Parks in a large urban city are special places. They are an oasis of calm; a place of tranquility, a spot where you can connect with nature in the middle of the concrete canyons and ribbons of unending vehicles.

Parks attract people of all ages and from all walks of life but regardless of who they are, they all have one thing in common. They value quietude. Watch them… lovers slowly strolling, arm in arm, along the paths; old men sitting on benches, soaking up the life-giving warmth of the sun; young parents proudly pushing stollers. Then there are others, singlely or in pairs, heads buried in a book or in their digital devices.

Occasionally someone glides by on a bike. Even the animals get into the act: dogs, free of their leashes, unsuccessfully chase squirrels. Birds flutter around, pecking for food in the grass.

Connecting with nature, in any of its forms, is important to your health and well being. It helps to release stress, sooth your spirits and sharpen your senses.

Plugging into nature affords you the opportunity to set aside your busyness, if even for only for a short while… to catch your breath and recharge your batteries.

In these challenging times, as you navigate your future, is your current plan the right one? Is a recalibration in the cards? Like to discuss it? Text/Call 416.450.8867 or email drew@drewsimmie.com. Follow me on Twitter.

When the wind changes direction, there are those who build walls and those who build windmills. Chinese proverb.

We’re living in interesting times. The era we are heading into is demanding, for sure, and not for the faint of heart.

The headwinds are strong but they portend new opportunities, new openings and new starts for those who will build windmills.

Building a windmill? Need some help? Like me to speak to your group? I am easily reachable. Text/call 416.450.8867 or email drew@drewsimmie.com. Follow me on Twitter.

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete. Buckmaster Fuller.

Life goes in stages. You are not who you were when you first started out. As you went along, you made choices and decisions based on what you knew at the time and, in the main, you made the right calls. It was all good but that was then.

This is now and you know more. You have grown and learned and your world view has expanded. Shades of grey have begun appearing among the many bright hues that up to now have coloured your life.

Oh, you’re doing all the right things, playing by the rules, but there is a void in a your life… a feeling that something is missing. It’s kind of like getting up from the table after a delicious meal, but still feeling hungry.

Do you find the interest in what you are doing waning? Are you bored with the familiar? Defending the status quo? Could it be you’ve stopped growing?

The status quo is the enemy of personal growth. We all need to grow. Growing is as necessary as breathing. A partner of curiosity, it is part of humankind’s DNA. We’re hard wired to always be looking for the new, to be hungry for more.

We’re living in a ever more challenging time. Change is disrupting every field of endeavour. Defending the status quo is a non-starter. Put simply, you are either moving forward or falling behind.

Any change, even a change for the better is always accompanied by drawbacks and discomfort but that’s the way it is. Like it or not, change is the only way to grow.

Doing some more growing? Need to kick around some ideas? I’m easily reachable at drew@drewsimmie.com or call direct 416.450.8867. Follow me on Twitter.

Be brave enough to live life creatively. The creative place where no one else has ever been. Alan Alda.

We hear about it everyday. Creative thinking. It’s the magic elixir to improve our lives and take us to new heights, but what exactly is creativity?

Creativity is an energy that that works in that ‘middle space’ when you are at your best, listening to your right brain intuition, following a hunch about a new idea… then filtering it through your left brain smarts and experiences to effectively make the best choices and bring your new goal or objective to fruition.

How can you foster creative ideas? There’s no one secret potions. Ideas come to people at all times of the day and night and in different places…. at four in the morning, perhaps, or while driving on the highway and, in my favourite, standing in the shower.

Whenever and wherever it happens, at some moment, after you have been mulling things over for a while, something clicks in your mind and you suddenly just know.

That’s the magic of creative thinking.

Doing some creative thinking? Need to kick around some ideas? I’m easily reachable at drew@drewsimmie.com or call direct 416.450.8867. Follow me on Twitter.