The purpose of this page is to show some new gem of thought I have had along this pathway. Gathering this yield is thanks to dedicated people who live with great intention to create a better world.
The Here-seed
A lesson I have learned in my life is that our relationship to ourself is a mirror of our experience. During this project I thought about my action learning path as the formation of a plant.
From the “seed” of Here (and Now) the fruit of your actions are decided . I have related three questions to the makeup of this seed, the answers to which will reflect what fruit this plant (relationship) will give.
- What am I thinking?
- What am I feeling?
- What is the teaching?
The soil which feeds the plant influences the answers to these questions, it is the support system of the plant. I have named five constituents that add to a healthy plant.
- Receiving feedback
- Nurturing your support networks
- A daily practice (meditation, yoga, prayer, walking etc)
- Solutions-based thinking (Positive attitude)
- Worldview assessment
From this seed a sprout forms, the question I have attributed to the sprout is, “How am I interacting?”. This is the stem of the plant which is the plants supporting base.
The bud or first leaves of the plant ask, “How am I affecting others?” This is the high order of reflective awareness that we as humans must start exercising in order to get the sustaining yields of healthy relations.
“From the Seed of Here and Now we create a manifesting fruit which is identical with the constituents of the seed. Awareness of awareness is the key tool to choose your seeds genetics. ” - journal excerpt
Action Learning mindmap
During the orientation we were told what action learning is and we made mindmaps detailing the description (see Supporting evidence right column).
I decided to make a new mindmap detailing what I saw as the key elements, after having experienced a year of action learning (see mindmap in right column).
Active Learning
Un/Learning Journal Extract
This journal excerpt (1st March 2013) shows some of my deep observation during my first months at Gaia U. - recognizing pattern language
The first needle was a thread
I realized this anecdote one year after I saw its demonstration. A Naga Baba (naked Indian holy-man who wears ash) I have known since 2010, Shiva Raj Giri, was threading a special seed-bead onto a collection of six thick cotton threads.
He extracted a thread from the raw edge of cotton cloth he had. He wrapped it around the collection of threads and twisted the two ends together forming a proper needle. Then with some diligence he passed the thread through the bead and pulled the collection of threads through the bead.
To me this is a good example of the permaculture principal, The solution exists within the problem.