Future Outlook – Seeding Our Future

Ruminating on the 2020s

Guest blog by Palden Jenkins Here are my thoughts on the next ten years and beyond. There’s a combination of a historian, futurologist, astrologer and seasoned observer coming through here, and long hours in bed have meant a lot of time to ruminate on these things. I think the 2020s are going to be both … Read more

Carbots, carebots, therabots and more…

Coming to your life soon Whilst robots and artificial intelligence are just one of a swathe of major technologies which will impact our lives in the next 10 years, I’ve chosen to focus on them because they are likely to be one of the most visible and unavoidable big changes on the technology front. Here … Read more

Superintelligence: Paths, Dangers, Strategies by Nick Bostrom

A Big Picture look at the impacts of AI I am hesitant to recommend people to read this book: if you already find the future scary and complex, be warned that this book explores some of the more extreme elements of that future. However, if you are feeling robust, it is well worth reading through … Read more

A hopeful dream of 2030: The National Elf Service

Resilient Futures Blo In December 2029, the UK’s National Health Service shut down permanently, without any protest. It had been replaced by the free of charge, private sector National Elf Service, now emulated across the globe. Central to the NES is the personal Elf app which everyone has on their mobile phone. This monitors its … Read more

Right-wing chaos: control through fear

Naomi Klein’s 2018 book, No is not enough: defeating the new shock politics, is the most lucid, convincing, and alarming account I’ve seen yet of what Donald Trump is really about, and much of it is relevant to the numerous other right-wing leaders gaining power in these chaotic times. She’s clearly right that Trump excels … Read more

Technology Power: for whose benefit?

Pragmatic ways to mitigate the downsides Guest blog by Jeremy Green and Fred Barker As part of Alan’s Scanning our Future project, Jeremy Green and Fred Barker were commissioned to research the potential UK future impacts of new technologies over the next 15 years. This blog is a summary of some of their conclusions. Some … Read more

Community Woodlands in Scotland: a tool for social regeneration

Comparing the community woodland sector North and South of the border is sad and striking – from down here. Scotland has over 250 community woodlands, with an umbrella organisation, and national government support. In England, there are a diverse scattering of projects, but some of the big ones (such as Avon) have fizzled out as … Read more

How Everything Can Collapse: by Servigne and Stevens

If you want to understand how our future could unravel… I highly recommend this book: it will give you a clear sense of why societies might well collapse, what that could look like, and to some extent how we could prepare for this, or adapt if it happens. Originally written in French, the book has an engaging tone of voice, despite … Read more

Looking back from 2042

Coronavirus was just the start… I was just 12 back in 2020 when the First Plague happened. What’s strange looking back is that everybody thought this was just a terrible one-off crisis. At first, they told us the lockdowns would be a few weeks, but actually in the UK it was thirteen months before they … Read more

Six big questions for our times

and some ways to explore answers Have you ever had the experience of wandering, lost in the mist, and emerging to find you’re at a vantage point where you can see at least broadly where you are, and where you want to go? That’s the place I’ve reached recently, and I’m sharing my perspectives in the hope that … Read more

Current Events

Grow your own Happiness

60-90-minute online workshop Cultivate your wellbeing with gardening skills! Available for group bookingsWith Alan Heeks In these stormy times, we need new skills to stay happy. A cultivated ecosystem, like a garden, is a role model for human nature: this workshop shows how gardening methods can help you grow your own happiness and deepen the roots of your resilience. For example: Mulching and pruning to nourish your rootsComposting stress as a source of energyUse gardening skills like observation and creativityFind new ways to adapt to the climate crisisDraw inspiration from Nature to guide you in uncertainty Alan Heeks has over 25 years of experience exploring Natural Happiness with groups. It grows from creating a 130-acre organic farm and education centre at Magdalen Farm in West Dorset, and from gardening with his wife at home. In this online workshop, Alan will describe the Seven Seeds of Natural Happiness, and participants will have a chance to try some of them out. Alan is happy to take bookings for this event from environmental, community and other groups, at a time of their choosing for a moderate fee by negotiation. CONTACT LINK

July 9-11 2021: at Hazel Hill Wood, near Salisbury With Alan Heeks, Jane Sanders and Marcos Frangos How can you stay happy when there’s too much change and uncertainty? This workshop shows you how: to cultivate yourself like a garden, and grow your own wellbeing by learning from natural ecosystems, using Alan’s unique Natural Happiness model. In this workshop we’ll explore these questions, with the natural ecosystem of this magical wood as our guide. Our methods will include: nourishing our roots; composting problems; using co-creative skills to work with nature; growing inspiration; and ecosystem insights about community. Along with workshop sessions, there will be solo times in the wood, plus good food, campfires and songs to nourish us. This will be a residential group at Hazel Hill Wood: if Covid restrictions prevent this, it will be run with a series of online sessions with personal time in between. We will explore how to grow resilience for individuals and communities, especially in response to the climate crisis and the related pandemic. If you are interested in using this model in your professional work with individuals or groups, Alan will be happy to offer you advice and support: the content of this workshop relates to his fourth book, which is planned for publication in late 2021. Alan Heeks has been exploring resilience with people and nature for many years, and has led many groups on this theme, drawing on experience of resilient natural systems from creating an organic farm and setting up Hazel Hill. Jane Sanders has over 25 years’ experience in working with a mindfulness based approach to wellbeing with groups and individuals, and has also incorporated deep ecology, ecopsychology and the wisdom of natural systems into her work in many different settings, including numerous groups at Hazel Hill Wood. Marcos Frangos is widely experienced in group facilitation, coaching, counselling and constellations work. He was General Manager of Hazel Hill Wood for 5 years, and has co- led many groups there with Jane and Alan. Cost including food and accommodation: £220, concessions £180. We will share cooking and other community tasks. To secure a place, we will need a deposit of £40, £30 for concessions: if, nearer the time we have to run this as an event online event, your deposit will cover the cost of this, or you can receive a full refund. Hazel Hill is a magical 70-acre conservation woodland and retreat centre, 7 miles from Salisbury. It has simple, yet beautifully crafted off-grid wooden buildings with lovely indoor and outdoor group spaces, basic accommodation in bedrooms and sleeping lofts (or camping), good hot showers and compost loos. See more at www.hazelhill.org.uk For bookings and enquiries: Please contact Carol Nourse via email on: naturalhappinesscontact@gmail.com

Featured Blog

What is Post-Traumatic Growth? By Miriam Akhtar

The title may sound heavy-duty, but this excellent short book should be relevant for a lot of people. Miriam’s list of what can cause trauma is very inclusive, and her book is an easily accessible introduction to a range of wellbeing and resilience methods. The whole book is only 140 pages, with five chapters. It explains what trauma is, and the symptoms of post-traumatic stress. Although we hear a lot about PTSD, Miriam cites research showing that most people handle trauma positively and grow through it. The idea of post-traumatic growth (PTG) is a new one, which became prominent after the 9/11 attacks. She lists five main areas in which such growth occurs: • Personal strength• Closer relationships• Greater appreciation for life• New possibilities• Spiritual development The distinction between assimilation and accommodation is a very useful one, beautifully explained by the ‘shattered vase’ metaphor, created by Professor Stephen Joseph. Imagine a lovely piece of porcelain falling and breaking into pieces. If you pick up the pieces and very carefully stick them back together, the vase may end up looking more or less like it did before, but the truth is that it will be weaker, held together with glue or sticking tape, and will be more likely to break again or to leak. This is assimilation. You and your life may look the same but in reality you are much more fragile. If, on the other hand, you choose to collect all the pieces and make something new out of them such as a beautiful mosaic, the end result will be something unique and valuable in its own right. Something new has emerged from the old. This is accommodation. You will look and feel different but will be stronger as a result of accepting and working with the new reality. Chapters 3-5 are a very useful overview to a wide range of specific processes you can use to grow through major challenges, such as CBT and mindfulness, with a good list of websites and books to explore more fully. What is Post-Traumatic Growth is published by Watkins Publishing ISBN 978-1780289793.