Our power to change

Our power to change

What is the key to personal change?  As I dwelled on this somewhat tricky question, I recalled the words of Huineng, the 7th century zen master who spoke of “self awakening to self nature” and “sudden practice with sudden awakening”. What...
Mindfulness: Becoming a fad?

Mindfulness: Becoming a fad?

I was first introduced to mindfulness as a young boy growing up in Sri Lanka, and I can tell you that being asked to sit for hours in the lotus position and focus on your breathing is simply not fun, particularly when you are seven! Even as a child, I intuitively knew...
Why we fail to change: Lessons from a Nobel laureate

Why we fail to change: Lessons from a Nobel laureate

I first had the opportunity to hear Daniel Kahneman speak in a cramped lecture theatre. This was when I was a fresh faced economics undergraduate grappling with the ideas of so called human rationality. Now reading Kahneman’s latest book, Thinking Fast and Slow,...
The myth about creativity

The myth about creativity

“I am just not creative” is a claim I often hear from people as they talk about themselves. And, every single time I know that this hides a false belief — a myth about creativity. How do I know this? It is because we are human. And to be human, is to be...