Tag: conversation

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Ant or Grasshopper – How We Spend our Time

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I recently gave a short presentation on how we choose to spend our time, our life – planning for the future versus living more in the moment. The old ant and grasshopper parable came to mind. Are you more like the hard-working ant who struggled all summer storing food for the winter, or more like the carefree grasshopper who hopped and chirped the summer away?

We often hear about how we aren’t saving enough, whether that’s for emergencies or for retirement. Not to mention how nearly impossible it is to do that with most incomes not keeping up with costs, among other financial challenges. While I certainly don’t want to minimize any of that, I’m choosing here to focus more on the psychological side of things.

What are we saving for in terms of wants and desires? What are we expecting of the the future? And what are we giving up to get there? What if next week the ant and the grasshopper both have massive insect coronaries and die? Who will have had the better life? Would it be easier to save for the future if that future were guaranteed? Continue reading

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Politics and Religion – Taboo Talk or Opportunity?

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Whoever first said ‘don’t discuss politics and religion’ may have been on to something. It is probably one of the surest ways to turn friends into enemies, or at least damage friendships. But perhaps that happens because we don’t discuss these taboo subjects enough, rather than too much. I very… Continue reading

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What’s New As We Hit Post 100 Today

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Hard to believe it’s already been a hundred days and a hundred posts since I started this blog. And yet at the same time, I almost can’t remember not writing here daily. Of course what does that say about my memory then? But once you start doing something you place… Continue reading

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Palindrome of the Lost Generation…Not

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Lost Generation video
I was sent a cool little video that’s bit of a different take on the traditional palindrome. Instead of the usual Madam, I’m Adam letter by letter technical palindrome, this 1 minute 44 second video is palindromic line by line. It takes the idea of word-order palindromes to another level with whole lines getting reversed here.

While listening, it’s even more effective and impressive to read along as the words scroll by. I liked not trying to think ahead, or read ahead; trying not to imagine what the opposite direction would be like as it was scrolling forward. It made it that much better to then see it unfold backwards later. Continue reading

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Absurd News to Porch Light Peeve

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You know how certain crazy and really inconsequential news stories can sometimes become far bigger than their limited significance warrants? I’m thinking things like Balloon Boy or Tiger’s indiscretions. I have a theory about why such stories catch our interest despite our best efforts to dismiss them. Let me know… Continue reading

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Movies for Dessert

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How about a movie to go with that dinner yesterday? A digital dessert of sorts. While not organic, they all do feature living, breathing, organic beings, aka us humans. So with that in mind, here are a few movies available on DVD that may be a little less well known, but that are all among my personal favourites. Continue reading

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Welcome to my new blog!

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If you were looking for Elizabeth Ely’s Harp Page (my previous incarnation as a harpist) it’s alive and well offering sound clips, CDs, and little harp ramblings just as before. However, it’s address is now www.elizabethely.com/harp What you will now find at www.elizabethely.com aka Elizabeth Ely dot Com are the… Continue reading