Photo Taken Monday, August 7, 2006, Location in France Unknown
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Dear Parler Paris Reader,
A few weeks ago I mentioned to Antonio Meza of PSI Communications, that one thing that needed to be changed in my life was the inability to say "no."
The French don't seem to have a problem using "non." In fact, you can pretty much expect to get a "non" first and then after much cajoling and persuading, manage to get something more akin to "oui" if you're lucky. It was fascinating to learn that "negativism is the philosophy that no knowledge is secure; hence we know nothing. It was developed in the mid-1800’s by the French sociologist Count Juillet." Figures it was developed by a Frenchman!
It's a shock to us that before even considering the problem, a "no" will be blurted out as a first reaction, when our own 'default mode' is quite different. In the American culture, we like to say "yes" first, before even considering if we can or should, because we simply like to be positive at almost any cost. And of course, do it with a smile. Am I right?
Well, that desire to please and be positive, has cost me (and probably you, if you're at all a product of this American upbringing) many hours of unnecessary anquish, simply because I never learned to say "no." It's a question of setting boundaries and protecting the valuable time of which we have so little on this earth.
Anyone who knows me personally, will tell you that I live in a kind of 'tornado' and if you hang around long enough, you'll get caught up in it, too. It moves fast and furiously, picking up all sorts of people and experiences into the furious cyle moving steadily along the earth, just as a cyclone would. It was always easy for me to relate to Dorothy in
PSI Communications, led by Antonio Meza and Kristin Shannon here in Paris, specializes in "collaborative intelligence, consensus building tools and cross-cultural communication." They consult on both policy content and communications for international corporate, government, and NGO clients and advise on political and advocacy campaigns. That's a mouthful for what they really do -- "NLP" training -- or "Neuro-Linguistic Programming." NLP is the exploration of how we think, communicate and change. This kind of 'mind bending' allows us to reposition our view so that we can improve and change many aspects of our lives. Learning to say "no" will definitely make a big change in mine and hopefully slow the tornado down to a soft breeze.
The workshop is titled "Signal "YES" & "NO" clearly - Set your boundaries and protect your time" and is taking place next Tuesday, April 27th at 7:15 p.m. here in Paris at their studio near Métro Nation. The cost is 15€, they provide refreshments and I will be there for sure!
Join me if you like! To reserve, call Antonio 06.87.18.53.03 or email antonio.psicom@gmail.com
A la prochaine...
Adrian Leeds
Editor, Parler Paris
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http://sophiacompeaga.blogspot.com
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P.S. For those interested in the culinary arts, make note of Sibel Pinto's new book, "The Evolution of the Sephardic Cuisine in Turkey: Five Centuries Of Survival," just released!
The Evolution of the Sephardic Cuisine in Turkey: Five Centuries Of Survival
By Sibel Cuniman Pinto
ISBN: 978-3838328973
The purpose of this book is to analyze the evolution of the Turkish Sephardic cuisine, in conjunction with the history of the Jews residing in Turkey...The analysis should be especially useful to professionals or anyone who may be interested to understand how a 'community cuisine' has survived for more than five centuries, and to provide some direction for the study of how it can continue to live on as an expression of the identity of an ethnic group in today's world of globalization.
For more information visit:
http://www.sibelpinto.com and http://www.sibelpinto.blogspot.com
To order your copy, visit:
http://www.adrianleeds.com/parlerparis/books/cuisine.html
