This is the quote that started the project:

Vitality.

What is it?

I fired off an email to a handful of people who, when I tried to think of the top 20 people in this community who practice or manifest wellness, came to my mind – because of their enviably radiant skin, yoga practice, trailbuilding passion,  coaching of other people, passion for nature,  garden or kitchen table (or the direct connection between the two), passion for something,  willingness to walk a spiritual path, or ability to overcome and reframe things in an incredibly positive way.

One of those people is Anna Helmer, who founded the Slow Food Cycle Sunday and is one of the most passionate people I know about organic farming. She’s also a columnist with the Whistler Question and part of the clan that make up Pemberton’s favourite farmers.

The responses have been super inspiring to me. It’s quite lovely to take a word or an idea and realise how many pathways there are that lead to it. I’ll share responses every few weeks. And welcome your thoughts on it. I don’t want this exploration to be limited by my personal social circle. So please, email pembygrl@gmail.com, if you’re interested in sharing what Vitality means to you.

Here’s Anna’s always insightful take that she shared earlier this year.

Will has been really sick lately with a gastro thing. Over a week of it. He’s lost weight and everything. Harrowing. And come to think of it, I think it has affected our vitality. Certainly mine was at a low ebb and it got lower every time he got sick and lost whatever food or drink he’d been interested in (not very much at all).
Anyways.
Now he is better and today he ate all day long. Not kidding. Never without food. And wouldn’t you know it, the vital spirit has revived. That is to say, I have an interest in other things, I am cooking again, sleeping, thinking about the future with comfortable anticipation.
I am thinking about parents of really sick kids and have decided that if that happened to me I would have to find a way to stay vital. Otherwise I would be sick too, and no help at all.
So to me, vitality is connected with an ability or willingness to look beyond whatever is happening and affecting me right this minute. Sometimes it is really hard to do, and I don’t. Maybe as I get older, I ‘ll learn to keep it. Maybe that’s why I have often heard the word associated with older people. They have learned, through trial and error, to stay vital.