Life is not hard, it is easy. That is the problem. Why do we stop chasing our dreams? Because it is so easy to wake up, do the minimum, eat, sleep and repeat. Meet someone, bring up kids, drift and die… It is easy to live. That is the curse. It is easy to look … Read more
Reading an interview with Will Smith (he is deep and a keen observer of the human condition), I came across this statement from him: “Put somebody on a treadmill and I’ll tell you how good they are at any other thing they do in life.” Will Smith Harsh. Brutal. but… is it True? I think … Read more
I often use an exercise called The Lifeline in my teaching. I found a good summary of the exercise here. In the exercise people reflect on the important positive and negative experiences of their life. Something that has struck me after all these years of watching groups work on the exercise – it is the … Read more
This is a humorous but impactful video that will help remind you forever that people want to feel understood, not to have their problems solved. I was at Entrepreneurs’ Organisation Global Leadership Conference last week in Athens. One of the closing speakers was Hedy Schliefer. She spoke on the art of deeply connecting with another person. … Read more
“If you know the name of a bird in all of the human languages, you will still know absolutely nothing about the bird. My father taught me the difference between knowing the name of something and knowing about that something.” Richard Feynman Earlier this week, my father sent me 2 short video interviews of Nobel … Read more
A few weeks ago I was in the audience with my friend Manuel listening to Kilian Jornet share his life story. At the age of 26, Kilian projects the profound wisdom of a Zen sage. The mountains are a powerful teacher. Kilian will run up and down Everest in 2015. Yep, run up it. He … Read more
Miracle doesn’t mean it doesn’t work, it means we don’t understand how it works. There are plenty of things I don’t understand, but I know they work. Plant a seed, grow a tree. I don’t understand all that happens in the growing of a tree, but I do know that planting an acorn, watering and … Read more
In 2001 I spent a weekend in Denmark with 3 friends. We spent Sunday morning in the sunshine visiting the Louisiana modern art museum 40 kms north of Copenhagen. The setting was beautiful, right on the coast with views over the water to Sweden. One of my friends said “this place is beautiful, its a … Read more
Can we understand a region’s culture by looking at the main cereal crop of five thousands years ago? This is a little thought experiment. This has no basis in science or fact and is merely a little story I am telling today… I very much welcome reflections and comments. Asia – rice Northern Europe – … Read more
This post is inspired by a talk “You and your research” by Richard Hamming. One life to live “Now, why is this talk important? I think it is important because, as far as I know, each of you has one life to live. Even if you believe in reincarnation it doesn’t do you any good … Read more