A few months ago a colleague and I met with a man who is a conspiracy theorist and survivalist.  I won’t get into his theories on global conspiracy, but I will say that we spent over an hour listening to tips on having land up north, stocking food, buying firearms and hard currency and collecting gas and water in reserve.  At the end of our time together, the man turned to me and said ‘you’ve barely said anything the whole time we’ve been here.’  What I didn’t say out loud but did think was ‘that’s because I’m so depressed I don’t know if I should go dig a bunker or hit the pub for the rest of the night.’

For the next few days I found myself almost paralyzed with fear.  The world is ending, mass anarchy is coming, we’ll all end up killing each other…  Nothing was too outrageous to keep me awake and terrified.  On the upside, my usual fears of losing my job, being stricken by an incurable disease and having to write an exam for a course I’d never taken seemed tame by comparison.

A couple of weeks later when equilibrium had returned, I remembered the house we lived in when I was young.  A previous owner had built a bomb shelter under the basement.  My dad turned it into a darkroom and spent many happy hours developing family pictures in a place where someone had undoubtedly imagined eating tinned food and bottled water while the world above imploded.

Fear is part of the human condition.  Certain points in time – both individual time and global time – engender more fear than others. This point in our global time is one in which fear seems to be a constant companion for many of us.  Beyond that, there is an atmosphere of fear; as another colleague said recently, we live our days in an ambient anxiety. 

During a visit to Toronto a couple of years ago leadership and communications guru Margaret Wheatley revealed an interesting study.  Psychologists at USC, during a particularly stressful time at the university, noticed a trend that would lead them to a breakthrough in how we deal with fear.  What they saw during this stressful period was a group of women in the department who would regularly gather to talk and help each other.  This was in stark contrast to many of their male colleagues who would spend as little time as possible at the university or lock themselves in their office. 

As they began to investigate, their first discovery was that all previous research on fear was based on test groups that were primarily male.  So our classic ‘fight or flight’ responses were indicative of only part of the population.  Pursing their studies further over time, they uncovered a third response that was more typically ‘female’.  They called this tend and befriend: gathering together to take care of each other. 

When I heard Wheatley talk about this research I was fascinated.  A third natural response to fear!  What could this mean for us in times of severe stress?  Fear is so often internal and abstract, and, the harder we work to get over it, the more deeply it seems to imbed itself in us.  Given this tendency, in what ways could we use tending and befriending to help ourselves?

When you think about it, we are naturally wise: we talk over a beer, we spend time on a walk with a friend, we offer our company to someone who is alone and ill.  But in times of real fear, we can actually be more intentional about how we are with each other in order to help each other.  To be at its most effective, tending and befriending encompasses some active elements. 

So how can we tend and befriend these days?

Our first step is to externalize our fear – to have a real conversation about it with someone who will really listen.  That means sitting with one more people and telling them you want to talk about your fears.  But because fears are often abstract, we need to dig down and hear ourselves articulate the specific things we’re afraid will happen.  For example, someone may start out saying that they are afraid they’ll lose their job, their house, their car.  But when we dig down deep and ask what those fears are really about, they may discover that the real fear isn’t losing everything, it’s the fear of feeling that they have failed at their life.  Hearing this out loud means being able to deal with a specific issue.    What’s important to note here is that as a listener it isn’t about convincing the other person that there’s nothing to be afraid of or about fixing them or their fear.  It’s just about being there to listen with them as they talk about it openly.

Another helpful exercise is to picture the fear outside ourselves.  For example, on a particularly difficult day recently a client was so tired of feeling afraid that she decided to picture her fear as an object standing in front of her.  She could see it, devilish and smiling and wanting to come back inside her.  Instead she mentally poked it in the stomach . Sharing this story helped her to move from feeling that she was being consumed by fear, to recognizing that she is not her fear. She is powerful and capable in the face of it. 

Finally, the opportunity to be together, to talk, to listen to support, in other words, to tend and befriend, enables us to recognize that we’re not alone.  When we talk together about  fear, we recognize that in fact we aren’t alone – we’re together in the concern, and very likely in the solution.

Sometimes it really is about overcoming our fear – that adrenalin-filled moment when we take our first dive off the dock, or open our mouths to give our first speech.  Sometimes it’s about using our fear to drive us to positive action.  And sometimes it’s about being compassionate with ourselves in our fear and turning to each other.  When we open up and speak what’s really in our hearts and minds, when we listen with care and a belief in the other person’s abilities, we tend and befriend and allow ourselves to move to the other side of fear into possibility. 

In every dark moment there is a complementary pair of light.  Here is to the light that exists in your life right now.

Elizabeth Lancaster is a certified professional coach who works with individuals and teams to help them turn their dreams into action.  She is a faculty member at Adler International Learning, an international coaching and communication school based in Toronto and Director of Context Management Consulting.  www.contextconsulting.com   

elizabeth.lancaster@contextconsulting.com

Two of the greatest pleasures in life are fine dark chocolate and Champagne. Separately, they are heavenly, but together they are sublime.

There is a difference between run-of-the-mill chocolate and fine chocolate. Whether it’s a thin, pure dark chocolate medallion or a ganache-filled truffle or bon bon; when high quality dark chocolate melts in the mouth, the smoothness cascades over the palate, releasing vivid aromas and nuances of flavour that do not exist in lesser chocolate.. Like great wine, the aromatic profile and layers of taste in fine chocolate are unmistakable in their intensity and purity. That is the best of chocolate in its purest form and the focus of most aficionados. Despite the folklore, the best chocolate does not necessarily come from either Switzerland or Belgium; it is also made in France and has names such as: Maison du Chocolat, Michel Cluizel, Jean-Paul Hevin and Valrhona.

Chocolate has been with us for a very long time – from the Inca and Maya who perfected the process, to the great commercial chocolate purveyors of Europe, the art and science involved in the creation of fine chocolate has evolved to a point where it is now widely available. From a simple dark chocolate square from Maison du Chocolat or a bar from Michel Cluizel, whose cocoa beans have been sourced from a single plantation or estate, the range of quality and specificity has exploded in recent years. Much like great wines or champagnes, the taste and aroma of chocolate varies from region to region and estate to estate; each place – its soil, climate and air imparting a uniqueness of flavour and aroma on the specific cocoa bean; the result being that the chocolate lover of today has the widest range of choice in the high end of chocolate ever available before in history. 

Click on this link to see a tour of some chocolate houses; http://nz.youtube.com/watch?v=CvbtbWWli-w

Champagne, like chocolate, comes in a wide variety of qualities and styles. Although Champagne itself is from one particular region in France, there is a wide range of styles from Reims, Epernay, Ay and other locales within the Champagne region. As sparkling wines go, there is nothing in the world quite like a great bottle of champagne, whther it is a blanc de blanc, a Rose, or a blanc de noir, great champagne is truly unique in the wine world.

From non-vintage and easily affordable bubbly to extravagant and other-worldly vintage champagnes such as Krug Rose, it is easy to pair your favourite chocolate and champagne. Some excellent choices of non-vintage champagne which will be sure to thrill are Bollinger’s Special Cuvee with its signature brioche-like aromas and vibrant fruitiness; or Billecart Salmon’s Rose which features the taste of red fruits and berries and a offers beautiful floral and citrus aromatic highlights.

There are some exquisite vintage champagnes which pair beautifully with dark chocolate. Moet and Chandon’s Dom Perignon, with its subtle fruitiness and gentle, elegant aroma, is refined and delicious with a creamy ganache-filled dark chocolate truffle or bon bon. Taittinger’s Comtes de Champagne is another ultra-refined and elegant cuvee which pairs well with very fine dark chocolate. The vibrant acidity and minerality on the palate and citrus and toasty aromatics balance the intense aromatics and tastes of dark chocolate.

One thing is certain; champagne and fine dark chocolate are a match made in heaven. They have the ability to balance each other’s flavour, acidity and aromatic intensity and are a culinary extravaganza.

Both Champagne and fine chocolate are two of life’s greatest pleasures that should not require a special occasion on which to consume them. Whichever champagne or brand of chocolate may be your favourite, there is nothing quite like a popping the cork on a perfectly chilled bottle of bubbly and digging into a box of exquisite dark chocolate in front of a roaring fire while the snow falls outside.

That should keep you smiling until spring.

Paul Pontalier – president of Chateau Margaux and our writer, Brian Greenglass at dinner.

  Over the course of the last few months I have noticed that we live in a society of monologues.  I sat down to watch Grey’s Anatomy with my daughter , and it struck me that the show was just one more example of what I seem to see everywhere.  All of the characters on that show, in this one episode, seemed to be engaged in monologues.  Even when they were having moments of intimacy, they were musing about themselves!  What’s with that?

What’s with that , has very little to do with Grey’s Anatomy (which by the way I now pick over Gordon Ramsay yelling the *F* word at unsuspecting scullery cooks), but a great deal to do with life as we know it today.

Whereas so much of my life personally is reliant on the use of my trusted blackberry, text messaging and emails, I have long become immune to the fact that this medium lacks any emotion.  It is a way of expressing an immediate fact, a quick question, making a date etc.  Email lacks inflection and emotion, and falls flat onto the screen of the reader.  So much is left in the dark in email.  When we sat down to write letters to each other, or just picked up the telephone, we had a connectedness with the other person that we have now lost. 

My sister Elizabeth has a line at the end of her iphone messages .  It simply says “be kinder than necessary because everyone is fighting some kind of battle”.  At first I thought this was a direct comment to me, her rapid fire emailing sister.  Then I realised that she just has that attached to all her mail.  It seems trite, but it’s huge.  It’s huge enough that I wanted to share it with you.

Today before you press “send”, just take a second an re read your email.  I don’t care if you are a senior partner in Warren Buffet’s inner circle or just a regular person like me.  If you received what you were about to send, how would it sound?  One more thing, really throw people off.  Start your email with “How are you, (fill in name here)”  , and somewhere throw in one personal comment- something kind!!    One little something that lets them know that you know you are thinking of them as you write and focusing on their message.  You may think this sounds corny and that it will take too long.  It won’t take up any more of your time than it takes to get up and stretch or take one extra step to get to your desk.  It will set you apart from all the “monologuers” out there that exist in their own worlds.

This season is about kindness–why just this season I’m not sure–maybe it’s our annual kindness check up time.  You do not have to take everyone you know out for dinner, or buy them fancy gifts.  A little unusual kindness can make such a difference in someones day.

Before today is over, invite one person to have a cup of coffee with you- someone who might not suspect it.  This does not get substituted for dropping off a vanilla latte on someones desk.  Emails- seriously, ask after others.  You will touch them, and in todays day and age of life in monologue, that’s one of the only things that sets us apart.

I fell on a copy of Robert Fulghum’s , “All I needed to know I learned in Kindergarten” the other day.  I remember first hearing this quoted at a University of Toronto Convocation back in the ’80′s.  It spoke to me then and it speaks to me now.  It is somewhat idealistic but the message is clear.

Share everything.

Play fair.

Don’t hit people.

Put things back where you found them.

Clean up your own mess.

 Don’t take things that aren’t yours.

Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody.

Wash your hands before you eat.

Flush.

Warm cookies and cold milk are good for you.

Live balanced life – learn some and think some and draw and paint and sing and dance and play and work every day some.

Take a nap every afternoon.

When you go out into world, watch out for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.

Be aware of wonder.

Robert Fulghum

And finally, when someone does do something kind for you, say “thank you!”

  Kindness really does abound, we need to just look out for it, embrace it, be thankful, and most of all–pay it forward.

Let’s face it, we are a culture of bad listeners getting worse.  And while we like to believe that we can be in two places at once, the truth is as soon as we divide our attention, we have exponentially decreased our ability to take in what matters.

Sure, a good chunk of the time we get away with it – we’re able to skim the surface of conversation without serious consequences.  But there are times when we find ourselves in a hole and our poor listening skills are the shovel that keeps digging us deeper.  Consider your latest disagreement with a friend, co-worker or significant other.  Chances are overwhelming that at one point in the conversation you both thought or said ‘you never listen to me’.  Guess what – that other person was talking about you.

Oh.

It’s been said that we generally have two states of being: talking and waiting to talk.   Otto Scharmer, professor at MIT and author of the book Theory U: Leading from the Future as it Emerges calls those states level 1 listening, or downloading.  We basically listen for the pause in the other person’s story so we can start telling our own.  Nothing really touches us, we hear what we already know and believe about things.  It’s the listening equivalent of a political convention – lots of talking back and forth, but no real dialogue.  Somewhere in your life you probably have a meeting where people arrive, each person makes a report, the boss says a few words and then everyone leaves feeling bored and relieved it’s over.  Welcome to level one hell. 

Scharmer goes on to describe three other levels of listening.  In level two, we start to move out of our own world a little and actually begin to hear facts and ideas that are different from ours.  They don’t really touch us, but something grabs our interest and we begin to hear and see a slightly different view of the world.  It’s like the university lecture form of listening.  We’re hearing new stuff, but we’re often only taking what might be useful to us later.  Think about an inter-departmental meeting.  Finance or HR tells you have to make adjustments because of some policy or legal issue. You get the information, put it to use grumbling about the idiots in the other department, and move on.  That’s a classic level 2 exchange.

We’ve all experienced level 3 listening – that moment when we feel like we’ve actually stepped into someone else’s shoes for a few minutes and get a sense of what life is like from their perspective.  We’ve dropped our own agenda and we want to know and hear more.  Remember those first early, heady months of dating when you couldn’t get enough of who the other person was and how they saw the world?  Chances are good you were doing a lot of level 3 listening.  At work, this plays out in meetings where people actually start to get curious about what’s happening in other people’s departments or areas and listen for what’s different and what’s the same.  It’s the kind of conversation that leads to better thinking and better results.

At level 4 we’ve not only dropped our own agenda, we’ve stepped into a kind of listening where we’re imagining a new kind of future.  Possibilities and ideas start emerging and we not only feel connected to the other person, we feel connected to something bigger and greater.  Someone recently said that the best story meetings in a newsroom occur when people are engaged in level 4 listening.  Most often there’s a significant event as a catalyst; the meeting turns into an incredible flow of ideas and perspectives.  Instead of looking for who has the best idea, people seem to naturally build on what they hear and move beyond that into whole new ways of thinking.  According to Scharmer, listening this way is what makes real innovation most likely.

So how the heck do we get there?  Well, let’s aim for level 3 and leave level 4 alone for now.  Try this experiment.  Ask someone you care about to talk to you for two minutes about something that really maters to them.  You can use the kitchen timer for this.  Your job as the listener is simply to listen.  No questions, no comments, just listen for what really matters.  At the end of the 2 minutes, tell the other person what you heard.  Then take a step back.  What did you notice about your own listening?  Apart from this feeling a little contrived, what did it feel like to just listen to what they were saying?  You may also want to ask your partner what it felt like to be listened to.

Beyond this little experiment, there are some practical tips for becoming a better listener.  It helps to clear away external and internal impediments to listening.  Get rid of external ones like: PDAs, cell phones, email, pagers, and papers that grab your attention when someone starts talking.  Pay attention to any internal impediments like: thinking about your own story to tell, crafting a solution, believing you already know what the other person is going to say and making a value judgment on what’s being said.  When you notice your thoughts drifting, give them a gentle nudge and refocus on what’s really important for the other person.

Experiment for a week and see what you notice about the quality of your conversations.

Elizabeth Lancaster is a certified professional coach and works with individuals and teams to help them communicate more effectively.  She is a faculty member at Adler International Learning, an international coaching and communication school based in Toronto.  She is also Director of Context Management Consulting.  www.contextconsulting.com 

You can contact her directly at kingstone-brigid@rogers.com

These are stressful times. With the frantic pace of our day-to-day life, for most people, stress is the order of the day rather than a rare experience. Most of us are aware of the experience of stress because it is unpleasant and motivates us to get rid of it. While a certain amount of stress or arousal is essential for task accomplishment, when the experience of stress increases, we feel its effects. Not only are they unpleasant, but left unchecked, they will take a toll on our health. Increases in heart rate and blood pressure, upset stomach, excessive perspiration, are just some of the physical symptoms of stress, as we all know too well. Psychologically, we may experience anxiety, fear, depression, anger, negative intrusive thoughts and we may also feel immobilized when we are ‘stressed’.

Where is this stress coming from? Why is it particularly prevalent now? And, what if anything can we do to lessen the stress in our lives and its debilitating effects? There are two main reasons for the greater pressure we experience. These are technological, mainly the computer, and globalization. A few decades ago when the computer was being introduced into our daily lives, it was hailed as a way of increasing our quality of life by freeing us from the need to perform mundane tasks. Not having to do routine duties, we would be free to do the things we wanted to do and thus be more self actualized. Unfortunately that isn’t the way it has turned out. While it is true we have been able to assign many tasks to the computer that has increased our capacity to handle, transform and deliver large amounts of information, at the same time, with technological advances, new pressures have been created in our society. With the advent of Internet, email, cell phones, we can accomplish more in a shorter time, but the expectations now have caught up with the computer so that there are greater pressures on us to achieve. Whether it is at work, in the home, or both, nobody is immune to the effects of technology and the increasing expectations that accompany it. It is a truism to say that we are on call seven days a week, twenty four hours a day. For example, in the not too distant past, when we had to submit a report by mail, it usually took at least a few days for the report to be delivered, thus providing a respite to prepare for the next challenge. Today, reports are sent by email, arrive instantaneously and are likely returned to the sender the same day for revisions! Multiply this by 10 for each day and you have some idea of the pressures on us with their resulting stress.

Globalization is another factor that has led to greater stress. With globalization, barriers to exchange of knowledge and products have largely disappeared. While increasing the market is generally good for business because it increases potential buyers/users, at the same time, it leads to greater competition for scarce resources. All of this leads to greater challenges and greater potential for stress. In a word, we have to try harder today to achieve our goals and our performance has to be sustained all the time if we are to compete successfully. The effects on our children cannot be over emphasized. They are being taught how to ‘cope’ in today’s pressured environment by engaging in the same frantic activities that characterize our own daily lives.

The question we may raise is what can we do to deal with these pressures? How can we manage the stressful effects of the pressures that are ubiquitous in our lives?

I am suggesting that there are four principles that may help. They are: CARE.

C is for taking CONTROL of your life by planning and setting priorities. Rather than responding to the pressures that we experience daily, have a plan each day, each week and each month. Instead of trying to do everything at once, set priorities and stick to your list

A is for ACCESSING your social resources. One of the first things to go when we experience time pressures and stress are those relationships that rejuvenate and energize us. These may include relationships with our children, friends and family where the goals are to enjoy each other, provide and receive emotional support. Maintaining and nurturing these relationships are important for our spirit.

R is for RELAX with activities that you enjoy and allow you to revitalize. This may be window shopping, watching TV, reading the latest mystery or just, day dreaming. Setting aside time each day for these activities without feeling guilty will go a long way.

E is for EXERCISE regularly and daily. It may be a 30-minute visit to the gym, a brisk walk around the block or a Pilates class. Make sure the preparation/traveling time for your exercise period is short as we often discourage ourselves from that needed exercise by telling ourselves we simply don’t have the time to make the trip to the gym!

While we cannot change the pressures and demands of modern life, we can change our reaction to them. By integrating these four principles into our daily routines, we can improve our energy levels, increase our stamina, and at the same time enjoy our challenges.

In Good Health

Esther Greenglass

http://www.psych.yorku.ca/

http://www.psych.yorku.ca/greenglass/

Esther R Greenglass Ph.D

Professor of Psychology

York University

theperfectconnections is honoured to have had Professor Greenglass write this piece for us.  We can all benefit from her sound sense , and we thank her for her wisdom.

She played games with the children, built gingerbread houses and helped paint faces, while I helped organize and prepare serving dishes for the gourmet Christmas dinner that was going to be served.
In October 1991 Diane McQuaig felt compelled to create an opportunity for single Mother families to celebrate the Christmas Season. The concept was to gather for a home cooked turkey dinner to connect and make new friends.  She approached her good friend Mel Manchee to spearhead the event with her.  Within days the idea was embraced by their friends and family and business associates.  They  committed to cooking in their homes and gathering items for a food basket for each family.  250 guests attended, and it was a resounding success.

As a result of that very evening, Diane dedicated her efforts to creating  what is now called, Camp Cucumber.  The camp runs for one week every  June.  It’s mission is to offer unique camping experiences to struggling single mothers and their children, between the ages of 5 and 13.  Many of the families in the Camp Cucumber program are living in shelters, and those in subsidized housing are finding it hard to make ends meet.

The week is has been described as no less than magical—transformational in fact. In most cases, families are referred to Camp Cucumber by social workers and social service agencies  The families board the bus in Toronto.   Most have never been north of the city, many are immigrants, but all share a love of their families and a sense of adventure.  Throughout the week they sing around the campfire, boogey to a disc jockey, participate in boat races, fishing, high rope climbing, archery, and so much more.  The gift is a lifetime of cherished memories and a network of new friends.

The counselors at camp are forever changed by spending time with these courageous women, who have fled their homelands, battled addiction, abuse, and heartbreaking loneliness while committing their lives to raising their children.

The volunteer staff is comprised of 16 counselors and senior staff who thrive on the joy of giving back.   Camp Cucumber has changed all of their lives, and taught them the power of love and the resilience of the human spirit.

Whatever your cause of choice, it is never too late to make a difference in someone’s life.  The sooner we embrace this concept and foster it in our children, quite frankly, the better.

Learn more (www.campcucumber.ca)

Semprie must have been a driven kid, because as an adult he makes you feel as if you are in the presence of someone quite extraordinary.  There is a quiet magnetism and a level of calm and confidence that lie just underneath his endearing smile and gentle demeanour.

Born in Canada, Semprie’s parents were from Trinidad.  His father was a Detective Sergeant in the Toronto Police Force and his mother was Julian Fantino’s Executive Secretary.  In spite of growing up in a no nonsense atmosphere, Semprie’s drive and push could only really come from within.

He attended St Michael’s College School and then eventually graduated from St Michael’s College at the University of Toronto.  After sitting on a balance ball across from Roland for  over an hour, I quickly realized that high school and University were not  the only formative institutions in who Roland Semprie is today.  They were places to be while time passed and Roland formulated the concept of who he wanted to become, and where he wanted to be positioned in this world.

Semprie is working to get the field of personal and group fitness training, controlled by a regulatory body—one main across the board regulatory body.  As it is now, there is no unified regulatory organization for trainers.

When I walked off the elevator into Semprie’s facility, I was impressed by the warm, reception I received.  A salsa class was going on in the room directly ahead of me and I could see a few trainers working with individuals just down the hall in the naturally lit gym.

A consultation with Semprie is unlike what you might expect to find elsewhere.  He listens closely to the things people say they have an aversion to and “can’t” do—and by the way, “can’t”; “don’t”; and “won’t” are not words in Semprie’s personal dictionary!

Many fitness clubs sell services based on formulating a fitness framework around people’s limitations and not stressing or over taxing.  Being an expert shiatsu therapist; acupuncturist and having a vast background in naturopathic medicine, among many of his credentials, and carrying his portable SCENAR device with him at all times, Semprie seems excited to turn limitations into possibilities for his clients.  I told him, for example that I loved to run outdoors, but that the treadmill made me dizzy.  He then suggested that we resume our chat on the treadmill!  And here’s the thing, when he suggests it, it’s not like a Tony Robbins fire walk leap of faith thing.  You just feel like whatever Roland suggests, he will be there, it will be ok and it will work—and somehow don’t ask me, but it does!  That’s when the magic begins.  Semprie is not unique when he says that success garners more success, but he puts the pieces in place for people to feel like they are achievers, and doesn’t sugar coat it if people don’t adhere.  My feeling was as if he actually takes a personal interest in his clients.  They are his responsibility and if he can’t help them be the best that they can be, he feels let down.  Having said that, I would be remiss if I portrayed Roland Semprie as the ‘softie’ in the fitness world.  While there is no doubt that he takes a personal interest in each and every one of his clients—teens to seniors, Semprie is personally engaged but never too personable.

Personal trainers, like many who provide a service that betters or helps us, often fall victim to being personal confidants and pseudo psychotherapists.  Semprie is the anti pseudo psychotherapist.  His job is to get you to your physical goals, and his focus is intense.

Semprie sells a line of supplements and “isotonics” or custom blended supplements that release rapidly into the system.  His labels are unique and his blends of ingredients seem more to suggest that they assist rather than cure.  Typical Semprie—no one thing is ever going to be complete enough to be the answer!   The hold grail is a process, not a pill!

It takes balance and a whole body approach to attain optimal wellness Semprie style. Perhaps one of the things I found most unique at Roland Semprie , is the use of SCENAR .  Semprie is the only person in Canada who is a Doctor of SCENAR .  He was trained in Russia under Dr Alexander Revenko.  SCENAR (self controlling/energy/neural adapting/regulator) was a Russian National Secret until 7 years ago.  It has been used to treat illness and disorders of the body’s meridian system for years, and only now, with Semprie’s help is it available in Canada.

There are fitness studios popping up on every street corner these days.  Hard to know what to pick and who to turn to when you need a hand in this department.  I am not a self proclaimed fitness buff, as any of my friends can tell you.  I like food, I believe we need to eat good healthy food and I think that Sour Cream and Onion Chips are one of the best inventions ever.
Having said that, when I left Roland Semprie’s studio, I forgot about the chips, the food, the reasons I didn’t like this exercise or that one.  I left feeling energized and optimistic.  I felt like I had discovered a great secret in Roland.
I certainly am not uncovering a secret, however,  as I watched a wide range of clients come and go throughout our interview.

Semprie is known and is probably a closely guarded secret by those whose lives he has helped.  Theperfectconnections is putting an end to that.  Whether you see him or not, it is important to know that someone like Semprie exists, and right in mid town Toronto.

www.rolandsemprie.com

DO YOU HAVE A FITNESS OR LIFESTYLE QUESTION YOU WOULD LIKE ANSWERED?  PLEASE SUBMIT IT AND WE WILL PUBLISH THE QUESTION AND THE ANSWER.

Fact # 1

– As each bird flaps its wings, it creates uplift for the bird following. By flying in a “V” formation, the whole flock adds 71 percent greater flying range than if one bird flew alone.

Lesson Learned

– People who share a common direction and sense of community can get  where they are going quicker and easier because they are traveling on the strength of one another.

Fact #2

– Whenever a goose falls out of formation, it suddenly feels the drag and resistance of  trying to fly alone and quickly gets back into formation to take advantage of the lifting power of the bird immediately in front.

Lesson Learned

– If we have as much sense as geese, we will stay in formation with those who

are ahead of where we want to go and be willing to accept their help as well as give ours to others.

Fact #3

– When the lead goose gets tired, it rotates back into the formation and another goose flies at the point position.

Lesson Learned

– It pays to take turns doing the hard tasks and sharing leadership.

Fact #4

– The geese in formation honk from behind to encourage those up front to keep up their speed.

Lesson Learned

– We need to make sure our honking from behind is encouraging, and not something else.

Fact #5

– When a goose gets sick or wounded or shot down, two geese drop out of formation and  follow it down to help and protect it. They stay with it until it is able to fly again, or dies. Then they launch out on their own, with another formation, or they catch up with their flock.

Lesson Learned

– If we have as much sense as geese do, we too, will stand by each other in difficult times as well as when we are strong.