The Bra Street Rambler

One evening an old Cherokee Indian told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people. He said, ‘My son, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us all. One is Evil. It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego. The other is Good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith.’ The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: ‘Which wolf wins?’ The old Cherokee simply replied, ‘The one you feed.’ You may have heard this story before, it is often repeated in books and movies, most recently in Tomorrowland (another Rambler Recommendation). It reminds us that we choose who we are in every decision we make, every response we put forward. By deciding what emotions we give into, we decide which wolf we are feeding, what person we are becoming. Feeding the wolve...

“Trevor McKenney: I think some people are too scared, or something. I guess it's hard for people who are so used to things the way they are - even if they're bad - to change. 'Cause they kind of give up. And when they do, everybody kind of loses.” Pay in Forward (2000). Between my month long break to cope with family matters and my struggling to find motivation to write, I haven’t given you all a movie reference in some time. So, here it is; Pay it Forward is a movie I have watched many times and highly recommend to everyone. It is about a young boy who sets out to change the world when given the opportunity as part of a class assignment. In this movie, seventh grader Trevor McKenney comes up with an idea to help three people in a very big way asking only in return that they too help three strangers in big ways. A similar concept called Random Acts of Kindness is also present in today’s society and ranges in anything from purchasing a coffee for the next pe...

Sometimes you just have to laugh the boggart back into the closet. So, this past summer I discovered I have a sensitivity to a certain antibiotic, today I learned that it's to more than one kind. As I sit here typing away, I am resisting the urge to scratch at the less than pleasing evidence of these newly found allergies, all the while trying not to pass out from the drowsy effects of the Benadryl... and I'm laughing.  Why am I laughing at having an allergic reaction that is far less than pleasant? What else am I suppose to do!? I look like a sunburned cheetah or like I belong on Polkaroo! (for those of you who are too young to catch the reference, it was a children's show that featured a polka dot door and a pair of polka dot shorts) The thing is, I've had so much going on in my life lately that laughing really is the only thing left to do at this point. A rash is after all, truly the least of my current concerns.  Sometimes, life sucks. It's a simp...

We all know life is short, or at least we all know the saying. I think few of us truly grasp the concept unless we have had the unfortunate opportunity of facing Mr. Grimm Reaper for ourselves or having seen his handy work in those we have held most dear. The truth is, when Grimm drops by to say hi and our mortality, or that of those around us, is staring us down from the darkest parts of our being, it can be very difficult not to give in to despair. Not to mourn for what could have been and to despair over our mistakes, over what we would do differently given the chance and to beg for more time. Indeed, it can be quite easy to give in to our less than peppy sides and to simply give in to pity and give up. More difficult still is the ability to focus on the positive but it is in these circumstances that it becomes all the more important to try. Yes, sometimes the best way to get to the positive is to first allow ourselves to feel all of the negative, to allow ourselves t...

“We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.” –Frederick Keonig This past weekend, for those of my readers who are from different countries, was Thanksgiving in Canada. If you follow my blog, you’ll know that I am a firm believer in showing appreciation to all those who positively impact our lives, I believe that a compliment is wasted when it is spoken behind someone’s back, and I also believe that thanks should be extended year round rather than limited to one day. However, far be it from me to turn down any excuse to have some time off work to spend with my family enjoying a hot meal together. So, in honour of this excuse to verbalize what we are grateful for, here are some things that I feel thankful for and hope never to take for granted. Family “We have three kinds of family. Those we are born to, those who are born to us, and those we let into our hearts” - S...

“The price of love is loss but still we pay, we love anyway.” –Alice Ripley Two months ago, I wrote about the difficulties of having to say goodbye to those who do not respect and value us the way we deserve. I wrote of not allowing others to take us for granted and saying no to things that impact us negatively. I mentioned knowing it was the right thing to do for my own mental health despite all of the wonderful memories I still treasured of times spent with that person. That being said, emotion and logic are very different things and they do not necessarily walk hand in hand. Despite not having spoken to that person since, I am continuously reminded of that person in all of the tiny things that bring joy to my life. Logic speaks clearly letting me know I should not give in, that I should not fight for someone who refused to put forth the smallest bit of resistance in regards to me leaving. They did not put up the least bit of a fight to keep me in their life. Emotion...

“Little things are big.” – Yogi Berra As stated in my previous blog, my roommate and I are nerds, big nerds , especially where Harry Potter is concerned. Last week, we finished re-watching all of the movies together, something we had endeavored to do every available week night since she moved in. As we watched the final movie, I couldn’t help scolding the television, as I’m sure some of you often find yourselves doing as well, because the characters portrayed were not clueing  in to something I found rather obvious. For those of you who are familiar with Harry Potter, you’ll remember that in the movies, though Polyjuice potion allowed the characters to temporarily assume the physical appearance of someone else, it did not alter the voices of the characters (with the exception of Mad Eye which I attribute to the true character being a better mimic). My qualm with this was simply that if I had frequent dealings with someone, I would be able to tell if their voices...

“Why are you limping?” “I got impaled at a Quidditch Match” Now, normally readers of The Bra Street Rambler can expect little life lessons and the wisdom of a young female without any sort of psychology degree to be heard of. Not this week. Sometimes something so insanely absurd happens that you simply have to put everything aside and say; "Gather round dear bros and bras and listen as I tell you the story of a Muggle who tried to play a magical little sport called Quidditch.” Yes, if you haven’t already gathered as much from my previous posts, I am a nerd and proud of it! Now lucky for me, and quite unfortunately for her as you will soon discover, my new roommate is also a nerd. Recently, I volunteered at a Harry Potter event and played the fun role of a potions professor, other activities available to the public included house designation by means of Sorting Hat, face painting, wizard dueling, wand and banner decorating, and of course the main event of this p...

Yes, the topic itself is cliche. Every blogger at some point or another, writes a blog about writing a blog. Why? Because damnit, it's not as easy as it looks! Sure, if you fancy yourself a good writer, the words will flow out like water from a faucet as you race to keep your fingers moving as fast as they can over the keys of your keyboard in order to keep up with your ideas lest your lose the train of thought. However, getting to that point is not always easy.  First, you need a topic to write about. This can be somewhat of a struggle after you've written twenty, I can only imagine what it must be like for those who have written hundreds of posts. After a while, you start to feel like you are reaching. Struggling to find any topic to write about that you can put your own twist on, add your own flavour and perspective to.  Then, even if you do find some topics because let's face it, there's always something to write about even if you don't know it ...