State of Flux
E113: Rest & Recap 16 - Catching a break to change rhythm, WoP11, FEO
TL;DR:
Packing the suitcase. Hitting the road again.
Rest element - My world is morphing. How do we adjust to changes in our lives?
Recap: Editions 106-112 I was surprised by the strong thread discussing AI.
Welcome to "Rest & Recap" for the 38 new subscribers joining since Rest Edition 15 E105. The Rest editions offer a break - like a 7th-inning stretch - for me and our Tribe. It's a chance for learning consolidation (a 21st-century skill). We uncover unexpected synergies over the past six weeks of essays, and explore how they build on previous editions. This comes from the "Colosseum of Ideas" concept in Write of Passage.
We also zoom out, look at the bigger picture, take a breath, and rest. We explore rest-related practices (heirloom skills) such as good sleep, pacing, and recharging. Enjoy this “THE ONE WHERE… Rest Edition Recap” summary.
Rest element 16: Planning to be present MY WORLD IS MORPHING
I am stepping away from my home office for a while. This is going to be slightly different from the other travels I have done. I head over to London this weekend and then accompany my mother to Goa, India1 for a few months - from the green blob on the left to that triangle of yellow in the right hemisphere on this olde world map.
It places me in a little conundrum. I like publishing on a weekly basis. It just works for my personal accountability and has been crucial to maintaining my consistency (E73).
But I also need to heed my own advice, and figure out how to incorporate Rest into my process. In the spirit of E59: Give Them The Best Of You, Not The Rest of You, I want to be present and spend as much time with my mother and family while in Goa.
When I travelled recently, I’d auto-publish two or three essays. But this time round, we will be in the middle of Rest Cycle 19 in March 2024 before I lovingly cuddle my ergonomic keyboard. [WoP alum and Tribe Tilt - let’s try and connect if you are in SEAsia December-February.]
My current plan:
More photos, fewer words.
Pull a TSwift and reissue some of the more popular, unsung hero, or interesting articles from “The Vault” over the next three cycles of publication. Do you have a favourite you’d recommend to our new tribe members? Please upvote it. (DM or comment here)
Please send me prompts! Just as meal planning is easier by request, let me know what topics interest you: travel tales, AI, FoW, raising future-ready leaders, climate, K-Pop, other?
STEP AWAY FROM THE KEYBOARD
We have to be willing to step away from our desks and our keyboards and search for that white space and introspection that allows new ideas to bubble to the surface.
CHANGING ROLES
I'll experience a change in my operating relationship with my mother. Before, she'd plan meals and I'd simply show up to enjoy her tasty cooking. There's a shift happening, and I must learn to balance my life from being coddled&cared-for, to caring-for her. My Mum deserves to be the centre of attention. Will she let me?
Can you relate? Have you recently become a parent or started a full-time job?
You might wonder how to do more without losing what you're good at. How can you switch to life's new rhythm without tripping as you also maintain your old cadence? We need to talk about transitions. This is important, especially as we enter the Future of Work era where change assaults us at every move. #21st-century-skills. Understanding changes and managing transitions have been one of the central pillars of my work at Tilt the Future. However, the knowing doesn’t make the disquiet disappear. Hopefully, it will help me handle it a bit better.
I will definitely see you again, next week. After that, we’ll take it a week at a time.
Recap: Digest of issues 106 - 112
AI AND THE WAY FORWARD
AI dominated my headlines in this cycle. It must be a sign of the times. Something stood out: The next 1000 days are vital. They could change the tilt of the earth, crowd-sourcing solutions for a boatload of urgent problems in healthcare, food security, climate, and more.
In this moment, we have agency, control, and choice. If the AI algorithms are using existing data points to iterate and build themselves, then we need to feed it good, positive, and hopeful data. So get writing. Get creating. Get debating!
An interview with OpenAI’s chief scientist Ilya Sutskever showed me how all these essays and thoughts are tying together, and why it is urgent we write and talk about it now. You have permission. Read my full LinkedIn post with the video here.
“This Feels Like Deja Vu” could have been the alternate title to E112: It’s a New World After All I stretched myself in response to a writing prompt, creating some palindrome poetry to evoke a spirit of “hope and limitlessness” that generated a lot of discussion.
From
“your question has left me spinning! I am in a time and place where I must remain hopeful. … Hopeful that we will embrace the lessons of history and use it to improve the future.”“Copy, right?” - I felt side-swiped when I opened WhatsApp the next day:
All that hard work and playing with format, … and this? From my own sister?!!! As her work is heavily AI-immersed I’ll cut her some slack. But never-did-I-ever! I guess it is a sign of the times that we will soon expect most published work to be AI-influenced. 2
E107: 1000-day radar - Whatever you predict for the next 1000 days, realize the signals - the essential elements to create that possibility - exist right now. We have agency in the next 1000 days.
Do you know there are approximately 1000 days between starting high school and submitting university applications? What could you get done? Based on a great 1000-day radar seminar series with a Futurist group.Teacher and parent,
’s Alissa Mears “I love this 1000 days exercise, Karena. It’s empowering, thoughtful, and thought-provoking. Thank you for sharing it— in an educational context, too!”E106: AI is One Reason You Should Share Your Ideas - Continuing to make my case … if AI will crowd-source ideas, let’s feed it a wide range of possibilities to dredge
‘s Vicky Zhao “Yes to more diverse writing ✍️ because we need people who haven’t read Harry Potter and those who have to engage in discourse” (inside joke. She’s not hating on HP!)E111: Dress them in Neon - Leveraging a story about almost losing my kids while traveling, I ask how we protect our young children in the public space of the Internet in this new age of AI.
“Wow, this whole tangle of AI, new tech, and the well-being of children”
Many found the travel tips also useful. We iteratively evolved these travel tips because we had so many sequential journeys in a short space of time. Again this proves the point that our best plans should be constantly open to new information and improvement.
“Literally going to shop for some neon T-shirts this weekend”
Veteran traveler Kathy Karn: Karena this post is so useful! I encourage you to submit this to the Globe & Mail travel section. I’m sure many parents will relate to your story and will appreciate your tips.
FoW and GRATITUDE CONVERSATIONS:
E110: Listening for Different Ideas - how our ideas become robust and stronger when we expose them to a diversity of opinions
“Such a valuable point to lean into the perspective of those with an opposite opinion”E109: STEM or STEAM: The times are changing. There are special skills that the Arts bring to the technical sciences, particularly when we are shifting from asking “Can we do it?” to “Should we do it?”
(I find his a lush 5-minute travel indulgence each week) asked "the frameworks and thinking of others hobbles us" ~ I think it's necessary to learn these things as they are foundations to build upon, shoulders to stand upon. Your thoughts?” Well?In E108: Slowing to the Speed of Spawning Salmon I shared a truly Canadian Fall experience: watching salmon make the arduous journey upstream.
From Joann Malone my Crow sister and contributing author on the newly published Tears Become Rain that explores her learning with Thich Nhat Hanh: Sometimes I suppose that is our role as sentient beings to SEE, to appreciate and absorb the beauty all around us.
IN OTHER NEWS:
Future Energy Oakville, the Oakville Chamber of Commerce, and the local PEO chapter co-hosted the "Moving Energy Forward" symposium. The event was full of insights from industry leaders. I learned about innovation and creativity in nano-grids, AI, and meeting growing energy needs without pulling from the grid. Our local energy industries anticipate needing 77,000 more people to push these changes forward.
Five intensely wonderful weeks of writing in Write of Passage WOP11 come to a close this week. So many new friends, all ages, backgrounds, opinions - many who have become Tribe Tilt members - discovered peer-editors and again am completely blown away by all the good and brain power out in the world! It gives me hope for the future that so many good people care. Here is a small WoP huddle, gathered3 in Toronto to celebrate:
Our Tribe Tilt welcomes 38 new members signing in from Botswana, UK, Morocco, Germany, the Isle of Man, India, USA, Canada, Spain, Australia, Sweden, UK, Singapore and Zambia. I love this global perspective! Thank you for joining with your curiosity which we welcome.
This small community believes in the best of humanity - connecting people, sharing ideas, and exploring thoughts respectfully. We support each other. We believe we can make a difference to the people and places that are precious to us. And that the best idea can come from anyone, anywhere, at any time.
Is this your first visit to Tilt the Future? Come join our Tribe Tilt by hitting this button below:
See you next week - from London. Stay healthy. From there all else becomes possible.
Karena
If you mouse over this map Goa is labeled on the west coast of India. In the era of spice-trade and exploration, Goa’s prominence as a port made it more important than Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata. Source Wikipedia
AI/ChatGPT use: I used AudioPen’s Rewrite a Text Note function to edit specific first-draft paragraphs in this edition.
Photo credits: FEO - Karena de Souza, WoP Toronto gathering - Dan Sleeman.
Ugh! That is a very difficult question. Every week has something that moves me or instructs me. But here are a few of my favorites: 13, 19, 26, 27, 60, 67, 69, 85, 87.... I could go on and on!
While it may be true that the next 1000 days are critical for the direction of AI and it might be taken as a call to somehow get involved or concerned on that front, it seems perfect, and even more squarely a contribution to the universe that you are prioritizing your mom and your travels with her and your family right now. Bless your whole clan and your bond! Thank you for the demonstration of priorities.