What if you could create world peace?

That was one of the themes yesterday as I and several thousand other people attended the unveiling of the Jade Buddha for Universal Peace on its only Alberta stop of its international exhibition tour.

The Jade Buddha, carved from a solid piece of jade, is 2.7 metres high and sits on a 1.4 metre alabaster throne. It is truly a marvel to see.

According to organizers, the purpose of exhibiting the Jade Buddha around the world is for everyone, irrespective of their religion, to take a moment to reflect upon peace; peace for the world; peace in their relationships; peace for their families and friends; peace at work; peace in their mind.

Seeing this Buddha was a great reminder that one by one we each can make a difference.  It’s true that you create your own reality. What’s going on in your own head has a direct effect on what’s going on around you.

When you are angry, everything seems to conspire against you.

When you are fearful, obstacles arise.

Negativity in your head creates more negativity.

It works the other way too.

When you are optimistic, things seem more positive.

When you are open to possibilities, opportunities appear.

So why not peace?

When you have a peaceful mind, the world becomes a more peaceful place.

How can you bring more peace into your world?

This post is written by regular guest blogger Neela Bell.

So, I went out for a nice downtown lunch date with my girlfriend last week. We chose this really chic "Vegan" restaurant on 101st and 107th called Padmanadi. You just FEEL cool walking into this hip Indonesian restaurant. There is a massive Buddha (think Jabba the Hut, only lovely) along one wall, and truly the most inspired decorating I've ever seen at an Edmonton eatery. I felt like I was on holidays in Vancouver. I could have eaten lunch in the BATHROOM it was so nice. Ok, enough gushing.

I looked at the menu and did a quick scan. It soon came to my attention that there were quite a few meat dishes. I had prepared myself the whole drive over for what a "vegan restaurant" would be like. I imagined those mixed grain salads you get at Safeway, and maybe some of those weird bamboo shoot things like in hot and sour soup. I silently prayed they would have something like a stir fry.

"What's with the curried chicken??" I asked suspiciously, like my 5 year old does when she spots a flake of oregano on anything.

"It's ... tofu ... that tastes like chicken," my gf responded matter-of-factly. "If they do it right, you can't even tell the difference."

"Interesting." Is what I said out loud. What I was THINKING was more like ... oh grossss ... what do they cook it in to make it chicken flavoured?? and what the heck IS tofu?? Isn't it like soybeans??

Anyway, I'm a grown up and I did a process of elimination scan of the keywords along the menu ... eggplant? (nope) ... ginger beef?? (nix) ... mutton??? (good grief) and finally circled back to the curry vegetable dish which sounded very safe.

I ordered a coffee, which arrived with a little decanter of something that didn't quite look like milk. "Can I get some cream?" (to which the waitress patiently explained that cream comes from a COW ... )

I was reeling, but pulled it together and managed to have a very nice, albeit boundary expanding time at this new little outpost of hipness. We left with a pair of organic apples, and though the lunch was a bit of a trial for me, it felt good to do something completely new. How often do you get to do that?

Neela Bell is a teacher, aspiring writer and mother of two.

A recent blog called When it Comes to Aging, Real is Really In discusses the current trend in Hollywood of choosing actresses of a certain age who look “real” – that is actresses that have not had a ton of work done.

I wonder if this conversation somewhat misses the point.

If real is really in, what defines real?

Is real actually defined by how we look?

I would agree that one aspect of real has to do with how we look – or more to the point, our own acceptance of our physical self. That delicious place of being able to love oneself at all ages and stages, in all shapes and sizes. I’m not sure that feeling originates from the outside in.

When I think about some “Hollywood role models” that seem to embrace their real selves, it has more to do with the qualities they exude rather than what they look like. Sure they might have given up hair dye or avoided too much plastic surgery, but that’s not what makes them real. They are confident, articulate, passionate, caring, funny and a whole host of other qualities that have nothing to do with appearance.

I’m not convinced that just because a woman chooses plastic surgery it excludes her from the sisterhood of real. Who knows why she made that decision? Real also includes insecurity and perfectionism.

Perhaps real will be really in when we stop talking about what we look like and start talking about who we are.

How do you define real?

This post is written by regular guest blogger Neela Bell.

I've been thinking about the faces I have. Well, actually, I've been thinking about how MANY of them I have; mother, teacher, girlfriend, daughter, aspiring writer, aspiring housekeeper, aspiring exerciser, and most of all (lately) aspiring spirit-full woman. It's almost like I turned 40 and suddenly I was a thousand new people.

I was on my hands and knees last week, picking up noodles (flung far and wide from my two year old) and I noticed Joseph Campbell's book (which I shamelessly ripped off for this blog's title) winking at me from the bottom of the bookshelf. It's a great book about the journey of the "hero" in all of us, and how it manifests itself in many faces and stories we continue to share.

I had a little "ah ha!" moment down there amongst the scattered Ichiban. It struck me how much "doing" I do in all the roles I've created, and how little "being" I have made space for. I wear so many faces, like a method actor, I often forget where the role ends and where I begin.

The other day, my girlfriend offered to watch my kids so I could spend some time alone at the local Second Cup. I looked at her with wide-eyed AMAZEMENT, as if she was suggesting I bungee jump off the High Level Bridge.

"Why would I want to do THAT??" I responded, with a lack of gratitude I'm ashamed of even now in the retelling.

"So you could spend some time by yourself ... "

What I did not realize then, but have come to know now, is that the last person I want to spend quality time alone with is me. In truth, I'm not even sure who that woman is. Which version of myself would I take to the coffee shop? And what could I possibly say to her when we got there.

This ... this exact thing ... is my hero's journey. It is the brave setting aside of faces until the remaining woman is one I can't wait to get to know. It is a path I am taking the first steps on, beginning with these shared words. The journey begins.

Makeover seems to be the buzzword of the 21^st century. Everywhere you turn someone is making over something – houses, clothes, hairstyles, you name it. So I guess it’s not surprising that after decades Wonder Woman gets a makeover too.

I have to admit I’ve never been convinced that she could save the world in that get-up. Hot pants and knee high boots just don’t seem that practical. Most wonder women I know would rather settle for something comfortable from lululemon and quite likely wouldn’t have their “pretty bits” hanging out either.

Here’s the thing – sometimes a makeover is just what’s called for. If you are like Wonder Woman and have been wearing the same outfits for years, it’s probably time for a change. If you still have the same haircut you had in high school – and you didn’t just graduate – it’s time for something new.

Sometimes when I look at pictures of myself from the past I have a “What was I thinking?” moment. And then I remember that at the time, those glasses, shoulder pads or perms were the height of fashion. Hard to believe, but they were!

Things change.

You change.

A makeover is about bringing your outside self in alignment with your inside self. It has nothing to do with other people telling you what you should look like. I think it has to happen from the inside out. If anyone had bothered to ask Wonder Woman, I wonder what she would have had to say.

What are your makeover thoughts?

This post is written by regular guest blogger Michele McDougall.

If only it DID suck!

What is your least favorite chore around the house?  Is it cleaning the bathroom or washing the dishes?  Perhaps it’s that bottomless pile of laundry or those twisted shirts that need ironing.

I am pretty sure everyone despises some domestic duty.

Mine is vacuuming!  I despise it.  Abhor it.  I avoid it as much as I can, which is surprising.  Because every other area of my home – SO neat, SO tidy.

For instance I love doing the dishes.  I find ironing relaxing, and literally enjoy dusting!  But it’s not until my walk from the bedroom to the kitchen starts to get a little rocky underfoot, that I give in.

Do I judge too quickly this unsung hero of the broom closet?

Does it not suffer enough because it sucks?

When you think about it – it’s a grand word – It rates 2 U’s! (The envy of some shepherders).

Plus, vacuum has been given the honour of being a noun and a verb.  “Hey, honey, take the vacuum and vacuum!!”

Maybe it’s because a hospital straw has more suction than my ole appliance.

I will go over the same piece of thread 5 times before I bend over.  I bend over, NOT to pick it up, but to move it and then try to vacuum it up again!

So now I challenge you – O’ domestic diva.  Get that monkey of a house cleaning chore off your back.  Let me know what your least favorite chore is around the house.  And if you are brave — send me a picture of said torture!  But  uh, keep it, clean - OK?

Michele McDougall is Weather Specialist for Breakfast Television on Edmonton's Citytv. She always manages to find the sunny side of life.

Standing in the line at the grocery store it’s pretty hard to not peruse the headlines on the tabloid magazines. Accompanying all those not to be believed stories are always pictures of some celebrity caught going to the grocery looking like an unmade bed.

It’s a relief to know that I am not a celebrity because on some days standing there in the grocery line, I too could be having a National Enquirer moment.

I think there must be a special little part of our brain that let’s us disconnect things we know to be true – or at least probable – from our actions.

Like the decision to head out for a quick trip to the store in your “what not to wear” clothes partnered with a seriously bad hair day. We know that there is a definite correlation between how bad we look and the likelihood that we will run into our ex-partner/husband/friend or the town crier.

And yet, we still jump in the car and then find ourselves hiding in the frozen aisle hoping that we aren’t noticed.

Now just to be clear I’m all about being yourself and not doing things just to try to impress other people, but why is it that sometimes we just set ourselves up?

I don’t even think that it’s so important what the other person’s reaction is. It’s far more important the impact we have on ourselves when we leave the house looking like we crawled out of the laundry hamper.

My daughter always says, “Mom it doesn’t take any longer to put on a nice pair of jeans and top as it does to throw on your sweats.”

She’s right.

So lately I’ve been trying to choose paparazzi friendly outfits – just in case.

What’s your best or worst National Enquirer moment?

Do you come clean about your age?

I was speaking at a conference recently and in the course of my presentation happened to mention my age. One woman asked how it was that I could so casually comment that I would be 52 in November.

What an interesting question!

The answer though is not all that interesting – I don’t really think too much about my age. Some days I even have trouble remembering exactly how old I am and I have to stop and do the math. There’s probably a part of my brain that still thinks I’m in my 30’s even if parts of my body keep reminding me that’s not true.

Most women are really interested in a sale but some wouldn’t be caught dead getting a senior’s discount. In some stores senior is defined as 50+.

There was a time when most of us were trying to pass ourselves off as older than we were. Then somewhere along the line we became less comfortable about declaring our age and we started subtracting years or at least being somewhat vague about it.

Instead of just celebrating birthdays, my sister started marking anniversaries of her 30^th birthday – until that is she reached the 30^th anniversary of her 30^th birthday and decided that the math was all the same anyway.

Perhaps the discomfort with our age has something to do with our perspective on aging.

What does it mean to you to get older?

Do you think about aging as a natural process during which you can wisdom and experience?

Or do you think about aging as the onset of all the things you can no longer do.

There was a study by Yale University that found people who had positive self-perceptions of aging actually lived 7.5 years longer than people who were less positive.  Even after they took into account other factors such as overall health, age, gender and standard of living, the increase in longevity remained.

Holding positive thoughts about aging actually buys you more years - which you can then subtract from your age if you really want to.

Apparently 50 is the new 40 and 40 is the new 30. My middle aged brain can’t keep up with all that. Your age is your age. For me iit’s such a small part of how you can define yourself.

What do you think about aging?

Is a midlife crisis something you are entitled to?

That was one of the questions that crossed my mind when I read an article

this weekend called “Today’s woman can have it all – including a midlife crisis”.

You have to read it yourself but it got me thinking about a number of things related to the sometimes angst of the middle years.

Is a midlife crisis inevitable – just simply a part of the aging process?

What’s at the root of a midlife crisis?

Does everybody’s midlife crisis have to look the same?

One premise in the article seems to be that a midlife crisis results from some combination of boredom and overwork. That sure doesn’t seem to be the case for most women – or men for that matter – that I talk to.

The “crisis” seems to occur when one day you wake up and start asking yourself questions that you probably should have been asking a long time ago.

Big questions that can be downright scary.

Questions about choices you have made in the past.

Questions about the legacy you will leave.

Questions like, “Is this all there is?” or “What’s it all about really?” or “What’s next?”

It could be that fancy cars, wild weekends or other forms of amusement are simply distractions from the big questions - the ones that require us to dig deep, make powerful choices and quit whining.

Are women stressed, over-committed and feeling frazzled? Sure lots of them are.

Is that the reason they have a midlife crisis? Not a chance.

If we play with the big questions, we quite likely find ourselves less stressed, less over-committed and less frazzled. That leaves a lot more time to enjoy life in the middle and all the other years too.

What’s your take on midlife crisis?

The other day I was chatting with a friend who was telling me that she was in the midst of a re-do of her house. Seems she had heard on TV that your home should “rise up to meet you”.

“It’s more like my house is lying down,” she said.

So she was a woman with a mission: out with the old wallpaper, and in with a fresh coat of paint. Next would be some updated furniture and a purging of knick knacks and chotchkies.

Is your home lying down?

And I don’t just mean does your house look like an audition for the reality show Hoarders.

Of course there’s the clutter thing. That’s a whole other story. But there’s another important aspect to your surroundings that’s captured in the idea of your home rising up to meet you.

Do you feel “at home” in your home?

Is it a good reflection of who you are – right now – not 10 or 15 years ago?

Does it restore you at the end of a busy day – provide you with sanctuary?

Take a look around and see if your house is lying down too.

Has your home become a couch potato?

If yes, time to breath some life into it. Get it back in shape.

I get why our houses sometimes lie down. We’re busy. Our spouse doesn’t have the same taste as we do. We’re not even sure what it would or could look like. And we know that Nate Berkus isn’t ringing our doorbell any time soon.

You can always do the home make-over thing if you like or simply begin smaller. It doesn’t have to take a home improvement loan to get your house off the couch.

If you are stuck for ideas, there are companies that come and redesign your home using your current furniture. No shopping or credit card bills. Just a fresh look.

Browse through some decorating magazines and get some ideas. Invite some girlfriends over, get a bottle of wine and brainstorm.

Try creating one corner that rises up to meet you. Remove the clutter and anything that doesn’t fill you with love and inspiration. Sitting in that space might just give you the oomph to tackle the next part.

What's happening at your house?