Welcome to Postcards from the Ledge. Two or three times a year we take the most interesting articles, links and pictures the Totem team have found over the preceding few months and put them into an email which we deliver to your inbox. Expect pieces on outdoor learning, tips and tricks for the workplace, beautiful photos and news of upcoming open courses. Our aim is to provide a little bundle of inspiration in what can sometimes be a grey world.

We love hearing from people so if you enjoy this issue, let us know and if you come across something you think we might find interesting, send it to us and we may include in the future.

Sam
sam@totemdevelopment.co.uk

Definite Articles

The best articles we've seen on the internet over the last few months.

The "Change-Up" in Lectures
Anyone who talks to groups of people in any format should read this article from the National Teaching & Learning Forum. It suggests that the conventional presentation method, where the speaker speaks and the listeners listen fails to take account of the way most people learn. The authors recommend building a periodic "change-up" into your session to restart the attention clock and engage your audience. (more...)

50 Ways to Help the Planet
There is nothing earth-shattering in this list of ways to act environmentally but it is well presented and fun. Who knows, you might find one or two ways to change your behaviour. Our favourite is the "Batch Errands", anything that reduces the amount of running around we do has to be a winner! (more...)

Make a List of the 10 Most Expensive Things You Own vs. the 10 Things That Make You the Most Happy
Geoffrey Miller, an evolutionary psychologist at the University of New Mexico offers an exercise to help you think about how and why we spend money on expensive items. He suggests making a list of the ten most expensive things you've ever bought, and another list of the ten things that have made you the happiest. Then compare the two lists to see how many items appear on both. (more...)

Worldometers
Watch as the world population increases, see how many days until the world runs out of oil and see how many emails have been sent today. This page full of 'meters' provides an extraordinary window into our world. (more...)

A View on the World

What makes you feel alive?

Photo from Andy C's Flickrstream.

Wise Words

If I am to speak ten minutes, I need a week for preparation; if fifteen minutes, three days; if half an hour, two days; if an hour, I am ready now.

Woodrow Wilson

Totem News

Our flagship Anything Could Happen course took place on the second weekend in May under a mix of sunny and cloudy skies in Snowdonia. It aimed to bring together interesting people and challenging activities in beautiful surroundings. In amongst abseiling into a 100ft deep hole in the ground, discussing the merits of emails versus phones, building slate sculptures and building a pontoon across a lake there was plenty of spirited reflection and personal development.

Amongst the comments from the participant were "a month of life packed into 48 hours" and "thought provoking and loads of fun with plenty to take away to think about (and hopefully apply!)".

There are photos from the course here, here and here and you can sign up for future information about the course and the dates of the next one at the bottom of this page.