Lapidus News

I'm pinching myself as I sit in Professor Tony Attwood's glass consulting room, looking out over a tropical garden of palms and guava trees down towards a creek surrounded by lush greenery. As he talks, a two foot long, scaly green and yellow lizard hops onto a rock outside his window, tail thrashing. It's all I can do not to squeak.

For our September meeting we have decided to try something new, facilitated by Stephen Bush, a regular at our London Lapidus meetings.

I’ve journaled and made art for over 60 years now, but for many of those years I thought of it as simply a pastime.

Then one day I went down a deep, dark, rabbit hole and just by chance the writing and art changed.

The art got abstract and the writing came from the bottom of that deep, dark hole. I had no understanding of the whys or wherefores but the whole process helped me to reflect on the pain, the sadness and the angry resentments and to heal so that I could move on and pull myself up into a place of wellbeing, a place where the sun shone more often. But it never lasted and I came to understand that there was more to this and I needed to know what the more was. I thought school might have some answers so I took another BA which allowed me to enroll in a Master of Arts in Integrated Studies through Athabasca University by distance … and it is quite a distance from Southern Ontario to Central Alberta.

For many of us, this year has been challenging, drawing on our depths of compassion and humour, demanding that we strive harder to keep our balance in choppy waters. Events in the Middle East, particularly Syria, deaths of iconic figures, surprises in the democratic process in the West, news about the effects of global warming have placed us in a position now where we may have to adjust the stand that we wish to take, our values and our priorities.  It is certainly a time of change, when we need to think differently and decide what to keep and what to discard. Events within Lapidus have led us to a position in 2016 when we have reviewed our history, our core ideology and have begun to look towards the future. Some key members of the Board with a long-term relationship with the company have moved away and some fresh faces have stepped up.  We felt it important to forge a strong working relationship between the team, with those who are paid by Lapidus and with our members.  To that end, Barbara made contact with a number of regional groups and visited them.  Lisa continued to steer the activities of the (new) Digital Editor (Christine) and our Membership Secretary (Caleb).

Lapidus Research Day, July 2015

Huge thanks to everyone who came along to the July Research Day, and to Metanoia Institute for providing such a wonderful venue. It was a vibrant day, covering a wide range of topics. Below are links to resources from the event, including information from our displays and slides and notes from some of the sessions:

• Lapidus Research Day agenda
• ‘Research Showcase’ case studies
• 'What is Research' display
• 'When Art Meets Science' slides
• 'Turning Experience into Research' session notes