The Moose Will Provide

Johnnie Moore

Johnnie Moore

I’m Johnnie Moore, and I help people work better together

I’ve been meaning to say this for some time.

The final provocation is the setting of New Year’s Resolutions something I don’t do. I’m more River than Goal you see. Just my preference, by the way, not a criticism of those who like goal setting.

Anyway, I have lately found that it is more interesting to believe that The Moose Will Provide

This wisdom comes from the Loose Moose Improv School in Canada. No, I haven’t been (yet) but I know a woman who has.

In Improv drama, there’s no script and you have to make the scenes up as you go along. Much like life, at least life at its most vivid.

So in Improv training, you learn to stick yourself into situations and trust that the line will come to you. You might tag a player in a game of Freeze Tag. You have to assume her physical posture from the scene, and say a new line that changes the scene. If you want a challenge, you take the position on stage before thinking of your line.

In Calgary, you get lots of practice at this, developing increasing trust that The Moose Will Provide.

For me, that faith has to have a certain spirit behind it to work. It’s not a licence for recklessness (As in, “Captain, did you put any fuel in the plane?”, “Oh, the Moose Will Provide”). With that caveat, I’d like to put more faith in the Moose and do a little less anxiety about the future.

Or does that count as a New Year’s Resolution?

Share Post

More Posts

Singing on the subway

What I learned singing to strangers on the subway, and why emotional connections matters even more in a hi-tech era.

Bunny Bunny

A funny game illustrates what we may be missing in many of our meetings

Leading from the clown

I shot this in a single eight-minute take, which is in the spirit of an experience of Ralf Wetzel’s workshop, Leading from the Clown. Clown training is probably the deepest and most challenging work I’ve done. Enjoy.

Noticing

The power of small gestures and noticing

More Updates

Emotional debt

Releasing the hidden costs of pent up frustrations

Aliveness

Finding the aliveness below the surface of stuck

Johnnie Moore

Measuring

I think Matt’s post on measuring the complex is a nice example of a simple idea lightly held.

a silhouette of a dancer, mid air, kicking one leg out and with arms outstretched

What is talent?

The improv guru Viola Spolin offered a provocative idea of what talent really is

Johnnie Moore

The language of facilitation

Last week I recorded a conversation with Tom Guarriello and Andrew Rixon about the language of facilitation. This was prompted by the research Andrew has published on this subject. It’s

Johnnie Moore

The perils of plenitude

Chris Lawer blogs on plenitude in response to reading the latest from Kalle Lasn of Adbusters. Lasn describes plenitude: While most people tend to associate suffering with scarcity and deprivation