FLOURISHING EDUCATION - How to become a Flourishing Lifelong, Lifedeep, and Lifelong learner

Today, it is pure joy to shine a light on Flora Clapham, one of my former students who is also a violinist and an ouststanding French speaker.

Flora and I talked about self-reflection, personal growth, and identity.

We also explored the concept of 'discipline' and looking beyond the curriculum as well as curiosity and how it is stiflled in our schools.

I have no doubt that you will absolutely LOVE this dialogue with Flora. I know I did!

I am delighted to share this truly beautiful conversation with Je'anna Clements who is a writer, Young People's Assistant at Riverstone Village, European Democratic Education Community (EUDEC) Oversight Committee Member and Training Materials Developer.

If you have been wondering what Self Directed Education (SDE) is then look no further. This conversation is just what you need.

It was such a delight talking with Je'anna who selflessly shared all her insights and experience with me in this imperfectly perfect conversation.

I am sure you will enjoy every minute, as much as I did.

My first guest is Arthur Templeman-Lilley and together we talk about a topic that is very close to Arthur's heart - championing children's rights and youth participation.

We talk about Arthur's own journey into the British schooling system and what he is currently doing but also his passion - children's rights.

We discuss how we adults make sure that youth participation does not come across nor become as tokenistic.

Arthur's webiste can be found here: https://futureyouthimpact2.wixsite.com/future-youth-impact

I am sure you will love every minute of this conversation as much as I did!

Today I am delighted to share this imperfectly perfect conversation with Claire Gillespie who is Founder of Oglee Poglee, a home Educator and Facilitator.

You can reach Claire on Facebook or Instagram In this episode we cover so much ground:

- Claire's own journey and how she became a home educator but most importantly how she walked alongside her children

- Why we are made to learn

- How we build flourishing communities

- How we discover who we are in this garden called life

I am sure you will love every minute of this conversation. I know I certainly did!

Today I am delighted to share this imperfectly perfect conversation with Ken Caputo who offers online and in-person training and workshops through Momentum Learning.

Together we explored Ken's own personal experience of the schooling system, his martial art skills and his work through Momentum Learning and we discussed how the better we understand each other, the deeper we connect, and the more our organisation(s) can evolve.

I particularly loved what Ken said: 'in grass root change, we can trust that every strike matters and we can't really know when the result is going to appear. Things are happening beneath the surface that we can't see [...]. suddenly there is something new that feels like it came out of nowhere but but it was these tiny injections of energy, of attention and intention that made it all happen.'

Learn more about Ken's work here

I am delighted to share part 2 of this imperfectly perfect conversation with ⁠Joshua Farris⁠

Together we discuss

• the challenges faced by homeless young people
• the need for a shift in mindset on how we perceive others
• the difference between happiness and pleasure
• putting youth at the centre of what we do
• creating opportunies for youth to learn from adults and adults from youth
• being the space holder, a facilitator

You can find more about Joshua's work through his ⁠website

I have no doubt that you will enjoy this episode as much as I did.

I am delighted to share part 1 of this imperfectly perfect conversation with Joshua Farris

Together we discuss whether

• ALL young people need to go to university,
• meritocracy,
• first generation College Grads and the challenges they face,
• and most importantly how we listen to our youth and learn with and through them.

You can find more about Joshua's work through his website

I am delighted to share this imperfectly perfect conversation with Dr David Penberg, Leader in Residence at 2Revolutions.

David shared his journey as an educator/teacher and writer and together we explored

• how he supports schools and community spaces in reimagining learning to remake a common world.
• how we become citizens and human beings
• how we feed the universal need for meaning, connection, and growth.

I am sure you will enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

David Penberg's website can be found here

In this imperfectly perfect episode, I talk with Dr Udo Gößwald, a former museum director, now freelance writer and blogger.

Together we draw on Udo's work in museums and we explore:

• what well-being is - at the individual, community and planetary level,
• how we are together
• how we value our neighbourhood and neighbours

To do this, we need to have individuals who know who they are, who have a strong self-esteem and content.

His research and work led him to write his theses which are also available in English. The link for these can be found here: www.48thesen.de/en/

The essays corresponding with the first three theses have been published on Medium.

At the end of our conversation, Udo mentioned

• a book by Omri Boehm, Radikaler Universalismus, Berlin 2022 (forthcoming in English).

• a documentary about the situation in German schools: www.bildungsgang-film.de

In this episode, I have an imperfectly perfect conversation with Michael Strong, Founder of The Socratic Experience, a secondary school for parents seeking a warm, motivating, high performance virtual educational experience for their children, specializing in creative, intellectual, and entrepreneurial students whose needs are not being met by conventional schools.

Together we explore:

- Michael's journey in the world of education

- why he does what he does

- what it means to be socratic and the importance of relationships (absolute interest in what the child is thinking and why)

- the principles of Socratic dialogue and why it is so vital

Michael's Youtube channel can be found here

Michael's book: The Habit of Thoughts

In this episode I talk with Dr Anne Knock a passionate educator and a design-focused complexity strategist. Anne is a culture architect and impact designer who is also Director of Leadership and Culture at The Learning Future which reimagines and redesigns learning ecosystems so people thrive.

Together we explored:

- what complexity theory is

- The beauty of a complex future

- The importance of attention to our inner world

- What progress is to you

I am sure you will truly enjoy this episode as much as I did.

I am absolutely delighted to start the week with this beautiful and imperfectly perfect conversation with d'Arcy Lunn⁠ Head of Sustainability and Global Citizenship at Education in Motion (EiM) d'Arcy is also a speaker, facilitator, educator & comms specialist. He co-founded Teaspoons of Change to activate and align business, education and government with the Global Goals.

In this episode, d'Arcy shares his journey and explains what each of us can do in terms of:

-Small but significant ideas, attitudes and actions that have a positive impact on people and the planet

Living by the formula: Small Actions    X    Lots of People    =    BIG Change

I am sure you will get so much out of this amazing conversation. I know I did!

You can connect with d'Arcy on LinkedIn: d'Arcy Lunn

The musician d'Arcy recommended is Michael Franti

I am delighted to share this imperfectly perfect conversation with Amy Milliron who is the Founder and Executive Director of Fearless Farmers and CEO of Deeply Rooted Ranch.

In this episode we discuss the direct correlation between soil health and human health and Amy shares her passion for farming and her journey. She shares their tools and training so that adults, children and young people can discover how regenerative agriculture can revitalize our soil to support the future generations that will need it most.

We also explore how to build regenerative communities.

I am sure you will love and enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

I am delighted to share this imperfectly perfect conversation with Rosa Maria Drumond Moreira who is the Founder of VEM (Virtual Exchange Mode).

Rosa shares with me how VEM means a call.

It is a call for all those who believe Education is connected to purpose, human values and knowledge in context. It is a virtual student exchange program designed to anyone willing to learn what makes sense to have a 🌎 growing in peace and prosperity.

VEM is an invitation to a collective network of schools and collaborators take part into convergent projects to have true Education back to learner’s minds and hands.

Listen to the whole conversation to find out more.

You can reach out Rosa through email: rosadrumor@hotmail.com

I am delighted to share this imperfectly perfect conversation with Jan Frolic and Jennifer Johnson who are co-founders of Captains and Poets.

Together we discussed the groundbreaking Kindergarten – Grade 12 Social Emotional Learning (SEL) program that students will take with them their entire lives.

The premise of the program is that there is a unique Captain and Poet in each of us that, in partnership, enable us to be our best selves. When kids learn about their inner Captain and Poet they have immediate access to their emotions, their unique gifts and perspectives, and the complexities of what makes them human.

They become more resilient, learn how to draw on their innate strengths, and to nurture a positive mindset. By inspiring connection to self and others, we encourage a healthier sense of well-being and identity, more positive relationships, and greater agency and purpose in the world.

In short - Captains & Poets is where well-being meets inclusion and belonging!

I am sure you will enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

Delighted to reach our 200th episode with a friend and co-creator Steve Schecter co-founder and CEO of Much Smarter, a digital platform which teaches young people to make full use of their minds so that they can:

- Learn anything they want

- Create the lives that they want

Together we explore how Much Smarter came to life and Steve's journey as well as how together with his team, they empower young people to develop healthy habits of thinking, feeling and learning.

I am sure you will enjoy this conversation as much as I did

I am delighted to end the week with this beautiful and imperfectly perfect conversation with Curtis Ogden who is Senior Associate for the Interaction Institute for Social Change and most of his work entails consulting with multi-stakeholder networks to strengthen and transform food public health, education, and economic development systems at local, state, regional, and national levels. He has worked with networks to launch and evolve through various stages of development.

I asked him to come and talk to me because I have resonated deeply with many of his articles such as 'At the Heart of Regeneration... is the Heart (and the Gut)' and I really wanted to explore concepts such as unravelling and healing as well as creating more space for things to happen.

The course in the Autumn Curtis will be running called Energy Systems Science and Practice can be found HERE

The book he recommended and I have been reading is called The Heartfulness Way by Kamlesh D. Patel and Joshua Pollock

I am delighted to share this imperfectly perfect conversation with Kobus Du Toit who is Partnerships Manager at School of Humanity

As I explore how we build flourishing communities in education and beyond, I thought I could learn a lot from Kobus and his phenomenal journey both as an educator and a lifelong learner.

We explored how we create parthnerships and connections with others - adults and young people alike so that we can all flourish.

And the beauty of this amazing conversation, is that Kobus gave mwe a new metaphor to describe how we all flourish - that of a jazz band!

To find out more, listen to the whole episode. I am sure you will love it!

I am delighted to share this imperfectly perfect with Simon van der Els whom I connected with on LinkedIn.

Simon is a (micro)biologist who has spent the last ~12 years studying molecular biology and specializing in the microbial genetics.
Over the last 3 years my interest shifted towards the macro scale : systems (both the anthroposphere and the biosphere which encompasses it).

He is now a Researcher interested in the questions:
"In what capacity will the biosphere survive the coming centuries?"
"How can homo sapiens step up and play a regenerative role instead of the current omnicidal one?"
Together we explore our journey thus far as well as these questions both at the analytical and conceptual levels as well as the more practical and implemental levels.

• David Bohm whose extensive work can be explored here

Today I am delighted to share this imperfectly perfect conversation with Brian Curcio, who is  co-founder of Rapunzl and a passionate supporter of any and all things related to financial education.

Brian shared with me how at a young age, I was incredibly fortunate to receive broad exposure to entrepreneurship and the stock market through my family and why during his senior year at Amherst College, he developed Rapunzl. He explained how we partnered with his highschool friend, Myles Gage, and together they designed a developed an app that could solve the three roadblocks that prohibit many from understanding the stock market: fear, exposure, and accessibility.

Listen to find out more!

This week I share my imperfectly perfect conversation with Mariam Brian who is a chief imagineer and Founder of holoartcollective.com and who offers global advisory services. She is a Global Speaker State of the Art Topics, a High Impact Global Consultant.

I discovered Mariam's work on Linkedin when I came across her blog on The Future of Education which resonated deeply with me.

We explored so many topics but in particular

- the concept of thredding the needle from STEM to STREAM and what needs to happen now AI is here.

- what advice she has for parents

- what the future of education is

We had the most wonderful conversation. It left me feeling like I could have asked so many more as she has such a wealth of knowledge and understanding.

Take a listen and get in touch with her, particularly if you would like to find out more and learn with and through her by collaborating with her.

In this imperfectly perfect conversation, I connect with and talk to the wonderful Dr Eri Mountbatten O'Malley who is Senior lecturer in Education Policy at Bath Spa University.

I reached out to him because his PhD is a conceptual analysis of human flourishing. As a researcher keen to understand what flourishing means and how we create flourishing communities in educational settings, I really wanted to learn with and through Eri.

We not only discussed his research but the phenomenal work he is doing with his Flourish Cafe here in the UK.

If you are interested in well-being and flourishing, both at the individual but also at the community and planetary levels then this is definitely a conversation for you.

Enjoy!

I am delighted to share this imperfectly perfect conversation with the amazing Sally Lewis.

Once in a while, we meet people and it feels like we have known them for ever. My encounter with Sally was exactly like this and I am sure you will be able to hear this when you listen to this episode.

Together we share our passion - children and young people's wellbeing and we explore how we can help them discover their greatness.

Sally shares heer experience in Bali and how she came to write her book 'Figuring out your Future: A guide to life beyond the school gates' and much more...

If you feel inspired to connect with Sally

Her website can be found here

And the books she mentions are:

Todd Rose

The end of Average

Dark Horse

Collective Illusions

The Creative Act: A way of Being by Rick Rubin

I am delighted to share this imperfectly perfect conversation with the wonderful Rachel Musson, Director of Thoughtbox, Systems Thinker and Climate Activist.

I invited Rachel for a second conversation on the podcast because I truly love her work. It is so aligned with my research and explorations.

Our first conversation was called 'Listen to your inner salmon'

She recently published a new ebook called The Future of Education which can be downloaded for free and where she takes us on a journey right down to the root causes of our crises in schools and back out again towards a healthier learning horizon by nurturing a culture of care for ourselves, for each other and for the planet.

And this is what we explore in this episode which is simply beautiful and left me feeling inspired and hopeful.

You can join Rachel and become an Explorer member for free here too.

Today I am delighted to share this imperfectly perfect conversation with Michelle Blanchet who is Co-Founder as well as Change Consultant at The Educators' Lab. She is also co author of The Startup Teacher Playbook and Preventing Polarization.

Michelle and I explored how to create tools to help educators turn their ideas to improve teaching and learning into ACTION. We are often told that we need to innovate in education but no one provides a HOW. Frustrated with training that inspired but didn't provide follow-through, Michelle shared how they have taken methodologies from the social-startup space and adapted them for educators, so as to provide the HOW for teachers to make innovation happen.

The other book she mentioned (beside hers above) are:

⁠Humanity⁠ by John Glover Lean Startup

I am delighted to share this imperfectly perfect conversation with Aaron Schorn who is an amplifier of youth, co-designing education programs rooted in youth agency and entrepreneurship. Head of Community and Growth at Unrulr, as well as Program Director at the Nalukai Foundation Aaron and I first discussed the importance of co-designing education programmes rooted in youth agency and entrepreneurship, focused on human connection and the key elements such as trust and transparency.

We then discussed how through the use of Unrulr, a social learning app we can make holistic growth visible through authentic moments.

Some of the books Aaron mentioned are:

• An Ethic of Excellence : Building a Culture of Craftsmanship with Students
• The Innovator's Dilemna: The Revolutionary Book that Will Change the Way You Do Business
• Creative Hustle: Blaze Your Own Path and Make Work That Matters

This week I share my imperfectly perfect conversation with Dr Nicolene who is the co-founder of a Learning Centre in Bali called Open Flow Learning Centre which is a nice international learning centre co-curating education for children.

We explore Dr Nicolene's journey and how she co-created Open Flow and the key changes.

She highlighted:

- the amount of choice and voice that they bring into the Learning Centre, but also in the children's Day in how they do things, and how they get to actually speak up and take responsibility.

- the importance of being human-centered and human centered conversations.

- Her advice to all of us educators (parents and teachers alike) is to stop over analysing, overthinking or justifying. Let's just do things and get on with it. Because there is no other time than now.

In this imperfectly perfect conversation, I talk with the wonderful Dr Daniel Wahl, author of Designing Regenerative Cultures.

We explore what's wrong with our societies, organizations, ideologies, worldviews and cultures - and how to put them right.

Daniel is a consultant, educator, activist, speaker, blogger, weaver, catalyst. I asked him how his work can also be applied in the world of education.

We discussed in particular:

- The dominant narrative, which is that of separation versus the story of interbeing and remembering that we are much more deeply connected to place and the resources of place and how we could meet human needs within the limits of a bound territory or bio region.

- We are so much more capable than that narrative has made us believe we are in multiple ways, as healers of places and as healers of communities.

- We are not separate from what we're looking at.

As well as the importance of:

- understanding the fluctuating dynamics of life and how to dance with it

- paying attention to the metaphors we use.

I am delighted to share this imperfectly perfect conversation with Benjamin Freud and Charlotte Hankin who are both co-founders of Coconut Thinking.

In this episode, I invited Benjamin and Charlotte to come and talk about their new venture Nature on the board which is a new collaboration between Benjamin, Charlotte, Andy Middleton and Michelle Blanchet We discussed how we create the conditions for genuine sustainability action and how we create a paradigm shift in the education system.

We focused in particular on the importance of:

• Having a spokesperson for nature on the board.
• Putting nature as a spokesperson in schools.
• Taking action
• Localising

To get in touch with Nature on the board -

email: connect@natureontheboard.io Or book in a time with them: Calendar Nature on the Board

This week I am delighted to share this imperfectly perfect conversation with the wonderful Magaga Enos who is Communication and Outreach Coordinator for BEADS for Education and HundrED Country Lead Kenya.

He shares his journey and passion to support and give women, in particular from vulnerable communities more compassion.

I am sure you will find this episode as fascinating as I did.

The book mentioned by Magaga at the end is called:

The Innovator's Mindset by George Couros

In this imperfectly perfect conversation I talk with Dr Adam R Wright and Dr Nick Holton about antifragility for a Flourishing Education.

Dr Holton is a consultant, coach and educator, who serves a variety of both formal and informal roles, all of which are devoted to the study, dissemination, and application of the science of human flourishing. Feeling, behaving, and functioning as our best selves and at our highest potentials.

Dr Wright is a doctor of sports psychology and mental skills consultant, executive coach, and educator. For the past 20 years, he has been fully immersed in the world of high performance and has had the privilege of coaching world-class and professional athletes, Hollywood celebrities, CEOs, hedge fund executives, and more.

The book mentioned are:

The Coddling of the American Mind by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukianoff

Antifragile: Things that gain from disorder by Nassim Nicholas Taleb

Dopamine Nation: Finding the balance in the age of Indulgence by Anna Lembke

Nick's podcast can be found here:

Flourish FM

Finally - here is the link to Dr Scott Barry Kaufman's podcast ⁠The Psychology Podcast ⁠

Today I am delighted to share with powerful imperfectly perfect conversation with Madeleen Mulder who is a Wayfinder | Warrior for the human spirit | Futurist | Regenerative Leadership | General Counsel | Purpose activator | Writer.

Madeleen explains how she used to be a lawyer but left because she was bored and also she loved asking the hard questions or the critical questions, the why?

We reflected (among other things) on:

• how we are not encouraged to be a seeker, to ask questions.
• The power of curiosity
• The importance of healing our trauma (individual and collectively)
• We cannot live in isolation

The books Madeleen mentioned are:

The Alchemist- Paulo Coehlo

The Body keeps the score - Bessel van der Kolk

Flux - April Rinne

In this powerful imperfectly perfect conversation, I talk with the wonderful Natalia Blagoeva who supports humans humans to thrive in an era dominated by AI and machines by unleashing their Human Advantage. She is also a Change Whisperer©, Educator, Constellator Systemic Constellations, Founder & Co-creator, Podcast Co-host.

You can find out all about her work here: https://www.nataliablagoeva.com/

In this episode, we particularly focused on Natalia's journey on how to let go and surrender as well as the importance of heart-to heart connections and how easy it is to recognise them.

I have absolutely no doubt that you will love every minute of it (as much as I did!)

At the end of our conversation, Natalia promised a list of the authors that most touched her on her journey. Here it is:

- Meditations for Living in Balance: Daily Solutions for People Who Do Too Much by Anne Wilson Schaef

- Synchronicity: The Inner Path of Leadership by Joseph Jaworski

- Leading with Wisdom: Spritual Based Leadership in Business by Peter Pruzan and Kirsten Pruzan Mikkelsen

- Collaborating with the Enemy: How to Work with People You Don’t Agree with or Like or Trust by Adam Kahane

- Braving the Wilderness: The quest for true belonging and the courage to stand alone by Brené Brown

- The More Beautiful World Our Hearts Know Is Possible by Charles Eisenstein

- Who Do We Choose to Be?: Facing Reality, Claiming Leadership, Restoring Sanity by Margaret J. Wheatley

- The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael A. Singer

-  The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness, and Healing in a Toxic Culture by Gabor Maté MD

In this imperfectly perfect conversation, I talk with Brad Peirce who is a Living Systems Learning Experience Designer, Facilitator, Advisor, and Coach.

Brad explained how he helps clients bring their sustainability strategies to life.

We discuss how leaders and teams develop regenerative mindsets, skills and capabilities. And much more...

I am sure you will enjoy this episode as much as I did.

The book Brad mentions is called Regenerative Leadership by Giles Hutchins and Laura Storm

I am delighted to share this imperfectly perfect conversation with Edd Moore who is a Primary School Teacher, National Award Winning Eco Coordinator.

During this episode he shared his amazing initiative in the primary school he works and how he empowers schools and their pupils to become Eco Ambassadors.

I am sure you will love this conversation as much as I did.

In this powerful imperfectly perfect conversation I talk with Deborah McNelis who is a Speaker and Author of The First 60 Days & The Neuro-Nurturing® Interaction Packets Series.

We cover a lot in this conversation but in particular:

• The first 60 days of neural nurturing.
• Self-perception and the brain.
• How to make changes in the brain.
• How to switch the focus.
• The teenage brains

I am sure you will love this conversation and will learn lots. I know I did!

In this imperfectly perfect conversation I shine the light on an amazing innovator and disruptor in the field of education: Raya Bidshari CEO and Founder of School of Humanity

We started with Raya's journey into education and then Raya shared all about School of Humanity and its origin, the values of that underpin the school and how as a parent whose son attends School of Humanity, I have noticed that these values permeates absolutely everything the team does.

We also explored how we let go of the need for qualifications that are highly valued by universities and societies?

I am sure you will love every minute of this conversation. I know I did!

In this imperfectly perfect conversation with Stef Kuypers who is a TEDx Speaker,  PhD student in Business Economics,  Researcher in behavioural and monetary economics, Systems Thinker and Facilitator.

I first discovered Stef's work through his two TEDx talks:

Money, Behaviour and Society: the invisible Link

Man Made Money

We discussed Happonomy, an initiative originally started by Bruno Delepierre based on his research about happiness and well being. Its goal is to build an economy which has our well being at its core.

If you've ever wondered how we can create a different economy and system, then this conversation is definitely for you.

Today I talk with Matt Piercy who is  a learner, international educator, author, and an explorer.

We covered so many points in this imperfectly perfect conversation.

Here are some of them:

• A renewed sense of appreciation for place.
• The importance of community and nature.
• We all have a responsibility to choose our response.
• The curse of knowledge and wisdom.
• The scarcity mindset and the value of time.
• The importance of community and quality relationships.
• The difference between laminated values and lived values.
• The importance of choosing our passions.
• Empowering our children to be lifelong learners

His website: matthewpiercy.edublogs.org/ 

Today I share this wonderful conversation with John Rainford who came to talk to me about how much he cares about Education, Health and Wellbeing.

He shared how he created the Darwin Matrix and how he believes that we should all believe in ourselves.

He added that we all carry a lot of baggage around but what would happen if we let go of that baggage? 

We would

- go on leaps and bounds

- bring a new mindset

- think differently 

When/if we think differently, we can do anything

Take a listen to the whole episode and let me know what your key take-aways are. 

In this new episode, I am delighted to share my imperfectly perfect conversation with Dr Jayne-Louise Collins who is a Learning Designer; Researcher; Facilitator of Adult Learning.

We discussed the notion of partnering to learn and lead and regenerative change.

We explored other questions such as :

- how do we prepare for change in a complex system?

- how do we decide to partner with an organisation or not?

- the importance  of attending to what is happening right now

- what are the possibilities for a learning culture?

Jayne-Louise also shared:

- her web-like illustrations and connections drawn from her PhD work

- how leadership and bio-leadership start will listening

- how holding the space for silence is.

- how noticing and SLOWING RIGHT DOWN become our ritual

Because "when we let the play between the inner and the outer become one, we can learn deeply about ourselves, in relationship and in interaction with others."

In this powerful imperfectly perfect conversation, I spoke with the wonderful Christine Freeland who is the Founder of Boost Your Brilliance.

Christine shares with MWe about Leadership in tune with life. She worked for the National Park Service in the United States for 30 years. The last 6 years of her career, she became interested in leadership, feeling there was something missing in the way work and workers were managed. Very top down, bureaucratic, and hierarchical, with a mostly transactional way of working. She had an aha moment taking an unusual leadership course which involved connecting with her personal and work passions. 

Something clicked, and she thought, this is the necessary ingredient, leadership with heart!!

Helping to lift employees up in an organization and support their talents and passions to accomplish amazing and creative ways of working together.

The two books Christine mentions at the end are:

- Leadership and the New Science by Margaret Wheatley

- Regenerative Leadership by Laura Storm and Giles Hutchins

I am delighted to share this new episode with the wonderful Evelien Verschroeven who is a Business Mentor as well as an Educational and L&D Innovator, Edutech focused on educational Design and Relational Cognition.

Together we discussed how wisdom is born in interaction.

Evelien shared how to learn sustainably, we have to respect and connect with the wholeness:

• with ourselves in all our different roles – the individual;
• with our team in all its diversity – the collective;
• with the ecosystem or market in all its opportunities and collaborations – relationships.

She also shared how her vision is based on her knowledge of pedagogy, anthropology and relational cognition and experience as a business mentor.

I am sure you will love this episode as much as I did.

In this conversation, I talk with Inez Aponte who is a Storyteller, an Educator and a Human Scale Development Consultant. She is the Founder of Growing Good Lives and Crazy Beautiful World.

We discussed how Crazy Beautiful World started with a conversation between a mother and a son and how it now connects  teens and adults to explore – with open hearts and minds – the challenges of growing up in the 21st Century.

Growing Good lives asks the questions: how do we live in harmony with each other and the Earth?

I am sure that you will enjoy this conversation as much as I did.

Link to the Oxfam report: https://www.oxfam.org/en/not-all-gaps-are-created-equal-true-value-care-work

The link to Megan Phelps- Roper Ted talk:

https://www.ted.com/talks/megan_phelps_roper_i_grew_up_in_the_westboro_baptist_church_here_s_why_i_left?language=en

I am delighted to share another imperfectly perfect conversation with the wonderful Maggie Favretti who is an author, CoDesign Thinker, Systems Change Maker, Educator, Climate Activist, Founder of Design Ed 4 Resilience.

During this episode we discuss her new book Learning in the Age of Climate Disasters which was released today - 13th December 2022 on the day we spoke.

Maggie outlined the contexts and causes of "futurephobia" and then offered Regenerative Learning strategies rooted in nature’s principles for repair and redesign. She explains how tending the soil and cultivating the roots of (re)generative power (Love, Personhood, People, Place, Purpose, Process, Positivity) help us disrupt degenerative hierarchical fragmentation.

You will love this conversation, I am sure!

You can reach her via email: maggie@designed4resilience.org

In this episode, I talk to Thomas Legrand who is a wisdom’s seeker, living in France next to Plum Village, the monastery of Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh. Thomas has a PhD in economics and he works in the field of sustainability for UN agencies, NGOs and companies.

We discussed his new book Politics of being  Thomas explained how he researched what wisdom traditions, in dialogue with science, can tell us about how to design a new model of development because the old one is broken. 

This wisdom-based approach to politics offers a coherent vision across many different traditions and resonate with current emerging reflections. It puts human fulfillment at the center of our development efforts. In the 21st century,  Thomas argues that this should now be the fulfillment of all living beings, including non-humans (plants, animals, ecosystems, mother earth, etc.). Human fulfillment is the realization of our full potential: our highest and truest being. Our highest being refers to the development of inner values, virtues, or qualities, while our truest being relates to the process of becoming who we really are. They both converge in the manifestation of our true interbeing or relational nature.

The politics of being conceptualization allows to identify an agenda for action with clear priorities and many concrete public policies in all sectors that can embody such politics and bring about the cultural evolution – as well as the human, social and environmental regeneration – we need.

In this conversation with Brandon Wetzstein who is Founder and Principle of In8 Create, I discuss the importance of play not just in the lives of our children and young people but also for us adults.

Brandon designs and facilitates workshops for teams using the LEGO Serious Play method. He explained all the benefits of this approach.

As a linguist, I really enjoyed exploring the tension between two words such as 'serious' and 'play' too.

I thoroughly enjoyed this joyful and fun conversation with Brandon. I am sure you will too!

I am delighted to share this new episode with Tim Klein who is an Educator, Writer, Researcher and Co-Founder of How To Navigate Life.

In this conversation, Tim and unpack unpack his new book co-written with Dr Belle Liang called How to Navigate Life where they advocate for cultivating a purpose mindset. They tell us that purpose is about playing the long game, pursuing something meaningful, about making a contribution.

Tim and I went on this wild tour all across the world of purpose and but when it boiled down to it, the practice of purpose is really really simple. The more we think about our lives in an intentional way, the more likely we are to find purpose in them.

There is so much synergy between my research and Tim and Belle's work that we had a truly empowering and fascinating discussion about trusting ourselves to figure it out, intentionally listening to ourselves and to what our strengths and values are.

The other book Tim mentioned at the end is The Path to Purpose by William Damon.

I highly recommend this episode. It was as Tim says at the end, a joy!

I am delighted to share this imperfectly perfect conversation with Dicken Bettinger who founded Three Principles Mentoring and who is currently working to train and develop 3 Principles Practitioners, as well as running seminars on-line and for the public in cities around the world.

Dicken is also co-author of 'Coming Home' which is how I felt when I first listened to his work online and when I spoke to him to record this conversation.

He told me how he encountered and discovered the work of Sydney Banks, a person graced with an enlightenment experience. He now insightfully deepen  our understanding of the 3 Principles as taught by Sydney Banks.  

An ever-deeper understanding of these Principles reveal them to be the sole source of all feelings and experiences, and is the key to raising anyone's overall level of well-being.  

When our level of well-being rises, we experience less anxiety, less time feeling down, less stress, more enjoyment, a greater sense of aliveness, a light-heartedness, more confidence in our decisions, and a greater ease in all of our relationships.

Such a beautiful conversation! Thank you, Dicken!