A Room Of My Own

Positively! I recently attended a concert at the Empire Theatre in downtown Belleville to see the East coast sensation, Jill Barber. The theatre was the perfect setting for this pre-Valentine’s Day show full of fantastic love songs. At one point in the evening, Jill gushed “Belleville, what a romantic name for a city.” This comment was received with mocking laughter from the audience, much to the surprise of Ms. Barber who questioned “Did I say something funny?” I, too, was a bit surprised by the reaction. In truth, Belleville is a romantic name for a city. Do the locals really have such a hard time seeing this city as beautiful, or romantic for that matter? Focusing on its potential, Belleville has been encouraging and supporting development through many projects such as the Waterfront trail, improving the heart of the city (thank you BBIA) and the new library to name a few. Yes, the latter received some local criticism from the hockey fans looking for another arena; rumour has it you

…and get paid to do it. Well, that is the reality for some, but it could be for all. How you ask? Simply put some ‘flow’ into your work. Flow is the state you find yourself in when playing your favourite video game. I have personally been in this state many times as I used to love playing Super Mario Bros, and I must admit, I enjoyed it for hours! Can you imagine if your work day felt like that? You wouldn’t feel like you were working at all. Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, former head of the department of psychology for the University of Chicago, is best known for his research on this notion of flow. In case you have not played Super Mario Bros, or Jumpman Jr. (added for my sister) or whatever new game is on the market, let me explain. Under the influence of flow you will experience clear goals, clear concentration and pure focus. You will lose track of time, have personal control over your work (or at least feel as if you do) and you will experience a balance between your ability levels an

Ramblings post Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible'... We possess the perverted desire to have others validate our worthiness – we are, unto ourselves, unable to justify our own self worth. We thus look to and rely on the evils of modern day; e-mail, phone, the number of friends in our Facebook, to measure our seed in life’s hierarchy. Love yourself. Trust yourself. Pay that forward.