In Honour of the Warrior Women in my DNA

As a descendant of Africans who were enslaved and hauled across the Atlantic to Jamaica, at least half of my history has been lost to me, other than the story told by the melanin in my skin. Family stories of ancestors have spoken to our European lineage but even that only traces a few generations. […]

Evil Will Not Win

On the evening of June 17, 2015, a young man walked into the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina with terror in his heart. For an hour he sat with the group gathered for a prayer meeting. Then he turned his thoughts into action and opened fire. His bullets were meant to start […]

It’s a small world after all

One Sunday a few years ago, my friends Brian and Guila attended mass in Vancouver. The priest, a Canadian, related a story of participating in a visioning exercise for a school in Jamaica. Brian and Guila looked at each other and simultaneously mouthed “Marguerite”. Sure enough, the priest who was visiting from his diocese in Toronto had been […]

Grace under pressure

5.30 a.m. and I was awake. Sleep eluded me this first morning of my return home from a week-long business trip. I crawled out of bed, made coffee, tried to meditate but nothing could settle me. The semi-finals of the Men’s 100m sprint finals at the World Athletics Championships in Beijing were due in 90 minutes, with the […]

What is death?

My spiritual guide and teacher, Rev. Dr. Elma Lumsden, made her transition on Sunday night. I celebrate this transition, even whilst feeling a tinge of sadness that her physical presence is no longer with us. But I know that she lives on through her teaching and the impact she has had on my life. Rumi […]

The kindness of feeding the homeless … or a squirrel

Watering the plants on my bay window, I glanced up and noticed a squirrel scooting along the little garden fence beneath the window. Disney-cute, he halted, looked up at me, and continued his journey to my front door. I called Victoria to look. “Oh Mummy, that’s Shane’s squirrel. He comes to the front door every […]

It’s never too late for love

My brother and I recently spent two delightful hours with our 90-year old Uncle John and Rita, his wife of 3 years. Yes, 3 years. Uncle John found and committed to love again at the age of 87! To be in their presence is to experience the timelessness of love.

Reverence for Life

Ambling home from my Bikram yoga class, legs feeling like two 10-ton truck tires, heart rate wending its way back to normal, mind very present from 90 minutes of mindfulness, I glimpsed on the sidewalk to my left what seemed to be a dead animal. This is a fairly rare sight in Toronto at 9.45 […]

Back to Reality – this IS My reality!

I recently spent the most magical 8 days of my life, celebrating my birthday with my brother and sister in Jamaica. Every moment was perfect, infused with love, joy and laughter. On my return to Toronto, someone posted in response to my Facebook status “Now back to reality”. And I thought: “But the past 8 […]

And the Oscar goes to ….. “The Lady in Number 6“!

What joy to celebrate the life of my dear friend, Alice Herz-Sommer, along with the rest of the world! For last night, the documentary on her life “The Lady in Number 6: How Music Saved My Life” won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject. I have written about Alice in previous blogposts, as she is […]

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