by Connie Brisson
My Mom died last night.
She had cancer and her health had severely deteriorated in the last year. Yet, when I got the call last night to come to the hospital, I still hoped she would live longer.
I quickly packed and drove to Bonnyville (about 2½ hours away) with Gabi, fully expecting to be able to talk with her, even if it was only to say goodbye to her and tell her I loved her one last time. Yet when I got to the hospital, and saw the look on my cousin Laurie’s face, I knew Mom was already dead. She had died one hour earlier while I was driving there.
I was stunned … in shock. This was NOT how I had intended this to go. I wasn’t there when my brother Gene died and it was my clear intention to be with my Mom when she died.
When I walked in the room and saw her there, so silent and still, I was engulfed by intense emotions of both love and despair. I rested my head against the top of hers and I cried from the bottom of my soul.
Internally my mind was a bomb field with so many thoughts exploding at once. I was trying to accept that she was dead and trying to understand how I could have missed such an important moment. How could she die without me having a chance to say goodbye to her? The more I tried to make sense of it, the deeper I fell into an abyss of darkness. Then, like a light, one thought gave me peace. It had to do with something Gary Zukav said during our interview.
I’m paraphrasing but he said the Universe is wise and compassionate beyond imagination. And if you want something and the Universe thinks it is in your highest good and you will grow spiritually from it, then it will assist you in getting it. BUT it will also assist you to lose that same thing if that will help you grow spiritually too.
My moment of peace came when I had the thought that the Universe (from its wiser, all knowing perspective) allowed this to happen because, for some reason, it was in my highest good to miss the moment of my Mom’s death. And although I didn’t understand why right then, my peace came from knowing that someday I would clearly know why it happened this way and the gift inside it would be more special and powerful than the moment I had just missed.
Then, when I found out that my brother and sisters had been trying to get a hold of me all that afternoon (and left five voice mail messages, a text message and an email that I never got), it reaffirmed to me that this wasn’t a coincidence and the Universe had a greater plan for me in missing my Mother’s death. Otherwise I could have easily been there in time to still see her alive.
There would have been a time this would have made me so angry at God and I would have felt punished or forsaken. But what Gary Zukav said had a huge impact on me and as I stood there by my Mom, I actually felt blessed because I realized that my journey with my Mom is not over yet. We didn’t need to say goodbye because this is NOT the end of our relationship.
And this is why I publish Mosaic. Because, at the moment you need it the most, I hope you too will remember something you’ve read in Mosaic that will help you to find peace or hope or courage or strength or whatever it is that you need to help you on your journey.
Needless to say, my interview with Gary Zukav and Linda Francis was wonderful! We couldn’t fit it all in the magazine, but you can read it all at www.ILoveMosaicMagazine.com. We had trouble with the audio link so that won’t be available for this interview.
Our feature artist is Aaron Paquette. I LOVE everything he paints. He is absolutely amazing and gifted beyond words. AND he has generously offered an original piece of his artwork (valued at $595) as a prize for our Mosaic Reader Survey (pages 29 & 30). Other great prizes include a Reiki 1 & 2 or Quantum Healing Training Session (thanks to Bea Murray), a 3” wide green tourmaline crystal sphere (thanks to Ausha at A Sense of Serenity) and an Angel Reading (thanks to Sherry Martini).
Lucky winners from last issue include: Tammy Leblanc (Sherwood Park), Helen Eshpeter (Drayton Valley), Sophie Jennings (Edmonton), Jacqueline Fiala (Edmonton) and Wendy Munro (Fort Saskatchewan).
AND don’t forget about our next Mosaic’s Delicious Book Club dinner on August 12th at Gabbana Restaurant (11223 Jasper Avenue) at 6:00 p.m. See you then.
♥ Connie
I remember when Sheila Salter died in December 1995.
My husband and I had just bought and moved into our first house that same December, only three blocks away from where Sheila was murdered.
I drove by that building a thousand times over the next few years and I thought of her almost every time. Her death touched me even though I never knew her. I have to confess that I couldn’t have imagined that any good could come out of such a tragic situation.
Yet, 13 year later, I am so honored to have her daughter, Sarah Salter-Kelly, share her healing journey in Mosaic with all of us. Her powerful story is on pages 34 and 35. I cried as I edited this story. It is such a testimony of how resilient and magnificent we are as souls. It showed me that good can come from any situation.
And it also inspired me. I want to invite anyone who has a powerful personal story of ‘Transformation & Triumph’ to email me their story to mosaicmagazine@shaw.ca (1300 words or less). I would like to feature one story of personal transformation and triumph each issue because stories like this can change people’s lives. And that is my ultimate goal with Mosaic - to bring you information that can change your life.
I also had the opportunity to interview Elisabeth Fayt, an amazing business woman from Calgary, who is one of the experts featured in the new movie The Opus (Magnificent Motion Picture Works, 2008). Elisabeth is a wealth of information on how we can each use the Law of Attraction to change our lives for the better through a technique she calls pre-paving. Read my interview with her on pages 28, 29 and 33.
We couldn’t fit our whole interview with Elisabeth in the magazine, so the ending is on our website at www.ILoveMosaicMagazine.com. You can either read it all there or listen to the actual interview by clicking on the audio link. I didn’t forget any questions this time .
I honestly feel that this is the best issue of Mosaic I have ever published. BUT I think that every issue! Each issue, I wonder: “How can I ever beat this?’ and yet the next issue that comes is even more spectacular.
Our feature artist is Kathy Meaney. I love her art which is all about celebrating woman and life. It’s fun, beautiful and real. Her artwork and article is on page 44 and 45.
Now here are the Mosaic readers who won a prize from entering our last Mosaic Reader’s Survey contest: Debbie Ewing (Onoway), Nicole Bouclin-Graves (Edmonton), Shelley Trohubiak-Huff (Camrose), Bonnie Heritage (Edmonton) and Aline McGinn (Edmonton).
We’ve got even more amazing prizes for you to win in this issue’s Mosaic Reader Survey. Check out the bottom of page 31 to see the prizes you can win and then send in your survey before July 1! There’s everything from tickets to psychic Michelle Whitedove’s Edmonton show on August 10th, to a Reiki Treatment, a Detox Foot Spa & Infrared Sauna Session, an Angel Reading and a print from our feature artist, Kathy Meaney.
And don’t forget about Mosaic’s Delicious Book Club Dinner on May 13th at Spago’s Restaurant (12433 – 97 Street) at 6:00 p.m. If you like to eat delicious food, read delicious books and enjoy the company of like minded people, then meet us on May 13 to talk about our first delicious book: Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. Email mosaicmagazine@shaw.ca by MAY 9, so we can advise the restaurant of how many people are coming.
If you can’t make the May 13th dinner but want to keep informed about other upcoming book club dinners, then simply go to www.iLoveMosaicMagazine.com and sign up for our monthly ezine/newsletter.
The Mosaic ezine/newsletter features different mind, body and spirit information that isn’t published in the magazine, as well as keeps you updated on when new issues of Mosaic hit the stands, our deadlines and how to be a part of the next issue. You’ll love it!
With amore,
Connie
by Connie Brisson
And then it happened …
The thing that I feared the most.
There I was in the middle of my phone interview with renowned author and peace troubadour, James Twyman. He had just finished answering my last question. I had my next question in my mind but I wanted to tie it together with some of what he had just said. I started talking … and then it happened…
My mind went totally BLANK!
Everything went quiet on the phone but in my mind two things happened quickly. The first was stunned disbelief. My chattering mind had never been so quiet. But that changed pretty quickly into something else that was a little bit louder for me - a piercing inner scream: aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! If you need a visual on how I felt at that moment, think Edvard Munch’s painting ‘The Scream.’
But James was great about it. He just waited until I remembered what I wanted to ask. Then I could have asked him questions all afternoon. He is so inspiring and passionate about world peace and our individual ability to make a difference. Despite my “I’ll never be Barbara Walter’s moment,” I felt privileged to be able to talk to him about many things, including his upcoming book and film The Moses Code.
We’ve got his interview for you on pages 28, 29, 30 and 33. We couldn’t fit it all in the magazine, so the ending is on our website at www.ILoveMosaicMagazine.com. You can either read it all there or listen to the actual interview by clicking on the audio link. Just remember, when you get to the silent part… it wasn’t so silent for me.
This feature interview is only one of the great articles we have for you in this issue of Mosaic Magazine. Yes, I’m 100% biased, but I have to say that Mosaic seems to get more amazing!
Every issue of Mosaic is an adventure. There are new writers, new advertisers and new ideas bubbling in my mind. This issue we introduce a new page called ‘Books That Changed My Life.’ Kate Stuve of Lifeforce Healing Herbal Centre talks about a book on cancer that she thinks is one of the best that she has ever read (page 34).
Our feature artist is Crystal Driedger. I just love her stuff. This is one of my favorite Mosaic covers. Her art is featured throughout the magazine and along with her article (page 44).
And what is one of the best parts of my job? Calling up Mosaic’s readers and telling them they’ve won a prize from entering our last Mosaic Reader’s Survey contest! The winners were Jennifer Snoek, Larrel Gauld, Carrie Gontowiuk, Babette Jessen, Deb Charchuk and Marijke Lindner.
We’ve got even more amazing prizes for you to win in this issue’s Mosaic Reader Survey. Check out the bottom of page 31 to see the prizes you can win and then send in your survey before April 1st! There’s everything from tickets to James Twyman’s workshop, to sessions in Theta Healing, Acupuncture or Lymph Drainage Therapy, to a set of limited editions prints from Crystal Driedger.
And that wraps up another issue of Mosaic. Do you wish there were more? If you are one of the many people who tell me you want more of Mosaic, sign up for our on-line Mosaic ezine/newsletter at www.ILoveMosaicMagazine.com
The Mosaic ezine/newsletter will feature different mind, body and spirit information that isn’t published in the magazine, as well as keep you updated on when new issues of Mosaic hit the stands, our deadlines and how to be a part of the next issue. You’ll love it!
With amore,
Connie
“If I gave you five million dollars what would you do with your life?”
My heart stopped for a moment when I read that question in Dr. John Demartini’s latest book, The Gratitude Effect (Burman Books Inc., 2008 - It isn’t out yet but I was lucky enough to get my hands on a copy.)
The question startled me. But then the answer came with my next heartbeat.
I’d be doing exactly what I’m doing right now … publishing a magazine that could help change people’s lives with its information and content. And I actually laughed out loud as I realized that there isn’t anything I’d rather be doing. I love Mosaic Magazine! Sometimes it’s frustrating and stressful - especially at layout time, as Carol and I both know. But that is nothing that $5M and some extra staff couldn’t help with (intending … visualizing … manifesting …) Oh, but I digress.
What a great issue of Mosaic Magazine we have in store for you! We have an article written by Dr. Demartini himself on pages 34 and 35. We had an interview scheduled too this week but he was in Australia and I was in Morinville and with Mercury Retrograde, was I honestly surprised that the bridge line didn’t work? Still we are happy to feature his wisdom for you in an article instead. It’s all good!
Mosaic evolves every issue and this issue is no exception. I’ve decided to use this editorial page to talk about what’s coming in this issue (I’m aptly calling this page ‘I Love Mosaic’) and then I’m going to feature my own article, Con Amore, on another page (page 46 this issue). Read who I think my greatest teachers have been so far.
Another new feature we are starting is our ‘My Aha Moment’ column. This issue we are going to learn about Anny Slegen’s ‘aha’ moment (page 29). I love it!
We are bigger and better than ever, offering you even more articles this issue. Learn about an amazing lady that lived through leukemia (page 6), how Quantum Healing Arts helped one woman overcome depression (page 8), Theta Healing and the importance of your subconscious mind (page 10), Visceral Manipulation and your organs (page 12), the healthy products of Univera (page 14), Ayurveda therapies (page 19), the importance of following your own truth (page 20), BioPro health products (page 23), how important the entrance of your home is (page 26), how numerology can affect you (page 28), your astrology for this year (page 30) and the impact that space clearing can have on your home (page 32).
Our feature artist, Fern Jordan, is amazing. When I first saw her art in Frames & More in Fort McMurray, I was mesmerized. Each piece is a story of beauty. This grizzly on our cover is just a little taste of her abundant talent.
Now, let’s talk about free things! Both the Deva Premal concert and the Jack Canfield talk were so amazing! Congratulations to Richard Gow for wining the Deva Premal grand prize (courtesy of A Sense of Serenity. Congratulations also to Karen Soetaert (courtesy of Optimum Health & Kolya Day Spa) and Tracy Jamieson (courtesy of Namaste Soul Spa), the lucky winners of the Jack Canfield grand prize.
This issue we are featuring our survey again on pages 17 and 18 and we have some really great new prizes for you! Please take a moment to fill the survey out and mail it in. You can’t win if you don’t enter and with these new prizes, do it quickly! Our winners from last issue included Diane James (Edmonton), Leanne Sandberg (St. Albert), Tamara Penna (Edmonton), Fiona Stevenson (Sherwood Park) and Shelby Lang (Edmonton).
And that wraps up another wonderful issue! Please check out our cute little Santa Mosaic girl on page 47 as she wishes you a wonderful holiday season. I hope that each and every one of you has the most fabulous festive season and that 2008 is the best year of your life yet!
I thank you for being an avid Mosaic reader or advertiser (or both)! I feel blessed to be a part of this magazine and I hope you do too.
With amore,
Connie
It’s the night before this issue of Mosaic gets printed.
It’s like the night before Christmas for me. I’m always so excited to see what the current issue of Mosaic will look like once it’s printed. Every issue I feel the same.
When the opportunity to become Mosaic Magazine’s publisher and editor came to me over three years ago I felt like one of my life purposes had finally found me. With my background in journalism and love of all topics related to personal growth, I instantly felt Mosaic was right for me.
Of course Mosaic had to change because I needed to follow my heart and do what I thought would make it great. I knew it wouldn’t work if I tried to follow what everyone else thought I should do with it. In the end, I had to follow my personal vision for it.
Now, I’m not saying that it’s all been so crystal clear for me or straightforward. Every time I felt compelled to make a new change, I would get excited … then anxious … then really worry if it was the ‘right’ choice. But change is like that, isn’t it? It tempts us, it scares us and then it streeeeeeeeeeeeeeeetchs us.
Well, after this issue, you can just call me Elastic Girl (from The Incredibles’ movie).
As you can see Mosaic has changed over to a full gloss format and now we offer opportunities for investing in different ‘Divine Plans’ for article space. I believe this will enable Mosaic to grow and reach even more people.
AND I have another idea that can make Mosaic even more diverse, cultural and community oriented with your help - Sponsorship Pages. What’s that? Well, for instance, if you’re passionate about poetry then you can sponsor a Poetry Page. We would invite people to send in their poetry and feature different poems in each issue. It would work a lot like what I already do with the Artist’s Gallery page.
The topics are endless. We could have a Green Page featuring different writers and topics on how to care for our environment. Or a Music Page that featured local musicians or a Courageous People Page dedicated to stories of people who have overcome cancer or other life threatening illnesses/situations. It is limitless!
Now this issue is filled with a lot of great new articles – from changing your subconscious beliefs with Theta Healing to how planetary retrogrades affect you. Inside you’ll also get to read my interviews with Jack Canfield as well as Deva Premal and Miten. Both interviews were recorded so you can also listen to them on my website, www.ilovemosaicmagazine.com
Don’t miss out on your opportunity to win a chance to meet Jack Canfield (thanks to Namaste Soul Spa and Optimum Health Vitamins/Kolya Day Spa), as well as Deva Premal and Miten (thanks to A Sense of Serenity). Check out the back cover and page 3 for more on these great contests!
Do you feel like winning something else? We are featuring our Mosaic Reader Survey again and tempting you with even more great things prizes if you fill out the two page survey and mail it in. We’ve included our mailing address too this time! Grab a pen, go to pages 33 and 34 to fill it out and then mail it in!
I had so much fun reading your comments from our last Mosaic Reader Survey. The response was tremendous – thank-you! Here are the six lucky people who won the prizes offered: James MacLeod (Edmonton), Ruth-Ellen Dowhan (Athabasca), Marlayna Berglund (Edmonton), Shauna Jackson (Calgary), Angelle Carisse (Jasper) and Melanie Morrison (Edmonton).
One last thing you can win this issue... I’d love to have you comment below, email or write me and tell me your all time favorite spiritual/personal growth book. I’d like to compile a list and post it on my website. So include the name of the book, author, publisher, year and reason why you loved it, along with your name and permission for me to post what you say on my website. From all the submissions there will be one lucky winner of a $100 gift from … you’ll have to wait and see! Email me at mosaicmagazine@shaw.ca or post your favourite spiritual/personal growth book in our "comments" below.
With amore,
Connie
by Connie Brisson
Something unusual happened to me in Grade 3.
After our teacher asked us to write a little story, I heard a loud male voice (in my right ear) tell me that I would be a writer someday. He said it twice to emphasis it. I was startled! I quickly looked around me, but no one was there. While I couldn’t comprehend where the voice came from, I certainly knew in my heart that it was from someone and somewhere important. It was such an unusual experience that I never ever forgot it. It shaped the course of my life.
Now I think I can honestly say that I’ve never heard ‘the voice’ again the way I did that day. Sometimes I hear a voice in my mind which I consider to be my intuition or guidance. But this voice was different. It was like hearing a real voice outside of me.
My faith in this voice was remarkably strong. As I continued on through school I was never very interested in writing or even in reading books (although I’ve always loved words). Yet I wasn’t worried about this apathy. Instead I faithfully waited for the pivotal event that would lead me to be this great writer. But following high school, after working at a few different unfulfilling jobs, I purposefully decided to meet destiny half way and learn what I could about writing.
The only reason I enrolled in journalism was because I had heard that voice in Grade 3 and that is the complete truth! I had absolutely no interest in the news, I never read newspapers and rarely watched television. Well, I was a bit of an anomaly in my journalism class to say the least!
But the real test to my faith in ‘the voice’ came two days into my journalism program. We were asked to write why we wanted to be a journalist. I wrote this fancy little blurb and was absolutely devastated to get it back with a ‘D’ grade! I cried and cried - then I cried some more. “How can I ever be a journalist or a writer if I get a ‘D’ on why I want to be one?” I sobbed to my sister, Shelley.
A few days later Ivor Dent (previous Mayor of Edmonton) came to class to talk about mill rates and our first assignment ever was to write a story on this. Believe me when I tell you that there is nothing more boring than mill rates! Afterwards he sat down with a group of students in the cafeteria. I was just so curious about his colorful life so I asked him about all the places he had been to and the famous people he had met. From that conversation I wrote an article (totally breaking the rules because this was an assignment about mill rates) and I got the first ‘A+’ grade in my class. It was my first ‘A+’ but not my last! I had found my voice. ☺
Ironically once I had completed journalism and was working for a weekly newspaper, I discovered that I pretty much hated it! I loved writing feature stories about different people and their unique lives, but ‘hard news’ was not my thing …“Gas went up one cent this week.” It was boring, dull and dreary. With a lot of disappointment in myself and in ‘the voice’ I hung up my writer’s hat and worked as an executive assistant instead.
Although I had basically given up on the ‘writer’ thing, I would sporadically muse that the perfect job would be to write for a magazine that I cared about, where the content would change people’s lives. Then, almost 18 years after graduating from journalism, Catherine Potter offered me the opportunity to take over Mosaic Magazine! In that moment ‘the voice’ and my muse mystically merged.
I’ve been the publisher and editor of Mosaic Magazine for over three years and I strive to do it with integrity. Now, not only do I write, I also use my expertise to help every article writer in the magazine to write or improve their stories. I sincerely want to provide you with inspiring information that can change your life.
In the 11 years this magazine has been published, this is the first issue it has ever had a glossy cover! We are growing and expanding every issue and I need your help and wisdom. Because I want to have your input on ways to improve the magazine and where to distribute it, I’ve included a survey for you to share your thoughts – with some great prizes to win!
We’ve also totally changed our website. We now have a page that will let you make comments about what you love about Mosaic or what you’d like to see different. Go to: ILoveMosaicMagazine.com and under the ‘Let’s Hear From You’ heading, enter your comments. I’d love to hear what you have to say. BUT please send in the survey too to win!
Last issue’s winner of a Channeling Session is Tammy Bauer. Win one of SIX amazing prizes this issue by answering Mosaic's Reader Survey by June 30! Send in the survey to our Edmonton address.
With amore,
Connie
Seven years has passed since my brother Gene died on February 24, 2000. It feels like forever, but it’s only been seven years.
He was just 46 and had been struggling with cancer in different parts of his body for five years. He had highs and lows that he always managed to pull through and in my ‘Pollyanna’ way I just believed that he would live forever. But when I saw him come around the corner in Mom’s kitchen that last Christmas, I knew in my heart that he was going to die soon.
When he died shortly after, I had just had a 1½ month half old baby who was very colic and she just seemed to cry all the time. We moved to Fort McMurray when she was just 10 days old and I felt very isolated (not knowing anyone) and certainly had post-partum depression too. My Mom had also just had a kidney removed due to cancer and she was very sick as well. Our whole family was in turmoil. To say that those were dark days for me would be an understatement. I felt like I was dieing too.
Gene’s death changed everything in my family and in me. It shook us up right down to our ‘roots’ and in the way our family interacted. I think within each one of us we did experience a death of what ‘our family’ meant to us. His death seemed to tear us apart (from each other and also inside of ourselves). It created a winter inside of our hearts. Yet it was in that stark barrenness that I began to question what it all meant. Why had he died?
In tarot ‘Death’ represents the death of the old order, the break up of blockage and constriction. It is all about transformation. Death brings renewal and rebirth on all levels of being. The snake sheds its skin to be reborn.
Seven years later, I am transformed. I am so different from the person I was before. I’m deeper, I’m stronger, I’m more me. Was that because of Gene?
As I mentioned earlier, my little Gabi cried all the time after she was born. It was unbelievable to me (and to anyone else that heard her) that a baby could cry so much, hour after hour, day after day. It was so overwhelming that there were times when I wasn’t sure how I would even survive the day.
Then, shortly after Gene died, her crying dramatically stopped! She would just look around above me and smile and coo. There was such a transformation in her that I knew he was there helping us and that she could see him. I was so grateful and yet at the same time I was so heartbroken. I felt like his love and concern for me was so great that even beyond physical death he still chose to help me.
It was four months after his death that I attended my first workshop where I became exposed to energy, healing and the word ‘spiritual’ took on new meaning for me. I began to take CranioSacral Therapy and other training/workshops in earnest. A new world opened up for me and Mosaic was definitely part of it.
For me, Gene’s death had a sacrificial element to it. Now I know his death was part of his path ultimately but it was also a catalyst for so many changes in my life and in so many other people’s lives that I just know it wasn’t some random event. His death transformed many people in both large and small ways. I think it brought us all closer to our ‘truth’. I am profoundly different due to his death.
I see him in my dreams regularly and I am so grateful for that. He often appears quietly in the background as an observer and then at other times he is the main star. In one recent dream he broke through the window pane of the main door of my home to hug me (we were separated by the door from just below our hearts downwards which I thought was quite symbolic). When I awoke I was sure it had happened for real – I could still feel his energy and love. Then the sadness came when I realize it was only a dream … but then what is real?
I see him everywhere. I see him in every backhoe that goes by (as that was his business) and I always say ‘Hi Gene’ because I feel he somehow puts that backhoe in my path as a way of saying hello to me. I see him in every bird that sits on a wire (everytime I would turn on the radio after he died I would hear the Eric Neville song ‘Bird on a Wire’). I see him in the stars at night and I even find there are moments that I see his face (for the briefest of seconds) in the faces of other people I come across. He is in my heart all the time. Sometimes it hurts and sometimes I find the most amazing peace when I think of him. He changed me with his life and he changed me with his death.
Last issue’s winner of a Quantum Biofeedback session is Ken Von Skopczynksi and this issue please send in your name for an amazing channeling session with Tammy Dodd.
Until next issue.
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