As we go through our lives we might wonder whether we are spending our days as we should be. How much time should go into one thing versus another? How much effort is enough? While there are no easy answers to such broad questions, it helps to start by understanding our priorities and our intentions. Armed with this understanding, we can use a practice what is called “wise effort” – knowing when a lot of effort is warranted and when a lighter touch is more appropriate.

See full transcript here. [https://happen.substack.com/]

Photo credit: Barbara Horn

Wise effort - and how it helps you find balance

To everything there is a season, the saying goes.  And here in many parts of North America, we are in the midst of my favourite one - autumn.  To me, it is a season that brings together the best of the other three.  There is a hint of lingering summer heat tempered by cooler breezes.  Some days feel like spring with fresh rains and some green still left in the leaves.  And as the trees start turning into shades of red and auburn, they remind us that autumn is keeping the winter snow at bay a little longer.



Fall also signals a time of change.  For garden lovers, it's a time to close off our flower beds, wrap our evergreens in burlap blankets, and plant bulbs for the spring season.  As an amateur gardener with mostly a brown thumb, I always admire the bountiful gardens of my friends and neighbours.  and professionally landscaped botanicals with sprawling year round blooms and weed free beds.



But in a world so focused on outward curated perfection - perfect houses and lawns, perfect bodies and clothes, indeed perfect lives whatever that means to each of us - I have come to terms with my messy garden.  In fact it has become a source of solace and joy, a place where I get to putter, to experiment, to try things with imperfect knowledge, and to learn by trial and error.  A forgiving place where flowers and vegetables sometimes bloom in spite of my ignorance.  A reminder that life is inherently messy and surprising despite our best attempts to control it.

See full transcript here. [https://happen.substack.com/]

Photo credit: Merlin's Hollow

Life is messy - how nature helps us embrace imperfection

This week marks the official start of autumn in the Northern Hemisphere. My thoughts always turn to the school year as children are settling into new grades and routines in most North American cities.

When the pandemic was first declared, no one could have imagined that the vast majority of the world's children would not be in school, atleast not in person.  Technology, helped millions of children through online learning, with all its benefits and pitfalls. 

Now, five years on, everyone from scientists and pediatricians, to educators and policy makers, will no doubt keep reflecting on the impact of the pandemic on education.  It makes one wonder about education as a whole, what it means to learn and how that has changed over human history.

See full transcript on Substack [https://happen.substack.com/] or LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/newsletters/the-gist-6993993955109470208/?lipi=urn%3Ali%3Apage%3Ad_flagship3_publishing_post_edit%3ByCm1v57ySZqIqLKRtFU%2FQw%3D%3D]

Photo credit: Element5Digital

The School of Life - A fresh look at learning

Last time, in Part 1 of this topic [https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/future-work-return-office-debate-rages-part-1-jog-p-eng-mba-ohf1c/?trackingId=5NyBOxIlT4gAtYsktO5vfA%3D%3D], we looked at how the remote versus in-person work debate is unfolding in different countries. Global trends aside, each of us must grapple with these questions individually. This debate rages on as we all try to navigate the ever changing waters of the workplace. Everywhere, people are wondering if remote work is here to stay or if it will be a relic of the pandemic?

For some of us its a moot point because certain front line jobs simply don't lend themselves to working from home. For the rest of us who do have the privilege of choice, it comes down to preference, perception and what we want to get out of work.

See full transcript including articles mentioned in this episode by clicking our blog link here. [https://happen.substack.com/]


Photo credit: Alexa Williams

The future of work - The 'return to office' debate rages on - Part 2

After Covid bans started lifting a couple of years ago and some of us were going back to work in person, we shared a two-part update on global trends and individual choices we were making in returning to the office. Today, the debate continues as employees and employers grapple with the right balance, so this topic remains timely. We are revisiting it, since for many of us September is a month of transition. Children are returning to school and adults are resuming a regular work schedule. But a few years into a post-pandemic world, what does showing up for work really mean?

See full transcript here. [https://happen.substack.com/publish/post/172925773]Photo Credit: Nick Morrison

The future of work - The 'return to office' debate rages on - Part 1

It is very easy to get wrapped up in everything we need to do day to day. When we feel busy or overwhelmed it is natural to vent to people who lend an empathetic ear. Whether that is having too much on our plates. Or a difficult person or situation we might be dealing with.

Whatever the problem, most of us find it comforting to have a calm presence to turn to - a caring spouse, a trusted colleague or a patient friend who is happy to let us get things off our chest or maybe offer a different perspective. I think of such people as an oasis, not just in times of crisis, but in the day to day business of living life, with its inherent ups and downs.

It doesn't hurt to reflect on how we can be that nurturing presence to others. If we want to build a more compassionate world with greater mutual understanding, there is no better place to start than with ourselves. Certainly we can all show kindness through outward acts. This could mean volunteering our time in local communities. Or donating to charities that have global reach. It may be through work that helps others or helps the planet as a whole. 

But surprisingly what is often harder than these outward acts, is sustaining an inner equilibrium while we deal with smaller, everyday things in life. So how can we train ourselves to maintain presence? How can we be an oasis for others? Here are a few ideas. See full transcript here. [https://happen.substack.com/]

Photo credit: Benjamín Gremler

Be an oasis - create more harmony at work and home

Although the Covid pandemic has thankfully passed, we continue to learn a lot about its toll on virtually every country around the world.  The pandemic came with a shared sense of helplessness and fear.  It shone a light on mental health as anxiety levels spiked. But even before Covid, anxiety was on the rise, and many people will continue to struggle with it in the future.



Of course, anxiety is a spectrum, with those on the mild end experiencing it in passing, and those on the severe end being debilitated by it. Until recently, doctors and therapists relied on tools such as medications and cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) to help patients manage anxiety. This was the case for Dr. Jud Brewer, a psychiatrist and neuroscience researcher at Yale and Brown universities, who uses these tools in his own practice. But he has also successfully incorporated mindfulness into his work. See full transcript here. See full transcript here. [https://happen.substack.com/]



Photo credit: Ben Mathis Seibel

A mindful look at anxiety - escaping the worry habit loop

If we were to look back in time a few centuries, we would see that so called “commoners” were going about their lives knowing they had little chance of joining the aristocratic classes. We have come a long way since then. Though socioeconomic barriers and inequalities persist, we now aspire to a world where anyone, with enough grit and talent, can become anything they set their mind to.

This message is central to our increasingly meritocratic societies the world over. It has its benefits and has provided tremendous opportunity where in the past there would have been oppression. More people can fulfill their potential and work their way towards a better quality of life. But is this core tenet of meritocracy true and what does it take, individually and collectively, to make it true? How has it shaped our notions of personal success and failure? See full transcript here. [https://happen.substack.com/]

Photo credit: Florian Schmetz

Redefining success - the benefits of a gentler approach to life

The idea of mindfulness, and related practices like yoga and meditation, has become more mainstream in recent years. From boardrooms to classrooms, sports fields to hospitals, the notion of working with our minds is not so foreign anymore. And yet translating these ideas into consistent action is where many of us get stuck.

If we are honest, we are often better at reading articles, listening to podcasts or watching videos on these topics, than we are at making time to be alone with our thoughts. So what holds us back from doing the hard work of actively taking care of our minds?  See full transcript here. [https://happen.substack.com/]

Photo Credit: Keegan Houser

Befriend your mind - how to find your calmer self

Whether we like it or not, life is full of change, both in the world around us and within our own lives. Most of us have a love hate relationship with change. We crave novelty, but too much change, too often can also feel de-stabilizing. With so much political, economic and environmental turmoil in the world right now, how can we maintain inner stability? How do we stay centered day to day, when it feels like the ground is always moving?

Photo Credit: Harry Cunnigham

Inner stability - how to stay grounded in difficult times

The Gist is a podcast from happen.world that aims to give you the gist of interesting ideas about life, the universe and everything!

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