I know many people in Alberta are wishing spring would begin again . . . and stick around rather than letting winter cling to us with its icy fingers. Mark Twain is credited with saying, “everyone complains about the weather, but no one ever does anything about it.” Ain’t that the truth! Still, it’s hard to be frustrated with it. Especially when the wind chimes we put out for spring look more like Christmas ornaments!
Wellness Week
Despite days that look more like the beginning of December than May, there is still plenty to appreciate. For me, I’ve been enjoying Wellness Week at the college. There have been some excellent workshops to attend and I’m practicing the college form of ‘jean therapy.’ So far I’ve worn a couple of pairs of Calvin Klein’s and my favourite black pair. I still have a pair of Tommy Hilfiger’s and Pepe 73’s to get me through the week.
Today I took part in the chocolate tasting session. Oh, and don’t you be thinking this was just a bunch of people sitting around noshing on O Henry bars or a big box of bon-bons. Dr. Jennifer Davis (sorry if I have the spelling wrong, my bad) scheduled us in between her classes at the college to share her extensive knowledge about chocolate. Jennifer used to have a chocolate business and she really knows her stuff. Chocolate tasting can be as sophisticated as wine tasting . . . but without the alcohol.
After a brief discussion of the benefits of eating chocolate – and please note we are talking about high quality, real chocolate; not stuff you’d buy at the gas bar while paying for your fill-up – we got down to the sampling. Health benefits? Oh, yes, indeed. Dark chocolate is loaded with flavonoids – antioxidants that help maintain heart and circulatory health among other things. It can also help lower bad cholesterol levels.
Tasting the chocolate was enjoyable, to say the least. Jennifer had us try six different chocolates from the Michel Cluizel company of Paris. This included Maralumi Milk, Maralumi Dark, Mangaro Noir, Concepcion, Los Ancones and Vila Gracinda. The selection pretty much covered the world, coming from Papau New Guinea, Madagascar, Venezuela and Santa Domingo. It really was like a wine tasting. Each sense was involved. We smelled the chocolate, looked at it, snapped into pieces and tasted it – letting it melt on the tongue, please, no chewing allowed.
We recorded our perceptions of its fragrance and taste in much the same way as you would wine. But we didn’t have to spit it out, as in a wine tasting! Jennifer provided us with a list of descriptions often used for chocolate . . . and wine. We could note a chocolate had hints of berry fragrance, or leather, or tobacco and so on. Tastes were also considered in this fashion. With some chocolate, the taste was on the tongue and gone as fast as it melted. Others lingered on the palate. Flavours evolved as the chocolate melted. It was quite extraordinary to experience. Usually I snarf down chocolate to fast to appreciate it. Of course, it’s rare that I would have some of such high quality.
It was an educational and enjoyable session.
On Monday I took in the True Colours session offered by Judy Frank, the chair of counseling services on campus. Judy is always great in her presentations and this was no exception.
If you haven’t had the opportunity to learn about the True Colours method of classifying personality types, you owe it to yourself to check it out. If you interact with people at all, this will help you understand why we don’t always see eye-to-eye and to be more effective in your communications and relationships.
Each participant in the session received a Keys to Personal Success booklet with four cards in it. The cards featured different images on the front with backgrounds in blue, green, gold and orange. Judy had us arrange the cards in order based on how the images appealed to us. Then we turned the cards over and read the descriptions on the back. We could then rearrange the cards in order of the descriptions we felt suited us.
In the booklet we then rated the images from 4 down to 1 in order of preference. Rating a series of word clusters listed under each colour provided more information about our personality preferences. When all was said and down, we had a better understanding of ourselves and how we interact with others most effectively.
Adding up the scores, my preference has me as a Blue followed extremely closely by Green. So, what does that mean? As a Blue, value authenticity and honesty above all other characteristics. I possess a strong spirituality in my nature. I like to cultivate the potential in myself and in others. I am idealistic, sincere and a nurturer. I enjoy doing thoughtful things for others, I’m affectionate, supportive and a good listener.
With Green being so strong – only one point less than Blue – I also feel good about myself when solving problems. I seek knowledge and understanding and live life by my own standard. I value intelligence, insight, fairness and justice. This means I’m also a natural non-conformist, a visionary and a problem solver.
So there you have it. I think that’s fairly accurate, but I would leave it up to those who know be best to agree or disagree.
And that’s what’s been cool in my life so far this week.
Photo: One of our wind chimes looking remarkably like a Christmas decoration! Taken on May 5, 2010.
No comments:
Post a Comment