Noticing Your Brakes and Loosening Them — The Possible World Experience, Looking Beyond the 2030 SDGs Game
Introduction
Whether you have experienced the 2030 SDGs Game or have yet to encounter it, I'd like to write a little here about the possibilities that lie beyond that experience.
What P-Lab aims for is a world with more people who live their own one-of-a-kind possibilities.
Possible World, which we offer, is an experiential space for exactly that.
Possible World was born from the game design of the 2030 SDGs Game by Imacoco Lab. Watching the state of the world through three meters — economy, environment, and society — participants, each with their own goals, make their own choices, take action, and create the world together through their interactions. We inherit this backbone from the 2030 SDGs Game.
On top of that, what Possible World focuses on is each one of us and our "mindset" — in other words, our awareness. Notice your own brakes and frames, and try loosening them a little. Feel, with your whole body, the possibilities that come into view.
So what, exactly, is the Possible World experience? Drawing on everything we have experienced so far, including our in-person sessions this summer and autumn, I'd like to share it with you.
The Possible World Experience — Meeting Your Real Self in a Virtual World
The purpose of Possible World is, in fact, neither to gain knowledge about the SDGs nor to learn about the work of the United Nations.
This experience takes place in a virtual world — in other words, a simulation. Yet what moves inside it is your very real body, mind, and emotions. You pursue your goals in the virtual world, interact with others, and watch the state of the world change. And in the process, it is almost funny how we react just as we do in daily life, almost entirely without realizing it.
Your hands stop.
You hold back and freeze.
You swallow what you wanted to say.
You focus so hard on your own goal that you lose sight of everything around you.
Possible World is a place that lets you experience all of this in a safe setting.
And after you notice your brakes and frames, you try loosening them, just a little. What comes into view then? You check it not with your head but with your body. The possibility that appears there settles deep in your gut (in Japanese, hara-ochi 肚落ち). This is the most important part of the experience.
In other words, this experience is not confined to the theme of the SDGs. It is open to leadership, teams, organizations, and to all kinds of lives.
Noticing the Brakes
Frames are something we built to protect ourselves
We build frames, without realizing it, to protect ourselves.
So that we don't fail.
So that we don't get hurt.
So that we don't cause trouble for others.
Yes, frames have real meaning. But it is also true that, at times, those same frames narrow our possibilities.
In a past Japanese-language session, participants noticed that the very condition for joining — "only people with a PC setup can take part" — was itself a frame (Part 1). This is exactly the moment when something we took for granted turns out to be a frame we ourselves had put in place. And the "bird's-eye view" of an observer watching from outside reflected back what the people inside could not see. That is how frames work: when you are inside them, they are hard to see. So they only become visible when you experience them as your own.
Our mental habits show up as the shape of the world
In one English-language session (Part 2), we connected five countries: Singapore, Brunei, Taiwan, Australia, and Japan. Under an uncertain rule — "we don't know when it will end" — participants came face to face with their own mental habits.
Some people over-focused on their own goals.
Some people held back and froze.
As a result, only the economy grew to an extreme, while the environment and society were left behind — a "concentration of wealth" that appeared just as it does in reality.
Our own mental habits appear right in front of us as the shape of the world itself. It is a powerful experience.
Loosening
Words move awareness, and the world begins to move
In that same session, through dialogue, the words "Let's start a Green Snowball" (a snowball effect for good, in green) came into being. Because someone put it into words, the world began to move. The words reached the awareness of the people in the room, and in the following rounds the environment meter improved visibly. The lesson from the game — "awareness and words can change the world" — is an insight that is fully powerful outside the game as well, in the real world.
From give-and-take to offer-and-receive
When frames loosen, the quality of relationships changes. In a Japanese-language session, there was a shift from a world of give-and-take, where we expect something in return, to a world of offer-and-receive, where unconditional kindness circulates. At first, some participants felt uneasy about unconditional kindness. But as they shared resources through dialogue, their awareness transformed toward the sense that a world in which the economy, environment, and society were all in balance was "everyone's world."
Rather than fitting ourselves into a "correct" mold, the balance that arises from each person's pure inner wish brings genuine impact to the world. That is how we feel about it.
In real work and organizations, too, aren't there rules you accept as "just the way things are"? Yet they may in fact be rewritable. In Possible World, a sense often arises that "the rules in front of us are only premises we ourselves created." The idea that rewriting the rules draws people in (in Japanese) is also born from this experience.
Not removing the brakes, but opening up space (yohaku 余白)
"Loosening our frames" is not the simple idea that it would be better to have no brakes at all. What we want to value is yohaku — the open space, the room to breathe.
In our modern world, which demands efficiency and results, we tend to assign tasks without a gap, like puzzle pieces. But roles defined too clearly, as a "division of labor," can sometimes create a "division between people." This overlaps with my own experience at a family camp, out of reach of any cell signal. From an "undefined" space, where roles were not clearly set, an organic movement arose: each person looked at the whole and spontaneously lent a hand (Between White and Black: Yohaku).
In Possible World sessions, too, we have seen that when yohaku — known in Japan as tacit knowledge — meets the clarity of low-context logic, a rich space and time opens up. Inviting a "pause" into dialogue can become a powerful source of synergy in global co-creation (Yohaku x Logic = Global Synergy).
What We Saw in Person
This summer and autumn, we held in-person Possible World sessions with physical cards: in Fuchu, Tokyo (report), in Osaka (report), in Kamata, Tokyo (report), and a private gathering in Izu. When people gather in the same space, brakes and frames rise up as the atmosphere of the room itself. Here are three things that came into view.
Noticing something does not automatically mean we change.
Even after a reflection and moving on to the next round, we sometimes end up with a similar world again. More people achieve their individual goals, yet the world as a whole does not change the way we imagined.
Being able to experience this kind of "fog" was itself a valuable insight. (I'll avoid going into detail, but this is in fact connected to the design of the original game.)
A world with better numbers is not the same as a world where everyone feels enriched.
Even in a world where every meter was in a healthy state, there were people who felt left behind and people whose voices did not reach. An insight emerged: "People flow toward the louder voices." It is a question that reaches even the SDGs' own indicators.
The possibilities of a world change with the people in the room, and how they relate to one another.
With the same cards and the same rules, the moment the Host handed the space over to the participants, a quiet switch sometimes turned on among them. "This world is up to us." From limited conditions, unlimited possibilities are born.
Bringing It Back to Daily Life — From "I Can't" to "How Can I?"
The loosening you experience in the game becomes your own strength only when it connects to daily life. To "live your own one-of-a-kind possibilities" is not such a grand thing; I think it is about creating this loosening in our everyday choices.
Let me share one experience of my own. My 17-year-old daughter, who had just gotten her driver's license, told me, "I want to drive by myself to a nature park 50 km from home." As a parent I felt anxious, and I was tempted to say, "It's dangerous, so no." But that could also mean cutting off the bud of her possibilities. When our negotiation reached a standstill, we let go of "pushing through my own opinion," and I asked, "With going as the goal, how can we take care of both of our feelings?" Then I waited, in silence, for her own realization. From there, a dialogue was born in which each of us understood the other's intention deep in the gut (article).
From "I can't" to "how can I?" Letting go of judgment and sharing what we truly want. The loosening you experience in Possible World can happen at home and at work in just the same way.
Even If It Fades, Come Back — Why It's Worth Experiencing Again and Again
Even if you have a real "insight" during the experience, even if it "settles in your gut," living amid the noise of daily life can make it gradually fade.
So when that happens, please come and do this simulation again.
And each time you come, your insights will surely be different. Because the people creating the world with you are different. And your own awareness and state at that moment are different.
Even with the same cards and the same rules, something different comes into view each time.
That is why P-Lab wants to make good use of the online version, where people can gather easily and casually. Of course, we will continue to cherish, just as before, the warmth and texture of meeting in person. Making the most of the strengths of both online and in-person, we will keep opening a space you can return to as many times as you like.
The Frames of the One Who Opens the Space — The Way of the Host
Those who create the space have frames, too.
I want everyone to go home satisfied.
I don't want to leave anyone confused.
I have to guide it well.
Those wishes are, at times, also our own ego. I myself have felt remorse, within a limited 90 minutes, over participants who went home carrying confusion (and, honestly, it has been more than once or twice). Yet, contrary to my worry, the participants took hold of their own insights out of the chaos (In Praise of Incompleteness).
In a workshop with 25 high school students from Australia and Japan, that change was clearly visible (Detailed observation and analysis report). At first, the students felt powerless before a complex world and rarely spoke up. When the person opening the space let go of intervening and, as the "Host," held the yohaku, a quiet change began inside them. The process of loosening their own frames and restoring harmony to the world taught us that "any world depends on our mindset and our actions."
In Possible World, we call the person who opens the space the "Host." Not someone who runs the process and steers toward an expected outcome, but someone who protects the yohaku and entrusts that living space to the participants. When the Host loosens their own frames, it creates a space in which the participants' frames can loosen, too.
We hosts and facilitators are also human beings; we have insights every day, and we grow. That is why the Possible World experience, too, keeps evolving together with the people who hold the space.
To the 2030 SDGs Game Facilitators
Facilitators of the 2030 SDGs Game already have the ability to convey how the world works as an experience, and experience in moving a room. A facilitator joined our Osaka session as well.
To all of you, we would like you to experience Possible World first "as a participant." Even though it is a game with the same backbone, we believe you will truly feel how your view widens just by shifting the focus to "mindset." And you will meet your own frames, ones that differ from those you meet when standing in front of a room as a facilitator.
And if you would like to explore the possibilities of online, not only of in-person sessions, there is also the option of becoming a Possible World Host (how to become a Possible World Game Host).
Where This Experience Can Be Used
Possible World can be put to work in settings such as:
Leadership training: how do I choose, and how do I engage, when there is no right answer?
Team building: the ability to see the whole and move, beyond roles and positions
Mindset shift and consciousness-transformation programs: an experience of noticing and loosening your own frames
Cultivating a sustainability mindset: not knowledge, but a felt sense that settles in the gut as your own
"Making it personal" programs: feeling the link between the state of the world and your own actions
Beyond...
The Possible World experience is one in which, in a virtual world, you notice your own brakes and frames, loosen them, and
"Ah — this world is up to us."
settles deep in your gut. From there, possibilities open up in leadership, in teams, in organizations, and in life.
What P-Lab hopes for is that, through this experience, people who live their own one-of-a-kind possibilities will increase, one person at a time. We believe that each person's shift will lead to a transformation of the world, and in the end, to world peace.
If you have experienced the 2030 SDGs Game, try recalling the "fog" and the moment your hands stopped in that game. Your frame may be right there. If you have not yet experienced it, imagine: where would my hands stop?
Possible World is the place to experience what lies "beyond." Please come and join us, just once.
And when you feel it fading in the course of daily life, come back as many times as you like.
You can check upcoming events/sessions at the link below.
