Monday, 28 February 2011

Used

If you haven't used the information 
the universe has already given you...
why do you think
it will give you any more?
- Unknown

Friday, 25 February 2011

Valuable

Everything turns out to be valuable 
that one does for one's self 
without thought of profit.
- Marguerite Yourcenar

Wednesday, 23 February 2011

Do It

The most effective way to do it, is to do it.
- Amelia Earhart

Monday, 21 February 2011

Family

Take the time to have three cups of tea.   
The first cup you’re a stranger, 
the second cup you’re a friend, 
the third cup you’re family.  
 – proverb

Friday, 18 February 2011

February 18, 2011 Chautauqua


From the Editor's Computer

   I am not someone who normally watches the news, though I have been the past few weeks to hear the weather forecast and follow the Mayerthorpe inquiry and events in Egypt.

   Overall, I find the news broadcasts to be very discouraging.  Not because it is predominately “bad news,” rather because so many of the stories are just plain asinine and not worth the airtime.

  Some examples…
  • a woman is extremely embarrassed and traumatized because she has to reveal to one airport security personnel a personal condition.  I can tell you what her personal condition is (breast prosthesis) because she was so traumatized that she had to tell a stranger about the prosthesis that she told a news crew who broadcast the story to a multitude of strangers! 
  • Another woman had a poor customer service experience, and as she’s relating the story, mentions that she didn’t know she was traumatized by the encounter till she was told she was.  If you have to be told you’re a victim, you probably aren’t one!
  • Or the various stories about RCMP arrests.  I personally believe that if you are innocent and have nothing to hide, your first reaction on seeing a cop is NOT to attack the cop, or flee on foot, or flee in a vehicle travelling at speeds in excess of the speed limit!  I also don’t believe the RCMP should publicly apologize when they ticket or arrest someone they’ve caught breaking the law just because the family doesn’t believe their relative did it.   

Beth

Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k8zIjKO1uqJqkKO5zdbz3d3aieb3Cd3l/view?usp=sharing

To contact The Chautauqua, email: thechautauqua@gmail.com.

Wednesday, 16 February 2011

Stories

Stories can conquer fear, you know. 
They can make the heart bigger. 
- Ben Okri

Monday, 14 February 2011

Love

Those that go searching for love 
only make manifest their own lovelessness, 
and the loveless never find love, 
only the loving find love, 
and they never have to seek for it. 
- D.H. Lawrence

Friday, 11 February 2011

Work

They intoxicate themselves with work 
so they won’t see how they really are.   
– Aldous Huxley

Wednesday, 9 February 2011

Bread


People do not fight because they are wicked...
War is waged primarily for the sake 
of what is central...bread.   
Help the needy.  Feed the starving.   
Assuage the pain of those who are hungry...
It is the means of preventing war 
and securing the great blessing of peace. 
- Rabbi Benjamin Blech

Monday, 7 February 2011

Happen

If you want to accomplish anything in life, 
you can't just sit back 
and hope it will happen. 
You've got to make it happen. 
- Chuck Norris

Friday, 4 February 2011

February 4, 2011 Chautauqua


From the Editor's Computer

   “Diversity and independence are important because the best collective decisions are the product of disagreement and contest, not consensus or compromise.  An intelligent group...does not ask its members to modify their positions in order to let the group reach a decision everyone can be happy with.  Instead, it figures out how to...aggregate and produce collective judgements that represent not what any one person in the group thinks but rather, in some sense, what they all think.  Paradoxically, the best way for a group to be smart is for each person in it to think and act as independently as possible.”
(James Surowiecki, Wisdom of Crowds)

   Those words are definitely something to think about and ponder for every group or organization you belong to.  We are (relatively speaking) at the beginning of a new year and many groups and organizations are going to be having their Annual General Meetings in the months to come, if not already.

   Do you run your group/organization on consensus - playing it safe, trying to find a “happy medium,” or do you allow your members to bring their varied strengths to the table and create something unique and more than anyone could have envisioned?

   When a group works under consensus or compromise a vital aspect of the creative and collective magic of the group is lost. 

   However, if each individual is allowed to bring their individuality forward a beautiful mosaic of thought and action can be created, with results that astound everyone.

Beth

Read the complete issue of The Chautauqua here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Tn-1yL8vvM5zmdgcIX6OpQ-dgEMIao7q/view?usp=sharing

To contact The Chautauqua, email: thechautauqua@gmail.com.

Wednesday, 2 February 2011

Groundhog Day

Happy Groundhog Day!
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