Dancing with Dolphins in Dubai

Written by Kamyar Sunday, 29 June 2008 00:00

Dolphin has been my favorite animal since I remember, but only a few years ago I came to know the reason. Sahar and I were chatting and she started asking me questions, a kind of psychology test. One question was "if you are alone on an island and you can choose an animal to be with you, what will be your choice?" I had to answer on the spot, and the answer was dolphin.

After some more questions, she asked me "what characteristics do you see in dolphins?" and my answer was kindness and intelligence. It was a great moment for me. Right after that I started to look around and see a pattern in my life which I couldn't see before. Kindness and intelligence were the characteristics of most of the people I was attracted to.

Two days ago I had a dream come true. I got the chance to swim and dance with three dolphins, who were indeed kind and intelligent. An experience which was very special to me. It was a brilliant gift from my sister Maryam to the little kid inside me, the real me. And I can't thank her enough.

 

It's a new life, you know how I feel

Written by Kamyar Thursday, 12 June 2008 00:00

When I woke up today morning, there was a special email in my inbox. Photos of a new born baby with a beautiful message from my dear friend Mohsen. I haven't been feeling good for a couple of days and this email was like a gift from heavens. It turned my mood upside down.

Mohsen and his wife -Afsane- are the happiest couple I have ever seen. Both are very dear to me, and now they have a beautiful little girl. Her name is Raha, meaning the one who is free. I wish I could get the chance to hold her and smell her, unfortunately they live in Malaysia right now.

   

The World Cafe

Written by Kamyar Tuesday, 20 May 2008 00:00

One of the new ideas I came acquainted with at the SoL Global Forum at Muscat was The World Cafe. It's a methodology to create dialogues and conversations about issues that really matter to us. It includes a couple of principles to follow in order to enhance the level of the dialogue between people:

  1. Set the context
  2. Create a hospitable environment
  3. Explore questions that matter
  4. Encourage everyone's contribution
  5. Connect diverse perspectives
  6. Listen together for patterns, insights and deeper questions
  7. Harvest and share collective discoveries

You can read more about the 7 principles in detail.

This method can be practiced by any group of people at any place. You can start a dialogue with your family in your living room, with a group of friends in a cafe or your collegues at the office. Diversity of the people can add value to the conversation. Through this methodology, a group of people from different cultures, generations or industries can come up with great solutions for the problems.

The World Cafe has sprung from the assumption that people already have within them the wisdom and creativity to confront even the most difficult challenges that lie before us today. Invite people to sit down and talk. And watch what happens. The World Cafe is both a method for creating a living network of collaborative dialogue and a metaphor for noticing how we are already co-evolving our future together.

I also found the following video which is a short introduction to The World Cafe:

   

Dr. Randy Pausch - The last lecture

Written by Kamyar Sunday, 18 May 2008 00:00

A few months ago Susan told me about the last lecture of Dr. Randy Pausch. It's a very inspirational lecture, one hour long. Since then I have been talking to people around me and suggesting them to see the video. Later on I found a short version which is 10 minutes long, presented at Oprah show.

One day when I was at the SoL global forum in Muscat, the discussions lead to how to inspire people to take their dreams more seriously. A lady at our table started talking about this video and how inspirational it is. And I agree. Specially at the times when you feel disappointed or lost, just watch this 10 minutes video and it will put you back on the track.

Here is the short version at Oprah:

You can also view the one hour version of Randy Pausch Last Lecture: Achieving Your Childhood Dreams at Carnegie Mellon University.

   

The Dance of Unity

Written by Kamyar Tuesday, 13 May 2008 00:00

Organizational learning, that's what my mind has been deeply engaged with in the past few months. It started with quality management classes at Wollongong. I was impressed by the teaching model of Alaa Garad. More focused on understanding simple basic rules of quality, in contrast to the common type of teaching which includes pushing as much information as possible into your memory. It was about understanding the big picture before going into the details.

I got introduce to The Fifth Discipline book by Alaa and a few months ago I got the chance to read it. While I was reading it, many of concepts and ideas were resonating with things deep deep inside me. To express it more simply, it opend up a door to a new wold. A world which I feel connected to everything. All of a sudden everything about my life started to make more sense. And this is where I came up with the name of the blog, Dance of Unity.

   

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If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.

Henry David Thoreau

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