Shows
Meanderings with TrudyMeanderings with Trudy: Updating My WhyIt's about choice. Knowing who you BE, understanding your habits in who you are, how they get in your way, and how to develop a way to choose.We all have habits of being that were grooved into us long ago. In how we were raised, in who we are when we're born, and in what we go through in our lives. These are unconscious, and help us navigate our world. Just as we outgrow our jeans, we can also outgrow our habits, but we don't often realize that this has happened.So how do...2025-03-0509 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeanderings with Trudy: ReturningMy break went well, full of writing, and a little travel. I talk a bit about that. I also explore how I find calm, and make way for joy, despite the crazy that is so much of our world right now.As usual, I’ve dipped into "Embers" by Richard Wagamese, and also “The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse” for inspiration. Coming out of that, I have an invitation for you to consider… What beauty do you care for in your life? And how does it enhance your world? Drop me a note and share wha...2025-03-0423 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Jackie RoweI met many lovely women while on my writing retreat in Tuscany this past October. Jacki Rowe was one of them and I’m grateful to her for sharing her heart and her festive traditions with me on this wee meander.While I’ve met Jackie as a writer, she also ran a very successful company for 25 years, an occupation which kept her away from home and occupied more space in her life than she might have liked. Now that she’s into the next phase of her life, she’s tending to her family in a much dif...2024-12-1751 min
Meanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, On Hope and AdventWe meander around beginning again, around little monsters that join us when we engage in a meditation or a “sit,” around what Advent offers to us as we prepare for the coming holidays… It’s a nice complement to my solo meander from last week, and I hope you’ll listen to these both in that understanding.December, at least in the northern hemisphere where we live, gets increasingly dark, the days, shorter, until the longest day of the year, Dec 21, and the Winter Solstice. In December, hope, peace, joy and love are centered week by week as Christm...2024-12-1055 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Me: Insider's TipsI start with how I build and tape my podcast… the technical components and the space I work in. We also talk about other inside activities, like how we can prepare our hearts for the coming holidays with families, for family dinners that spark both joy and, sometimes, dread... Certainly sparking old habits of behaviour that no longer serve our relationships or reflect who we are, now.I hope this lands well for you. Share your thoughts with me too, I’d love to hear from you, please write me at meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com. I hope you’ve subs...2024-12-0330 min
Meanderings with TrudyMwT Book Review: The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the HorseDeceptively simple, it is a story of courage and friendship. A reminder that it is love for each other that makes life feel rich and full. This book reflects themes that I explore often in conversation – love, community, courage, risk – and how they enrich our lives.If you’re of a mind, share your thoughts with me about these book reviews at meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com. If there is a book you recommend, let me know and I’ll give it a look, no promises though. And… if you tried sitting with nothing and it became something, tell me about tha...2024-11-2614 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Nancy Guy-GunnNancy was first on the podcast in January of 2022 and we just talked about what brings her joy. Today, she shares with us her love of playing in the mud, shaping it, painting, and firing it into things of beauty…. Functional, useful, sentimental and beautiful. We talk about the meaning that she derives out of the potting; you'll see what I mean when it comes up.Nancy is an effervescent spirit, and it is such a joy to meander again with her on this episode.If you’re of a mind, shoot me a note at me...2024-11-1952 min
Meanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, On Reconnecting, Part 2It’s funny how our lives spiral around certain themes, and while Angie is a storyteller at heart, bred in her bones also is teaching, mentoring, and supporting others, or as she calls it, being a "human-evoker.” She talks with us about the invitation she’s had to move into a different role in her organization, as well as the things she’s learned through all this change she’s experienced this last year. As this is a meander, we also flit around ideas like grace, and hope, ritual and joy. And love. And as Angie is back in the US, th...2024-11-1251 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Me, in NovemberThis week, I’m all about fall and its bounty. Not the vegetable harvest as much as the opportunity to start again… that kind of bounty. Fall is a natural time to consider where I’ve been, and where I am going, and that’s some of what I’ll meander around today.I hope this lands well for you. Share your thoughts with me too about how the fall bounty shows up for you. I’d love to hear from you, please write me at meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com. I hope you’ve subscribed where ever you get your podca...2024-11-0510 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Weaver Jane PerryThis week, I speak with weaver Jane Perry about her love of nature, and how she finds joy in working with natural fibers as she pulls wool threads into beautiful tapestries. A retired forester, she’s been able to spend her days creating and playing on her loom in her studio in a gorgeous log cabin in the forest, west of Williams Lake, BC.I'm a little rusty and forgot to remind you to please subscribe if you haven't already, and share my work widely, give us a review or a drop us a few stars. If yo...2024-10-1552 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Me!: Another Tuscan SoundscapeYou can't make this stuff up, the gunshots that landed just as we started to meditate are one of the happenstance occurances of life in "live to tape" podcasting. I left them in there because they made me laugh, and they reflect life at it's crazy best.I hope you liked this all the same. Please, like it on your favourite social media and share it around, and subscribe where ever you get your podcasts. All feedback welcome at meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com. Episode Links:Chapman Coaching Inc.Royalty free music is cal...2024-10-1111 min
Meanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, RegroupingOn this episode, Angie fills us in on what she’s been doing now that she’s moved to Arizona and her new work helping people after facing a catastrophic loss. We also explore what we’d like to do for the coming fall season.Please, share our work widely, give us a review or a drop us a few stars. If you have comments or questions, please send them to meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com.Episode links:Chapman Coaching Inc.Donor Network of Arizona, where Angie now worksThe Boy, the Mol...2024-10-0845 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Me! Welcome back!In this episode, I'm all alone... explaining to you what you can expect from this fall and winter season. How I plan to give you a little more of me with the first episode of each month me alone, sharing whatever comes to mind. Week two, we're back to the "PauseCast with Angie Arendt." We'll explore more of the elements of joy in the every day. Week three each month goes back to the roots of this podcast - talking with regular people about joy in the every day. And week four is new... I'll be doing a book...2024-10-0124 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander Again: Grief Unleashed, Postlude, with Dina Bell-LarocheIn our final meander together with Dina, we explore the final chapter in “Grief Unleashed: Moving from the hole in our hearts to wholehearted.” This Postlude explores the work that Dina is confidently and humbling stepping into, the work of a Grief Doula, which she defines as companioning people in their grief journey. This is such big work, and such important work, as life is full of grief and loss, not just death but losses of all kinds. And learning how to manage grief as a normal, healthy and involuntary activity has been the focus of this book, and all...2024-08-1351 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander Again: Grief Unleashed, Chapter 5 with Dina Bell-LarocheIn chapter five of Dina’s book, we’re looking at the gifts that come out of embodying our grief, of healing the wounds in a healthy way. I found this chapter a wonderful way of pulling together all the threads of learning in this book. In fact, the invited homework from the previous chapter on continuing bonds helped me with this too. The notion of post traumatic growth is a centrepiece of this chapter, and it is a much-overlooked reality of our effectively growing through our grief from a loss. This idea spotlights all the ways in wh...2024-08-0656 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander Again: Grief Unleashed, Chapter 4, with Dina Bell-LarocheIn chapter four of Dina’s book, we’re looking at this idea of continuing bonds, of continuing our relationship with people who have died, by way of better owning, embodying, and coping with, our feelings of loss. The thing about death is that we often can’t accept the reality of our loss. Continuing bonds normalizes our desire to maintain a relationship with those who have died, and for this to be seen as a healthy way of coping. Continuing bonds can look like different things for different people – I like to invite my mom’s spirit to come and me...2024-07-3032 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander Again: Grief Unleashed Chapter 3 with Dina Bell-LarocheIn chapter three of Dina’s book, we’re looking at the ways that we attend to our broken hearts. In this meander we show the shifts that Dina is still making in her own grief journey. How, after 22 years, she is finally making space for herself in this journey. It is such a beautiful way of appreciating how we embody grief and it nourishes our own experience in the world. And irrevocably changes us in the process.Invitations:Out of each episode this season, we are offering people ways to increase their grief literacy. This...2024-07-2353 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander Again: Grief Unleashed, Chapter 2 with Dina Bell-LarocheIn chapter two of Dina’s book, we’re looking at reconciling loss. We start with last month’s exercise to look at our loss maps, and my extrapolation out, looking at belonging. It’s a great example of how to do the exercise and apply the learning to our own lives. Dina tells us that reconciling loss is about reasserting harmony in our experience, and with the insight from my loss map, I find more harmony inside myself when issues of belonging come up. Belonging, and so much more, is part of this episode.Invitations:Out of...2024-07-1651 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander Again: Grief Unleashed, Chapter 1, with Dina Bell-LarocheIn this second episode in our book review, we look at chapter one, which is all about grappling with grief. The starting point is understanding that we all grapple in different ways. And that is absolutely as it should be. But most of us don’t know how we grapple, and don’t realize that others ways can be different. So that is where we start, and we meander from there. I hope you find this both helpful and informative.Invitations:Out of each episode this season, we are offering people ways to increase their grie...2024-07-0953 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander Again: Grief Unleashed the Prelude Chapter with Dina Bell-LarocheIn this first episode in our book review, we’re exploring the information in the Prelude of Dina’s book, “Grief Unleased: Moving from the hole in our hearts to wholehearted.” The Prelude sets the table for the book, sharing her “why” in writing…. which is to dispel the myths around grief, to demystify it in service of living a more full life, so we can better embody our experience and grow as a result of it. At the core, Dina knows that grief is an internal response to a severed attachment. The process of grieving effectively provides nutrients that builds ou...2024-07-0252 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeanderings with Trudy, "The Joy Diet" Chapter 10: FeastingFeasting… author Martha Beck tells us that feasting has three essential elements: celebration, nourishment and gratitude. That’s what we talk about today in this final episode of the book, and of this 2024 spring season.I will be on break until October, but offering a “Meander Again” set of episodes, recasting my six conversations with Dina Bell-Laroche and her book, which takes us to mid-August. After that, I will go silent until October, a real break during which my creative juices will marinate. Thank you for your good company! See you in the fall!Feel fr...2024-06-2524 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeanderings with Trudy, "The Joy Diet" Chapter 9: ConnectionConnection! This is the chapter where I really feel like the rubber hits the road. We see how the practices support us in our relationship with ourselves, and then we can apply these skills to our relationships in the bigger world. That’s what we cover in this next to final chapter in the book.Feel free to share your thoughts with me at meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com. I’d love to hear how your work is going as we meander through these daily practices.Episode links:Chapman Coaching Inc.You can find...2024-06-1821 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeanderings with Trudy, "The Joy Diet" Chapter 8: LaughterLaughter! That’s the focus of today’s meander, as we explore the third last chapter in Martha Beck’s book, “The Joy Diet: 10 daily practices for a happier life.” We visit a laughter yoga class from 2023 on Australia’s sunshine coast and hear from two laughter yoga teachers about the benefits of such a thing. There’s good science behind it too, that Beck explores in the book. I hope you’ll have a read of that, and explore her invitation to increase your quotient of laughs per day.Feel free to share your thoughts with me at meandering...2024-06-1109 minMeanderings with TrudyMwT: Grief Unleashed, Postlude, with Dina Bell-LarocheIn our final meander together with Dina, we explore the final chapter in “Grief Unleashed: Moving from the hole in our hearts to wholehearted.” This Postlude explores the work that Dina is confidently and humbling stepping into, the work of a Grief Doula, which she defines as companioning people in their grief journey. This is such big work, and such important work, as life is full of grief and loss, not just death but losses of all kinds. And learning how to manage grief as a normal, healthy and involuntary activity has been the focus of this book, and all...2024-06-0451 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeanderings with Trudy, "The Joy Diet" Chapter 7: PlayIn this chapter on play, I feel like I have really “shown my work.” I liked this chapter, and the invitation to make all that you do in your life feel like play. The exercises are great, and I walk through my answer to what my real career actually is and if I am living into that in my every day. Sneak peek: I am! Feel free to share your thoughts with me at meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com. I’d love to hear how your work is going as we meander through these daily practices.Episode links:2024-05-2824 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeanderings with Trudy, "The Joy Diet," Chapter 6: TreatsTreats! Everyone loves treats... and they can be a crucial tool in supporting you in the joy diet. They can help offset the inner challenge of taking a risk, and they can reinforce good habits.I hope you enjoy this meander as I share some of the things that I think of as "treats." It's more than chocolate and pizza, I can assure you! I hope you'll take some time to consider what a treat means to you. Beck calls treats things that make you smile, so what's your list? Feel free to share your thoughts with...2024-05-2112 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeanderings with Trudy, "The Joy Diet," Chapter 5: RiskAs the saying goes, “Nothing ventured, nothing gained.” Risk is the pathway through something that you fear, which paradoxically, helps you grow. Risk is a skill you can practice, and this chapter helps you find your way through. I hope you’ll enjoy this episode. Please, share my work widely, and give the podcast a review to tease the algorithms. If you have comments or questions, please send them to: meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com. Episode links:Chapman Coaching Inc.You can find "The Joy Diet: 10 Daily Practices for a Happier Life" by Martha Be...2024-05-1413 minMeanderings with TrudyMwT: Grief Unleashed, Chapter 5 with Dina Bell-LarocheIn chapter five of Dina’s book, we’re looking at the gifts that come out of embodying our grief, of healing the wounds in a healthy way. I found this chapter a wonderful way of pulling together all the threads of learning in this book. In fact, the invited homework from the previous chapter on continuing bonds helped me with this too. The notion of post traumatic growth is a centrepiece of this chapter, and it is a much-overlooked reality of our effectively growing through our grief from a loss. This idea spotlights all the ways in wh...2024-05-0756 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeanderings with Trudy, "The Joy Diet" Chapter 4: CreativityCreativity is this week’s focus in chapter 4 of “The Joy Diet.” I found this chapter really helpful and I encourage you to grab a pen and a piece of paper so you too can work through the exercises she offers. She doesn’t as much talk about creativity as much as invite you into a few practices that help you explore yours, in relation to the desire you may have articulated in the previous chapter. In today's episode, I show my work and talk about what I learned about taking steps to make my desire a reality. I hope...2024-04-3016 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeanderings with Trudy, "The Joy Diet," Chapter 3: DesireAs winter turns to spring, we're going to move chapter by chapter through a book by longtime life coach, Martha Beck. We're always told to live our best lives, but what does that really mean? In this book, coach Beck introduces us to the 10 daily practices that she believes will help us live more joy-filled lives. We're on chapter three, which dives into finding your heart's desire.Today, I meander with you from the hot tub, the site of my daily meditation practice. Truth be told, I've been struggling with this week's practice on Desire. I had...2024-04-2322 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeanderings with Trudy, "The Joy Diet," Chapter 2: TruthAs Angie is taking a pause from the PauseCast, due to her move to Phoenix and her new job, I am taking a little time to do a book review with everyone. We're going to move chapter by chapter through a book by longtime life coach, Martha Beck. We're always told to live our best lives, but what does that really mean? In this book, coach Beck introduces us to the 10 daily practices that she believes will help us live more joy-filled lives. Today, we’re looking at chapter 2, called “Truth.” The practice in this case is all abo...2024-04-1620 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeanderings with Trudy, "The Joy Diet," Chapter 1: NothingAs Angie is taking a pause from the PauseCast, due to her move to Phoenix and her new job, I am taking a little time to do a book review with everyone. We're going to move chapter by chapter through a book by longtime life coach, Martha Beck.We're always told to live our best lives, but what does that really mean? In this book, coach Beck introduces us to the 10 daily practices that she believes will help us live more joy full lives. We are starting this week with habit #1: do nothing. In this e...2024-04-0921 minMeanderings with TrudyMwT: Grief Unleashed, Chapter 4, with Dina Bell-LarocheIn chapter four of Dina’s book, we’re looking at this idea of continuing bonds, of continuing our relationship with people who have died, by way of better owning, embodying, and coping with, our feelings of loss. The thing about death is that we often can’t accept the reality of our loss. Continuing bonds normalizes our desire to maintain a relationship with those who have died, and for this to be seen as a healthy way of coping. Continuing bonds can look like different things for different people – I like to invite my mom’s spirit to come and me...2024-04-0232 min
Meanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, On ChangeChange is in the air… this is a special PauseCast with Angie as she prepares to move to Phoenix, Arizona from Almonte, Ont… from Canada to the US. And I am visiting family in Vancouver, BC. So, we sound a little different today, which is fine, and good, and as it should be. Angie and I explore joy in the concept of change, which probably resonates for each of you, as change is one thing we can count on in life. Change can bring grief and anxiety, doubt, and also, joy. And the thing about making a choic...2024-03-2655 min
Meanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, On Returning, and other RsToday, we pick up some of the threads we left before our break. We start with an exploration of what it means to return – to family, to relationships, to places we used to know – all in the context of stitching reverence and resilience into a cloth that fits us now. Yes, there’s a lot of “R”s in today’s episode – returning, reverence, resilience, ritual, repenting, re-membering, reminding… so many Rs.I hope you’ll enjoy this episode; it’s so rich, and pulls together the threads of meanders past, in service of rekindling joy. Yes, more Rs! Please, sha...2024-03-1247 minMeanderings with TrudyMwT: Grief Unleashed Chapter 3 with Dina Bell-LarocheIn chapter three of Dina’s book, we’re looking at the ways that we attend to our broken hearts. In this meander we show the shifts that Dina is still making in her own grief journey. How, after 22 years, she is finally making space for herself in this journey. It is such a beautiful way of appreciating how we embody grief and it nourishes our own experience in the world. And irrevocably changes us in the process.Invitations:Out of each episode this season, we are offering people ways to increase their grief literacy. This...2024-03-0553 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Me in the forest!I hope you've enjoyed re-exploring joy as seen through the lens of the Enneagram. We covered a lot of ground from wholeheartedness, rebirth, community, ritual, storytelling and a whole lot more. And on this meander, I shared with you a bit about what I've learned about myself as I revisit my "two-ness" this time around.As I look ahead to the end of winter and coming spring episodes, I can tell you that we'll continue to meander through Dina's book, "Grief Unleashed: from the whole in our hearts to wholehearted." Angie and I will continue to explore...2024-02-2711 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander Again: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, how the Enneagram can change the worldToday we do a little recapping, and also reflect the Enneagram into our lives moving forward. How we can play with the characteristics of our type, and begin to learn how to choose how to respond to situations as opposed to simply react in our age-old way. This can create some unease in our relationships because we are acting outside of how others expect us to be… in our personal lives, and in our work lives too.In short, the Enneagram is both information (what’s my type, what are the gifts and challenges of my type), and...2024-02-2057 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with the WindChapman Coaching Inc.Royalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-HumaPlease send thoughts and comments to meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com
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Meanderings with TrudyMeander Again: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, on Soulfulness and the EnneagramSoulfulness…what is it? How does it differ from spirituality? Why does it matter? And how does the Enneagram support it?In this meander, we explore how the Enneagram is both a tool and a practice… a tool of information about my type and the other personality types, and then the invitation into awareness, so that when I slow down, I can know myself, and see where my gifts lie, and also how I trip myself up… and a practice, an ongoing intention, to pay attention to how I show up and catch myself in my own habit...2024-02-131h 01
Meanderings with TrudyMeander Again: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, on expectations and the EnneagramWe kibbitz around a bit to begin with around unexpected connections in the supermarket, and that old game from the 1990s, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon… which was really about just how connected we all are in this great big world. We wrestle with expectations, the ones we have when coming new to the Enneagram, how the first level of exploration is seeking information, that’s all. The next level is about understanding those types, and those types in us….each of those types, not just our own homebase. And with time, and in community with others, we can drop i...2024-02-0647 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander Again: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, on Hope and Flow, and the EnneagramWhat is hope? And what is flow? Back in 2022, Angie and I explored these things… we said that hope is our background program that helps us get up in the morning. It’s actionable and intentional; it empowers us to do what we are here to be. And flow… flow happens when we let go of aspiration and just be who we are at our essence, in this very moment. And when we apply the lens of the Enneagram we ask: how does this framework help us explore our spirit, our very souls, and find our way into the flow o...2024-01-3054 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander Again: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, on ritual and storytelling and the EnneagramRitual and storytelling… intertwined these are. And when conducted using the framework of the Enneagram, I have learned a great deal about myself that has supported my personal development and enriched my relationships. In short, this is what this kind of work is all about.As we’ve said before on these PauseCasts, the Enneagram gives us permission to pause, and in that pause, to look at who we be, in service of the Greater Good… or Life… or God, whatever your preferred language is for this that is bigger than us alone. In today’s meander, Angie and...2024-01-231h 09
Meanderings with TrudyMeander Again: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, on rebirth and community and the EnneagramWe start our meander with a reading from Richard Wagamese (Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) novelist, journalist, and mentor), a passage from his book "Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditations" which I think is really about hope. How it’s not enough to be resilient if being so means bouncing back to the same place… what he wants for himself, and offers to us, is to reach Beyond resilience, to a new place of growth, each day. Angie and I wrestle with “resilience” and from this place I ask a few basic questions: do we need resilience to be capable of rebirth? And how does t...2024-01-161h 01
Meanderings with TrudyMeander Again: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, on Enneagram and WholeheartednessIn episode 2 on the enneagram, we tackle wholeheartedness, relationship and heart using the lens of the Enneagram. Angie and I also “show our work” here as we wrestle with the concepts, and how to keep things accessible to listeners at all levels of familiarity with the framework…. Not an easy task.In short, the Enneagram helps us see ourselves. It really is a practice of paying attention: to our habits and long held beliefs, those we have inherited and those we have nurtured ourselves through life, all so we can see how we are showing up, or not sh...2024-01-091h 06
Meanderings with TrudyMeander Again: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt... on the EnneagramEpisode one: The Enneagram. I laid the table at the end of January 2023 with my genesis story of the Enneagram and today, Angie shares hers… and a whole lot more. So what is this thing, the Enneagram? Is it a tool or a model to make me “better?” Is it a map, or an app? Is this an alone thing or do I need community? If it supports spiritual development, does that mean it is religious?We meander all over the topic of what the Enneagram is, how it outlines types of personalities but so much more. When p...2024-01-021h 09
Meanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, On Wonder and fall wrap-upToday, we meander On Wonder, and wrap up the fall season in anticipation of our winter break. Like our previous topic, On Reverence, On Wonder came to us as a bit of a surprise. It felt like a natural follow on from On Reverence, and is deeply connected to joy, so… here we are. Wonder, like reverence, and grace, is hard to define. This is a particular problem in English as wonder means many things: one type of wonder links directly to awe, and another links to control, expectation, and fear, among other things. So, Angie and I delve in...2023-12-2649 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Melissa ParkOne of the things I love about talking with Melissa is that she IS a podcaster herself. Meandering with her is kind of like playing badminton…she so easily slips into interview mode, batts me the birdie giving me space to wonder about my past as a parent, for example, and then I batt it back to her and she gets to talk about Beyoncé! Such is the gift of talking with people in this big world of ours.Melissa is from New York City and loves the hustle of the big city. She talks about wonder as...2023-12-191h 01
Meanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, On ReverenceToday, we meander On Reverence. We landed in this space unexpectedly in our previous PauseCast, when we explored On Worry, and Angie talked about how worry is a human response that takes us away from reverence. And reverence, well, last week Angie told us that “…reverence is a recognition of awe and wonder for all of life…” This week, she built on that saying that “…reverence is to see life as a gift… It is a mindset.” At its most basic, I think its a way of being open to the rawness of the world – beauty and hardship – and it is supported/made...2023-12-1256 minMeanderings with TrudyMwT: Grief Unleashed, Chapter 2 with Dina Bell-LarocheIn chapter two of Dina’s book, we’re looking at reconciling loss. We start with last month’s exercise to look at our loss maps, and my extrapolation out, looking at belonging. It’s a great example of how to do the exercise and apply the learning to our own lives. Dina tells us that reconciling loss is about reasserting harmony in our experience, and with the insight from my loss map, I find more harmony inside myself when issues of belonging come up. Belonging, and so much more, is part of this episode.Invitations:Out of...2023-12-0551 min
Meanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, On WorryToday we meander around Worry… what it looks like, feels like, and how it connects to joy. To be honest, there seems like a lot to worry about these days, maybe it has always been this way, I can’t say. But today, today’s days feel heavy. In a nutshell, worry is about control of how we want things to be but are concerned that they won’t be. It’s about “should be” things… so, how do we find our way through this? How do I keep my heart open, no matter what is happening? It won’t surprise...2023-11-2840 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Michelle SchaferResilience... that's what lies at the heart of today's meander.Michelle is a career coach and what I noticed is how she used her recovery experience in her blog where she writes to people facing career transitions. “Find joy in the journey” is a guiding principle that helps her in both her life and her work.A big insight also came to her while she was in recovery – that people really did want to help her, all she had to do was make her needs known. In a very real way, asking for help, and accept...2023-11-2146 min
Meanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, On EnoughToday’s PauseCast continues our dive into the bigger topic of Change. Last session we looked at abundance and scarcity, and we often see these two as opposites. But… the opposite of abundance isn’t scarcity, it’s actually Enough. At least we think so. This is a real wrestle folks… as we meandered around, we realized just how difficult a topic this is to get our arms around. How do we approach the concept of enough? How much enough is actually enough? And yes, Angie brought the movie “Willie Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” into the mix… a movie she loves...2023-11-1444 minMeanderings with TrudyMwT: Grief Unleashed, Chapter 1, with Dina Bell-LarocheIn this second episode in our book review, we look at chapter one, which is all about grappling with grief. The starting point is understanding that we all grapple in different ways. And that is absolutely as it should be. But most of us don’t know how we grapple, and don’t realize that others ways can be different. So that is where we start, and we meander from there. I hope you find this both helpful and informative.Invitations:Out of each episode this season, we are offering people ways to increase their grie...2023-11-0753 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Sound: Kayaking on Lac MonroeChapman Coaching Inc.Parc national du Mont-TremblantRoyalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-HumaPlease send thoughts and comments to meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com
2023-10-3117 min
Meanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, On Abundance and ScarcityToday’s topic is held in a bigger topic: On Change. Our more precise focus today is on abundance and scarcity and how it shows up in our lives. Abundance can be both joyful and a burden. It can mean safety and plenty of food, good health and social connection, many other things, but pushed too far, it becomes too much… a need for ever-more of whatever it is that makes us feel safe. Grasping. Taking more than our share. So, what if we redefine abundance? What if abundance, disconnected from fear of scarcity, is more a practi...2023-10-2441 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Leslie RohonczyChapman Coaching Inc.Leslie’s website, and her book: Coaching Life: Navigating Life's Most Common Coaching TopicsLeslie’s YouTube Channel and her Song Stories Playlist. Played with permission in this episode, is her song Joy. Make sure you take some time and watch her uplifting video as well.She references “Bag of Stones Song Story” today and she tells the story of Jill Bolte Taylor’s TedTalk, a renown researcher on the brain, who she speaks about being aware of what was happening to her while she was having a stroke. Fascinating!Royalty fr...2023-10-171h 03
Meanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, On PerspectiveIn this episode, this launch into season four, we return to a grade school practice of sharing about our summer vacations, and then lay the table for where we plan to meander this year. And we dip our toes in the topic of perspective… from the point of view of an old apple tree that lives on Angie’s property at Big Stone House. Perspective, and wisdom, from a 100+ year old apple tree. I hope you enjoy this heart-swelling meander.Please, share our work widely, give us a review or a drop us a few stars. If you...2023-10-1038 minMeanderings with TrudyMwT: Grief Unleashed the Prelude Chapter with Dina Bell-LarocheIn this first episode in our book review, we’re exploring the information in the Prelude of Dina’s book, “Grief Unleased: Moving from the hole in our hearts to wholehearted.” The Prelude sets the table for the book, sharing her “why” in writing…. which is to dispel the myths around grief, to demystify it in service of living a more full life, so we can better embody our experience and grow as a result of it. At the core, Dina knows that grief is an internal response to a severed attachment. The process of grieving effectively provides nutrients that builds ou...2023-10-0352 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Me: Intro to fall 2023Episode Links:Chapman Coaching Inc.Royalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-HumaPlease send thoughts and comments to meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com
2023-09-2606 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Sound: Thunderstorms at Mont TremblantChapman Coaching Inc.Parc national du Mont-TremblantRoyalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-HumaPlease send thoughts and comments to meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com
2023-09-1910 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Sound: Active Surf of Lake OntarioWe had a slow start to summer 2023 but we've made up for it with a very active August. Trips to Lac McGlashan, Toronto and a few other spots, with soundscapes for you here, fresh off the recorder!Episode Links:Chapman Coaching Inc.Royalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-HumaPlease send thoughts and comments to meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com
2023-09-1213 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Sound: Returning to Lac McGlashanI hope you enjoy this soundscape. I’ll be back to you with fresh interviews in the first week of October. In the meanwhile, happy September… a new time of rebirth in the cadence of our lives.Episode Links:Chapman Coaching Inc.Royalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-HumaPlease send thoughts and comments to meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com
2023-09-0516 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander Again with Margaret Anne SmithChapman Coaching Inc.Visit Margaret Anne on InstagramAnd to see where she is teaching felting, visit the Saint John Arts Centre for her workshops David Whyte poetry and Three Sundays workshops and leadership coachingCanadian poet rupi kaurRoyalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-HumaThoughts and comments, send to meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com
2023-08-2253 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Sound: A Walk on the Beach in NewfoundlandChapman Coaching Inc.Royalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-HumaPlease send thoughts and comments to meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com
2023-08-0806 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander Again: Bernard Funston, Guitar-makerChapman Coaching Inc.Funston GuitarsGuitar clip from Bernie’s site of Ottawa musician Al Brown testing one of Bernie’s creationsAllen Sapp, Indigenous artist from North Battleford Saskatchewan is the artist that inspired 13 year old Bernie to paintBernie mentioned listening to music as a child on legendary radio station 89 WLS in Chicago IL from his home in the North West Territories using “ionospheric bounce” Bernie apprenticed with renowned luthier Sergei de Jonge, in Chelsea, Quebec – see video for interviewTo learn about Louis Riel…Alex Cuba an...2023-07-1157 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Sound: Thunder and RainChapman Coaching Inc.Royalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-HumaPlease send thoughts and comments to meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com
2023-07-0416 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Me! Wrapping up season 3We’ve covered a lot of ground what with my meanders with friends around joy in their lives, a deep dive into the Enneagram and another deep dive into the myths around grief. Whew, what a season it has been!I hope you’ve enjoyed it all; we’ve tried a few new things while still “colouring within the lines.” If there is something you liked or didn’t like, or would like me to explore next season, feel free to shoot me a note and I’ll consider it. Please share this podcast with your friends, drop us a revi...2023-06-2748 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Melissa ParkMelissa works in IT by day but has what she calls a “side hustle” helping people organize their homes… a thing she’s loved to do since she was a child. Organizing her family home brought her a sense of security and safety when she was a wee girl, and now she likes to help people create space for living, clearing away clutter and making space for life. Kind of a lovely thing, really.She also talks about her life growing up on Staten Island, yes, near to the Statue of Liberty that most people think of when the...2023-06-201h 02Meanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, how the Enneagram can change the worldToday we do a little recapping, and also reflect the Enneagram into our lives moving forward. How we can play with the characteristics of our type, and begin to learn how to choose how to respond to situations as opposed to simply react in our age-old way. This can create some unease in our relationships because we are acting outside of how others expect us to be… in our personal lives, and in our work lives too.In short, the Enneagram is both information (what’s my type, what are the gifts and challenges of my type), and...2023-06-1357 min
Meanderings with TrudyMwT: Grief Busting with Dina Bell-LarocheThis is our fifth episode in this “Grief Busting” series with special guest and expert on grief and bereavement, Dina Bell-Laroche. You’ll remember Dina from her chat with me back in November, 2022. Today we meander all round myths relating who and what can help grieving people. We start by talking about Dina’s newly released book on grief and loss called “Grief Unleashed: Moving from the hole in our hearts to whole-hearted.” Dina has written this book into being over the last decade, and over the twenty-two years since the death of Tracy, her sister. She talks about ho...2023-06-061h 09
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Anjali DilawriIn this meander, we talk about how stillness and curiosity, and withholding self-judgement, are key to seeing oneself with clarity. How we live lives of “busy-ness” so we can avoid hearing ourselves, our true selves, speak from our hearts… how boredom is a gift, and is often avoided in our highly technical, connected, world."The hardest work is to look at your life and love it exactly as it is right now," says Anjali in this meander... what a great invitation to look inside ourselves and find joy, right here, right now.I hope you enjoy t...2023-05-3040 minMeanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, on Soulfulness and the EnneagramSoulfulness…what is it? How does it differ from spirituality? Why does it matter? And how does the Enneagram support it?In this meander, we explore how the Enneagram is both a tool and a practice… a tool of information about my type and the other personality types, and then the invitation into awareness, so that when I slow down, I can know myself, and see where my gifts lie, and also how I trip myself up… and a practice, an ongoing intention, to pay attention to how I show up and catch myself in my own habit...2023-05-231h 01Meanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, on expectations and the EnneagramWe kibbitz around a bit to begin with around unexpected connections in the supermarket, and that old game from the 1990s, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon… which was really about just how connected we all are in this great big world. We wrestle with expectations, the ones we have when coming new to the Enneagram, how the first level of exploration is seeking information, that’s all. The next level is about understanding those types, and those types in us….each of those types, not just our own homebase. And with time, and in community with others, we can drop i...2023-05-0947 min
Meanderings with TrudyMwT: Grief Busting with Dina Bell-LarocheThis is our fourth episode in this “Grief Busting” series with special guest and expert on grief and bereavement, Dina Bell-Laroche. You’ll remember Dina from her chat with me back in November, 2022. Today we meander all around myths relating what is grieve-able. We start with a very tender topic of miscarriage and still-birth of children and how we grieve these losses. Dina makes a critical distinction for us: that grief is an internal reorientation of our inner world after a severed attachment; mourning is when we make the grief public. When a child is conceived but lost, we...2023-05-0252 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Michelle SchaferMichelle Schafer is my guest today. We taped this in mid-March, while she was recuperating on the couch with a broken thigh bone. Michelle is a career coach with an effervescent approach to life, which you’ll hear in this meander.Michelle sees joy, with intention, in so many parts of life. Outings with her kids, sunsets on the Ottawa River, hikes in the National Capital Region, and travel. So many of these adventures are share with her friends on her social media; when I'm down, I know I can go to her space for a wee "pic...2023-04-2558 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Philip ColeI’ve known my guest Philip Cole for almost a decade. This meander is such a treat for me as he and I share an understanding about joy and heart and soul coming out of studying together for all this time. We’re both students of the Enneagram, and of the soul, led through our studies by Angie Arendt and Peter McGaugh at Big Stone House. You all know Angie, she's my regular guest on the PauseCast, and Peter meandered with us back in May, 2021.Phil has a warm and thoughtful way about him, which will come into...2023-04-1846 minMeanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, on Hope and Flow, and the EnneagramWhat is hope? And what is flow? Back in 2022, Angie and I explored these things… we said that hope is our background program that helps us get up in the morning. It’s actionable and intentional; it empowers us to do what we are here to be. And flow… flow happens when we let go of aspiration and just be who we are at our essence, in this very moment. And when we apply the lens of the Enneagram we ask: how does this framework help us explore our spirit, our very souls, and find our way into the flow o...2023-04-1154 min
Meanderings with TrudyMwT: Grief Busting with Dina Bell-Laroche, on BehaviourThis is our third episode in this “Grief Busting” series with special guest and expert on grief and bereavement, Dina Bell-Laroche. You’ll remember Dina from her chat with me back in November, 2022. Today we meander all round myths relating to behaviour… how we behave when we are grieving, and when we are supporting someone who is grieving. We walk through our common ways of coping with grief. For example, tears are cathartic and curiosity is helpful; grief, like emotions, have an arc they follow and it’s important to respect the arc in order to support the effectiv...2023-04-0453 minMeanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, on ritual and storytelling and the EnneagramRitual and storytelling… intertwined these are. And when conducted using the framework of the Enneagram, I have learned a great deal about myself that has supported my personal development and enriched my relationships. In short, this is what this kind of work is all about.As we’ve said before on these PauseCasts, the Enneagram gives us permission to pause, and in that pause, to look at who we be, in service of the Greater Good… or Life… or God, whatever your preferred language is for this that is bigger than us alone. In today’s meander, Angie and...2023-03-281h 09
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Ariadni AthanassiadisMy friend Ari is a lovely person and her heart shines through in our meander. Coming out of an eclectic background in science and art into intellectual property law, she’s followed her whimsey and curiosity and created a pretty unique offering to her clients. While she offers …”customized intellectual property (IP) legal services for small to medium enterprises…”, she does so with a keen awareness of the creative souls that are her clients. Working in a philosophy of “co-creation” she supports entrepreneurs and creatives in fully expressing what they are all about, showing “creative empowerment” in action!While fully imme...2023-03-2143 minMeanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, on rebirth and communityWe start our meander with a reading from Richard Wagamese (Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) novelist, journalist, and mentor), a passage from his book "Embers: One Ojibway’s Meditations" which I think is really about hope. How it’s not enough to be resilient if being so means bouncing back to the same place… what he wants for himself, and offers to us, is to reach Beyond resilience, to a new place of growth, each day. Angie and I wrestle with “resilience” and from this place I ask a few basic questions: do we need resilience to be capable of rebirth? And how does t...2023-03-141h 01
Meanderings with TrudyMwT: Grief Busting with Dina Bell-Laroche, on EmotionsThis is our second episode in this “Grief Busting” series with special guest and expert on grief and bereavement, Dina Bell-Laroche. You’ll remember Dina from her chat with me back in November, 2022. Today we meander all round myths relating to emotion. English doesn’t serve us well here – in English, grief is both an emotion and an experience. Viewing grief only as an emotion limits us in unhelpful ways, but seeing it as a verb – grieving – makes it an experience, one we can work with more readily…. It becomes a gateway to living with grief, moving with grief, and ma...2023-03-071h 04Meanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, on Enneagram and WholeheartednessIn today’s meander, we tackle wholeheartedness, relationship and heart using the lens of the Enneagram. Angie and I also “show our work” here as we wrestle with the concepts, and how to keep things accessible to listeners at all levels of familiarity with the framework…. Not an easy task.In short, the Enneagram helps us see ourselves. It really is a practice of paying attention: to our habits and long held beliefs, those we have inherited and those we have nurtured ourselves through life, all so we can see how we are showing up, or not showing...2023-02-281h 06
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Dodzi AmemadoIn this meander, we talk about Dodzi's writing process, which he calls “…a sacred process.” Writing gives him a sense of purpose. He writes long form, by hand, and bookends his day job with writing time at his desk. We talk about the magic and spirit that is present in his writing, in how his writing touches people’s hearts, and how that brings a texture to life that is otherwise missing. We also talk about language – he initially wrote his book in French, then had it translated to English. This brings a nuance to the work, and a partnership...2023-02-2150 minMeanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt... on the EnneagramEpisode one: The Enneagram. I laid the table at the end of January 2023 with my genesis story of the Enneagram and today, Angie shares hers… and a whole lot more. So what is this thing, the Enneagram? Is it a tool or a model to make me “better?” Is it a map, or an app? Is this an alone thing or do I need community? If it supports spiritual development, does that mean it is religious?We meander all over the topic of what the Enneagram is, how it outlines types of personalities but so much more. When p...2023-02-141h 09
Meanderings with TrudyMwT: Grief Busting with Dina Bell-Laroche, Setting the TableThis is our first episode in this “Grief Busting” series with special guest and expert on grief and bereavement, Dina Bell-Laroche. You’ll remember Dina from her chat with me back in November, 2022. For her, the death of her sister Tracy was life-changing and we heard about that in our first meander together. In this new series, we tackle some of the common myths around grief, in service of accessing our joy.Today we are setting the table for our subsequent meanders in this series, talking about why effectively moving through our grief matters. I share a few sto...2023-02-071h 01
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Bernard FunstonMy friend Bernie is eclectic – now retired constitutional law expert born in Canada’s far north whose hobby is handmade guitars. He’s still got his first guitar, bought at the age of 13 with money made from selling his own paintings - landscapes from his childhood in the far north. Guitars have been in his heart for his whole life. About twenty years ago, he was able take up the hobby of building them, made possible by the suggestion of his three kids, then under the age of ten, and the support of his lovely wife, and fellow...2022-11-2957 min
Meanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, on US Thanksgiving and moreCommunity and belonging… this is a story about heartbreak, and heart healing. Angie’s first US Thanksgiving here in Canada was not a smooth one and she missed home BIG. To meet her ache, she invited neighbours over and the tradition of pie-palouza came to be. It is a ritual she follows with her Big Stone House community to this day. This story is our way of wrapping up this fall season, weaving together the threads of our meanders to date. It takes courage to reach out to others, and to respond to a hand outstretched… what does th...2022-11-221h 00
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Robert DayIt’s not often that any of us get to see the inside of science and policy work but today’s episode with Robert Day is just such an opportunity. Robert has recently retired from his management responsibilities in the Government of Canada where he spent more than 20 years in fisheries and oceans management, which included a lot of environmental and climate change discussions, many with international dimensions. Now that he’s retired, he’s continued to keep his hand in international fisheries discussions and also moved the needle on other activities dear to his heart – activities that also make a pos...2022-11-1551 min
Meanderings with TrudyMwT:The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, on storytelling and griefAngie is all about storytelling, she always has been. On today’s PauseCast, we’re diverting from what we’d planned (funerals and permission) into storytelling and why that matters. This is a theme we keep coming back to because it’s in stories that we see ourselves, others, and other possibilities for us to be. As usual, we share of ourselves, so that you can see yourself more clearly. It’s in seeing clearly that we can find our way into joy, which is, of course, why these meanders matter so much to us. I hope you enjoy this episo...2022-11-0843 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Dina Bell-LarocheChapman Coaching Inc.Dina’s company is Grief UnleashedAttachment TheoryTheory of LossMegan Devine and Refuge in GriefWhat's Your Grief a website about grief and loss5 Love LanguagesShe mentioned the wonderful BC poet Caroline MiskenackRoyalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-HumaPlease send thoughts and comments to meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com
2022-11-0152 min
Meanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, on dogs and lifeChapman Coaching Inc.Big Stone HouseJohn Grogan's blog, author of the book Marley and Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst DogDog movies Angie mentioned: Benji, Old Yeller; Marley and MeRoyalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-HumaPlease send thoughts and comments to meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com
2022-10-2554 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Natalie BedardChapman Coaching Inc.Natalie Bedard’s company is Lift OneSelf, you can find her podcast on this siteFocusing ResourcesGabor Maté on Compassionate Inquiry and healing traumaDeb Dana and regulated breathingRoyalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-HumaThoughts and comments, send to meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com
2022-10-1851 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Peggy HilliardChapman Coaching Inc.Peggy’s blog features recent and past blogs, feel free to look aroundCamino Association of CanadaThe Bruce TourAgawa Canyon Train, Sault Ste. Marie, ON CanadaComfortable Hiking Holidays, Tour du Mont BlancRoyalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-HumaThoughts and comments, send to meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com
2022-10-0442 min
Meanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, on expectationsChapman Coaching Inc.Big Stone HousePlease support your local bookstore where you will find Brene Brown and "The Gifts of Imperfection"All comments to us at meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.comRoyalty free music is called Sunday Stroll by Huma-Huma
2022-09-2752 min
Meanderings with TrudyMeander with Margaret Anne SmithChapman Coaching Inc.Visit Margaret Anne on InstagramAnd to see where she is teaching felting, visit the Saint John Arts Centre for her workshops David Whyte poetry and Three Sundays workshops and leadership coachingCanadian poet rupi kaurRoyalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-HumaThoughts and comments, send to meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com
2022-09-2053 min
Meanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, on FlowChapman Coaching Inc.Big Stone HouseRoyalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-HumaThoughts and comments, send to meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com
2022-06-2249 min
Meanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt, on rebirthBrené Brown’s TedTalk on shame and vulnerabilityThe Enneagram Institute, this is the lineage that Angie and I follow. If you’re interested in the enneagram, we invite you to start here.Purple spoaChapman Coaching Inc.Big Stone HouseRoyalty free music is called Sunday Stroll – by Huma-HumaThoughts and comments, send to meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com
2022-05-281h 04
Meanderings with TrudyMwT: The PauseCast with Angie Arendt E2Danez Smith “I’m going back to Minnesota where sadness makes sense”; their websiteThoughts and comments, send to meanderingswithtrudy@gmail.com
2022-02-0949 min