Day 100: Gilles Gagnon

January 8, 2010 at 12:01 am, Category: Inspiration

“The answer will come as you walk the path.  Walk the path, and the path will appear.  Walk the path, and the junctions in the path will appear, and you’ll make choices, and that is all the wonderful journey of life.  But don’t sit and wait for the answer to appear.”

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Toni Reece: Thank you so much, Gilles, for agreeing to be part of this Project and before we begin, can you please introduce yourself?

Gilles Gagnon: Yes, Toni, it’s my pleasure to partake in this wonderful Project of yours.

Toni: Thank you.

Gilles: Yeah, it’s wonderful.  My name is Gilles Gagnon, and I guess you can say I’m a work in progress.  It’s hard to put a label to what I do or who I am.

I’ll give you a little bit of background.  I worked in IT for 20-some odd years in the corporate world, and then about 10 years ago struck out my own.  There was a call for me to make some music.  I was very attracted to making music, so I explored that.  In my mid 30s I learned to play keyboard, and shortly after I was able to produce and record a couple of CDs and also started a web design business called True Connections.  And lately I’ve been involved in a project of mine which is very similar to yours, Toni.

It’s called The Wisdom Speakers.  Just like you, I interview people with my lovely partner Nicole Arends.  We interview people on camera, and it’s about digging and finding their wisdom in order to share it with the masses on the internet.  I craft it in a very visually appealing and interesting way.

Toni: That sounds fantastic.  I would encourage  …  we’re going to put a link at the bottom of your post the day that you post so people can find that website, because I’ve actually looked at it and it is a very cool project.

Gilles: Thanks.

Toni: So let’s talk about inspiration.  When you think about inspiration, who do you inspire and how do you do that?

Gilles: Well, there are two ways I inspire people, I think.  One is as a messenger through The Wisdom Speakers by bringing other people who have wisdom to share and have inspiration to provide by bringing them to the masses.  I’m hoping that it does inspire others.

The other way is, hopefully, by my life as an example — the fact that you can set your mind to do something different, to walk to the beat of your own drummer, to find that beat and walk to it and to evolve by taking action, step by step, and continuing to listen to your calls within and follow them.

Toni: Now how do you then use those messages to help people explore their own potential?

Gilles: Typically by asking questions.  Again, through The Wisdom Speakers, I’m hoping that when people watch those videos they, in turn, ask themselves some questions given the material that was presented.

As far as one-on-one encounters, I’m always asking people questions such as “What are your passions?  What brings you joy?  What is your dream?”  I have a very strong interest in this field, and I’m sure it’s going to lead me somewhere else.  I’m not sure exactly where, but that’s the calling now, and it’s been with me for a long time.

The first method has been The Wisdom Speakers, and I’m not sure how else it’s going to come out; but to answer your question, it’s by asking questions and probing.

Toni: And do you get the opportunity to do that?  I know you do that through your project, and then how do you think then that by providing that information that that could help others to see what’s going on within their own potential and to follow through with that?  How does it happen?  Can you give an example?

Gilles: Yeah, I do participate in various blogs on the internet, so I’ll be looking for people who are starting to ask questions, and I’ll probe a little deeper by asking them questions in order for them to find the answers within.

I also do it very casually when I’m at a café, say, with my laptop, and I’ll engage with someone — which I do regularly — and within a few minutes, I can connect with them and have enough of a relationship to start asking those questions.  Because usually they’ll ask me “What are you writing about?  What are you working on?  And that is a good segue for me to start asking questions and hopefully spark a light.

Toni: So what I’m picturing is either when you are commenting on a blog or reading other people’s blogs and hearing or seeing that they’re asking a question, or you’re talking to someone, it’s almost like someone just opens that door just a crack and you put your foot in there and say “Well, let’s think about it a little further.”

Gilles: Exactly, exactly!

Toni: That’s the picture that just came to my mind.

Gilles: You have it exactly.   My next step is to make that maybe more official in some way.  I’m not sure exactly how, whether it’s going to be in the form of a book or just writings or workshops or different types of videos.  I’m not sure; but it’s coming, because I know it’s been fruitful.

I see people’s eyes light up when I ask the questions.  I see them pondering, and that’s the idea — start an inner dialogue with themselves to find who they’re meant to be.  What is this life about for me?

Toni: Well, let’s talk about you.  What do you need to be inspired?

Gilles: Foremost, nature.

Toni: Nature…

Gilles: Nature.  I’m known to sit on a log in the woods alone and ponder.  It’s a feeling I just can’t describe.  It’s peaceful.  I can quiet my mind, and I just adore the beauty that nature brings to me and to my heart.  Other than that, it would be time alone.  I need time alone to be inspired.

Toni: Okay.

Gilles: I really enjoy journaling; it slows my thoughts down, and it also focuses my thoughts to one particular thought.  Pondering with just a cup of tea or coffee and just letting myself go deep, ask questions, or not even ask questions.  Just “be” once in a while.

Toni: Have you always been this way?  Have you always come to the table from a reflective standpoint and an inquisitive standpoint, knowing who you are, knowing you need to know who you are so that you can do what you need to do, but then also help others?  Was that always an awareness that you came to the table with?

Gilles: No, no, it wasn’t, especially when I started with my training and information technology.  I started as a programmer.   Everything was very linear.  Everything was very logical, analytical, and I was just about to embark the old corporate ladder.  So no, that was definitely not in my field.

The curiosity was there; the curiosity about life in general but not so focused.  That came about probably, I would say, my mid-20s when I started reading a lot of inspirational books and self-help books.  And that’s when I really started to think there has to be more to this.  What am I here for?  We’re all different.  We all look different on the outside.  We are obviously different on the inside, as well, so what’s unique about me?  What am I meant to do?

That has been a long journey, and that has been one of my challenges is to forget about the thought that this answer will be given to me on a silver platter or it will just appear to me.  For some people — from what I’ve read and from talking to others — it does happen; but for the majority it doesn’t.  It’s when I started to realize that the light came on and the realization was, don’t wait for the answer to come on the platter.

The answer will come as you walk the path.  Walk the path, and the path will appear.  Walk the path, and the junctions in the path will appear, and you’ll make choices, and that is all the wonderful journey of life.  But don’t sit and wait for the answer to appear.  It didn’t work for me.  And as soon as I started walking, it appeared, and it is still appearing now.

Toni: So, what do you need to explore your own potential now?

Gilles: I need people like yourself — like-minded people, people who are marching to the beat of their own drum.  I need people and mentors like Barbara Sher, Ernie Zelinski, Earl Nightingale who, to me, is like a wise grandfather.

I also need to be tapped into organizations such as Habitat for Humanity, Salvation Army, UNICEF, the United Way, organizations that cater to the needy and the less fortunate.  I don’t necessarily have to do work for them, but just to know that they’re around and I can do something similar in my own way.  I don’t feel alone, and I feel like there are other people that care and want to make a difference in the world.

Toni: Are there tools and resources that you reach for?  I know you mentioned certain mentors in your life, but have you found yourself over the years, when you’re looking to expand your potential or explore different potential, that you might reach for a particular tool or resource?

Gilles: Well, there are several.  One tool that I use regularly every morning is, most mornings I go for a walk or a bike ride.  And it’s my gratitude walk or my gratitude bike ride, and I take that time to just be so grateful for the simple things.  The simple things, because I do live a simple lifestyle, non-materialistic.

All my richness are in the fact that I have arms, I have legs, I can walk, I can breathe, I have lovely people around me.  I’m walking, and somebody has made a sidewalk for me to walk on.  There’s cars around.  There’s people.  Just every little simple thing that I’m so grateful for.  The birds, the trees, I could go on and on.  I think you get the idea.

That, to me, is a wonderful tool because it starts my day off with a heart full of gratitude and a smile on my face.

Toni: What a way to start the day.  I’m almost afraid to ask the next question.  How do you end your day?

Gilles: I usually end my day reading.  I end my day reading.  Reading some … I don’t read fiction.  I do read a little bit of fiction but hardly any, that’s why I say really none.  Usually it’s inspirational books.  Yeah, inspirational books.

Toni: I’m listening to you, and those who are used to me, certain words come to my mind when I’m listening to you or to anyone that’s going through the interview.  And I wrote down two words twice, actually, during this interview — that there’s a gentle curiosity that I’m hearing about you and that’s what enables you to be inspired for yourself and to explore your potential with that gentle curiosity, but then also using that gentle curiosity to inspire others.  I don’t know if that fits you, but that’s what I heard.

Gilles: That really does fit me.  I am a very curious person.  That’s what made me successful also in the IT world because being curious … I have to develop some good problem-solving skills.  So curiosity is definitely one of my trademarks, and that’s what allows me to want to have conversations with strangers and help people and find out what makes people tick.

I still don’t have that answer.  I’m still trying to figure it out.  But I do enjoy people’s uniqueness and their unique potential.  If I can help people listen and find their own beat and help them walk to that beat, to me that’s worth living.

Toni: Well thank you so much for a really wonderful interview today.  We will provide The Wisdom Speakers at the bottom of the page, and I just have a feeling that there’s more coming in the future.  And you’ve given a lot of really good, just wonderful nuggets of inspiration that others are going to relate to. So for giving of your time and taking part in the Project, we thank you so very much.

Gilles: Once again, Toni, thank you so much for putting this together, and thanks for the option to take part in your wonderful Project.

Toni: Well you’re welcome.  Take care.

Gilles: Thanks!

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For more information about Gilles Gagnon:  www.thewisdomspeakers.com

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