My day is packed today!!!
Mmmm… very satisfying breakfast AND quick to prepare.
Stonyfield O’Soy Vanilla yogurt + Nature’s Path Flax Plus granola + frozen berries…
Nom, nom, nom…
And a side of mango.
After my morning lecture, I was ready to eat! Check out the beautiful line-up:
Multigrain pita with hummus + sweet & spicy mustard + radicchio + tomato. I was right, radicchio rocked this sandwich.
And check out lovely Shirley’s salad. Fennel + pickled eggplant + cranberries + ??? Brilliant.
Lovely Shirley herself in the flesh! Healthy lunch = glowing smile.
After lunch, Shirley and I headed over to a handwriting analysis workshop! 
This was a fun event organized by the college for faculty and staff.
Now, just to be clear here… There is absolutely no scientific basis to handwriting analysis. Thus, I have about as much faith in it as I do in astrology. Hint… not very much. But it was definitely a fun experience – the facilitator was engaging and funny!
Soooooooo…. according to my handwriting and according to the certified graphologist who led the workshop…
I am tenacious, direct, independent, enthusiastic, and sensitive to criticism (so I’d take the time to get things just right). I have “positive aggression” and look to the future. I work hard, but make it look easy – like a duck swimming on the lake – moving smoothly, but no one can see the little feet paddling away under the water.
Does this sound like me or what?
A handout from the workshop:
We could have gotten a more detailed analysis for an addition $5, and even though I was tempted, I decided against it. I didn’t want to spend money to support a practice I didn’t believe in…
In psychology, the concept of cognitive dissonance refers to the uncomfortable feeling we experience while holding two contradictory thoughts, ideas or attitudes simultaneously, or when there is a direct contradiction between attitude and behaviour. We tend to deal with cognitive dissonance by either changing the attitude or changing the behaviour so that they are no longer contradictory.
In this case, the attitude of not believing in graphology AND the behaviour of paying money for additional handwriting analysis would be contradictory. I could reduce the resulting dissonance by either 1) forking over the money, and changing my attitude – maybe telling myself that there is something about handwriting analysis, or 2) keeping the attitude, and not spending the money. You know which I picked.
Colourful snack = brain power for the course for teachers that I am taking…
It worked! I was NOT falling asleep today. It was also the most interesting class so far. We talked about learning taxonomies, managing the classroom and different group activities.
Professor told us a story about a time when he asked his students to write about their favourite object, and one guy wrote about his girlfriend… OUCH. Oh, and another student wrote about their family dog. She was not entirely wrong, because apparently her family loved the dog so much, they had it stuffed after its death. They kept it in the living room and even took it out to the backyard. Lovely… [shudder]
Now if you will excuse me, I am running off to a very special dinner!
