a positive outlook
“All people want to be treated with dignity and respect.
All people want to be asked rather than told to do something.
All people want to be informed as to why they are being asked or ordered to do something.
All people want to be given options rather than threats.
All people want a second chance when they make a mistake.”
– Police officer George Thompson
“No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite.”
– Nelson Mandela
“The problems we feel most alone with are, by definition, a shared reality with millions of others, separated by shame and shyness.”
– Alain de Botton
Korean potery.
Lake Superior, MI.
“Ein Miteinander zweier Menschen ist eine Unmöglichkeit und, wo es doch vorhanden scheint, eine Beschränkung, eine gegenseitige Übereinkunft, welchen einen Teil oder beide Teile ihrer vollsten Freiheit und Entwicklung beraubt. Aber, das Bewusstsein vorausgesetzt, dass auch zwischen den nächsten Menschen unendliche Fernen bestehen bleiben, kann ihnen ein wundervolles Nebeneinanderwohnen erwachsen, wenn es ihnen gelingt, die Weite zwischen sich zu lieben, die ihnen die Möglichkeit gibt, einander immer in ganzer Gestalt und vor einem großen Himmel zu sehen!”
Rainer Maria Rilke in einem Brief an Emanuel von Bodman, 1901
“You give but little when you give of your possessions.
It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.”
– Kahlil Gibran
“God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,
courage to change the things I can,
and wisdom to know the difference.”
Serenity Prayer by Reinhold Niebuhr
Glass window at Proger in Bern.
Gemba – 現場 – Japanese term meaning “the real place”
“In quality management, gemba means the manufacturing floor and the idea is that if a problem occurs, the engineers must go there to understand the full impact of the problem, gathering data from all sources.”
“The only real way to understand a problem is to go and see it on the ground.” Economist article on Genchi genbutsu here.
I hear and I forget,
I see and I remember,
I do and I understand.
– Confucius
The Overview Effect
“For more than four decades, astronauts from many cultures and backgrounds have been telling us that, from the perspective of Earth orbit and the Moon, they have gained such a vision. There is even a common term for this experience: ‘The Overview Effect’, a phrase coined in the book of the same name by space philosopher and writer Frank White. It refers to the experience of seeing firsthand the reality of the Earth in space, which is immediately understood to be a tiny, fragile ball of life, hanging in the void, shielded and nourished by a paper-thin atmosphere. From space, the astronauts tell us, national boundaries vanish, the conflicts that divide us become less important and the need to create a planetary society with the united will to protect this ‘pale blue dot’ becomes both obvious and imperative. Even more so, many of them tell us that from the Overview perspective, all of this seems imminently achievable, if only more people could have the experience!”
Read more here.
Or watch the beautiful film “Overview” here.