Looby Macnamara

hi Burra,
thanks for the amazing review - please do post it on Amazon (although hoping you brought it from me or from the publishers).
I'm glad it left you grateful not angry!
The second ever 7 Ways To Think Differently course is happening in a few weeks in the UK. Thriving ways webpage
hope to meet you sometime - perhaps there or the IPC
thanks Looby

Hi Lorenzo,
yes your post certainly has a few different microclimates to it!
I enjoy your phrase mind fertility and that certainly does sum up the entire aim of my books - as I have seen that it is in this area that permaculture has had a big effect on my life, and it is this that I have wanted to share with others. The lessons from the 7 ways are still reverberating through my life, it is a constant awareness - how am I thinking? is there a different lens i could look through that opens up new possibilities and perspectives? I see them as having deeply transformative power.
thanks for this phrase I'm sure I will use it again.
Looby

Thanks Burra Maluca for telling people how to get hold of copies - and e copies.
Yes it is affordable - we wanted to make something that was accessible on lots of levels - including financially. It is hopefully a book that will become an entry point for people into permaculture. We need as many entry points as possible, and for many people who don't have access to land they need another entry point other than the land based skills.

I look forward to your questions tomorrow.

hi Cassie,
I'll start with the first one - abundance thinking. Can we be happy with what we have? Can we bend with the ebbs and flows of energy in our lives? Can we feel nourished? Can we look beyond our bank accounts to appreciate all the other things we have in our lives?
Through abundance thinking we can challenge the scarcity and greed paradigms that result in so much consumerism and destruction.
thanks Looby

hi Iain, interesting question about exchanging health and well-being capital. I hadn't really thought about it as a form of exchange - more as something we build for ourselves. Although I think you could extend it to the health and wellbeing of your relationship, family or other group.

I'm sure that are other ways to think differently beyond the 7 that I have discussed - it would be interesting to see what comes up in the future.
thanks Looby

thanks for this interesting post. Andrew you have clearly set out a set of tendencies apparent in young people, and these can become deeply engrained patterns that set us on a trajectory of behaviour. How to overcome this? well it is a big question - firstly as Simon points out the television and media have a lot to answer for these beliefs - so any way of limiting screen and media time will lessen the input. The next thing is to replace this with nature connection. And it sounds like this is what you are doing already - so is it working? The other thing is to bring awareness to people's patterns and beliefs and thinking - often we are oblivious to them - but we need to do this in a fun, non judgemental way. Games are a good way of doing this - i recommend the systems thinking playbook by Dennis Meadows.

I'd like to hear more about what has worked with you in creating shifts in the young people that come and visit.
thanks

hi Dan,
I certainly agree that reductionist thinking has led us to denying the effects of our actions and to feelings of seperation and isolation. This is evident on many levels including agriculture. The opposite way of thinking is systems thinking which is one of the seven ways. Seeing ourselves as part of a connected whole enables us to see our actions as meaningful.
One of the first steps to systems thinking is observation of the systems around us and those we are part of.
thanks Looby

thanks for all the interesting posts, questions and comments here today - a great start to the forum. It's late over here in the UK so I will return fresh to answer more questions in the morning.
cheers

Hi Cassie,
I know there are many many answers to the question what is permaculture? Probably as many as there are permaculturists!
One of the many answers to the question what is permaculture? is that permaculture is a way of thinking differently. I wanted to characterise those ways of thinking differently and develop them, and use them as a rationale for why permaculture is important and where it can take us, and contrast this with the opposite ways of thinking and where these our leading us.
This book did evolve and integrate more wisdom in particular from the Work That Reconnects. Writing this book and using the seven ways in my own life has deepened my own understanding of the power and magic of permaculture - not just in the landscape but in our own lifestyles, livelihoods and internal landscapes.
thanks Looby

Hi Sue,
It's an interesting question - will what we do be 'enough'? I haven't come across the term permie storm before - although I am guessing it is just referring to the permaculture movement in general.
The term 'enough' can be used in a very limiting way - do we have enough? am I good enough? is what we do for the world 'enough'? The last question can lead us to disempowerment and burn out. Not having/being/doing enough is at the center of scarcity thinking. We need to be grateful to ourselves for the work we do do. The first way of thinking is abundance thinking and gratitude is the key here.

Will we give the world a 2nd chance? None of us can know this, we don't know what the tipping points are for climate change, but equally we don't know what the tipping points are for earth recovery. We don't know know if we can do it, but we can be sure that we don't do it if we don't try.

Governments are composed of people and they need solutions as much as anyone - we just need to prove to them that these solutions can be win win.
thanks Looby