Noticing is about other people, too. The Icebreaker series aims to help with that. There’s a central collection spot for all the icebreakers to date, here. || There’s also an Icebreaker Slack app, here. (Back story on that here.)
This week’s icebreaker is from Being Hear, a “book about being present and listening,” from designer Scott Boms:
Do you believe in destiny, or in the power of free will?
Scott sent me Being Hear way back in 2019, recognizing the many ways its themes overlapped with The Art of Noticing book and newsletter. Beautifully illustrated by Fuchsia MacAree (see below), it includes essays and meditations and exercises from multiple contributors, and it’s all very enjoyable and thoughtful. One of my favorite sections is a big set of “questions to get to know someone,” divided into two groups – starter questions, and “deeper” questions.
This one is my favorite of the “deeper” set. It’s something I think about a lot. There’s an awful lot of compelling evidence that there is no free will, but I continue to believe in it anyway. I guess that’s a form of faith. What about you?
Check out more of Scott’s terrific work, here. Very belated but very sincere thanks for Being Hear, Scott!
Fuchsia MacAree illlustrations
As usual, I’m still working through the backlog of icebreaker submissions. But as always, I want more:
Send your favorite icebreaker (whether you made it up or found it elsewhere) to consumed@robwalker.net
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It's a fun topic of conversation, but maybe you hang out with higher-brow people than I do — I don't think destiny vs. free will would get me very far in my crowd. But you know what? I'm going to to give it a try, now that I'm attending social functions once again...
I believe that BOTH Destiny and Free Will are part of our lives.
Some examples of Destiny:
When and where we are born.
What family we are born into.
Our DNA/ Phyiscal Characteristics.
Our gender, race, intelligence, etc.
Some examples of Free Will:
We choose who we love, what we think, how hard we work, how we act and react, etc.
Note to Rob and Josh: Come visit me some time on The Island of Misfit Toys and bring your peers! You will fit right in!😊