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Coming out of our COVID created caves-healthier-chat with a chiropractor

June 23, 2020June 23, 2020 by Helena Kaufman

woman at desk contemplating Writer wellness and creative longevity are bound to each other. Part 1 in a series of practical steps to sustaining personal health span and creative productivity

I sat a bit higher in my office chair and felt a flow of energy for a better business day as I spoke with Vancouver chiropractor, Dr. Matt Nelson. In the early weeks of the pandemic when we were asked to shelter in place, in-office visits to our daily healthcare providers stopped. Collectively, we settled into our COVID created caves.

As we sat in front of screens to work, to play, to learn and to stay connected with our business and social networks- – -we lost some power and gained some pains. Bad habits snuck in. Our usual health sustaining routines seeped out.

With BC ‘opening up’ and our coming out, we’re looking to regain some of that strength to move about well and to live life – a bit better.

I asked Dr. Nelson for advice on caring for ourselves from a chiropractic perspective:

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Today I budge from Before COVID19 (BCV) to Post COVID19 (PCV)

April 13, 2020April 11, 2020 by Helena Kaufman

April 11 seems to be the day. I didn’t pick it or plan for it.

Today is the day my life moved from BCV (Before Covid19) to beginning to piece together my PCV (Post Covid19) future forward self. But first a moment on what budged me, at last.

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Is an artist date with yourself the key to unlock more creativity?

March 1, 2020 by Helena Kaufman

How was your date this weekend?

You know. That date with yourself that gifts you time to reconnect with yer own fine self?

Julia Cameron’s work in her book The Artist’s Way defines it as: The Artist Date is a once-weekly, festive, solo expedition to explore something that interests you. The Artist Date need not be overtly “artistic”– think mischief more than mastery.

I have to say I instituted my own artist date LONG before I even heard of Julia Cameron. Maybe before she discovered her own way to such a program based on the small meetings of wild women writers seeking – something – together in her home?

My date night was on Wednesday. I referred to my Wednesdays as my own religious night. The irony of the phrase was not lost on Peter Warren, the highly rated morning host of a civic rabble rousing radio show at CJOB. Peter knew I was married to an atheist. Maybe he saw the value of my staking out my own time out to rediscover my creative self beyond all the roles I fulfilled.

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Mess o’ money to count on – en route to the writing life

February 21, 2020February 20, 2020 by Helena Kaufman

That will be $4.22 from $20.

So… 3 pennies to 4.25 then 50, 75 and another quarter to get us to 5.00. A blue fiver to $10 and a purple $10 bill for $20. Thank you for your business.

That’s old school change giving. Counted out one coin and bill at a time.

Now no pennies in Canada. So we round DOWN, or up to the nearest five. Anyway, the computerized register tells us exactly what to give back to the customer who is probably juggling a phone and not paying attention as they accept the mess of money handed them. All in one clammy fist-full by the clerk.

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Snow Day Cinderella on a shiny Monday in Vancouver

January 14, 2020January 13, 2020 by Helena Kaufman

Walking past the blue public rental bicycles on a Monday in Vancouver and they are covered in freshly fallen west coast snow

It snowed overnight. Temperatures will be a handful of degrees below zero all week. By our southern west-coast of BC wussy standards it is cold. It is damp. There is wind. Skiers and snowboarders are happy, and likely high with the news of more snow. An upswing is expected in time for T.G.I.F. of +1 Celsius, daytime temperature.

There will be 5 entire Wednesdays, 5 Thursdays and 5 Fridays in this month of January 2020. This Monday, however, will not come again, nor did it exist before – all bright and shiny and new.

street scene covered in snow on a Monday in Vancouver — Night snow for Cinderella

OK. not so sun-shiny, but a new shiny. The snow was not as bright as the wonderland of snow that covered the Prairie winter I grew up in. But our rare west coast city snow was on the grass, the branches, the roof top of the church across the street and all along the hedges. All was calm and steady and the air was totally different – clean and fresh in the truest ‘sense’.

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Anniversaries on the calendar and on the body – a writer remembers

May 17, 2020January 6, 2020 by Helena Kaufman

They say the body remembers…And so it is with me.

When I almost forget an anniversary, be it a sweet celebration or a calamity of suffering come and not yet fully gone my body sends me some kinda message.

Janus, god of endings, beginnings and transitions

2020 is here. I grew up with the phrase ‘Hindsight is 2020’ meaning we see more clearly after the fact, looking back. This saying from the days when we had to remember social sayings we learned. Lessons shared the common way – in conversation or embroidered on a gift pillow.

Yup, we didn’t yet have the benefit of a graphic digital meme to see, like and share yet, so we just remembered useful catch phrases.

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Living to deadline, a writer’s diary begun Jan 1

February 1, 2020January 1, 2020 by Helena Kaufman

In the green room of life

On hold. Waiting for the New Year to start like a guest waiting in a studio’s ‘green room’ before going on air to a talk show or some other live event, with an audience, and floor directors and a host to greet your arrival. And snacks.

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Facts are not story: on seeing your list Part 2 of 2

July 23, 2019July 23, 2019 by Helena Kaufman

OMGoodness. I’ve publicized more than 50 events. They have been press conferences, live shows, trade shows from crafts to gems to ‘world music’ and culture. There have even been two sports shows that I personally founded, sold space, sponsorships and ads for plus publicized. I know. You can’t imagine the sports part, right? I did it all as a one woman team with part time admin help and it was hockey and cycling.

But this. This one is something else. And as the event’s public opening dance and music night reminds us, it can take more than 2 lists to tango in publicity. It takes that special match of story and human emotion to connect what you offer to the needs of your partners in publicity. Not just the facts.

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On lists and looking for the stories in them part 1 of 2

July 18, 2019 by Helena Kaufman

Lists and how to look at them is the topic of my real time PR efforts for the Festival Judio’s August 2019 debut. There’s a practical magic to having the right lists and how we interpret them. I work with 2 kinds and I’ll explain those shortly.

After this real time post all messaging will be uber short – only 15 sleeps to go.

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Prime directive of story pulls you out of inaction – Progress post #2

July 18, 2019July 18, 2019 by Helena Kaufman

It’s been a humbling few days since I announced how I overcame, and I did, and then slid back a bit. Some of my energy seeped out as I filled boxes and tick off tasks that online life now requires of us as PR folks before I could return to my beloved writing FOR the project. So, today’s post is about how I lost the prime directive of my real time and current PR efforts for ¡Festival Judío! A Celebration of Latin American Jewish Culture. And, how I started back to the source with my signature ‘Bag and Board’ method.