 Artwork by Jaine Rose Once again day and night, light and dark are equal, reminding us to find the balanced edge of equilibrium between our outer and inner selves. Autumn equinox marks the final end of the outer growth cycle. It’s a time of change with high tides, wild changeable weather and wild uncertainties as we plan what to do next. The shorter, colder days and colder, longer nights affect these decisions. We recognise this as a transition point, an opportunity for a new set of possibilities and the opportunity to grow in new ways. We take all we have learnt during the spring and summer and transform them by taking them with us. We walk the outer ways and walk the inner way, and aim to flow in poise and balance in the wild edges in between. Glennie Kindred – Letting in the Wild Edges Today is the Autumn Equinox here in the Northern Hemisphere and Ive decided to use the energies and characteristics of this Earth Festival to start a design that hopefully others will also be able to take inspiration from focusing on creating and maintaining balance in our lives. I've had a few months away from the focus of my work as a permaculture designer and practitioner, so it feels a great way to get back involved with documenting my reflections again. Im using OBRADIMET (Observe, Boundaries, Resources, Analyse, Decisions, Implement, Maintain, Evaluate, Tweak), as a Design Process as its one that fits well with some of my initial ideas before I start considering the details. Observe What areas of my life feel in balance at the moment? Work, play, Right Livelihood, physical health, emotional health, energy levels, spiritual connections, what I give, what I receive, ….. What don’t feel in balance? What does balance feel/look like to me? What does out of balance look/feel like to me? Boundaries What actual or potential boundaries are in my life which create unwanted imbalances for me? What positive boundaries/edges do I have in my life which will help keep the balances I create? Resources What kind of resources do I have now that help create positive balance in my life? What resources do I need to seek out? Are there resources I have identified since the spring equinox, over the summer, that can be useful? People, knowledge, time, finances, skills, work, experiences, patterns, ideas ….. Analyse How does all the information I have gained so far in the design connect and influence each other? What are the functions of the design? Which permaculture principles can help with guiding my design ? I have decided to focus on the Principles created by David Holmgren for this design How do the permaculture ethics of people care, earth care and fairshares help shape how I will create and improve balance in my life? Decisions From my evaluation what decisions have I come up with my design? Implement How am I going to implement my decisions? What realistic timescale will I use? Maintain, Evaluate and Tweak How will I maintain the momentum of my decisions? How will I make sure that any tweaks made to the design, after evaluation, are then included in the implementation plan? Connections to other designs in my life, aim to mini -evaluate at every full moon and then big evaluation at the Spring Equinox... Tools and Resources Initial thoughts about design tools and resources I aim to use in this design Input/output analysis Web of connections Zoning (life/people focused) SWOC (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Constraints) Mindmaps Flow Diagram For more detail and ideas about tools used in permaculture design see Aranya's excellent book Permaculture Design - A Step By Step Guide Gaiacraft Learning and Teaching Tools - to help explore and identify permaculture principles in a creative way Letting in the Wild Edges by Glennie Kindred Nicole Vosper's entire series of blog posts on Overcoming Burnout will also be a major resource contribution to this design.
So here we are, a basic framework for a design I am currently working on inspired by the timing of the Autumn Equinox and my return to deeper focus on my permaculture work and development. Please contact me if you would like support from me either in my role as a Diploma (in Applied Permaculture Design) Tutor, or as a mentor/coach, with a similar design.
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This week is Dying Matters Awareness week in the UK - a big diverse event with many people and organisations holding events to promote awareness about subjects relating the death and dying. I decided a few months ago that this week would be my goal for launching the zone 3-5 phase of a design, Designing Dying, I started about 4 years ago as part of my Diploma in Applied Permaculture Design.
I started the latest phase of the design, now called "Creative Dying" by using a different design process (The Design Web by Looby Macnamara) to explore the design at a new level. I presented my experience of doing this at the National Diploma Gathering earlier this month. Creative Dying is a website and coaching/workshop business which aims to support people - at any time of their life - to plan and design the death they would like. It is focused at anyone who would like to explore the creative, positive and unique approaches that we can take to considering the end of our lives and how we die. Creative Dying uses permaculture design at its centre and will appeal to the many people throughout the world already using permaculture to increase resilience and healing in other aspects of their life and work. Im really passionate about the journey of this design for many reasons, and will be writing regular updates about its progress and hopefully success here. creativedying.co.uk Creative Dying on Facebook Creative Dying on Twitter |
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December 2020
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