Kategoriarkiv: Lärandeprocess

Design to the edges

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Here’s Todd Rose, on The Myth of Average, from a TEDxTalk that I’m hoping you will spend 20 minutes listening to:

When we design for the average we destroy talent.

Why?

Simple. No one is average.

Average people simply don’t exist, as proven by the US Air Force many decades ago. So designing for the average means we don’t design for anyone. Even before Todd started to draw parallells into the educational system, my mind had made a frog leap there, because if ever there was a system designed for the average, it’s that one.

So what can be done to combat this talent destruction? The US Air Force decided to ban the average, and go from designing to the average, to designing for the edges instead.  When will this create the changes we desperately need within educational systems across the globe?

För min skull…

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Varför läser du det här? Prenumererar du på dessa blogginlägg? Eller har du dem i din RSS-läsare av något slag, t ex Feedly? Eller är den en sån där blogg som du håller lite koll på, emellan åt, surfar in och kollar ett par inlägg nu och då? Kanske du ser länkar till blogginläggen i mina sociala media-flöden? Eller var det någon som delade en länk som gjorde dig nyfiken?

Oavsett vilket så är du varmt välkommen. Jag uppskattar dig, som läser, kanske kommenterar, gillar något inlägg eller delar vidare. Ofantligt mycket! 

Men ska jag vara fullt ärligt är det dock så, att den jag skriver för i främsta hand är mig själv. För när jag skriver, så väcks – oftast – något i mig. Det händer något. Allt som oftast. Visst – någon enstaka gång bara kastar jag ut ett inlägg för sakens skull, eftersom jag har en föresats att blogga dagligen. Så är det. Men det är verkligen undantagsfall. Majoriteten av inläggen jag skriver gör nämligen att det händer något i mig. En reflektion. En ny tanke. En insikt. En fråga. Nyfikenhet. Förvåning. Upprördhet. Igenkänning.

Och vet du? Nu när jag tänker efter – jag tror inte jag skulle gilla det om någon skrev, målade, musicerade, skapade i någon form, UTAN att det händer något i dem själva? Om det enkom gjordes för någon annan, och inte väckte något alls i skaparen av verket.  Är det ens möjligt? Och om det vore möjligt, håller du med mig om att det vore ofantligt sorgligt?

Växtkraft, del två

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Trodde du det var kört, att odlingssäsongen är slut? Mmm. Det tänkte nog jag med. Men så fick jag ett ryck, googlade sensommarsådd och hittade en massa tips, inte minst från Sara Bäckmo som driver fantastiskt inspirerande Skillnadens Trädgård. Tänk att vara helt självförsörjande på grönsaker under sju av årets alla månader. Det vore nått det…

Nåväl, sagt och gjort, vi införskaffade ju en drös med fröer häromdagen när vi var inne i stan. Jag sådde och förkultiverade, och häromdagen såg jag att de första fröerna faktiskt grott, små små grönkålsplantor tittar upp ur jorden minsann! Naturens växtkraft slutar aldrig att fascinera mig. När solen sken och jag hade ett par timmar innan avfärd för en liten resa (yup yup, ännu en liten tur) så passade jag på att förkultivera än mer. Det är ju bra att inte sätta allt exakt samma dag, utan sprida ut det lite Sockerärtor (i syfte att skörda skotten, snarast än tro att det kommer några ärtskidor), grönkål, tatsoikål, pak choi, spenat, blandade salladssorter, rädisor och salladslök. Det vore allt lite kul om vi hade rejält med grönkål till vintern, så jag kan skörda grönkål till mina gröna morgonsmoothies.

plantor

Och vem vet, kanske jag får ännu ett ryck och förkultiverar ytterligare lite grann. Snart ska potatisen upp ur landen och det finns allt ganska mycket plats mellan befintliga växter i perennarabatter och annat med. Men att vara självförsörjande som Sara Bäckmo, nej du, det är vi inte ens i närheten av att vara. Men vem vet, en dag kanske?

Vad är en tanke?

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Satte mig på tågsätet som tilldelats mig, och blir genast nöjd med platsen jag fick. På det uppfällda bordet sitter nämligen en stor reklamskylt med rubriken – Vad är en tanke?  Och det passar ju mig som hand i handske, då just det är något jag reflekterat mycket över senaste två åren. Jag drar upp mobilen och tar ett foto, och googlar mig fram till Sveriges Unga Akademin tävling Prisfrågan, där jag läser mer om detaljerna. Beslutar mig där och då för att skicka in ett bidrag till tävlingen. I någon form. Troligen text, det är det medium jag känner mig allra mest bekväm i.

Om du själv har tankar kring tankar, och lockas av denna frågeställning så kolla in http://sverigesungaakademi.se/prisfragan och läs mer själv. Själv tar jag fram min IPad och sätter mig och funderar. 

Hm. 

Vad är en tanke?

Egentligen?

Podcast 31/52 – Asking is not receiving

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Podcast recommendation 31/52 from the Good Life Project marks the return of ordinary counting in this series. I went off the deep end and named two blog posts after each other number 27… Oops. Anyway. Here I am, back on track full out, it’s week 31 and here’s the 31st podcast recommendation in this year-long series.

BoldomaticPost_When-asking-for-help-make-surSo here it is, an episode from Good Life Project with Jonathan Fields, that I listened to a couple of times yesterday, as I was picking black currants. A short riff on something that I haven’t really given a lot of thought to; the difference between asking for help, advice or assistance, and being open to receiving it.

Asking is not receiving.

As I am writing this post I am listening to it once more, and there’s something to this short story that touches me. This sequence in particular makes me pause, and reflect, looking deep within:

There comes a time when you need to stand naked and silent in the room.
To not just lower the shields, but keep them down. 

Are you open to receiving?
To standing naked and silent?
If so, the real work begins…

How do you Do virtues?

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I listened to Parker Palmer giving this commencement address to the graduating class at Naropa University, and several times I got goose bumps and shivers. For me, those have become telltale signs that there’s something important and/or very true being shared.


The six suggestions Parker provides on living a life worth exploring are simple. And powerful. So powerful I followed my urge to split this recommendation into six consecutive blog posts. You can read my thoughts on the first, second, third, fourth and fifth suggestion here.

BoldomaticPost_Daily-keep-your-death-beforeThe sixth suggestion is: ”Daily, keep your death before your eyes.” – St Benedict

If you hold a healthy awareness of your own mortality, your eyes will be opened to the grandeur and glory of life, and that will evoke all of the virtues I have named, as well as those I haven’t, such as hope, generosity and gratitude. 

We get to chose what virtues we hold high, which ones we try to model in the world. And the beauty is, we get a new chance to do so – model it, I mean – over and over again, moment by moment. And in a strange way, there is no tomorrow. Well, of course there is a tomorrow, but postponing my way of showing up in the world until tomorrow, that’s risky business. Because you might not be around tomorrow, and that’s a fact. There will come a tomorrow when I am not here, in this form at least, and the worst thing about that for me would be if I never got around to showing up as me, with my virtues and values held high, because I kept pushing it forward to the next moment, the next moment, the next moment.

Yes, it can be tricky to live according to your values. We are only human after all. That’s why it’s so important to be gentle with ourselves in our humanness. At the same time – it will never get less tricky, less awkward, less strange and unfamiliar, if I don’t start to act in accordance with my view of these virtues. And that’s actually something to ponder as well. I mean – virtues are all fine and dandy, love, hope, understanding, generosity, gratitude and so on. But how do I do them? How to express them in the world? How do I live in accordance with them, so that my actions mimics my beliefs? How do you do love for instance? Or gratitude?

On compassion

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compassion

Continuing my collaboration with Sus and her marvelous ladies, prompted by a query from my coach on yesterday’s doodle on judgement. She read what I’d written and added: …and practice self-compassion for our sweet, humble humanity when we notice we have ”fallen into judgment” yet again….

She continued with wondering what my compassion sketch would look like, and that thought crept into my conscious mind during this morning’s meditation. So I brought out my IPad, Paper and Pen, and started doodling. A few botched attempts, and then I sent the text above out into MIX. Send a note to Sus asking if she was up for another collaboration. She said she’d gladly give it a go, and immediately got it right, with little Miss Balancing-Act above.

That’s what it can feel like for me, balancing in life. Putting one feet out in front of me, not knowing if I’ll wobble and fall, or stand steady, ready for the next foot to move ahead. But the real balancing act is about meeting both situations (the wobbly as well as the steady journey ahead) with compassion, for me, and for everyone else.

Realizing how I’m not the only one stumbling through life – occasionally falling down, sometimes in a flow – but this goes for everyone. We are all balancing our way through life. All of us.

Now, there’s a thought to sit with…

Podcast 29/52 – Bearing witness

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Here’s a new recommendation for you, at long last! I have tons of episodes from On Being, Good Life Project and One You Feed that I’d love to recommend for you, but I also want to give you a taste of something new. So here’s Rich Roll in conversation with Andy Puddicombe, the voice and co-founder of Headspace, the meditation app that I’ve been using for almost a year now.

I’ve just listened to a few episodes of the Rich Roll Podcast, and I will be recommending some more as time goes, but the episode with Andy was really interesting, in part because I honestly had no clue to Andy’s extremely unusual background! I might be the only one in the Western world who’s missed out on that story, but… go figure. There I was, anyway. Rich and Andy cleared that up for me though, which I am happy about. Because Andy has lived a life with a story worth telling, that’s for sure.

BoldomaticPost_Most-people-assume-that-meditI’ve never taken to meditation before. Haven’t really tried, properly, and never got interested enough to actually give it a go. And I’m quite happy about that actually, because I sure had it wrong.

Andy got it right, in this quote. That’s the mis-conception that I had. That meditation was a way to stop the inner chatter, the endless jabber, that’s accompanied me all my life.

Perhaps lucky for me, I’d already gotten an understanding of how thoughts work, how they shape the world as I experience it, and what with daily blogging (being a form of self-coaching for me) for a couple of years, I’d gotten pretty ok at stepping back from myself, bearing witness.

So when I started on the Headspace-journey, I had absolutely no wish, desire or ambition for it to help me ”stop my thoughts”. Not at all. I just really enjoyed giving myself 10-15-20 minutes a day devoted to stepping back and bearing witness, just being with myself. Sometimes in absolute calm. Sometimes agitated as hell. And not getting caught up in either of those states, but rather just seeing it, seeing me, in the moment.

Anyway. Whether or not you meditate or if you really loath meditation and such mumbo-jumbo, this interview is worth listening to, in my view. And if, by chance, you get interested in the Headspace app and want to give it a go, start with the free 10-day routine, and then let me know if you want to try more. Because I have a 30-day voucher to give away to someone who want’s it! Might it be you?

 

 

A part of being human

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I listened to Parker Palmer giving this commencement address to the graduating class at Naropa University, and several times I got goose bumps and shivers. For me, those have become telltale signs that there’s something important and/or very true being shared.


The six suggestions Parker provides on living a life worth exploring are simple. And powerful. So powerful I followed my urge to split this recommendation into six consecutive blog posts. You can read my thoughts on the first, second, third and fourth suggestion here.

BoldomaticPost_Since-suffering-as-well-as-joThe fifth suggestion is: Since suffering as well as joy comes with being human, I urge you to remember this: Violence is what happens when we don’t know what else to do with our suffering.

As Parker says, violence can be directed inwards as well as outwards. And it’s not the answer, it’s not. Hardest for me has been to stop being violent inwards. Beating myself up, verbally, in the harsh and terrifying inner chatter, that accompanied me for so long. It’s almost weird trying to look back at it. I have a hard time remembering what it sounded like, specifically, because it’s so far from the inner chatter within me right now. My mental chatter has shifted, and as a result. I don’t suffer as much either. It’s like a merry-go-round. I suffer, beat myself up over something, and then suffer more, think I’m a wimp for it, so I beat myself up over it some more…. and so on.

And now. A totally different tone. A gentleness. Towards me. And to think I only realized it was possible to be gentle towards myself around my 35th birthday. (Born in 1972, you do the maths.) When I stopped being harsh on myself (and yes, I do believe that to be a form of violence) something else became possible. Because at that time not only could I could start to take in all of my own feelings, I could also start to take you in. And with that, your suffering no longer scared me (as much anyway). Being less likely to want to thrash out, verbally or physically, at your ways to try to escape your suffering. Understanding it doesn’t say much – if anything – about me, and everything about you.

Me being ok with feelings of suffering (both my own, and yours), those same feelings seem to pass through me quicker and more easily. The rabbit holes of my past used to be so deep it took me forever to get out of them. Now I fall into them, but not as deep, and not for as long. Maybe because I no longer fight desperately to get out of them?

 

 

Om att våga

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sören kirkegaard

Ibland vågar jag. Och marken försvinner under mig. Jag vet inte vad jag kan, ska, borde göra. Eller inte göra. Men efter en stund så landar jag. Fast mark. Igen. Och jag kan ta några kliv innan det kanske är dags att våga förlora fotfästet än en gång.

Ibland vågar jag inte. Och då är det som jag krymper. Framförallt om jag vet att jag egentligen hade velat göra, det där som jag inte vågade.

Som tur är så förlorar jag inte mig själv, inte för gott. Finns nya val, ständigt, och kanske kanske vågade jag inte för det var ett för stort steg. Kanske behöver jag tassa lite försiktigare, göra något lite mindre vågligt, och stärka min mod-muskulatur innan jag ger mig på det där, som av någon anledning skrämmer så…

Tror vi alla har upplevt det som Sören Kirkegaard beskriver i de där två meningarna. För inte är jag väl ensam om att våga ibland, och ibland inte?