'A future filled with hope' is a scenario for sharing with the world. It is a dream, a vision, and a strategy statement for a nascent life skills non-profit based in London, UK. Download, discuss, make use of it, and make it yours. The more you download this and spread the news, the more likely it will be taken up by others - that is my most desired outcome.

1. What are life skills?
A SCENARIO FOR A MORE
HOPEFUL FUTURE
Joined up thinking stretching from the inner person
to the nation and the world
Desiderata
©THE LIFE SKILLS
INSTITUTE, LONDON

2. Go placidly amid the noise and haste..
and remember what peace there may be
in silence
BUT . . .In the silence we hear our minds
and the noise and haste of the world can be as nothing
in the face of a storm of actions, intentions
anger, fears and ‘rehearsals’ of the past
which works its havoc inside

3. The Life Skills Institute would aim to teach
self awareness using the mindfulness
method . . .
But it makes no promises other than say that there is
the possibility of change from within,
so that one can indeed speak one’s truth
quietly and clearly

4. ‘Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time’
OTHER THAN MINDFULNESS BASED SELF-AWARENESS AND SELF-
REGULATION, WHAT ELSE COULD BE IN THE LIFE SKILLS
CURRICULUM ?
WE THINK THREE COMPREHENSIVE FRAMEWORKS AND
CONCEPTS
TOOLS TO BUILD PICTURES OF THE WORLD
WHICH MAKE SENSE OF IT
IN USEFUL WAYS

5. Someone needs to put social media into context
– a course which give you fifteen rules of this
arena, which might help you to map its influence
WHAT MAKES US MORE ‘HAPPILY
EMPLOYABLE’ ?
Money and how it flows from your purse into
the economy, and back again should have a
framework – else money stays a ‘ vague worry’
‘People are scary’ – without global cultural
education this fear will persist and spread – we
need knowledge of ‘world views’

6. Appreciating the
CORE SIMILARITIES IN CULTURAL
CONCEPTS
Gaining knowledge of world cultures should
be a core part of modern life skills education
In order to meet the needs of a diverse
younger population, increasingly likely to
originate from outside Western Europe (look
at our demographics – another set of slides):

7. LIFE SKILLS MODULES WOULD NOT BE
‘BEHAVIOUR CHANGING’ STRATEGIES,
THOUGH THAT IS WHAT THEY MIGHT
WELL ACHIEVE IN THE LONGER RUN
WE AIM TO FOCUS ON PEOPLE
MAKING MORE INFORMED
CHOICES on the basis of NEWLY
PRESENTED KNOWLEDGE
FRAMEWORKS AND SKILLS

8. LIFE SKILLS MODULES WOULD HAVE A
CLEAR KNOWLEDGE OR SKILL
COMPONENT, WITH MEASURABLE
OUTCOMES
PILOT STUDIES WOULD
HOPEFULLY DEMONSTRATE
WHAT NEW INFORMATION
LEADS TO THE OPENING UP OF
WHICH NEW POSSIBLE CHOICES

9. LIFE SKILLS MODULES WOULD LAY
EMPHASIS ON ‘JOINED UP
THINKING’
Links would be made between past actions, present social,
political, and ecological realities and alternative futures.
Greater emphasis is needed on studies designed to
improve students’ (young adults and senior managers)
ability to see that our individual present choices are linked
to possible alternative collective futures.
The world is full of gates which open or shut when we
make personal choices. Not acting is a choice.
Staying authentic : This is how the Life Skills Institute was born – our original page of ‘joined up thinking’

10. Why this is important to Western Society,
and to Companies in particular

11. • Western society is over borrowed (EU, USA)
• Its population (affluent) is ageing, with fewer
births, projecting a worker deficit in short order
• Life skills education is a good way forward to
ensure that withdrawal of social benefits (to
reduce government borrowing) is replaced by
timely and widespread ‘Emotional education’

12. WHY SHOULD COMMUNITY LEADERS
AND POLITICIANS WELCOME LIFE
SKILLS EDUCATION ?
A LACK OF THESE SKILLS COSTS THE
TAXPAYER (BORROWED) MONEY –
WHILST WITHDRAWING FUNDING
FROM PUBLIC SECTOR BUDGETS,
THERE IS A STRONG CASE FOR
PROVIDING THE EDUCTION WHICH
WOULD in the long run OBVIATE THE
NEED FOR THIS SPENDING TO
BE RE-INTRODUCED.

13. LIKELY SOCIAL IMPACT OF TEACHING
THAT SOME CORE CONCEPTS ARE THE
COMMON ‘STONE’ ON WHICH ALL
RELIGIONS AND CULTURES REST
These are common to all cultures and systems of thinking
‘Be yourself. Especially do not feign affection. Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment it is as perennial as the grass.
Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of
youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.’
FINDING COMMON GROUND COMBATS EXTREMISM AND
PROMOTES TOLERANCE IN THOUGHT AND WORD AND DEED
AND PERHAPS EVEN LEADS TO FEWER THINGS LEFT UNDONE.

14. WHY WOULD REGIONAL
GOVERNMENTS SPONSOR LIFE
SKILLS TRAINING ?
A BETTER SET OF CORE LIFE SKILLS
WITHIN THE POPULATION MAKES FOR
A MORE INFORMED POPULATION
MORE ENGAGED, ADAPTABLE, CREATIVE
HAVING SHARED VALUES ACROSS A
DIVERSE RANGE OF CULTURES

15. WHY WOULD COMPANIES
SPONSOR LIFE SKILLS TRAINING ?
Companies across all industries facing skills
shortages can create shared value by
sourcing and training the employees they need to
grow their business.
A set of clearly transferable skills, consisting of a
high standard of WHAT WE ARE CALLING
CORE LIFE SKILLS is a good starting point

16. WE THINK EMPLOYERS BIG AND
SMALL SHOULD BE INVOLVED AT
THE OUTSET IN PROVIDING LIFE
SKILLS EDUCATION
PILOT STUDIES IN WHICH EMPLOYERS
HAVE PARTICIPATED WILL CARRY MORE
CREDIBILITY FOR PUBLIC SECTOR
FUNDING, AND THE FRONT RUNNER
EMPLOYERS WOULD BENEFIT FIRST.

17. Why should IT
companies be keen to
promote Life Skills
Training right now ?
Because their business models ARE CAPABLE OF
BEING UNDERMINED/DISCREDITED.
As their model unbundles, they need to be able to
demonstrate that the data they collect is not just
being used for advertising ‘appropriate’ goods and
services to an individual, but also becoming the
catalyst for making positive social change
Help in education and improvement in personal
skills would be a huge ‘perceived good’ amongst
consumers of these advertised products.
Apple differentiates itself from the ‘free
access business model’ cultures :

18. HERE IS TIM BERNERS LEE, the man who
invented the internet, RECENTLY ON THE
SUBJECT OF THOSE WHO USE BIG DATA
TO TRACK US
“In general … if you put together all that data, from my wearable,
my house, from other companies like the credit card company and
the banks, from all the social networks, I can give my computer a
good view of my life, and I can use that.
That information is more valuable to me than it is to the cloud.”
“We turn tracking around: …
make tracking something that we
do to the people who use our
data.” Berners Lee on October 7,
2014, UK.
THIS IS NOT FAR OFF,
UNLESS THE PEOPLE WHO
USE OUR DATA
VOLUNTARILY LETS US
HAVE ACCESS TO IT, FOR
PERSONAL INSIGHTS INTO
OUR BEHAVIOURS, AND
INDICATIONS OF WHAT
WE NEED TO LEARN TO
GROW AND DEVELOP.

19. Why does the IT industry have a huge
in-built advantage IN ADDRESSING
LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION?
It has the capability for BUILDING
PLATFORMS DESIGNED FOR PERSONAL
DEVELOPMENT.
ENABLING individuals to make INFORMED CHOICES
THROUGH PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY . . .
NOT JUST BEING CONSUMERS OF ‘SOCIAL
SERVICES’ – and TIME LIMITED INTERVENTIONS

20. HOW MIGHT WE ENVISAGE
THIS LEARNING WILL
CONTINUE OVER 10-20 YEARS ?
THE ADDITION OF CRITICAL THINKING AND
SELF RELIANCE STRATEGIES – BACKED UP
WITH COMMUNICATION MODELS
(COLLABORATIONS AND PEER MENTORING)
WHICH DELIVER REAL CONTACT THROUGH
A SENSE OF PERSONAL CONNECTION –
NATIONALLY AND INTERNATIONALLY –
WITH AGREEMENT FROM BOTH PARTIES.
STARTING FROM A POSITION OF INFORMED
AND VOLUNTARY PARTICIPATION.

21. WHAT DO WE HOPE WILL BE THE RESULT
OF HAVING A LIFE SKILLS EDUCATION
PROVISION IN EUROPE AND THE USA?
PERSONAL CHANGES
CHANGES WITHIN FAMILIES
SOCIETAL CHANGES
INSTITUTIONAL CHANGES – OVER TIME
A MORE ADVANCED, SELF RELIANT WORKFORCE,
FAMILIES WITH A COMMON CORE OF
KNOWLEDGE, SKILLS AND EXPECTATIONS OF
CIVIL SOCIETY

22. THIS IS HOW THE UN IS THINKING
ABOUT THE LONG TERM FUTURE
OF EDUCATION
HERE AT THE LIFE SKILLS INSTITUTE
WE THINK THIS VISION IS ACTUALLY HELPFUL . .
WE WANT TO BE INTRODUCING NEW FRAMEWORKS
TO A WAITING POPULATION -
EAGER, AND POTENTIALLY UPWARDLY MOBILE,
CLOSING THE PROVISION AND OPPORTUNITY GAPS
WITHIN NATIONS AND BETWEEN NATIONS

23. IS THERE A RACE ON ?
WE THINK SO !
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK
SHOULD WE AIM TO LEAD IN THIS FIELD?
DO CONTACT US, and let us know YOUR VIEWS
You will find THE LIFE SKILLS INSTITUTE at : SREELA(AT)GILLEV.COM just for now
WE ARE IN THE PROCESS OF BUILDING A WEBSITE