Welcome to With Glowing Hearts
Welcome to our With Glowing Hearts blog
This blog has been created as a place to capture the essence of the Olympic Spirit and, through shared insights, attempt to discover what exactly happened during those days of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics and Paralympics.
Many of us experienced a warm and fuzzy feeling of joy and happiness as our hearts swelled with pride, while others were moved to spontaneously break out into an inspired version “Oh Canada”. Canadian flags and red & white were everywhere. Everyone was smiling and felt a sense of unity with one another unlike anything experienced before.
What exactly happened? Were we all undergoing some kind euphoric mind alteration… or perhaps it was a few too many “brewskies” or too much fresh air, as people swarmed the streets of Vancouver from dawn til dusk and well into the night?
What was “it” that actually happened?
That is what I hope to discover…together with your input. I invite
Olympic atheletes, volunteers, torch bearers, international tourists, Canadians, Aboriginals and Vancouverites - whether you watched and felt the Olympics at home or were physically in Vancouver - to share your experiences, insights and thoughts about your Olympic experience. Share your stories and encounters…peak moments, reflective thoughts ... anything that will help give a coherent expression to the magic and energy that we all felt (and hopefully are still feeling ) during this time.
So hopefully… we can do “it” again and we can hang on to “it” and use “it” to make a better world. Hopefully… our “Glowing Hearts” will continue to glow and spread love and happiness into our world.
In addition to your very appreciated input, we are hoping to discover the many other elements that were a part of the Olympic games both seen and unseen; noticed and unnoticed that played a contributory role in this. We will explore the unique expression of the human spirit; our connectedness to each other and the other nations; the overwhelming sense of good will and peace that pervaded the games…”the energy”. We will delve deep into the symbology that was used to symbolize Canada but also create a sense of magic and wonder such as the giant polar bear or Aurora Borealis in the Opening Ceremonies.
Below are some questions to start you off. Feel free to use the questions as a guide to help direct your thoughts or just “wing it” and write whatever comes to mind.
My intent is to form all of this into a book. If you prefer to write to me directly about your experiences, please contact me at
sue@suestudios.com.
Please email me photos of homes decorated in red and white that we can post on this blog!! Let's see how Canada celebrated their Olympic Spirit.
See photos collected so far.
Thank you.
Thanks for creating this blog. I agree that it's important to keep the spirit going and to remember the experience that was so unique. I was very fortunate to be able to be involved with the Olympics and Paralympics on many levels. I was a torchbearer, a volunteer acupuncturist at the Polyclinic in the Athlete's village, and an attendee of some of the events.
ReplyDeleteAs a torchbearer, I felt supremely honoured to have been chosen. It wasn't until I met the other torchbearers, however, that I truly felt just how momentous this experience would be. People told stories of why this was important to them and who they were running for. We watched out the window of our meeting place while one very daring torchbearer stood atop the gongola coming down Grouse Mountain. It was one thing to be cheered on by fellow torchbearers and family and friends. It was another to be cheered by total strangers. These people were there to cheer on the spirit of the Olympics. They were there to show their support to the athletes, to their country, to the atmosphere of togetherness.
The instant I heard that Vancouver had been awarded the 2010 Olympics, I knew that I wanted to volunteer for it. I was happy to be a part of it in any manner, but was thrilled when I qualified to be one of just five Vancouver acupuncturists to work in the Olympic Village. Every day of volunteering was amazing, but what stood out most for me was when I got to “acupuncture” Sumi, the Paralympic mascot. What a sport he was, getting acupuncture, massage, chiropractic, and physiotherapy.
Then, of course there was the whole excitement of watching the Olympic and Paralympic sports, both live and on tv. Even when Canada was not a participant, the crowds cheered so loudly, it was thunderous. Curling has never seen or heard such boisterous masses. Sledge hockey is a new favourite sport for Canadians and the world.
When I talk to patients who were out of town during the Olympics, I find it near impossible to describe fully the experience that this was. How do you describe patriotism that has never been demonstrated this way and at this volume in Canada? How do you describe the emotional attachment that you develop to athletes that you have only come to “know” in less than two weeks time? How do you describe the feelings that grew so quickly and so strongly with the hundreds of others surrounding you?
It was a time of Glowing Hearts.