2013-12-09; 7:21am, Monday.  Still dark, but morning light and much higher temps at around minus 10dC.  The near minus forty with that wind chill of last Friday and Saturday is gone for now.


Diary:  Mandala progress, friendly meetings and coffee spill.

~~One last mandala rosette to go, Sunday breakfast at Perky,  Seniors tea Christmas and Don’s birthday.~~

Last night I completed two more flower rosettes of my mandala, which leaves one more and about five ‘tongues’ that need some completing of over looked details.  I am trying to get the whole thing finished before Winter Solstice on the 21st, but I am not going to rush for it.
	On Sunday morning I had coffee with Sarah, BJ and little Alec at Perky, exchanging cards and photos.  It was good to see them again, we always have a good and lively connect.  Sarah was just back from her holiday in Mexico and showed little Alec running in and out of the water and waves.

On Saturday I went to the gift exchange of the seniors tea at the Catholic immigration society.  This is part of my ethnic initiative and has been a rewarding experience so far, having attended five events at this time.
	On Sunday I met with friends at the Palliser, but had a coffee spill due to an unintended left hook on Ken’s part.  I had just a bit of coffee on my shirt sleeve, which I washed out once at home. The cup was sent flying and with a gracious curve found its lowest gravitational potential without hitting anyone.  There was still lots of coffee left, but I did keep a little extra distance!

Last night I finally formulated my talk description for Herman’s Winter brochure.  Later today Jack and I will have our postponed coffee from last week and I plan to visit Sharen some time later this week.  Last Friday I met with Don at Kingsland for a coffee and best wishes for his birthday with card and a calendar with historical CPR photos, which he appreciated.


Writings:  Talk description formulating. 

~~I analyse my process of arriving at a satisfactory formulation for my talk, which was particularly confounding this time.~~

The above mentioned talk - titled: “Towards a Spirituality for Today” - has the following description: ‘Choosing your own spirituality can be liberating and exciting, but is not simple.  We want to look at what can guide us in making responsible and meaningful choices.’
	My problem usually is that the first formulations tend to be abstract and formal.  I always have to rework them to get rid of terms like aspects, frame works, discernment  and value systems, to find words that people use in daily conversation.  For example I had complex, which had to clear the field for ’not simple’!
	I also tend to say too much in the description and have to keep in mind to keep it short and simple; my late and dear family friend and colleague Bill McCoy, would call it his ‘kiss principle’.  Thanks Bill!

My problem this time was and still is that a dual issue arises for me  with this presentation.  One is that spirituality needs to be chosen and applied with care and discernment, while the other one relates to my own choice of framework and purpose for such spirituality.
	In history we find many examples of spiritualities gone awry, just to mention just a few:  The Munster Anabaptists of 1550?, the Jones Town calamity from the 1980-ties and the later Solar temple cult and Heaven's Gate tragedies.  So good and careful judgement is called for in all cases and it is to this that I want to call attention in my talk.
	The aspect of my personal framework is that I now am close to having a firm formulation of that and feel a need to express it.  But, the Sunday group may not be the best place to share that, in particular since I have not really completed this formulation for myself.  I guess some more work is needed here.
<8:42am and 8:56am~