Mapping our Amazing World

I must say that Mathematics is a passion of mine.  But it wasn't always.

I didn't think it was all that great in high school.  I thought it was OK.  It was one of those subjects that you could actually get 100% in which would really bring up your average, so that was great.  But did it really entertain me?  Not so much.

It wasn't until I went to University of Waterloo and majored in math that it really came alive for me.  (Yes, I know what you're thinking... what kind of geek-child is this??)  But it's true.  This is where I learned that mathematics wasn't just about arithmetic and complicated computations.  I majored in Combinatorics and Optimization which is all about widening your mind to imagine ALL the possibilities in any situation and then formulate an algorithm to find the optimal solution.  This kind of mind-bending combined with logic definitely entertained me.  Mmmm...

Math in Life

But it wasn't until later that mathematics really altered my life.

I had married, had children, had bought the farm, gone organic, the whole shebang when a healing crisis happened. The lumps growing in my breast, the healing journey, and the resulting miraculous healing are the topic of my book, “What If You Could Skip the Cancer?”. But there was one chapter that was left out – the one about how mathematics let me let go of control in my life.

One of the challenges of being alive is our need to control our surroundings. We want to control everything so that we can make things turn out the way that we want. It doesn't always work – and when it doesn't, we try even harder. The result of this is a constant stress (born of fear) that is with us from the moment we wake up in the morning till we fall asleep at night. Our nervous system is in a mild state of “fight or flight” all of the time. This takes a massive toll on our immune system and our health. So this was something that I had to get over.

This is where Jim (my friend from my book) brought out these bizarre shapes made out of cardboard. He started telling me all about these “perfect solids” and how they were the basis of all things in the universe. He showed me how they fit together, how they turned into each other and how perfect the world really was. He compared resonances of musical scales to frequencies of the colour spectrum to the resonances of our chakras. Over and over again, he showed me the perfection in the design – using mathematics. After seeing all of this inherent perfection in the universe, he asked me what I thought all of this worrying and control was accomplishing. Everything was already perfect.

This worked for me. In a time when I really needed to relax, give up control and just trust the process, I was truly able to relax and start healing – all due to the beauty of mathematics.

When Do I Get to Play with Mathematics?

I have to admit that I have DVDs like "The Joy of Prime Numbers" and "The Joy of Calculus".  I know... it's a little weird.  But I prefer the word eccentric.

We also have a free after-school tutoring service at East Street Station. Math is a very difficult subject for many kids and when they don't get it one year, the difficulty compounds since each year builds on the previous. So, helping kids “get the basics” in math and get their self-esteem back is one of the biggest things we do in the club.

I love helping the little kids. But my greatest entertainment is when high school kids come in and I get to play with Relations & Functions and Calculus. It's like digging into a long-lost well and coming up with wonderful treasure. Aahh... Mmmm