Arianna Merritt, MEd | Health Educator & Digital Creator

Go Be Seen

Each day since the beginning of time, the sun has risen from the darkness to the highest point in the sky for all to see. This summer, the early morning rays of the dawn have been waking me up as the sun rises to brighten the day. It seems the beams are at peak brightness, waking me up and causing me to pay attention to them. The sun doesn’t care if you aren’t ready to wake up, or if you dislike the intensity – it keeps its brightness – it keeps shining – it wants to be seen! We can all learn a lot from this notion.

Great Quote on Perseverance

What inspires you on your journey?

Inspiration can come from anywhere. Personally, other than deep conversations with others and beautiful surroundings, I use visual aides to encourage me. I love taking personal pictures and adding inspiring quotes to them. I think you will love this one about perseverance that I made yesterday!

Rise & Shine Interview: Heather Grace Stewart about Writing

Ever wondered where a professional poet finds inspiration to write? I'm excited that today, Heather Grace Stewart, is “Speaking From the Heart” and sharing her experiences with all of us.

Heather Grace Stewart is a Canadian Poet and the Author of /Three Spaces, Carry On Dancing, Leap, Where the Butterflies Go, The Groovy Granny, & The Friends I've Never Met. Visit her website heathergracestewart.me and her blog heathergracestewart.com. I had to ask Heather to be involved as she continually inspires and encourages me on my writing journey. Heather and I both grew up in the same city, and connected through blogging. I consider her a "Friend I've Never Met" as we both live on opposing sides of Canada. I can't wait to meet Heather in person!

Coping With Transition

What have I spent 10+ years practising?

Sometimes it takes awhile to see the most obvious thing that has been there throughout our whole journey. We focus so much on the details and not on the bigger picture; hence why I had been stumped on my friend's question. I reflected, dug deeper, and after some serious thought, discovered what the common element was.

I am an expert in coping with transition. Not only had I experienced a lot of transition personally, I counsel individuals and organizations on how to improve (change is a huge element of this).

Rise & Shine Interview: Vanessa Grillone

I'm excited to start the series by featuring the amazing Vanessa Grillone. I discovered Vanessa's blog, My Pen, My Voice, this past January on the Canadian Weblog Awards site where both our blogs were nominated. I had to connect with her as we share similar interests, live/lived in Toronto, and both have self-published books. Vanessa is a writer, blogger, and book-lover looking to find her place in the publishing world. She contributes to ChicDarling.com and Workstory.net; she also writes for her own lifestyle blog on VanessaGrillone.com . Vanessa can’t stop writing and can be annoyingly optimistic, but she doesn’t care—she loves life.

Blog Your Passion

Establishing Yourself as a Life Blogger is about speaking from the heart, sharing your passion with others, and building community.

When people are looking for inspiration, instead of only going outward to others for answers, dig deep and look within. Write your posts as if you are speaking from your heart. Remember, people are coming to your blog to connect with you and hear your thoughts. Blogging is a conversation where you start talking and people respond.

Raffi: Lyrics Touch Lives

During my childhood, the lyrics of Raffi Cavoukian (a.k.a Raffi, the children’s singer) influenced me a lot. Therefore, I was delighted when I randomly encountered him recently at the Salt Spring Island Market. I took the ferry over to the beautiful Salt Spring Island with some friends to check out the Saturday Market. Downtown Ganges (the main town) is packed with local vendors displaying their crafts. While I was wandering around, a friend pointed out Raffi selling his books and CD’s.

Many Leaves, One Tree

Movies are great sources of inspiration. I went to go see "Epic" several weeks ago and this quote stood out to me. Therefore, I'm sharing it with you :) I really do recommend this movie if you haven't seen it yet - go see it - it is so powerful!

Where in your life do you need more courage?

From my personal journey over the past few weeks, I discovered a common thread: I need the courage to stop feeling intimidated by others. I must develop the courage to speak my truth to everyone – no holds barred. With most people I can freely communicate what’s on my heart; but with a select few, I lack the courage to express how I feel.

With these people, I keep my thoughts and frustrations locked inside. I get worried that if I share how I feel or think, they will not like what I have to say. Sometimes I have been excluded for my views, even though I spoke politely. I have also had others get upset, or change the topic when I speak. Most often, I would respond by keeping quiet, playing down my views, or agreeing with them. Whichever way you look at it, I lacked courage to stand up for what I believed with these people. I have come to realize that I ‘gave up’ on my views because I like to make others happy – more so than myself. I guess I’m a ‘people pleaser.’

Showing Courage in Our Lives

Is there a common theme to the life lessons you are learning lately? I find that when I’m being taught something important, the message is usually repeated in different situations throughout my life. That way, I’ll pay attention – even if I don’t want to!

This happened recently at a personal development seminar where I was a participant. We were asked to list personal obstacles in our life journeys. Like a reflex, I wrote down ‘COURAGE’ and circled it. Though I didn’t understand why this word mattered to me, I was soon to get inklings.

Participants were asked to discuss the meaning behind what they had written down with others close by. We helped one another; I was shown that my ‘courage’ meant developing the strength to speak my story on a general level.

Zach Sobiech: Your Legacy Will Live On!

As you know, I love sharing stories of people who have impacted my journey. I was saddened to find out that a beautiful soul, Zach Sobiech, lost his battle to cancer yesterday. Zach was only 18 years old when he died but in his short time he embraced life to the fullest. His passion for life, love of others, and contagious joy touched my heart as well as those of many others. His legacy will live on. As Zach said in his documentary, "It's really simple, actually, just try to make people happy."

Jacqueline (@6 Months to Live) and Arianna's (@Arianna's Random Thoughts) New Web Show

I'm so excited to share with you a new web show that Jacqueline Boone (from 6 Months to Live) and I are starting. I met Jacqueline through WordPress and an awesome friendship was born. We did our first episode yesterday of our new monthly web show called:

SEARCH THE BLOG

Follow @ariannaonthego

Home Blog

archives Contact