megram - Index

megram - 55Ottawa - Index

OPEN MONDAY TO SATURDAY
New Patients Welcome • Multilingual
Comprehensive Family Dentistry • Orthodontics • Zoom Whitening
Endodontics • Periodontics • Dental Implants • Cosmetic Dentistry
LVI Training • Mercury Free Dentistry
592-2900
HAZELDEAN MALL, KANATA
www.hazeldeandental.com
ATTENTION;
PROGRAMME DIRECTORS
FOR SENIORS’ GROUPS
Looking for a speaker
for your group??
An experienced realtor – herself a
senior – who works extensively with
senior citizens has been very well
received as a speaker for local seniors’
groups on the topic of downsizing.
Call today for further details.
Marianne Baird Anderson
Susan Richardson
Sales representatives
(613) 236-5959
Dedicated to excellence since 1983
OTTAWA REALTY LTD.
May 2008 • Ottawa 6 • Fifty-Five Plus Magazine
eventually kills him. It is a touching story; one that made
me aware of this lack of feedback. We all have attended
wakes to hear the deceased praised, stories of how they
were affected by this person....Why can’t we do that while
the person is still alive and able to enjoy it?
Maybe it’s all this living alone that puts these ideas
into my head.The only praise I get on a day to day basis is
when I feed my cats exactly what they want — they let me
know. Of course, they also let me know when I don’t feed
them exactly what they want but I am willing to accept
the positive as well as the negative.
I have been writing this column for many years now
and while not necessarily soliciting responses from the
readers, only twice have I ever had any of the readers
respond to my column. I have often felt I was just writing
and sending it off into cyberspace. Does anyone really read
it? Do they like them? Have I helped anyone through some
of the subjects I write about?
I decided to make it my personal challenge to tell people
when they do something that I like; tell them how I
feel about them; tell them if they have done something
that made a difference in my life. No, I am not going off
sprouting mushy praise whenever I see a friend, but
should they do something that has a profound effect on
me, I will let them know. Perhaps this will trigger the same
thing in them.
To wish to hear praise is not egotistical at all. Many
times I have been given the task of training dogs. I don’t
have one now but over the years I have had several and
only once did I allow my partner to send our young dog to
a training school.We went to watch and see the progress.
I burst into tears and insisted we take the dog home that
very minute.
To me, while you need to have strictness, you can
accomplish a lot more with rewards and praise than what
I saw that day at the so-called professional trainer’s. Don’t
you do a better job when someone tells you that you are
doing a good job?
I once was told that I had inspired a friend of mine.
Me? Inspire someone? Yes, she said, it is by your absolute
faith in the way you approach a new project, as though
nothing can go wrong. She claimed I was a risk-taker. Little
did she know that often I was terrified. Mind you, I still
went ahead and tried. Maybe she is right.That risk-taking
attitude got me onto a year-long sailboat trip (I am terrified
of water) and it got me to where I live now (grabbing an
opportunity to move out of Toronto). It was certainly nice
to hear it from someone. I hear the words of my friend
whenever I have major decisions to make and it diminishes
the fear.So you see,that feedback did make a difference.
Lorna Foreman is a self-described 50+ writer based in
Summerstown, Ontario.