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HOPE is in the Air + Book Lists + Starting to Date

Good Morning from Prince Edward Island, 

A new year has dawned, and HOPE is in the air. 

Congratulations and welcome to the world, Scarlett Dawn Arsenault. The firstborn on Prince Edward Island in 2021. She weighed in at seven pounds, four ounces. 

I trust you had a lovely restful week. Time for a quick cuppa today? 

Early last year, I committed in printed words a goal to complete 20 books in 2020. 

I started with gusto and read several books quickly. I was excited, thinking I was going to surpass my goal early. When the news reports of a virus on the move through the world, I stopped reading books. I became consumed with the news—a bad idea. 

Anxieties came from the questions popping up. How will the pandemic affect our family, our business and our staff? As angst moves in, relaxation moves out. Book reading time takes leave. 

In 2020, I learned being self-aware is healthy. 

Below is a summary of an article I enjoyed reading in the Harvard Business Review. The article was written by Tasha Eurich.  

"Although most people believe that they are self-aware, true self-awareness is a rare quality. In this piece, the author describes a recent large-scale investigation that shed light on some of the biggest roadblocks, myths, and truths about what self-awareness is — and what it takes to cultivate it. Specifically, the study found two distinct types of self-awareness: experience and power can hinder self-awareness. Introspection doesn’t always make you more self-aware. Understanding these key points can help leaders learn to see themselves more clearly."

What Self-Awareness Really Is (and How to Cultivate It) 

Knowing that my goal was committed to paper and year-end was approaching, I was mindful that I needed to get it done in December. 

And I did.

Click here to see my 2020 booklist. 

Thank you to CBC for the lists below. 

Best Canadian Fiction in 2020

Best Canadian Non-Fiction, 2020

Best Selling Canadian Books in 2020

For Anne of Green Gables fans, which pretty well includes everyone. Here are 75 facts you might not know about Anne of Green Gables and author Lucy Maud Montgomery. 

Taking the lessons learned in 2020 and starting the new year, I found these quotes worthy of sharing. 

"Your past is not your future.

You have the power to make new decisions for your life starting today."

~ Deb Sofield

 

“The chief beauty about time

is that you cannot waste it in advance.

The next year, the next day, the next hour are lying ready for you,

as perfect, as unspoiled,

as if you had never wasted or misapplied

a single moment in all your life.

You can turn over a new leaf every hour

if you choose.” ~ Arnold Bennett

 

“An unexamined life is not worth living.” ~ Plato


Ode to the Creatives! 


Wishing you all the best in 2021 and thank you goes out to the good people at Meetings & Conventions to keeping HOPE alive through the video, We Will Meet Again. 

 

Looking forward to when we meet again! 

Take care, stay safe and look after each other. 

With Love from Prince Edward Island. 

Bruce & Millie and Family

ps. Your Morning Smile

My wife asked me, “Why don’t you treat me like you did when we were first dating!?”


So I took her to dinner, and a movie, then dropped her off at her parents’ house.




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Comments

Audrey Wilde - January 4, 2021

Hi Bruce, Thank You so much for the trip across the bridge. It made me feel like we truly may meet again. Happy New Year. Blessings, Audrey

Pat - January 4, 2021

Bruce, love your Saturday morning blog. The quotes and videos are so uplifting during these times.
Several of my relatives received items from your store for Christmas. The items were sent to California, South Carolina and Ohio.
Thank you for being you!

Kathy Downing - January 3, 2021

Happy New Year!
Loved the quotes that you provided. Arnold Bennett’s quote I found very powerful. The world is ours to explore, we drive our own bus, and the pathway we chose can change instantly. In these uncertain times, we cannot control the Pandemic. We though have the power to lift up our souls and embrace the love around us, people and our environment.. Positivity must be our leader. Stay safe and we hope to visit PEI this year!

Julie MacKenzie - January 3, 2021

Thanks for the lovely blog Bruce! I look forward to it every weekend! It makes me miss the island so much. I will look forward to “meeting again” with my friends & family out on the island. Perhaps in the near future when COVID is under control. ;)

Kenneth Culp - January 3, 2021

I told many of our friends that I will be glad when 2020 is over because of the destruction the Corona Virus had on our world. My wife reminded me that our daughter moved into her new Habitat for Humanity House in 2020. Our one year old great grandson had Cranial Vault Surgery and it was successful in 2020. Shut my mouth.

Ruth Weirich - January 3, 2021

We visited PEI in July 2019 for my 70th birthday. It was on my list of places to visit and did not disappoint. Loved your store, best blueberry preserves ever! Hope to return. Enjoy your blog, keeps us in touch with the beauty of your island and its people. Happy New Year!

Mary T Shea - January 3, 2021

Thank you for keeping us connected! 2020 would have been our 40th year. We have been coming in July since 1980. We stay at the MacNeill tourist home in Cavendish with the sun rising over the ocean right into our room. We miss you so much in 2020.

Hazel Steeves - January 2, 2021

Thanks for the little trip across the bridge, cheered me up on this gray, snowy day.

Sophie Sager - January 2, 2021

One can only hope 2021 is a more positive year where our minds & spirits can soar to greater heights & leave this beastly
pandemic behind.
Next year you should take on some French Canadian reads & support your Acadian neighbours.

althea - January 2, 2021

Yaay, Bruce. Actually, since you read some of the books more than once, you really then read more than 20 in 2020!!!

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