Education Assistant
Originally from Scotland, but raised in Sweden, I have always been close to nature, sailing, hiking, and skiing. My background is in International Relations and my passion lies in finding the links between human conflict resolution and environmental regeneration. I first came into contact with permaculture as I finished school and have been an experimenter with it since. During my university years I discovered the Transition Movement, and became very involved in a local group, doing things like community gardens, local currencies, deep ecology and behaviour change projects. Now I’m involved in the Transition Network, looking at how we can use permaculture design to reinvent local communities and social relationships, especially on the edge between conventional academic education and sustainable living. I am currently living in Findhorn and, when I’m not lost in the jungle I call my garden, I help to hold permaculture and ecovillage design courses within the Findhorn Foundation and College, as well as developing sustainable refugee projects.
Site content by Maria Cooper
Solution Library
Vision Quest Rites of passage for personal transition
Vision quest is a rites of passage usually undertooken by native americans and brought into a modern context. It is a very powerfull time for people to prepare for transistion (or confirmation), go out into solitude & wilderness and then come back into a community to share their gifts. Usually it is hosted by experienced guides or elders and in its full length it consists of 4 days preperation, 4 days/nights of solotime in nature and 4 days of integration. But the basic flow and the … Read more
Presencing The movement of letting go, listening into the silence and letting come
Presencing, described as a stage within the Theory U Process as well as other contemplative methods, is the capacity to connect to the deepest source of self, which allows the future to emerge from the whole rather than from a smaller part or a special interest group. Danish sculptor and management consultant Erik Lemcke describes his experience of this process as follows: “After having worked with a particular sculpture for some time, there comes a certain moment when things are changing. … Read more
Reconnecting to Society Reconnecting ones Ideas with the “reality” of the society around us.
Creating situations where people can reconnect their ideas with the existing reality still in a “safe surrounding” is an important feedback loop and supports them and helps to clarify their ideas. To really start up a project and create something in our world it always needs both parts. Our ideas and idealism need to be connected with the frames and possibilities of our world. This feedback loop can be a “controlled failure” where we see what resonates and what not. References: no … Read more
Forgiveness practices Different approaches for respectful letting go, reconciliation and integration
The ability to achieve forgiveness and let go of past hurts is one of the most critical challenges many of us face on the road to attaining personal peace and inner balance. Forgiveness can be defined as the decision to let go of resentment, anger, and thoughts of revenge as a result of a real, or perceived offense, hurt, or wrongdoing against you. Forgiving someone does not mean denying a person's responsibility for hurting you, nor does it mean minimizing, or justifying the act. It does … Read more
Presenting your Project show your gifts and learn
Presenting your project is a great tool for many things: ● It helps you become more clear within yourself because you have to think about what you want to tell ● You can get great feedback from others and learn ● It is an important part in giving birth to your project: by talking the world starts to see it. So do it. This can be done in many ways (and is a fine art) here are some: ● create a poster (with premaid topics) and speak about that in front of one person, a group or an … Read more
Feedback skills Giving or receiving feedback is the Art of keeping our mind and our heart open to always be a student.
Increase our ability to give and receive feedback as a team will help us grow. Developing this capacity will help us face major conflicts or prevent them escalating. However, we need to be careful with the context in which people are not used to give and receive feedback. It is important to note the target goal, and my intention: am I releasing something and feeling better, or will this feedback serve to the common good? REFERENCES: https://www.cnvc.org/ … Read more
The Money Game What does money really represent?
Play the money game! Rules as follows: 1. Each participant is asked to bring a sum of money that it would be an ‘edge’ for them to lose 2. Each participant reflects on what money means to them 3. Sitting in a circle, each person puts their money in front of them on, visible for all to see There are then three rounds (715 minutes each, usually around 10 minutes / round) 4. First round – in silence. Each person takes money as they need. There is no order of play people simply take as … Read more
Social Franchising Social franchising is a method for scaling up social enterprises by replicating existing wellfunctioning good examples.
The European Social Franchising Network (ESFN) has found some 65 social franchises in Europe. The largest of these, the Kringwinkel secondhand shops in Flanders, employs nearly 5,000 people, of whom 80% are disabled. Social franchising comprises three phases: 1. Pilot: identification of a business model which works well in at least one instance, and is transferable to other contexts 2. Development: codification of business processes to create tools such as a franchise agreement, … Read more
Project Management Making things happen on time, on budget and with ease
Planning and managing projects are core to your work as a social entrepreneur. Within any project, you will have to manage your resources people, time, money, materials, tools and combine them to get things done. And you need to do all this in a way that ensure you do not run out of money, lose your team, or become despondent. Ultimately, you are doing what you are doing because you love it! So, if you are not loving it, it is a good sign that something is wrong. Setting up a project … Read more
The Laws of Manifestation How to attract the resources necessary to do what you need to do.
Working with spiritual principles can be very helpful here. David Spangler, one of the pioneers of the Findhorn Foundation community, set out some key principles in publications on “The Laws of Manifestation”. It is not simply a case of invoking and inviting money and resources to achieve whatever you want. It is more a case of ‘tuning in’ to what the universe, or Spirit, is asking for. If your project is really in the service of something greater, and if you are really fully aligned in … Read more
