mental health · Tania de Jong AM

Developing Collective Intelligence and Raising Our Consciousness to Solve Wicked Problems in an Increasingly Challenging World

We are living in an increasingly challenging world – division and wars, mental illness and social isolation, climate change, economic stress, fear and uncertainty about the future … and so much more. There appears to be a complete breakdown of our social fabric; that glue which always bound us together has vanished in a sea of technology which threatens to wipe us off the planet.

We urgently need to increase our collective intelligence, raise our consciousness and build our resilience to heal individuals, families, workplaces and entire communities. It is critical to come to terms with the level of trauma in our world and ground ourselves, so that we can start to build bridges of understanding.

I work with a lot of companies and top teams globally to help build and unleash creative potential and develop a true culture of innovation and wellbeing.  Recently, some futurists said that creativity has become the most endangered species of the 21st Century. We have a broadband culture but not the creative, original and critical thought to fill it.

A global cross-sector study of 1,500 CEOs by IBM showed that in an increasingly complex and uncertain global environment the most important leadership attribute is creativity. So how do we develop our own creativity, courage, compassion and commit to changing ourselves and the structures that are no longer serving us?

Steve Jobs said: “Creativity is just about connecting things”. I’d like to suggest that those things might be all the experiences in your life up to this moment. So, the broader and richer your experience is, the more tools you’ll have in your creative toolbox for when you want or need to be creative. I believe that the best thing to unleash your creativity is what I like to call ‘positive human collisions’. That is, connecting with people on a regular basis who are different from you.

We spend most of our lives talking with, dressing like, and endorsing those who are just like us. They have similar education and backgrounds – around them we feel safe and good about ourselves.

However, I believe that our greatest gains as human beings are when we connect to people who are different, who challenge us and the way we think, who take us outside of our comfort zone. And boy, can it feel uncomfortable!

When we connect with ‘others’ outside our usual circles we may experience ‘creative abrasion’. It’s in that moment when we disagree with someone, that creativity and innovation can truly spark.

I find that taking leaders and teams out of their comfort zone increases creative thinking, trust and psychological safety, shared understanding and a stronger community. It also helps us to step into the right side of our brain.

The right hemisphere of our brain is responsible for our intuition, imagination, and all our creative functions. It connects us to a world of possibilities and all that is. The brain is like a battery; the right-side charges it and the left side uses energy and empties it. So, our goal is always to keep our mental battery charged up.

It has been estimated that we spend more than 85% of our time using the left side of our brains, being overwhelmed by facts and figures. We are literally draining our batteries and burning out. It is no wonder that loneliness and social isolation are considered the global epidemic of our era.

We talk more to boxes and screens than we do to one another. We are forgetting how to communicate with clarity and empathy, and machines are learning more quickly than we are. Many jobs are under threat.

In this environment, it becomes fundamentally important to nurture the attributes of human beings that set us apart from machines: love, compassion, empathy, kindness, caring, creativity and determination.

Democracy and capitalism are under stress … our institutions are no longer trusted and cannot keep up with the pace of change. In this rapidly changing world, we urgently need to transform our leadership, develop right-brained skills, resilience, compassion and courage. We need to align business metrics with creativity and wellbeing, find bridges between our worlds and reconnect to the unity and love which underpins all of life.

Engage Tania de Jong AM to help your team and organization step outside their comfort zone, unleash creative potential and wellbeing and outperform your competitors.

Be inspired by Tania’s short 3-minute showreel.

If the Medicine Works Shouldn’t We All Have Access to it? A Recent Poll of Australians Says Yes We Should

Written by Scott Leckie and Tania de Jong

(As published in The Daily Telegraph on 16th February 2022)

The painful COVID-era will fade but it will never be forgotten. This unanticipated period will be remembered for many things – death, suffering, economic and social disruptions and words like lockdown, iso, quarantine, social distancing, Zoom, omicron…

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A Prayer to Humanity in a Time of Crisis

As we look into the shining eyes of a child so we look back at ourselves – in all their wholeness and light.

It’s time to return, for we are all children;

And as we pass into adulthood and elderhood, we come to learn that nothing in this material world is permanent;

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I feel so sad about what Australia has become

Our politicians say things like “we are all Australians” and “we are all in this together”. We are NOT.

They hide behind secretive ‘health advice’ that has banned everything, from playgrounds to golf and sunsets, contrary to global scientific evidence. They keep children from attending school which has led to a crippling, devastating shadow pandemic of self-harm, mental illness and domestic violence. This will lead to lifetimes of suffering due to the inter-generational nature of trauma and mental illness.

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A Sad State of Affairs

(This article was originally published in the Herald Sun on October 10 2020)

I am really missing home, especially my Mum.  I miss my Melbourne; the way it was before this mess. I even miss my office and all the meetings I used to have. And I sure miss singing and connecting with audiences.

My husband and I came to NSW for a short holiday in June and here we still are, working and Zooming. Where we are, you’d never know there was a virus. People go about their lives. They go to school, bands and the beach and have friends over for parties, BBQs and dinner.  It reminds me how much I miss sharing happy times with friends and community.

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How Psilocybin-Assisted Therapy Changed My Life

From Singing to Psilocybin

I don’t drink or smoke. I’ve never taken any drugs till four years ago. Yet today, my life revolves around psychedelic medicines — heavily stigmatized substances still illegal in this country and most others across the world.

How did this happen?

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Tania de Jong performing at an event

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