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A Warning about the Rise of AI from Geoffrey Hinton (“The Godfather of AI”)

Last week, it was announced on CBC that British-Canadian Computer Scientist Geoffrey Hinton had resigned from Google. He did so in order to speak out against potential dangers of the “monster” he helped to create–AI (Artificial Intelligence, ChatGPT, and many other platforms). Hinton foresees that AI will outdo human intelligence and endeavour.

Over the past 40+ years, Hinton has broken the ground on machine learning. Some view him as having made AI possible. Now, as CBC reports, he wants to see it slowed down and regulated for the good of society. Human intelligence will soon be supplanted by AI, he said in interviews with Don Pittis and Nil Koksal: “and due to national and business competition [notably between the US and China], there’s no obvious way to prevent it.”

On May 3rd, at the international “EmTech Digital” conference, Hinton commented that there’s a risk that AI could destroy humans: “In a few years time, they may be significantly more intelligent than people.”

He says we must try to keep AI controlled “when due to national and business competition, there’s no way to prevent” its supremacy. Hinton says AI can be benign but fears it’s inevitable that it will be used for harmful things. He fears what will happen to a world “where there [are] bad actors who want to build robot soldiers that kill people.”

As CBC business journalist Don Pittis cites, “Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) now joins climate change and nuclear Armaggedon as ways for humans to extinguish themselves.”

En route to that, Hinton remarks that new technology “will soon strip away jobs,” leading to a destabilizing gap between the rich and poor that current politics will be unable to solve.” Increases in productivity at work will see many workers turn redundant, so out of work, while the rich get richer and the poor, poorer.

“Fortune Business Insights” published a report that the global AI market size, valued in 2022 at “$428 Billion (USD) and in 2023 at 515.31 Billion (USD)” is now projected to grow by 2030 to “27 Trillion” (USD).

Daily and weekly activity on AI platforms is rapid-paced. Google DeepMind and LinkedIn have launched “Pi,” a competitor to ChatGPT, in order to keep current. The Canadian company, Thomson Reuters, says it’s planning “a deeper investment in artificial intelligence.”

Hinton has started a new Toronto-based company, “Cohere,” that is trying to raise $250 Million to mitigate the risk and loss that AI may usher in. One option for good, Hinton conceded, amidst so much worry, is “AI alignment, where intelligent computers work in harmony with humans, or at least don’t wipe us out.” Businesses have an opportunity to invest in a strategy to slow down the advance of “God-like AI.”

If such impending doom strikes fear into us, Hinton hopes that we can get the US and China to agree to fight against existential threats, as they did with nuclear weapons: “We’re all in the same boat with respect to existential threats so we all ought to cooperate on trying to stop it.” We need multi-government “treaties” like those which have prevented nuclear war.

In this period of uncertainty, when bullying, psychopath leaders (e.g. Putin, Trump) have already perpetrated wars and/or manipulated elections, Hinton says we want “symbiosis with AI–but it’s not guaranteed.”

And now it’s your turn. How do you think we can keep AI safe in different ways in global communities? What aspects of your life and work have already been radically altered by AI?

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Weird English idioms and some history behind the “Ides of March” in this month’s newsletter!

March 2023 Vol 5 Issue 3

 

Tell Your Story Newsletter (TYSN):
Specializing in Entrepreneurial and Linguistic Communication
Let me teach you to tell your story!

Welcome Mid-March, 2023!

After enduring unseasonably cold weather for the first 10 days of March, we have seen temperatures gradually rise, as we reached a calendar milestone— the famous “Ides of March!” You may recall that March 15th is the day when Roman Emperor Julius Caesar was assassinated (in 44 BCE, an event made famous by Shakespeare’s tragedy in 1599).

Although Saskatoon sidewalks and roads continue to be slick with ice, for the most part, there are no toga-clad conspirators, waiting with daggers for us at work! (Perhaps the risk is why some of us prefer self-employment? Lol!)

If such “workplace safety” isn’t relief enough, our daylight hours are lengthening beautifully and, after a stretch of grey days, our familiar prairie sunshine has returned!

I expect that none of you, good readers, were accosted (much less, assassinated) by Roman senators (or other “back-stabbing” colleagues) on your commute to work, yesterday! And hopefully, you weren’t headed for the Theatre of Pompey, either. . . . You may remember Wayne & Shuster’s
famous retelling of the story of Caesar’s demise on the Ides of March, from his wife Calpurnia’s perspective: “I told him, ‘Julie, don’t go!’”).

After having addressed serious philosophical and psychoanalytic concepts of stoicism, shame and resilience in recent postings of this newsletter and my blog, today I share some more lighthearted “fare.”

In “Article One,” I present some “weird and wonky” English idioms from a list compiled by the team at Tefl.org in the UK (from whom I earned my accreditation to teach ESL, in 2021). Newcomers and native English speakers alike may have been puzzled by some of these expressions.

And in “Article Two, “Word Nerd’s Corner,” I present some humourous aspects and history of the date of March 15th, more than two millennia after the date gained its murderous origins. (Thinking Edward Gorey, anyone?)

May the coming of spring dispel any superstition from your minds, good readers, so that yesterday’s “Ides of March” will connote no disloyalty or violent ends!

Sincerely,
Elizabeth
Principal
Storytelling Communications
www.elizabethshih.com
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IN THIS ISSUE:
ARTICLE 1: Ten weird English idioms from Tefl.org (in the UK)
STORYTELLERS’ CORNER:
Some history behind the date, the “Ides of March”
SHOP NEWS
ABOUT US
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Article One: Ten weird English idioms from mentors and colleagues at TEFL.org (UK)

While other languages may be very direct and use fewer figures of speech, English has many idioms that arise everywhere, whether in ordinary “watercooler” chat to official government documents.
Some of our simple phrases sound normal to native-speakers, but very odd to newcomers as they study English:

(1) “The Elephant in the room”: The metaphor of the “elephant” generally refers to a controversial or difficult topic that most people want to avoid. The idiom as a whole is attributed the Russian writer, Ivan Krylov, who wrote a fable (in 1814) of a man who visits a museum, observes small trinkets but not a large elephant in the room.

Fyodor Dostoevsky then used the idiom, writing in his book, Demons (1871-1872), that “Belinsky was just like Krylov’s Inquisitive Man, who didn’t notice the elephant in the museum.”

(2) “You can say that again”: This idiom can cause confusion, as it seems to ask a speaker to repeat themselves, when it means simply to express agreement on something. For instance, if I tell you that the weather is unseasonably cold for late March, you might say, “You can say that again!”

(3) “Lose your marbles”: To lose one’s marbles is to forget something, be frustrated or confused by something. These connotations are common, especially in UK English, since competitive marble playing has occurred for centuries there, and with much attention.

A secondary meaning known better in Canada, connects “losing marbles” with “cognitive deterioration” (i.e. insanity). “The mail deliverer must be losing his marbles today, because he stooped down while delivering our letters, to pet our Rottweiler.”

(4) “Butterflies in my stomach”: The metaphor of having insects occupy your digestive tract reflects the feeling of “flutters,” or nervousness about something. This idiom gets trotted out when you have a job interview, go on a blind date, or worry that a costly parking ticket awaits you, as you leave an appointment that ran late.
So, when you are nervous, your mind kicks into “fight-or-flight” mode, and this causes a fluttery feeling in your stomach or digestive tract..

(5) “Easier said than done”: This is an unusually literal idiom which refers to something that is challenging to do, but may not be acknowledged as such. So a newcomer student might say, “I’m going to master the perfect conditional tense” today, when that is much easier said than done.

(6) “To let the cat out of the bag”: refers to revealing a secret, especially if it occurs by accident. To accidentally reveal a surprise retirement party to a good friend would be a typical example. TEFL friends clarify that the idiom “has nothing to do with cats, or indeed, bags.”

(7) “Hit the sack” or “Hit the hay”: these are two idioms that refer simply to “going to bed.” Historically, human beds were not always bought in furniture stores (“move over, IKEA”), so people commonly rested their heads on some loose fabric (sack) or even on some harvested farm crops (hay).

(8) “The best thing since sliced bread”: In the US, where sliced bread was first sold in the 1920s, it was advertised as “the greatest forward step in the baking industry, since bread was wrapped.” The convenience of buying pre-sliced bread led to the simplified phrasing of “the best thing since sliced
bread.” Americans started to apply the term to all kinds of modern conveniences and it persists today.

(9) “The bees’ knees”: this idiom was part of a popular movement in language in the 1920s that used the animal kingdom to create fun expressions of praise. This idiom means something of high quality; and there other idioms that had similar meaning, such as “the cat’s pyjamas” and “the sardine’s whiskers.” While none of these may strike you as terribly persuasive today, the 1920s were a completely different time, linguistically.

(10) “It takes two to tango”: TEFL writers say that the “tango” originated in the border between Argentina and Uruguay and was considered a “risqué and working-class” dance when it began. Now it’s a regular influence on network television, such as on the American program “So You Think You Can Dance.”

Do you use any of these weird and wonky idioms in your conversations in English? Do you know some that didn’t make it to the list? Please share; I’d be happy to post them in a future issue!

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STORYTELLERS’ CORNER . . . 

STORYTELLERS’ CORNER: Words, stories, riddles and more on writing and editing . . . Some history behind the date, the “Ides of March”

• The word “Ides” (the 15th day of a month) comes from the Latin word, “idus,” which refers to the middle day of any month in the ancient Roman calendar.

• The Ides refer the 15th day of the months of March, May, July or October; and the 13th day of the remaining months.

• There is much superstition surrounding the origins of the date, but in fact it only marks the first day of a full moon in every month (falling between the 13th and the 15th days).

• Part of the negative connotations of the “Ides” is that they were designated as the date to settle outstanding debts each month in the ancient Roman calendar. Debtors who could not pay their debts were typically thrown into prison or forced into slavery. Therefore, the “Ides” were thought to be especially unlucky days.

• The connotations of an unlucky day with particularly disastrous implications is, of course, tied to Ancient Rome. Roman Emperor Julius Caesar was murdered on the “Ides of March” in 44 BCE. Historians have said that Caesar’s senators murdered him out of fear that his popularity would turn him into a dictator (and them into slaves).

• A lot of the story surrounding the “Ides of March” comes from Shakespeare’s sensational dramatization of the murder of Julius Caesar. For instance, Shakespeare dramatizes that Brutus was Caesar’s best friend and the leader of the assassination plot, which are not true.
In fact, there were three conspirators, among whom Decimus, not Brutus, was most trusted and known by Caesar. And it was Decimus who led the murderous plot.

• Caesar was not warned to “Beware the Ides of March” by an anonymous soothsayer (in Shakespeare’s version). The omen was actually “Beware the next 30 days,” uttered on February 15, 44 BCE by an Etruscan soothsayer, called Spurinna (historians tell us).

• Dictator Adolf Hitler chose this day in 1939 to attack and seize the provinces of Czechoslovakia.

• Some parts of the world observe March 15 with national holidays that are not deemed unlucky, such as Constitution Day in Belarus; National Day in Hungary; and even Youth Day in Palau.

What was your “Ides of March” (yesterday) like?

Do you have a concept, story, joke or problem involving any aspect of writing or communications? Please share it with me; I’d be delighted to use it in an upcoming issue

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SHOP NEWS:

Every month brings new ways for me to thank my Raj Manek mentor and dear friend, Monica Kreuger. This month, she included me, among other team members of Global Infobroker’s ”Praxis School of Entrepreneurship,” in a deferred Christmas party.

A death in Monica’s family sadly occurred shortly before last Christmas, pre-empting the usual holiday festivities.

But amazingly generous soul that she is, only three months into the new year, Monica graced Elaine Mantyka, Deanna Litz, Silvana Cracogna, Grace Wang, Carmen Karin Rosner and I with pampering spa services (including several kinds of facials, sugaring, ion cleanses, foot wax, eyebrow and nail
treatments!).

It was heavenly! Missing but in our thoughts were also team members Marie Weinkauf and Jolene Watson. (On who the magical service providers were for the evening, see below.)

And in Monica’s impeccable way, the food was scrumptious, featuring the charcuterie and desserts of local entrepreneur, Colleen Middlemiss, of Colleen’s Catering.

Thank you, Monica, and to fellow entrepreneurs of the Praxis team, who have learned from Monica’s genius and generosity!

Entrepreneur of the month:
Writing two days after the above evening spa event, my skin still feels great. So I’m delighted to shine a spotlight on the service providers at Bailey Kreuger’s woman-owned business, “Drop Dead Gorgeous Day Spa.”

Along with estheticians Sara Kreuger, Megan Kent and “Essentials” hairdresser, Crystal Hill, “Drop Dead Gorgeous” provides a wide variety of services that will make you feel as beautiful as you look, including facials and skin care, lashes and brows, hands and feet, makeup application, hair
removal, tanning, tattooing and permanent makeup.

As proud daughters of amazing entrepreneurial parents, Monica and Brent Kreuger, Bailey and Sara belong to the Chamber of Commerce and support “Totally Locally Saskatoon.” They do so by also promoting the work of entrepreneurs who are among their regular and loyal clients.
Ready to feel as gorgeous as you look? Visit their website or their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/DropDeadGorgeousDaySpa !

There are always new businesses and new ideas to promote and discuss. Please write me to shareyour stories! . . . . But for now, this is a wrap for mid-March!

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ABOUT US:
Between 2011 and December 2018, Elizabeth Shih Communications chronicled the stories of B2B marketing and communications on the Prairies and across the country.

Effective January 1, 2019, I rebranded as “Storytelling Communications.” I now help newcomers to Canada land better jobs by improving their English skills; I help SMEs close more sales by communicating more effectively, and I help major companies tell their legacy stories.

Interested in learning more? Please contact me through my CASL-compliant
website (www.elizabethshih.com).

After I receive your message, I’ll be pleased to discuss projects with you!
Please visit my website for more information (www.storytellingcommunications.ca)

 

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On International Women’s Day, kitchen table wisdom on shame, from Brene Brown

American social psychologist Brene Brown has developed a professional speaking and consulting career (rooted in her psychological research), that shares everyday (what I term “kitchen table”) wisdom that nonetheless strikes listeners to their core.

Recently, on International Women’s Day (March 8th), while doing research for another project, I happened upon one of Brown’s TEDTalks that I had not heard before, on how shame affects women and men (and she implies, young and old, Western and Eastern cultures, newcomers and lifelong citizens)—a no-holds barred insight that in shame, the worst (most unempathetic) critic is ourselves. It will have started outside ourselves, with someone likely in our early lives. But we have internalized it by necessity and now incorporate it as part of ourselves.

When charting a path toward shame, Brown earlier contends that human “vulnerability is not weakness,” but instead involves “risk, exposure, uncertainty, [and] fuels our daily lives.” She says that vulnerability is our most accurate measure of courage. To let ourselves be seen, to be honest.” Vulnerability is “the birthplace of innovation, creativity and change.”

 

But when trying to understand the relationship between our vulnerability and the courage we need to act on it, Brown rightly stipulates that we have to talk about shame.

“We learn about the deepest emotions not from studying vulnerability, but from studying shame,” what Carl Jung called “the swampland of the soul.”

We can’t have a conversation about sexism, racism (or other -isms), Brown asserts, without talking about shame. When people start talking about privilege or success, they get paralyzed by shame.

Yet, “no one who gets on a stage never fails,” she insists. “I have failed miserably many times. I don’t think the world understands that.”

She famously cites the US President Theodore Roosevelt’s Man in the Arena” speech: “It is not the critic who counts. It is not the man who sits and points how the doer of deeds could have done things better, how he falls and stumbles. The credit goes to the man in the arena, whose face is marred with dust and blood and sweat. But when he’s in the arena, at best, he wins. And at worst, he loses. But when he fails, when he loses, he does so daring greatly.”

Life is about “daring greatly,” about “being in the arena,” Brown contends: “When you’re striving to dare greatly, shame is the gremlin that stops you when you’re about to walk on stage, that says, ‘Uh-oh. You’re not good enough. You never finished that MBA. Your spouse left you. Your Dad wasn’t in Luxembourg, he was in Sing Sing. I know those things happened to you, growing up. I know that you don’t think that you’re pretty enough, or smart enough or talented enough or powerful enough. I know your dad never paid attention, even when you made CFO.’”

Shame is what stops us. “And if we can quiet it down and walk in [to the arena] and say, ‘I’m going to do this,’ we look up and the critic that we see pointing and laughing, 99% of the time is who? It’s us.”

Shame drives two big tapes: “never good enough” and, if you can talk it out of that one, “who do you think you are?”

Shame is not guilt. Guilt is a focus on behaviour (“I did something bad”). Shame is a focus on self (“I am bad.”)

Brown asserts that “shame is highly correlated with addiction, depression, violence, aggression, bullying, suicide, eating disorders. You need to know even more that guilt is inversely correlated with those things.”

“Shame feels the same for women and for men,” but it is also calibrated by gender. (Shame for women is “Do it all, do it perfectly and never let them see you sweat.” ) Shame is a “web of unobtainable, conflicting, competing expectations about who we’re supposed to be. And it’s a straight-jacket. For men, shame is not a web of unobtainable, conflicting, competing expectations. Shame is one: Do not be perceived as weak.”

Shame is an epidemic in our culture and underlies many kinds of brokenness.   “[T]o get out from underneath it, to find our way back to each other, we have to understand how it affects us and how it affects the way we’re parenting, the way we’re working, the way we’re looking at each other.”

“Empathy” is shame’s  antidote. “Shame grows on secrecy, silence and judgment. But if you . . . douse it with empathy, it can’t survive.”

When we feel ashamed, Brown says, the two most powerful words when we can use are “’Me too’” (cited before many women used to term to disgrace perpetrators like Hollywood mogul, Harvey Weinstein). Brown says: “If we are going to find our way back to each other, vulnerability is going to be that path. It’s seductive to think that we’ll go out into the arena and ‘kick some ass’ when we’re bulletproof and when we’re perfect. But the truth is that never happens.”

And “even if you enter the arena “as ‘perfect’ as you can muster, what your listeners [clients/ students/colleagues] want is not for you to be perfect when you go in there. That’s not what we want to see. We want you to go in. We want to be with you and across from you. And we just want for ourselves and the people we care about and the people we work with–we just want [you, as Roosevelt said] to dare greatly.”

As Brown has since commented in other talks and books, “Braving the Wilderness,” often a landscape of shame, is what each of us must do. She says: “The whole idea of the wilderness being those times when we stand alone and those times when we go out on a limb, the times we walk away from what we know, our ideological bunkers and our beliefs, braving is the tool to help us manage the wilderness. . .

There will be times when standing alone feels too hard, too scary, and we’ll doubt our ability to make our way through the uncertainty. Our shame for past mistakes can creep in on us, on all sides. Someone somewhere will say, ‘Don’t do it. You don’t have what it takes to survive the wilderness.’  This is when you reach deep into your wild heart and remind yourself, ‘ I am the wilderness.’”

We must get past ourselves, with all of the shame and related baggage we carry, to reach the sky above.

This is a truth for men as well as for women, and for those who experience themselves in-between, everywhere—a truth for every day and not only for one nominated as “International Women’s Day.”

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Does stoicism bring resilience? Read this month’s issue for an answer!

February 2023 Vol 5 Issue 2

Tell Your Story Newsletter (TYSN):

Specializing in Entrepreneurial and Organizational Storytelling

Let me tell your story!

Welcome Mid-February, 2023!

Although winter hit us early and hard toward the end of 2022, more recent weeks (apart from a cold interval in January) have been unseasonably mild—and lately sunny, too!

However, in the middle of February (often thought in Saskatchewan to be winter’s “cruellest” month), the cold has returned and more of it is promised next week.

Friends who suffer from migraine headaches, people with sinus challenges and those with weakened immune systems, can be overheard lamenting recent weather fluctuations. But now into year three of the global pandemic, good readers, aren’t we all happier that 2023’s cold spells don’t seem to last? Saskatchewan winters demand such resilience from us.

The principals or directors of “ei advantage (Emotional Intelligence Advantage),” Winnipeg-based Hayley Hesseln and Janice Gair, published a blog posting recently on how stoicism can foster that same resilience in all of us–especially in these costly, challenging, Covid times. So in “Article One” this month, I review some of the arguments of their posting, “10 Stoic Quotes to Build Resilience.”

What’s in store in Article Two, “Word Nerd’s Corner,” you may ask?  For a change of pace this month, I present some compelling book dedications— intriguing or inspiring statements that I’ve encountered when reading business books, entrepreneurial guides, fiction and more.

May the next month be kind to you, good readers, as we are closing the long loop of winter!

Sincerely,

Elizabeth

 Principal

Storytelling Communications

 www.elizabethshih.com

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IN THIS ISSUE:

ARTICLE 1: Does stoicism build resilience?

STORYTELLERS’ CORNER:  Book dedications from assorted authors

SHOP NEWS

ABOUT US

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Article One: Does stoicism build resilience?

Hayley Hesseln and Janice Gair offer progressive programming for leaders and entrepreneurs through their “ei advantage” company. In one of their recent blog postings, they offer “10 stoic quotes that build resilience.” Why? Because as part of our unending global pandemic, soaring inflation affects every sector of life, the bottom drops out of the stock market and even routine aspects of life now sometimes feel that “they’re too much to handle.”

When “such vicissitudes have always been part of the human experience,” Hesseln and Gair are among many business thinkers who give credence to stoic philosophers whose writings (as early as 300 BCE) still have value and “ring true to this day.” Ryan Holiday’s book (whose title encapsulates his value for stoicism), The Obstacle is the Way (2014), has sold like hotcakes.

Hesseln and Gair write that stoicism has been practiced by “kings, artists, thinkers, presidents and entrepreneurs” from the likes of Adam Smith, Ralph Waldo Emerson, George Washington, and many more. Its perspectives, from writers like Marcus Aurelius, Seneca and Epictetus, are designed “to increase resilience, manage adversity” and (writes Aurelius), to “stand ready and firm to meet sudden and unexpected onsets.”

“Emotional Intelligence,” Hesseln and Gair write, can arise from the four central virtues of Stoicism: (1) Courage—reframing the world of difficult situations as opportunities to learn and better ourselves; (2) Temperance—doing nothing to excess when being brave can lead to recklessness; (3) Justice—doing the right thing because it is more important than anything else; and (4) Wisdom—recognizing that there is always more to learn, so we should strive to deepen our understanding of the world around us.

Among the 10 quotations of ancient Stoics that are cited in the blog posting, more than one  argues Seneca’s point that “we are more often frightened than hurt; and we suffer more in imagination than in reality.” In other words, most of what we worry about is in our heads, or that things do not disturb people but only the judgments we make of those things. So we get anxious running imaginary arguments, mapping out situations in our minds that never occur and worrying about risks that never lead to disasters.

These thought patterns are what contemporary psychologists and psychoanalysts call anxiety. The key to resilience, then (say the stoics), is to “pay attention to your thoughts and the things you worry about” and ask this: “are these real problems or just my imagination?”

 

Some other quotations advocate against hoping that events will turn out as you want them, but welcoming whatever happens, as the “path to peace” (Epictetus). It can be hard to welcome pain, loss and violence and make peace out of them, I might counter.

 

The posting concludes with Seneca’s teaching that “Wherever there is a human being, there is an opportunity for a kindness”–i.e. that “we [can be] remembered for how we treat others in our lives.”

 

Hesseln and Gair show that Stoicism does underpin some of contemporary thought and familiar expressions, such as “learn to roll with the punches” and “be the change you want to see in the world.” It’s good to know that such thinking dates to times as long ago as 300 BCE—we should not reinvent the wheel!

 

But while I admire the leadership training and coaching of Hesseln and Gair,  and I while I admire some of Holiday’s writing (that I reviewed in an earlier blog posting), what concerns me most about such ideas is that they assume that we can all “hurry-harder” (to borrow a curling term) in trying times, and that adopting an attitude of “tough-love” for oneself is healthy, tenable, and sustainable.

 

To push through the obstacles we meet in life (as Holiday’s title suggests), we would have to curtail our emotional lives, bracketing off our feelings indefinitely and apparently without repercussions. This assumption is patently false. Who among us hasn’t experienced a breakthrough in our work only after we have grieved heavily over stressful obstacles, disappointments and lost time and energy that undermined our goals?

 

To deny our emotional lives is guaranteed to lead to thinkers’ and writers’ block (i.e. more obstacles) which reflects depression, not progress. Yes, contemporary life requires us to grapple with life’s obstacles first-hand. But if we are to force ourselves through them, blind to the pain and emotion involved, that would

require self-abnegation.


 

American psychologist Kristin Neff has argued over the past 20 years that we need compassion for ourselves, not self-denial, if we are to find satisfaction in life. She cites the Buddhist belief that “suffering = pain x resistance”–that when we resist emotional pain, we only compound our suffering. But the “highlights” of stoicism by their very nature resist pain and fail to connect how it pertains to suffering. When we experience at least some of the pain of our lives (instead of denying it), we stop resisting it, and, with the support of a therapist, good friends or family, that process can (albeit counterintuitively) actively reduce our suffering.

In my 2017 book of interviews, Keep Going: Five Creatives Build Resilience, I cite the Concise Oxford English Dictionary’s definition of “resilience” as the ability “to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions.” More intensive definitions come from psychoanalysis, which a whole volume of blog postings could only begin to address. (But do consult Diane Coutu’s masterful article on the topic in the “Harvard Business Review”).

But if we are to recover and so find resilience from these “stressful and overwhelming times” (Hesseln and Gair), I still contend that we won’t be able to do it with stoic thinking or “self-mastery”– an inconvenient truth.  The annual mental health expenditures of most Western nations (including ours) provide ample evidence that many sufferers are not achieving resilience, despite the popularity of Holiday’s and others’ tracts on stoicism.

We also need leaders who recognize the importance of health care and, in particular, mental and senior health care, so that our communities have resources to turn to, in especially these “stressful and overwhelming times.” Not coincidentally, evidence shows that quite the opposite is happening.  In this week’s news, our second (and last) gastroenterologist has announced that she’s departing Saskatchewan, leaving more than 1000 local patients without specialist care. And at the same time, support is growing among seniors for physician-assisted dying, as at least some of the time, a tragic alternative to the very broken senior health care system in SK.

On these matters, stoicism could (and may already) underpin political quietism. For that reason, either the stoics’ ancient or contemporary formulations should be vigorously analyzed before they’re adopted as truisms for life.

And now it’s your turn: Do you find writings of stoicism (whether ancient or recently adopted) to help you find resilience within? Please write in; I’d be delighted to hear from you.

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STORYTELLER’s CORNER

STORYTELLER’S CORNER: Words, Stories, Riddles and Jokes on Writing and Editing . . .

This Month:  Memorable Book Dedication Pages

Do you ever wonder about the “dedications” of the books you read? I often find them intriguing. Here’s a recent sample:

  •   “To Amazon Addict” (Dr. Jud Brewer, Unwinding Anxiety: Train Your Brain to Heal Your Mind [2021]). Psychiatrist Jud Brewer dedicates his latest book to the anonymous reviewer of his first book. The reader protested in his/her Amazon review (ie. s/he is the “Amazon Addict”) that Brewer provided no insights on how to heal. And I agree! (His comprehensive online program of the same name now addresses  that.)
  • “To Evan, who always trusts his cape. And to Caroline, who does things that scare her.”  (Ann Handley: Everyone Writes: Your Go-To Guide to Creating Ridiculously Good Content [2014]).
  • “For all the children left behind when fathers and mothers go off to war.” (Laurel Corona:  Penelope’s Daughter [2010]).
  • “To my wife Maggie, who always believed. She just always believed” (Pete Savage, co-author of The Wealthy Freelancer [2010]).
  • “To all the well-fed writers around the globe—past, present and future” (Peter Bowerman, The Well-Fed Writer: Financial Self-Sufficiency as a Commercial Freelancer in Six Months or Less [2009]).
  • “To Dad, for driving an old tan Chevette while putting us through college.  To Mom, for making us breakfast every day for eighteen years. Each.” (Chip and Dan Heath: Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Take Hold and Others Come Unstuck [2007]).

Do you have a book dedication or a story, riddle or joke on any aspect of communications? Please share it with me; I’d be delighted to use it in an upcoming issue. 

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SHOP NEWS:

 

Special thanks every month to Parish Nurse, Laura Van Loon, for so generously assisting me as I continue to provide elder care. As I’ve observed in past months, the cuts to senior care in Saskatchewan for more than 20 years have left the burden of care to living family members, who often lack the time, funds, space and health to bridge the gap.

Laura has witnessed much mishandling and mismanagement and still advocates for fair and better senior health care. The words “thank you” do not really suffice, but I offer them again here to her (she is also  a faithful reader of this newsletter)!

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And in other spaces and places . . . .

A hearty thanks this month (and maybe a Reuben sandwich?) to Brent Kreuger, IT specialist, VP of Global Infobrokers and founder of Praxis International Institute (the province’s first entrepreneurial high school, based in Craik, SK). Why?

Brent continues patiently to handle the tech side of meetings and classes for a local charity’s “Women’s Employment Readiness” program, for whom he also facilitates on diverse and numerous topics, including digital competency and software skills. He teaches on expansive terms how to think and live well, to our newcomers and to budding entrepreneurs.

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The same local charity recently contracted me to facilitate on business communications these same newcomer women, who are already fluent in English. (And thanks for the referral go to Monica Kreuger, CEO of the  Praxis School of Entrepreneurship).

Thank you also to Employment Specialist, Nuru Nyoni, and Women and Family support coordinator, Hannah Enti-Brown, for discussing the contract with me, last month.

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And as a part of this work, I’ve been delighted to start learning about the experience of African-Canadians in Saskatchewan by tuning into activities for “Black History Month.”

Discussing themes of “Black resistance, resilience and resolution” and leading to a discussion on black women entrepreneurs in Saskatchewan, our local African Canadian network (in SK) asserts many ways that our province’s history is black history. I look forward to discussing further some aspects of that history, as I meet course participants.

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Entrepreneur of the month: I have meant to add for months (if not years) how much I appreciate Massachusetts-based Michael Katz’s postings on LinkedIn, where he grapples with some of the most vexed aspects of freelance creative life.

For instance, how do entrepreneurs sustain prospecting, when they have been self-employed for over a decade (and suffer burn out)?

 

How do we adapt to AI, without losing our writing practice, or our minds (e.g. ChatGPT, air tag surveillance, etc.) !?

 

And how can we value fellow newsletter-ists and bloggers, despite their differences (or because of them)?

 

Michael’s humourous approach belies his shrewd and well-read mind. As “Chief Penguin” of Blue Penguin Development, he inspires his followers: a few sentences from him can warm even the coldest winter morning!  (And, btw, Michael tells me he once dated a woman from Saskatoon whom he met as an undergraduate student at McGill University in the 80s! Small world. . . .)

 

Thank you, Michael, for caring and not just doing!

 

There are always new businesses and ideas to promote and discuss. Please write me to share your stories . . . . . .But this is a wrap for mid-February.

 

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ABOUT US:

Between 2011 and December 2018, Elizabeth Shih Communications chronicled the stories of B2B marketing and communications on the Prairies and across the country.

Effective January 1, 2019, I rebranded as “Storytelling Communications.” I now help newcomers to Canada to secure better jobs by improving their language skills; I help small- and medium-sized businesses to close more sales by communicating more effectively; and I help major companies tell their legacy stories.

Interested in learning more? Please contact me through my CASL-compliant website (www.elizabethshih.com).

After I receive your message, I’ll be pleased to discuss projects with you!

Please visit my website for more information (www.storytellingcommunications.ca).

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Working with TAYFFI through the Praxis School of Entrepreneurship: Preparing newcomer women to advance their careers in Saskatchewan!

training promotion

Last week, I was delighted to facilitate (and learn from) eight  business communication classes for 15 newcomer women to Saskatchewan! All were registered with Saskatoon’s charitable organization, Truly Alive Youth and Family Foundation Inc.  (TAYFFI). Participants’ countries of origin included Nigeria, Kenya, Mongolia and China. We were enacting, one week early, our own “international women’s day,” by discussing job readiness strategies and entrepreneurial possibilities, all (appropriately) in the classroom of the Praxis School of Entrepreneurship! Here’s a peek at the group; more cohorts will follow!