I had the most amazing experience last week, teaching a 5 day intensive creative mentoring session for Anita’s company, Funlanguages. I had the fun opportunity to work with 18yr old Lara Serrano Pérez, who was visiting from Spain for the month of July. In September, Lara will be starting University in Madrid, focusing her studies on science, with a strong interest in genetics. Lara and her parents wanted her to have this Canadian experience to help spring her forward with a positive headspace for University.
It was cool to blend lots of conversations about mindfulness and self-discovery with long photo-walks around the city. We talked a lot about determination and courage, risk-taking and the positive value of embracing failure, curiosity and generosity, and how to blend inner confidence with humility. Lara’s natural emotional (and traditional intelligence) helped make all of this very interactive, organic and fun for both of us.
During the week, we had several meetings with some very interesting Ottawa people. We met with Eric Meslin, president of the Council of Canadian Academies, Maxine Patenaude who is an experiential marketer at Shopify and also Leigh and Karen who run HighJinx, the very dynamic vintage store and inner city social enterprise. We even ran into our favourite and coolest creative Ottawa couple, Tom Lawson and Sheila Casey! Each meeting was unique and inspiring, yet there were common threads relating to self-confidence, generosity, determination, curiosity and humility.
My grateful take-away from the week was, “the more you share, the more you receive” - and as much as mentoring sounds like teaching, it’s just as much about learning!
Thanks Lara for a great week!
Dwayne.
Photowalks open the mind, the heart and of course our eyes!
Eric Meslin was kind enough to present Lara with a Bio Ethics book he had co-edited.
Lara helped to grocery shop and replenish the HighJinx food pantry.
Lara and Irene (another awesome Funlanguages student from Spain) visiting Shopify.
Coffee, books and inspiration at Black Squirrel Books.
The key to mindfulness - quiet calmness!