Leslie Bennett - Mental Health Sherpa, Toronto, ON (2026)

05/07/2020

When your auntie sends you a homemade gift in the mail. Thank you for all the work you are doing in keeping CANADIAN connected.

05/07/2020

It’s been since March 1 that I was in her room, touching her hand and telling her I love her. For some reason I’m not remembering why I didn’t get to see mom between the 1st and March 15th. So it’s now been 67 days since I’ve laid my eyes on my mom. Today we arrange for a meeting at the homes back door. It’s hard, heartbreaking and unbearable at times. I’m grateful for the support her home provides, the level of care she gets and the ongoing patience and grace the staff have at her residence. We have had a couple of Skype calls with her - the staff are great and will set it up so we can see her and talk to her. The last time we did mom’s sister was on the skype with us and she sang mom this old time Jamaican song:

Linstead Market

🎶Carry me Ackee go a Linstead market 🎶not a quatie would sell!
Everybody cm feel up, feel up, not a quatie would sell.. oh Laud, what a nite, not a bite, what a Saturday nite🎶 (repeat) ...

It was the most precious moment I’ve experienced with my mom and our family. ❤️

@ Toronto C•A•N•A•D•A

04/27/2020

: ⏳
My dad used to say: OK Les, I’ll time you... and he would time me doing a ton of different things. it mostly started as a game to get me focused on something other than what the adults were talking about At the time, I didn’t realize he was teaching me one of the most useful strategies there is: Time Blocking.

When time blocking use a very loud alarm ⏰ - I like the stove timer because it makes me get up from my desk and move into my kitchen to turn it off.

Benefits of the stove timer (or a timer that is out of your reach) in Time Blocking:
👉exercise and movement
👉give my eyes a break from the screen
👉gets me focused to think about what’s next vs rolling into one task after another.

I use time blocking to keep me organized, structured and efficient. Especially when my natural tendency is to run after every shinny objective that comes into my vision.

You can time block just about anything;

In the work context - I’ll time block (15 min) when there is something I need to get done and I notice I am procrastinating.
In the personal context - I know it take me 7 minutes to get my make up on - I’ll time block myself especially when I feel rushed.

Time blocking helps with focus, efficiency and once you do it enough you will begin to know how long something takes without time blocking. It’s an interesting phenomenon; the begins to know how much time you need to do things. It deepens your , broadens your attention span and increases your .

Start with a small task that isn’t too important; then once you are used to this kind of structure see how it improves your effectiveness at work.

e.g. Time Block : washing dishes
👉Put a timer on for 5-10 minutes
👉Turn off all other distractions
👉Wash the dishes until timer goes off
👉Notice what you are thinking about - keep your activities to only one :
👉If by the end of the time you want to do more, give yourself another 5-10 minutes.

Time blocking works when it feels like a game / not a chore. Make it fun. We have enough time to get it all done.

04/24/2020

Love this self care hack for working from home.
easy to remember, easy to implement.
Be well everyone - it’s friday!!!!::

🦉For every 20 minutes of screen time. Look away for 20 seconds at something 20 feet away. Your eyes need about 20 seconds to relax. By doing 20-20-20 this helps your eyes relax and improves your concentration ❤️❤️👏❤️❤️

#202020

04/23/2020

An engagement session participant lovingly receiving "pet support", as we gear up to launch a peer support program in their workplace. Let’s not forget to show some love to all of our animal friends who are always there for us!

04/22/2020

The Possibility of Paradox:
Twice a week I clear with .shapter ; in our 15 min clearing calls we have a chance to say everything that is in our space or on our minds. Some days there is a lot to say others not so much - we always end with creating a way of being for the week that typically gives us actions aligned with our commitments.

This week I created a possibility just to see what would happen - The Possibility of Paradox Here’s what I noticed:

Summer and Winter
On my bike ride my perception was: it’s winter/ snowing and summer at the exact same time - Paradox

Trust and Fail
During my client delivery - my perception of myself was I could trust I knew what I was doing and afraid I was going to fail - Paradox

HeartAche and Joy
My experience of work recently - When I get present to the suffering and massive impact COVID-19 has on many people and those business deemed non essential my heart melts into a puddle and at the very same time I’m excited about what’s possible now as it relates to workplace mental health. Paradox

Pain & Empowered
My experience of my physical health - I’m in pain (wrist, knee, shoulder hips) and I’m more empowered and doing more for my physical health than I ever did before COVID19 (MELT, Pilates, bike riding, baths, franklin balls). Paradox

Scared & OK
My experience of sleep - I’m hyper aware that my interrupted sleep could impact my mental health and I’m practicing just being ok with how my sleep goes. Practicing Paradox

What are you noticing about your experience?
What structures do you have in place that are supportive for your mental, physical, emotional, spiritual health during COVID19?
What paradox’s are you present to with COVID19?

04/03/2020

Happy Friday everyone:
What keeps swirling around in my head and visiting my consciousness is:

“Perspective is a Function of Experience”

Over the past 4 weeks I continue to see where my role as a leader is to help calm the waters, settle the ball, and shine a light on where we all have wisdom that can support perspective taking for those who do not have the perspective. It hasn’t been easy and I’ve had to do lots of course correcting. Here’s what I’ve noticed:

❤️ My role as a leader is to take care of myself so I can provide that perspective for others and my team.

❤️ My role as a leader is to have have compassion for where others are in their response to this new reality (their perspective) and withhold judgement.

❤️ My role as a leader is also to not tell but rather be the space and clearing for those people around me uncover what they already know, but may have forgotten.

❤️ My role as a leader is to stay in my lane with what I know. That has taken reflection (time and space), the ability to delegate, trust my intuition, and get really curious about my own perspective.

❤️ My role as a leader is to hold the “truth” lightly and realize I might just need to shift it.

❤️ My role as a leader is to remember my resiliency.

❤️ My role as a leader is to ask for support.

❤️ My role as a leader is to support others to get perspective by elevating the the conversation. To point to what is helpful and what is not.

For those of us who have lived through crisis, we hold a perspective and wisdom that others don’t have.

Now, more than ever we need brave leaders to show up. Now, more than ever, we need to come together.

What are you noticing as your role as a leader?

03/31/2020

A recent reminded me of my love for the Moulin Rouge – I love the , colour and story.

It was the summer of 2003, SARS had broken out in April, the meetings industry was tanking, and I was on a -share. Uncertainty plagued us each day. Not knowing how the industry was going to bound back, not knowing how SARS would affect us financially.

In the mist of this, Neil and I were planning our . We didn’t know if we would need to cancel or postpone. I had more time on my hands so was able to keep busy planning and coordinating for the summer.

We knew we needed a so I suggested the song Come What May and got help from a dance instructor. We were , in and willing to have some fun....And Neil, well he was just a yes to me. ❤️

I re-watched Moulin Rouge this weekend. I cried laughed, danced and sang. It felt so good. I rediscovered our wedding song 🕺💃

Finding activities that make us feel good and move the emotions through our bodies is critical right now.

With so much uncertainty, getting grounded and taking actions that support feeling good help me to overcome feelings of inadequacy, uncertainty, guilt, fear, sadness, overwhelm, anxiousness, panic....you get it I’m sure.

Here are a few things you can do to move those emotions.

• Move your body - dancing makes you feel good
• Listen to music that evokes emotional resonance - you’d know it because you’ll feel it in your body, mind and heart.
• Experience Art (music, poetry, books, movies, photography, paintings) that stand the test of time Rewatch, Reread, and share it with others
• Make Art - use your creativity - create anything and share it. Use what you have around you.
• Do things that evoke that replace panic (uncertainly) with love.:
❤️How are you managing? ❤️how do you feel?
❤️what resonates with you?
@ Toronto C•A•N•A•D•A

03/28/2020

A reminder about the small things:
Receiving and sending mail....
My experiencing of being remembered with a tactical item (vs a text or video)

Well to me it feels real. It grounds me in remembering who I am and what I stand for - the human experience. [love and use video conferencing all the time and for me there is an element of not real]

Holding this pencil case in my hands reminds me of what is real. For me that’s the juice of life - it is life.

Thank you to the Canadians that continue to deliver the mail. ❤️

The hand written and thoughtful word is our generations forgotten gift. Don’t forget to use your hands to create. Why not send someone you love a card, handmade possibly or even recycled? Your voice matters - through your words or someone else’s - it doesn’t matter which .. just because you can send something with love ❤️

This was a gift I received last week for my 50th birthday in the mail. My cousin and her family sent it. It’s meaningful, full of love and common recent experiences. ❤️

The poem:
Blessed be the mind that dreamed the day.
The blueprint of your life
Would begin to glow on earth
Illuminating all the faces and voices
That would arrive to invite
Your should to growth.
John O’Donohue To Bless the Space between us

CanadaPost update: https://www.canadapost.ca/cpc/en/our-company/news-and-media/corporate-news/news-release-detail.page?article=2020/03/23/important_changes_to&cattype=announcements&cat=newsreleases :
:
:

@ Toronto C•A•N•A•D•A

03/27/2020

In case anyone is losing the plot:

Remember 1992:
Everybody Hurts - R.E.M

When your day is long
And the night
The night is yours alone
When you're sure you've had enough
Of this life
Well hang on
Don't let yourself go
'Cause everybody cries
And everybody hurts sometimes
Sometimes everything is wrong
Now it's time to sing along
When your day is night alone (hold on)
(Hold on) if you feel like letting go (hold on)
If you think you've had too much
Of this life
Well, hang on
'Cause everybody hurts
Take comfort in your friends
Everybody hurts
Don't throw your hand
Oh, no
Don't throw your hand
If you feel like you're alone
No, no, no, you're not alone
If you're on your own
In this life
The days and nights are long
When you think you've had too much
Of this life
To hang on
Well, everybody hurts sometimes
Everybody cries
And everybody hurts sometimes
And everybody hurts sometimes
So, hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on
Hold on, hold on
Everybody hurts
You are not alone

if you need help please call your local crisis line:
https://www.torontodistresscentre.com/covid-19-updates

03/22/2020

This is a long share 10 minutes. I share why I think we have got this and some tips to manage the emotional spirals we sometimes (all the time) fall into during a crisis.

03/22/2020

Got this message. I have shared what our is doing in .
Amazing that this is happening
Somehow it gives me a of and . Arms wrapping around the type feeling.🥰

not just our neighborhoods in our community but in all communities. 🌍🌍🌍❤️❤️❤️🌍🌍🌍🌍:

Leslie Bennett - Mental Health Sherpa

05/07/2020

05/07/2020

04/27/2020

04/24/2020

04/23/2020

04/22/2020

04/03/2020

03/31/2020

03/28/2020

03/27/2020

03/22/2020

03/22/2020

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