by Tara Joyce | Nov 5, 2009 | My Journey | What's On My Mind
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This past Monday
It was a rainy night in a slightly pretentious Italian restaurant in downtown Toronto where mid-level suits go to wine and dine. I’m standing at the bar, expecting two confirmed attendees and wondering what I was thinking when I picked the place. The first person to arrive is Nathalie Lussier, the Raw Food Witch. We stand, waiting and start chat about where we live and what our passions are. She’s a black belt and a computer geek. She’s f’ing cool to me. It’s a natural connection.
One of these things just doesn’t belong
It’s too loud. Apparently. I didn’t notice the noise. That was the observation of the entrepreneur who showed up next. He was there to recruit salespeople for his business. He was the second person to arrive at the meetup though his attendance was brief.
I liked that he was there. Speaking with him about his business values affirmed why we were meeting up. With the right people, it feels natural and authentic to meet and honestly talk business. The third, expected attendee didn’t make it.
The start of something good
Nathalie and I had a wonderful dinner where, as she so beautifully put it, we chatted about “what happens on the inside when you’re running a business, and went all the way to actual steps to getting more business in the door. (Or via the web, as the case may be.)”
It was great to have her there supporting first Toronto Innerpreneur meetup. We are a small group, but we’re confident we’ll grow.
Why don’t you try it?
Have a meet-up. Even if only one person comes, it’ll be the right person. It felt really good to talk.
Meetup.com worked great to organize it. I’ll promote it here too. I’ll help you.
Think about it.
photo credit: divya_
by Tara Joyce | Nov 2, 2009 | Cultural Creativity, Self/Business Growth
I’ve noticed that people often use the word “compromise” not in relation to a mutual concession or a trade, but to describe the betrayal of their principles, the surrender of their belief to the groundless claim of another.
A “compromise” in this instance could be a wife’s surrender to her husband’s irrational demands for social conformity or pretended religious observance. Or a writer creating books to please “the public”, against their own judgment and standards.
Let’s make a deal
A compromise, by definition, is an agreement or a settlement of a dispute that is reached by each side making concessions. That means both parties in the compromise have some valid claims and some value to offer each other. And this means that each party must agree on some underlying principle (or fundamental truths) that are the foundation of their deal.
It is not possible to compromise on basic principles or fundamental issues. Can you compromise between such issues as life and death, or truth and falsehood?
It’s not a compromise when I betray my beliefs
Rather, I am giving into another’s irrational, personal desires and encouraging them to grow. I am signing myself up for a tortured life spent in progressive self-destruction.
Integrity is displayed through being loyal to your rational ideals, subjective whims don’t mean shit.
I don’t care if you feel like it
Just because you feel like asserting your desires on me does not mean that I have a moral primary to meet them. You are not entitled to assert your whims on people. Not every impulse you have has equal validity.
Do not ask me to “compromise” on what I know is true and good. There is a powerful difference between conceding on basic principles and bending to irrational flights-of-fancy.
photo credit: mar00ned
