Think like a Tree / Think like a Forest

Excited to announce this years 'Think Like a Tree' Course in Sussex. Have you ever wondered how a forest is so resilient and what you could learn from it? Over 3 days we will be discovering the 42 Natural Principles in a fun and inclusive way at a stunning location, The Willows Lakeside Retreat. Bringing together Systems Thinking, Biomimicry, Permaculture Design and Indigenous Wisdom we will learn from the world around us. I will be co facilitating with the brilliant Milly Carmichael Limited numbers so if you like the sound of it, jump on it.... To find out more see https://lnkd.in/e6vMtCca #biomimicry #systemsthinking #design #permaculture #indigenouswisdom #nature #naturebasedsolutions #retreat #designforplanet #natureconnection #nvc #resilience

BIG NEWS! I'm excited to be launching Canaries Together this spring with Jude Casson. Please help me spread the word and share with anyone you know in Leicester who has links with health care workers. Am sure everyone knows an overworked health care worker and our aim is to develop this and offer it in other areas. What is Canaries Together all about? We've been busy creating this over winter and it feels like a much needed offering. As a former nurse I know what it is like to be emotionally burnt out and struggling to cope. Our sessions offer supportive afternoons among the trees in Leicester for NHS workers looking for new ways to work with overwhelm and burnout. This is different from the usual wellbeing/resilience sessions currently on offer-something to acknowledge the situation as it is, not ignore it! And a chance to BE in nature and connect with any emotions that may emerge. Working in health care has become ever more challenging. Using nature and trees as our guide and inspiration, these sessions will be a chance to reflect and connect in different ways using natural principles from Think Like a Tree. We will have much of the time outdoors in the beautiful Attenborough Arboretum, as well as making use of facilities in the cosy indoor space. Our hope is to support you in finding some headspace over the year; to allow you to connect with yourself and others through simple nature-led activities; to empower you to make steps towards creating a life that feels more sustaining. These seasonal offerings are ￡30 each (￡20 for low incomes) and held on Saturday afternoons 1.30-4.30pm. Each will be unique with activities that reflect the changing seasons. Join us for one or throughout the year for all. Spring 22nd March, Summer - 7th June, Autumn - 13th September and Winter - 17th January 2026. Led by doctor and former nurse team Jude Casson and Jess Down. More info and tickets can be found at canariestogether.carrd.co

I postponed my scheduled #RegenWednesday post this week. I'd caught the eye of a news article that panged a load of hopelessness around my veins, and the post I had scheduled just didn't match the truth of what's going on in my mind, so I pulled it and wrote this instead. This theme, of disheartenment, comes up a lot in Think Like A Forest (the programme Sarah Elliott Spencer and I co-created together alongside Nature's principles for life) it shows itself too; working with leaders in the woods, treading against the grain. People share how they meet these tensions in their work, This is the edge we explore when we choose to delve our way into #regenerativebusiness Whilst our visions for a healthier, happier future are always clear. And our understanding of how we might contribute to that is actually fairly simple - [when we've sussed out our 'basics']. We are still in a container of 'man-made' stretched systems in which to re-frame ourselves and our businesses. And that can, at times make the things we do feel hopeless, pointless, not enough. Becoming 'regenerative' is learning to feel and be with this complex riff of emotions, not ignore it. This is why 'self' is centred in our six systems dimensions framework, to help navigate our way through the foggy days. Our 'business as usual' ways would claim - 'just post the original upbeat post JK, ignore those feelings, just crack on with it' I've seen how our lack of emotional regulation contributes to these bigger issues and remind myself to find the nearest natural ecosystem within reach - myself. I stretched my arm across to my bookshelf to grab some inspiring quote from Joanna Macy's Active Hope - a book that often grounds & shifts me back to clarity - but ironically even that's absent from my reach this morning. So instead I think of the forest. I go inwards, breathe, connect, sit amongst the sadness and remind myself I am lots of small pieces igniting together as life. It may seem strange to say, I think myself small in order to feel hopeful of my bigger impact. But in the forest, some of the smallest species help regulate and contribute to the healthiness of the system. They rarely compromise their own resilience, to contribute to the bigger picture of their community. We can be determined in our doing, impact, enticing change against the current. But we have to remember to do the deeper work too. To maintain our inner balance, and be comfortable in the discomfort of what matters most. So today I'll rest, connect to others, find myself a wild place to decompress and know I will begin again. You too might feel over-whelmed or over-burdened by the weight of our world 'going on's' disrupting your connection to do good, and contribute to the future you want to see. Take some time to connect with that, seek support as you need and know that sometimes by thinking ourselves small, we find ourselves connected to a bigger whole. #RegenWednesday

Each week, I'll share insights on regenerative leadership and business - where 'being' is as important as 'doing.' Drawing from personal experience and emerging examples and exemplars. I'll explore how we can be curious to move beyond sustainability to create regenerative practices. This isn't about following a fixed path – it's about growing from the inside out. Consider these posts as seeds for your own ‘figuring-it-out’. While they might spark innovation, the real evolution happens when you adapt these principles to your unique ecosystem. --- ??????--- This week I am putting my stake in the ground and calling out a 'non-negotiable' for me in how we explore #regenerativebusiness and #leadership Whilst I note that much of #regenerative approaches are about understanding your own unique 'ecosystem' or team/organisation or community about being dynamic and adaptive in bringing these approaches to life. Nature is a non negotiable in this mix. So what can that mean for you? There are lots of ways we can know ourselves and our impact within the Natural world. Instead of thinking of Nature as outside, a simple reframe may be to consider you or your workplace are 'within nature' and a wilder natural ecosystem of mixed species and life. A few years ago I begin to truly understand what it means to observe and learn from Nature. To look to learn from it, to help with design or finding answers to challenges or questions. From practical approaches, to delving into metaphor. I also believe that to 'do' and 'be' regenerative -as it emerges into practice- we have to shed a lot of learning and approaches. We live in a high stress world and embodying a practices of moving in and alongside nature has helped me to be more open and resilient and the people I share the space of the woods with note, these shifts for themselves too. What does it mean to have or 'be in' relationship with or as Nature? How do your team feel and interact in their natural spaces? Do any of your products or services directly contribute to living systems? Or perhaps you begin to understand the opposite, that they do harm or cause destruction to our life giving properties. Our relationship with nature IS innate. But I acknowledge our separation - and therefore re-connecting as part- is a little more complex. So if you have no idea how and where to start your shift to a regenerative approach. But you have a sense you'd like to uncover this. Find a place in and alongside Nature Sit for a while. See what finds you there. #RegenWednesday

Each week, I'll share insights on regenerative leadership and business - where 'being' is as important as 'doing.' Drawing from personal experience emerging examples and exemplars; I'll explore how we can be curious to move beyond sustainability to create regenerative practices. This isn't about following a fixed path – it's about growing from the inside out. Consider these posts as seeds for your own ‘figuring-it-out’. While they might spark innovation, the real shifts happen when you adapt these principles to your own unique ecosystem. (business/life) Join me for weekly reflections on leading & unlearning with purpose, impact, and regenerative inquisitiveness. – Conundrum: "'We can't solve burnout with more meditation or well-being apps,' I totally agree, these approach often lack deeper awareness of human needs and connection. Haven't explored engagement and needs. Or don't address the issues that got people needing a break in the first place (too busy). Organisational well-being emerges from understanding interconnections, just like in natural ecosystems. Taking a #regen approach you can learn to map your company's 'energy flows' - not just workflow, but human energy. Having done this with a number of teams and leaders, we’ve discovered together that back-to-back meetings were creating energy 'dead zones,' much like over-farming depletes soil. An alternative: Create 'nutrient cycling' - redistributing workload patterns to match natural human energy rhythms. Inviting people to adopt their own autonomy and awareness of their own energy levels and responding to this in their day-to-day calendar management as often as possible. Embrace a ‘meeting free day’ like creating 'fallow fields.' Giving your team head space to innovate and recharge, can have a wider impact on their ability to engage in meetings, or be present with clients or focused on work tasks. Remember: In nature, everything serves multiple purposes. How might your leadership practices nourish both the vibrancy and richness or your organisation and the people who work in it" Oh, and PS time spent in nature on breaks or in between tasks will go a long way to help people with energy resets during their day! #RegenerativeLeadership #WorkplaceWellbeing #SystemsThinking #MentalHealth #Energy #Cultures #RegenWednesday

What does the year ahead look like for you? Are you excited about 2025? Today is a big day for me.......with the new moon energy and Chinese New Year celebrations for support I declare myself officially self employed and open for new clients. After completing my training last summer I've been gaining experience with clients and enjoying taking my coaching work outside. Even in the freezing temperatures and especially with the snowy start to the year I have loved including the natural world in conversations and empowering people to look at their life in new ways and make some big shifts in mindset. I work hard to support my clients to achieve their goals and celebrate every win along the way. I weave in natural principles to my online work too-bringing the natural principles in whenever they could help my client. This will be a snake year-as you can imagine this is all about shedding the old and embracing the new.....transformation and growth. I'm wholeheartedly going to welcome this for my clients, my business and myself! If you're feeling drawn to nature inspired coaching or NLP (neuro linguistic programming) you can read more about me at https://lnkd.in/eNbX2V9F or book in a free 20 min call via https://lnkd.in/eunu2_JE Let's make 2025 a year of shedding the old and embracing the new! *This photo is from my September trip walking Offa's Dyke, I'm heading back to do the next stretch in the summer.

?? #RegenWednesday Each week, I'll share insights on regenerative leadership and business - where 'being' is as important as 'doing.' Drawing from personal experience and emerging examples and exemplars; I'll explore how we can be curious to move beyond sustainability to create regenerative practices. This isn't about following a fixed path – it's about growing from the inside out. Consider these posts as seeds for your own ‘figuring-it-out’. While they might spark innovation, the real evolution & change happens when you adapt these principles to your unique ecosystem finding and figuring out your own version of #Regenerative. Join me for weekly reflections on leading & unlearning with purpose, impact, and regenerative inquisitiveness — "The shift to regenerative feels overwhelming." Explore these pathways and see where they take you: (do it alone or with members of your team) Define & map your impact[s] (positive and extractive or destructive) Does your theory of change work in practice, or is there another impact you cam observe? Be with the 'discomfort' of 'owning' the things, that could be changed for good - we don’t like to admit that some of the ways we do business are life-limiting and its OK that this evokes a smorgasbord of emotions. Identify one of the areas you have mapped where you could get curious about creating regenerative outcomes. If you are unsure what this means, identify researching/exploring this for yourself to help define -as your first next step. Experiment with small changes, accepting feedback. (Sense, listen, connect heart and gut as well as head, seek diverse opinions, observe outcomes) A tree is a great exemplar for receiving feedback and adapting small changes for health and resilience. Observe the result. Regenerative leaders value observation and pause, they create ‘seasons’ in their life and business that ensure reflection and evaluation before moving on to more doing. Valuing the incremental over time. Share learnings with your team and community. When you create impactful changes, share your stories and learning to help inspire others and help them adapt. It may not be perfect in the scale of the immensity of things that we need to shift in the world. But ask, Is this contributing to life? Sharing your impactful tweaks can help others explore possibility too. Have you heard of Toast Ale? They began by simply using surplus bread to make beer. They've now saved 2.5M slices of bread from waste while building a thriving business. A great solution to waste, but what if we didn't make the waste in the first place? Regenerative asks questions like - Shall I make good of the mess we caused in our system? Or can I change the system all together? And how? Perfection hinders progress, and regenerative leaders delve into the messy challenges, taking one step at a time. What's your bold vision and your first next step? #Regenerative #RegenWed #BeyondSustainability

Why DOING GOOD leads to frustration, burnout, overwhelm... If you’re trying to do good and/or trying to change the world I applaud you. We need more people like you! ?? But it can come with a downside – frustration, burnout, overwhelm, team conflict, which all mean that you are actually less effective at realising your vision. But why is that? ?? Because you’re probably operating from a mindset of wanting to be in control of situations which leads to frustration ?? Because you’re indulging in self-blame, when life inevitably changes – ‘I must have done something wrong’ or ‘I’m a failure’ ? You’re expecting your colleagues to want to do good in the same way as you, leading to conflict. ?? You want things to be linear, step-by-step towards an end goal, and find complexity overwhelming. No wonder leaders and team-members are stressed. It may surprise you to discover that the mindset of ‘doing good’ belongs to the old ‘business-as-usual’ mindset (the same control mindset that humans have adopted to extract and exploit people and planet), because it seeks control and domination, linearity and separation. ?? Instead the living-systems mindset looks at the world as it really works – with complexity, dynamism, connectivity, emergence and uncertain outcomes. That doesn’t mean we ditch plans and visions and goals, but we do this in a realistic way, and without many of the downsides of a control-mindset approach. If you would like to explore which organisational mindset you and your team are operating from, then we invite you to take Think like a Forest's organisational mindset quiz. You’ll also discover more about the regenerative/living-systems mindset and taking your next steps on a regenerative journey. https://lnkd.in/eC3r96ye #regenerativeleadership #nature #mindset #leadership #burnout #frustration #ethicalbusiness #purposeled