Observation. Stillness. Beingness. Awareness. 

This principal is first for a reason. Whenever you encounter a situation whether it is a pain in your body, a problem in your life or whatever the situation might be – observation is key to healing and getting better. This takes practise, and patience. A great observer is also a great meditator, and that is because meditation is a form of observation. Only once you have a clear picture of what the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and potential threats are to a certain system or project, only then can you move forward to create an effective design or plan. 

Interacting is also vital. Making small changes, and testing out new things in order to find a better solution. Be a kid, experiment within reason and test the limits. The answers will arise.

What do I see in myself, and the ones around me?

What do I feel in myself, what’s my body feeling, and what is my intuition saying?

From here what can I change?

“Make hay while the sun shines” or in other words take advantage of the situations your presented with. There are ways to harvest and store the flows of energy that are all around us. Create a pond to store water, a greenhouse to catch heat energy from the sun, a network to store connections. 

There are many ways to store energy and one thing that must be kept in mind is balance – because too much of something good and become very detrimental. Think of a overflowing rain barrel, leaking onto the side of your house causing mold, or eating too much food, or getting too much sleep. There needs to be a healthy flow and catch of energy for systems to thrive. Too much and you have stagnation, too little and you are deprived. Balance is key.

What gives me energy?

Am I making best use of my current energy levels and opportunities?

What activity would best suit this niche of time and space?

There are many different forms of yield – it can be money, harvest, meaningful connections, information, time saved, material gains, play, fun, etc.. Obtaining a yield is necessary for moving forward. “You can’t pour from an empty cup.” 

There are ways to harvest and obtain a yield in a way where there’s enough for everyone – there’s enough for everyone’s need, not everyone’s greed. A yield can be catched and stored to add value to a yield. You do this when you preserve food. 

Keep in mind the 8 forms of capital: financial, intellectual, spiritual, living, material, social, experiential, and cultural.

What are the yields available?

Am I currently harvesting them?

Are there any other yields available?

Our bodies have highly intelligent systems that regulate our bodies temperature, blood sugar levels, hormone levels, and many more factors. Our body knows what is right for us, and is always finding ways to tell us whats going on. This is not to be confused with trauma, or conditioning.

Self regulation is like changing the temperature of the water in a shower. Small changes are needed rather than swinging things too far in either direction.

Being open to healthy criticism and feedback is essential for learning. Honesty and clarity are essential traits when giving or receiving feedback. Feedback includes things that are going well, instead of just focusing on the ‘wrong’. 

There’s a saying that what you do today will be inherited 7 generations from now. Ensuring we learn from the mistakes of our past is essential if we want a good future for our children.

Where am I receiving feedback from: my body? others? 

How can I monitor my progress?

What’s working well?

What’s not working so well?

What can I appreciate about myself?

Many systems and elements of our world is renewable – food, air, and other things are renewable. Some systems and things are not renewable or take a really long time to renew, so we must limit our use of these things as much as we can. Let nature take its course and things will be alright.

Where can I meet my needs with renewables?

What can I create that is renewable?

Where can I cut down on non-renewables? 

There is no ‘away’ for waste to go. In nature that’s the case at least. There is always ways to use so called “waste” the only thing lacking in our society is creativity. You can re-purpose just about anything whether it be old tires into a worm compost (or if you have enough a earthship), or old glass bottles which can make great garden beds! Paying a bit extra for things that will last and potentially be repurpose is much time saved. 

In a well functioning web of systems wastes are only inputs for other systems: waste from the chicken pen is fertilizer for garden, waste from the kitchen is used for compost, and on a basic level waste from humans (CO2) is plant food, and vice versa. 

Where is my time being wasted?

How can I prevent this?

What needs maintaining in my life?

There are several patterns consistent in nature. Spiral, wave, branching, web, and scatter patterns to name a few. Identifying the patterns of the unique situation you are in first, is essential – whether it is meal design or garden design. Getting into the details right away can waste lots of time in backtracking and restarting. Once you have figured out the larger patterns and needs, then you can work into the details of a specific design.

What are the patterns at play here? 

What are the useful patterns and what would I like to change?

Am I getting lost in the details and not paying attention to the bigger picture?

Without elaborate connections and network our society would fail in an instant. Segregation has not worked in the past and one only needs to read a history book to know that one. 

Being inclusive and welcoming when we work in groups allows everyone to participate and group decisions can be made leaving no one out. This allows everyone’s abilities to be utilized within the group to increase the capacity of the group almost exponentially. 

Many hands make light work.

Are there aspects of my life I can bring together?

Which of my friends could I bring together?

Are there different aspects of my community that I could help bring together?

Trees don’t grow overnight, and same is true for those big goals we all have. Trying to go 0-100 will leave you burnt out, and giving up on your goals sooner, but going from 10-20, 20-30 and so on you will find that over time, one thing at a time, you will reach your goals. 

In permaculture we need long term thinking in our design to prevent wasted time and energy. This is how we prevent ‘type 1 errors’, which is basically any system or thing that needs constant maintenance over time because of a faulty design. Measure three times and cut once is the saying.

Is there a small step in the right direction that I could take today?

Where am I likely to trip up if I go to fast?

Diverse systems are much more resilient and bountiful. Monoculture farms can be totally wiped out by one single disease or pest, while a diverse farm will only lose 1 crop. By having 3 ways to cover your needs is a good place to start. Redundancy is resilience.

When working in groups we become much more powerful when we use and value everyone’s skills and abilities. If we all thought the same we would be vastly limited to what we can do together. Authenticity is your winning ticket in life. Don’t put all of your eggs in one basket.

How many roles do I have?

Can I create a diversity of acticvities?

What are areas of my life that would benefit from more diversity?

The edges of systems or elements is where the magic happens. Think of our stomach: it values the edges because it allows for proper digestion. More surface are the better. The opposite is also true, penguins will huddle together to minimize edge to maximize heat retention. 

Observing and valuing these edges is essential for getting better. We learn the most when we go just outside of our comfort zone by allowing new perspectives and information in. When we gently stretch our comfort zone we are expanding the edges which can expand our knowledge base. 

Don’t think you are on the right track because it is a well beaten path.

Where are the edges of my comfort zone?

How can I expand these limits?

How can I reach out to the people on the edge of society?

Systems will always have things thrown at them which require them to change. By making flexible systems that allow space for this adaptation we are making our systems stronger. Change is inevitable and necessary. Be prepared by building skills and having tools that are dynamic. Before you change something in a system be sure to observe and interact to avoid making costly mistakes. Vision is not seeing things as they are, but what they will be.

How can I use change for my advantage?

Where and how am I resisting change?

What gifts did the last big change bring me?

What do I vision for my future?