On the eve of a month long trip away, Belina Raffy sent Andy Middleton and I this YouTube video featuring Alan Alda, some scientists and the Centre for Communicating Science – Stony Brook State University (USA). For anyone who has been involved in workshops where I use Improv games, here’s a video to watch. For those who practice the art of Applied Improv with me, you know who you are … I think you’ll like this video. For me, this inspires me to do more and bring the gift of Improv to lives of more people and groups. Enjoy. According …

Recently, I have had many requests for copies of the Castlemaine 500 Report – a report that I co-authored in relation to a community scale sustainability project that ran a few years ago in Castlemaine. You can read more about the project here. Why was this project a turning point in my life? Here a just a few reasons … The failures of our efforts to bring about change (i.e. sustained reduction of household energy use) were confronting. I was lucky to have a client (thanks Bron) and a team (you know who you are) willing to go on a …

Here’s a 1 minute video featuring Jack Thompson. He has been asked the simple question, “What is your happiest moment?”. I really enjoyed his response – HT to Katie at Get Shouty for this “The future I might aspire to – the past I remember with pleasure … life’s crowning glory is the here and now” In this longer video, Chip Conley shares his story … when the dotcom bubble burst, Chip went in search of a business model based on happiness. In an old friendship with an employee and in the wisdom of a Buddhist king, he learned that …

Rob Paterson has written about a talk I have heard before. This time, however, the message was clearer due to the fantastic visual animations done by the RSA Animate crew. Watch and learn for yourself … In response to the content in in talk, I like Rob’s points here … “School is all analog and sequential. It is all about the future – when you know this it will be great when you are 30! School is all about it being in control not you. School is all passive. The rewards are all off in the distant and abstract future. …

I sit at home with the sound of my 3 boys breathing, deep in sleep. And 150km away at the her parent’s home in Melbourne, my wife is suffering the horrible pain that comes with an ear infection. Not just any ear infection, this one is hideous with intolerable pain despite a healthy mix of high end medications. I can’t sleep and so I write from the heart and try to notice this time and the events of the past 2 days. One things stands above all else … the love and kindness of people around us. As I begin …