Day 248 - Changing the World with Earth Haven

This is what it looks like to change the world with the Earth Haven pilot project for sustainable living. It is not glamorous, there is no fanfare. It is dirty and it is hard work, literally moving the earth as we move rocks and soil. Quietly working day by day as we build from the ground up.
I am satisfied with my work here today - I have raked half of the gravel and my body is feeling it!




The project I am currently working on is the creation of an enclosed fruit tree forest. It is enclosed to protect it from being ravished by nature without using harmful chemicals.



We already have two more forests which are outdoors and available to all animals and insects. We planted those first because the animals and insects are in greater need, due to the destruction of their habitat and food-sources caused by farming for human consumption only.
We are in the process of rehabilitating this land to invite Life back into it, creating a space to show what the Living Environment can do when it is supported instead of exploited.
Today's work involved raking hundreds of pounds of gravel into piles to be removed and later replaced by the 'Back to Eden' planting method which we have already tested out elsewhere. Afterwards, fruit trees will be planted and maintained and, in addition to our other two forests, should provide more than enough fruit for the many people that will come to work, live, learn and grow.

Our current location is South Africa, where we are surrounded by informal settlements inhabited by people that cannot afford the basics, such as fresh fruit and a balanced diet. We intend to provide much more than that, and we are already on our way.



It feels really good to get out and be physical, especially knowing that what I am doing will assist and support so many people to come, and people that we will reach out to where they live.

After having worked in an office for years, I am loving the transition from staplers and file folders to steel rakes and wheelbarrows! I even took my first selfie with a rake, and got a blister on my hands from hours of raking, enjoying every moment of experiencing the feeling of the tools on my skin without gloves.

If you would like to co-create this project with us, visit www.patreon.com/earthhaven.

Day 247 - Redefining Nourishment

I was looking at the word ‘nourishment’ because it is a word which, when I hear it I get a tingly sensation in my body, like “YES!”, “DO THIS!”. I have seen that when I am cared for and supported by self and others, I tend to move and grow well, but when I am left stagnant, when I abandon myself and let myself drift along, I wither and my life falls into somewhat of a chaos. When I feel uncared for or abandoned by others, it highlights my own tendency to lack self-care and abandon myself.

Care, support and ‘nourishment’ from others is great and amazing, but it cannot be depended on such as a situation where we are constantly abandoning ourselves and depending on others to always come to our rescue, pick us up when we fall and be that support in time of need. We have to be able to do this for ourselves, where cultivating and nourishing relationships of support with others is a natural outflow of our own self-relationship of self-cultivation, self-nourishment and self-care.

To clarify, abandoning self would be letting little things slide in one’s life. Whether it be internal points that require attention, definition and direction (feeling and emotional points interfering in one’s life), external points such as daily maintenance (diet, exercise, hygiene, care for one’s belongings etc), consistency (in scheduled structure, stability or maintaining an orderly environment for example). I have noticed that when I abandon myself, I start letting these things go in some degree, where when all the small points accumulate, it feels like my life and world are falling into chaos and all the little points add up to what seems like an overwhelming amount of things that need tending to. 

This seems so overwhelming, simply because I hav abandoned myself inside myself, and therefor I feel I have nothing to hold onto for assistance and support – the assistance and support I am able to give myself during these times, but due to a fall into thoughts, perceptions, ideas and belief, I rather create an internal and external reality of lack of self-care and self-nourishment, and feel helpless and powerless to make a change.

Another clarification would be the distinction between self-care and self-nourishment. Self-care would be the daily maintenance: making sure I eat, keep my room and home orderly, keeping up with hair, nail, oral and body hygiene etc… whereas self-nourishment is more about what I eat (which I decide based on testing out different foods/supplements, seeing my body’s reaction to different things at different times, seeing what works, what I like, what supports me), how I set up my room to support my work/rest/recreation, what products I use for hygiene and why I chose them, and so forth. 

Even the acts of testing, research, trial and error are aspects of self-care that lead to proper self-nourishment when the best results are found and implemented.

What is interesting here is that I sometimes have resistance to both self-care and self-nourishment, due to the point of me not really fully caring about myself for real still coming up as a point for me in those moments of self-abandonment and retreat. It is when the self-judgments are triggered and emerge, ancient points of self-loathing and self-hate that I had created within myself over time based on self-perceptions and experiences that are long passed, yet planted seeds that took root and which I am still busy weeding from my self and living.

And so, if I continue with the garden analogy and think of myself as a plant, one that has a need for nourishment every day, and which can’t be left due to ‘not feeling like it’ or ‘not being in the mood’ without causing unnecessary consequences and set-backs to growth.

Looking at the word ‘Nourish’

I hear in it’s sound: New Rich

Within this, I see that every new day holds the possibility of abundance to be had, so long as one is willing and able to move self to take it or create it.

Every day is new, we do not have to be prisoners of our pasts.

Richness can be seen like a rich soil – an environment that provides everything necessary for growth. 

This, for me, means an environment where I have a proper diet and exercise, relationships of trust and support, a certain amount of structure and orderliness within which I can work, also fun and recreational activities, and then opportunities for challenges and learning as well. This, to me, is a rich environment, and all of these things are within my ability to cultivate, create and grow in my life.

I also see the potential for eternal expansion, where ‘new riches’ can and must be cultivated and discovered every day.

In conclusion, self-nourishment is the act of cultivating a rich environment within which I will grow best. I can begin implementing my solutions to the self-abandonment and the chaos that ensues by taking the simple steps or picking myself up and organizing my environment and life again after a fall, and to push myself to develop the consistency required to truly live the word ‘self-nourishment’.

Day 246 - Redefining Sharing

To Share:

have a portion of (something) with another or others.

give a portion of (something) to another or others.

use, occupy, or enjoy (something) jointly with another or others.

possess (a view or quality) in common with others.

tell someone about (something, especially something personal).

How have I lived sharing in my life really? HONESTLY? 

When I have shared a portion of something with another I would get a good feeling, because I thought the person would like me more, or I did it from a ‘saviour’ perspective where the other didn’t have something I had and so I would share as if I were saving or helping them from a position of superiority. When I would be shared with, where someone else is sharing something with me, I would generally go into a position of inferiority and unworthiness, feeling like a beggar with outstretched hands, and mostly my pride would interfere here and I would simply rather do without.

Or, I would share because it was the ‘right thing to do’, because good etiquette and manners required me to do so. In this case ‘greed’ and ‘lack’ would come in to play, where I would give something begrudgingly with the feeling that now I would have less, and would want it all to myself, but I would also feel good because I was being a good person and following the rules. If I were in a situation with another where the rules called for them to share with me, I would be comfortable. But if they rather chose not to share, I would feel spiteful because I am a rule-follower and they are now breaking those rules to my detriment, in which case I would feel righteous and now be superior for that, yet inferior because of the powerlessness I would feel when someone is breaking the rules and I am not speaking up for myself and bringing it up with them. I would rather supress my emotions and keep quiet.

When I would “use, occupy or enjoy jointly with others” I generally wouldn’t consider that sharing, because I wasn’t losing something or giving something away, and I wasn’t feeling superior or inferior, I would be simply equally enjoying something. So I see here I have limited my definition of ‘sharing’ with these ideas or emotions.

For this aspect of the definition: “possess (a view or quality) in common with other,” – I see that this would be falling into a pack mentality, where I would adopt a view in order to fit in, to identify with a certain group, to define myself as this or that, style, genre, political position etc…

The last aspect of ‘sharing is: “to tell someone about (something, especially something personal).” 

Here I see that even this dimension of the word I have tainted with ego and self-interest, where I would share aspects of my personal self as a form of gossip, like having some juicy tidbit of information that others will want to hear, where I will get attention and feel special and important for a moment as I tell it and get the questions and reactions from others, making me and my life some center of some attention somewhere, which I would then use to feel important and special. I can also see a dimension of sharing myself in an attempt to gain validation, confirmation or approval about some part of me that I had not yet completely accepted and embraced.

So, there I am exposed in my living of the word ‘sharing’, where the starting point is selfishness, greed, fear of loss, superiority/inferiority and lack. This, to me, as simply the ‘way that I am’ is unacceptable. I can see that when or if billions of people live this out on a large scale, it does not make the world a better place, but rather infuses reality and human interaction with separation and division as each one holds tight to their possessions, conflict as the ‘have-nots’ versus the ‘haves’, and superiority/inferiority as we use our possessions, whether they be tangible or intangible, as a way to place ourselves above or below others. And then we bring these ways into our most intimate relationships and pollute them behind the façade of consciousness (consciousness meaning: the acts we play, the face we present, the ulterior motives, the thoughts, feelings and emotions behind our actions) where all of this seems acceptable because everybody is actually doing the same thing.

There is however, a solution to all of this, and it is a simple one. It is the simple principle of sharing from the starting point of ‘give as you would like to receive’. This includes not only the tangible items we are able to share, but the feelings and emotions that go with it. To share with someone to gain attention or because it makes you feel superior is not in fact equal and one sharing. Equal and one sharing meaning seeing the other AS you, really placing yourself in their shoes and giving to them as if it were giving to yourself.

With that understanding in place, I would like to now focus on sharing self, or self-sharing. Here looking at: what do I have to give, and what do I have to receive from others? I can specify this even further by looking at what I have to give to and receive from myself? I must say that I have experienced sharing with myself more so within and through walking the desteni process of writing, self-forgiveness and self-change than I ever had before when I was living my life ‘normally’, as in, according to my programming, environment and culture, etc. Now, in walking this process, I am creating my own new programming according to what is best for me, I am learning and growing within my environment, challenging limitations both real and perceived, and am thinking critically about my culture and how it has shaped and influenced me. Within this all, I have done a lot of learning, seeing, realizing and understanding about myself, my life and what it means to be human, as well as what it really means to be a human that cares about self and others.

What I would like to share more with and about myself is who I am beyond the mind of judgments and insecurities, thoughts, feelings and emotions. To do less sharing of my mind, and more quieting of my mind, revealing this deep inner ‘knowing’ I have experienced within myself, which is and has been developing from a self-trust and self-communication over the years and more prominently now since I have been living on the desteni farm. Also within the sharing I am interested in further developing is the constructive sharing of myself and what it is I am going through. This involves speaking from a point of stability, maturity and being solution oriented instead of ranting and raving about issues in an attempt to actually feed the emotion and re-generate an experience from a starting point of adrenaline, righteousness and argumenting/fighting (this is where we have conversations and arguments in our minds, picturing and imagining others with whom we are argumenting/fighting/proving our point/justifying our side and being right). To rather speak the point, see and understand the reaction and release it through realization and change.

Another dimension of sharing I will be looking at is speaking what I see without fear. I have for so long suppressed myself out of fear of conflict or upsetting others, that I hide my seeing/self-seeing and observations from others and even sometimes from myself. But I see, realize and understand that these things must be spoken and shared, even if they are wrong or cause conflict, to be vulnerable and put it out there to clarify it, or to work through the conflict.

Oftentimes, when I am about to share, I will get an energetic feeling right before. One the one hand, I can feel a sense of excitement, as if I am about to gain something. This is usually indicative that I am about to share from a starting point of self-interest. Then there are the times where I am about to share and I feel a wash of fear pour over me. In these moments, I tend to push myself to share, because the fear is usually indicative that I fear to create conflict or be exceptionally vulnerable about something within sharing my real truth, or some truth of me that I judge and am not proud of. In these moments, when I share I usually create clarity. It is alxo common that when I share parts of myself in these moments, those parts seemed really big, bad and ugly, but once shared, they shrink down and become manageable, or I can see them more clearly and then direct that part of myself.

Before sharing myself, there is this infinite moment where I can look at and explore Who I Am within my sharing. What is my starting point, and what I will create as a result of the sharing. I endeavor to share me, my truth, the reality of me that exists in my mind – to expose that of me that I perceive that I would prefer to hide, so that nothing of me is hidden, and the decision to share or not share comes from the starting point of what is best for all as me.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to fear sharing myself with others and with myself.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to fear sharing those parts of me that are my REAL TRUTH.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to fear to share my REAL TRUTH as those parts of me that I am ashamed of or judge and thus want to hide as I feel that if I share them, others will judge me and see me as shameful.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to fear to create clarity and shine a light onto parts of myself I would prefer not to see, or would prefer others not to see, preferring instead vagueness and a lack of clarity which gives me more room to be manipulative and deceptive with myself and others about who and how I actually am.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to to fear what others will think about the person that I am and have become, and within this, I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to fear looking at and really seeing the person I am and have become, without realizing that if I do not look, I cannot change

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to fear being vulnerable about myself and who I am.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to participate in victimization when and as I share parts of myself that I feel vulnerable about.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to think/believe/perceive that I am victimized and weakened by myself, my life and my life-experience, instead of standing up and taking self-responsibility for every aspect of myself.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to share from a starting point of having others save me and make me feel better.make it go away within the thought, perception, idea or belief that what others think/feel/say to me or about me is my truth and reality, within this, giving others the power and responsibility to 'make me right' again and tell me everything is okay, instead of standing up within and as Self-Responsibility, and using my moments, my experiences and my findings to strengthen me.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to fear the judgment of others within the thought/perception/idea/belief that the judgment of others is what determines Who and How I am or will be. instead of ME determining Who/How I am/will be from now on.

I forgive myself that I have accepted and allowed myself to fear sharing Who I Am or what i see due to fear of creating conflict, instead of seeing, realizing and understanding that both internal and external conflict, when directed within principle, can bring about clarity and change.

When and as I see that I am not sharing something out of fear, I stop, and I breathe. I bring myself back to standing and self-responsibility by reminding myself that only I can and will determine me, and that my sharing is a step towards clarity, stability and change within myself.