What’s “The Economist’s” word of 2022? From the Johnson language columnist, Lane Greene

 

In “The Economist’s” year-end special edition on language (named the “Johnson” column, after the great 18th century lexicographer, Samuel Johnson), language columnist Lane Greene writes that dictionary publishers and language societies annually choose a “word of the year,” with considerable difficulty.

He says: “It is difficult finding a word that is creative, memorable and likely to succeed while also somehow representing the year . . . . [A]fter ranging over technology, the economy, the war in Ukraine and the lingering effects of Covid-19, ” he says, ” I settled on the . . . phrase that I considered most likely to be with us for a good while, and even to reshape our lives.”

Some options were place-names from Ukraine, under the siege of Russia’s invasion (e.g. “Zaporishia”) or economic problems intensified by that war (e.g. “shrinkflation”), international business, economics and finance (e.g. “decoupling” of Western businesses from China), climate change  (e.g. “loss ad damage”) and many more.

Greene selected a term (more accurately, a phrase) that is  “neither clever or lovely, ” but is influencing professional and personal lives across the globe.

What is it?

“Hybrid work.” And here’s his defense:

“After the lockdowns of 2020, followed, in 2021, by a slow return to the office, 2022 was the year that hybrid work settled in. Working at home some of the time has advantages (decongesting cities and fewer painful commutes), and disadvantages (fears of lower productivity combined with a sense of never being off duty). In the spring Twitter announced a policy of unlimited working from home for those who wanted it. When Elon Musk bought the company he promptly decreed the opposite. But most firms have not gone to either extreme, instead trying to find the best of both worlds.

As a coinage, hybrid work is no beauty. But it will reshape cities, careers, family life and free time. That is ample qualification for a word of the year.”

Read Greene’s article here.

 

Feeling the Christmas or Holiday blues? Here are some solutions . . .

December 2022 Vol 4 Issue 12

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

Welcome Mid-December, 2022!

Winter started early (in November) this year, with snow that has stayed and an early cold spell that will soon be repeated. But despite this, Saskatchewanians are resilient folk; many of us have found
that the intervening warmer weather brought hope and joy to our Hanukkah, Advent, Christmas and other holiday preparations.

Through the “Advent Appeal” program in my faith group, we have continued our annual practice of collecting clothing, warm blankets, and hygiene supplies on behalf of the city’s homeless and at-risk people.

This month’s “Storyteller’s Corner” returns us to an “Advent Miracle” that one of my church’s organizers witnessed two years ago, but which reminds us that small acts of kindness can have a miraculous effect on others.

In spite of the soaring inflation at our grocery stores and gas stations and (even worse) the empty shelves of children’s (and adults’) cold and flu remedies, I hope that you, good reader, have warm, safe and stable living environments, not just this season, but throughout the year.

And if you (like me) are so blessed, please do consider donating to those who lack basic necessities, whether through your “office pool,” the Salvation Army Kettle Campaign, or similar work done by your faith or neighbourhood communities.

Since our global community has now entered its third Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year’s seasons in the grip of the ever-mutating Coronavirus, this year will not be a “ho-ho-ho” holiday time for many. Our hospitals are teeming with infections, many of which have taken the lives of beloved family members, ended careers and delayed timely medical treatment. Hopital workers, too, are
facing burnout to an extent unprecedented in our history.

So in this last issue of the year, “Article One” of “Tell Your Story Newsletter” revisits “Coping with Christmas,” a publication of the American Hospice Foundation (AHF). Coping may be the “new normal,” in pandemic days.
For those of us who care for others on a daily basis and/or who face complex health problems ourselves, the AHF reminds us to be aware of our own emotional needs and to take care to avoid burnout.

Despite the challenges that fill the daily newspapers, I hope, good readers, that you’ll find at least a little time to enjoy the final days of this year, giving thanks for the family, friends and mentors who grace our lives.

May you find peace this holiday season; and good health, happiness and prosperity in 2023.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth
Principal
Storytelling Communications
www.elizabethshih.com

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IN THIS ISSUE:

 

 

ARTICLE 1: Feeling the Christmas Blues? Here are Some Solutions . . . .
STORYTELLERS’ CORNER: A Local “Advent Miracle” Story
SHOP NEWS
ABOUT US

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Article One: Feeling the Christmas or Holiday Blues? Here are Some Solutions . . . 

For many of us, even if we have been blessed to enjoy Advent, Christmas, Hanukkah or other spiritual traditions at this time of year, the holiday season can be painful.
The pain may come from to the loss of a loved one, a job, separation from a “significant other,” health or financial difficulties, the excessive pressure to buy and give, and so on. The so-called “holiday season” can in reality be anything but “ho-ho-ho.”

This holiday survival guide, written originally by the American Hospice Foundation, offers some ideas that may help us as we plan (or choose not to plan) holiday festivities. Please read on and share with others who may need this. And know you are not alone!

Christmas or Holiday cards (choose one like these):
1. Mail as usual, or email to save on stationery and postage
2. Shorten your list
3. Include a Christmas letter that you’ve written
4. Skip it this year

Christmas or Holiday music (choose one like these):
1. Enjoy as usual
2. Shop early, to avoid Christmas music
3. Avoid turning the radio on
4. Listen to the music and allow yourself to feel sad (or to cry)

Decorations (choose one like these):
1. Decorate as usual
2. Let others do it
3. Choose not to have decorations
4. Have a special decoration for a loved one, who may have died or left
5. Modify your decorations
6. Make changes, such as putting up an artificial tree
7. Ask for help from others

Shopping (choose one like these):
1. Shop as usual
2. Shop early
3. Make your gifts by hand
4. Make a list of gifts to buy
5. Shop online
6. Ask for help wrapping gifts
7. Shop with a friend
8. Give cash
9. Give baked goods
10. Ask for help
11. Go giftless and (if possible) make a donation to charity

Traditions (choose one like these):
1. Keep the old traditions
2. Don’t attend Christmas parties
3. Open gifts on the usual day
4. Attend a worship service
5. Attend a totally different place of worship
6. Visit the cemetery
7. Attend Christmas or holiday parties
8. Go to an entirely new place
9. Open gifts at another time
10. Do not attend a worship service
11. Light a special candle to honour your loved one
12. Bake the usual foods
13. Modify your baking and cooking, to save money
14. Buy the usual foods
15. Spent quiet time alone, in meditation or relaxation

Christmas or Holiday Dinner (choose one like these):
1. Prepare as usual
2. Invite friends over
3. Eat in a different location of the house
4. Go out to dinner, possibly with someone else who is alone
5. Eat alone
6. Change time of dinner
7. Have a buffet/potluck and share the clean-up, after
8. Ask for help
Post-Christmas and New Year’s Day (choose one like these):
1. Spend the days as usual
2. Avoid New Year’s parties
3. Spend time with only a few friends
4. Write in a journal about your hopes for the next year
5. Go out of town
6. Host a New Year’s Party
7. Go to a movie, watch a movie on a streaming service or even borrow a movie from the library
8. Go to bed early and feel refreshed the next morning for the new year ahead

And now it’s your turn: Does the Christmas, Hanukkah or holiday season present challenges and pain for you?

Please consider some of the above options you have to experience the holidays on your own terms.

And remember that Mobile Crisis (Saskatoon Crisis Intervention Service) is available, 24 hours, at (306) 933-6200

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STORYTELLER’s CORNER . . . .

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

This Month, a Story: A Local “Advent Miracle”

A couple of years ago, Alan, a friend and colleague in my faith community, shared a remarkable story of how our church’s seasonal gift donations benefited a downtown charity that helps victims of abuse and homelessness.

He says: “One spring I went into the [church] parlour and noticed that the Advent gifts still sat where we’d left them, last December, since the office of the recipient agency was never open. I had phoned, left messages and visited in person multiple times, only to find the office closed.”

He continues: “As I was driving past one day, the following spring, I decided to give it one last chance and showed up to the agency, just after lunch. They were open!

It was obvious that the staff had just come from a meeting. One of the folk there came over and asked me what I wanted. I told her that I was from the church and had some very belated Advent gifts for them.

She looked confused when I said gifts, but when I said that the gifts consisted of toiletries and other items, it changed to surprise. She asked how many, and I told her that the trunk of my car was full.

Again, there was a look of surprise on her face. She spoke with the director and then went into the back and got a small cart. We then went down the car and loaded it up. It was a small cart, so I carried the extra packages that didn’t fit.

When we got back to the office, she took the items into the back and the director came over and thanked me profusely. She told me that the topic of conversation at the meeting they’d just finished was how they were going to find toiletries to fill packages for some of their clients. They had a few
items, but not nearly enough, and there wasn’t money in the budget to purchase more. They left the meeting wondering how they’d find the remaining items, and that was when I walked in!

We called it Christmas in June! We could have delivered the gifts the prior December, when other churches were doing the same and when the need was largely met. But by delivering them in the spring, we met a great need at a time when others had stopped giving.

We can put this down to coincidence or fate or luck. I look at it as an Advent miracle and a sign that our Higher Power is alive, well and living among us.”

And now it’s your turn: Have holiday activities of years past surprised you with any small miracles? Please write in and I’ll share your stories in a future issue.

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SHOP NEWS:

Heartfelt thanks go out in this final issue of 2022 to friends, colleagues, followers and mentors who enable me to facilitate language and communication classes; who respond to my blog postings and
monthly newsletter; who have coached or encouraged me to achieve greater clarity in my entrepreneurial goals; and who have lightened some of the weight of family caregiving that I regularly carry.

With apologies to anyone whose name I temporarily forget, here are some of the truly beautiful  people who grace my professional and personal lives:
Chief Visionary Officer, Monica Kreuger, and the amazing team at the Praxis School of Entrepreneurship (PSE); English and ESL teacher, Steve Cavan; Saskatchewan’s best entrepreneurial coach (and PSE facilitator), Deanna Litz, of Powerful Nature Coaching & Consulting, Inc.; Minister of Word and Sacrament, Rev. Roberto De Sandoli of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church; Ashleigh Mattern (of Vireo Productions) and Julie Barnes (of Julie Barnes Creative Services) for co-leading the monthly writers’ group that we pioneered, some 10 years ago, and for offering me contracts or
leads when I’ve needed them; Fellow writers, including both Ashleigh and Julie, along with Merle (Massie) McGowan, Naomi Hansen and Ann Chatfield, who keep pushing the envelope as they write (and publish) their remarkable books.

Thank you also to Kanchan Manek and the Manek family of the Raj Manek Mentorship Program, who since 1998 have provided monthly seminars and facilitated mentoring relationships between junior entrepreneurs and seasoned mentors on the Prairies; and to fellow alumni of the PSE’s startSMART, staySMART and digiSMART programs, including Christina Cherneskey, Megan Kent, Barry Frain, Malvina Rapko, Rory Perron and Joan Kleinsteuber, amongst others.

Thanks also go to my students including newcomers to Saskatoon and a citizen in France, whose conversation and studies vivify my life. And finally, if you or a senior whom you know needs a safe and comfortable home with minimal assistance (and the option to add private care to increase assistance in the future), please take a tour of The Franklin Retirement Residence by Revera. The team there has remarkable empathy for seniors in their twilight years and offers safe physical environs, a tasty menu with plenty of variety, seniors’ programming, transportation, and more.

At a time when senior care in our province is in a total crisis of underfunding, and when many special (private) care homes offer inadequate support at high costs, buildings like The Franklin remain a bulwark.

For a complimentary tour and information about a variety of options, including short-term stays through the winter, please call Sales consultant, Daniel Knudsen, at Daniel.Knudsen@reveraliving.com (or call [306] 664-6366).

As we look back over the past Covidian year, while losses and disappointments have been challenging, I find the support of the above people and organizations have given me much to be grateful for:

Merci beaucoup, mes amis!

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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 land better jobs and economic immigrants to secure better contracts by improving their English skills; I help SMEs (small- and medium-sized enterprises) 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.  After I receive your message, I’ll be pleased to discuss services with you! Please visit my website for more information:  www.storytellingcommunications.ca

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Will prospects remember that you’re alive? On word-of-mouth marketing (with a nod to Michael Katz) . . .

Last week, I sent off a spate of Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and secular holiday cards, each with a personal note for the recipients. These included former hair stylists, college roommates, church ministers and a slew of other friendly folk.  I selected stationery carefully, thinking and writing in it about these individuals’ professional and personal attributes. I felt a surge of accomplishment in sealing them and dropping them into a high-traffic postbox nearby.

I happened to mention this activity to a non-entrepreneurial friend, who commented that she had “long ago” stopped sending holiday mail, citing the “waste of paper,” soaring cost of postage and looming overseas postal strikes. I countered that holiday card preparation was part of my periodic “marketing” plan, but she still doubted the sense.

The same day, in his illuminating (not to mention always hilarious) newsletter (much like a blog posting), Massachusetts marketing expert Michael Katz wrote that in life, “most things left unattended get steadily and progressively worse.” Instead of the progress we hope for, we regress–especially in the minds of others.

Katz cited the downward pattern of events like “after your car gets dinged, or your computer gets a virus, or you tell your brother-in-law [at a family gathering] what you really think of him and his know-it-all wife . . . it’s clear that most things in life do not recover with the simple passage of time.”

anxiety and interview

And when it comes to professional services marketing, your prospecting efforts are proof: “Left unattended, they wither and die, along with whatever value they might otherwise provide.”

Start the elegiac violin music: Approaching the end of 2022, we might feel depressed by this. If we get preoccupied by a steady flow of work and/or family or other commitments, we can work steadily, even happily, but still put off making those cold or warm calls. We may procrastinate over reaching by social media or writing that card. Before long (and in Covid times, all the more so), the proverbial phone stops ringing. Our name regresses from being “top of mind” to our prospects, to lost in their mental rolodexes.

And yet we might be very well-liked and well-regarded for our skills, knowledge and personalities–as Jane Austen wrote, a perennial “flower, born to bloom unseen.”

So, as we wind down the work of 2022 and launch the new year, Katz reminds us self-employed folks (regardless of your niche) to “use a system” that consists of simply two steps: First, “make a list of everyone you know. Not just ‘potential clients’ or ‘influential people.’ Everyone,” including your college roommate . . .  your friends from your professional associations, your brother-in-law (maybe wait until things cool down).”

Secondly, devise a method to reach out to these people “at least three times a year. Send an email; say hello on LinkedIn; send a birthday card; call them up. It doesn’t really matter.  [So] they remember you are alive.”

Of course, we could all make much greater efforts in the self-marketing department. I have two book ideas that would enhance my reputation among my prospects, if I could only find the time to write them.  A fellow facilitator at the Praxis School of Entrepreneurship frequently criss-crosses the country (even in pandemic times) to speak professionally about her services. A large-scale, local networking organization regularly encourages its members to recruit other entrepreneurs. . . . As a self-professed stationery collector (obsessive?), I keep a record of prospects’ birthdays and send those individuals personal notes, on relevant days.

To Katz, the “word of mouth” method remains (in his words) “the best, most cost-effective means of professional services marketing.” But it will only work “if you come to mind when the moment arises.” That requires repetition and effort on our parts.

So while I will join in this season at parties with non-entrepreneurial (often skeptical) friends and family,  you can be sure I’ll be at my desk, writing or responding to prospects’ mail to me, on and after January 1st.

So they’ll remember that I’m alive.

And now it’s your turn: as a professional service provider, what prospecting methods do you use to stay “top-of-mind” in your niche?

“Do you know the secret to feeling alive?” On fun in this month’s issue of “Tell Your Story Newsletter”

November 2022 Vol 4 Issue 11

 

Tell Your Story Newsletter (TYSN):

Specializing in Entrepreneurial and Linguistic Communication

Let me teach you to tell your story!

 

Welcome Mid-November 2022!

What a difference a day makes! November fourth was a beautifully crisp autumn day, followed by our first snowstorm of the season–on November fifth and sixth, which has stayed! Since transitions in seasons in Saskatchewan tend to be brief (or non-existent), I’ve been especially grateful for the frequent updates on weather conditions from Environment Canada!

Unseasonable cold caused many of us to break out our long-johns and parkas in the first week of this month, as I started to prepare this issue of “Tell Your Story Newsletter.”

Winter often feels like the cruellest season of the year in Saskatchewan, since it brings reduced daylight hours and at times brutal cold, wind and snowstorms. But it’s also a time when many professionals like you, good reader, dig deep and excel in your work, since the distractions of the outside world are minimized (unless you’re a winter enthusiast!).

If you can (like a neighbour of mine) already foresee “winter blues/blahs” coming, then I encourage you to keep reading–or, rather, to widen the topics of the books you’re already reading. My writerly colleagues (and friends) Julie Barnes and Ashleigh Mattern are regularly posting the books they’re devouring on Goodreads (aka “Facebook for writers”).

And what about music? Have you tuned into opera from “the Met” (Metropolitan Opera House) in New York, which is often broadcast at Cineplex theatres across the country? My ESL student in France has introduced me to the recordings of German tenor, Jonas Kaufmann, whose subtle voice would make anyone forget the breath of hoary-bearded, “Old Man Winter.”

Whether through books, music or other activities, I find the perfect antidote to prairie winters is to have more FUN!

FUN, you say? An absurd suggestion?

In Article One, this month, I visit science journalist Christine Price’s recent TEDTalk on the topic of FUN. While most of nature sleeps during winter, how can we feel fully alive? Price suggests that “fun” is the best answer.

Most of us enjoy some fun during winter, whether from hitting the ski trails or curling up by a crackling fire to read Alexander McCall-Smith or Louise Penney.  But how do we go about having more fun, on a regular basis? Article One shares some hints on that.

And in “Storytellers’ Corner,” I visit a potentially troubling phrase that itself sounds fun-ny–“tuna fish“–in the words of our resident etymologist (and a man of humour), Bryan Garner.

Perhaps we can view the snowy and cold portion of winter as being like the influence of a schoolyard bully? We can work around his (or her) blasts of nasty wind and frigid air, by immersing ourselves in our own creative activities and exercise . . . .

I wish more FUN for you this winter, good reader, that even the coldest of winds and the heaviest snowfalls cannot dispel.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth

Principal

Storytelling Communications

www.elizabethshih.com

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IN THIS ISSUE:

ARTICLE 1: “Do you know the secret to feeling alive?”  On FUN and how to get it 

STORYTELLERS’ CORNER:  The case of “tuna fish” from American etymologist, Bryan Garner

SHOP NEWS

ABOUT US

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Article One: “Do you know the secret to feeling alive?” Christine Price’s TEDTalk on FUN and how to get it

In her recent TEDTalk, science journalist Catherine Price observed something that should make us all pause: “It’s harder than we think it should be to actually feel alive.”

Consider that statement: We’re so busy constantly scrolling (and often “doing” things) that we have forgotten how to live! We forget that life is more than days filled with frenetic activity.

Price says: “We keep ourselves busy to the point of exhaustion. But we’re also languishing. We feel a little bit dead inside.” She thinks we’re living something close to despair, staying busy because we know that we are not truly living, but we simply don’t know what else to do about it.

Her answer? “Have more FUN!”

But what does that mean?

Our confusion over what actually constitutes “fun” arises from the “sloppy” way that we use the term: we often use it to describe what we do in our leisure time (e.g. “We had a fun weekend with my in-laws at the family cabin”), when the activity is often not enjoyable and may even be “a waste of time.”

Price gives as an example our scrolling through social media, which we assume is “fun,” but which she says can “make us feel bad about . . . everything.”

Even our best English language dictionaries have trouble defining the term “fun”: According to them, fun is “amusement or enjoyment, or lighthearted pleasure,” and refers to what children experience “in the play area.”

Fun seems to be, Price observes, “frivolous and optional.”

 

When she was working on a project, collecting stories about having “fun” from people all over the globe, they would “tell you about some of the most joyful and treasured memories of their lives.” That means that FUN is not simply “lighthearted pleasure, it’s not just for kids and it’s definitely not frivolous.”

Price suggests on the contrary that fun is “the secret [to] feeling alive.”

Clearly the term deserves a new, “more precise” definition!

Fun is a feeling, she asserts, not an activity, although when asked to describe “fun,” most people still list “dancing” or “skiing,” or “pickleball.”

Some “serendipity” (or downright chance) is involved in the word, since activities or events we expect to be fun often disappoint us, while those we don’t expect to enjoy can become “ridiculously fun.” Sound familiar?

Price says that it’s easy to identify someone who is having fun, because they look as if “they’re being illuminated from within.” True fun “produces [a] visceral sense of lightness and joy.” People can radiate fun.

From her interviews with dozens of people from diverse cultures, Price says that “three factors are consistently present” when we experience fun, yielding a much more accurate definition than what the OED or Webster’s tells us.

These three terms are “playfulness,” “connection” and “flow.” Where these experiences overlap (see the venn diagram, courtesy of Price), is the space of “true fun.”

“Playfulness,” she says, is not playing games or make-believe but “having a lighthearted attitude, of doing things for the sake of doing them and not caring too much about the outcome. Letting go of perfectionism.” Playfulness means not being defensive and “not taking ourselves too seriously.”

“Connection” refers to “the feeling of having a special, shared experience.” It is possible to be alone when this happens (and so to feel connected to oneself and/or to an activity), but most often, another person is involved—“even for introverts.”

“Flow” is a state where we’re so intensively engaged and focused on what we’re doing that “we can even lose track of time.” (e.g. “in the zone” as a musician or athlete).

Price argues that “it’s possible to be in flow and not [to] have fun, like if you’re arguing. But you cannot have fun if you’re not in flow,” she says.

Each of these three factors is enjoyable on its own. “But when we experience all three at once, something magical happens: we have fun.” And that “doesn’t just feel good, it is good for us.”

(i) Price says that fun is so beneficial that it “is not just the result of human thriving, it’s its cause.” For instance, fun is “energizing,” so that when people talk about such moments, “they glow: It’s like a fire has been lit inside of them and the energy and the warmth they give off is contagious.”

Whereas “so much of life drains us . . . fun fills us up.”

(ii) Fun requires us to be “present,” or in-the-moment, but doesn’t require meditation, yoga, etc. Apart from being present, there’s no other way that fun can arise.

(iii) Fun also unites us in a “really polarized world.” When we have fun with others, “we don’t see them as having different ethnicities or religions from ours. We connect with them as human beings.” She adds that such a connection is the first step whereby we can begin to solve the world’s problems.

(iv) “Fun also makes us healthier.” Isolation and loneliness can cause hormonal changes in our brains and bodies that increase the risk of disease. But when we have fun, we become “relaxed and more socially connected,” both of which are health-giving. So, Price argues, “having fun is a health intervention.”

(v) Finally, fun is “joyful.” While we read books or listen to favourite music, the truth is that “when we are in a moment of having fun, we are happy.” Price says this: The “secret of long-term happiness may be simply to have more everyday moments of fun.”

In order to have “more fun,” she says, we should do all we can to increase our everyday moments of playfulness, connection and flow.

Here are some ways:

(i) Reduce distractions in order to increase flow. Distractions disrupt flow. The chief source of distraction in 2022 is our smartphones. (Act accordingly!)

(ii) Increase connection by interacting more with other human beings in real life. This is easier and less scary than we (huddled over our phones) tend to fear.

Interaction starts by making eye contact with someone. “Say ‘Hello,’” Price advises. If that goes well, introduce yourself. From there, ask an interesting question (e.g. “What’s one thing that delighted you today?”)

(iii) Increase playfulness “by finding opportunities to rebel.” This doesn’t mean becoming a total iconoclast, but to show “playful deviance,” to “break the rules of responsible adulthood” and “give yourself permission to get a kick out of your own life.”

(iv) Finally, Price recommends that having fun should be a “priority.” Try to reproduce the circumstances (including other people’s presence) that have created fun for you in the past. Make some time in your schedule to have fun. “Treat fun as if it’s important, because it is,” she enthuses.

Fun brings “more creativity, more productivity, more resilience,” Price says. Fun can make us, as she claims, a better spouse, parent and friend.

Fun, she concludes, for anyone still puzzled by it, is “a distillation of life’s energy. And the more often we experience it, the more we will feel that we are actually alive.”

And now it’s your turn: do you agree with Price’s definition of fun and why it matters? 

Please write in; I’d be delighted to hear from you!

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STORYTELLERS’ CORNER . . . . 

STORYTELLERS’ CORNER: Words, storis, riddles and articles on speaking, listening, writing and editing . . .

The case of “tuna fish” with American Etymologist, Bryan Garner

In his recent blog on modern English usage, American Etymologist Bryan Garner observed that the term ” ‘tuna fish’ is redundant (see last month’s issue that differentiates between “redundancy” and “tautology’) because “tuna” is always a fish. The issue surrounding whether to write “tuna” or “tuna fish,” he says, arose around 1914.

Garner cites three more recent examples of this use, including this one in Sports Illustrated (“Letter from the Publisher, July 9, 1984):

“If he had his way, he would rid the world of ‘tuna fish.’ What else can a tuna be? asks Anderson.”

But the term “tuna fish . . . denotes a useful nuance,” Garner observes. ” ‘Tuna fish‘ is the type of processed, canned fish that is commonly served in sandwiches, whereas tuna typically refers to fresher types, such as those found in seafood restaurants and sushi bars.

How’s that for a fishy example for this month’s usage tip?

Do you have an, idea, problem or joke involving any aspect of language or 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 this month to the very gifted business coach and facilitator, Deanna Litz, of “Powerful Nature Coaching & Consulting Inc.” In previous years, Deanna has coached me through Praxis’  startSMART, staySMART and digiSMART programs, and through her excellent private coaching program, as I pivoted in 2021 toward teaching English as a second language (ESL/EFL).

Deanna and her husband, Saskatchewan Polytechnic facilitator, Rick Cumbers, own and operate “Lazy Hounds Farm,” located in Marysburg, SK (near Humboldt), where, for over 110 years, Deanna and generations of her family before have been stewarding the land.

Why is this relevant? Because in a recent delivery, Deanna shared with me some of their farm’s tantalizingly flavourful tomatoes, succulent peppers and zesty garlic!

In fact, Deanna and Rick grow free-range, naturally grown fruit, vegetables and herbs, raised by earth- and bee-friendly methods, for humans (and when the wildlife and the couple’s three lazy hounds don’t beat them to the harvest).

You may already have eaten Deanna and Rick’s beautiful fruit, vegetables and spices without even knowing it.

Their food has been enjoyed by folk from all walks of life, from Saskatchewan’s premier to those needing a helping hand. Deanna and Rick supply produce for some of Saskatoon’s finest restaurants, caterers, regular folk, foodies and local food banks. Their produce will spoil you for mass-produced, grocery store crops!

To learn more about “Lazy Hounds Farm,” purchase some of this year’s bountiful pumpkin and garlic crops (still available), or to tap into 2023’s harvest, please email Deanna at this address:

deannalitz@sasktel.net

Delivery to/within Saskatoon regularly and readily occurs.

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Special thanks also go out this month to Lisa Focardi, Community Development Worker at Saskatoon’s Open Door Society (ODS). An Italian-Canadian immigrant, Lisa capably organizes (amongst many programs) the volunteer-led conversation circles, throughout the calendar year.

At Lisa’ s invitation, I offered an introductory presentation on “brain health” last week, pitched at a beginner level of English, and found newcomers from Europe and Asia all very interested in the topic.

Lisa’s organizational efforts and generosity with others makes sharing conversation skills with newcomers a great pleasure. Thank you, Lisa!

Are you a native speaker or are you otherwise fluent in English? Do you have 60-90 minutes (each week) to share your skills with others? Please drop me a line and I will connect you with Lisa, who is always glad to have more volunteers on board.

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There are always new businesses, non-profits and entrepreneurial programs to promote.   

Please write me to share your success stories!

I’m excited for what’s ahead in our entrepreneurial community.

But for now, this is a wrap for mid-November!

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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 and economic immigrants to secure contracts 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).

Published by www.storytellingcommunications.ca–Storytelling Communications – Copyright © 2022.

 

Sleepless in Saskatoon? Tips to treat insomnia in this month’s issue of ‘Tell Your Story Newsletter’

October 2022 Vol 4 Issue 10

Tell Your Story Newsletter (TYSN):

Specializing in Entrepreneurial and Organizational Storytelling

Let me teach you to tell your story!

Welcome Mid-October, 2022!

The shortening of our daylight hours has become perceptible this month. And with the return of at least some professionals to commutes and the pressures of sharing public office space, not to mention the next set of deadlines and in-person training, we may not be surprised to find that regularly getting a good night’s sleep can be a challenge!

So in Article One, this month, some tips for treating insomnia from Australian psychologist, Chris James.

In Storytellers’ Corner, I visit the difference that exists between the words “tautology” and “redundancy,” with help from world-class etymologist, Bryan Garner.

Although our golden and crimson leaves have now mostly fallen, autumn is still beautiful in Saskatchewan. This coming week will bring temperatures as warm as 20 degrees Celsius, to remind us that the season is more than simply a precursor to another Canadian winter!

But as winter does return, crisp, cold days will prevail, encouraging us to pack away those shorts and sandals for warm sweaters and boots; and to replace our iced “bevvies” with hearty soups and hot ciders.

Although these late Covid days bring many challenges to us all, good readers, my hope is that we will continue to feel gratitude for the blessings that we sometimes overlook, but which still grace our lives.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth Shih

Principal

Storytelling Communications

www.elizabethshih.com

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IN THIS ISSUE:

ARTICLE 1: Sleepless in Saskatoon? Tips to treat insomnia

STORYTELLERS’ CORNER: The case of “tautology” and “redundancy” with  etymologist, Bryan Garner

SHOP NEWS

ABOUT US

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Article One: Sleepless in Saskatoon? Tips to treat insomnia (as we brace for another winter) . . .

I’ll get to the point: How are you sleeping, these days?

Have you been struggling with a lack of good sleep, while fighting one of the many viruses (besides Covid-19) that have infected our province in recent weeks?

In last June’s issue of the ezine “Psyche,” an article titled “How to sleep well again,” by Australian psychologist Chris James, updated us on effective methods to relieve insomnia—and with methods beyond the usual “pills and potions.”

We don’t need James to remind us that “insomnia” for entrepreneurs and other professionals can be a “debilitating, distressing [and] deeply frustrating condition that affects all aspects of sufferers’ lives.” We all know that we need sleep to recharge our bodies and minds, to allow our bodies to heal and to process the day’s events. If we get seven to nine hours nightly with little (if any) disruption, we should consider ourselves blessed! Good quality, deep sleep can be elusive.

Sleep-deprivation causes us to drag ourselves through meetings, to manage time intended for thinking and writing amidst a groggy, tired, irritable fog. It can, as James says, “feel like torture.”

To diagnose the term, he says, we must have “persistent difficulty with getting to sleep and/or staying asleep, at least three nights per week.”

But who among us hasn’t ever plodded through the “vicious cycle” that can cruelly develop between the desperation to sleep and the frustration of being unable to do so (tossing and turning), that actually “makes it even harder to get to sleep?”

I remember being told to try Zopiclone a few years ago (pre-Covid), by a medical professional who used it herself to catch sleep when she had sick children at home and a demanding, daytime career. Zopiclone is habit-forming, however, and I never felt comfortable relying on it, which undermined its usefulness to me in the first place.

Medical science tells us that about one-third of the population experiences one or more symptoms of insomnia, of which 10 percent have chronic insomnia. James notes that the condition is one of the most prevalent to beset us in current times.

It may consist not only of failing to get the usual seven to nine hours that modern medicine says we need; insomnia can also involve having “highly fragmented” sleep, and struggles to get and/or stay asleep, throughout the night.

Insomnia, James says, is distinct from sleep problems that arise from factors like work-shift patterns, perhaps the late-night parties (that some attend, post SABEX awards!) or noisy neighbours. And the term also excludes those with other conditions like circadian rhythm disorders or sleep apnea.

We don’t have to have long-term insomnia to know how it detracts from work performance, relationships and the motivation to exercise regularly and eat healthily. Sufferers report that they stop doing extracurricular activities and lack the energy to maintain their health.

Feelings of powerlessness and deep depression can ensue. But few insomniacs seek support for their sleeplessness and the field is partly populated with unregulated practitioners. It doesn’t help that most medical students in North American and Australia receive only two-and-a-half to three hours of sleep education in the whole of their degrees!

Therefore, doctors often overlook or minimize symptoms. Patients’ desperation may lead them to try supplements and remedies (“pills and potions”) that offer to quickly fix the problem, without substantiating how.

But James claims that the last 10 years have brought “highly effective treatments . . . supported by solid scientific evidence.” Doctors and psychologists who specialize in sleep disorders say that Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) is now considered the “gold standard” treatment for insomnia, because it focuses on sleeplessness as the result of self-perpetuating, negative behaviours and thoughts.

If you have experienced more insomnia lately than earlier in the Covid pandemic, this bears out medicine’s claim that insomnia results from changes in routines and periods of elevated stress, due to illnesses, having babies, changing jobs, losing a loved one or other relationships troubles.

Sufferers often try to treat their problem by taking “more caffeine, going to bed earlier, drinking alcohol, taking sleep supplements, sleeping on the sofa” and so on, which tend only to fuel the problem and persist, even if stressful events or bereavements have long passed.

James says that learning about how sleep works, making changes to habits, learning ways to relax properly and debunking damaging myths can all be helpful. This treatment, he says, is more “training than . . . therapy,” because it requires self-discipline and emotional (and physical) exercise. But he says the treatment does work.

As a sufferer of occasional sleeplessness, but not full-blown insomnia, I’m aware that negative thought patterns can coincide with sleeplessness, as though the “world is too much with us” to leave us a few hours to find some peace.

While James says he’s found success as a psychologist offering CBT methods, as outlined in such classic books as Mind Over Mood, I’d personally recommend some strategies that may be less laborious: listening to hypnotherapy recordings (https://hypnoheather.com/may refer you to some) and to CDs of relaxation music (e.g. “Letting Go of Stress” and “Sleep Soundly” by Emmet Miller and Steven Halpern) have been composed to include sleep-inducing rhythms and sounds.

I also urge you to read about and consider taking Dr. Jud Brewer’s program “Unwinding Anxiety,” which assists sufferers in resolving anxiety and depression. (And no, I do not receive any affiliate or other compensation for recommending these providers.)

And now it’s your turn: Do you suffer sleeplessness, or worse, insomnia? What strategies are you using to free yourself from the agony? Please write in; I’d be delighted to hear from you.

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STORYTELLERS’ CORNER . . . .

STORYTELLERS’ CORNER:  The case of “tautology” and “redundancy” with etymologist, Bryan Garner

Anyone who has read or studied the Arts or Fine Arts will be familiar with this month’s words: “tautology” and “redundancy.” I can remember first using the word “tautology” when translating medieval poetry in my Middle English course in the early 90s. (Remember translating “The Parliament of Fowls,” anyone?)

American etymologist Bryan Garner recently clarified the difference between these two words.

“Tautology,” he writes, is a term “found mostly in discussions of logic and rhetoric,” and specifically “to a restatement of something already said within the immediate context—in words that are different but do not add anything new.” Tautologies  often underpin circular reasoning, so that the words may sound convincing, but on closer analysis, merely circle back upon themselves.

To demonstrate the term “tautology,” Garner quotes Daniel Mitchell in a 2022 article on the “European Cult of Multinationalism” (“Washington Times,” 7 Nov. 2022, A25):

“Some people in Europe seem to think international bureaucracies and global treaties automatically generate good policy. Indeed, they define good policy as anything that is produced by this process—a rather convenient tautology.”

Garner distinguishes “tautology” from the more general term, “redundancy”: the latter refers to a word or phrase that adds nothing to the overall meaning because its sense has already been expressed (for e.g. “advance planning,” or “first introduction,” etc.).

Redundancies are common in wordy and imprecise writing that can (of course) be found all over online and off-line sources. Prior to retiring, the former Managing Editor of The Saskatoon StarPhoenix, Wilf Popoff, gave workshops to local writers and editors that cited many such laughable redundancies, as  “new baby,” as well as “fatally killed” and “permanently deceased.”

Redundancies can tickle your funny bone, as well as alert your mind. Some of my favourites are “absolutely essential,” “first conceived,” “basic fundamentals,” “harmful injury,” “joint collaboration,” “major breakthrough,” and “very unique.”

Put simply: brevity and precision carry power. And language matters!

And now it’s your turn. Have you wondered about what a “tautology” is, or how it is different from mere redundancy? Please send in your examples for me to use in a future issue!

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SHOP NEWS:

Thanks and kudos this month to the staff at The Franklin (Revera’s senior assisted living building) in Saskatoon, who cultivate empathy and caring for our seniors without sacrificing professionalism.

I’m particularly grateful to Executive Director, Vin Rana; transportation director, Steve, and duty and building managers, Dea, Mason and Charmaine for taking very good care of seniors who need their care and dedication.

If you have a senior in your family who would benefit from assistive living support, please contact Daniel at The Franklin for a tour, at (306) 664-6366.

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Congratulations to Monica Kreuger, Chief Visionary Officer of Global Infobrokers (Home of the Praxis Group of Schools), and her team, including Vice-President Brent Kreuger, Facilitator Deanna Litz and Program Administrator, Elaine Mantyka, for reaching “finalist” standing for “Business of the Year” at Saskatoon’s 2022 SABEX Awards, last Thursday evening, October 13th!

Also included in this thanks are PSE staff, Marie Weinkauf (bookkeeper) and Silvana Cracogna (Coordinator and facilitator of Language Programs).

Of the 400+ attendees of the awards, no business other than Global Infobrokers had provided entrepreneurial training and preparation to more than 1200 Saskatchewanians, including alumni who were present to promote their separate businesses, and even to win awards in other categories.

And no other business hosted a larger number of its team (me included) for the event—more than three lengthy rows of Praxis delegates, who attended to support them.

For more than 30 years, Monica and Brent Kreuger and their team have introduced to and deepened the practice of entrepreneurship in the province of Saskatchewan, shaping and making many, many careers in the process.

Those entrepreneurs remain affiliated with them and become part of a large network, which reflects Praxis’ commitment to excellence.

From among the list of finalists and the winner (Magnus Construction Services), I can think of no company more worthy of the “Business of the Year” than Praxis/Global–and yes, I am partial, as an alumna who also facilitates for them, every quarter. (But no, I am not paid for affiliate marketing!)

Global Infobrokers wins as the Business of Every Year, for those fortunate enough to train through it or work with its team.

So deepest THANKS, Monica, Brent and Team, for all you’ve achieved and continue to do!

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While the above companies are not new businesses, they continue achieve excellence across all fields, including community service, which earns them recognition, here.

There are always new businesses and entrepreneurial programs to promote.

Please write me to share your success stories.

But for now, this is a wrap for mid-October!

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Finally, my spirits as a teacher and writer are regularly buoyed by local friends Laura Van Loon (Parish Nurse), Monica Kreuger (Chief Visionary Officer of the Praxis School of Entrepreneurship), (Lesley-Anne McLeod (Regency novelist), Steve Cavan (Classicist and ESL teacher), Rev. Roberto DeSandoli (Minister of Word and Sacrament), Julie Barnes (professional writer and philanthropist), Erin Watson (librarian, University of Saskatchewan), and Dani Van Driel (painter and director, Action Battery).

When waters get choppy around issues like cutbacks to publicly funded health and senior care in the province, these friends have expressed their support in fortifying. ways and words.  Merci beaucoup, mes amies!

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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 and economic immigrants to secure better contracts 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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