In the village where I become … because we are …

Happy New Year from Village-Connections

This year we aim to open up conversations about village connections that create good-life flows – ecological, economic, social and political.

Hazel Ashton writes:
I’ve been enjoying a New Year summer break in Christchurch – the sun, sea, parks, trips to the country – and for the last 6 months, no significant earthquakes.

As some readers will know, over the last few years I’ve had debilitating ME/CFS. I’m now largely free of physical pain. I can sit upright at a desk to write, and -yaaeeh – my concentration is coming back to normal.

My improvement has come from joining the on-line Gupta programme which synthesizes techniques advocated by many in the personal growth industry, such as meditation, mindfulness, visualisation and NLP.

Personal or social development?

In the past I’ve been critical of the huge amount of time, energy and resources that are spent on personal/ spiritual growth/development.

I can now see the benefits of focusing on one’s own personal development i.e. looking after ourselves so we can live well and better look out for each other.

Why not both?

However, given we are social and political animals and have to live and work with one another, and given the increasing scarcity of resources, I think it makes good sense to develop personal well-being in the context of village- or community development.

So my aim this year is to more effectively synthesize self-help and village-help literature, looking at how the village can connect more effectively (internally and beyond) to better support the well-being of its inhabitants.

A quote to conclude:

“One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu – the essence of being human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can’t exist as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness … We think of ourselves far too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another, whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World. When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity.”  Archbishop Desmond Tutu 2008

I would value your comments (below – no membership required)