There are many messy and confusing ways to explain how all social media apps, websites and other stuff are working together. Today I sumbled across this social media map that is pretty neat:
Thank you: http://www.businessinsider.com/a-simple-guide-to-social-networks-what-goes-vi... for sharing it
This is an inspiring story that I've heard on a couple of occasions that I would like to share with you guys. Some good reminders about how life works.
An elderly Chinese woman had two large pots, each hung on the ends of a pole, which she carried across her neck.
One of the pots had a crack in it while the other pot was perfect and always delivered a full portion of water, at the end of the long walk from the stream to the house, the cracked pot arrived only half full.
For a full two years this went on daily , with the woman bringing home only one and a half pots of water. Of course, the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfection, and miserable that it could only do half of what it had been made to do.
After 2 years of what it perceived to be bitter failure, it spoke to the woman one day by the stream. "I am ashamed of myself, because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your house."
The old woman smiled, "Did you notice that there are flowers on your side of the path , but not on the other pot's side?" "That's because I have always known about your flaw , so I planted flower seeds on your side of the path , and every day while we walk back, you water them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate the table. Without you being just the way you are, there would not be this beauty to grace the house."
Each of us has our own unique flaw. But it's the cracks and flaws we each have that make our lives together so very interesting and rewarding. You've just got to take each person for what they are and look for the good in them.
Sofie x
I created these paintings over Easter. Used lots of colours and some glitter to get the inspiring effects. At the moment the paintings are in Göteborg, Sweden but they can be transported anywhere in the world. All art are for sale. Contact me for more information at: sofiesandell@gmail.com
Art is hard work, but someone must do it.
Much love,
Sofie
Acrylic on canvas 70x70 cm
Acrylic on canvas 100x80 cm
Acrylic on canvas 100x70 cm
A while ago I was furious about a few things that had happened in my
life. It affected me quite a lot… I was analysing all details with
some of my friends and I didn’t feel any better at all.
Everybody who knows me will know that I have been involved in Junior Chamber International for a while. I was the President of JCI London in 2008 and had a fantastic year.
In JCI you have ‘one year to lead’ and one year to make an impact. It is an interesting structure, it has both positive and negative sides to it. I've met a lot of people in JCI who has taken on a leadership position and found it scary and daunting to take over after a former successful leader.
I know about this phenomenon from my own experience. Your limiting beliefs are telling you that you might not flourish and you might think that it’s not going to be possible to be as successful as the leaders before you.
One thing I’ve learned is that you aren’t there to fill anybody else’s shoes. You are there to be YOU and develop your skills. We are all fantastic and amazing in different ways and it’s more about how you choose to work together with the people around you that will determine how successful you are.
If you are enthusiastic that will spread to the rest of the team and your members. And an enthusiastic team is something you’ll be very grateful for.
Your year as President will be full of surprises, both positive and negative. The road can be a bit bumpy and you don’t really have a map. Being the President is like managing a smaller business and there are a lot of things that just have to work out.
I've heard many JCI members say things like: ‘JCI makes me feel truly alive.’ ‘In JCI it feels as I can do anything.’
How come they say this? I think it is because JCI is talking to their spirit and resonate with their inner values. You are allowed to try new things in JCI. People will encourage you to go outside your comfort zone and you’ll grow a lot while trying out new stuff. That is what makes it exciting. Often your day job will not provide these kind of opportunities.
Please, don’t be afraid. We can’t do anything about the past, we can only challenge our own limiting thoughts and move forward with what we have. And what you choose to believe has huge impact on your life and your year as JCI President.
You only have one year to make a difference, so you don't have time for too many limiting beliefs, my tip is to kick them out of your head today!
Today I read some old notes about networking. Some of the things I wrote was: Who has had most impact in your life? Who has helped you to move forward? Who has opened new doors for you?
Is it the world's famous heroes who's been influencing you? Is it the amazing people winning awards and prizes for their talents, such as the Oscar and Noble prize winners?
No, it's not the famous heroes who make the biggest mark in our lives...
It's our teachers, family and friends who are shaping us. Your identity is shaped by the people you meet and the things that happen to you. We are our stories, and they are shaping us and how we see the world around us, how we think, how we move forward and how we deal with our challenges.
I have a handful of people who has infulenced me a lot. And I'll always be grateful for having you in my life, you're the best teachers I possibly could have had :)
Be grateful for the people you met. Be grateful for what you've learned. Be grateful for all great teachers you've had so far. And keep your door open to let new people into your life. And btw who remember who won any of the Noble prizes last year? (I don't remember a single one...)I've come across this poem several times and I would like to share it with you.
Reason, Season, or Lifetime
People come into your life for a reason, a season or a lifetime.
When you figure out which one it is,
you will know what to do for each person.
When someone is in your life for a REASON,
it is usually to meet a need you have expressed.
They have come to assist you through a difficulty;
to provide you with guidance and support;
to aid you physically, emotionally or spiritually.
They may seem like a godsend, and they are.
They are there for the reason you need them to be.
Then, without any wrongdoing on your part or at an inconvenient time,
this person will say or do something to bring the relationship to an end.
Sometimes they die. Sometimes they walk away.
Sometimes they act up and force you to take a stand.
What we must realize is that our need has been met, our desire fulfilled; their work is done.
The prayer you sent up has been answered and now it is time to move on.
Some people come into your life for a SEASON,
because your turn has come to share, grow or learn.
They bring you an experience of peace or make you laugh.
They may teach you something you have never done.
They usually give you an unbelievable amount of joy.
Believe it. It is real. But only for a season.
LIFETIME relationships teach you lifetime lessons;
things you must build upon in order to have a solid emotional foundation.
Your job is to accept the lesson, love the person,
and put what you have learned to use in all other relationships and areas of your life.
It is said that love is blind but friendship is clairvoyant.
— Author unknow
The first step to changing your circumstances is to stop blaming somebody else for what's happening in your life. Does it sound familiar?
We all know people who are just blaming EVERYTHING on other people. Doing that means that they give away their power to actually do something about their lives. Just because you feel you're stuck it doesn't mean that's the case. Thoughts come and go, and negative thoughts will go away if you choose to focus on how you can change the situation.
We often find ourselves thinking ahead about the future. Improv theatre is an activity where you have to be in the moment, you never know what will happen next. You have to work as a team and help the people you are playing the improv games with. I have done some classes with Dave Bourn in the past (great fun) and I met him again a couple of weeks ago and I thought it would be good to publish an interview with him for my blog.
For you who are curious there is an Impro festival in London next week, check out the website: www.improfestuk.co.uk. And I love to go to Comedy Store in London on Wedneday and Sunday's, great Impro Stand-up shows.
Dave Bourn teaching Improv with his company Sprout ideas.
How long have you been doing improv?
The straightforward answer is I started impro classes in the 90s however we are all improvising every day of our lives from birth.
By the way – I usually shorten “improvisation” to “Impro” (the name of Keith Johnstone’s book) but lots of people say “improv”.
Why did you start with improv?
Personally I started as an attempt to deal with anxiety. I’d had a little therapy to help it (and some was good, some was AWFUL) but I wanted to do something more practical. The therapy was often sitting in a room intellectualizing – and I generally spent too much time thinking about things already, so I wanted to do something to get me out of my head/worries – and impro was a perfect fit for me. Scary but also challenging and fun.
How do you think you can use improvisation as a tool in the corporate world?
I have never encountered a better tool for teambuilding and making connections amongst people. Take a group of strangers in the morning and after a days impro session they will be talking like old friends. Improvisation is also great for improving presentations which are in essence a performance. Impro helps all kinds of communication skills (focused listening etc) and a foundation of improvisational skills will help any kind of group creativity.
Adults learn better when being relaxed and you use humour. What kind of feedback and reactions do you get when you finished a day of improv training?
Being relaxed is the best state to do anything. You should be alert and focused but also relaxed and certainly not stressed. Laughter releases all sorts of tension. At Sprout Ideas we usually teach in pairs and when we start our sessions our light hearted banter helps set the agenda.
We try to give the impression we’re focused and know what we’re doing, but we’re gonna have a laugh along the way too. People are often quite nervous at the beginning of a class so the sooner they are laughing the sooner they are ready to start taking on board the skills we are going to show them. We’re lucky to be teaching something fun but that is also very useful. The feedback we get usually reflects these two things – “I learnt a lot, and I had fun”.
Is improvisation as a training tool something new? Or has it been used for decades?
The form of impro we base our work on was developed by Keith Johnstone in the 50s and 60s. More and more organizations are using and developing the principles he crystallized. His work on Status and the principle of saying “yes and ..” go a long long way.
When you are training improv do you become a better story teller? If yes, do you have any idea how?
Whether you are writing a novel, or telling a friend a bit of gossip, we can all tell stories and enjoy doing it. (No one loves a gossip more than me.)
A story is simply a connected series of events. The brain loves to create meaning from everything and the more you improvise the better you become at noticing connections and meaning in the scenes you create – it’s pretty instinctive.
Also the ability to creative a narrative lends weight to any message. For example to be topical – You may notice many politicians and spokespeople trying to create a narrative from the London riots to support their own message. They’ll emphasise the events that support their message to create their own story and ignore the events that don’t. The reality is there are probably many little narratives rather than one overriding one.
The ability to create stories is another powerful tool in the corporate world because stories make a bigger impression in the mind.
What is most important to think about when doing improv?
At the “Intro to Impro” – our beginners weekend class we hope people leave with the following messages
1 – Go with the first idea. Everyone’s ideas are valuable and equal.
2 – Once you have your idea, say “yes .. and” build upon it (The words “no” and “but” are very destructive ... and so easy to say ☺)
3 – Be in the moment – if your mind is worrying about the future or dwelling in the past you won’t be fully able to deal with the present
4 – Don’t fear failure – failure is okay and can be fun (some impro games are designed to make success impossible)
Can anyone do improvisation?
Yes absolutely anyone! I suffered from massive anxiety so I should know.
You name an occupation and we have had them come and do a weekend with us.
From doctors, to bankers, to secretaries, to teachers, to counsellors, to beauticians etc.
And you can start at any age. Most people who come to our weekends tend to be between the ages of 25 and 55 but we’ve have people from 18 to people in their 70s.
Do you have any top tips for people who might find improv and speaking in front of a small audience daunting and frightening?
The place where you need to be when improvising or public speaking (or doing anything at all actually) is “in the moment”.
Look around for a friendly class and go practice – I tried lots of classes when I started and some were more welcoming than others so go and try a few, and meet a tutor you can connect with.
Thank you Dave Bourn for being such an inspiring person!
Read more about Sprout Ideas here!
One of my last projects I am working on at BSI is a video with two experts in standardization Henk de Vries and Robert van Wessel. They’ve researched ISO/IEC 27001 an information security management system standard which is used by over 13,000 organizations around the world.
Lorraine King, my colleague got the idea for this project after listening to the presentation of the study, and a few months later off we went to Rotterdam.
Have a look at the photos:
We had a great trip, took Eurostar in the afternoon and then changed in Brussels. Easy peasy! Arrived safely in Rotterdam in the evening and stayed in a hotel right opposite the university. The next morning we were up early preparing and were welcomed by Marianne Schouten, who’s responsible for Media & Public Relations.
Producer/Director
