On my wish list for any town I live in is that there is a university or college nearby. I am lucky enough to have two in Tampa, the University of South Florida (go Bulls!) and the University of Tampa.
It was through the University of South Florida that I heard Maya Angelou speak several years ago, an experience I won't forget.
This last April I had the pleasure to hear Mary Catherine Bateson speak, also at the University of South Florida. To be honest I had not heard of Ms. Bateson before my friend and yoga instructor asked if I would be interested in going to the lecture so I did some research. Ms. Bateson is the daughter of Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson - that alone made me sit up and take notice. What a fascinating life her early years must have been.
Ms. Bateson is also an author of several books, two of which specifically called to me: Composing a Life and Peripheral Visions. I have mentioned before that I turned 50 this year and it seems a good time to pause and take stock of my life. I have been asking myself the typical question: am I happy both in my personal and professional lives? What could I change to make my life more fulfilling? I have always said there is no such thing as a mid life crisis, to me a person has many crisis's throughout their life - it is a means to grow and learn. In researching Ms. Bateson I found this quote on her webpage: "We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn." Bingo! I definitely wanted to hear this woman speak!
Ms. Bateson specifically was lecturing on inter-generational communication, aging and the life cycle. The audience was diverse in age which is always a good sign. My notes on the lecture are such:
Active wisdom
Listen to the wisdom of others
Good observers
Process of communication must complete the loop
Participate and learn
Don't be spiritually deaf
It was through the University of South Florida that I heard Maya Angelou speak several years ago, an experience I won't forget.
This last April I had the pleasure to hear Mary Catherine Bateson speak, also at the University of South Florida. To be honest I had not heard of Ms. Bateson before my friend and yoga instructor asked if I would be interested in going to the lecture so I did some research. Ms. Bateson is the daughter of Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson - that alone made me sit up and take notice. What a fascinating life her early years must have been.
Ms. Bateson is also an author of several books, two of which specifically called to me: Composing a Life and Peripheral Visions. I have mentioned before that I turned 50 this year and it seems a good time to pause and take stock of my life. I have been asking myself the typical question: am I happy both in my personal and professional lives? What could I change to make my life more fulfilling? I have always said there is no such thing as a mid life crisis, to me a person has many crisis's throughout their life - it is a means to grow and learn. In researching Ms. Bateson I found this quote on her webpage: "We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn." Bingo! I definitely wanted to hear this woman speak!
Ms. Bateson specifically was lecturing on inter-generational communication, aging and the life cycle. The audience was diverse in age which is always a good sign. My notes on the lecture are such:
Active wisdom
Listen to the wisdom of others
Good observers
Process of communication must complete the loop
Participate and learn
Don't be spiritually deaf
I have these notes written on a piece of paper stuck on my wall at home. I am curious what your thoughts are on them? Where are you at in your life journey?
As a final note in case anyone at USF reads this post - the parking for this lecture was terrible. I ended up at a metered parking spot that cost .25 per 10 mins and the maximum time was 1 hour. I constantly worried I was going to get a ticket.
Thanks for telling us whay you're up to. It sounded like an inspirational lecture
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