Newsletters – Page 12 – Storytelling Communications

February 25, 2022March 3, 2022

On “Wordle” and other diversions in this month’s issue of “Tell Your Story Newsletter”

February 2022 Vol 4 Issue 2

Tell Your Story Newsletter (TYSN):
Specializing in Entrepreneurial and Organizational Storytelling.

Let me tell your story!

Welcome Mid-February, 2022!

As I sit by my office window drafting this issue, it’s a sunny, mid-winter day, filled with sunshine and gale-force winds! While a toque or hood would have been wise to wear, when I took my daily walk, the fellow pedestrians I met looked as grateful as I felt to be walking in such mild temperatures!

Although we are all beyond weary of the past two years of the pandemic, you (my readers) have spoken or written to me unequivocally in favour of following the guidelines of medical professionals. Painful though the implications, many of us feel the need to act to control the spread of Omicron and its micro-variants. More painful still would (and will) be further devastation and deaths than Covid has already caused! While accepting restrictions does not resonate with everyone’s values, we know that taking care of each other and ourselves saves lives.

That being said, of course quality of life also matters and it provides the theme of this month’s newsletter: reading books can provide great diversions–and not only the literature and theory that some of us read in graduate school (lol)!. The pandemic has not stopped authors, including local ones, across a spectrum of fields, from publishing amazing work.

Letter writing to friends is an art that some of us have returned to. And online newspapers and magazines (a surprising number of which are available for free with a public library account), hold unplumbed riches to mine (such as The New York Times for my ESL teaching)!

Also, as coach Deanna Litz reminded us over Facebook recently, our physicians can provide us with complimentary passes to our National Parks, in SK, ON, MB and BC–for winter sports and activities. And the same public library in Saskatoon that I mention above also offers no-cost passes for admission to our premier museum of the arts, the Remai Modern.

When we have just a few minutes, both off- and online word-games can provide a wonderful diversion. So “Article One” this month is devoted to the outrageously popular word game, Wordle! Although I’m a late convert, I definitely feel its addictive pull!

And in “Storyteller’s Corner,” I share a meditation–not a joke, this month–about the nature of our existence that can spur us onward, when we feel exhausted by Covid times.

May the increasing light and warmth that come to us between now and spring, good readers, bring you better health, the meeting of your goals and plans, and gratitude for the blessings and gifts (people, projects and more) that still grace our lives.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth

Principal

Storytelling Communications

www.elizabethshih.com

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IN THIS ISSUE:

ARTICLE 1: What’s with Wordle? An Engineer’s word game goes viral

STORYTELLER’S CORNER:

A meditation from Brazilian poet and artist, Mario de Andrade

SHOP NEWS

ABOUT US

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Article One: What’s with Wordle? An engineer’s word game goes viral . . . .

Many Saskatchewanians have played the online word game, “Wordle,” whose yellow, green and grey square emojis appeared on Twitter in late December. It has since “gone viral” as the subject of social media postings from academics, marketers, journalists and other, wordy types.

So, what’s the story of Wordle? In an article to “Chron.com” updated last week, writer Naomi Tomky gave us the “scoop” . . . .

“Wordle” is a simple online word-guessing game, designed by Welsh software engineer Josh Wardle for his partner, a lover of word games, Palak Shah. Late in December, Wardle also sent the game to his family’s online chat, where its popularity encouraged him to share it with the world. Wardle chose “Wordle” as the game’s name, by playing on his own last name.

Looking like “a tower of children’s blocks,” Tomky writes, Wordle consists of a five by six grid, consisting of yellow, green and grey square emojis. The game is quick and easy (not to mention free) to play. Each day a new mystery word appears for readers to guess. Such has been its appeal, Tomky writes, that its “shareable, colourful results” have captured the attention of millions of readers, “intriguing what felt like all of the internet.”

Last month, Wardle signed a seven-figure agreement with The New York Times (TNYT), selling the game to the newspaper giant. So Wordle will soon appear there, along with other word puzzles, notably the newspaper’s famous, daily crossword and other, pre-existing games (e.g., Mini, Spelling Bee and Letter Boxed). Currently Wordle is still playable for free, online (see link at the end of this article). But since TNYT offers many word games as part of its games subscription, users fear that it will shortly require readers to subscribe.

The game itself has five squares across, each of which represents a single letter in the five-letter word of the day. The six rows each represent one (of the six) guesses that players have find the day’s “secret word.”

Tomky tells us that the game first went online on a “bare-bones website” last October, when fewer than 100 followers tried it. But by early January, 300K people were playing per day, and “by the end of the month, millions.”

What are the rules of the game?

You click through to the game’s website and enter your first guess—a five letter word that must exist in English. Once you type in your guess and hit “enter,” the letters flip (a la Wheel of Fortune), but with letters in the correct position turning green and incorrect letters turning yellow.

Wordle’s coloured emoji can be shared on social media (where many of us first heard of the game), so that players can share their results without spoiling the puzzle for those yet to try it.

Tomky also writes that there is a “standard Wordle mode,” where you can guess any word in your five guesses; those playing at the “hard mode” have to use information about the letters gathered from earlier guess(es).

Each player gets six guesses per day to find the mystery word. Some players start with a strategic first word like “SOARE” or “ARISE” (to confirm or eliminate common letters and vowels). Other players just randomly choose words to start their play.

What makes Wordle so addicting?

Wardle has commented that by limiting the game to one puzzle per player, per day, he has created a sense of scarcity that drives players to participate. He and his partner (and muse) Shah narrowed the potential list of eligible five-letter words in English from about 12K to 2.5K, which TNYT reports is “enough to last almost seven years.”

What other similar games can we play online?

Tomky writes that “a slew of imitators” have used the same template to allow people to guess words, such as swears (“Sweardle” and “Lewdle”), a game based on song lyrics, and versions where the word changes with every guess, or which gives you a ridiculous number of tries (e.g., 26) to guess each day’s answer.

What’s next for Wordle?

While the agreement struck between TNYT and Wardle was private, the paper has said “the game would initially remain free to new and existing players,” without promising any longer-term access.

Tomky concludes that while some users will lose out when the game migrates to the newspaper’s website, there will also be new players—subscribers who find the game for the first time, there.

Are you new to Wordle? Give it a try as a late pandemic diversion, here:

https://www.nytimes.com/games/wordle/index.html

And now it’s your turn. Are there word games or writerly exercises that enjoyably divert you from the daily grind? Please reach out and share. I’d be delighted to hear from you.

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STORYTELLER’s CORNER . . . .

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

This month–a change of pace in “Storyteller’s Corner”. . . .

In place of a writerly joke or a word-centred posting, this month I’m sharing a remarkable meditation from the Brazilian poet, musician and artist, Mario de Andrade (1893–1945). Known as one of the founders of modernism in Brazil, Andrade produced an astonishing and varied oeuvre across many media (music and musicology, literature, painting, history, photography and literary and art criticism).

This excerpt, which I’m currently seeking in hard copy, came to me from a friend in Southern Ontario, who found it a helpful reflection in these world-weary times.

I dedicate this posting to the amazing team at the Praxis School of Entrepreneurship (PSE), and especially to Chief Visionary Officer, Monica Kreuger, who has continued to mentor and encourage entrepreneurs like me, despite the many demands she has shouldered, over the past two years.

Mario de Andrade writes:

“I counted my years and found that I have less time to live from here on than I have lived up to now.

I feel like that child who won a packet of sweets: he ate the first with pleasure, but when he realized that there were few left, he began to enjoy them intensely.

I no longer have time for endless meetings where statutes, rules, procedures and internal regulations are discussed, knowing that nothing will be achieved.

I no longer have time to support the absurd people who, despite their chronological age, haven’t grown up.

My time is too short: I want the essence, my soul is in a hurry. I don’t have many sweets in the package anymore.

I want to live next to human people, very human, who know how to laugh at their mistakes and who are not inflated by their triumphs and who take on their responsibilities.

Thus, human dignity is defended and we move towards truth and honesty.

It is the essential that makes life worth living.

I want to surround myself with people who know how to touch hearts, people who have been taught by the hard blows of life to grow with gentle touches of the soul.

Yes, I’m in a hurry, I’m in a hurry to live with the intensity that only maturity can give.

I don’t intend to waste any of the leftover sweets.

I am sure they will be delicious, much more than what I have eaten so far.

My goal is to reach the end satisfied and at peace with my loved ones and my conscience.

We have two lives and the second begins when you realize you only have one.“

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Do you have a story to tell or share (as I’m sure you do–perhaps many?) Or do you have an excerpt of writing to share? Please send it to me; I’d be delighted to use it in an upcoming issue!

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SHOP NEWS:

Special thanks to my former business coach and ongoing program facilitator, Deanna Litz, at the Praxis School of Entrepreneurship.

One of our country’s busiest entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial coaches with international reach, Deanna still manages to make humourous and insightful social postings that always inspire me.

I’m grateful to her for continuing the conversation with me that began last year in my coaching with her, through Powerful Nature Coaching and Consulting.

Deanna has untold depth acquired from her many years with Praxis and from a very full and varied life beyond: I recommend her and her services to you highly and will update you on them, in future issues.

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And a very hearty “thank you” again this month to Chief Visionary Officer Monica Kreuger and the team of the Praxis School of Entrepreneurship (see this month’s “Storyteller’s Corner”) who have built a new program–“digiSMART” (the latest in a suite of their “SMART” programs) that I will in part, attend, and in part, facilitate.

So, with that in mind . . . . attention all business owners who want to grow their tech skills! Are you feeling left behind in the digital journey?

Are you tried of hearing about the next great app for building your business, when you haven’t had time to learn the basic features on your phone?

Does the idea of using social media or SEO make you want to run and hide (or break out in a rash)?!

Have you protected your business from the growing numbers of skilled hackers, out there?

The first cohort of the new program starts on February 15th, so if you want to register (or learn more), I urge you to ACT TODAY.

Registrants pick the training that they need–whether all, or just a few, targeted modules.

And best of all, it is completely FREE to entrepreneurs who are residents of SK, ready to take their businesses forward, ready and willing to learn more about the digital world and how it can help their businesses and themselves grow.

Most modules will be held Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 7:15 am–8:45 am (from mid-February to June), online by Zoom, or at the PSE office at 131 Wall Street (Saskatoon). These hours have been chosen to enable participants to continue to run their businesses.

A weekly Q & A will be held. There will also be twice monthly coaching, by the Amazing Deanna Litz, along with access to resource materials.

Contact the PSE’s helpful (and equally amazing) program administrator, Elaine Mantyka, to learn more at (306) 664-0500, or at elainem@globalinfobrokers.ca

I look forward to seeing you on Wall Street!

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And a definite nod this month goes to colleague Jordon MacKenzie of ABA Technology Solutions, who continues to guide me through IT support, for which I’m always thankful!

Despite losing a close family member in recent months and starting a very busy “day job,” Jordon continues to provide amazing after-hours tech solutions when they’re most needed.

Thank you, Jordon!

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And a final hearty thank you this month goes to my brilliant bookkeeper, Heather Stuart, who has shepherded me through another year (one of many) of PST posting and–even more importantly–will assist me in filing my upcoming business and income taxes.

Thanks very much for your patience and wisdom, Heather. When you take new clients, please let me know, so I can recommend you with five stars!

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There are always new stories to promote in “Shop News,” but this is a wrap for mid-February.

Stay tuned for new updates, acknowledgements and local entrepreneurial training opportunities, next month!

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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 teach new and prospective immigrants to improve their English language skills; I continue to write career and communications documents that help small and medium-sizes bizzes (SMEs) to close more sales by communicating more effectively; and I research and write chapbooks that promote the legacies of major companies.

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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January 24, 2022March 2, 2022

On difficult passageways and more in this month’s issue of “Tell Your Story Newsletter”

January 2022 Vol 4 Issue 1

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

Welcome Mid-January, 2021!

January is often said in Western Canada to be the cruellest month of the year: the tilt of the earth’s axis in December brings us winter, with the coldest weather and the shortest daylight hours of the year. (Scientists remind us that we are actually closer in distance from the sun in winter than we are
in summer, but that truth brings only cold comfort!)

And yet the month of January can also be a time of planning, renewed growth and development–and not only for those who make new year’s resolutions!
As I write this issue of “Tell Your Story Newsletter,” we have gratefully passed a nearly month long, arctic cold spell , with temperatures (including windchill) dipping to -50 degrees Celsius! The good news is that we’ve now had a reprieve of nearly 50 degrees in the other direction, even if we know that such fluctuations are not healthy and reflect our global climate crisis.

Just as it has been difficult to pass through such cold so early in winter and to see so much snow, the theme of this month’s issue is difficult passageways–those negotiated by entrepreneurs, artists, writers and other creatives.

Along with our murky passage through the environmental crisis, the fourth wave of the Covid pandemic (Omicron) is wearing on us all, worldwide. Talk of a fifth wave has begun. Although we are thrice vaccinated (or waiting to become so), the pandemic puts distance between us all. And we languish, wondering how and when Covid will finally recede.

Amidst these difficult passageways, I trust, good readers, that you are digging deep to keep yourselves, your family and colleagues safe. I wish you strength and blessings for this difficult passageway, when our journeying continues without certainty of a goal

As the old adage says, “keep on, keeping on”–and know that Covid will eventually recede, however much later than we would like.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth
Principal
Storytelling Communications
www.elizabethshih.com

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IN THIS ISSUE:

ARTICLE 1: Entrepreneurial wellness: Taking small steps on the difficult passageways of life
STORYTELLERS’ CORNER:
Folksy idioms: Word teasers
SHOP NEWS
ABOUT US

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Article One, on Entrepreneurial Wellness: Take small steps on the difficult
passageways of life

My long-time mentor and friend, Monica Kreuger, Chief Visionary Officer of the Praxis School of Entrepreneurship, posted recently over Facebook a brief but breathtaking meditation. It comes from the bestselling Russian writer of detective novels, Elena Mikhalkova. With a nod to Monica for her exquisite taste, I quote Mikhalkova’s meditation here, applicable when we find
ourselves on difficult passageways through life:

“My grandmother once gave me a tip: In difficult times, move forward in small steps. Do what you
have to do, but little by little. Don’t think about the future or what may happen tomorrow.
Wash the dishes.
Remove the dust.
Write a letter.
Make a soup.
You see?

Advance step by step.
Take a step and stop.
Rest a little.
Praise yourself.
Take another step.
And then another.
You won’t notice, but your steps will grow,
more and more.
And the time will come when you can think
about the future without crying.”

Some of the challenges that would be a backdrop to Mikhalkova’s (and her forebears’) lives may have included these:
• living in 20th and 21st century Russia, under leaders including Vladimir Putin
• being raised in a home where the study of sciences and mathematics was privileged above literature
• living a creative life in a communist culture and the ensuing hardship (financial and emotional) that would bring
• enduring the challenges women often face in earning livelihoods independent of their male relatives (regardless of which country the women call home)

Mikhalkova’s meditation resonated with me when I read it in the first days of 2022, because the holiday season renewed my contact with friends who find themselves struggling with relationship pain and loss; poverty and financial challenges; job insecurity; prolonged elder care; and long-term
illnesses. The holidays are rarely a “ho-ho-ho” time for people journeying through such difficult passageways.

Mikhalkova reminded me of the tendency thoughtful people often have (my friends and me, included) to overthink or (even worse) ruminate about life, when we face such obstacles to our health and happiness. As psychologists and psychotherapists have said and written, to become “lost in one’s thoughts” in trying times threatens to undermine a calm, conscious and persevering frame of mind. Ruminating or obsessing over difficulties only weakens our capacities to persist through life’s difficult passageways.

And in pandemic times like ours, and with challenges yet to come, difficulties will arise. But as Mikhalkova’s words indicate, if we don’t focus on the problems, but move through them by taking small steps, one at a time, one day at a time, our “steps” will indeed “grow.”

They will take us to a future that offers us relief and joy beyond measure.

And now it’s your turn: Do you find Mikhalkova’s meditation helpful as you face another (pandemic) day, week, month, winter (etc.)?

Please share your thoughts on my “contact” page at storytellingcommunications.ca . 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: Folksy idioms

It’s been reported in the news that word games like “Wordle” are gaining popularity in these late pandemic days. Ready for some escapist fun?

Figure out the idioms from the following five teasers, by sounding one letter at a time (move over
Wordle!)
The answers follow, below

IDIOMS:

(1) DDNS LT TNJ RY
(2) THR WCT NTTHW ND
(3) DN TCRYV RSP LTM LK
(4) VRYC LDH SSL VRLN NG
(5) DN TGVPY RDY JB

ANSWERS:
(1) Add insult to injury
(2) Throw caution to the wind.
(3) Don’t cry over spilt milk
(4) Every cloud has a silver lining
(5) Don’t give up your day job
Do you have a story, riddle, cartoon 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:

Full disclosure: As an alumna of and occasional teacher (facilitator) at the Praxis School of Entrepreneurship (but not as a paid affiliate), I’m delighted to promote the school’s new “Self-Employment Program for Persons with Disabilities.”
Do you know of any aspiring entrepreneurs with business ideas who also have self-assessed disabilities (whether physical, sensory, psychological or other)?

Might they, like most budding entrepreneurs, lack the knowledge to develop their ideas? Have they faced challenges such as lack of funding, unemployment and limited awareness of their own potential?

These are more of the kind of difficult passageways that I acknowledge in this issue! I urge you and your contacts to learn more about the new “Self-Employment Program for Persons with Disabilities.”

The school’s Chief Visionary Officer, Monica Kreuger; Chief Ideas Officer, Brent Kreuger; facilitator and group coach, Deanna Litz (principal of Powerful Nature Coaching and Consulting) and their team have operated earlier versions of this programming for more than 30 years, involving nearly 1200 entrepreneurs, including me!

The Government of Saskatchewan produced this video about the program. I urge you to consider it for yourself or someone you know!

And the PSE team, including PR specialist and alumna Christina Cherneskey, created this podcast about the program.

The last infosession for the upcoming program term is on January 20th and registration is well underway. For the details, contact the wonderful (and approachable) administrator, Elaine, at the PSE: (306) 664-0500, or elainem@globalinfobrokers.ca
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Thanks and warmest regards go to English professor emeritus, Beth Daugherty, of Westerville, Ohio, who contacted me over the holidays, some 20 years after we last met.

Beth showed her characteristic kindness by sharing details of her ongoing academic research (pursued even in retirement), and by kindly mentioning me in her forthcoming book on Virginia Woolf’s life and work. Thank you, Beth, and I look forward to the book’s release!
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Finally, thanks and kudos go to those who care for seniors and the homeless in these trying times, providing necessary stimulation, emotional support, good nutrition and who meet other basic needs, even when the pandemic limits our energy and funds.

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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 have rebranded as “Storytelling Communications.” I now teach English as a second language that helps new and economic immigrants to secure better jobs; I write communications documents that help SMEs to close more sales by communicating more effectively; and I write ebooks and chapbooks that help major companies share their legacies.

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)

December 26, 2021December 31, 2021

Feeling the Christmas (or holiday) blues? Here are some solutions . . . .

December 2021 Vol 3 Issue 12

Tell Your Story Newsletter (TYSN):

Specializing in Entrepreneurial and Organizational Storytelling

Let me tell your story!

IN THIS ISSUE:

ARTICLE 1: Feeling the Christmas (or holiday) blues? Here are some solutions . . . .

STORYTELLERS’ CORNER:

A local “advent miracle” story

SHOP NEWS

ABOUT US

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Welcome Mid-December, 2021

We have had a mild winter thus far on the Prairies. But winter’s hoary breath and arctic temperatures are forecasted to return next week, when -15 C will be our high for at least several days. The inevitable cold of a Prairie winter is a particular threat to the disadvantaged in our province: as I compose this annual Christmas issue, the Saskatoon Tribal Council (STC), with support from several local charities and not-for-profit organizations, is about to open a new, temporary homeless shelter in downtown Saskatoon. The goal is to get some of the region’s most vulnerable citizens out of the cold. Longer-term supports are also being planned.

Through the “Advent Appeal” program at my church, once again this year, we are collecting clothing, warm blankets, and hygiene supplies on behalf of the homeless and at-risk people who fill Saskatoon’s shelters. This month’s “Storyteller’s Corner” reminds me that small acts of kindness can have a miraculous effect on others in these shelters.

Notwithstanding the soaring inflation at our grocery stores and gas stations, I hope that you, good reader, have a warm, safe and stable living environment, not just at Christmas or Hanukkah, 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 community.

Since our global community has now entered its second Christmas, Hanukkah and New Year’s seasons in the grip of the ever mercurial Coronavirus, this year will especially not be a “ho-ho-ho” time for many; too many have lost family members, careers, timely medical treatments and more.

So in this last newsletter of 2021, I return to “Coping with Christmas,” a publication of the American Hospice Foundation (AHF). 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 attuned to our own emotional needs, not least when we face compassion fatigue or burnout.

Despite the challenges that fill the news, I hope that you can find some time to enjoy the last weeks of 2021, giving thanks for the family and/or friends and neighbours who bring grace to our lives.

I wish you peace this holiday season and as much good health, happiness and prosperity as possible, in 2022.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth

Principal, Storytelling Communications

www.elizabethshih.com

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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 raised to observe Christmas or Hanukkah as a blessing, the holiday season can be painful.

The pain may come from 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 know that you are not alone!

Christmas or Holiday cards (choose one):

Mail as usual
Shorten your list
Include a Christmas letter that you’ve written
Skip it this year

Christmas or Holiday music (choose one):

Enjoy as usual
Shop early, to avoid Christmas music
Avoid turning the radio on
Listen to the music and allow yourself to feel sad (or to cry)

Decorations (choose one):

Decorate as usual
Let others do it
Choose not to have decorations
Have a special decoration for a loved one, who may have died or left
Modify your decorations
Make changes, such as an artificial tree
Ask for help from a friend or family

Shopping (choose one):

Shop as usual
Shop early
Make your gifts
Make a list of gifts to buy
Shop online and through catalogues
Ask for help wrapping gifts
Shop with a friend
Give cash
Give baked goods
Ask for help
Go giftless and make a donation to charity

Traditions (choose one):

Keep the old traditions
Don’t attend Christmas parties
Open gifts on the usual day
Attend a worship service
Attend a totally different place of worship
Visit the cemetery
Attend scaled back Christmas parties
Go to an entirely new place
Open gifts at another time
Do not attend a worship service
Light a special candle to honour your loved one
Bake the usual foods
Modify your baking
Buy the usual foods
Spent quiet time alone, in meditation or relaxation

Christmas or Holiday Dinner (choose one):

Prepare as usual
Invite friends who are in your bubble, over
Eat in a different location of the house
Go out to dinner, possibly with someone else who is alone
Eat alone
Change time of dinner
Have a scaled back buffet/potluck
Ask for help

Post-Christmas and New Year’s Day (choose one):

Spend the days as usual
Avoid those New Year’s parties that are going ahead (in Covid times)
Spend time with a few friends in your bubble
Write in a journal about your hopes for the next year
Go out of town
Host a scaled back New Year’s Party
Go to a movie, watch a movie on a streaming service or even borrow a movie from the library
Go to bed early and feel refreshed the next morning for the new year ahead

And now it’s your turn: Does the Christmas or Hanukkah 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, 24/7 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 local “advent miracle” story

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

Alan says that two years ago, he “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 spring after, 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 were not 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 and 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 this month go to ESL teacher, Steve Cavan (former CEO of Paddock Wood Brewery), who since last summer has mentored me, as I joined the Chinese ESL/EFL online teaching platform, italki.com. Steve is a font of knowledge both of the English language and of online teaching. He has been a selfless advisor on the many issues that can arise in online teaching.

Thank you, good friend, and blessings (or karma!) on you!

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Thanks also go out this month to bookkeeper, Heather Stuart, whose intelligence and knowledge of tax rules always help me administer my small business books well.

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And another note of gratitude, as always, to Chief Visionary Officer, Monica Kreuger, and the amazing team at the Praxis School of Entrepreneurship (PSE). Together they continue to advocate for the welfare and training of many of our province’s entrepreneurs (including me), at both start-up and intermediate levels.

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Special thanks also go to Saskatoon creative entrepreneur Sharon Givens, an alum of the PSE’s startSMART and staySMART programs, whose work as a costume designer (of “Altered Expressions and Design”), party organizer and home-school curriculum developer makes a great difference in our community. It’s been a joy to work with her on some website copy. She has a remarkable story to share.

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And if you enter 2022 with a desire to do a “deep dive” on entrepreneurial issues of all kinds (including strategy, well-being and beyond), look no further! Easily our region’s best coach is PSE facilitator, Deanna Litz, who is principal of Powerful Nature Coaching & Consulting, Inc..

Deanna reminded me, as a client last summer and fall, “there’s nothing small about small business.” And she has the depth and breadth of knowledge and experience everyone should (but seldom does) find in a coach. I highly recommend Deanna and encourage you to contact her, today!

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And finally, if you or a senior whom you know is in search of safe and comfortable home that provides assistance, please consider downtown Saskatoon’s The Franklin Retirement Residence by Revera. The team there have remarkable empathy for seniors in their late years and offer safe physical environs, a delicious and nutritious menu (with plenty of variety), add-on home care, fellowship and seniors’ programming, transportation, and more.

At a time when senior care in our province is woefully underfunded and when virtually all special (private) care homes fail their residents, 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, Monique Duperreault, who is a generous ambassador: Monique.Duperreault@reveraliving.com . Or reach her by phone at (306) 664-6366.

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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.” Last winter, I pivoted toward teaching ESL and now assist newcomers to Canada to secure better jobs by improving their language skills; I also help small- and medium-sized businesses to close more sales by communicating more effectively; and I tell the legacy stories of major companies.

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).

++++++++

STAY IN TOUCH:

Become a Facebook fan

Subscribe to my blog

December 12, 2021January 24, 2022

Want relief from anxiety? Here’s a breakthrough solution . . .

November 2021 Vol 3 Issue 11

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

IN THIS ISSUE:

ARTICLE 1: Want relief from anxiety? Here’s a breakthrough solution . . .

STORYTELLERS’ CORNER: Should we be waiting on “tenderhooks” or “tenterhooks?” The Australian Writers’ Centre has the answer!

SHOP NEWS

ABOUT US
++++++++++

Welcome Mid-November 2021!

As I prepare this issue of “Tell Your Story Newsletter,” we have had our first serious snowfall of the winter, in Saskatoon. The snow (and ice) appear to be staying. But the weather has been mild, most days, which buoys our spirits.
In this month’s newsletter, I provide a lengthy report on American Dr. Judson (Jud) Brewer’s new and transformational book on anxiety. “Article One” is not so much a review as a “digest” or summary of Brewer’s book.

He finds that mindfulness can offer a significant and straightforward alternative to the ineffectiveness of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). And who among us doesn’t have anxiety, in these late pandemic times? Virtually everyone who does, wants to be free of it. Brewer may help to get us
there.

In “Storytellers’ Corner,” I visit the Australian Writers’ Centre posting on the following usage question: should we be waiting for the future on “tenderhooks,” or “tenterhooks?”

May the best of winter–the physical and emotional warmth that can be cultivated indoors, by sharing stories by a crackling fire–may the best of winter be with you, good readers, as we approach the end of this trying year.

Sincerely,
Elizabeth
Principal
Storytelling Communications
+++++++

Article One: Special Report–Want relief from anxiety? A report
on curiosity as a breakthrough solution (from Neuroscientist Dr.
Judson Brewer)

The worldwide Coronavirus pandemic has become one of the most
anxious times of the past century—rivalled perhaps only by the
Spanish Flu and the two World Wars.

Twenty-one months into Covid-19 times, many of us feel deeply
worried about our families and careers, often expressing overwhelm
that our lives no longer seem to be under our control.

But in his recent book, Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How
to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind, esteemed
neuroscientist, psychiatrist and TEDTalk speaker, Dr. Judson (Jud)
Brewer, describes how to address anxiety at its source, using brainbased techniques and interventions accessible to everyone.

For this issue of TYSN alone, I present here a full-length summary of
Brewer’s book: If, as some of my readers tell me, you have no time to
read the book, but are deeply troubled by anxiety, think of this
summary as a primer, intended to help you get some relief.

Brewer defines anxiety as a “feeling of worry, nervousness, or unease,
typically about an imminent event or something with an uncertain
outcome” (38).

When uncertainty abounds, we get anxious. Anxiety always makes us
feel that we must “Do something,” even though it’s seldom clear what
that “something” is.

Brewer explains that anxiety becomes a trigger that urges the ancient
part of our brains to figure out what to do (what behaviour to engage
in) to secure a solution (which infrequently happens). Describing
anxiety as occurring in a sequence from “trigger” to “behaviour” to
“result,” Brewer likens the experience to playing a “slot machine in a
casino,” where one “wins just enough times that we keep coming back
for more.”

When we worry (another kind of behaviour), that often results in
feelings of anxiety. But the anxiety can then trigger the behaviour of
worrying, which results in feeling yet more anxiety, over and over
again. Brewer calls this a “habit loop.”

Our brains become habituated to worry, resorting to it every time we
feel anxious. But it’s a bad habit, because worry is never productive
and does not help us to think creatively or to solve our problems.
Instead, Brewer says, “it pushes a panic button that gets us running
around, trying anything to get the anxiety to go away.” We can easily
become anxious about being anxious.

Activities like checking our smartphones for social media or email
messages, or trying to read some of the daily news might seem to
relieve our anxiety. But they actually only create new habits that we
use to distract ourselves, when we feel stressed or anxious. These
distractions also fail, so we keep seeking other solutions.
Brewer writes that “the failure of the distraction to eliminate the worry
can lead to more worrying, so that “worry thinking becomes its own
trigger.” Then, “even though worrying doesn’t work, our old brain
keeps trying” (40). The illusion that we are doing something can feel
rewarding in itself, when in fact we’re mentally “spinning out of
control.”

Brewer “maps out” the dilemma on paper, this way (and we can, too):
Trigger: Anxiety;
Behaviour: Worry;
Result: We feel more anxious. And on and on the “habit loop” goes.

Fear + Uncertainty = Anxiety: in the realities of 21st century life,
our old brains’ survival system is useless to us. Brewer recommends
that we first identify the circumstances or “habit loops” we fall back
on, by “mapping out” what their trigger, behaviour and results are.
Anxiety can vary “from mild unease to full-blown panic” and it’s good
to know that Brewer himself has experienced that whole range of
emotions and treated himself with mindfulness.

But much of the force of his book lies in his analysis that anxiety drives the very addictive behaviours and bad habits that we use to cope (e.g. stress-based eating, procrastination, scrolling through negative news and unreliable
social media, alcohol and narcotics). Anxiety lives in a part of the
brain that resists rational thought.

So we get stuck in anxiety “habit loops,” the reality is that “we can’t
think our way out of or use willpower to overcome” these
emotions. Thinking and willpower cannot free us from anxiety,
however much Cognitive and Behavioural Therapists (CBT) have
argued otherwise (for the past 25+ years). And the failure of CBT to
alleviate anxiety has only allowed that anxiety to become intensified–
an epidemic of our times.

The definition of addiction, Brewer writes, is “continued use [of
anything] despite adverse consequences” (28). For many of us,
anxiety itself has paradoxically become an addiction.

He writes: “On the surface it seems like anxiety helps us get things
done” so that, for instance, “worrying helps us protect our children
from harm.” But the science shows the opposite. Addiction abounds
with anxiety and worry, so that we eat, shop, play computer games,
gamble, date online, check social media, etc., obsessively.

Addiction has always been with us, but in contemporary days, Brewer
confirms that it has intensified: “The rate of change in our world over
the last 24 years far outstrips all of the changes in the previous 200
years. Our brains and bodies haven’t kept up and it’s killing us” (29).
An example Brewer gives to contrast current civilization with the past
is the process we use to buy a pair of new shoes. In the 1800s, it was
“a two-month process. Now it’s a two minute, two-click fix, which
keeps you buying more and more shoes” and debiting your bank
account, along the way.

In these 21st Century days, high individualism and reason (dating to
the Age of Enlightenment) have us believe that our strength lies in our
ability to think critically (160). But our willpower and mental
associations pale in power next to our deepest desires (which easily
turn into habits).

Uncertainty triggers anxiety, which in turn can lead to panic. Brewer
writes that people should understand “that anxious feelings are their
[old] survival brain kicking into high gear” (23).

Many parents report these days that their teenagers are suffering panic
attacks in these pandemic times. The uncertainty caused by Covid-19
produces fear, which triggers anxiety and (again) results in more
panic.

Reward-based learning was helpful in cave-person days. (We saw
food, we ate it, we survived, we felt good, so we repeated it.) Every
time you perform that behaviour, you reinforce the neural pathway. In
this century, the trigger is no longer hunger, but an emotional signal,
so feeling sad, mad, hurt, lonely, bored and so on, can trigger bad
habits.

And bad habits are not just about binge eating/smoking or watching
Netflix or one’s smartphone apps, etc. The result/reward is
“avoidance, procrastination, or the opposite,” such as overplanning
and workaholism. We remain stuck in the habit loop.

Brewer writes that “with the same brain mechanism as an unnamed
cave person, we modern geniuses have gone from learning to survive
to literally killing ourselves, with these habits.” And he adds that it’s
gotten “exponentially worse in the last 20 years” (33).

“Anxiety disorders” are predominant, since our brains have tricked us
into thinking that we need to be anxious to get things done and to
perform well. But he says that “anxiety doesn’t actually improve
performance.”

Once we are aware that our behaviour is not helping us to survive and
that anxiety is very unrewarding, we can bring to our minds a “bigger,
better offer” (BBO). We can give up old, habitual behaviours for those
that are genuinely rewarding. Here Brewer names curiosity as an
alternative.

He tells us to “discover our triggers, defuse them with the simple but
powerful practice of curiosity, and to train our brains using
mindfulness” to achieve peace of mind.

He says that practicing mindful curiosity involves little cost (unless
you sign up, panicked, for his online app and program) and “can
readily be applied for anyone to feel better—no matter how anxious
[we] feel.”

Newer layers of the brain responsible for thinking, creativity and
decision making are layered over the archaic/old brain that evolved to
help us to survive (e.g. from trigger to result). But we still fall back on
willpower, as a default belief.

Using the analogy of a rider, bucked by a wild horse, Brewer says
we’re focused so much on the rider (i.e. our willpower) that we forget
to change the ever-bucking horse (i.e. our habits and addictions).
We need to map our minds to figure out how anxiety defies our
willpower, in order to break free from the rough ride.

Part of the problem is that willpower is weaker than we think. We
cannot think our way out of anxiety: “You can’t think your way out of
a bad habit or into a good one” (149). Wishing and thinking and trying
to force behaviours to stop don’t work, b/c those efforts don’t affect
the habit’s emotional reward value. Focus needs to be on the present
moment and we need to distrust our thoughts (esp. the “shoulds” of
self-judgment).

Brewer says that we need to “become disenchanted” with old habit
loops and move on to curiosity and a different use of our minds, to
allow for change.

So how does he argue that we can “unwind” anxiety, by learning to be
curious? Brewer says we need to learn how to be mindful and
aware, but not necessarily to meditate. (Meditation is not always
possible for people who experience anxiety.) Cultivating curiosity is a
natural way to become “mindfully aware.”

The first step toward mindfulness is to be conscious of our feelings,
how fleeting the contentment/reward is, in the habit loop. Then
Brewer advises us to perform a mindful exercise of eating or social
media reading, so that the actual outcome gets registered in our brains
(147). This outcome replaces the old, reward-value memories (e.g.
thoughtless childhood gluttony) with today’s realities that over-eating
leads adults to weight gain, bloating, unpleasant sugar rushes and
disgust.

The next time we feel triggered to eat too much, Brewer suggests that
we go through step one to remember the disgust; disgust helps us to
drop our cravings, which makes it easier to leave the habit loops and
change our behaviour.

He uses a gear-based analogy that helps people to change, however
intense their anxiety may be. These are essential steps toward
mindfulness:

In First Gear, we map out what particular anxiety “habit loops” we
have (sketch down “Trigger, Behaviour and Reward” for each one.)

In Second Gear, we tap into our brains’ reward systems to work with
anxiety (and other addictions). The stronger the habit and the harder it
is to break. “The only sustainable way to change a habit is to
update its reward value. . . .That’s why it’s called reward-based
learning” (109). We have to confront our habits with disgust, so that
our brains can learn to change them.

In Third Gear, we tap into our own neural capacities to step away
from anxiety-related habits or addictions (like worry and
procrastination) and into new ones, such as curiosity and kindness.
This can happen with “lasting effect.” We identify and get an
internally based BBO (“Bigger, Better Object”– a reward) that helps
us step out of our old habit loops. Mindfulness substitutes smoking or
chocolate cake with curiosity.

So what is mindful curiosity, as a new behaviour, compared to stressfilled smoking and over-eating? First, there is a shift from externally
based behaviours to internally based ones (curiosity). The reward
value for curiosity feels better than anxiety” (165) and “is a great
improvement over being stuck on a hamster wheel of a habit loop”
(167).

It’s not only that cultivating curiosity is as rewarding as our old
behaviours, but also that it won’t reinforce those old habit loops. By
contrast, mere substitution strategies or behaviours habituate, leaving
us restless, contracted, and always desiring something more.
Instead of feeding our habit loops, we can allow awareness of our
minds and bodies work for us, as we move between these first, second
and third gears. Sometimes, we will succeed in moving to the third
gear quickly. Other times, we may struggle to hang on to first gear,
tenuously. Regardless, Brewer says, we’re learning to move past

a painful addiction to anxiety.

I find Brewer’s analogy of a horse and rider helpful to understand how
we get trapped in habituated behaviour. The horse is our impulses and desires; the rider is our efforts to restrain it, especially by willpower. He writes: “Mindful awareness does not change the strength of our desires or the strength of our willpower. Instead, [mindfulness] modifies the relationship
between the two. Instead of fighting to tame the horse, you as the
rider can learn how to ride more skillfully. As awareness
harnesses the energy and power of the harmful urge, the two
harmoniously blend into one, perhaps transcending and
transforming dualities from a fight into something akin to a
dance” (167-168).

Mindfulness does ultimately give more satisfying rewards (BBO, the
“bigger, better object”) without the baggage of feeding our
cravings. Curiosity can replace sugar and nicotine as a new
behaviour, as pertaining to “kindness, wonder and joy.” Our minds
(and then bodies) become “less constricted, closed down” and instead,
more open and expansive.

So the BBO is curiosity itself, which initially lifts you out of your old
habit loop(s) and then can become “grooved” itself, as a “go to” for
your brain.

But what does Brewer actually mean by curiosity, you might ask? He says it can start simply by saying, “Hmmm, what does it feel like in
my body to be anxious . . . .” We sit temporarily with those
uncomfortable feelings, noticing but not acting upon them, without
striving to fix them. Doing so allows us to step out of the habit loop
and shift into third gear.

He even recommends thinking, “Hmmm, what does it feel like not to
be curious?” This moves us from a “fixing” mentality to a
changed awareness of our sensations and feelings.

The definition of “curiosity” is a “desire for knowledge.” It needs to be
based in interest, as Brewer recommends, or else curiosity will
become only another distraction (leaving us with unpleasantness,
restlessness, deprivation, and the drive to reduce uncertainty and “fix”
what is uncertain).

“Interest Curiosity”—what Brewer advocates—is engaged when we
want to learn more about something. It builds on reward-based
learning, that relies on positive reinforcement (doing more of what
feels good and less of what feels bad).

Brewer asserts that knowledge is as important as food and water to
human survival.

Being curious, open and expansive feels good and these traits are a
fundamental part of learning—who we are and how much better life
can become.

We have to actively work against the 21st century’s addictive forces,
by using our brains in different ways, he concludes.
The power of curiosity can’t be overestimated: Brewer cites Einstein
as famously saying that he had “no special talents” but was
“passionately curious.”

So, as we face the holiday season of Christmas, Hanukkah and the
New Year, “instead of trying to think your way out of anxiety and into
behaviour change, harness the power of your curiosity, tapping into it
as an inner resource that drives itself, because it is rewarding.”(178).

While I would decline to sign up for Brewer’s app or online

programming (some subsidies may be available for those on low
income), I do recommend that anyone who suffers serious levels of
anxiety pick up a copy of his breakthrough book.

Reading Unwinding Anxiety can help you to gain some of the freedom
Brewer’s research and insights have to offer.

And now it’s your turn. What do you think of Brewer’s strategy of
mindful curiosity? Will you try it to help to free you or your loved ones
from vexing addiction to anxiety

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STORYTELLER’s CORNER . . . .

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

This month: Should we be waiting on “tenderhooks” or “tenterhooks?” The
Australian Writers’ Centre has the answer!

This month’s issue of “Storyteller’s Corner” visits a vexing expression. When we try to express that we are waiting impatiently for something to occur or unfold, should we write or say, “We are waiting on tenderhooks” or “We are waiting on tenterhooks?”

A pat on the back to those who voted for the latter! Writers at The Australian
Writers’ Centre (AWC) report that the origins of the word “tenterhook” date as
early as the 1300s. It refers to a small hook or bent nail that is used to hold clothonto a “tenter”–a wooden frame on which cloth is dried during manufacturing.

The AWC tells us that the Latin origin of “tenterhooks” is “tentus,” which means “to stretch,” and is the root of words such as “extend,” “tendon,” “tension” and “tenuous.”

But the functional word “tenterhooks” did not appear until the late 1400s and the phrase, “to be on tenterhooks” does not appear in any written document until 1748.

Nowadays, as the AWC remind us, the full meaning of the term is to “to be
strained or stretched with unease and nervous anticipation.”

Do you have questions about specific words or expressions you cannot answer?

Please send them to me, via my “contact” page
(www.storytellingcommunications.ca/contact). I’d be delighted to use them in a future issue!

+++++++

SHOP NEWS:

This month I’m happy to share that I now teach English as a Second
Language (ESL) online to six students. They come from the Ukraine, Belarus, Iran, Japan and the United States. Some wish to learn conversational English to immigrate to North America or have recently moved here; others want to improve their career prospects by improving their English language skills.

I’m especially grateful to my mentor Steve Cavan, for teaching me
the ropes of a complex (sometimes bureaucratic) online teaching
world. Thank you, Steve. You are a gem and worthy recipient of
much gratitude from all whom you assist.
+++++++++
I’m happy also this month to attend the Praxis School of
Entrepreneurship’s (PSE) online 2021 graduation, after having
completed the “staySMART” pilot program last winter.
When Covid was still new to us as entrepreneurs, we found support
and insights from program coaches, Monica Kreuger and Deanna
Litz, and from fellow participants, who are all previous PSE alumni.

To intermediate level entrepreneurs and to newbies, alike, I highly
recommend Praxis programming. It flourishes and supports us
through trying economic times!

For more information, call PSE’s amazing administrator, Elaine
Mantyka, at (306) 664-0500 or email her
at elainem@globalinfobrokers.ca
+++++++++

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 immigrants and newcomers to Canada land better jobs by improving their English skills;

I help SMEs close more sales by communicating more effectively; and I write the legacy stories of
major companies.

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)

October 31, 2021October 31, 2021

Have digital fatigue? Some ways to cope in this month’s issue of “Tell Your Story Newsletter”

October 2021 Vol 3 Issue 10

Tell Your Story Newsletter (TYSN):

Specializing in Entrepreneurial and Organizational Storytelling

Let me tell your story!

Welcome Mid-October 2021!

Readers who are based in Canada have recently passed the Thanksgiving holiday (October 11th). After enjoying sunshine and warmer than usual temperatures from September through ‘til Thanksgiving Day, we were shocked by snow and a few, unseasonably cold days.

But then, last weekend, temperatures of 20+ degrees Celsius returned. Such fluctuations confirm (if we needed it) that we cannot easily outpace the Covid pandemic or climate change, as global crises for our times. That knowledge, and a steady diet of related loss and conflict in our news, could bring any feeling person low.

While many Saskatchewanians dread the coming of winter, I feel prepared to embrace it. Some good comes from the cold: as a friend texted me, recently, “there is a hush that descends on the landscape when winter arrives.”

And it bears repeating that during even the severe cold of prairie winters, clouds part to stream brilliant sunshine to us! That light makes the cold more bearable. Furthermore, environmentalists emphasize the importance of winter to kill off pestilence and disease, such as pernicious species of fungi and pine beetles.

Despite the trying circumstances of these late pandemic days, I wish for you, good reader, that this late autumn will be a time to take hope in your professional accomplishments and take heart in your relationships with close family and friends.

And in this month of Thanksgiving, may each of us find gratitude for the blessings that we sometimes fail to notice but that continue to grace our lives.

Sincerely,

Elizabeth

Principal

Storytelling Communications

www.elizabethshih.com

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IN THIS ISSUE:

ARTICLE 1: Have digital fatigue? Here’s how to cope

STORYTELLERS’ CORNER:

Should you end a story with a preposition (with Mignon Fogarty)

SHOP NEWS

ABOUT US

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Article One: Have digital fatigue? Here’s how to cope

The American organizational psychologist Adam Grant reminded readers in his October newsletter that fatigue with digital video-call platforms, like Zoom, continues to exhaust regular users. A lack of productivity and depression are two outcomes shared anecdotally by my entrepreneurial colleagues.

Grant promoted an article by Dr. Vignash Ramachandran (Stanford University) that cited four “consequences of prolonged video chats” on platforms like Zoom. Ramachandran drew on reports from the university’s Virtual Human Interaction Lab, directed by Professor Jeremy Bailenson.

In pandemic times, Ramachandran estimates that “hundreds of millions of videoconferencing calls happen daily,” as Covid health protocols keep people apart. Bailenson and his team found four outcomes of repeated video calls that contribute to “Zoom fatigue.” Do these resonate with you?

(1) Too much “close-up eye contact is highly intense.”

Ramachandran says that the amount of eye contact we use when on video calls and the large size of our facial images that we view on screens are both unnatural.

When people meet, in-person, he writes, we may look at the speaker, but also take notes, look elsewhere, move in our chairs or around the room. Even if we do not speak in the meeting, we’ll find many more people and distractions to look at, beyond the speaker.

By contrast, in Zoom, eye contract with the speaker is “dramatically increased,” even exponentially so. As a speaker to receive that much scrutiny is inherently stressful.

Bailenson also observes that depending on monitor size, faces on videoconferencing calls can appear intimidating, even leading to conflict. Or, alternatively, our closeness to others’ over-sized facial images approximates mating, as though “you’re with somebody intimately.” Zoom can leave us in a “hyper-aroused” state that we hardly want connected to professional meetings!

Ramachandran recommends reducing the size of the Zoom window on our screen, to minimize face size and to create a personal space between ourselves and the platform (e.g. by using an external keyboard).

(2) Seeing ourselves so persistently during video chats in real-time is exhausting.

Most videoconferencing platforms show these large images of ourselves, during a chat, so that we also have the unnatural experience of seeing ourselves when we’re talking to people, making decisions, getting and giving feedback.

Ramanchandran reports that “when we see reflections of ourselves, we only become more critical of ourselves.” There are negative emotional consequences of seeing ourselves in a mirror! Consider how much easier it is, for instance, to floss one’s teeth before going to bed, nightly, if one does not do it in front of a mirror. .

Ramachandran recommends that users should use the “hide self-view” button (right click on your photo) in Zoom, once we have found our faces properly framed in the video. He also advocates for changes to the software, so that beaming the video to both ourselves (as default), and not only to others, should be changed.

(3) Video chats also reduce our physical mobility.

When we meet in-person or by phone, we have the freedom to move and walk around. But with videoconferencing, we have to stay in the same spot, which is problematic, because, as Bailenson observes, “when people are moving, they’re performing better cognitively.” Participants should be allowed to pace and doodle, uncensored. Also, turning off the video camera occasionally and working with audio only can give us a rest.

By choosing a large room for the call and positioning the camera not to focus so intensively on our faces, we can create more distance and allow for more user comfort.

(4) The “cognitive load” (memory resources) participants endure is much higher in video chats.

During in-person meetings, Bailenson says that we communicate non-verbally and “make and interpret gestures and non-verbal cues subconsciously.” But we can’t do that in videoconferencing, where we have to worry about whether our heads are in the centres of the video and where we must use exaggerated gestures (nodding, thumbs up) to agree with others.

These demands all add to our “cognitive load,” which means our mental resources of memory and thinking. Much effort is required to communicate with each other.

Gestures also can mean different things in video meetings than they do in-person. For instance, as our looking aside to others in Zoom call may seem to signal lost attention. Yet we know from experience that it may result from nothing more relevant or important than an unexpected entrance of a pet or family member into the room.

Here, too, Bailenson recommends using “audio-only” participation, especially if we attend long stretches of such meetings.Setting visual images aside frees us from having to manufacture non-verbal gestures and enables us to move and turn our bodies away from the screen.

While we address the above four effects of videoconferencing, Balachandran says we can also be on the lookout for the “Zoom Exhaustion and Fatigue Scale” (ZEF Scale). This measures workplace fatigue from videoconferencing in terms of exhaustion, eye irritation, users avoiding social situations after calls end and users’ feelings of being emotionally drained and of being too tired to undertake other activities.

Ramachandran says that research has begun to uncover the roots of “Zoom fatigue” and so to make healthy changes in online meeting practices. There is much work left to address and engage psychologists’ findings.

Acknowledging and reporting these changes can make videoconferencing platforms less exhausting and “change some of the paradigm” on which our meetings are built.

And now it’s your turn: Have you found using Zoom or other videoconferencing software to deplete your mental and emotional resources? Please write in; I’d be delighted to hear your feedback!

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STORYTELLER’s CORNER . . . .

STORYTELLER’S CORNER: Words, stories, riddles and more on writing and editing . . .

Should you end a sentence with a preposition, asks “Grammar Girl,” Mignon Fogarty?

Just as many of us were taught in grade two not to start a sentence with “and” or “but” (practices long ago overturned as pedantic), some writers and readers still believe that we should not end sentences with prepositions.

Mignon Fogarty, the American writing coach who brands herself as “Grammar Girl,” has blogged on this very point.

To review (for non-grammarians): a “preposition” is a word that creates a relationship between other words, usually dealing with space (e.g.“above,” “by,” and “over”); and time (e.g.“before” and “after”).

Here are two examples of these, respectively: “The nightstand is by the bed,” and “We had dessert after dinner.”

So long as the preposition is grammatically needed (unlike in the phrase:“The diver jumped off of the deep end”), it can legitimately fall at the end of a sentence. So it’s acceptable, as Fogarty says, to write “What did you step on?” instead of “On what did you step?” (Note how the latter sounds stuffy and pedantic.)

Fogarty says that prepositions often fall at the end of sentences in which phrasal verbs are used—verbs that are made of multiple words used to convey action. These verbs often include a preposition. For example, “I wish she would leave it off.” Or “You should cheer up.”

Other sentences without phrasal verbs can also end with prepositions and still be valid: “I want to know where he came from” is much more readable than “I want to know from where he came.” Fogarty says that one exception would be when writing conservative documents like cover letters (i.e. job applications), when it would be safer to avoid ending sentences with prepositions.

However, in virtually all other cases, ending sentences with prepositions will make them easier (and therefore, faster) to read.

Consider as a guide the statement uttered by Sir Winston Churchill, who famously resisted this rule against preposition use, saying: “This is the sort of pedantry up with which I will not put!”

Do you have an idea, riddle or joke on 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:

Thank you this month to departing Executive Director Heath Graham and to ongoing Sales Manager Monique Duperreault at The Franklin Retirement Residence, for continuing to support seniors of all ages and abilities, in their later years. Suites are available–please consider for the elderly in your lives.

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Special thanks to the very gifted ESL teacher, philosopher, classicist and generous human being, Steve Cavan, who has advised me as I take my ESL teaching even further online.

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My friends Cuyler and Joni Onclin have made me grateful for generously collaborating with me on car and transportation related issues, sharing stories and laughter along the way.

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A renewed call to readers with entrepreneurial instincts: If you (or someone you know) is entrepreneurially minded or even simply has “an idea for a business,” the “Xperiencify” program of the Praxis School of Entrepreneurship (PSE) can help you make it a reality.

The program offers many benefits to anyone with a self-identified differing ability (or “disability”), but who functions highly.

And PSE’s network of support continues long after the program ends.

The PSE is a crucible for fruitful relationships with talented entrepreneurs and alumni, under the powerhouse leadership of Chief Visionary Officer, Monica Kreuger, and her remarkable team.

To learn more, contact program administrator Elaine Mantyka today at: (306) 664-0500, or email elainem@globalinfobrokers.ca

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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 better; and I write the legacy stories of major companies.

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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