I make a list like this every so often, after I have been reminded of the sheer joy that is simply living. They help me when my mind is obscured by my own thoughts, or basically when I am in the way of life itself and need to step aside. The first part is being aware of when that is, and the second thing is to know how to step aside. I usually keep these in my trusty moleskin, but I decided to share this one. Maybe you can make …

No death = No Life
No change = No transformation
“We must be willing to get rid of the life we have planned so as to have the life that is waiting for us” (J. Campbell)
Be willing to keep dying.
Follow your bliss.
The universe will open doors where there were only walls.
Love is what we’re born with.
Fear is what we learn.
Have courage.
Love your dragon.
(Notes from Finding Joe)
 
 

Listening is arguably the most important skill you can have as an experience designer. Very very few of us know how to listen to others. It is not a skill that is taught very well at schools in general, or in universities. Most of us don’t even know what it means to listen, which means that we don’t even know where to begin to learn this precious and underrated skill.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines “listening” as:
1: to pay attention to sound
2: to hear something with thoughtful attention
Many of you, I suspect, …

photo credit: danicuki
I have had one awesome year. It’s aways fun to do a retrospective when it has been a highly successful one, full of big achievements and good surprises. It’s always a little harder to retrospect about a tough one, or one where there have been more challenges than achievements. The thing is that I had to go through quite a string of years like that to plant the seeds to set me up for the success that this year has brought. Some who know me less well think that …

photo credit: 68photobug
Yoga and creativity has been a trendy topic recently in the innovation space. The thinking is that if you do Yoga then you will have more creative ideas and therefore be better placed to innovate. This isn’t wrong, but maybe just a little simplistic. You may well have an awesome idea whilst in Pincha, but doing Pinch isn’t the way to have one. What helps is simply calming down and through that, being in a space where you have the chance to really look at the world …

photo credit: siva_nayak88
There was an infographic in Mashable this week, linking to a number of articles, saying that “sitting can kill you”. The articles all reference a medical journal article (but none of them link directly to the data). The line common to all of these articles is:
“A recent medical journal study showed that people who sit for most of their day are 54% more likely to die of a heart attack.” (the Journal is Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise)
That is an attention grabbing stat if I ever saw …

photo credit: LadyDayDream
In the last year there have been a flurry of ToDo list apps, and solutions that have emerged. This is due (possibly) to a growing population unable to get everything they have to do done. Or (possibly) a lot of people are being told that they’re not doing things as efficiently as they should and here are a bunch of apps that can help.
Lets be honest here, how many apps and techniques and things have you tried, downloaded, used for a period of time…and how many were actually successful? …

photo credit: j / f / photos
Meditation has recently made the mainstream news several times. All kinds of famous and successful entrepreneurs, businessman, actors, sports people and more are saying how it has helped them in their lives. That in itself has been compelling enough for even more people to start trying out meditation and blogging about it, telling others over coffee, or chatting about it around the water cooler (if there is such a thing in offices these days!). Some say we are seeing a “consciousness revolution”. I like the sound of that, it’s …

I watched the “No Impact Man” documentary last week, and I found it really really interesting, as well as pretty fun to watch.
Colin Beavan decided to spend a year having as little impact on the environment as possible, whilst living in NYC. His wife and little daughter were along for the ride, and the documentary takes us through the highs and lows of this year in their lives. They had no electricity and used candles, washed their clothes in the bath, used no forms of transportation other than bikes, and ate only …

photo credit: époque
There is a very well shared Zen story that goes something like this:
“The Japanese master Nan-in gave audience to a professor of philosophy. Serving tea, Nan-in filled his visitor’s cup, and kept pouring. The professor watched the overflow until he could restrain himself no longer: “Stop! The cup is over full, no more will go in.” Nan-in said: “Like this cup, you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup.”
You might empty your cup and …