are homeless (based on 2006 stats) although it would be better for that number to be zero.

Moving to the second level of the pyramid, Safety & Security, once again I would suggest that the majority of Canadians are able to achieve most of these. Job security is no longer what it used to be, but there are endless opportunities for entrepreneurs to start their own business, as both Dan and myself have done. We have a public health care system – and with all it’s faults – it is still FREE for the most part.  Yes, we may have to wait longer for appointments and in some areas the quality of care might not be as great, but I have certainly learned to appreciate our system even more over the past few years.   Finally, we may not always agree with our government, but we do have social stability and many social systems that are in place to help those that are in need.

Love & belonging is where things become more personal. The key with the hierarchy is that it is difficult, if not impossible to achieve the higher levels if the bottom ones are not met.  I will speak only for myself from now on in the upper levels. I am truly blessed, I have a wonderful husband, a great relationship with my sister and my parents. I have a loving and supportive work environment, as well as positive and inspiring business partners. I really do feel that I am connected and I am grateful for that.

Self-Esteem maybe where many of us get stuck once in a while. I certainly have moments of self-doubt and am one of my harshest critics (aren’t we all?).  Thankfully, one of the best resources we have to build our self-esteem is free.  The public library is one of my absolute favorite places! All of the books, DVDs, CDs and even video games you could want and you can borrow them for FREE!! I love the library and usually have between 10 and 30 books out at a time – as I use the French ones for teaching.

I would definitely consider myself achievement driven and goal oriented. I do crave the respect of others, but not at the expense of compromising my values. And finally, I love being me – enthusiastic, passionate, loving, giving and optimistic – and 1 in 6.5 billion.

As we reach the top of the pyramid, we start to explore our true higher selves, with Self-Actualization. Personally, I have been working in this area for a number of years now and have been making some progress.  The journey of self-discovery is a lifelong one, so I figure it’s best to make sure that the lower levels are covered so that I can spend more time up at the top.

An ounce of perspective makes me realize that I have a great deal to be thankful for and that a bad day for me might just be someone else’s dream day.  Take an inventory in your own life and see where you end up on the hierarchy.  Maybe it’s time to realize that your life is also a dream!

Julie oxox