Transitions-Oakville, Burlington and Mississauga Real Estate Blog

F  For

O  Optimum

C  Concentration

U  Use

S  Self-discipline

How often we get mired down in a litany of small issues that eke their invasive tendrils through the tidy garden of our thoughts.
The result is a tangled mess where even the most beautiful aspects of our lives begin to resemble gnarled weeds.

When I find myself in this negative state of mind, I pause to recall an old Ojibway saying,

"Sometimes I go about pitying myself and all the while a great wind is bearing me across the sky."

When I remind myself of this saying, a warm tingling sensation spreads across my upper back and the worries of my day begin to recede.
I suddenly feel more fortunate than words could adequately describe.

We are in an age where information is multiplying at a faster rate than our brains are able to adequately process.

This mass of information leads us down a path enshrouded in fog where we gradually lose sight of those things that should matter the most.

In order to achieve our goals, we require focus.

Focus is a key element to success in every process or end point we are working on.
Understanding this enables us to lead a more fulfilling life both personally and professionally.

In today's hectic world, it's not always an easy task to stay focussed. There are, however,  a number of things we can do to help us stay on track.

1. Written Goals and Plans  - Having written goals, and plans to achieve those goals, helps to set our internal 'accomplishment mechanism', better known as our subconscious, to work for us. This is a very easy way to help us on the path to staying focused.
   
   
2. Remove Distractions - Staying focused is much easier when there are no distractions. This is something usually within our own control. We have the ability to control the environment in which we work and play to a certain degree.
   
   
3. Accountability - Having accountability partners in our lives helps us to stay focused on the end goals or on the those things we should be focusing on in our lives. An accountability partner could be a spouse, friend, family member, business associate or even a group to which we belong.
   
   
4. Maintaining Good Personal Health - There's an old saying , "If you have your health, you have everything". If we're not feeling well or are facing a serious illness, it's extremely hard to stay focused on anything other than the discomfort we're experiencing. Have a plan for good health maintenance and stick to it as much as possible.
   
   
5. Declutter - When it comes to decluttering, we have to address not only our physical environments, but also our mental and emotional environments. If there are outstanding issues you should be facing, don't put them on hold. It may be difficult to bring them out into the open and discuss them with the appropriate party, however by not discussing them and failing to reach some resolution, our minds will be unable to properly focus on those things we should be focusing on.
   
   
6. Commit - I wrote a post awhile back called The Power of Commitment; if you have a problem with commitment, please read it.
   
   
7. Live with Purpose and Passion - On the same lines as commitment, living a life filled with purpose and passion ensures being able to be focus on those things that matter to us, both in our business and in our personal lives. We know when we are doing what we should be doing because it is at those times that we lose ourselves and are able to completely focus in an effortless way. Find your passion and follow it.
   
   
8. Take Regular Breaks - No matter what you are trying to accomplish, it is important to take regular breaks to refresh your body, mind and spirit. Taking breaks applies to both our short term lives and our long term lives. Schedule regular holidays for yourself every 2-3 months, depending on how hard you are working on a weekly basis.
   
   
9. Practice Meditation - Learning how to meditate teaches us how to have a disciplined mind wherein we are able to totally focus on whichever we want to focus at will. Meditation classes can be found in most communities now and many of them are free.
   
   
10. Complete One Thing at a Time - Don't leave jobs undone. When starting on one job, make sure you see it through to completion. After completing a job, you will feel energized and will experience a rise in self-esteem and well-being. All of these contribute to your focusing power for the accomplishment of future goals.
     
    
    Success in any aspect of our lives comes down to mastering the art of focusing.
    

I have a lovely Grand-cat named Nanuk and beautiful Grand-dog named Pika. They are David's (my oldest son) and Angie's family and are the best of friends.
They live in Kelowna, BC so I don't get to see them much.  When we were there this past September, Nanuk and Pika were always getting into some kind of mischief together, especially when they were home alone.

Left to their own devices, Nanuk, with the dexterity her paws offer, would open doors and cupboards and get out paper towels or toilet paper for Pika to unravel and shred all through the house.
This was a habit of theirs. Every time we would come home, it would be to a floating sea of white tissue everywhere.   ((-;
Other than that, they are very well behaved.

Malcolm posted the most touching and brilliant video I've seen in a long time....

it caused me to think of the people I know, and how some of them fall into the first category.

Thankfully I know more who fall into the second...including my wonderful sons.

Thanks for posting this Malcolm!

Natural Oakville - The Mute Swan

It may seem like the Mute Swan has been in the Oakville area for as long as humans have inhabitated the region, however this is not the case.
The Mute Swan was deliberately introduced to North America in the late 1800s by newcomers who admired the birds for ornamental purposes.

Today the Mute Swan can be found throughout North America and is increasing it's population at roughly 10% per year in the Great Lakes area.

Mute Swans can be distinguished from the native Trumpeter Swans by the colour of their bill. Mute Swans have orange bills whereas Trumpeter Swans have black bills.

Young Mute Swans are called cygnets. During their first year their feathers range in colour from white to grey to beige and their bills are greyish-black.

Mute Swans are monogamous and mating pairs use the same nest every year. It is built in vegetation on islands or on the shores of water bodies.

Mute Swans are vegetarians, feeding on both submerged aquatic plants as well as grain found in fields.
They are a common sight in the Oakville and Toronto region along the Lake Ontario shoreline.

©2010JoSmith

International Women's Day falls on Monday, March 8th, 2010.

International Women's Day week (March 7th-13th) starts today and the week long series of events, remembrances and re-newed commitments to bettering the lives of girls and women the world over, will begin.

What does it mean to to be a woman in Canada today? It means that we have the opportunity to earn a living that enables us to be self-supportive and therefore not depend on a husband or partner. This enables us to be in relationships of our choice because we choose to be, not because we have to be.

It means that we were brought up to believe that we could be anything we wanted to be.
I chose science and then real estate, because my Father believed that women were just as intelligent and had just as many abilities to progress in life as men.

 We live in a free society where, although there are still many injustices committed against women daily behind closed doors, we now have the ability and the ways and means to make our choices for ourselves and our children, particularly when we find we are living in a situation that is destructive to our spirit(s) or worse.

It means that support systems have been put in place and laws have been formulated to help women to live more peaceful and empowered lives.

The United Nations General Assembly asked all of it's members to proclaim a day for the rights of women and international peace in 1977. Canada chose March 8th and in each subsequent year, on this date, has celebrated the inroads that society has made to further empower women and has brought to light areas where still more needs to be done.

Throughout communities across Canada this week, events will take place to honour and recognize women as people, as humans with rights who are deserving of dignity and respect and as valuable members of society.

In Canada, this years theme for International Women's Week is 'Strong Women, Strong Canada, Strong World" and in my heart I know this to be true.

I come from a long line of strong women. Women who stood up for themselves as best they could in a world that was not always conducive to independent and strong women.

I'm proud of my Mother and Stepmother and Grandmothers and Great-grandmothers and all they have accomplished as women during difficult times.

• They have paved a road for me that has given me far more choices than they ever had.
  
  
• They have taught me to value dignity and being respected for who I am.
  
  
• They have taught me that a woman can be kind and gentle and loving and at the same time stand up for what is right in the face of adversity.
  
  
• They have taught me that a woman and all people are deserving of respect and to be treated with kindness and tolerance and compassion.
  
  
• They have taught me to value my gifts and to do my best for the children and the elderly and for those who are less strong or perhaps cannot see the way.

It is because of them that I am able to be who I am today.

With International Women's Week upon us, I ask you to all take time to consider the lives of the women who came before you, what they did for you and what you have learned from them.
Take time to thank them in silent prayer, for those who are no longer here, and in person for those who still are.
Let them know that their strength has made you stronger, that the way they led their lives was an example to you in being the best person you could be for yourself and your family and those who you come into contact with.

Take time to consider how society is raising young girls today and whether or not we are teaching them to be strong and have high self-esteem.

• Are we teaching them about relationships and what is right and what is not right?
  
  
• Are we guiding them to see things that may be bad signs in relationships so that they may learn while they are young and not lead the same difficult paths of so many women who have gone before them?
  
  
• Are we empowering them with skills and knowledge and encouragement to be all that they wish to be and teaching them that they have this power within their very being?
  
  
• Are we setting a good example by choosing to be in healthy relationships, ourselves? Relationships where we are respected, cherished and adored?
  
  
• Do we speak up when we see wrong doing taking place and do we step in to help a woman or child in need?

Our actions today will affect the lives of all of those women and men who will come after us well into the future. Someday our own grandchildren may be looking back and thanking us for how we lived our lives today, the choices that we made and how we taught them what is right and what is wrong in the society of man.

To celebrate and honour the women in your life this week:
bring them flowers, take them for dinner, give them a hug and a note telling them how you honour who they are and what they have done for you, thank them with a smile and a word of appreciation, attend an International Women's Week/Day event or silently acknowledge the women who have made a difference in your life with a quiet thought or prayer.

Antoine de St Exupery, the author of 'The Little Prince', understood about hearts.

His understanding of the heart is partly what caused his book 'The Little Prince' to rise to fame and become one of the most popular and well-loved children's books of all time.
In fact, not only children love this book, but the adults who
read it to them find themselves deeply touched as well.

My favourite part of the book is when the little prince is leaving earth and, as a parting gift, his newfound friend , the fox, says this to him, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”

Do you have a child's heart? Yes, of course you do. We all do.
There is no other time than on holidays such as birthdays or Valentine's Day or Christmas when we become more aware of our child's heart.
It still beats there, deep within the grunge of the years and the trials and tribulations of life.
It is as new and as fresh as the day it was born, the day it was crafted by the Great Mystery itself.

You see, a heart never grows old. It's impossible for a heart to grow old, for it's integral nature is composed of the finest of silken, invisible threads there are to be found.

Your heart sees, your heart knows, and your heart always remembers. It never grows old, for it is a part of that timelessness that is the universe itself.

A very good and wise friend of mine once said this of the heart, "I think one's heart is like a compass, and it just will not let us get lost.
We may get detoured using our brain, and sometimes our gut feelings can be confusing. Our heart, it knows what is right, and whatever we have our compass set for it will get us there."

As I pause to think about the times in my life when I've 'followed my heart', I realize that often my brain got in the way and made the final decision. It's these times that things often went awry.

How do you know when you're following your heart?
When the road you're on feels absolutely right, time will seem to not exist. The path will open up to greet you and you'll know.

You'll just know.

Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone!

©2010JoSmith

Sitting here in bed with my laptop while I wait for the opening of the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, BC.

GO CANADA GO!!!!!

Everywhere I went today the olympic frenzy was heating with up with red olympic sweaters and mittens being sold by the hundreds, and likely by the thousands across our great country.

Winter and Canada go hand in hand. Heck, many of us grew up learning how to skate and ski when we had barely mastered the art of walking.

I remember my youngest son Rob, learning to skate when he was barely 2 yrs old. He refused to let anyone hold his hand and help him on the ice. Instead he wanted to master it on his own.
He would take a few steps on his skates, fall down and get right back up again and take a few more. I watched from a few feet away and it was all I could do not to try and help him.
If I dared try, he would shake my hand loose and scream 'no, I don't want any help!'.  The very first time he was on skates he had taught himself how to skate within a few hours. It was the same when it came to snowboarding.

This is the spirit that champions are made of. Sheer determination to master a sport no matter what.

Tonight, as the olympics are about to begin, I wish for all of the athletes, from the world over, the very best performance they have ever given. Stay safe and have fun.

I wish you all could win gold medals.

Photos Copyright of VANOC

Today was the first day of my writer's class. I'm registered to take it every Tuesday for two hours in the early afternoon and I believe it will greatly help me to be a better business writer and a better marketing expert for my clients.

We had a very interesting class today.
We were each asked to write down a fortune (the kind you would find in a fortune cookie) of some kind on a piece of paper and then put it in a hat.
Afterwards Brian, our teacher, brought the hat around to each of us and asked us to pick one (they were all folded up so we didn't know what we were getting) and then take 20 minutes to write a story that relates to the essence of that fortune.

I decided to write about something that I know best, a house. At the end of my story (which will stretch over many weeks with one short chapter each week), I'll let you guess what my fortune said.  The winner will receive an interesting prize.

And so the story begins......

A Story About a House, a Ring and Love.

We had moved into our new house in an older section of an eastern Lake Ontario city and had almost finished with the unpacking and placing of items. The place was livable enough so I decided to take advantage of the warm summer day and do some work in the overgrown garden out back.

Donning my old, weathered gardening gloves and faded, yellow straw hat, I headed downstairs to the basement where a large, splintery wooden door opened out onto the uneven brick path that lead down to a shady bed of perennials.

The garden lay in a mass of tangled disarray and an unseasoned eye would have had a hard time distinguishing a weed from a fall-blooming perennial, however, after years of gardening and having read many books, I felt confident with my weeding skills and proceeded to remove large clumps of thistles, crabgrass and wild asters from the tired old garden.

I had been weeding for quite awhile when I began to notice that the soil around the perennials was becoming loosened and friable so I decided to cultivate it with a rusty old blue trowel I had found on a shelf in the basement.

The soil felt soft and crumbly beneath the blade and as the sad garden began to take shape, I decided to stand up for a well deserved cat stretch.
Upon standing for a bit, my gaze wandered back down to where my work awaited me. Caught unawares, I was taken slightly aback when my eye caught something glinting in the meagre streams of sunlight that eked their way down through the ancient pine branches overhead.

As I wiped some beads of sweat from my forehead and pushed a wayward strand of hair out of my tired eyes, I reached down to pick up what I thought was a tiny shard of weathered glass.

My rough leather glove held the tiny, soiled object and in an endeavour to determine it's nature, I removed my remaining glove to brush away the caked on dirt that had gathered over the years.
A tiny gold ring presented itself from within a large clod of hardened clay. With great interest I set down my gloves and dusty hat and decided to go inside where I could wash the delicate ring in a bowl of clear water.

Once clean, I held the beautiful, old ring up to the light and watched the colours dance off of the intricately cut solitary diamond in the centre of the filigreed setting.
Upon doing so, I noticed that the ring had been engraved completely around the inside of the fine gold band.

On closer inspection, the words 'I love you 'THIS MUCH'' made themselves known to me and I was intrigued to see a tiny circle engraved next to the words 'THIS MUCH'.

I felt a small tug at my heart as I began to wonder who had been the recipient of this beautiful ring and, even moreso, who had been the giver.
Surely their's had been a great love and the ring's owner must have been devastated to have lost it in the garden all those years ago.
I placed the ring in a tiny  bowl on a shelf and headed back out to continue the work that awaited me.

As I walked down the weathered, old, uneven garden path, I made a solemn vow to myself to do some exploring around the neighbourhood in the coming days.
I was determined to find out who had once lived in the grand old house and might have been the wearer of this very special ring.

©2010JoSmith

The snow is falling softly outside in a dancing kind of way and I woke up feeling refreshed and ready to start the new year in a positive and active way. As I turned on my computer and made my coffee, I reflected back on the year that's passed.  Something had changed in my thinking process and I found I was no longer thining about the negative things that happened.
Instead the only things that came to mind were the positive transitions that had happened; the changes that had occurred in my life that were difficult at the time, however culminated in a stronger more determined and healthier me.
For this I am thankful.

Daily I hear of tragedies on the news and through people I know.
How often, I thought,  in considering our own lives we magnify the negative and yet, if we stopped and compared it to the things that are happening in the lives of others, our problems are not so bad afterall.

As all of these thoughts rolled around in my head this morning, I thought of how fortunate I am.

How lucky I am to have parents who are still living and are healthy.
Parents who are positive, kind and giving. Parents who consider me still in all they do and are always there for me.
Perhaps it is because of this that I am the person that I am. A person always looking for the positive in others and often feeling hurt or disappointed when it doesn't readily jump out at me.

Perhaps, I thought, perhaps the people who are often inconsiderate or cruel or negative or critical have not had the same opportunities in life that I have.
Perhaps their parents were not kind and considerate and loving to them and perhaps, just perhaps, they were just never given half of the love that I was given.
It's then that I look at them differently.
My hurt or confusion over their actions softens and I begin to see the world through their eyes.

I know of people who trust no one. How sad, I always thought. To trust no one.

Now I understand that perhaps it is very hard to trust others when you could not trust your primary caretakers to be there for you, to love you and to be consistent in their thoughts and actions. It's then that I remember what I've always told my sons when they were judging other people in a not so bright light, "Everyone does the best they can with what they have."  and I firmly believe this.

There was a saying that I often heard when I was a child. Having family roots that go back to the 1600s in Canada and the USA, my ancestors mingled with their aboriginal neighbours and many married into various native tribes and so, this saying was very common amongst my elders. I believe I used to hear it from my Mother quite often.

"Don't judge a man until you've walked a mile in his mocassins." 

Over the years the meaning behind this saying sunk deep into my soul and gave me the opportunity to cultivate a greater compassion for my fellow man and woman and not to judge them so quickly, if at all.

This year, I will work harder on that compassion and learn to help more, to give more and to do what I can to make the path that others walk, easier. They just might not be fortunate enough to have a strong support system around them, and so, perhaps I can extend one small part of mine towards them. 

It just might be all they need to carry them, right at a time when they need it the most.

©2009JoSmith

M Merriment and laughter that brings a lightness to your step and a floating feeling to your heart and soul on each of your daily journeys.


E Excellence that comes easy to you in all of your personal and business activities.


R Rare and precious gifts that appear to you every day, and the gift of insight so that you may recognize them when they arrive.


R Reliability in all of those who's paths you cross, so that your life will flow along more smoothly and you will know you're going in the right direction.


Y A Youthful heart so that you may see the world through the eyes of a child.

C Caring - May all of those who enter your life show you a great degree of caring and kindness.


H Healing energy and Hope whenever you find yourself needing it the most.


R The Respect that you deserve from everyone who is in your life.

I Inspiring moments sprinkled here and there throughout Christmas and the coming year, and especially when you need them the most.


S Silence when you need to take respite from the world and peace is all you need.


T Truth that brings clarity and positive movement in every corner of your business and personal life



M Miracles that appear in your life during times when you you are at your wits end and hope seems depleted.


A An Abundance of Positive Action in every area of your life.

S Always enough Sustenance for your body, mind, spirit and soul to keep you balanced, happy and healthy.

Merry Christmas everyone..... and thank you for the gifts of your friendship, support, knowledge and inspiration this past year,

Jo