Project Report Three
Zone 00
Here we are on project three! I am taking encouragement from my diploma friends and starting a few projects at one time. In this way I will be able to see these projects through for a longer period of time and let them develop in a less linear and more process-led way. In accordance with my goals in my stacking functions of PR2, these projects aim at supporting the different interweaving elements of my life, creating a more whole system to be moving forward with.
These will continue on for a few months along side each other, linking and inspiring as a whole. They will all be at various levels at any moment in time. As such, with each submission deadline the projects will have all moved on more, and so as of this moment only in their initial stages. Please browse through the titles and come back to see their progression! Where I can I will show my linking between the projects.
My aim is to gain efficiency in my research. I find book based research amazingly useful but quite tricky for a few reasons. I foresee that if I research an element of permaculture design and can apply it immediately to an array of projects it will make it far more integral to make my research effective and also help me retain the information more successfully. I can learn my way through the design cycle stage by stage. I am a person who needs to apply information to learn it, so this will be great, also save time going over things later...see my book lists in each PR for more about the resources I'm finding useful, the book to the right is top of the list! |
<---This shows how I have based this combination of project reports on zoning, not so much though in terms of how much attention they need, but of how they relate to where I am and interaction with my wider world. Spheres of influence perhaps. Zones are an energy conserving placement pattern, and put in this order I hope that there will be ripple effects though the projects as I focus on my zone 00 outwards. 
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Zone 00 design
I was hesitant to do this design as it was set to be my PR1 but was overridden by the more important design of stacking functions. However I am really very interested in zone 00, it is something that underlies everything I do and also I am quite passionate about opening up a space for this with other people. As such I am hoping that this will positively influence my PR5 where I will be learning about mentoring. This is me preparing the ground...keep the soil healthy and the rest will flourish!!
Goals articulation
I think a good way to understand my goals for this is to look at what true well-being in body and mind means to me.
I think a good way to understand my goals for this is to look at what true well-being in body and mind means to me.
So my goal is to create a design by which I can live and tweak to support myself in well-being. To effectively integrate teachings of permaculture, the principals and design cycle to create a self regulating system of self nurture.
Also
Also
- Discarding 'waste' elements and adding in elements I need in a consciously designed way
- To improve my understanding of myself...perhaps this could in turn push out my 00 to fertile edges, developing my emotional communicative abilities with others especially benefitting my other projects. So linking with this...
- Record well any ideas that may be of use to share
Designing for a better balance
Observation
In order to begin designing I must first look at my area very closely (that's me!) In the same way as you would conclude for example that an area is very fertile because of the docks and nettles, the same observation can be used on life. What are the surface signs and what do they show about what's going on in the system? Is there a lack of something? What are the energy flows, blockages, what is demanding too much input and what is creating waste?
If something undesirable is arising in a garden there are a lot of methods in permaculture to deal with this. Which I'll go into later...so first to observe.
A brain storm of some initial problems that I can see at the surface:
The problem is the solution. All these problems point to areas I need to address. A look at these it could be
If something undesirable is arising in a garden there are a lot of methods in permaculture to deal with this. Which I'll go into later...so first to observe.
A brain storm of some initial problems that I can see at the surface:
- Tension around spine and down left leg
- Guilt at neglecting my spiritual self and awareness
- Period pain, terrible period pain- I am not happy with the amount of pain killers I need to take
- Lack of energy, tiredness, lack of memory
The problem is the solution. All these problems point to areas I need to address. A look at these it could be
- Tension around spine and down left leg -Tension, holding body down not up, one side stronger, used more. Bodymind connection
- Guilt at neglecting my spiritual self and awareness- need more time to connect
- Period pain, terrible period pain- I am not happy with the amount of pain killers I need to take- connection to feminine self, acceptance of the experience, deep set understanding of menstruation
- Lack of energy, tiredness, lack of memory- need to input better food and exercise
Boundaries
I can see it would be very possible to never reach the edge of this project, as, the more you read, write, discover the more there is that can be of use to my zone 00, and it's something that really enthuses me, finding out about self and emotional literacy. So I need to consider that this project is more about structure design, putting elements in place to support my continued learning with health and ease, rather than a design for my development. In this way the design is a support and can be looked back at and re-evaluated.
Some other boundaries that have to be worked into this design are how to fit things into my daily life...making time for these things that I find to be important. And also how to fit these things around the people I am living close with and sharing relationships with, sharing a life with another person may present some boundaries that need to be communicated through.
Some other boundaries that have to be worked into this design are how to fit things into my daily life...making time for these things that I find to be important. And also how to fit these things around the people I am living close with and sharing relationships with, sharing a life with another person may present some boundaries that need to be communicated through.
Resources
Here are some resources that I have used for observation. They help me to reveal methods or needs that I can consider and involve when coming to the design stage.
The artist way is a twelve week program that involves journaling and spending 'dates' alone. It is a great way to sit with yourself and listen. I am finding it to be a very useful experience and I am finding my needs being uncovered slowly, they have got a little buried under the 'should' stories I have developed in recent years.
Try stuff out!!
Another part of my observation process is to try things out, to see what works...what exercise/ food/ daily order / practice makes me feel the best, and what combination? This should be a good few weeks of trying things out! I'll find a fun way of organizing and documenting this...It's a bit like random assembly in Permaculture design, playing with elements frees us from rational thinking and 'forces us to consider unusual connections for their value'. 48 Mollison 
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I have been keeping a jotter book for daily observations of my well being and actions- what I've eaten and exercise I've done for example. 
Healing with Whole Foods -An awesome book! Reading this is a really interesting way to reflect on my dietary habits and how my bodymind reacts to these. I have discovered through comparing the descriptions to myself what kind of system I have. I will evaluate this and add the alterations to diet it advises into my design. 
yoga? Boxing? Surfing???
Dreams. I find a great way to discover how I am and what I'm made of, is to observe my dreams. By observing it also changes them, allows me to restore a calm and, have explorations within the dream. So writing a few lines recalling them as soon as I wake up is all I need to do. I am just popping it on the start of my morning pages...it's a good lead in to conscious streaming. |
Happy pig of well-being
Below is my project process reflection. As this is more of an assessment stage of a few projects rather than a finished final project I am evaluating to the point I am at with them all now. The next evaluation will come at the end of PR4 and so forth. Please come back to this after you've looked through if you can!
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Project Four deadline work starts here
The other day I read an awesome article about turning Maslow's hierarchy of needs on it's head, and that by meeting our basic needs with greater ease we can move to exponential growth in our self actualization...So cool, so true. I feel like I am going towards living into this, can I work with 80:20 to make this easier for myself? In the book it asks what is important to you. My health is really important to me, and I haven't felt that so much before as right now. If I can look after my health in a way that is easy and totally nourishing, I could create habits that give me a firm foundation to the rest of my life, enabling me to grow and expand infinitely in other ways...
Another paramount importance to me is my family and friends, forging deep connections and enabling people to feel their full potential and happiness. This is something I really do want to develop in myself, an understanding of how to help others in communication. Because giving to others, supporting their development makes me happy, what learning do I need to pursue to improve my skills as this kind of communicator? I am listening through Marshall Rosenberg's audio on NVC and making detailed notes, as I think it is a really valuable method to develop a deeper and more effective way of communicating, in the first instance with myself, and moving on to others. I am already finding it immensely helpful to stop negative reflexes in their tracks by giving myself self empathy and avoiding the three D's! This is more zone one work, and will be covered in PR7 people with permaculture. But of course all communication is influenced by my relationship with myself, and so these projects are closely interconnected.
This book has recently come out, one of the first to look at specifically people in permaculture starting from zone 00. It seems beneficial to have a look at this...anyone want to lend me it??!
Observe and Interact
I have been observing myself through work with my resources. By trying out techniques and elements that have come up I have been able to find things that seem to best support my health and well being. This will hopefully create 80:20 in my life as I will create habits that benefit me and cut out elements that don't. We all have an idea of what feels good for us, but for me being able to see it in a design will make it more important and memorable too.
The following are observations of experiments I am doing before the evaluation and design stage, so I'll try not to diagnose just yet and just explore and record.
The following are observations of experiments I am doing before the evaluation and design stage, so I'll try not to diagnose just yet and just explore and record.
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Food- I have been eating way more mung beans and aduki beans as suggested for my health problems in healing with whole foods. It has made a big difference to my skin problems and I really love them, so will keep it up! I eat a pulse everyday, hardly any dairy and caffeine. My energy is better, and also when I eat less sugar I have found my energy to be more constant. Mung beans and aduki beans have really helped my (as Healing with Wholefoods says my 'damp' type) tendency to get skin problems. Exercise- Yoga has been good for my back, and I think it has advantages over swimming because of this, however, swimming helps me sleep a lot better. Capoeira gives me a feeling of strength that I enjoy but doesn't really help my back, it needs to be done in conjunction with yoga I think. However capoeira definitely is the exercise I have a passion for and I feel like I can develop and develop. It is also very social and through some synchronicity I have recently encouraged a group to start in Lewes, this proximity helps my motivation a lot, it is something that I really love in my life. Soul time- I have tried out a local meditation group, it is Buddhist which I have done quite a bit of before, not everything they do sits well with me however, so I went to a group that do guided meditation and heart space work, it was a lot more productive and beautiful for me. I have already started to use guided meditations and visualizations on myself and they really help to eradicate negativity quickly and easily. This group also is only once a month but the impact it has on my own practice is great, meaning that I get more for less. It is also based on a donation which is a method I really respect. ((this has stopped. How do I continue this myself?)) 80:20- My reading of this (initially doing for project 6) has really influenced my thinking in this project far more than I thought. Lots of discoveries, and realising that making a shift to 80:20 thinking is both natural and very difficult! Dreams- I am making interesting discoveries and recordings from my dreams. I have found that I have been having some very joyfull sleep after I have done a lot of exercise. Asking questions before sleep and writing them down when I wake is 80:20 because I can find out my deep feelings towards things very easily, I love it. Artist way- The book and course I have found extremely valuable and inspiring. Taking time for quiet contemplation in the morning has always been important to me. Linking it in with my creative thoughts and clearing my head of clutter to be more observant and creative during the day. I will also really try to keep up the artist date. I do spend a lot of time alone but I think the thing about the date is that it is intentional, present and a bit of a creative luxury, which is really fuel for my imagination and devising. Love and Awakening- This book has been incredibly useful. I learnt a lot about my relationship to myself through looking at my relationships, in conjunction with this book. I understand space couples can need, -especially if they are very similar- to creatively live into their own visions, and also the times when connection and creation as a unit is called for. It has reminded me that it's so important to have that time and space to connect with my feelings towards myself and perhaps some specific elements to support that function regularly. It's so important because I have experienced now how confusing feelings towards another with lack of self acceptance can be very destructive. This book has brought up some very useful insights into my understanding of my masculine and feminine imbalance. I have found a lack of support within myself towards my feminine understanding and expression which stems from my view of my parents and has been mirrored in my relationship. It also shows through in my body and mind imbalances. I had not let my masculine side in because I was angry at my femininity not being supported and given value. But I need to let it in kindly as masculine support for my emotions and rationality to draw awareness of them is important. Meditation and ability to stay conscious over my own reactions has helped me to find a yin yang balance that is mutually supporting within myself and has manifested without in my relationships. This lead me on to looking into ideas of feminity, specifically menstration. The film linked to on the right was amazingly helpful. It is called The Moon Inside You and everyone should watch it! It gave me some good ideas for my design of how I could do what I said I would above and support my feminine changes and essence. I have been mapping my cycle, moods etc in a very detailed way to get to know myself more and attempt to tackle the problem of my severe cramps. I have actually found that the easiest way to do this has been on an app on my phone called iperiod!! Who'd have thought. W A S T E "produce no waste" What have I observed as not being useful to my well-being? In living the 80:20 way Koch talks about a time revolution, and writing a "not to do list." Act less and think more, he writes. "Stop doing anything that isn't valuable, that doesn't make you happy." I think this way we can be more effective because we have the space to think of well placed actions rather than running around like a headless chicken. Koch says we can focus on our best 20 percent and find the personal power, happiness and success that are waiting there to be sparked into life. This brings to mind a book I am reading about prescence. It calls into action tecniques through the body that enable you to stay present, these are techniques I shall definitely involve in my final design. I think waste is in my zone 00 anything that prevents this by taking me out of the present moment, as that's where I feel happiest. I think the biggest waste is when I am procrastinating or worrying, in these moments I am niether relaxing or doing, and I am not present. How to rectify this? To have some sort of mechanism whereby I can be more aware, and make a decision to either do some thing or relax. So my design should very much support presence. It is hard to be decisive in cutting out things that are not valuable, but the ability to say no is important, and to have the ability to discern what is valuable in the moment is a skill. |
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Evaluate
This section is an evaluation of my observations.
The elements that I have discovered are important to my feeling healthy and functioning to the best of my ability are:
Dream observation
Meditation
In subheadings what details of these and how they are made easier to achieve what systems to put in place etc
So the design now will place these elements in the best way so that they are easy to access and support my well being as a whole, like a guild!
Through these observations and discoveries I have realized that a design for 00 will not only involve the arrangement and selection of intangible or 'doing' elements, but how I arrange my physical surroundings to support my personal health and happiness will be very important, arranging in time, space and activity will be some interesting dimensions to work with...
I am working with observation of my responses to specific things in order to find what works best and create a guild of supporting elements in my life, much like you would with a guild around a fruit tree...
"a guild then, is a harmonious assembly of species clustered round a central species (plant or animal) The assembly acts in relation to the element to assist it's health, or buffer adverse environmental effects." Permaculture Designers Manual It is the arrangement of the parts that make the system work or not and how they function to assist each other...
This section is an evaluation of my observations.
The elements that I have discovered are important to my feeling healthy and functioning to the best of my ability are:
Dream observation
Meditation
In subheadings what details of these and how they are made easier to achieve what systems to put in place etc
So the design now will place these elements in the best way so that they are easy to access and support my well being as a whole, like a guild!
Through these observations and discoveries I have realized that a design for 00 will not only involve the arrangement and selection of intangible or 'doing' elements, but how I arrange my physical surroundings to support my personal health and happiness will be very important, arranging in time, space and activity will be some interesting dimensions to work with...
I am working with observation of my responses to specific things in order to find what works best and create a guild of supporting elements in my life, much like you would with a guild around a fruit tree...
"a guild then, is a harmonious assembly of species clustered round a central species (plant or animal) The assembly acts in relation to the element to assist it's health, or buffer adverse environmental effects." Permaculture Designers Manual It is the arrangement of the parts that make the system work or not and how they function to assist each other...
Sector analysis
Can I use sector analysis on my life to see what energies are passing through and look at how I can place zones accordingly to use them for my advantage? To be looked at...
How often that element is visited - Zone 1 is the most visited, while zone 5 is the
least visited
• How much maintenance is required - Zone 1 requires the most maintenance, while
zone 5 requires the least
• Access to water supply - Zone 1 requires the most access to water, while zone 5
requires the least
• The amount of land area required - Zone 1 requires the smallest amount of land,
while zone 5 requires the largest amount
• Compatibility with the land - Their compatibility with other elements in their
surroundings
My guild of zone 00 things
zones place things together in the most compatible way possible....for some elements may lead on to or supply others
Can I use sector analysis on my life to see what energies are passing through and look at how I can place zones accordingly to use them for my advantage? To be looked at...
How often that element is visited - Zone 1 is the most visited, while zone 5 is the
least visited
• How much maintenance is required - Zone 1 requires the most maintenance, while
zone 5 requires the least
• Access to water supply - Zone 1 requires the most access to water, while zone 5
requires the least
• The amount of land area required - Zone 1 requires the smallest amount of land,
while zone 5 requires the largest amount
• Compatibility with the land - Their compatibility with other elements in their
surroundings
My guild of zone 00 things
zones place things together in the most compatible way possible....for some elements may lead on to or supply others
Funny I wrote this whilst I was doing my PDC...
Design
I have been observing for about a year now, it's time to design. Here is BETHANY'S WELL-BEING GUILD
Now to place the elements I need within a design pattern of a guild
making space to be creative, to meditate, physical space
Overall functions in relation to my goals articulation of ideal wellbeing
Presence
Concious decision making
strength support
vitality
development
creative outlet
ballance
peace
kindness love
power in femininity
subheadings of each setting
body-presence stuff
diet
exercise
Now to place the elements I need within a design pattern of a guild
making space to be creative, to meditate, physical space
Overall functions in relation to my goals articulation of ideal wellbeing
Presence
Concious decision making
strength support
vitality
development
creative outlet
ballance
peace
kindness love
power in femininity
subheadings of each setting
body-presence stuff
diet
exercise
Implement
What will follow in the next year of my diploma will be some videos and drawings showing how I have implemented this design and how I have maintained it. At some point an evaluation will come in and tweaks to respond to the findings. And that is the design cycle yo!
Some actions to take now will be shifting about elements in my life, but others will be implimenting things that I'm not currently doing that much. How can I instigate this?
Can I simplify this as a template for someone else to do? Maybe a little illustrated thing in place of PR5?
Some actions to take now will be shifting about elements in my life, but others will be implimenting things that I'm not currently doing that much. How can I instigate this?
Can I simplify this as a template for someone else to do? Maybe a little illustrated thing in place of PR5?
