Your Uplift - May 2026

Patricia's Resiliency eNewsletter ❤️🐞

May 12, 2026

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Table of Contents

ONE: On a Personal Note

Hard Stuff: Hearing Loss

For nearly ten years, I’ve worn hearing aids. Some people assume they bring back normal hearing. They don’t and they help. Without them, it feels as though I’m under water while voices come somewhere above the surface.

Even with hearing aids, some spaces are difficult. This weekend, I attended a networking event that turned out to have a nightclub atmosphere. The company was lovely. But between the live music, overlapping conversations, and hard surfaces, I could hear very little and felt exhausted straining to hear. I quietly left early.

However, I know the importance of social engagement for mental health. So I continue to find spaces where connecting is easier, including speaking at events with a microphone, meeting in quieter venues (seldom coffee shops), and welcoming people to bring their morning coffee to our home, for a sweet chit-chat.

Please, if you know someone with hearing loss, encourage them to get tested. People who don’t attend to this important issue are at a much higher risk for dementia.❤️🐞

Uplifting Stuff: Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is not always a happy day for those whose relationships include conflict, abuse, illness, distance, or cut-offs. During my faith community’s Sunday service, the message was: “Mothers are people too,” which captured the mixed emotions this day can bring. For me, the weekend was touching.

Over the years, several people have embraced me as their substitute, fill-in, or Canadian Mom. If you are older, consider reaching out to younger generations with an open heart. And if you are younger without a mother figure, consider reaching out to a kind, trustworthy older woman who may offer the connection you have been missing.

In the meantime, I wish you continued resilience,
Patricia ❤️🐞

TWO: Resiliency Research

A study from the University of British Columbia examined how a sense of community and belonging impacts youth mental health.

The study, “Community Belonging and Flourishing in Youth: Examining the Mediating Role of Coping Skills in Youth Across Ethnoracial Backgrounds,” found that a strong sense of belonging was significantly connected to better mental health outcomes among Canadian youth. Researchers concluded that belonging and positive coping skills help protect against anxiety, loneliness, stress, and emotional distress.

A relevant finding stated, “Positive coping skills significantly mediated the relationship between community belonging and flourishing mental health in Canadian youth.”

This research supports the importance of cultivating emotionally safe, connected, and inclusive environments where people feel they belong.

THREE: Patricia’s Resiliency Blog/Articles

In recent years, conversations about emotionally safe spaces have increased in workplaces, schools, counselling settings, and communities. Yet emotional safety is more complex than simply declaring a room, meeting, or organization to be “safe.” Every person enters a room or space with unique experiences, memories, wounds, beliefs, and hopes. What feels supportive to one person may feel threatening or emotionally activating to another.

For this reason, perhaps the goal is not to create. . . CLICK HERE.

Have you ever wondered about your humor personality or telling a joke or two? WAIT! You might be asking, “Do I need to tell jokes to have a sense of humor?” Absolutely not! Read on!

Most of us, at some time or another, crack a smile — if not a gut wrenching guffaw. Having a sense of humor does not require the ability to throw an audience of one or a thousand into ripples of laughter. It merely requires the ability to look at life from. . . CLICK HERE.

FOUR: Resiliency Video Picks

1. The Dropping Anchor Skill (Russ Harris, Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (4.30min)

  1. Snack Attack — stay to the end for the regret reveal (4.41 min)

Patricia’s Videos

  1. Bright-Sided by Barbara Ehrenreich (The Problem with Toxic Positivity) (4.50min)

FIVE: FREE Opportunities with Patricia

A live, online conversation with Counselling Therapist, and Spunky Seniorpreneur, Patricia Morgan MA CCC and Financial Expert, Shamez Kassam MBA, CFA

We’ll explore:
• How to stay grounded when life feels unpredictable
• The shift from building wealth to using it wisely
• The emotional side of aging, identity, and change
• What you should know to prepare for the years ahead

Key Takeaways:

  • Reduce stress and feel more in control of your future

  • Avoid common gaps in long-term and retirement planning

  • Strengthen communication with partners, family & advisors

  • Build resilience, both personally and practically

Why Attend:
Gain the clarity and confidence to move forward, no matter what the next decade brings. Develop emotional resilience and hear ways to make practical decisions.

This isn’t just about finances. And it’s not just about mindset. It’s about your future.

📅 May 21
🕖 7 PM MT
🎥 Recording included

Register here: CLICK HERE

2. Return to Center Workshop * Friday, May 22

Creating Emotionally Safe Spaces in a Stressful World
OPEN to THE PUBLIC

Creating Emotionally Safe Spaces in a Stressful World

Based on the award-winning book:
Return to Center: Simple Strategies to Navigate Distress, Depression, and Disconnection (2024 Canadian Counselling Book Award)

Why this workshop?

Life can knock us off balance—through relationship struggles, work pressures, or the weight of responsibility. This training is designed for mental health professionals, community leaders, and anyone required to create emotionally safe spaces for others.

Join us to explore practical tools to steady yourself, improve relationships, and foster genuine emotional safety and connection.

What you’ll discover:

✅ A simple understanding of the Polyvagal Theory and your nervous system
✅ How to recognize signals of safety and danger in yourself and others
✅ Tools to map your own nervous system states: Charged, Give Up, and Centered
✅ A list of strategies to increase calm, focus, and connection
✅ Ways to emotionally regulate yourself and help others return to center

What you’ll gain:

✨ Clarity on how body and mind respond to stress
✨ Awareness of when you’re agitated, shut down, or steady—and why it matters
✨ A personal toolbox of strategies to calm your mind and reconnect with others
✨ Practical ways to handle challenges with confidence while helping others, including children, feel safe and supported

WHERE: Caroline Library, ·5023 - 50th Avenue, Caroline, Alberta

TIME: 5 -7pm, Friday, May 22, 2026

No Registration — JUST COME * See you there! ❤️🐞

NINE: More Opportunities for Resilience

Presentations — In-Person or Online
Keynotes/Workshops: CLICK HERE.

Presentation Skills: For those who want guidance to develop a speaking business or simply craft and deliver an engaging message CLICK HERE.

Counselling Therapy: Can be delivered online or in-person. CLICK HERE.

Publications: To view resiliency books and ebooks CLICK HERE.

Please let me know how I might be of service at [email protected] 

Your Spunky Patricia ❤️🐞