LCD Weekly Issue - 027 - Away
🌴 Words from the jungle
Marce described in last week's newsletter that home is a strange word for her these days. While Costa Rica is Marce's home, going to Costa Rica was far away for me. Although I am Dutch, I consider Spain to be my home country. It is quite a long story why, but I feel alienated from the Dutch way of living.
Going away from home for a longer period serves me well. It helps me see life back home in perspective, which is helpful because the day-to-day rhythm sometimes feels a bit tedious and monotonous (yes, even in the mountains).
But this time, I also struggled mentally with being away from home because I also had to work in Costa Rica. I have always advocated for working as a digital nomad, but balancing family holidays with work challenged me this time. It was hard to give both the attention they needed.
At home, your rhythm is mainly determined by your work and children's school hours. But away from home, you have less of a schedule, and then, for me, things become blurry. So, while working in Costa Rica, I longed for home to have more time to work. And when I was not working, I wanted more time with the family at the beach in Nosara or Playa Hermosa.
Stepping out of my usual routine for six weeks to experience Marce's world of family, friends, and different cultures was incredibly inspiring. It gave me a new perspective on family and work life, and I'm excited to implement some of the things that inspired me into our lives back home.
Away is great, but next time, less digital nomad and more holiday:-)
🐅 LCD in the Wild - Forest Wise
Last week, I had the pleasure of reconnecting with my friend Dirk-Jan Oudshoorn, Co-founder of Forest Wise, which empowers the local inhabitants of Borneo to protect the remaining rainforest.
"Forestwise does this by producing Rainforest ingredients, creating more value for forest communities while increasing the value of the forest as a natural resource, and providing genuinely sustainable alternatives for consumers around the world."
"#RainforestValue products from Forestwise are wild harvested, with respect for nature. We build on the natural diversity of the rainforest in Borneo and the versatility of its inhabitants to create rainforest ingredients for the personal care and food industries."
It is fascinating how empowering local communities can protect nature. Local communities are a treasure; they hold great power and knowledge about the land. This reminds me of last week's LCD in the Wild: Osa Wild.
🪄 Inspiration- LCD Resource Library
Recently, we started the Life-Centered Design School Community Book Club with our community members. The books and other resources recommended in our community will eventually end up in our LCD Resource library on our website. We will let you know when the library is available. However, I would like to share a few titles that some participants shared at our latest community gathering.
If you're interested in exploring Life-Centered Design, here are 6 recommended books and resources to help you get started.
David Sanchez Ruano, PhD recommends
Kinship: Belonging in a World of Relations — Practice (Volume 5) by Gavin Van Horn, Robin Wall Kimmerer & John Hausdoerffer, Ph.D.
Cathy Brett recommends
From Surviving to Thriving: A Pocket Guide to Life-Centred Practices for Farms, Landscapes, and Their Stewards - Roots and Rhythms by Julian Ellerby
I would like to recommend
Feminist Designer: On the Personal and the Political in Design by Alison Place.
And Yagmur Gungor recommends a movie. Princess Mononoke by Hayao Miyazaki
Cecilia Brenner recommends Lo-TEK Design by Radical Indigenism by Julia Watson
Ewelina Schraven shared Earth Emotions - New Words for a New World by Glenn Albrecht with us.
Enjoy reading!
Would you like to join our lively and international community? You can become a member by taking one of our courses or workshops. The first opportunity is our Shifting from Human to Life-Centered Design online course. 👇 Read more below! 👇
🔥 Hot in the School - Shifting from Human to Life-Centered Design Fundamentals Course.
We're just about a month away from our upcoming Online Fundamental Course, "Shifting from Human to Life-Centered Design." Enrollment will open in the next few weeks. We invite you to join our waiting list for priority enrollment.
Enrolling in our course is your first step towards a purposeful shift in your design work. If you're ready to make a real impact and inspire others to do the same, you have come to the right place.
This course is for you if you:
Want to learn how to positively impact nature, communities, and the economy through design.
Want to design with a focus on nature and go beyond just meeting human needs in your design projects.
Want to get hands-on experience with sustainability and include your whole team.
Move away from traditional design methods and embrace a new approach tailor-made for today's needs.
If these points resonate with you, this course is the perfect fit. The time to make the shift is now! The world needs more life-centered designers!
📨 🍃 Send us an email to info@lifecentereddesign.school if you have any comments or questions about the course.
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That is all of this week! See you next Monday!
Jeroen
