Articles

Here you will find all our posts in the one place.


Abandoned

The tale of Hansel and Gretel is said to be informed by stories from the Great Famine of 1314 to 1321. Desperate for food, families abandoned their children knowing they could only feed themselves. Other versions of the fairytale point to relationship power dynamics and the choice of abandoning children for physical pleasure.

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Dance

The Czechoslovakian fairy tale the Wood Maiden teaches us a lot about not giving in to temptation and following through on our objectives. This article explores the fairy tale and key lessons we can apply in a world full of distractions.

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Cruel

Most of us know the story of Cinderella. A story that has evolved over time, but never lost the common thread – a desire for a unified family and freedom from oppression.

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Melted

Hans Christian Andersen’s 1844 fairytale The Snow Queen is a tale about friendship and the quest to maintain it. It is also a message of change and awakening to new seasons and growth. Two important reminders for today’s dynamically changing world.

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Feel

The early story of Cinderella is a good reminder of how emotions can impact on our decisions. Even when we’re not aware those emotions are present.

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Sleep

With recent discussions on the abuse and harassment of women happening, it’s interesting to take a look at the original Sleeping Beauty fairytale and understand just how different it is to the story we know today.

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Blinded

Situational awareness is an important element in our decision making. The English fairytale The Fairy Ointment is a good example of how using situational awareness likely would have resulted in a very different outcome for the main character. Instead, ignoring her surrounds, she ends up losing sight in one eye.

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Smile

The Russian fairytale The Princess Who Never Smiled tells a sweet story about a hard working young man and a sad princess. It’s a reminder of the importance of being humble and not seeking recognition or validation of our worth.

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Defying gravity

This is a story that brings together science, fantasy and witchcraft. The Scottish fairytale The Light Princess has some important lessons about grounding and reflection that are perfect for the current situation many of us are facing. #fairytales #lifelessons #grounded #gravity #reflection

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The Red Shoes

The Red Shoes teaches us the valuable lessons about controlling our obsessions before they control us. #fairytale #lifelesson #personalgrowth #obsession #gainingcontrol

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The significance of a date

My past experiences in emergency response have helped shape my approach to the current crisis we are all facing. In this article I share my top five lessons around leadership and leading teams through crisis.

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Selfless generosity

When you feel like it’s hopeless, sometimes help can come from the most unexpected places. The White Snake teaches us about helping others and being accepting of their help when we need it. #fairytales #lifelessons #lessons #learning #helpingothers #accepting #acceptinghelp #thebrothersgrimm #stories #powerful #messages

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An original influencer

The Story of Pretty Goldilocks introduced a couple of characters who’ve appeared in other fairytales by different authors. But there’s a more important life lesson Madame d’Aulnoy teaches us. It’s a lesson of being an original influencer for generations to come. #fairytales #lifelessons #influencer #herosjourney #storytelling #personallearning #stories #writing

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Fluffy deception

Lies, deceit and manipulation at all costs to get what we want are the main lessons in Charles Perrault’s Puss in Boots. However the cat wanted these for his master. What are the hidden positive lessons we can learn from this tale. #fairytale #lifelessons #learning #personallearning #growth #mindfulness #gratefulness

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Sparkle like diamonds

Some lessons in fairytales are more obvious than others. The Charles Perrault fairytale The Fairies teaches us some important lessons about ourselves. #fairytale #lifelesson #learning #sparkle

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What big ears you have

All the better to hear you with. Little Red Riding Hood is dark and mysterious and its origins fascinating, but teaches us an important lesson about trusting our instincts.

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Brother and sister

In exploring the key lesson from the fairytale Brother and Sister by The Brothers Grimm, we learn about the consequences instant gratification can bring. In the moment where we can get satisfaction from what we want, we don’t often pause to think rationally about the consequences. #learning #lifelessons #lessons #gratification #fairytales #personalgrowth

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Connection

This article explores the lesson of connections we learn in the fairytale The Goose Girl and how in losing them we lose our true self.

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Our 2020 direction

It’s time for change and in 2020, Sense of Learning is planning on changing direction. We’ll explore more of life’s lessons, not just about learning generally. This post gives you an indication of the first series of posts we’re currently planning.

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The see-saw we’re on

Recently I had a psychic reading, during which I received a very strong message about the need to be aware of physical and emotional balance, the toll they can take and sometimes the need to decide whether it’s healthy for us.

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Judgy judgy

We all judge – ourselves and others. This post briefly explores how we need to activate our internal judgement filtration system to know what are valid opinions.

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Fresh out!

When you’re fresh out of ideas, what do you do? Staying fresh is something many of us struggle with. There are ways to re-energise ourselves with ideas and thoughts we want to share.

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Release…

It’s 10 years on since Black Saturday and many don’t know my story. This year I feel a great sense of release as memories are unshackled from me.

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Get the pom poms ready!

Throughout our personal and professional lives we come across mentors – people who have an impact on our growth and development. This post asks the question “are you a mentor for others?” and encourages readers to reflect about people who may be seeking their expertise as a mentor.

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Dearly beloved…

In this post we conduct a post mortem on a learning program that never got to bring behaviour change into an organisation. We look at key factors of stakeholders, organisational readiness, program design and materials.

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Why I work more like a business partner

An insight into why I choose to work as more of a business partner to strategically influence from behind the scenes how organisations define and design learning. This approach can help ensure learning is aligned to business needs and mission, and stakeholder expectations.

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Shifting ownership: facilitator vs learner led sessions

Some time ago I was having a coffee conversation with someone who was asked to facilitate a learning session on a topic they’d delivered many times before. They always chose to commence their session with some type of challenging activity; an activity that really surprised learners and left them wondering what their intentions are. The…

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Have you set your 2018 personal learning priorities?

With a New Year and many people returning to their work roles over the coming weeks, it’s timely to think about our personal learning priorities and challenges for 2018. Lots of us make New Year resolutions to address aspects of our personal lives we feel could benefit from changes or improvements; however how many of…

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Empowering L&D Teams to Perform

In a time where workplace culture is a hot topic, what do organisations need to think about to ensure their L&D teams are empowered to perform? This opinion piece starts to look at three key areas.

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The importance of personal networks

This post explores the importance of personal networks and how these networks hold the knowledge that we need. We just need to stop and think about what makes up our personal network to understand where we can go to get the answers to our questions.

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Rethinking PowerPoint – Part 2

What does the design of a PowerPoint slide for learner engagement look like? The introduction of computer (presentation) software to design and produce computer generated slides has had an influence on the way information is presented both visually and orally. Its application has even extended to being a tool used in face-to-face classroom based teaching and training. Original intentions…

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Rethinking PowerPoint – Part 1

Recently I ran a session for trainers on the use of PowerPoint for face-to-face training. It’s always interesting how many trainers tell me that “PowerPoint is for me. I use it to know where I am in my session”. The question I posed to the group was “Yes…but what do your learners think of that?” As…

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Storytelling – a way of engaging learners

Many of us already use storytelling and we may do so without recognising it. But what is it and why is it effective for learning? It’s one of the oldest forms of education, with many forms used to pass information from one generation to another. Ancient forms of storytelling took place through dance, art and…

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Shifting learning

A well-educated mind will always have more questions than answers – Helen Keller In my current role, I am becoming increasingly aware of the need to shift learning from being driven by competency requirements to the needs of the learner and embed more relevant educational theories in the process. Add to this a constant cry for…

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Welcome to Sense of Learning

During a conversation with a friend earlier in the year, it was decided that it was time to venture into the online world! It’s a little like an open sea – nothing for miles but a journey to travel and can be a little rough in patches. We purchased the domain name and stopped to reflect…

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