Hello, my friends! I've been quiet here, and with good reason. This has been a very busy and demanding season of my life, and part of those demands are making appearances and speaking at events. I had the immense pleasure of speaking at the Calgary literary festival, "When Worlds Collide", and wow - what a fun time! If you are any kind of artistic nerd, literary festivals are the place to be! The trip was not without its emotional ups and downs - just like life. In my case, it was a comedy of errors with my car rental company. Let's just say that I'll never use third party brokers to book a car rental ever again, and from now on, I will stay with my trusted airport parking providers. The "errors" were sufficient that I could have completely lost my temper by the time I arrived at the rental office to retrieve my vehicle. Instead, I applied what I teach others to my own situation. BREATHE! Oxygenate that angry brain and pause before speaking! Think before acting! THINK: What's happening, what does it mean, what do I want, how do I get that? What's the best/worst thing that can happen depending on each choice/option? Once again: What do I want? Lastly, what's the lifetime value of this event? What I realized was that I most wanted to get on the road to arrive at my destination and hang out with my friend. I wanted to have a good weekend, and I did not want to waste time arguing over stupid, inconsequential, (no lifetime value) problems. So, I made a choice (it cost an extra $150, but whatever), and decided not to be mad about it. During my 38 minute drive, I did breathwork, sang along to the radio, and put myself in a state of anticipatory excitement about the weekend to come. Thankfully, my mood shifted before arriving at my friend's house. We went out and had a wonderful evening. The weekend was full of exciting firsts and enjoyable moments. There is something so cool about reading one's work out loud and watching the room respond emotionally and intentionally in real time. It's an experience I won't soon forget.