Tanya McGinnity

How are you feeling right now?

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For so long I never asked myself that question and I was carrying around a sense of general, genuine and perpetual unhappiness. A real dis-ease. That dis-ease started to manifest itself not only in my mental state but physically with some nasty allergies, gut rot and a sense of constant nervy-ness.

As a child who came out of a broken marriage, I never felt a sense of home. Many of us come from parents who were ill-equipped to dole out love in the ways we’ve all craved. Not having a Halmark card kind of life means that you have to work a little harder on yourself – mainly in being gentle with yourself and not listening to the negative self talk that we come to cultivate over time.

Breaking these negative pattens has taken time and I’m now an advocate for helping people break from their conditioning and discover new ways to heal themselves. I’ve been teaching meditation classes to a small group over the past month and have felt empowered by being able to educate people on several tools they can use to help calm their minds. I’m looking to deepen my teaching experiences over time and will be taking teacher training to work with inmates who wish to learn meditation to help them pacify their troubled minds.

I’ve also been lending a hand with the NHC Institute which teaches holistic health care here in Montreal and have been working with this group on various upcoming initiatives. As a cause I’m a full believer in, I’m thrilled to be surrounded by passionate folks who are dedicated to healing and helping alternative health to become an accepted form of medical treatment. I’ve used alternative therapies as a compliment to the advice I’ve received from my traditional doctor and have found it to have helped me immensely.

I’d encourage you to take some time to ask yourself how you’re feeling. Make it a date and pick your brain. Note if any of your physical ailments can be tied in with your mental state.

Are you feeling OK?

Thanks to Dot Wojakowski for inspiring me to write this post.

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I’ve been taking full-on French immersion classes and the effects are remarkable. I’m already feeling so much more comfortable and have noticed my vocabulary is being beefed up significantly. I had been taking classes at McGill for some time but it was only for morning sessions and so much was falling out from between my ears.

For so long, I’d put off dedicating time to learn French and always felt a sense of shame in being so lazy and not sticking with it. Having moved here from New Brunswick, I had a fairly decent base and ear for the language so I have a leg up on the folks in my school who are mainly newly landed immigrants to the city.

This time around, I’m watching many more Quebec movies and tv programs and reading the local newspapers daily. My current faves are:La petite seduction,Tout le monde en parlait and L’épicerie. Oh and I seem to have discovered an interest in Zachary Richard.

I’m planning to start a twitter account to tweet exclusively in French (good practice) and am going to be taking a more proactive focus with the Montreal Girl Geek Dinner group in developing and cultivating an enhanced presence in the local Francophone community.