#61 - Tighten Our Belts

I was the columnist in The London Paper last week, suggesting that the recession is a good thing. Readers vote on whether they want more of you... and 96% did. I also had many comments calling this point of view "refreshing" and "inspiring". In this, I hear a whispered hope for a move away from 'business as usual' to a more enjoyable and equitable way of running our economy.

At its best, this shake-up wake-up call will prompt us to re-prioritise and re-allocate resources. It will make us more aware of where we use money as an excuse to see ourselves as separate from others. Instead of this isolation, we will find ways of leaning in to human energy as our most precious resource and recognise our interdependence.

A great example of this is Liftshare - an organisation that works to bring about sustainable change by encouraging individuals to do things together. There are now 290,000+ people registered and several inspirational stories have emerged.

Sandra from Clacton-on-Sea started car-sharing as a way of saving petrol and impact on the environment and found that "two people who led separate lives have now become great friends, with all the benefits and opportunities that new friendships offer". They socialise regularly, found they had tons in common, and get to chat, laugh and sing along to 60s and 70s music on the way to and from work.

Similarly with Emma from Swindon, her initial motivations were financial and environmental and says "I have benefited in ways I never imagined, including socially. The company is great, we share ideas, and we exchange knowledge about the local area - where the best markets are, what's on at the theatre. As I know we have to rely on each other at a particular time of day, I'm much more efficient at work. I can no longer stay late to get things finished so I don't faff about any more, I just get it done.

And there are wider community benefits, as Clare from Herefordshire describes: "We also pick up and drop off a regular prescription for a friend who has retired and finds it difficult to get to the doctors".

With lifshare, we see the Triple Bottom Line of a solid, sustainable venture - intending to bring about economic, environmental and societal/inter-personal benefits through its activities. As we tighten our belts and make changes economically, perhaps we'll also tighten our belts as a community, finding afresh how fulfilling it is to need each other.

Do Things Differently
1) If you had one tenth of your current income, what would you do differently? Make a list. Then assess: in what ways would any of this be preferable? What could you gain as side-effects of these changes? Plato said "Necessity is the mother of invention". In which ways would your decreased income increase your creativity and innovation?
2) Now return to your current level of income - but keep those new ways in place. What would you do with all that extra money?? Which deeply fulfilling lifestyle benefits would all that abundance bring you?

(c) Corrina Gordon-Barnes, 2008

NB The London Paper asked: "Can we build a fairer economy?" If you have something to say on the matter, email your thoughts to: talk@thelondonpaper.com And as always, I love to read your comments on this blog so do leave them here!

#42 - Home Made

For years, I would have said I was not creative. Although I wrote and created workshops and lessons, I would freeze when presented with an artistic, hands-on project. I suspect many of us have these 'scripts' from negative experiences of art lessons at school, or just from the general fact that there is so little room for creativity built in to school curricula.

Recently, I've been realising how very creative I actually am, thanks to our wedding preparations. We really wanted a 'home-made' feel to the day with that sense of community and creativity. One of these projects is making hearts out of clay and painting them, to create decorations for our marquee. We've been lucky enough to get sample paint pots from an inspirational paint company called Auro which produce natural, environmentally-sustainable paints. Instead of the normal toxic odour of paints, this paint smells of lemons and is just a complete pleasure to use (see http://www.auro.co.uk/).

When I see those clay hearts now, I feel that WE are in them, because of the creativity we invested in them. They carry within them memories of the time spent, the conversations my partner and I had, the feel of the balmy summer evenings when we sat in the garden making them. After the wedding, we'll be using these hearts to decorate our home and they'll then carry with them all the embodied energy from that magical day. Home: made.

I feel sad for all of us who have been living through this Age of Cheap Oil because it has distanced us from this joy of creativity. We doubt the viability of making things ourselves, believing it to be easier to import anonymous mass-produced goods. However, as we continue to see the price of oil rising, we'll see more and more of this 'powering down' and 'skilling up' which people talk about. We'll start shifting to seeing ourselves as vitally useful, productive human beings who can make things. We'll feel that WE are in our surroundings, that our own stories infuse the objects around us, and rather than just seeing the product, we'll remember the process.

Inquiry: How could I inject some creativity into this aspect of my life?

Action: Make something this week with your very own hands. Bake an apple pie, make a card for a friend's birthday, create a collage, sew a little purse, turn a glass jar into a lantern, or make strawberry jam. I find this especially fulfilling when using materials that would otherwise have ended up in the bin! If you feel you don't know where to start, ask someone to show you. Or find a website which talks you through a creative process. Notice the 'scripts' which you run about you 'not being creative' and let this next creative act be the start of a new script.