Thanks to the Bolton Bean for an emergency meeting location!
 
 
Guests:
  • Bob Martel, speaker
 
Happy/sad fines:
  • Brian: happy to be part of a group that can “improvise, adapt, and overcome.”
  • Ron: happy that he went to the Acton club to speak about Rotary Means Business.
  • Carol: happy that we have a team member willing stand in the cold and rain and direct us here—even though it wasn’t that cold, or raining at the moment, but willing nonetheless.
  • Bob: had a good Thanksgiving in Killington, and celebrated his granddaughter’s first birthday.
  • Richard: saw his children and grandchildren over the holiday; also glad for Fatima’s art show, which netted $200 and was applied to Rotary Foundation.
  • Nanci : happy that she didn’t have to cook for 40 people at Thanksgiving.
  • Laura: grateful work is slow, so she’s got 40% of her Christmas shopping done.
  • Chris: hasn’t been to a meeting in a while, so put in extra; and seeing the Susan Tedeschi band tonight at the Orpheum Theater.
 
Announcements
  • Rotary Foundation: any amount regularly to meet the Paul Harris target, but currently the goal is $125 per year (a little over $10 a month).
  • Purple Pinkie money: a check is going out today for $1800 to the Rotary Foundation for Polio Plus.
  • Thanksgiving bags: 94 bags were given to seniors; Brian, Alina, Leigh, and Laura were couriers. We received several thank-you notes from recipients. Our club’s generosity made a big difference to a lot of people in Bolton; and thanks to Michelle Wade, who brought it to our attention.
    “Dear Mr. Spear and the wonderful people at the Rotary Club. I’m writing this for my mom, as her eyesight is limited these days. Mom says, thank you for the food items. The package was greatly appreciated; thank you again, and have a happy Thanksgiving.”
    “Thank you and all that had a part in our Thanksgiving basket. It was a delightful surprise, filled with so many different foods. Everything was so much fun. Thank you for everything, and have a happy Thanksgiving.”
  • Next week we have an evening meeting to initiate our newest member, Howard Kendall.
  • The following week, Dec. 15, is our holiday party, again at Nancy’s Airfield Café. The theme is 80’s music.
  • No meetings Dec. 22 and 29. Next meeting is Jan. 5, at Emma’s Café in Stow. The cost is $7.
  • Rotary Means Business: Next Wednesday is the first meeting. This is a new group that Rotary has established, to get back to the roots of Rotary, as a business networking organization, before it emphasized service. Events will be held throughout the district, this one at the Sheraton Framingham. Cost is $15 for Rotarians, $20 for non-Rotarians; a registration link is on the district web page. This is another good “marketing” opportunity to show non-Rotarians what Rotary is about.
  • Stop Hunger Now (club event) is scheduled for March 18.
  • Membership: Chris and Laura met with Dean to discuss ideas. One is a membership night at Slater’s,, where everyone brings someone who might be interested. This might be in February, before the food packaging event and the Reality Fair, further opportunities to show what Rotary is all about.
  • The Malaria Project in Malawi is going very well, with the Lilongwe club and the organization they’re working with to do the spraying. The first four-month spraying has been done. The Lilongwe club has really stepped up.
  • Razia’s Ray of Hope global grant application is also going well; $1500 is pledged so far.
 
Speaker:
 
Our speaker, consulting hypnotist Bob Martel is certified by the National Guild of Hypnotists and helps stop smoking, manage weight, reduce stress and anxiety, improve athletic performance, and more. Positive Results Hypnotists, located in Holden, MA, serves the greater Boston, MetroWest, and Worcester areas.
 
When people hear the word “hypnosis” they’re afraid that it’s a stage act. Actually, it’s a natural state of mind, not some kind of voodoo. It’s a tool to help people with all kinds of problems: business, personal life, stress management, stopping stuttering, overcoming addictions of all sorts, improve performance, take tests. All hypnosis is self-hypnosis; there’s no such thing as mind control.
 
We were asked to remember when we learned to ride a bike; how old we were; what color the bike was. Even though it was 40 or more years ago, people recalled it vividly, accessing a deep memory we weren’t even thinking of. Similarly, we can use our imagination to bring a future goal into the present, to think, act, be in harmony with it. We can act and feel as if that goal is already achieved. We each have an “executive director” acting unconsciously; it teaches us how to do something new, and then, once it’s learned, the executive director is hard to convince otherwise. Hypnosis acts as a bridge from the unconscious to the conscious, allowing us to retrain the executive director.
 
Question: how does this match with meditation and affirmation? Meditation is about clearing the mind. Hypnosis takes it further, by injecting a goal into our clear minds, and convincing ourselves what it’s like to have achieved it.