positive change – Seeding Our Future

An ET view of earth

The Only Planet of Choice: book blog Are the mysteries of life on earth explainable from other planets? Someone once said, when you try to understand a situation, start with the probable, move on to the unlikely, and if need be, look at the almost incredible. This book may feel to you as if it … Read more

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
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NATURAL HAPPINESS: cultivate your resilience with the Gardener’s Way

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
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Resource Toolkit: Personal Energy Audit

This can be a powerful process to help you understand your sources and uses of physical, emotional, mental and inspirational energy. Gardeners and farmers manage the energy mix for their land, and you can do this for your personal ecosystem. Asking yourself “How’s my energy?” may be too loose to be useful. When professionals assess the sustainability and resilience of many systems, they use an energy audit. This lays out the sources of energy, the processes which use it, and the outputs of the system. These audits are used for ecosystems, and also in designing buildings or whole communities. I’ve adapted this idea to create a Personal Energy Audit, to help you see where your energy comes from, and how it’s used. Most energy audits are calculated with measurable units like kilowatts: this one relies on your estimates approach. Use the checklist below to assess the main energy inflows and outflows in your life and work. The processes in which you use energy should be considered as outflows. The items listed are not meant to be comprehensive: space is provided to add other items that are significant to you. For each one, rate its importance on a scale of 0 (low energy flow) to 10 (highly important, major energy flow). As you go through, put an asterisk in the Review Priority column for items you feel need urgent consideration. Remember that some items may be both a source and use of energy. Initially, do these ratings for your current lifestyle and way of working: then you may wish to do the exercise again, to see how much impact a different approach would have. Also, remember that outflows include those that are desirable, and those that ‘waste’ your energy. The Energy Audit Use this checklist to assess the main energy inflows and outflows in your work and life generally: rate each item from 0 (unimportant) to 10 (very important). Use the third column to asterisk priorities for further review. Download audit chart here… Personal Energy Audit When you have finished the audit, add your inflow and outflow scores for each of the four energy types then total them. If you are running an energy surplus, congratulations! If you are running an energy deficit, ask yourself what’s causing this. Look at items you asterisked for attention. Choose up to five of these as current priorities. How would you like your energy habits to change in these areas, and how might you set about making a change? When you start to draw on natural energy sources and manage your ecosystem consciously, use the Personal Energy Audit as a way of measuring your progress and steering your priorities. It can also help you evaluate major decisions about your job or lifestyle in advance. This process is part of Chapter 2 in Alan’s forthcoming book, Natural Happiness: The Gardener’s Way. Click here for further resources and more on the book.
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