Mother Connie Sez: "Ice Breaker?"

 

 

Breaking the ice might be easy or difficult but it's always interesting! 

You may recall that one of Mother Connie's passions is the Toastmasters, International Club that meets weekly at the local state prison.   Seeing the growth and development of speaking and leadership skills emerging in LibOrators 986233 is thrilling and gratifying.  Our most recent meeting was no exception.

Several of our members have been hand selected to participate in a Criminal Justice class for college credit and they were happy to share an ice-breaker activity with their fellow Toastmasters that helped everyone to understand what they are doing in their classwork.  We volunteers were delighted to participate in this group activity.

The tables were arranged to one side of the room and the chairs were set up in a circle.  The leader gave us all a topic to consider and we took turns responding to his subjects.  Some were humorous and light hearted; others were designed to make a person think.  Every single subject peeled away any extraneous "masks" we may have worn and allowed us to see one another-and ourselves-as we really ARE.  It was a beautiful and revealing exercise.  Besides that, it was great fun!

The very first item that was tossed to us had to do with our choice of Super Powers.  They ranged from wanting to understand every language spoken to knowing what animals think.  One member even wanted to be able to ZAP everyone so they would feel instant joy!  That's a Super Power, all right!

We were invited to choose whatever animal we'd be.  This was interesting because every choice made by one of the incarcerated fellows indicated their desire for freedom:  birds, animals high on the food chain, ocean creatures...  FYI, Mother Connie chose the elephant, where size would not matter!  grin

The gales of laughter that got the attention of the officer on duty were from the question of favorite movies and quotes from them.  These guys have spent considerable time watching movies and have seen the same ones repeatedly.  They cracked one another up with their comical impressions of the actors  and loudly rehashing the story lines.  Okay, I admit it:  we were a rowdy crowd.  

After all the laughter had diminished we got very serious over what motto we choose for living our lives.  The serious tone indicated this was not something the guys took lightly.  Every member in that circle, it seemed to me, is making a concerted effort to live his best life and be his best self.  They all seem to understand that they would not be behind bars if they had paid close attention to those kinds of details earlier in their life's journey.  

These men are sons and brothers; fathers and husbands; uncles and nephews - even neighbors who made terrible and foolish choices, resulting in dire tragedies.  Now they are paying their debts to society and doing all in their power to rise above their circumstances and learn from their mistakes.  In that circle, they were spiritual beings living human lives.

Here is my challenge to YOU, dear reader:  What is the motto YOU choose to live by?  What animal would YOU be if you could?  And what is YOUR favorite movie?  Why?  Can you quote something from it?  And finally, Would YOU be interested in joining Toastmasters International?

Love is a great healer; which reminds me that Valentine's Day will be here soon.  Are you living on a dime and wondering how to make the day special for people you love?  Here is a NO COST IDEA for you:  JUST CLICK ON THESE WORDS--->  Living On a Dime.

 

 Connie Baum

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