Mandyland

Sending lots of love out to all the amazing Black women in my life. Join me in celebrating Black Women! #BlackWomenAreDivine

Day 11... of no hair washing. That includes a camping trip and sweaty workouts. I think this is my new record. #savestime #saveswater #savesshampoo

I just made dish soap using soap berries. Thanks for the recipe @plasticfreemermaid! Boil 10 berries in 1L of water for 15-20 min. Cool. Squeeze using nut milk bag. I’m putting half in the fridge.

Simplicity. Clean. De-cluttered... it’s just not in me.

So happy to be back in the air! #circus #trapeze #aerialcircus #aerialcircusarts

Students: what challenges are you experiencing so far with online learning? Can you share them? I know of some. Would like to know of more. And would love to share with other profs too. I am sympathetic to my students who are in challenging home environments, who are not able to find quiet space to participate in class or study. I hope other professors are too! #guelphhumber #onlinelearning #covidlearning #workingfromhome

More Windfest. Such a great day.

It’s first day is school for my 5yo in Senior Kindergarten and for me back at University! I have lots of energy (excitement, worry, grief etc.) so I decided to channel the energy and start a competition for kids and give $500 to a group/class of kids who come up with the best idea of how to reimagining their school space and experience during COVID. Please share with your kids, teachers, adults etc. To learn more or register your kids’ class/group/team head here: ... https://www.knowyourbrain.ca/creative-kids-covid-project #covidhealing #covidopportunity #innovation #creativity #appliedneuroscience

I am speaking to you from the traditional territories of many First Nations including the Mississaugas of the Credit, the Anishnabeg, the Chippewa, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat peoples. This land is home to many diverse First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples and settler-descent people.

Getting over here. #neuropsychoidiology #sexuality #sexualbehavior #almost100KWords #bisexuality

Omg this was AMAZING. Not expecting it to be but I was balling! All the emotions of competition, amazing friendships, and parenting unique kids and their exceptionality. I absolutely loved this! Anyone else watch it and feel it?

I decided to focus my energy on finishing my next book... and releasing it in chunks for a special community of people.

I’m loving my new book Feminist City by Dr Leslie Kern from Mount A. Thanks @humangeomta! I Also love the #scorpio #maritime #toronto connections.

A picture says a 1000 words. Hahaha.

https://mailchi.mp/37b/new-neuropsychoidiology-book-content

We have two new facilitators leading the our re-defined parenting virtual community club tonight. @almi.j.coaching and @storerdenise The club is about mutual support and understanding of the challenges and rewards of being a parent (especially during unprecedented times like these). It’s also about feeling empowered as parents to make the choices right for us and our children. Please join us. All are welcomed. It’s free as part of pie COVID response package. It’s also a drop-in. No commitment. More details here: https://www.knowyourbrain.ca/homeschool-club

This feels like an accident waiting to happen.

FYI: parenting support!

Can you show me how food makes poop again mommy? #whiteboardlessons

I’m drinking my @alchemypicklecompany Kombucha while writing the chapter on gut-brain mental health for my next book! Kombucha makes me feel amazing. Reminds me of the surge of oxytocin from breastfeeding. #neuropsychoidiology

What have you realized must change in your life going forward? How are you documenting this?

Kids these days...

#TheFutureIsFemale Our PM knows it. NOW is the time to make the future happen. Let’s establish what this world will look like after. Let’s let the female voice lead and be strong. Let’s work as a collective to make this world harmonious for everyone. And yes that IS about balance. #TheFutureIsFeminine

This pandemic response has a welcomed addition to my life. Since it began I have been optimistic for my 5 year old’s future for the first time in his life. I know this is an opportunity for humans to consciously evolve together. Thank you to @probablytomfoolery for a beautifully told story about it. Go check out The Great Realisation on their Instagram account. Together we can make this a reality! #thegreatrealisation

Today's episode is me talking with Sarah about her experience with cancer during the pandemic. www.mandyland.ca//talking-with-sarah-about-her-experience-

We were counting colours in nature. #homeschooling #pandemicparenting #childleadlearning #childledlearningthroughplay

Time to give what we feel credibility.

http://www.mandyland.ca//pandemic-take-aways-with-mike-s3e

Skates turned into snow shoes. His idea. Not mine. I just helped with some construction. This is the epitome of me and him working well together. We are both creative and resourceful with materials. Aesthetics and function might suffer but we definitely make shit up as we go. Neither of us are ever short on ideas or willingness to think boldly.

I’m still feeling optimistic about the future but now I’m working on action. I’m developing a plan to support women’s leadership through neuroscience. I’m excited about what’s brewing. Here’s a teaser.

It’s a peregrine falcon. The fasted bird. Fastest member of the animal kingdom. The peregrine has been an obsession in our house ever since my jr kindergartener learned that from his bff senior kindergartener. It comes up a lot. Pancakes last weekend. Mala beads today. There is no shortage of imagination in their little brains if we just step out of the way and let their brains be. I have to remind myself of that often.

Social distancing is harming us. We need mental health solutions to survive this. What we are doing for people is not enough.

I bought these forever ago and they have never caught on. Till today. We built stuff first, which is always an easy sell. Then we put them away by sorting them. It’s been 10 mins and he’s attempted twice and is still going to get them perfect. I don’t understand his sorting pattern but he does, and so does his very good visuospatial brain!

Who knew that a decision to buy a house with our best friends would serve us so well during a pandemic. Community is so important in every way including how I live, how I run my company, and how I connect with local merchants. Going forward I want to do even more. Do you too?

As we pursue the new world let’s create a path for transformation. Things we can do now that creates sustainable change for the future.

I see this suffering and these circumstances as giving rise to an opportunity for a new world. Who’s with me?

My son’s kindergarten was outdoors... so we’ve been keeping that part of his curriculum up by being outdoors! Kind of a good time for lots of people to explore outdoor education am I right? Maybe a way to maintain sanity? #gratefulitisntjanuary

Saw this while reading a COVID-19 article this morning. BAD COPY + AD PLACEMENT PEOPLE!!

We never did daycare. My mom and I split time caring for our little one before he started kindergarten. So activities all over the place became education. On Thursdays they would literally follow the garbage truck around. He would also spend HOURS watching construction sites and eventually trying to direct them from the distance. Today after watching this city work he came home and told me all about it. There was a pipe that broke in the neighbour’s yard. It leaked water. It flooded everywhere. It took less than a day to fix... all the details were included. And his brain retains it all.

Checking out our flicks and remembering the wind after the winter... #frisbeekids

So many parents are stressing thinking they have to be teachers all of a sudden. Actually YOU ALREADY ARE your kids’ educators. For example... today at breakfast we noticed the honey was hardened... so we tried several different tools to figure out how to get it out. I asked several times what do you think? like I typically do. I’m a scientist. Let’s hypothesize! It inspired lots of critical thinking skills along with fine motor skill development. Eventually I offered the s...uggestion to pour hot water in. That loosened it up and inspired another conversation. The whole thing lasted 30 minutes. That’s education. It really is. I do this with my university students and my child and have been for years and I’m quite confident that my child (and students) learns lots for me. My friend Jenn and I have been talking about this for a good 7 years now. And soon we will be launching a support space for parents to make this mental shift and claim their role as educators. If you want to learn more comment below and I will keep you posted! #pandemicparenting

I miss my circus class... (And don’t worry I sanitized after!!)

One thing that meditation does is train the brain to focus. We need that. Often but some of us more now than ever. Here’s your reminder to keep practicing.

Literally my office right now. #pandemicworklife

The scams are running wild these days!!

Simple: sit in stillness for 2 minutes. This one is not guided. Just a reminder.

Learn about finding routine and stillness during the chaos of this pandemic.

The Feminine Way http://www.mandyland.ca/blog/2020/3/17/the-feminine-way

#pandemicparenting

We went through half my supplies today alone. Classic.

So I want to show you a series of photos of my 4yo trying to draw something. He gets very frustrated when he can’t do something (generally) and often gives up and you can’t talk to him. He either gets or or doesn’t and the in between practice is hard. So we have all been working with him to teach him patience, perseverance, and PRACTICE. Yesterday he was trying to draw this bird. Got really frustrated... and scribbled it out cuz the wing he started to draw was too long he cla...imed. Before he could crumple the paper and give up I suggested that we number his attempts in order and see his progress. He agreed, surprisingly. The words of practice must be sinking in. He kept getting mad at the wing over the next 5 attempts. It was too long he said. So I asked him to try again and he said maybe I will start with the tail this time. So he did and produced #6. Huge parenting success... cuz we successfully worked with deep feelings of frustration and defeat. So proud of myself and my little kiddo!

I know it’s not fair of me to make a memory out of a feeling. Actually... it is fair. It’s neurobiology.

I’m such a sucker for knowledge. And I actually will read this book. It’s perfect for my brain cuz there is no expectation to read front-to-back!! Hmmm.... as I sit here at @pilotcoffee about to start writing I wonder if I should re-think my next book as a dictionary-style.

Going to @theuncoverup today!

Just hanging out...

Materials needed: air vent, 1.5 yo child, dust.

A perk of buying a house and living with friends! Thanks @brondle

That was almost as good as the zero-second shot by Kuwai in the quarters last year! What a great win #Raptors #WeTheNorth #12StraightWins #SettingRecords

I love all my pilot coffees but this one is now a fave! Thanks to the staff who helped me pick out campamento when holiday blend was all gone!

Does anyone want to come to Costa Rica to do their life coaching certification or for a Brain Health and Wellness Retreat? We have space for April!

@raisetherootmarket we love you and all the wonderful food, ethics, and education you and your staff bring to the community!

Taking a book on transit today instead of a podcast. #margaretatwood

We made cookies coloured with beet juice over the winter break. Mmmm. #NaturalFoodColoring

My parents divorcing was probably one of the best things that ever happened to me. Yes of course there was emotional trauma for me at 12 years old. But I was resilient enough to handle that. philosophically though, I learned an important lesson: marriage is NOT the be all and end all. Women could survive without that. That was imports for me who was born in 1975 into a middle class predominantly white Christian neighborhood and who had only 1 friend with divorced parents. For... awhile I said I would never marry. And thankfully, I did not fall pressure to marrying my high-school sweetheart. I moved away instead. Eventually when Mike and I decided to get married we did it with no proposal but rather a discussion. And no engagement ring to suggest I was on layaway. I did not become a Mrs. Actually I remained a Dr. I did not change my last name, a name that still reminds me of the patriarchy I was born into. We didn’t even legalize our marriage and didn’t call it that on invitations. It was a celebration of love. We formed a committed partnership. An actual partnership. One that persists today, thankfully because raising our child has been hard. My mother’s return to singlehood triggered in me a long-standing pursuit of equality that I would never compromise. This book I’m listening to is a reminder of the rage in me at the injustice women have endured. But wow... how we have persevered and are triumphing. And so much more to come.

Rant about Christmas: http://www.mandyland.ca//2019/12/9/mandyland-rant-christmas

http://www.mandyland.ca/the-podc//15/mandyland-rant-gender

Should we give out micro binders for our MicroDegrees?

Anxiety: When I think I can save the world. Depression: When I realize I can't. Privilege: When I do either from the comfort of my Canadian home drinking coffee from South America, in a cup made in China wearing clothes that I have too many of that were sewn in sweatshops with fruit from Africa sitting in my fridge. Awareness: awareness. Truth: Sitting with all of this.... Harmony: Still seeing myself and all being as good, valued, and lovable. See more

Our #MicroDegree topics for today’s class! #Intelligence #EmotionalIntelligence #EQ #IntrapersonalIntelligence ... #SpiritualNeuroscience #MultipleIntelligence #MicroDegreeInPsychologicalNeuroscience #Neuroscience #CentreForAppliedNeuroscience #KnowYourBrain @vanessavellacoaching @vanessyvelly @justvessa88 @victoria.bergin