Thoughts
Here you will find articles on the five types of service I offer organisations and the people in them. These will hopefully give you a flavour of how I work and what inspires my approach. If you have any questions about these services please contact me.
Filters
- About Still Waters 7
- Accept Change 9
- Coach 7
- Consultant 4
- Dream Big 10
- Facilitator 6
- Help & Advice 5
- Make Small changes 10
- Mentor 3
- Mindset 9
- Personal Stories 11
- Principles 1
- Published Material 7
- Support Large Changes 7
- Teacher 3
- Tools 7
- climate crisis 1
- eco-coaching 1
- ramblings 16
- reflections 39
- resources 17
- reviews 29
- service 1
Deep Adaptation And The DA Forum
Deep adaptation, both as a concept and a movement start life in July 2018 with a paper written by Professor Jem Bendell of the University of Cumbria. It’s an academic paper so as a read not for the faint hearted, but I found it relatively accessible. It’s basic idea is that humanity needs to prepare for a possible, or probable, or certain collapse in the face of a changing climate.
Project Drawdown
Project Drawdown brought me hope when I was facing the enormity of climate change implications. It also offered structure and credibility to something that seemed complex and hopeless. And so when it came to becoming an eco-citizen I decided I would use it as a template and framework for my focus on supporting large change in the world.
The Primal Wound
Pretty much everyone I have met has suggested that The Primal Wound by Nancy Newton Verrier is the definitive source of insight for adopted people who are trying to figure out why they feel something isn’t right with themselves. Having read it myself I have to agree.
Ending Extreme Poverty
I found out about the Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) and their Ultra-Poor Graduation Initiative (UPGI) via this Ted Talk.
Say No To Plastic
I bought Say No to Plastic, 101 Easy Ways to Use Less Plastic by Harriet Dyer while queuing in Waterstones for my annual pilgrimage to the shopping extravaganza that is Christmas. It was one of the tempting little books that sits near the check-out begging for an impulsive purchase.
Rescuing Food Destined For Landfill
It’s always disheartening to read about how much food never makes it to our plates. There are a number of reasons for this and the one I want to focus on here is fruit and vegetables that end up being diverted to landfill because they are the wrong size, shape or colour, or because there is a surplus. Up until the lockdown I didn’t even realise this was a thing. I had heard stories about misshapen veg but had assumed (wrongly as it turn out) that these were used in some other way in the food system.
Singularity
I’ve got this underlying belief going in my work and life that is based partly on a primary school knowledge of quantum theory and, more importantly, an innate feeling that it is true. The belief is that we are all somehow totally connected to each other and everything. It might sound a bit ‘out there’, which is when I reach for the quantum theory language. Something like the universe being made of energy more than cells.
Waking Up With Hoffman (2016)
I signed up for something called the Hoffman process, having been recommended it by my coaching supervisor as a way of access my “complex defensive structures”. As part of the pre-work, my teacher asked to me hold a possibility gently and with curiosity. Based on her own life experience, as well as what she had learned from teaching the process over many years, my teacher offered me a hypothesis that my first two weeks on this planet were akin to a near-death experience.
The Fairweather Fairytale (1975)
Proud to be adopted!! That was my script growing up. I’d known I was adopted all my life. My parents, who loved me dearly, did a great job in getting me to understand how I had come to be theirs. Their chief weapon was a book, read to me on hard rotation (or so it seemed) throughout my early years.