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8 forms of capital active hope agroecology agroforestry alder buckthorn Amazon anxiety apples arthritis autumn Autumn equinox back yard beans Bec Hellouin beech tree bees beneficial berries biochar biodigester biodiversity blackberries blackthorn book review brain brassica cage budget build building campesino capital card deck Celtic festivals change changes chemical-free chickens christmas circular clay pot cleansers cleansing milks climate change climate chaos climate emergency climate grief climate solutions climbers climbing cob comfrey community Community Nature Network community projects compost compost teas connection consciousness conservation container cooking coppice coppicing cordial cosmology courgettes crafts crisis crop protection Cross Quarter Festival cultural emergence culture cut flowers cycles degraded design diary diversity DIY do it yourself dryland earth care earth's cycles Earth's energy ecoculture economics ecopoetry ecosystem ecosystem restoration camps ecosystems edges edible edible flowers education efficiency elder elderflowers elements elixir energy equinox ethics face mask fair shares Fairtrade farming feedback feminine ferns figs film firewood floristry flower essence flower garden flowers food food forest food garden footbath forage foraging forest garden forest gardening forests fruit fruit leather fruit trees full moon funding fungi future future care gardening gardens garlic gift economy gin Give Nature a voice Glennie Kindred global poverty glut grapes green space greenhouse grief groundcover grow grow food grow your own growing guilds habitat habits handcream harvest harvests hawthorn hazel hazelnut healing shrubs healing trees health healthy soil heart health hedgerow hedging herbal herbal remedies herbal teas herbalist herbs holistic holistic planned grazing home homeless homemade wine homestead hope Hugelkultur humanure hummus hungry gap IBC tanks Imbolc incense increase yields Indigenous inexpensive influence inspiration International Womens Day jam keyline kingfisher kitchen garden lacto-fermentation Lammas land landscape landscapes life lifestyle limeflowers livelihood livestock living labs logs Looby Macnamara lotion low cost low-impact Lush Spring Prize macerations Manda Scott Mangwende Orphan Care Trust market garden market gardening marmalade marshmallow mass heater meadowsweet medicinal microbes microfarm Midwest Permaculture mimic mindset mitigation money moon phases Morag Gamble moringa Mother Earth movement mulch multifunctional mushrooms native plants natural natural building natural fertiliser natural skincare natural swimming pool nature nature connection nitrogen no dig no waste no-dig north-facing novel November nutrition nuts observe oca October off-grid oil cleansing orchard orchards organic organic flowers organic gardening outdoor shower oven oxymel oyster pallets pasture-fed patterns people people care peoplecare perennials permaculture permaculture design permaculture magazine award permaculture projects permaculutre permayouth pesto pests philippines pine tree pips pizza oven plant profile plants pollinators pollution polyculture polycultures positive change preserving principles propagating protection pruning prunings psycho-spiritual awareness psychospiritual transformation rainforest rainwater raspberries recipe recipes reduce reed beds regeneration regenerative regenerative agriculture relative location relative matter remedy renewable renewable energy resilient resources restoration reuse revolution rhythms rootstock rootstocks roundhouse roundwood runner beans sage salad salads salve Samhain schools Scotland scotts pine seasonal seasons seeds selfcare Sepp Holzer september septic tanks sewage treatment shade shamanism sheet mulching shrubs skincare sloes slugs small solutions small-scale smallholding social justice soil health solar solutions sowing spiritual spring squash stacking functions stock-free straw straw bale summer support sustainable Sweet Bay syntropic systems temperate terraces thistles thrutopia timber timber framing tincture tonic toolkit tools transformation trees upcycle urban urban gardening veg garden vegan veganic vermicomposting vinegar visionaries walnuts waste water water cleansing watering weeds wellbeing wetland wild edges wild food wild garlic wildflower wildlife wine recipes wings winter winter greens winter salads wood stove woodburner woodland woodland management woodlands world is possible worms yarrow year round year-round food yield young people youth zai pits zone 00 zoning

Topics

8 forms of capital active hope agroecology agroforestry alder buckthorn Amazon anxiety apples arthritis autumn Autumn equinox back yard beans Bec Hellouin beech tree bees beneficial berries biochar biodigester biodiversity blackberries blackthorn book review brain brassica cage budget build building campesino capital card deck Celtic festivals change changes chemical-free chickens christmas circular clay pot cleansers cleansing milks climate change climate chaos climate emergency climate grief climate solutions climbers climbing cob comfrey community Community Nature Network community projects compost compost teas connection consciousness conservation container cooking coppice coppicing cordial cosmology courgettes crafts crisis crop protection Cross Quarter Festival cultural emergence culture cut flowers cycles degraded design diary diversity DIY do it yourself dryland earth care earth's cycles Earth's energy ecoculture economics ecopoetry ecosystem ecosystem restoration camps ecosystems edges edible edible flowers education efficiency elder elderflowers elements elixir energy equinox ethics face mask fair shares Fairtrade farming feedback feminine ferns figs film firewood floristry flower essence flower garden flowers food food forest food garden footbath forage foraging forest garden forest gardening forests fruit fruit leather fruit trees full moon funding fungi future future care gardening gardens garlic gift economy gin Give Nature a voice Glennie Kindred global poverty glut grapes green space greenhouse grief groundcover grow grow food grow your own growing guilds habitat habits handcream harvest harvests hawthorn hazel hazelnut healing shrubs healing trees health healthy soil heart health hedgerow hedging herbal herbal remedies herbal teas herbalist herbs holistic holistic planned grazing home homeless homemade wine homestead hope Hugelkultur humanure hummus hungry gap IBC tanks Imbolc incense increase yields Indigenous inexpensive influence inspiration International Womens Day jam keyline kingfisher kitchen garden lacto-fermentation Lammas land landscape landscapes life lifestyle limeflowers livelihood livestock living labs logs Looby Macnamara lotion low cost low-impact Lush Spring Prize macerations Manda Scott Mangwende Orphan Care Trust market garden market gardening marmalade marshmallow mass heater meadowsweet medicinal microbes microfarm Midwest Permaculture mimic mindset mitigation money moon phases Morag Gamble moringa Mother Earth movement mulch multifunctional mushrooms native plants natural natural building natural fertiliser natural skincare natural swimming pool nature nature connection nitrogen no dig no waste no-dig north-facing novel November nutrition nuts observe oca October off-grid oil cleansing orchard orchards organic organic flowers organic gardening outdoor shower oven oxymel oyster pallets pasture-fed patterns people people care peoplecare perennials permaculture permaculture design permaculture magazine award permaculture projects permaculutre permayouth pesto pests philippines pine tree pips pizza oven plant profile plants pollinators pollution polyculture polycultures positive change preserving principles propagating protection pruning prunings psycho-spiritual awareness psychospiritual transformation rainforest rainwater raspberries recipe recipes reduce reed beds regeneration regenerative regenerative agriculture relative location relative matter remedy renewable renewable energy resilient resources restoration reuse revolution rhythms rootstock rootstocks roundhouse roundwood runner beans sage salad salads salve Samhain schools Scotland scotts pine seasonal seasons seeds selfcare Sepp Holzer september septic tanks sewage treatment shade shamanism sheet mulching shrubs skincare sloes slugs small solutions small-scale smallholding social justice soil health solar solutions sowing spiritual spring squash stacking functions stock-free straw straw bale summer support sustainable Sweet Bay syntropic systems temperate terraces thistles thrutopia timber timber framing tincture tonic toolkit tools transformation trees upcycle urban urban gardening veg garden vegan veganic vermicomposting vinegar visionaries walnuts waste water water cleansing watering weeds wellbeing wetland wild edges wild food wild garlic wildflower wildlife wine recipes wings winter winter greens winter salads wood stove woodburner woodland woodland management woodlands world is possible worms yarrow year round year-round food yield young people youth zai pits zone 00 zoning

Designing Your Life with Permaculture: 1. Observe and Interact

A mini series appreciating how permaculture principles can help us not only make efficient and sustainable changes to our landscape but also to our lives, so we can be the change we want to see in the world.

January is often a time for resolutions, change, or as permies like to call it ‘redesign’. Using the end of the calendar year as a chance to push the reset button. A time to start again and implement the changes we wish to see in our lives. Often these well meaning plans and ideas show initial promise but are eventually overgrown, and overshadowed by our hectic lives. Permaculture has taught us so much about implementing efficient and sustainable changes to our landscape so what can it teach us about implementing efficient and sustainable changes to our lifestyle? 

Rather than attempting to create a lifestyle we think we want, the permaculture approach is to observe the natural way we should be living and create that instead. Designing like this takes the least path of resistance, reduces the amount of energy needed, increases efficiency, and ultimately creates a healthier and happier ecosystem for us all.

This guide uses the 12 permaculture principles as a framework to help us design natural lifestyle changes. These can be implemented at the start of the year or for a slower approach broken down into one principle per month over the full year. Find out what works best for you and take action.

Designing your life with permaculture principles

1. Observe and Interact 

Everything in the natural world has evolved to be the version that best suits its surroundings. It is a subconscious ability to adapt to what is going on around us that has been the key decision maker in which species are extinct and which are not. 

In permaculture we have been taught to observe the land thoroughly before taking action. This allows us to gain a full understanding in order to make informed decisions. We can use this approach for our own lives too. The natural way is not to fit a round peg into a square hole. Everyone’s circumstances are unique, so there is no right or wrong answer of how to live our lives. A single mother of 3 living in a large city has very different circumstances to a male teenager living in a rural community. We must first observe what our one of a kind situation is before we can start to redesign it.

Here are number of areas we can observe our current lifestyles to understand what works effectively and what can be redesigned or changed. It can help to record some of these in a notebook/journal to look back and identify patterns in which to focus our redesign:

  • Physical observation – Pay attention to how you feel each day. Do you have low or high energy, do you have an injury or are you feeling strong? By consciously paying more attention to how we are feeling physically on a day to day basis we can start to be wiser with how we use our body and avoid injuries, burn out or illness.
  • Food and drink – Take time to see how different foods and drinks make you feel. Are you always low energy after lunch when you eat a particular type of food, does too much caffeine have an affect on you? Consciously looking out for any impacts of what we are eating and drinking can help us make changes that will improve our health.
  • Happiness – Notice things that make you happy or unhappy. This can relate to something as simple as the weather being sunny, to how a certain person makes us feel, to listening to a particular type of music. Take note of these things and look for patterns that link them. Don’t waste time on things that make you unhappy.
  • State of flow –  Pay close attention to any times that you feel in a state of flow. This is when we are fully focused on what we are doing and time seems to disappear. It can occur in all areas of our life that we are truly passionate about. It could be when running, writing, painting, playing music, whatever it is for you, look out for these moments and write them down. Identifying these patterns helps us to identify our true passions.
  • Time – Where are you spending most of your time? Does this add value to your life or not? If you are spending 2 hours a day commuting, or on social media, whatever it is, ask yourself “Is it adding value to my life?” Stepping back and noticing the areas that are formed out of habit and that do not add value can allow us to create free time which is a nonrenewable and immensely valuable resource we often overlook.
  • Meditation and mindfulness – Meditation is a useful tool to allow us time to disconnect from the distractions of the modern world and make observations. Are you frustrated today? Are you more positive? Is your mind more active? Taking as little as 10 minutes to observe how we are feeling each day can help us identify patterns in our life. Nature is made up of patterns and identifying them can help us find things that occur naturally for us.  

There are no right or wrong ways to observe our behaviours. The important thing is to consciously switch your mind over to an observational point of view and to look for patterns. Every permaculturist knows that nature is made up of patterns and your ability to identify your own is key to helping you redesign a more natural lifestyle.

Photo caption: Taking time to observe and interact by keeping a journal.

Josh Davis is an outdoor educator and facilitator exploring ways we can learn from the natural world. He offers one on one coaching and consulting to help design your life from permaculture. 

You can find out more at www.thechangeiwanttosee.com

Further Resources

Watch

What is Permaculture?

Books

Cultural Emergence
by Looby Macnamara

People and Permaculture
by Looby Macnamara

Zen in the Art of Permaculture
by Stefan Geyer

Articles

Designing Your Life with Permaculture: 2. Catch and Store Energy

Designing Your Life with Permaculture: 3. Obtain a Yield

About the Author

Josh Davis is an outdoor educator and facilitator exploring ways we can learn from the natural world. He offers one on one coaching and consulting to help design your life from permaculture.