Still Lake Listening

02/18/2026

02/17/2026

Feeling stuck in grief? You don’t have to navigate it alone.

Join us for Unstuck: Grief & Loss — a free, drop-in conversation circle where compassionate listeners help create a safe, nurturing space to share stories, connect, and explore grief in all its forms.

Wednesday, February 18
10:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.
Cochrane Public Library Boardroom

No registration required — just bring your heart, your stories, or even just your curiosity.

In partnership with Still Lake Listening

02/16/2026

Are you experiencing grief, or supporting someone who is?

Unstuck: Grief & Loss is a free group conversation series offered at the Cochrane Public Library, providing a gentle, supportive space to talk about grief and loss in all its forms.

These sessions are guided by compassionate listeners from Still Lake Listening and offer a nurturing, non-judgmental environment for shared conversation, reflection, and connection. This is an opportunity to listen, share experiences, and explore how we can be with our grief together.

When: Wednesday, January 21, 10:30 am–12:00 pm
Where: Library Boardroom
Cost: Free, no registration required
Who: Adults seeking connection and support through shared conversation about grief

This group is open to anyone looking for a supportive space to talk about loss, listen deeply, and connect with others who understand.

Learn more and join the conversation here:
https://www.cochranepubliclibrary.ca/events/unstuck-grief-loss

02/15/2026

More on the can of worms pictured here in a sec, but first: A colleague challenged, "The idea of holding both the wonder and the wobble is a nice idea, but I don't think we do that very well. We (Or, at least I) want to skip over my own rage and difficult emotions. Can we, honestly, be with both?"
Oooof. What a question, right? Can we? Experience authentic Wonder when we are filled with rage or fear? When we are in the grip of loss?
Your Interior Life (the Life that thrums beneath and through the thinking, the feeling, and the body stuff) has a depth and strength to it that is boundless. Bound.Less! (ps: sitting in spaces where this is explored with you is one of the ways Michelle and I stay in touch with awe and wonder and curiosity all of the time!) The mystics suggest that everything belongs. And, when we linger with The Thing (the wonder and the horror; the gutting and the joy-filled) allllllll the way in and down, there we find Compassion. Peace. Miracle and Mystery.

And about that can of worms, maybe...

You have been tricked
into thinking
this is the way things
have to be;
And that opening that can of worms
you have there
would be a bad idea.
But I have good news
for you about the can
and the worms.
they are the unlikely
chaos composers
come to wiggle you past
your current rules & limits.
~jkkennedywrites

02/12/2026

We move slowly over rocky ground, don't we?
When the path is unfamiliar and littered with jagged stones.
Where it's steep and weather-worn (Oh, the way has been here so, so long, but it is new to us.).
We move intentionally.
Carefully.
Alertly.
So, as we, all of us, grieve collectively (Tumbler Ridge, your name trips across lips tight with sadness), as a smaller community (we lost a dear one this month, hey?), and as individuals (shout out to all of our gals living with invisible illness and evolving through menopause!), we notice that we wander the path more slowly. Intentionally. Unsure of where the next slippery or sharp-edged step may be; knowing something about the strength-vulnerability we bring to the journey. We are invited to pause. Be With. Because the ground is unfamiliar, we bring a patient, sorrow-soaked vigilance to the Way.
The slow going is just for now. There may be a light drenched vista just around the next curve in the trail. We trust for that. Hope for that. Even as we, all of us, pick our way carefully along this next stretch of the journey.

02/12/2026

If you want to see
true grit,
watch someone break.
Then watch as the pieces settle.
As hands begin moving.
As a new person is made.

~ L.E.Bowman

02/12/2026

Some conversations are hard… but life-affirming.

Come to Dying for Conversation — a free, cozy coffee session where we’ll explore end-of-life topics with openness and respect. Ask questions, share thoughts, or simply listen.

February 14: 10:15am – 11:45am
Cochrane Public Library Boardroom

No cost — no registration required.

You’re invited to speak, reflect, and connect.

02/11/2026

Oh, Tumbler Ridge. 💔

02/09/2026

Wild Geese Expressive Arts has a rich (and really accessible!) exploration over the months ahead!💙💙💙

I welcome you! Click on the link below amd scroll down to this offering for more information and to reserve your seat

https://www.wildgeeseexpressions.ca/offerings-1

02/09/2026

Right? And a kind-to-ourselves reminder that this is about anticipatory grief and secondary griefs, too. When we lose a piece of our identity (or what feels like the whole-darn-thing), a career, a status, another bit of mobility, etc., it lives as Grief in us. Some of those losses feel easier to be with; some take up a lot of space in us. There is room for all of yours here at Still Lake (and, by way of tending to good vibes, there's also curious, exploratory space for the relief-joy-expanding life that accompanies the heavy bits).💙

Cochrane & Area Hospice Society Alberta Hospice Palliative Care

02/07/2026

Have you experienced the Wonder + Curiosity of exploring a new place? A natural marvel, or a an architectural masterpiece? Maybe you've delved all-in to a new love or a piece of music. Exploring our interior life (soul, spirituality, essence) is just as fascinating (and sometimes unsettling, demanding, and nail-biting!). Your interior world? It's vast. Multitudinous. Still and wild and waiting.

ps: this image is one from the Alberta Hospice Palliative Care workshop offering in this past weekend. A spacious exploration of how we Humans Becoming experience spirituality in so many ways that accompany our formal religious systems (or the absence of organized faith structures).

02/05/2026

And also cake. And a nap. And Tylenol. 🤓