This document outlines an agenda and approach for a workshop exploring Howard Gardner's Five Minds for the Future. The workshop aims to help participants experience and practice the five minds of the disciplined mind, synthesizing mind, creating mind, respectful mind, and ethical mind. Participants will engage in exercises to match images and descriptions to the five minds, reflect on using the minds, and explore challenges through different frames of thinking. The goal is to help transform participants' thinking and approach to challenges in a participatory manner focused on conversation over lectures.

1. Exploring frames of mind A workshop to expand thinking potential, starting with Howard Gardner’s Five Minds for the Future Presented by Christo van Staden http://www.learningdesign.co.za

2. Programme 08:00 Arrival 09:30 Seeing our thinking: Experiencing and exploring the five minds in action 11:00 Tea 11:30 Experiencing our thinking: How mind makes the world 13:15Lunch 14:00 Accessing and practising the five minds 15:00 Tea 15:15 Accessing and practising the five minds (continued) 16:15 Close

3. Our approach today Very little lecturing … Lots of conversation Goethe’s fairy tale of the Emerald Snake – “And what is more quickening than Light?” – “Conversation” Con-versare – to turn together You know it already; we are here to help you discover how

4. We are not … Giving you quick mental fixes – this is not a box of tricks We challenge you to engage in fundamental shifts of perspective We work on a integrative level – one mind does not exist separately from another;one mode flows into the next Discipline is inherent in all five minds – it is about consistently practising our knowledge Focused exclusively on the intellectual side of “mind” We challenge you to engage your heart and your will too, As well as your inspiration and your aspiration Physical, emotional, mental and spiritual

5. This is not just about skills to think differently about the world It is about transforming the world by transforming the way that we think!

6. Conceptual tools

7. Introduction What is mind? Why five minds? Which five minds?

8. What is “mind”? Mind is more than thinking Small mind – Big mind: what is inside the mind and what is outside the mind? Mind and perception: mind provides frameworks Mind and consciousness – mind as the unlimited “What we perceive is what we are”

9. Why five minds? The five minds suggest a framework for approaching thinking challenges from different perspectives It’s similar to, yet at the same time very different from De Bono’s Six Hats Bohm: similar differences, different similarities Bateson: the difference that makes a difference Each mind can be practised in a disciplined manner Each mind represents a thinking competence required for success in our world

10. An overview of the five minds What are the different ways in which you think every day? Disciplined mind Synthesising mind Creating mind Respectful mind Ethical mind

11. The disciplined mind Discipline is about creating order through focus, concentration, routine, habit, mastery of technique, etc. Important disciplines: Body (exercise disciplines, body care disciplines) Emotion (shadow work discipline) Mind (classical intellectual disciplines) Spirit (mindfulness, devotion) The disciplined mind develops habits and attitudes that enable us to continuously refine and improve methods and frameworks for creating knowledge and maintaining well-being. We need to know what works for us – how our mind works – and apply it in a disciplined manner.

12. The synthesising mind Synthesis is about putting different things together to make something more complex, more encompassing, more conceptually powerful. It is also about seeing relationships and connections and making the right combinations, links, categories – it’s an ordering act. The synthesising mind seeks out opportunities for synthesis and then experiments to find new levels of perspective and understanding

13. The creating mind To create is a fundamental instinctual activity of all living beings We create every moment through our movements – Spiritual movements such as praying, visioning, meditation Mental movements such as thinking Emotional movements – emotions are energy in motion! Physical movements The creating mind brings our world into existence every moment!

14. The respectful mind Respect is about valuing others for whatever reason: Traditional and cultural ideals, such as age or hierarchy As inspiration for our present and future actions The intrinsic value of diversity and difference The intrinsic value of all life The respectful mind creates a safe space where we can discover our “kindness” – being of the same kind

15. The ethical mind Ethical action is when we consider what is in our best interest Who are we? Ethical thinking expands our sense of who we are to include more “others”, at more profound levels The ethical mind enables ethical thinking and ethical action

16. Transforming thought We think the way we think because we think it’s the only way to think How do we escape this trap? By first seeing how we think Then realising how our thinking creates the world we are living in Then facing the worst of what could happen if we did not think that way Then stopping our thinking And allowing new thinking to come to mind Then practising the new thinking

17. Playing with the five minds Images * Descriptions * Keywords

18. Imagine five minds Match the images to the five minds. Have a conversation while you are doing it, explaining to each other why. There are no right and wrong answers! The aim of the exercise is to make a visual connection with the five minds.

19. Describe five minds Match the descriptions to the five minds The objective is to develop a verbal language of the five minds

21. Keywords for the five minds Match the keywords to the five minds The objective is to develop a quick reference for the meaning of each mind

23. Reflecting on the journey The key moments * What we did, how we decided, how we related, how we thought * The minds we used

24. Key moments Identify eight key moments, related to the eight questions on the worksheet. Write them on notes and stick by the question. The objective of this exercise is to structure the story we tell about our journey.

25. How did we act, think? For each key moment, reflect on what you thought, how you made decisions and how you generally acted. What mind(s) did you use? You may place cards with descriptions/keywords onto the note. What minds, if you used them, would possibly have led to different results? Reflect on what minds you used most.

26. We get what we think Thought, emotion and action

27. “Thought produces results, but thought says it didn’t do it. And that is a problem.” David Bohm

28. Maturana’s story of the frog and the cruel experiment with the kittens in the white room What is perception? Thoughts and perception Every act is a perception

29. Thought makes the world Assumptions, beliefs, habits, practices What are they about thinking? Participation How do we continuously recreate our thinking patterns? Letting go Letting go of our thinking patterns, habits Letting come New vision of thinking practice Put in practice Trying out new modes of thinking

30. Movement exercise Synchrony Syntony Flow

31. Exploring challenges in our world Changes and challenges we face * exploring five frames of mind * Tools, pratice

32. Changes and challenges Identify the biggest changes and challenges we face on various levels of our lives. Cluster these challenges to see what themes are emerging.

33. Think in different frames Use the five minds to think about specific challenges we are facing. Divide into five groups - each group select a mind Explore the tool/technique and how you can apply it to the challenge We come together and give feedback to the other groups about what we have done and what results we achieved.

34. Discipline tools

35. Synthesising tools

36. Creating tools

37. Respectful tools

38. Ethical tools

39. Reflect on you learning What did you learn today? What do you want to explore next?

40. Contact us christo@learningdesign.co.za http://www.learningdesign.co.za