A few years ago, I chose to give up everything I had going for me in my hometown city of Edmonton, including my passion for operating my own painting studio and teaching creative minds to heal through the skill of oil painting, to move closer to family living in the GTA (Greater Toronto Area). At the time, I truly believed it was the best decision for me. Unfortunately, circumstances did not go as well as I had hoped.

My friends and family are aware of the rough road I have had to travel and the painful efforts I’ve made in an attempt to recover from these trials. The trials and other unfortunate circumstances I experienced left me feeling the victim and in a mental state of coma for years. So deep was that coma, that nothing brought me out of it. No medication, no psychotherapy, no fly-by romance, no travel, and I travel a lot, no job, nothing brought me back!

About a year ago, inexplicably, like most people in a deep physical coma, I awoke from that coma. I soon began relearning who I really am. I began to question things and to search out the real reasons behind what kept me in that coma for most of my life. Soon, the answers started coming to me, including finding my way to “The Secret”, both in book and film form. Within weeks, I was learning to live, love and laugh again.

I started with baby steps by permitting myself to enjoy some of the simple things in life: For instance, watching planes take off and land became blissful to me. For decades I had suffered terrible agoraphobia and severe depression. Driving anywhere and listening to music I love as though no one is watching became blissful to me. Being engaged in deep and light-hearted conversations with the beautiful men and women in my life provided opportunities for me to follow my bliss. Falling in love again allowed me to follow my bliss. Needless to say, falling in love is always blissful in itself! Cooking, painting, sewing, dancing, singing, laughing, the list goes on! I was living again!

All of it contributed to my learning to first, “like” myself, and then “love” myself, and to see the world as being not such a bad place to be. The result of learning to love who I am is that I’ve come full circle in seeing how to love the people and the world around me. I find myself in a ‘blissful’ space most of the time now, because that’s the place I ‘choose’ to be.

Some of us have become so accustomed to allowing ourselves to see only the ‘bad’ in the world that we have forgotten or have chosen to see and focus mostly on the ‘negative.’ In spite of what’s going on in our lives we can still ‘choose’ to see the good, and be happy and grateful for those things rather than focusing on the things that aren’t working the way we expect them to.” The Secret” and “The Magic” was instrumental in helping me to see this fact.

If I had any regrets, it would be that I hung out in that deep coma for all those years because it caused me to miss out on so many wonderful experiences I could have had. But you see, I have no regrets because it has all brought me to where I am this very moment, sharing this incredible piece of myself with you.

When I chose to change the way I think, which was usually negative, my world began to change around me for the better. With my new attitude in tow, I began to experience so many positive events that it even affected me on a physical level. I began to ‘look’ different, as I had now learned to walk with my head up instead of always looking down. I cannot begin to tell you the things I’ve seen and experiences I’ve had happen to me since holding my head up. The fact of the matter is, this is who I was meant to be! What I am trying to tell you is that this is who I am. It was hidden for all those decades.

So, where exactly am I going with all this? Yeah! Where are you going with all this, Joan?

The other day, as I sat in a local McDonald fast food sipping on one of their ‘free’ cups of coffee, I happened to notice, as I now had my head up most of the time, that a new kickboxing facility had opened in the space where there used to be a flower shop. From the time I was a young lass, I’ve wanted to do kickboxing as a way to stay fit. As soon as I saw the ‘sign’ and the ‘free’ trial on the building, I knew that was my calling. This was the law of attraction in action. I had written that on my bucket list of things to do only a few weeks ago. I returned to my car and dialed the number I had seen on the building and told the lovely girl on the phone that I wanted to sign up for the trial session. She arranged with me to show up the following Monday for the trial class. The classes all came and went amazingly well!

To make a long story short, the following is what took place after my initial contact with Ultimate Kick Boxing:

My instructor later visited my Facebook Fan page, checked out my artwork, and loved what she saw; this motivated her to offer to put me in contact with a gallery owner friend of hers who would be happy to help me set up a gallery showing.

When I told the instructor that I have not been able to pursue my goal to teach and operate an art studio, guess what happened next? She looked at me and said:

“Is that what’s stopping you? Well, if that’s what’s stopping you from teaching and doing what you love, you are more than welcome to use this space here when I don’t have kickboxing classes.”

What!?? Wait, it gets better! When I offered to pay to help cover the expenses, she flatly refused to take any money from me for using the space. I will now be back teaching and operating a studio, and who knows what else this will all lead to.

I am eternally grateful to all the forces operating in my life to help manifest this for me! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Thank you so very much to Rhonda Byrne and the entire ‘Secret’ team.

By the way! I almost forgot to share with you one of my goals that day, which is a practice from the book The Magic. The practice for that day was to intentionally show gratitude by saying “Thank you” to anyone I came across throughout my day who provided me with some type of service. My kickboxing instructor was at the top of my list.

If my story helps or inspires at least one soul on this planet to find their own bliss and experience coming out of their own ‘coma’, then the mission that Rhonda Byrne set out to accomplish in sharing ‘The Secret’ continues to manifest itself once again, and so do all the stories and amazing experiences shared here on this site.

May the Joy be with all of you!