Resilience and wisdom to stay happy in the years ahead
If you hope to thrive and grow through your life, not just cope and survive, how will you do this in the stormier times we can see ahead of us? It needs a quantum step up in resilience, and that’s what Soul Resilience could offer you. Exploring the soul’s journey is one of the best … Read more
You may call it climate anxiety, distress, overwhelm, or whatever. It keeps getting worse, and faster than expected: it gets me alarmed and unsettled, maybe you too. I’m writing this blog for myself as much as anyone, as part of my long-running search for ways to live with this. There are plenty of good processes … Read more
On official life expectancy, today’s teenagers could expect to live into the 2080’s. Do we really think schools are preparing them for the troubles ahead? Changes to the National Curriculum move at glacial speed. A major review is being implemented, reaching classrooms in… 2028. Whilst there are some positive changes, many experts are critical, seeing … Read more
Book blog: The Secret Garden – Frances Hodgson Burnett You’re unlikely to find this delightful, uplifting book in lists of Thrutopian fiction, but it deserves a place. Unlike most Thrutopian novels, which paint a detailed picture of an imagined future, The Secret Garden teaches us a vital skill, showing how carrying a positive vision can … Read more
I’ve only just discovered Thrutopia, so this blog highlights the books I’ve read which broadly fit this category. In fact, the term Thrutopian was coined recently, by Rupert Read of the Climate Majority Project, to denote books which explore how humanity might get through the climate crisis. Here are my tips:
Unlike the rose or gloom of utopia and dystopia, Thrutopia offers visions of a fairly positive and possible future, which recognises the chaos we’re in currently. Mostly Thrutopia is found in books and movies, but you can also find it in a magical Wiltshire wood. Hazel Hill is the 70-acre conservation wood and off-grid retreat … Read more
A gripping gateway to future possibilities This is a big book in every sense: 576 pages long, spanning decades in time and most parts of the world in place. MFF is often cited as a leading example of Thrutopian fiction: meaning that it offers us a picture of the future which is realistic but at … Read more
This is inspired by a recent Guardian feature, which explains why our nervous system finds uncertainty so stressful and exhausting. It may help to imagine that your brain is tailored to Neanderthal times, because that’s largely true. Part of us still thinks that any uncertainty around us could be lethal, and we remain on constant … Read more
The Knoydart Peninsula is part of mainland Scotland, but so remote that there’s no road in: you either walk for two days, or catch a ferry from Mallaig on the West Coast. The community here raised £750K to buy the 17,200-acre estate from its negligent and bankrupt landlord in 1999, and it’s now a really … Read more
What could possibly go right? Perhaps like me, you now feel that things have been increasingly chaotic for so long that you’ve dropped your hope that they’ll settle down anytime soon. If so, how can we make the best of a life that’s ever more uncertain and uncontrollable? When easy questions, like ‘Now what?’, no … Read more