Looby Macnamara - 7 Ways to Think Differently

Praise for Loobys first book, People & Permaculture: Caring and Designing For Ourselves, Each Other and The Planet

an outstanding contribution to an ever evolving vision which is creative, imaginative, sustainable and joyful.

Satish Kumar, Resurgence magazine

An enlightening handbook for those who want to change the world.

Melissa Corkhill, The Green Parent magazine

grounded, practical and brimming with joy for the good stuff.

Alys Fowler, gardener, writer and presenter

Looby Macnamaras inspiring and groundbreaking book is a rich celebration of the interconnectivity of all life It is the very best of guidebooks: entertaining, instructive, nurturing and profound.

Glennie Kindred, author and celebrant

Looby Macnamara has been worth waiting for: she fills the bill with luminous clarity, lean eloquence, and an exquisite knowledge of systems.

Joanna Macy, author of World as Lover, World as Self and co-author, Active Hope: How to Face the Mess Were in Without Going Crazy

Looby Macnamara uses her solid grounding in permaculture to show that its principles and thinking can help us all be effective and hopeful in an age of change and challenge.

David Holmgren, co-originator of the Permaculture concept

Loobys book is an important step towards our goal of personal, social and ecological well-being.

Andy Goldring, CEO, The Permaculture Association (Britain)

This is a wonderful book, both wise and pragmatic, as imaginative as it is intelligent.

Jay Griffiths, author of Wild: An Elemental Journey

Published by

Permanent Publications

Hyden House Ltd

The Sustainability Centre

East Meon

Hampshire GU32 1HR

United Kingdom

Tel: 0844 846 846 4824 (local rate UK only)

or +44 (0)1730 823 311

Fax: 01730 823 322

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Web: www.permanentpublications.co.uk

Distributed in the USA by

Chelsea Green Publishing Company, PO Box 428, White River Junction, VT 05001

www.chelseagreen.com

2014 Looby Macnamara

The right of Looby Macnamara to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988

Designed and typeset by Emma Postill

Cover image Lisa A/Shutterstock

eBook conversion - eBookPartnership: www.ebookpartnership.com

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

PRINT ISBN 9781856231893

PDF ISBN 9781856231909

EPUB ISBN 9781856231916

MOBI ISBN 9781856231923

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, rebound or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of Hyden House Limited.

Looby has been teaching permaculture since 2002, and is partner of a leading teaching and consultancy partnership, Designed Visions. Looby runs many permaculture and teacher training courses, and a new course based on this book. She has a passion for creative teaching methods and likes inventing participatory activities and games to enhance learning. Her degree in Human Sciences provides a wealth of perspectives to bring into her teaching and writing. She has also trained as a Work That Reconnects facilitator.

She has supported the development and growth of perma culture nationally through her input as trustee of the Permaculture Association (Britain) for 5 years and was Chairperson for the last 2 years. She is still an active member of the permaculture community and is a senior diploma tutor.

She travels to Nepal with her partner Chris Evans to support the Himalayan Permaculture Centre. Looby has founded a fair trade business, Spirals of Abundance, importing organic cotton clothes and other Nepalese handicrafts.

In 2012 she published People & Permaculture the first book to directly translate permaculture principles and design for use in people based systems. Since then she has trained people from all over the world to facilitate people and permaculture courses who have formed the collective Thriving Ways.

Looby enjoys singing, yoga, writing poetry, gardening and making all sorts of things. She lives with her partner Chris and her two daughters, Shanti and Teya. They are in the beginning stages of setting up a permaculture education and demonstration centre in Herefordshire.

For details of her websites see .

Writing a book, like most things in life, doesnt happen in isolation, there are many people that have contributed to this, to whom I am truly grateful. Im thankful for all the multitude of influences that have encouraged me to widen my thinking.

Deep gratitude goes to Chris Johnstone and Jenny Mackewn who skilfully guided me through a Work That Reconnects facilitator development adventure. They really demonstrated how much fun learning can be. Thank you to all my fellow adventurers who shared their experience, enthusiasm and courage. Thank you to Chris and Joanna Macy for their powerful Work That Reconnects intensive at Findhorn in 2013. Much of the wisdom from these courses has flowed into this book.

Thank you to all those who have participated on perma culture courses with me; learning is always two way. In particular thank you to all those from the 2013 People and Permaculture facilitator training who co-created the subtitle with me, and are part of Thriving Ways. Welcome to Angela Embom, Diego Van de Kerre, Demian Burgenik, Denise Curi, Hege Svendsen, Fiona K. ONeill, Ilse Dupre, Jacqueline Fletcher, Juin Gibson, Kerry Lane, Monika Koncz MacKenzie, Nomalanga, Pauline Lemaire, Peter Cow, Pierre Houben, Wenderlynn Bagnall, who are the coming change makers, bringing in a world where people can embrace potential, respond to life and discover abundance.

Thanks to the teacher training course of 2014 for their input into the last stages of the book; Adam Rogerson, Angie Polkey, Aranya, Dagmara Karbowska, Hafidha Green, Hannah Thorogood, Heidi Hexelltine, Niamhue Robins, Prem Zivkovic, Sarah Spencer, and Simon Carter.

Thanks to the whole team at Permanent Publications for their expertise, support and team work, especially to Maddy Harland for her insights and patience. And thank you to Emma Postill for her work designing the book.

Once again I am grateful to Rebecca Storch for translating my words into beautiful images. Thanks to Fiona ONeill for her helpful suggestions and edits. Much gratitude to Flora Freemantle, for allowing me to use her home as a writing retreat.

Thank you to my parents for all the thinking skills they have taught me over the years. Thanks to my partner Chris for his on-going love, support, and sharing of ideas. And thanks to my youngest daughter Teya, for her enthusiasm and affection and ways of seeing the world differently. A huge thanks to my eldest daughter Shanti, for proof reading the book and for generally being awesome. I am grateful to live around her unbounded creativity.

This book is dedicated to Paulo Mellett (1979-2014), a warrior of peace; fighting with love, determination, practical skills and a good dose of thinking differently. May his work have many ripples.

Over thirty years ago, I went to a talk that changed my life. I was a medical student back then, and had been schooled in a rather mechanical approach to healthcare. That evening I had an aha moment, as the ideas of systems thinking were introduced to me in a way that transformed my approach to medicine. Looking back now, I recognise that one of my most important shift points came about as a result of being helped to think differently.