Next Wednesday June 5 we meet at the Humainologie Gallery and Store

Hello dialogue artists,

This coming Wednesday June 5 we plan to meet at the Humainologie Gallery and Store for another lively Hello Stranger! Walk. We’ll meet at 6:30 PM. It’s located near the corner of 17th Avenue and 7th Street SW https://bit.ly/30ROHOZ just a few steps from Mona Lisa Art Supplies.

Yesterday we met at Vendome and for the first time used an empathic listening circle format. It exceeded expectations and we’ll do it again soon. We also talked about two outside-the-box ideas: 1) Consider "adopting" a young person who is full of potential and whose income has been detrimentally affected by the recent reduction in the hourly minimum wage, supplementing that hourly wage with enough to bring it back to the previous minimum wage level; and 2) consider exploring the use of a Tangerine bank account https://www.tangerine.ca/en for that purpose.

Please consider these two ideas and share your thoughts next time we meet.

In June, I’ll do just one book synopsis, also one each month for July and August, then return to one per week in September.

I intend to send you the synopsis for June early next week, before we meet for the Hello, Stranger walk. In lieu of one for this email, I’ll append below the Good News I shared last night at Vendome.

Carpe diem,

Arthur

Good News

A highly innovative use of yard signs would probably be my top pick for good news this week. https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/thousands-of-people-encouraged-by-moms-yard-signs/

This was the initiative of a woman in Oregon who heard about the suicide rate in her neighbourhood and wanted to do something. She wasn’t a therapist so she came up with this idea of putting out lawn signs that carried any one of three encouraging messages: “Don’t give up,” “You are worthy of love,” or “Your mistakes don’t define you.”

“When we knocked on strangers' doors asking to place signs in their yard for 2 weeks, they didn't hesitate. Once they saw the signs had no branding, no website, no organization, no strings attached, just a young family trying to spread love and hope, they were all in.”

https://www.dontgiveupsigns.com/our-story

She came up with other messages to use on the signs. Someone she knew was a graphic designer with access to other materials needed to make the signs. Soon there were countless others asking to purchase the signs, which they sold at cost. Now it’s happening in various parts of the world, and the signs are available in several languages. Stories from people who’ve put them up in their yards are very inspiring too. (I confess I’m tempted to get one of their signs and put it in my own yard.)

Don’t forget that Empathy Week runs from June 1 to June 7, and includes a Hello, Stranger! Walk on June 5. I suggest we do our dialogue event next Wednesday (on June 5) as the Hello, Stranger! Walk. It begins at 7 PM at the Humainologie Gallery and Store, near the corner of 7th Street and 17th Avenue SW. You can see the details about Empathy Week at: http://www.humainologie.com/empathyweek/