Let Your Why's Make You Wise...Michelle Ruby asks,"What Is Your Why?" (your drive, your purpose, your dream, your team?)

Heather Hunt is giving an awesome talk in the live virtual District 53 Toastmasters "International Speech Contest"...and the tite of her speech is "Clarity Comes First". What an amaze-sing person Heather reveals she is, overcoming fear of speaking and showing the world with the continuous glucose monitoring device she proudly shared as key to helping her manage her Adult Onset Type 1 Diabetes..even though she had dreaded that exposure for a long time.

She also pursued running a half marathon of 13 (lucky) miles... that was before discovering her diabetic condition. What a heroine on many levels...and She took a coaching program to help her gain clarity and hear from others on their journeys as well in parts one and two of the annual program...

Let's hear the 2nd speaker... who grew up in Serajevio, Yugoslavia. Jasmina Ferozovic. She shared using her imagination to improve her life and live a better life. Family struggles created tension for her. Her childhood was rough with hopes to 'become a vase to become invisible..." When she got to school, her world opened up. She felt courageous reading about Huck Finn who'd been chased by a his father who thought he was the angel of death. Huck as she recounts, outsmarted the villain by faking his own death and escaping down the river. She strove to master English and exit the limitations. She morphed with the new vocabulary into Grease charachters....and sang..."If you're filled with affection....feel your way" from that song helped her visualize a life far away. She then got to make strides in reality, studying and moving to America. She now teaches what helped her as a child. She encourages people to use your imagination not only to escape reality but to create a dream that will also 'move toward you!'

There are many wonderful aspects of Toastmasters meetings and program offerings (called Pathways and it's all online, so no worries about driving or managing more time than getting ready and attending meetings which many pitch in to do roles in terms of planning the meetings in advance with an online agenda people fill in as they take 'functionary roles' of Toastmaster (I have that for next week for instance and will invite people with an email from the site to sign up to give a talk or evaluate one, time or count ums and good pauses which can help people pace and gather their thoughts...)

In general, people bring their 'A' Game to meetings and participate by greeting one another in a positive way by joining in the meeting 5-10 minutes early (or more perhaps) and one person may be the official greeter. All the best to everyone finding a way to learn more about Toastmasters with some google searches and finding a team of Toastmasters at a local club (or  join or visit others online as well.)

We would like to have another 10 or so folks join our Southern Berkshire Toastmasters Club of the Southwestern Massachusetts area. Anyone in the Tri-Corner MA/NY CT area would benefit from the local area, but someone farther away could also benefit from our current zoom meetings (and maybe switch or visit other clubs as well. )

We are celebrating our 25th anniversary on April 1, 2022...so what an exciting time to join our club or another. Very affordable and worth having a few friends support your progress and others can mentor one along. Lots of nice perks along the way too, such as the District Conference events (one coming up on May 15th, 2021...) The next speaker is sharing about a process to succeed to 1.Do, 2. Learn and 3.Repeat (endurance counts, growing with support and staying on the path...) All great ideas, and some more by the way on other posts on this Livfully.org blog. One fave is from coffeytalk.com which offers a daily inspiration by Lisa Coffey.