Joanne Hunt's blog

"Morning Glory! Another thing I will never know." Basho

It is a funny thing to speak of opening one's heart as though we can do it on command. We have all been raised with our own stereotypes and biases and I can honestly say that if it is late at night and I am walking down a street alone and a man steps out walking toward me, I am not working on opening my heart. In that moment, I am vigilant.

I was resting after a set of 150 pound leg presses when George asked me if I had ever heard the expression, "tiptoeing my way safely toward death." I hadn't. My response was, "No way for me, George. I'm going out in a full blaze to the end." He laughed and responded, "Me too." I was pumped up and filled with endorphins gone wild.

When I was in fifth grade, my homeroom teacher was Mr. Orifice. Yes, really. He was Italian and when he came to Canada as a boy, his father changed their surname to Orifice from Orifici (pronounced Ori-fi-chee). He changed the "i" at the end of the name to an "e" and personally, I think that was a mistake.

I work with many clients who are not thrilled in the work that they are doing. Finding or discovering more satisfying work is a common coaching topic. So many men and women are miserable at their jobs or career choices. They also feel a call of something more, something deeper, something more core to who they are and how they hold their sense of Self.

I have a history of speaking up when I have needed to. I will have difficult conversations with people versus letting things go unsaid or fester. For the most part, I think I stay relatively capable in those conversations.

There is a little girl in Lebanon who wants to be a doctor when she grows up. She is nine years old, with dark brown piercing eyes, black as coal hair tucked into a scarf that tightly encircles her head. She speaks passionately and wisely; a still presence that speaks volumes. She has seen much more of death and dying in her short life than I will in all of mine.

In the house where I used to live I often watched out the back window of my ground floor office where there was a children’s playground. It was a closed in small area probably no more that 40 X 30 feet where the children attending a private school would play during lunch and breaks. But early in the morning I was most interested in watching a custodian who worked there.

As many of you already know, Laura's brother died on December 9th of a sudden and massive heart attack. He was only 53 years old and left behind his wife and 19 year old daughter, two siblings (Laura & Keith) and his parents (Ray & Jane). And as this New Year has come upon us so quickly, I find myself thinking of Craig's death only a few weeks ago.

We are front-oriented beings. As much as we would like to claim otherwise and believe me, my mother used to, we do not have eyes in the back of our heads. When we move out into the world, we orient from the front of our bodies. There are interesting things to see and smell and notice.