Our Attitude Affects Our Interconnections

Macro-Mind Motivator from Youth Mastermind - the youth and family program we ran for 7 years. This and others available on Magic Brain CD on itunes.

A Listing Brainstorm - Respond

What do you believe are some of the most important skills for youngsters to learn toward our complex future? Respond.

Recent Reading

I once asked Edward de Bono whether he still finds time for reading. He replied that he did and that he read broadly and randomly. By randomly he explained that he would ask others what they were reading and then read whatever it was they answered. 'We get stuck in our own kind of patterns' he said. Diverse recommendations can break the patterns. I agree and read eclectically, mixing Fiction and Non-Fiction, poetry and prose, adult books and kids books. Recent recommends include:

Play: How It Shapes the Brain, Opens the Mind and Invigorates the Soul by Stuart Brown M.D. A book that adds layers of good reasoning to the philosophy of Neoteny (see Neoteny piece and pieces/song on itunes)

Peter Temple novels including his Jack Irish series. I never read much crime fiction so it was a sideways step to embrace all of Peter Temple's works. Love the Melbourne settings, the nostalgia of how Jack Irish follows the Fitzroy Football club and the fact that when reading the Jack Irish series I picture my mate Keith Geary as Jack Irish - a man who loves horses, woodwork and bucking the establishment. For mainly Non-Fiction readers, reading fiction can expand the imagination.

Any poetry of The Mersey Poets; Roger McGough, Brian Pattern and Adrian Henri. Had a chat with speaker mate Roy Miller (shalom) and we talked about some of these works. It re-kindled my desire to read the wonderful lines of each of these poets. I still have the copy of The Mersey Poets book that travelled in my backpack for many of my hobo years. In fact, for the many years of backpacking (on and off for 7 years in the 1980s) the books that stayed with me all the way were The Complete Writings and Drawings of Bob Dylan and a book of poetry by William Butler Yeats.

Finally I believe kids' books are not just kids' books. The dementors in Harry Potter books could be a metaphor for the Toxic Environments Dr Stephen Lundin writes of in Fish or for the Psychic Vampire folk my mate Amanda Gore talks of in her presentations.

Read broadly and randomly and deeply.

Thinking!

The 14th International Thinking Conference held in June 2009 in KL Malaysia was a Laksa. Great ingredients, diverse blend of tastes and layers of long lasting flavor. An honor to present at it and learn from it. Memorable paraphrased lines include:

Try crossing the street in Kuala Lumpur and see what kinds of smarts you use. Howard Gardner
It's never too late to nurture the good worker with the ENA triple helix of Excellence, Engagement and Ethics HG
Good thinking includes identifying assumptions and looking for invalid ones - A Constraints Theory Approach
No-one anywhere really knows what the hell is going on, we're all just making it up as we go along. My mate Colin James
Dr John Edwards reminding us of Daniel Kim's Systems Thinking work - move up from Events & Patterns of Behavior towards Systems, Mental Models and Vision.
Develop Flexpertise. Experts have specialised understanding within a field. Flexpertise is to understand the applications in a wide scope beyond the field. The wonderful David Perkins
Re-think thinking, re-word words. Dr Shameen Rafik-Galea
Trigger + Thought = Emotion + Action = Consequence. Dr Tom Mulholland
Seek novelty in the mundane. Andrew Lees.

And to Tony Buzan, Edward de Bono, Lane Clarke, Karen Boyes, Kevin Warwick, Reg Polson, the Malaysia 1 Team, Dave Koutsoukis, Dr Yvonne Sum, Dr Neil Carrington and the 990 others who presented or participated - magic.

World Thinking Conference - Pen Grippers

Had the joy of presenting a Plenary and Workshop session at the World Thinking Conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (June 22-26th). With Keynotes by Prof. Howard Gardner, David Perkins, Tony Buzan, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad and Edward de Bono it was a learning & thinking joy.

Often at Conferences some really great learning moments occur in the conversations and the smaller sessions you choose to attend. At the wonderful Malaysia 1 session 20 folk from a variety of nations enjoyed a wonderful process of group tasks and discussions. I happened to find myself in a small group with 17 year old Malaysian student Nur Hafizah whose Mum was one of the key facilitators. When I saw how Nur gripped her pen I asked her if she had ever got in trouble for holding it that way. 'From my Mum all the time' she said. I then told her how I had got into trouble at school for holding my pen the same way as her and how I had been told I would never be able to write neatly. Later in life i was told my hand writing was so neat I could get a job as a typewriter!

After the Conference I received a lovely email and photo from Nur saying 'Thank you' because her Mum now no longer reprimanded her for her pen grip. A coincidental Conference outcome of good learning. Magic.

Cap Maps- Anableps

It is natural for me to take notes anableptically! I explain the anablep in The Thinking Learning Classroom - a central American carp fish with four irises and lenses - two for looking above the surface of the water and two for looking beneath. For learners & teachers, above the surface can represent the notes we take on the content covered, beneath the surface can be notes we make on methodology and ideas the presentation sparks for us that may not be related to the content being covered. I often get ideas for songs to write whilst listening into and Cap Mapping (taking Visual Notes) a presentation.

Sometimes the methodology stimulates me to think of ways I might teach concepts, likewise sometimes the lack of methodology can stimulate thoughts on how to present the speaker's content in a variety of different ways. Such note taking & making helps keep me actively engaged in presentations and actively engaged in learning.

In our Born To Learn USA cable television series made for Mind Extension University we had a little song that went 'You gotta actively engage your mind, bring yourself to learning all the time'. Visual Notes and anablepping (now, there's a word for you) help keeps the mind alive and learning.

CapMaps DVD and Thinking Learning Classroom book are both available on www.glenncapelli.com in The Shop.

The Poet in Me

I found an old poem today
And looked back
On the lad I used to be
He inspired me
All ideals and absolutes
All passion and poetry
All Che revolutionary
Out changing the world

I found an old poem today
And looked back
On the lad I used to be
And couldn't help but feel
That some of it -
The plea & posturing
To change the world -
Was partly an effort to try and attract some girls.