TM Amelia from Charlotte has shared an absolutely delightful theme for a Toastmasters meeting. Its light hearted and makes you look wise as well. Read it below.
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THE GOOD LIFE
I know am neither that old nor that worldly wise. But sometimes, it’s the tiny ant that gives you the biggest nugget of wisdom. Over the last few years, through my interactions with people wiser than me and reading books heavier than my weight, I have realized that there are 4 main elements that are integral to living The Good Life. Today I would like to share them with you.
The first element to The Good Life is people. I do not mean people as in human beings, millions of them all around you, but those few who absolutely qualify the idiom “near and dear.” It’s absolutely vital to have those few people in your life who are your second oxygen. These are your family and friends – that’s it and nobody else. They may share other relation with you like colleague or neighbors but unless you do not call them your family or friend first, they do not qualify. And there is one important thing I have learnt about these important people. Your family and friends are human too and all humans are defective. At some point in your life, they are going to crap, but you have to look past those few instances and forgive them. Life may otherwise get quite lonely.
I will share the other elements of The Good Life in due course but first, let me share the format of a Toastmasters meeting for the benefit of our guests.
Every Toastmasters meeting is divided into three parts. The first part is the Prepared Speech section where our members prepare a 5 to 7 minute speech in advance, get it mentored and deliver the same. The second part is the fun and exciting Table Topic Session where anyone can speak for 1 to 2 minutes on a topic given by our Table Topic Master. And the last part is the evaluation session where our General Evaluator will give a comprehensive report on the entire meeting. Let me invite our General Evaluator for the day TM Name.
Once the GE is done explaining his role, invite the Prepared Speakers. After this session, continue with the theme as under.
The second element of The Good Life is learning. By our very nature, human beings are a curious lot. While curiosity may kill the cat, we are humans and it only brightens our life. Learning helps us sate our curiosity. Learning is important not just for our livelihoods but for our lives as well. You may learn a skill, learn a sport or learn a language but learn you must. Having said that, I am really happy that am in good company here, a community where this element is easily taken care of. Because when you are in Toastmasters you are learning in every meeting.
That dear Toastmasters is the second element of The Good Life and now it’s time for the second session of Toastmasters. Please help me welcome the Table Topic Master of the day TM Name.
Once the Table Topic Session is over, continue with the theme as under.
The third element to The Good Life is giving back. And let me be absolutely selfish or should I say human here. Its okay to not have too much of this element while you are young. It’s a time when your education and career occupy the lion’s share of your time and neither time nor lions are in abundant. However, once you are past 45, I absolutely believe that associating yourself with a larger purpose is integral to having The Good Life. Be it a charity foundation or an NGO whose cause appeals to you or just being on your own and helping people in need goes a long way. Giving back in fact serves a dual purpose – it helps in improving the quality of your life and that of someone in need as well. This I believe is the third element of The Good Life.
It’s time now for the third session of our meeting – the evaluation session. Please help me welcome our General Evaluator of the day TM Name.
Once the evaluation session is over, conclude the theme as under.
The fourth element and one that absolutely enriches your life is experiences. Our life in this world is limited but the experiences this world has to offer are unlimited. Would you live your life to the fullest if you did not indulge in some of these experiences?
Let me share with you the secret to simplify this. If you absolutely want to include the fourth element of experiences in your life, make your bucket list. Make a list of 10 experiences that you absolutely wish to enrich your life with and make a plan to check them off. Let me help you by sharing my progress in this front. My mobile wallpaper is a list of the top experiences I wish to indulge so that it acts as a constant reminder. The top one in this list is visiting the northern lights, the second is to digitally detox for seven days and the third is to give a speech to an audience of 500 people. Here is a small task for you. You can prepare your top 10 list with due thought, but if you have the top three items on your bucket list in your mind, let us know in our Whatsapp group.
Let me quickly recount the four elements I mentioned – People, Learning, Giving Back and Experiences.
It’s time now for the awards.
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Thank you so much TM Amelia for this submission.
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