It is Saturday. Rainy. Cloudy. Wet and damp. But, no matter the weather, there are heroes everywhere. Heroes doing what they do to make the world a better, more loving, caring and vibrant place.

As happens on 9 Saturdays of the year, I am coaching in the Givers 2 room (PURPOSE) at Choices this weekend. As always, when immersed in the love and joy and wonder of a Choices training room, I am in awe of the human condition, and our ability to overcome darkness, to see into the hearts of each other, and ourselves and know, we are amazing beings of light. Beautiful. Courageous. Gifted. Caring. Kind and so much more than we ever imagined. We are Amazing!

Everyone attending Choices, Givers 1 and Givers 2, the coaches and facilitators and all those who come out just to say hello, just to connect to the energy and share in the joy of coming alive with such elan, you are heroes!

There are millions, billions of heroes out there in the world. One of them is a young high school girl I read about this week in North Carolina who is off to Harvard this fall. This is no easy feat for anyone. But for Dawn Loggins it was even more daunting. Her mother and step-father are drug addicts. She came home from school one day to discover they had abandoned her. Determined to break the cycle of their abuse, she committed herself to doing what it took to finish high school — a straight A student so that she could get into the college of her dreams. To do it, she had to work as the school janitor. She had to ask for help. She had to let go of resentment, bitterness, anger and move into the grace of forgiveness so that she could carry on unburdened by her past. And she has. (Click HERE to read the full story.)

Dawn Loggins is a hero.

This hero is very near and dear and special to me. My daughter Alexis who over the past few weeks has begun to write about, and speak up about her eating disorder is a big hero in my life. It’s not easy speaking up about something that eats away at your peace of mind. And still, she is doing it. And along with Alexis there are others. A young reader from England whose online name is On The Way shared a link on her blog (click HERE to visit it) that I wrote about earlier this week — Fears vs Dreams. Lisa Rosenburg at Writings about Body Image and Identity. And so many more. Calgary Counselling Centre who provides specialized programs for those suffering from, or loving someone who has an eating disorder. You are all making a difference.

Alexis. On The Way. Lisa. And everyone else working to heal from an eating disorder, you are all heroes.

I wrote about them yesterday. I wrote about their amazing accomplishment of setting a Guinness World Record of 204 karate boards split at one time. Richard and Trudy Fossey and all those who came out on June 16 to stomp on boards, to support them, to tell the world about them through media feeds, and all their sponsors and those who donated — what an amazing feat. What an amazing group of people.

AKF Karate and Break the Cycle are heroes.

Peace is needed in our world. Right now. Right here. Every day. Every moment. June 22 in Calgary is the kick-off of Summer of Peace Calgary 2012. Inspired by the brilliance of Kerry Parsons whose Centre for Inspired Living has helped thousands of people move beyond conflict, discord and unease into living within harmony, peace and joy, a team of co-creators has woven together a plan to unleash PEACE in Calgary. It will kick-off on Friday, June 22 at Drumming Up Peace!  Click HERE for more information — but know — You will be moved to peace. You will be inspired to make peace. Come and be part of creating a groundswell of harmony. Come and drum up Peace!

Everyone involved in creating Summer of Peace Calgary 2012 are heroes.

And… because I like to share wonders I’ve found online, here is a video that the amazing Maureen Doallas at Writing Without Paper shared this past week of a performance by Tony Orrico at Polyforum Siqueiros, Mexico City. In his work, Tony Orrico combines movement and drawing. His drawings a created by performances that he realizes either in his studio or live in front of an audience.