This is episode-2 of the calm conversation with Josie Gibson from The Catalyst Network, inspired by Robert Poynton’s book “Pause – You are not a To-Do list“. The approach is simple: we both read chapter-2 of the book and highlight three sentences, and mark the words that resonate most. These sentences and words are the triggers for a very slow-paced conversation on whatever comes our way.  No tricks, no gimmicks, just a gentle and calm wandering and meandering of minds.

https://soundcloud.com/peter-vander-auwera/josie-petervan-poyton-chapter2

Here are Josie’s three sentences:

• It is an opening which allows, enables, permits or invites all sorts of other possibilities.

• It (pause) has more to do with rhythm than pace, it is more a question of timing than time.

• ‘How you pause says something about who you are.

And here are my three sentences:

• These are very gentle, generous verbs: allow, enable, permit, invite.

• When you press the pause button on a machine it stops. But when you press the pause button on human beings, they start.

• At the end of a talk or meeting, instead of hammering home his ‘message’, he will ensure he leaves a space, which he gives back to the room, so that someone else can have the final say. This is an act of openness and generosity that people notice and appreciate. A pause can be a gift.

We covered a wide range of topics from grace, protocol, courage, bravery, expansion, and building a time-space machine, to Designing Freedom – Stafford Beer (PDF), the Overton Window of freedom, the Nooscope (Knowledge Scope device), comparing human and machine pause and activity, and even the 5 gaits of the Icelandic horse.

We ended with a discussion on Rhythm, Pace, and Tempo, and that’s where will pick up in episode-3, in 3-4 weeks from now.

Episode-1 is here.

These are very calm conversations; so best is to take a pause, install yourself in a quiet corner, and enjoy!

Peter & Josie