Hey Roomie! So good to hear from you. Hope your holiday season is filled with joy and fun.
Plan to return to Calgary next year to do the mask workshop. Hope our paths will cross again.
=Peace

the author mentioned Seligman and "Learned Optimism"; my guess is that they are related.

Hey david!!! great to hear about you!!!!
you made a lot of notes from the class!! great!!
I want to go to canada as soon as I can!!
so maybe we will meet again!!!
a big hug

Hey David***
Thanks so much for your Johnstone blog---it's really helped me remember some things I had forgotten--- plus the Carole Dweck thing that I hadn't seen before is fabulous. By the way, I met my wife at a Virginia Satir lecture!
Come to the Chicago conference! I'd love to hang out with you in person.

Hey David!

Thanks for all the inspiration, for believing and for being a friend. I'll keep you posted to what comes next ;)

Hi David, Thanks. It was a fun group to work with. Too short amount of time. And it was great sitting in on Keith's class the other night. It made me very jealous of the 10 days you've all had with him.

Thanks also for the book reccomendation. I haven't read anything by him.

Have a great last day in the course! I hope our paths will cross again.
Shawn
PS - yep chcked the cheque.... Keith has me in his book (impro for storytellers and spelled my name wrong. Now, of course people say, "that's not you!" so my marginal claim to fame is blemished (boo hoo... ha ha) and I had to see if he got it right this time... YEE HA, he did!... Delete Comment

It is heartening to know that you "get" the depth of the Naikan exercise. How right you are that it is different from the feel good/gratitude exercises that are out there. To practice Naikan is to discover that each of us (by his own standards) is in debt to others. Seriously. Most folks don't like to imagine themselves being in debt to others. But, if we truly look around. We are. Big time.
Thanks for understanding this.
Patricia
ps: I've been enjoying our exchange.

Dear David,
Wonderful response! Thank you for taking the time to write this. I'm being interviewed soon by a New York Times reporter who is doing a column on innovation and business and I'm gathering armaments for our talk. Your response is VERY helpful. Most of us at AIN take for granted that improv principles can be keys to better service and sales in business, but it is sometimes a challenge to explain this to someone outside our world.

I think your point that one of the real changes that can benefit any business (especially the customer relations aspect) is a deep regard for the other person. Not simply the old cliche that "the customer is always right" but a fundamental regard for the well being, the happiness and the opinions of others.

I was recently in a Safeway store buying groceries and noticed that EVERY employee who looked at me actually SMILED! It was great, and probably not something that everyone would notice, but it made my day. I suspect they smiled not just because they felt happy, but rather that a smile makes OTHERS feel welcome, and happy.

I'd be delighted to do an email interview for you. And, no need to rule out that I might join your network. What is it? I think that applications of our improv wisdom to real life situations is terrific.

For your talk tomorrow, why not try a Naikan exercise: Ask everyone to spent three minutes writing down "thanks to whom am I here today?" Make a list of all those whose efforts made it possible to be at your talk.
See if you can get a list of at least 10 people whose work and effort helped you be where you are right now. Then, you call time and ask for folks to turn to their neighbor and discuss what they found. It is a great exercise to focus on the detail of what others are doing for you.
Good luck and have a great speech.
Patricia
Oh, and my email is improvwisdom@comcast.net
Cheers