Official Trailer for Life!

Annemarie and I are absolutely thrilled to share the Official Trailer for our award winning, inspirational self-help book Life: Living in Fulfillment Every Day!

We'd love your feedback, please let us know what you think!
In gratitude,
Marissa

A Passionate Life: May 11, 2012

A Passionate Life

Annemarie and I met some beautiful people at our book signing in Chapters Indigo Markham today.  One of our first readers was a gentleman named John who came up to our table and explained he just had to buy a copy of our book because we were there. He didn't even know what it was about, but as local authors, he was determined to support us.  What an awesome start to our day and it continued to be a glorious day of gratitude and blessings.

We met a gentleman planning a trip to Paris, a lovely woman who was at a course that very morning suggesting she find a inspirational book that she can reflect upon—she picked up a copy of Life for her homework—and a charming engineer named Gerry, who as an avid reader, has a top ten list which he reserves for only the best books; we told him we were determined to crack his list!

Then we met Cindi. Cindi is an incredible woman doing the utmost best for herself and her son despite tremendous adversities in her life. She is a wonderful role model for how a positive outlook and sheer determination can change your life for the better. She tries to do something every day that makes her feel good. She is conscious of the choices she makes and the patterns that have brought obstacles into her path. She is also uncompromising in her pursuit of happiness and fulfillment. There are good days and bad, she admits, but she is determined to be a positive example for her son. We think she is doing awesome!

In gratitude,
Marissa

My Passionate Life: May 8, 2012

Bobcaygeon Sunset

First let me apologize for the delay in your daily dose of inspiration—lol, I feel like I'm in a confessional—I'm sorry friends, it has been seven days since my last blog post. ;)

Things have been a wee bit topsy-turvy in my life recently. I was away for three days at a beautiful writing retreat in Bobcaygeon, Ontario. Admittedly I didn't get much writing done, others far outpaced me in output for the weekend, but my mind and soul were soothed with laughter, good friends, good food, and beautiful scenery. I got out of the weekend exactly what I needed. It was heavenly.

However, when I returned home I became rather ill. So the last few days have been spent running tests and getting thoroughly checked out. All appears well, so I have just been taking it easy to let my body recover. I am feeling much better today. Onwards and upwards! 

Getting sick is a gentle reminder to do the things we need to do to take care of ourselves. It is very important to listen to our body. Here's a little note from the book:

“It’s very important to try to recognize the subtle warnings that the [body] sends us—to recognize the yellow or amber lights, like on a traffic light—before our symptoms turn into a serious risk to our health and well-being. We often receive subtle messages that try and tell us to slow down and pay attention to how we are feeling. Those are the amber lights, but few of us know how to recognize them until those symptoms turn into big, flaming red lights that stop us in our tracks. [We need to recognize the symptoms] early in the game, before we run out of time-outs.”

In yoga, we talk about listening to the body—never pushing beyond the point when our bodies tell us to stop. It's important to take that practice off the mat and apply it as a broad sweep to our entire lives.

Learning to slow down when we need to and learning to say no when we want to are essential to living in happiness and fulfillment every day! Listen to your heart. Follow what feels good, live your passions, do something every day that makes you feel good, that brings you joy. And stop, slow down, smell the roses, take a nap, read, meditate, or rest when you need to. Take care of yourself, mind, body, and soul.

Hugs xo
In gratitude,
Marissa

A Passionate Life: May 1, 2012

I took part in a joint venture between the WCDR, or Writer's Community of Durham Region, and The Durham Theatre Festival tonight. The gig was called Words of the Season and it was a celebration of prose, poetry, song, and community.

I've been working hard at getting over my public speaking phobia and have been putting myself out there as much as I can to help conquer my fear. This seemed like the perfect venue: lots of artsy and writerly types, an open mike, and access to alcohol—it was held at a pub. Now I didn't drink anything, but I figured the more they drank the better I would sound. ;)

So I took the plunge and got up on stage and read a prose poem. And though my knees were knocking, I focused on my breathing (yoga comes in handy for so many things) and just let the words flow through me. I managed to get through the entire poem with some good inflection in my voice and some genuine eye contact with the audience who were not, in fact, naked.

Apart from my own personal drama there were about fifteen other presenters. Poems, works of fiction and nonfiction, dedications, and songs filled the pub. Everyone who was there was engaging in their passion, and they were there to share that passion with others.

There was a lot of love in the room!
In gratitude,
Marissa