Category: Podcasts

Pause with Josie – Episode 8

This is episode-8 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 a chapter 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. As this chapter is the “Afterwords” section of the book, this is also the last episode in the Robert Poynton series. Maybe other calm conversations follow. Who knows?

Here are Josie’s three sentences:

What I couldn’t anticipate were the unplanned pauses that would occur along the way

If anything, rather than delay things, the time-out accelerated them.

Too much pause and nothing gets done.

And here are my three sentences:

Rehearse ideas with different people

Carlo Rovelli’s book, The Order of Time

That long gestation period meant that once I started I was able to get going quickly

We covered a wide range of topics:

Ideas as the starting point, not the end point

Chance

Serendipity

STOP ASKING QUESTIONS

Confidence and permission

Revisiting intentionality

THE APPROXIMATION COLLECTIVE

What is real and what is not?

Implicit judgement

When pause become procrastination

Vs.

When pause becomes heaven (zen/buddha)

It also gave rise to a new t-shirt design:

Other links mentioned in this podcast:

Episode-1 is here. Episode-2 is here. Episode-3 is here. Episode-4 is here. Episode-5 is here. Episode-6 is here. Episode-7 is here.

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

Peter & Josie

Pause with Josie – Episode 7

This is episode-7 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-7 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.

Chapter-7 is about Time for Pause

Here are Josie’s three sentences:

A longer pause…gives the intelligent unconscious – what Claxton calls the ‘undermind’ – a chance to have a crack at a problem, bringing a more associative, creative quality of thinking to bear.

In any natural system, there is always ‘redundancy’  or ‘requisite variety’ built in; stuff that isn’t useful yet, but could be one dayf relying on just one.

The decision to start properly came in a pause.

And here are my three sentences:

Our fulfilment does not derive from being as efficient as possible

It (pause) gives you the chance to follow your mood, not the schedule

Instead of trying to cram more in, you focus on getting more out

We covered a wide range of topics from redundancy, richness of experiences in a complex world, we are not machines, beautiful change, elegant movements, cybernetics, requisite variety,…

…the “undermind”, leaving space open for sacred moments, commitment, to start doing, at the right time, after the right pause, after reading all the signals.

We also discussed how efficiency kills imagination, and why we should go into the t-shirt business 😉

Other links mentioned in this podcast:

Episode-1 is here. Episode-2 is here. Episode-3 is here. Episode-4 is here. Episode-5 is here. Episode-6 is here.

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

Peter & Josie

Pause with Josie – Episode 6

This is episode-6 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-6 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.

Chapter-6 is about Tools (of Pause)

Here are Josie’s three sentences:

He uses differently coloured Google calendars where the colours represent how each kind of time feels to him..

It is more powerful if you are able to think about multiple layers, and build a set of practices that weave together the different ‘pace layers’ of your life instead of relying on just one.

Noone has a life so unrelenting that it is impossible to pause.

And here are my three sentences:

‘Exhale time’ is when he is teaching, writing or delivering work for clients. ‘Inhale time’ is when he is reading, studying, walking or spending time with people he just finds interesting

Notice what that experience is. If it was interesting, or useful, or valuable, or thought-provoking, or puzzling, or curious, or fun, or engaging in any way at all, do it some more. If not, try something else.

Instead of trying to manage your time, pay more attention to finding your rhythm

We covered a wide range of topics from responsible imagination, slower time, golden time, smell time, sound time, synesthesia,…

synesthesia

…colors of the months, layers, weaving, fabric, calendar, interstitials, 3D, 4D, rhythm in context, two people dancing the tango, wondering with intent, accountability for creative health, and undefended presence (mentioned in the Coaching Summit 2020 video below).

We even talked about the South-Australian Tjuringa, a Dream Stones, and artist Roman Polanka’s visualization of time.

IMG_2480

 

Other links mentioned in this podcast:

Episode-1 is here. Episode-2 is here. Episode-3 is here. Episode-4 is here. Episode-5 is here.

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

Peter & Josie

Pause with Josie – Episode 5

This is episode-5 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-5 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.

Chapter-5 is about Culture (of Pause)

Here are Josie’s three sentences:

Older, more measured rhythms continue to exist… and the here and now is appreciated more for itself than as a means to get somewhere else.

They come in order to reconnect to a place that mediates a pause for them. For one, it is a rock by the river Pelayos – quite literally, a touchstone. Where might you find yours?

Burning Man: ‘This is pause as a suspension of the status quo, designed to try things out, not slow them down

And here are my three sentences:

There is no possible way to hurry any of this. Whatever you do, it takes the time it takes. The only hacks around here are made with axes.

They rarely say anything new; talk is not about relaying information, it is a way of seeing others and being with them

If you aren’t able to pause to consider or explore alternatives, it is extremely difficult to change direction

We covered a wide range of topics from scaffolding, “Go-Bush”, touchstones, freedom to be, Shakespeare, Burning Man, suspension (not smashing) of status quo, the calm “Corona Walks” by photographer Stephan Vanfleteren, the need for diverse lenses, and Budha’s beginner’s mind.

Some useful links mentioned in the conversation:

Episode-1 is here. Episode-2 is here. Episode-3 is here. Episode-4 is here.

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

Peter & Josie

Pause with Josie – Episode 4

This is episode-4 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-4 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.

Chapter-4 is about Design (of Pause)

Here are Josie’s three sentences:

Poynton’s colleague, Tracey Camilleri: ‘In such a week, “You are able to think long thoughts“‘

Defending the boundaries of empty space is important and it takes courage.

You could work with the seasons… The time for for tilling, sowing and harvesting feel very different. They have a different energy. Use that.

And here are my three sentences:

We think with our hands and our hearts, we think by moving, we think by making

Time is different here: baggy, generous: ambling, then dashing at the pace of light and landscape

If you tightly define what you want, and succeed, all you get is exactly what you expected. You are limited by your own goal.

We covered a wide range of topics from space & time, poetry and poetics, mental ecology, flaneurs, challenge our assumptions about others’ assumptions, having an opinion, be comfortable to be uncomfortable, and teasing out.

Some useful links mentioned in the conversation:

Episode-1 is here. Episode-2 is here. Episode-3 is here.

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

Peter & Josie

Pause with Josie – Episode 3

This is episode-3 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-3 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.

Here are Josie’s three sentences:

David Keating…. uses a tiny pause to instantly shift the mood (of a film crew).

Practice isn’t something abstract, it is embodied, so you need to engage your body as well as your mind.

It might be that all you need to do to access the magic of the pause is to make pause ‘a thing’.

And here are my three sentences:

The bar forces you to pause for a moment and notice how you are entering the zendo — in what frame of mind, with what intention and so on

I would encourage you to aim low and be selfish. Starting small is a good way to build a habit.

You can choose to see the journey as an ‘in-between’ place in its own right (instead of as a waste of time). Regard it as a space not to be filled and deliberately avoid reading a book, listening to the radio or music, or checking email.

We covered a wide range of topics from the entrance of a Japanese house, Buckminster Fuller’s tiny rudder, moodiness, struggling with the abstract, foam, and last but not least lite-ness and cookies from Pete The Pirate.

Pete The Pirate – Storm at Sea

Episode-1 is here. Episode-2 is here.

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

Peter & Josie

Pause with Josie – Episode 2

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.

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

Pause with Josie Gibson – Episode 1

Recently, I discovered two books by Robert Poynton. One is about “Pause“, the other book is about “Improvisation“. Together with Josie Gibson from The Catalyst Network, we started some 1-1 calls to share what these books trigger for us and our communities. We decided to start a small experiment: we read a chapter of the book, schedule a 1-1 call to let flow our minds, record it, and share it with our communities, and see what happens. Very down to earth, no tricks, no gimmicks, just a gentle and calm wandering and meandering of minds from two opposite sides of this earth. One person from Melbourne, Australia and one from Aalst, Belgium; one person in autumn, one in spring.

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