READING
CIRCLE 1
On September 18th, we held our first reading circle with our coach Juhana. This reading circle was not specially organized. We simply summarized and explained our readings to the rest of the group.
1. "Who moved my cheese"
"WHO MOVED MY CHEESE" it's famous little book write by Dr spencer Johnson. It follows the physical and emotional journeys of four characters : Sniff, Scurry, Hem and Haw. And as they search, find, lose and must rediscover their Favorite food : Cheese.
The cheese is a metaphor for what you want in life : a good job, a loving relationship, money, possessions, health or spiritual peace of mind. The House is where you look for it – the organisation you work for, the family or community you live in. And the problem is that no source of cheese lasts forever. Life changes, whether we like it or not. So thanks to the story of four characters: 2 mouse and 2 little people we will understand a big lesson of life.
I don't want to sum up you exactly the book because I think each one have a personal reading and opinion of this book so I can only advise you to read it and make your own personal opinion.
But I will explain my personal opinion of this book.
During this book what impressed me the most was the difference between all the characters to put in light the different behaviors of all the people in a society. Fro exemple we saw really the difference between mouse and little people, it characterizes two distinct types of people. The mouse are understanding and flexible and quickly rebound on other solutions. Instead little people say it unfair, they screamed they are desperate and they overwhelmed by their plight. It's just like life: there are those who complain, decide to stop everything and those who decide to keep finding another way. It's a question of point of view in relation to a problem.
We learn in this book that there are not people who are lucky or not, people who have more change to succeed than privileged people. But just that it's a matter of choice and state of mind.
There are negative people and positive people, choosing to be positive is giving yourself the chance to succeed and get out of a bad situation. Negative people want to stay in their comfort zone but in reality it's when you get out of it that you achieve great things
We also understand that in addition to changing our mindset, we must know how to adapt to change, because things are moving around us, they are constantly changing and we must follow these changes. We must not be resistant to change but accept it to master it because in a life not everything will go as we want it to, we will have to adapt.
My opinion about this book:
My opinion on this book now I find it very interesting because it allows me to make a small reflection on how we would react to certain situations. It was this little reflection that led me to ask myself questions about my behaviour in the face of change. You have to learn to adapt to change and remain positive despite the situation. This state of mind is not easy to achieve because we tend to see the worst in every situation but I think that being aware of it is already a big change.
I have learned different lessons from this book:
-Change happens all the time, so you have to ancitipate it by listening to a potential change and then adapt quickly.
-You have to move according to the opportunities and not just stand still.
Concerning the history of the book, I find it really interesting to have succeeded in dealing with this theme of change with a simple story of mice and cheese. A 4 year old child would be able to read it but what is interesting is to see that there are several reading grids for each of us, depending on our history, our passive. This book gives us the necessary freedom to project ourselves and our own history in this book to draw a personal lesson from it !
2. minimalism : a documentary about the important things
The second element of my reading circle was a Netflix documentary created in 2016. The name is "minimalism: a documentary about the important things"
It is quite difficult to summarize this documentary because it is rich in information and each of them is relevant. But the main question of this documentary is
"How might your life be better with less?"
This documentary examines the many flavors of minimalism by taking the audience inside the lives of minimalists from all walks of life -- families, entrepreneurs, architects, artists, artists, journalists, scientists, and even a former Wall Street broker -- all of them are trying to live a meaningful life with less.
The documentary also discusses the current context in which we are: In the United States, the American dream was built around material success. To have a place of choice in society, you have to have a good salary and things you don't know what to do with it. We observe this consumer society with advertising and the media.
Director Matt D'Avela met the people who founded the "The Minimalists" website: Joshua Fields Millburn and Ryan Nicodemus. These two friends once got rid of all the superfluous material that flooded their lives. From now on, every object they possess has its use or is a source of joy. They base their lives on minimalism, otherwise known as "voluntary simplicity".
This trend encourages a return to the simplicity of needs and the dissociation between necessary and superfluous
Living better with less, that's what minimalists suggest. They can no longer do without the simplicity of their lives.
Many, like Scott and Joshua, realize that consumer society dictates unnatural desires. In the end, wouldn't we be happier with less? Couldn't we then refocus on more important things? That's the whole point of this very inspiring report.
In conclusion, this documentary allows us to understand this concept and what it means to adopt this lifestyle. But it allows us to identify the global culture and crisis of consumerism, the waste it produces and the negative effects it has on us. Finally, it shows us how a minimalist way of life has made it possible for us to help all kinds of people.
My opinion about this documentary :
In today's society, where consumption is the watchword, you always have to earn more to buy more, this documentary was a real breath of fresh air.
The consumer society always makes us believe that we need more and that it is thanks to tons of material things that we will be satisfied and happy, but happiness cannot be bought. But wouldn't the key to happiness be to live with less?
This question made me think of a famous quote from Le Corbusier, a French architect: "less is more", which means the minimum is enough.
There are several interesting things in this documentary. It shows that minimalism is not about living with nothing, but with less. "Stripping your possessions of what really adds value to your life, makes you happy and helps you function. When you reduce the noise around the things you love, they become so much more exciting." We see that with the minimalist we will reduce our purchases but give value to what we buy.
On the one hand, this documentary is criticised for not giving enough exact advice on how to apply this lifestyle and how to become minimalist, but I think that on the contrary, I think that this is what makes the strength of the documentary: to inspire us without dictating to us what to do, just to propose to us to open our minds and to think differently. It simply presents the minimalist lifestyle as an alternative without guilt or obligation.
Finally, concerning the production of the documentary. It is very thoughtful, Cinematography, editing, production, sound, rhythm, structure. Minimalism is aesthetically pleasing, and no frame has been wasted.
Concerning the content of the reading circle, we all had readings from very different backgrounds, Evan, a short lemons on international negotiation, Jesus on the evolution of marketing, zohair one, TED conference, annaelle one novel. This is what makes the richness of our experience sharing so rich, it is the diversity of the supports and subjects studied